Bach Duet

(1974/2024)

Choreography by Twyla Tharp
Staged by Shelley Washington
Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton
Lighting Adaptation by Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design by Kermit Love
Costume Reconstruction by Santos Loquasto and Victoria Bek
Music composition by J. S. Bach
Cast: Eleni Loving and Jake Tribus

Run Time: 6 minutes

Bach Duet grounds the ethereal music of Bach's 78th Cantata in tangible action. The dance begins when one dancer spits on the floor, a common action for dancers looking to get more traction.

Bach Duet premiered at the Delacorte Theater of Central Park in New York City on September 5, 1974. Gibney Company's collaboration with Twyla Tharp was supported through the generosity of Joan and Jerry Lozinski.

PAUSE

The Fugue 

(1970/2024)

Choreography by Twyla Tharp
Staged by Shelley Washington
Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton
Lighting Adaptation by Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design by William Ivey Long
Costume Reconstruction by Santos Loquasto, Carmen Gee and Victoria Bek
Cast: Graham Feeny, Eleni Loving and Jie-hung Connie Shiau

Run Time: 14 minutes

Modeled on "The Musical Offering" by Johann Sebastian Bach, The Fugue consists of a twenty-count theme which is developed into twenty variations. The theme is modified through a number of reversals, inversions, retrogrades and repetitions, re-sequencing and rhythmic manipulations. Each of the three dancers represents a musical register: bass, alto, soprano. The only sound is the dancers' footfalls on an amplified stage.

The Fugue premiered at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on August 1, 1970. Gibney Company's collaboration with Twyla Tharp was supported through the generosity of Joan and Jerry Lozinski.

INTERMISSION

Vukani 

(World Premiere July 2024)

Choreography by Mthuthuzeli November
Costume Design by Victoria Bek
Lighting Design by Asami Morita
Original Music by Mthuthuzeli November
Cast: Graham Feeny, Lounes Landri, Jordan Powell, Jie-hung Connie Shiau, Zack Sommer and Madi Tanguay

Run Time: 20 minutes

Meaning to awaken, “Vukani” explores communion with the elders, a search for guidance, provoking the spirit to take over the body, and showing the way. South African choreographer Mthuthuzeli November deploys his unique choreographic language, informed by both traditional South African (Xhosa) dance and street dance as well as by the Western traditions of ballet and contemporary movement styles.