Lang Dance program Spring 2023

LANG DANCE SPRING PRODUCTION 2023

photo: Frank Mullaney

May 12-13, 2023 New York Live Arts

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues, Tonight we are thrilled to present a restaging of Continuous Replay (1977, revised 1991), choreographed by Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. We are especially grateful to Janet Wong, who, together with Barrington Hinds, s. lumbert, and Huiwang Zhang, worked intensively with students throughout the semester to mount this iconic work. It has been an honor to welcome these adventurous and generous artists to Lang this semester, and to celebrate Bill T. Jones as a 2022-2023 Presidential Visiting Scholar at The New School.

In addition, we are proud to present a work created by Nami Yamamoto in collaboration with a cast of Lang dancers. They developed this work in the Fall and it gives us much joy to be sharing the dance as part of this concert. We also are presenting a work choreographed by Lang faculty Rebecca Stenn in her Performance Workshop course this semester, as well as a solo dance created and performed by a graduating senior, Catherine Raymond.

Together these dances demonstrate varied approaches to choreographic research and performance, in keeping with the spirit of our program.

These performances would not have been possible without the exceptional work of our lighting designer, Kathy Kaufman, and stage manager, Meredith Belis.

We would like to thank the Lang dance faculty for their expert and thoughtful teaching. Lastly, we would like to thank our Dean, Christoph Cox, and the magnificent Rafael Muñoz, Assistant Director of The Arts. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm for the arts at Lang College.

We hope you enjoy the performance.

- Danielle Goldman, Chair of the Arts - Neil Greenberg, Dance Program Director

PROGRAM Lighting Design by Kathy Kaufman Stage Management by Meredith Belis

The Pond Choreographed by: Rebecca Stenn, with the performers Music by: Camille; Janine 1, Janine 2, Janine 3, Senza, Ta Doler, Au Port, performed by Camille Performed by: Okailey Afroso, Tess Driscoll-Gannon, Maria Gomez Mont Herrera Prats, Daisy Green, Eylul Hancilar, Sienne Johnson, Bella Lynch, Alexis Roman

Golden Cat Choreographed and directed by: Nami Yamamo in collaboration with the dancers.

Music by: BABYMETAL, Malkuth, Carpenters Performed by: Aidan Bason-Mitchell, Cassandra Brey, Maria Jose Gomez Mont Herrera Prats, Alexis Roman Golden Cat was created through the fall 2022 semester in our Performance course. Our process was interrupted by the part-time faculty strike. On April 29 we reunited and brought the piece back to life. We are missing the talented Nina Little who created amazing dancing, but unfortunately was not available for the performance dates. We honor Nina’s presence and keep her place in the piece.

I haven’t invited my father to this show Created and Performed by: Catherine Raymond Music by: alt-J, Intro; Nicholas Britell, Agape

Continuous Replay (1977, revised 1991) Choreographed by: Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Repetiteur/ Restaged by: Janet Wong with Barrington Hinds, s. lumbert & Huiwang Zhang Music Composed and Assembled by: John Oswald Costumes by: Liz Prince and the company Lighting by: Robert Wierzel Performed by: Chetna Ayyagari, Keb Barshack, Cassandra Brey, Zoe Caple, Sihui Dai, Natalia Fernandez, Maria Jose Gomez Mont Herrera Prats, Layla Greene, Ella Kuether, K Lightman, Juliannie Mateo, Noelle Nations, Catherine Raymond, Alexis Roman

BIOGRAPHIES Bill T. Jones (Guest Artist Residency) (Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Choreographer: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; Artistic Director: New York Live Arts) was the Associate Artist of the 2020 Holland Festival and is recipient of the 2022 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for Black No More; 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award; 2013 National Medal of Arts; 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography of the critically acclaimed Fela!; a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award, and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award; 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award; 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award. In 2010, Jones was recognized as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.” Bill has been nominated for the 2022 Tony Awards for his work on Paradise Square.

Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. He has created more than 140 works for his company. Jones is Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, an organization that strives to create a robust framework in support of the nation’s dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting, and educating.

Bill T. Jones is serving as a Presidential Visiting Scholar at The New School, 2022-2023.

Janet Wong (Guest Artist Residency) (Associate Artistic Director and Projection Designer) was born in Hong Kong and trained in Hong Kong and London. Upon graduation she joined

the Berlin Ballet where she first met Bill when he was invited to choreograph on the company. In 1993, she moved to New York to pursue other interests. Ms. Wong became Rehearsal Director of the Company in 1996, Associate Artistic Director in August 2006 and Associate Artistic Director of New York Live Arts in 2016.

Rebecca Stenn (Performance Workshop), dancer, choreographer, educator, writer, painter has been hailed in The New York Times as an artist who possesses “wit,concision and gutsy passion.” Stenn’s acclaimed group, Rebecca Stenn Company, has performed nationally and internationally including such venues as The Edinburgh Festival, The Joyce Theater, BAM Fisher, The Kitchen, Danspace Project and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival among others. The company has received support from the NEA, NYSCA, The Joyce Theater Foundation and The American Music Center. As a principal dancer with MOMIX, Stenn performed in over 30 countries and appeared in films for Italian, Spanish and French television. Stenn is a founding member of the duet company Pilobolus Too, with whom she toured throughout the world. Stenn is currently on faculty at The New School and Princeton University and is Choreographer-in-Residence at Dartmouth College. Stenn most recently exhibited her paintings in the show Ebb & Flow at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, where she is on the roster of represented artists. She holds a BFA from The Juilliard School and MFA from The University of Wisconsin.

Nami Yamamoto (Performance A, Fall 2022), from Matsuyama, Japan, holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Physical Education from Ehime University. Nami is a Bessie awardee (The New York Dance and Performance Award) for the outstanding production of Headless Wolf which was presented at Roulette in 2017. Her recent project Trooper’s Brother, which was presented at Roulette in June 2022, is available through Baryshnikov Arts Center’s In the Studio with Nami Yamamoto, and she is looking for more opportunities to show Trooper’s Brother. Nami enjoys teaching dance at NYC public schools through Dance Makers Program at Movement Research and Together in Dance. She is currently a core member of Artists of Color Council at Movement Research

and teaches Movement for Actors and Dancers at Lehman College.

Kathy Kaufmann (Lighting Designer) is a New York City native, and two time Bessie recipient. She is resident designer at Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, and has toured extensively throughout the world. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, NDI, Rebecca Stenn, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Vicky Shick, and Music From The Sole.

Meredith Belis (she/her/hers) (Stage Manager) has worked with artists including Meredith Monk, Wendy Whelan, Neil Greenberg, Dean Moss, James Whiteside, and Maria Kotchetokova. She is very passionate about her work with dancers and musicians. She is a graduate of Bennington College and was the Production Manager for the dance department at Sarah Lawrence College from 2016-2019. She is currently the Production Stage Manager with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. When not working, she is busy raising her 7 year old daughter, Ramona.

THANKS From Nami: Thank you to all my talented super dancers, Cassie, Maria, Alexis and Aidan. Thank you to Neil, Danielle, Meredith, Kathy and The New School to bring back this piece. .

From Rebecca: Thank you to the smart, adventurous, beautiful and incredibly committed group of dancers I have had the pleasure of working with, to create The Pond. It has been a joy. Thank you to Neil and Danielle, for creating such a wonderful environment in the dance program at Lang, where we are encouraged to try things out, take risks and stretch the boundaries of what we thought might be possible. Thank you to Meredith for guiding us all in these productions with such strength and certainty, thank you to everyone at NYLA, and thank you to Kathy, for creating worlds of light that we can truly come alive in.

Dance at Lang Situated in the Arts major at Eugene Lang College, the Dance program offers a unique undergraduate dance curriculum centered on recent developments in the field, combining intensive practice and performance opportunities with a rigorous liberal arts education. Students at Lang explore dance through varied modes of analysis—verbal, textual and physical—through a curriculum that emphasizes research and experimentation. Conversation is fostered across artistic genres and students are encouraged to think about dance in social, historical, and cultural contexts, through a variety of disciplinary lenses. This approach stimulates aspiring dancers and choreographers to think about their roles in society and to consider multiple ways of engaging a public through dance.

www.langdance.com

Lang Dance Faculty 2022-2023 luciana achugar J. Bouey João Carvalho Danielle Goldman Neil Greenberg Deborah Lohse Nia Love Juliette Mapp Kyle Marshall Darian M. Parker Katy Pyle Sarah Richter Rebecca Stenn Pavan Thimmaiah Mariana Valencia Rachel Valinsky Sasha Welsh Nami Yamamoto