Pre-Performance Talk with Anna Kisselgoff & Pascal Rioult
Anna Kisselgoff, former lead dance critic for The New York Times, will lead a discussion with choreographer Pascal Rioult preceding RIOULT Dance NY’s performance at The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, NYC) on Friday, June 20, 2014 at 6:30pm. This unique pre-performance talk will take place in the lower lobby of The Joyce Theater and is open to all with a ticket to the company's performance.
The discussion will focus on the influence of choreographers Martha Graham and May O’Donnell on the field of modern dance and the generations of choreographers who followed, including Mr. Rioult. Ms. Kisselgoff will put in historical perspective the career of these two pioneers within the emergence and development of the art form and their impact on its evolution throughout the US and around the world. Together, Ms. Kisselgoff and Mr. Rioult will shed light on an important page of dance history and prepare the audience to recognize the evolutionary aspect of dance and the connection between past and present at the evening’s performance.
Following the discussion, RIOULT Dance NY will present Program A as part of its New York Season. Beginning at 8pm, the Friday evening program includes RIOULT dancers performing May O'Donnell's Suspension and Martha Graham's El Penitente, along with Pascal Rioult's Black Diamond and Views of the Fleeting World.
The company's 2014 New York Season will present two unique programs during June 17-22 at The Joyce Theater. Tickets start at $10 and are available at JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800, in person at The Joyce Theater Box Office, or online at joyce.org.
RIOULT Dance NY - New York Season
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), NYC
June 17-22, 2014: Tue 7:30pm; Wed 7pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm
Program A, Martha, May & me: Wed at 7pm, Fri at 8pm, Sat at 2pm, Sun at 7:30pm
Program B: Tue at 7:30pm, Thu at 8pm, Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm
Tickets start at $10. Ticket prices are subject to change.
JoyceCharge: 212-242-0800, joyce.org
REPERTORY
In Suspension, dancers move in a state of suspended balance and order where harmony is maintained by the independent patterns which join, separate, energize, and become tension points for each other to maintain the order and balance of the whole. Suspension uses the dance as a medium where harmony and balance are maintained between individuals. It might be said that Suspension is like the planetary system existing in space and eternity, where each planet maintains a position of independence and balance in relation to the whole. “...at the still point of the turning world, there the dance is...” - T.S. Eliot. Suspension (1943) has been set on the company by former May O’Donnell Dance Company dancers Lynn Frielinghaus, Nancy Lushington, and Barbara Allegra Verlezza.
El Penitente premiered in 1940 at Bennington College in Vermont, part of the Bennington School of the Dance, now the American Dance Festival. The dance has the look of primitive folk art come to life. Born out of Martha Graham’s fascination with the American southwest and specifically a sect of Penitents who believed in purification through severe penance, the dance has a simple formalism, episodic structure and naïve, archaic gestures. Constructed as a play within a play, El Penitente opens with the entrance of a troupe of strolling players. They don their costumes and enact a series of vignettes from the Bible. Audiences see a childlike pageant that includes flagellation, revelation, seduction, repentance, crucifixion, and salvation aAA a stylized meshing of dance of celebration perhaps meant to inspire the generosity of the onlookers. El Penitente (1940) is set to music by Louis Horst. The piece was set for RIOULT with Pascal Rioult, Joyce Herring, and Kenneth Topping all teaching their former roles to current dancers.
An abstract piece for two female dancers, Black Diamond (2003) achieves poetry through dance; every movement translates to qualities embodied by a black diamond – strength, beauty, purity, and mystery.
Views of the Fleeting World (2008) was inspired by the ancient woodblock prints of the Japanese master Hiroshige and the ingenious structure of Bach’s musical score. The ephemeral quality of all living things and the eternal cycle of life are the themes that Rioult found common, and explored in this contemporary dance work. Each of the nine short vignettes – “Orchard,” “Gathering Storm,” “Wild Horses,” “Dusk, Rain,” “Night Ride,” “Summer Wind,” “Moonlight,” and “Flowing River” – captures a moment in time and nature through the colors, lines, and rhythm of the dance. These moments reflect the depth of emotion that can be found in such seemingly spare and simple elements.
RIOULT DANCE NY, celebrating its 20th Anniversary in the 2013-2014 Season, fast became an established name in modern dance with a reputation for bringing the sensual, articulate, and musical dance works of Pascal Rioult to audiences worldwide. The twelve-dancer company is led by husband-and-wife team Artistic Director/Choreographer Pascal Rioult and Associate Artistic Director Joyce Herring - both former Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancers. With an established repertoire of over 40 dances that expands each year, the company presents an annual New York Season and tours nationally and abroad. In addition, in-school arts education and community outreach are integral to the company's mission, introducing students and families to the art of modern dance. www.rioult.org
Major supporters of RIOULT Dance NY's 20th Anniversary Season include: Shana Alexander Charitable Foundation; The Atlantic Philanthropies Director/Employee Designated Gift Fund; Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; Fund for New Works, a Kenneth French Legacy; Gordon & Harriet Greenfield Foundation; The Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Jana Foundation; Kendall-Parker Associates LLC; Kingsborough Community College; LaGuardia Community College; National Endowment for the Arts; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; The O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation; The Shubert Foundation; Sidley Austin LLP; TAG Creative; Target; and Viking River Cruises.
THE JOYCE THEATER FOUNDATION, INC., a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community and its audiences since 1982. The founders, Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea, which opened as The Joyce Theater in 1982. The Joyce is named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther’s clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to establish the theater. One of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant New York home for more than 290 domestic and international companies. The Joyce has also commissioned more than 130 new dances since 1992. In 1996, The Joyce created Joyce SoHo, a dance center providing highly subsidized rehearsal and performance space to hundreds of dance artists. New York City public school students and teachers annually benefit from The Joyce’s Dance Education Program, and adult audiences get closer to dance through pre-engagement Dance Talks and post-performance Humanities discussions. The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000.
ANNA KISSELGOFF was named Chief Dance Critic of the New York Times in 1977. Earlier, she had been a dance critic and cultural news reporter for the paper and she continued as a staff writer until leaving The Times at the end of 2006. She remains a contributor to The Times. Over the years, she has reviewed ballet, modern dance, folk dance, ethnic dance, tap dance, Michael Jackson and at the 1988 Olympics, ice dancing and the rodeo. Prior to joining the New York Times, she wrote dance reviews and a range of features for the New York Times International Edition and worked on the English desk of Agence-France Presse in Paris. Ms. Kisselgoff began studying ballet in New York at the age of four with Valentina Belova, later head of the dance department at Sullins College. She studied ballet for nine years in New York with Jean Yazvinsky, a former dancer in Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, Ms. Kisselgoff studied French History at the Sorbonne and Russian at the School of Oriental Languages in Paris. She received an M.A. degree from Columbia University in European History and an M.S. from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Ms. Kisselgoff was named a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government. The President of Iceland personally awarded her the Order of the Falcon. Other awards for her writing include the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, an Honorary Doctorate from Adelphi University and the Dean's Award for Distinguished Achievement from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Ms. Kisselgoff has taught at Yale University and Barnard College. She served as consultant and wrote the foreword for Bronislav Nijinska: Early Memoirs.
Author:
Michelle Tabnick
