Counterpoint is a collaboration between pianist and composer Conrad Tao and choreographer and dancer Caleb Teicher. The duo explore the dichotomy of their different perspectives and artistic practices, expanding their individual expressive capacity through a collective experience. Harmonic, rhythmic, and theatrical counterpoint between the artists seeks to map out constellations linking their disparate traditions, driving the imagination and opening the heart. The stylistically diverse music of Counterpoint includes the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Art Tatum’s demented stride piano, Arnold Schoenberg’s ironic take on the Viennese waltz, a delicate miniature from Tao and Teicher's More Forever, and threading it all together, a work that bridges traditions, approaches, and styles—Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Tao and Teicher’s earlier work, More Forever, is a Bessie Award-winning, New York Times critic’s pick which was lauded for “constantly extending the sonic aspects of dance.”

J.S. BACH
Aria from the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

TAO/TEICHER
Improvisations

SCHOENBERG
Five Piano Pieces, op. 23: V. Walzer

NOBLE/POWELL/TATUM
"Cherokee"

CHARLES “HONI” COLES & BRENDA BUFALINO
The Coles and Bufalino Soft Shoe

BRAHMS
Intermezzo in E major, op. 116/4

MOZART/DAVID PARKER
Song and Dance, based on Mozart's Sonata in A major, K.331: III. Allegretto "Alla Turca"

TAO/TEICHER
Swing 2 from More Forever

GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue, arr. for solo piano

RAVEL
Sonatine: II. Mouvement de Menuet

J.S. BACH
Aria from the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Subject to Change

CONRAD TAO has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer. Born in Urbana, Illinois in 1994, Tao has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony. As a composer, his work has been performed by orchestras throughout the world; his first large scale orchestral work, Everything Must Go, received its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic, and its European premiere with the Antwerp Symphony. He was the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, for Outstanding Sound Design / Music Composition, for his work on More Forever, in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher. He is also the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and was named a Gilmore Young Artist.

CALEB TEICHER is a NYC-based dancer and choreographer specializing in musically-driven dance traditions and interdisciplinary collaboration. Teicher began their career as a founding member of Michelle Dorrance’s tap dance company, Dorrance Dance, while also freelancing in contemporary dance (The Chase Brock Experience, The Bang Group), Lindy Hop (Syncopated City Dance Company), and musical theater (West Side Story International Tour and London). As a solo performer and collaborator, Teicher is known for choreographic collaborations with diverse musical talents: world-champion beatboxer Chris Celiz, composer/pianist Conrad Tao; the National Symphony Orchestra, and indie rock legends Ben Folds and Regina Spektor. In 2015, Caleb shifted their creative focus towards Caleb Teicher & Company (CT&Co), a creative home for incubating new concert dance works from Teicher’s unique perspective.  Caleb is the recipient of a New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship, two Bessie Awards and a NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant.