The Rite of Spring / common ground[s]

COMMON GROUND[S]

WELCOME We are pleased to welcome you to the final production in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall for the 2023 season: a double bill featuring Pina Bausch’s monumental choreography for The Rite of Spring performed by a specially assembled company of dancers from countries throughout Africa paired with common ground[s], a new composition created and performed by leading figures in the dance world Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo. We are proud to present the New York premiere of these works with our partners at the Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells, enveloping audiences in the unique energy and infectious spirit of Bausch’s work.

This production is a powerful blend of past and present that pays tribute to Pina Bausch and the indelible mark she left on the field of dance, showcasing one of the most formative works of modern dance with a newly devised choreographic response. By presenting these works on one program, this production also brings together masters of dance—“the mother of contemporary African dance” and one of the originating members of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch that danced the work when it premiered—with the next generation of inspired interpreters. The performance has already gathered immense acclaim, proving the continued impact of Bausch’s choreography and the universal resonance of Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s new work, which finds common ground in our shared humanity.

We are delighted to convene so many artists from around the world for this production, bringing together dancers and choreographers from a rich mix of backgrounds, experiences, and walks of life. Having captivated New Yorkers for decades, we hope you enjoy the latest iteration of Pina Bausch’s groundbreaking work and its thrilling choreographic response.

Rebecca Robertson Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer Pierre Audi Marina Kellen French Artistic Director

OTHER HAPPENINGS MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY: SEASONS OF DANCE Sunday, December 3, 2023

ARMORY AFTER HOURS Join us after select evening performances for libations at a special bar in one of our historic period rooms.

Among this series of demonstrations and interactive conversations, Thomas F. DeFrantz moderates a consideration of the living legacy of Pina Bausch and a celebration of the diversity of contemporary dance flourishing in Africa today. He is joined by members of the company.

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Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

NEW YORK PREMIERE

COMMON GROUND[S] NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 14, 2023 WADE THOMPSON DRILL HALL

Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo Co-Choreography and Dance Fabrice Bouillon LaForest Composition Petra Leidner Costume Design Zeynep Kepekli Lighting Design Sophiatou Kossoko Dramaturgy A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells production This piece runs approximately 30 minutes, followed by a 30-minute interval and a performance of The Rite of Spring, Pina Bausch’s monumental choreography to Stravinsky’s visceral score, performed by a specially assembled company of over 30 dancers from 14 African countries.

SEASON SPONSORS

PART OF THE FESTIVAL

PUBLIC SUPPORT

The Rite of Spring/common ground[s] is made possible, in part, with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and is part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival. Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by the Thompson Family Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Reed Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation.

Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Cover image: Maarten Vanden Abeele armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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COMMON GROUND[S]: WHO ARE YOU?

BY THOMAS F. DEFRANTZ

The duet form, born in partnership, asks a fundamental and unavoidable question: “Who are you?” Unanswerable, the question stings and soothes; it can startle or satisfy. It smarts, because we can’t possibly know its answer, neither you nor I. We can only know who you might be, not who you are, were, or will be. The question is in an everlasting state of change and reconciliation. You are a new person from one moment to the next, and I can never hope to keep track, because I am changing too. Dancing alongside, the question recurs like a tonic when things go well, and you surprise me with your generosity and support. But it hurts, deeply, when I ask, because I don’t recognize you.

WHO are you?

When Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo agreed to dig into the possibilities of dueting, two must have seemed to be a number both uncompromisingly small and potently full. Two is not three or more, with a group to maneuver around the space to generate a tale of community in motion or dis-sembly. Two is not one, and the possible virtuosity of challenging energy through solo gestures, completed by the attentions of a rapt audience. But two, and they two only, figuring each other out as they create tasks and movement passages, and chat about the day gone by, their exquisite lives as performing artists, and their ambitions for tomorrow. With only they two, and they two as the center of all creation and execution, there is nowhere to hide from the challenges and disappointments of making new work together.

And there is no one else to blame when the work doesn’t emerge quickly, easily, or comfortably. This duet, forged in the flames of a relationship still finding its heat, is surely not “easy” to perform or view, as it repeatedly demonstrates evidence of the concentrated effort that went into its rendering.

The great dance teams of vaudeville aligned their energy to make two into one, and amazed audiences with the seeming effortlessness of energetic flow. Early modern dancers turned to duets to reify an essential split of body and psyche, man and woman, mother and daughter, sister and sibling. Contact improvisation made room for spontaneous explorations by two, highlighting the difference approaches to weight and balance possible among partners.

Postmodern dancers, like Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, prodded at all the things two could be and do, given time and space to figure it out. A generation later, contemporary or live art practitioners might make duets for a performer and a video, or an audience member and her cellphone, opening the space for the unexpected between that the duet form enlarges. who ARE you?

We can ask this question of the new creation common ground[s] before us now and wonder at the multiplicities of answers that rebound. The work arrives elliptical and abstract; personal and unforgiving as an exquisite meditation; joyful and openly expressive in a rendering of theatrical time compressed and expanded according to the majestic power of its interpreters. The dance affirms an ordinariness to life lived together, for now at least, with simple gestural chores woven among moments of alienation and kindness. As in any relationship, the duo says not nearly enough and all that there is to be said about a moment together.

Who Are You?

The question is entirely presumptuous, and full of the bluster to consider what systems of power allow some to ask, and others to be compelled to answer. Our opportunity, and task, then, witnessing this work is to wonder at the possibilities of common grounds surrounding who are YOU? us all, acknowledging the continual pitting of body against body, Germaine Acogny is 79. Malou Airaudo is 75. Each brings an even as we soften our focus to enlarge shared understandings of incalculable range of experience into the studio and onto the women artists in maturity leading us inexorably forward. stage. Airaudo, a founding member and icon of Bausch’s company, performed leading roles in many of Bausch’s early works including Iphigenie auf Tauris, Orpheus und Eurydike, and Café Müller. Acogny, lovingly known as Mama Germaine, the mother of contemporary African dance, has effectively established experimental performance as a possibility for thousands of Black artists around the planet who thomas f. defrantz is Professor of Performance Studies and Theatre at have taken a pilgrimage to her storied École des Sables, inaugurated Northwestern University and Director of the SLIPPAGE laboratory. at Toubab Dialaw in June 2004. They are grandmothers, mothers, defrantz curated Donald Byrd: The American That is to Be for the daughters, and matriarchs of the dance world. Who are they together? Frye Museum in Seattle, and contributed voiceover and concept to a permanent installation on Black Social Dance for the Smithsonian When artists pair up to make work, and perform it, together, National Museum of African American History and Culture in something unvarnished can emerge from the desire to consolidate. Washington DC. slippage.org.

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Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

INSPIRATION THROUGH PROCESS: ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS AROUND THE RITE OF SPRING / COMMON GROUND[S] Process. Storytelling. Interpretation. All art requires a combination of these elements, but this particular production of The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] provides a special opportunity to explore how those elements can shift over time. From Stravinsky’s radical (at the time) musical storytelling of an old myth, to the influential processes and focus on interpretation at the root of both Pina Bausch’s choreography and Germaine Acogny’s École des Sables, the presentation of this double-bill at Park Avenue Armory illuminates for audiences of all ages how the creative process can be as rich as the art itself. This fall, The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] is inspiring creative exploration for nearly 1,000 students across the city through the Armory’s three Arts Education initiatives, which provide unique artistic engagements and educational programming free of charge to New York City public school students, offering them opportunities to think creatively and trust their own aesthetic judgments, and encouraging engagement with the arts as an avenue for reflection, expression, and action.

and repetition all while collaborating to create a culminating class performance.

The Armory’s Youth Corps Program offers paid and closely mentored internship programs for students ages 16 to 25+. This fall, High School Youth Corps interns have been collaborating on a Capstone Project that centers creative process, inspired by The Rite of Spring / common ground[s]. In addition to exploring Bausch’s creative process, Youth Corps are conducting research by meeting with several artists across disparate forms to delve into each one’s specific process for creating work, then applying those processes in various multidisciplinary artmaking activities. From these studies, Youth Corps will develop and articulate their own specific technique for creating art. This technique will be the pinnacle of their capstone sharing: they will create a multidisciplinary installation using the creative process they conceived, teach their technique to an audience, and finally facilitate artmaking using the technique within the installation just before The Armory’s Production-Based Programming invites school groups their holiday break. to experience unconventional works of music, theater, dance, and visual arts in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and historic rooms In many ways, the philosophy at the core of the Armory’s Arts in conjunction with workshops co-facilitated by multidisciplinary Education initiatives is akin to Pina Bausch’s interest not in “how Teaching Artists. Over 900 New York City public middle and high people move, but what moves them,” as well as Germaine Acogny’s school students get to experience the creative elements of The Rite observation that “when something is specific, it can be universal.” of Spring / common ground[s] through this program, attending a Engagement in the arts—whether it be as audience or maker—is a student-only matinee on Monday, December 4th. Pre-visit workshops deep dive into the human condition, our motivations and challenges, in participating schools are exploring the stories at the heart of each our similarities within differences. The Armory’s commitment to piece—the histories, both shared and divergent, of Germaine Acogny nurture creative spaces for young people where everyone’s individual and Malou Airaudo in common ground[s] and the mythic ritual that experiences and interpretations are a valued and necessary part of the inspired Stravinsky’s original score for The Rite of Spring—while community offers a needed respite from a world that is increasingly also introducing the different choreographic elements at play in the unable to hold specificity and universality together. Patience, riskproduction through embodied movement activities. In post-visit taking, and commitment are found in process. Empathy and workshops, students are creating their own works of theater, visual understanding are found in storytelling. Connection and legacy art, music, or dance, in response to the ideas of generational wisdom are found in interpretation. And so art—like The Rite of Spring versus the immediacy of youth, art as rebellion, individual versus and common ground[s]—helps us see, perhaps with a new lens, the indelible humanity of everyone. group connections, and endurance.

Additionally, through the Armory’s Partner School Program— which offers long-term, customized residencies that support school curriculum and community goals at eight current partner schools— eighth grade dance students at partner school MS 244x The New School for Leadership and the Arts are embarking on a semester-long residency exploring the choreographic process employed by Pina Bausch. Students are discovering their own choreographic voice while devising dance pieces for small group ensembles inspired by the deep expressiveness and propulsive emotional drive they will have seen the December 4th student matinee performance. Classes are learning about techniques like mirroring, use of pedestrian movements,

armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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COMPANY, COMMON GROUND[S] GERMAINE ACOGNY CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCE Senegalese-French dancer, teacher, and choreographer Germaine Acogny is known as the “mother of contemporary African dance.” She is Founder of the international education center for traditional and contemporary African dances, École des Sables. Her unique technique for Modern African dance combines the influence of dances she had inherited from her grandmother, a Yoruba priestess, with her knowledge of traditional African and occidental dance. Previous positions include: Artistic Director of Mudra Afrique (Dakar, 1977-82); Co-Founder of Studio-École-Ballet-Théâtre du 3è Monde with her husband, Helmut Vogt (Toulouse, 1985); and founder of dance company, Jant-Bi (1998), whose productions include Les écailles de la mémoire – Scales of memory (2008) with Urban Bush Women and Fagaala, based on the genocide in Rwanda (2007, Bessie Award). She studied at the École Simon Siegel in Paris and established her first dance studio in Dakar in 1968. Other credits include: Sahel (1987); YE’OU (1988, London Contemporary Dance and Performance Award); Tchouraï (2001); Bintou Were – A Sahel Opera (2007); Songook Yaakaar (2010); Mon élue noire – Sacre no.2 (2014, choreography Olivier Dubois, Bessie Award); À un endroit du début (2015); and others. Acogny teaches in schools, dance centers, and masterclasses worldwide. In 2021 she won the Golden Lion of the Dance Biennale in Venice.

MALOU AIRAUDO CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCE French dancer Malou Airaudo joined Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1973. She went on to originate major roles in various company productions, such as Iphigenie auf Tauris, Orpheus und Eurydike, Café Müller, and The Rite of Spring, among others. She also worked with: Opéra de Marseille; Léonide Massine as a soloist at Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo; Françoise Adret at Ballet-ThéatreContemporain; Paul Sanasardo; Manuel Alum on the solo Woman of a Mystic Body; and choreographer Carolyn Carlson at Teatrodanza La Fenice. She was also a founding member of the Parisian dance company La Main alongside Jacques Patarozzi, Dominique Mercy, Helena Pikon, and Dana Sapiro. Airaudo taught dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen-Werden from 1984 to 2018 became Director of the university’s Institute of Contemporary Dance in 2012. Choreography credits include Le Jardin des Souvenirs, Jane, Je Voudrais Tant, Schwarze Katze, and If You Knew for companies such as the Folkwang Tanz Studio, Ballet de Nancy, Ballet de Geneva, Ballet du Nord, and Venice Biennale; she has also created work with break-dancers like Irgendwo and Verlorene Drachen for Pottporus Renegade Theatre. Film credits include: Talk To Me (2002, dir. Pedro Almodóvar); and Pina (2011, dir. Wim Wenders). She received the 2023 German Dance Award with three former dancers of Pina Bausch.

FABRICE BOUILLON LAFOREST COMPOSITION

circus company Hors Surface with performer Damien Droin. He has created and performed several shows including Tetraktys, Boat, and Fabulomania. His work spans videogames to pop and rock. Under the alias LaForest he has released two albums, co-written the documentary film Rimanere (Alexandre Lopez), and created and led many art projects designed for rural/remote environments. With Sébastien Cormier and musician Tristan Assant, he is currently touring LaForest as the singer and frontman of a multidisciplinary music/dance project.

PETRA LEIDNER COSTUME DESIGN Petra Leidner has served as Costume Director at Wuppertaler Bühnen und Sinfonieorchester since 2011, for Burgfestspiele Jagsthausen for over six seasons, and at Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch since 1992. She has worked on all premieres and revivals of Tanzthater Wuppertal productions, in close collaboration with Marion Cito.

In recent years she has supervised and been responsible for costume design and consultation for various productions by Pina Bausch, for the Pina Bausch Foundation. Leidner opened her own costume studio in 2013.

ZEYNEP KEPEKLI LIGHTING DESIGN Istanbul-born Zeynep Kepekli is a London-based designer who predominantly works with light. She has a long-standing collaboration with the Richard Alston Dance Company and Yorke Dance Project.

Some of her design credits include: Sea of Troubles (The Royal Ballet); Playground, Between and Within, Imprint (Yorke Dance Project); Dance Journeys (English National Ballet); Collapse (New Movement Collective); Lie of the Land, Unfinished Business, Darkness Visible, Madcap, Burning, Rejoice in the Lamb, Buzzing around the Hunisuccle, Carnival, Cut and Run, Detour, Brahms Hungarian, A Far Cry, Shine On (RADC). Mainly working in dance, her work focuses on architecture and the movement of body and light.

SOPHIATOU KOSSOKO DRAMATURGY Sophiatou Kossoko studied modern dance and ballet at the Doug Crutchfield Dance School in Copenhagen, Denmark as well as through workshops with teachers, artists, and choreographers from various dance backgrounds. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in performing arts, dance path and continued her studies at the University of Paris 8ème in France. Kossoko founded the company IGI, which creates, produces, and presents artistic projects that combine dance with other disciplines such as singing, music, theater, and visual arts to explore the relationships between the world’s cultural differences; the organization offers a range of educational activities on a regular basis in collaboration with institutions and artists. Choreography credits include: Tchouraï, a solo for Germaine Acogny; Allégorie, a piece commissioned by Olivier Dubois for Danswindow. One of her poems is being published in présences by le printemps des poètes.

Musician, writer, and composer Fabrice Bouillon LaForest is Artistic Director of French FAUN(es) Collectif alongside dancer Sébastien Cormier. He is a longtime collaborator of Germaine Acogny (Fagaala, Songook Yaakaar, À un Endroit du Début) and École des Sables. Familiar Mark Grey is an Emmy award-winning sound designer and composer. to the world of dance (original scores for Nora Chipaumire, Urban Please see page 18 for additional credits.

BushWomen, Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy Theatre, Kota Yamazaki, Don’t Hit Mama, Patrick Acogny, Cie Virevolt), he is Co-Founder of

MARK GREY SOUND DESIGN, ARMORY

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Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

ABOUT PARK AVENUE ARMORY Part palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts that cannot be fully realized in a traditional proscenium theater, concert hall, or white wall gallery. With its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall—reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations—and an array of exuberant period rooms, the Armory provides a platform for artists to push the boundaries of their practice, collaborate across disciplines, and create new work in dialogue with the historic building.

Across its grand and intimate spaces, the Armory enables a diverse range of artists to create, students to explore, and audiences to experience epic, adventurous, relevant work that cannot be done elsewhere in New York.

Lecture Series that features presentations by scholars and writers on topics related to Park Avenue Armory and its history. In addition, the Armory also has a year-round Artists-in-Residence program, providing space and support for artists to create new work and expand their practices.

The Armory’s creativity-based arts education programs provide access to the arts to thousands of students from underserved New York City public schools, engaging them with the institution’s artistic programming and outside-the-box creative processes. Through its education initiatives, the Armory provides access to all Drill Hall performances, workshops taught by Master Teaching Artists, and in-depth residencies that support the schools’ curriculum. Youth Corps, the Armory’s year-round paid internship program, begins in high school and continues into the critical post-high school years, providing interns with mentored employment, job training, and skill development, as well as a network of peers and mentors to support their individual college and career goals.

The Armory both commissions and presents performances and installations in the grand Drill Hall and offers more intimate programming through its acclaimed Recital Series, which showcases musical talent from across the globe within the salon setting of the Board of Officers Room; its Artists Studio series curated by Jason Moran in the restored Veterans Room; Making Space at the Armory, a public programming series that The Armory is undergoing a multi-phase renovation and restoration of brings together a discipline-spanning group of artists and cultural its historic building led by architects Herzog & de Meuron, with Platt thought-leaders around the important issues of our time; and the Malkin Byard Dovell White as Executive Architects.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman Emeritus Elihu Rose, PhD Co-Chairs Adam R. Flatto Amanda J.T. Riegel President Rebecca Robertson Vice Presidents David Fox Pablo Legorreta Emanuel Stern Treasurer Emanuel Stern

Marina Abramović Abigail Baratta Joyce F. Brown Cora Cahan Hélène Comfort Paul Cronson Jonathan Davis Tina R. Davis Jessie Ding Sanford B. Ehrenkranz Roberta Garza Kim Greenberg Andrew Gundlach Samhita Jayanti Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Edward G. Klein, Brigadier General NYNG (Ret.) Ralph Lemon Jason Moran Janet C. Ross Joan Steinberg Peter Zhou

armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

Avant-Garde Chair Adrienne Katz Directors Emeriti Harrison M. Bains, Jr. Angela E. Thompson Wade F.B. Thompson, Founding Chairman, 2000-2009 Pierre Audi, Marina Kellen French Artistic Director

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PARK AVENUE ARMORY STAFF Rebecca Robertson Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer Pierre Audi Marina Kellen French Artistic Director

Jason Moran Curator, Artists Studio Tavia Nyong’o Curator, Public Programming

ARTISTIC PLANNING & PROGRAMMING

Olga Cruz, Leandro Dasso, Mayra DeLeon, Mario Esquilin, Jeferson Avila, Branden Fell, Jacob Garrity, Joshua Rosa, Tyrell Shannon Castillo Maintenance Staff

Michael Lonergan Chief Artistic Producer Kevin Condardo General Manager, Programming Rachel Rosado Producer Samantha Cortez Producer Darian Suggs Associate Director, Public Programming Kanako Morita Associate Producer / Company Manager Oscar Peña Programming Coordinator

Adonai Fletcher-Jones, Christina Johns, Christine Lemme, Cody Castro, Eboni Greene, Eliza Goldsteen, Glori Ortiz, Jane DeVoe, Kat Rodriguez, Kathleen White, Kin Tam, Lana Hankinson, Mariel Mercedes, Maver Méndez Garabito, Milen Yimer, MJ Ryerson, Naz Black, Neda Yeganeh, Rachel Carmona, Raven Garcia, Regina Pearsall, Sandra Kitt, Sarah Gallick, Sebastian Harris, Tess Kondratiev, Yao Adja Ushers

ARTISTIC PRODUCTION

Paul E. King Director of Production Claire Marberg Deputy Director of Production Nicholas Lazzaro Technical Director Lars Nelson Technical Director Aidan Nelson Technical Director Rachel Baumann Production Coordinator

DEVELOPMENT

ARTS EDUCATION

Cassidy L. Jones Chief Education Officer Monica Weigel McCarthy Director of Education Aarti Ogirala Associate Director of Education, School Programs Nadia Parfait School Programs Coordinator Ciara Ward Youth Corps Manager Bev Vega Youth Corps Manager Drew Petersen Education Special Projects Manager Emily Bruner, Donna Costello, Alexander Davis, Asma Feyijinmi, Hawley Hussey, Larry Jackson, Hector Morales, Peter Musante, Drew Petersen, Leigh Poulos, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, Vickie Tanner Teaching Artists Wilson Castro, Shar Galarza, Daniel Gomez, Nancy K. Gomez, Maxim Ibadov, Amo Ortiz Teaching Associates Arabia Elliot Currence, Victoria Fernandez, Sebastian Harris Teaching Assistants Felipe Aguirre, Ivy Alban, Chantel Bilson, Adwoa Boateng, Vicky Braga, Jordan Busey, Britney Carryl, Moon Emigli, Raven Garcia, Jade Hernandez, Mia Kokilashvili, Yenupaak Konlan, Nephthali Mathieu, Oscar Montenegro, Janique Nelson, Charlotte Pallardy, Nicholas Pedrozo, Naima Rodriguez, AJ Volkov, Milen Yimer Youth Corps

BUILDING AND MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS Jenni Kim Chief Operating Officer Ashlee Willaman Director of Human Resources Marc Von Braunsberg Director of Operations and Security Paul Sutter Director of Facilities and Capital Projects David Burnhauser Collection Manager Frank Duda Facilities Manager Emma Paton Administrative and Office Coordinator Williams Say Superintendent

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Oku Okoko Director of IT Ethan Cohen IT Administrator Natasha Michele Norton Director of House Management Alejandra Ortiz House Manager

Melanie Forman Chief Development Officer Charmaine Portis Executive Assistant to the Chief Development Officer Sarah Rodriguez Director of Development Indra Davis Director of Individual Giving Chiara Bosco Individual Giving Coordinator Angel Genares Director of Institutional Giving Hans Rasch Institutional Giving Manager Kelly Carr Associate Director of Special Events Séverine Kaufman Special Events Manager Michael Buffer Database Manager

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Lori Nelson Executive Assistant to the President Nathalie Etienne Administrative Assistant, President’s Office Simone Elhart Rental Events and Project Manager

FINANCE

Judith Rubin Chief Financial Officer Tejal Patel Controller Khemraj Dat Accounting Manager Zeinebou Dia Junior Accountant

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND BOX OFFICE

Tom Trayer Chief Marketing Officer Nick Yarbrough Senior Digital Marketing Manager Allison Abbott Press and Editorial Manager Joe Petrowski Director of Ticketing and Customer Relations Monica Diaz Box Office Manager John Hooper Assistant Box Office Manager Victor Daniel Ayala, Isabelle Graham, Meghan Lara Hrinkevich, Sarah Jack, Max Komisar, John Henry Malone, Mary McDonnell, Michelle Meged, Maegan Suzik Box Office Associates Resnicow + Associates, Inc. Press Representatives

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

JOIN THE ARMORY Become a Park Avenue Armory member and join us in our mission to present unconventional works that cannot be fully realized elsewhere in New York City. Members play an important role in helping us push the boundaries of creativity and expression.

FRIEND $100

BENEFACTOR $1,000

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$824 is tax deductible

• • • • • •

All benefits of the Associate membership plus: • Recognition in Armory printed programs • No-wait ticket pick up at the patron desk • Handling fees waived on ticket purchases* • Invitation for you and a guest to a private Chairman’s Circle event • Two complimentary tickets to the Malkin Lecture Series*

10% discount on tickets to all Armory tours and performances* 20% discount on member subscription packages* Invitations to member preview party for visual art installations Complimentary admission for two to visual art installations Access to the Membership Hotline for ticket assistance Discounts at local partnered restaurants

SUPPORTER $250

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

All benefits of the Friend membership plus: • Fees waived on ticket exchanges* • Two free tickets to Armory Public Tours*** • Invitation to annual Member Event

Chairman’s Circle members provide vital support for the Armory’s immersive arts and education programming and the restoration of our landmark building. In grateful appreciation of their support, they are provided unique and exclusive opportunities to experience the Armory and interact with our world-class artists.

ASSOCIATE $500

AVANT-GARDE

All benefits of the Supporter membership plus: • Complimentary admission for two additional guests (a total of four) to visual art installations and member preview party • Two free passes to annual fairs held at the Armory, such as TEFAF, The Art Show, Salon Art + Design, etc.** • Access to the Patron Lounge at select productions

The Avant-Garde is a group for adventurous art enthusiasts in their 20s to early 40s. Members enjoy an intimate look at Armory productions, as well as invitations to forward-thinking art events at the Armory and around New York City.

$194 is tax deductible

starting at $2,500

$348 is tax deductible

starting at $350

Each membership applies to one household, and one membership card is mailed upon membership activation.

For information on ticketing, or to purchase tickets, please contact the Box Office at (212) 933-5812 or visit us at armoryonpark.org. *Subject to ticket availability

For more information about membership, please contact the Membership Office at (212) 616-3958 or members@armoryonpark.org.

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ARTISTIC COUNCIL

The Artistic Council is a leadership group that champions and supports groundbreaking “only at the Armory” productions.

Co-Chairs Noreen Buckfire Lisa Miller Anonymous (2) Anne-Victoire Auriault / Goldman Sachs Gives Abigail and Joseph Baratta Noreen and Ken Buckfire Hélène and Stuyvesant Comfort Caroline and Paul Cronson Courtney and Jonathan Davis Jessie Ding and Ning Jin Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz

The Lehoczky Escobar Family Adam R. Flatto Roberta Garza Lorraine Gallard and Richard H. Levy Barbara and Peter Georgescu Kim and Jeff Greenberg Barbara and Andrew Gundlach Anita K. Hersh* Samhita and Ignacio Jayanti Wendy Keys Kameron Kordestani Fernand Lamesch Almudena and Pablo Legorreta Christina and Alan MacDonald

LEGACY CIRCLE

The Armory’s Legacy Circle is a group of individuals who support Park Avenue Armory through a vitally important source of future funding, a planned gift. These gifts will help support the Armory’s outside-the-box artistic programming, Arts Education Programs, and historic preservation into the future.

Founding Members Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson Co-Chairs Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz Marjorie and Gurnee Hart

Members The Estate of Ginette Becker Wendy Belzberg and Strauss Zelnick Emme and Jonathan Deland Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz Adam R. Flatto Roberta Garza Marjorie and Gurnee Hart Ken Kuchin

PATRONS

Park Avenue Armory expresses its deep appreciation to the individuals and organizations listed here for their generous support for its annual and capital campaigns.

$1,000,000 +

Heidi McWilliams Michelle Perr Amanda Riegel Rebecca Robertson and Byron Knief Susan and Elihu Rose Francesca Schwartz Joan and Michael Steinberg Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson

$500,000 to $999,999

Charina Endowment Fund Empire State Local Development Corporation Adam R. Flatto Marina Kellen French Barbara and Andrew Gundlach Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. Malkin and The Malkin Fund, Inc. Richard and Ronay Menschel New York City Council and Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York State Assemblymember Dan Quart and the New York State Assembly The Pershing Square Foundation Susan and Elihu Rose The Arthur Ross Foundation and J & AR Foundation Joan Smilow and Joel Smilow* The Thompson Family Foundation Wade F.B. Thompson* The Zelnick/Belzberg Charitable Trust Anonymous

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Lily O’Boyle Valerie Pels Amanda J.T. and Richard E. Riegel Susan and Elihu Rose Janet C. Ross Caryn Schacht and David Fox Brian S. Snyder Joan and Michael Steinberg John and Lisa Miller Emanuel Stern Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović Merryl and James Tisch Saundra Whitney Peter Zhou and Lisa Lee

Bloomberg Philanthropies Citi Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz Almudena and Pablo Legorreta Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan Donna and Marvin Schwartz Emanuel Stern Anonymous

$250,000 to $499,999 American Express Abigail and Joseph Baratta Michael Field Ken Kuchin and Tyler Morgan The Rockefeller Foundation Marshall Rose Family Foundation

$100,000 to $249,999 The Achelis and Bodman Foundations R. Mark and Wendy Adams Linda and Earle Altman Booth Ferris Foundation Hélène and Stuyvesant Comfort Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Courtney and Jonathan Davis Jessie Ding and Ning Jin Roberta Garza Howard Gilman Foundation Marjorie and Gurnee Hart Anita K. Hersh* Samhita and Ignacio Jayanti Kirkland & Ellis LLP Leonard & Judy Lauder Fund Mr. and Mrs. Lester Morse New York State Assembly New York State Council on the Arts Stavros Niarchos Foundation Donald Pels Charitable Trust Slobodan Randjelović and Jon Stryker

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

Amanda J.T. and Richard E. Riegel Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Mrs. Janet C. Ross Caryn Schacht and David Fox Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Mr. William C. Tomson Peter Zhou and Lisa Lee

$25,000 to $99,999 Arthur R. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation Anne-Victoire Auriault / Goldman Sachs Gives The Avenue Association Christine and Turner Batty Melanie Bouvard and Matthew Bird Sonja and Martin J. Brand Noreen and Ken Buckfire The Cowles Charitable Trust Caroline and Paul Cronson Maxine and Mark Dalio Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Emme and Jonathan Deland Andrew L. Farkas & Island Capital Group LLC Lorraine Gallard and Richard H. Levy Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation Barbara and Peter Georgescu Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Mindy and Jon Gray Kim and Jeff Greenberg Agnes Gund Janet Halvorson Robert and Monica Hanea Lawrence and Sharon Hite The Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation Fernand Lamesch The Lehoczky Escobar Family George S. Loening Christina and Alan MacDonald Christine and Richard Mack Marc Haas Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Katharine Rayner The Reed Foundation Rhodebeck Charitable Trust Genie and Donald Rice Rebecca Robertson and Byron Knief The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation The Shubert Foundation Sydney and Stanley S. Shuman Amy and Jeffrey Silverman Sanford L. Smith Brian S. Snyder Joan and Michael Steinberg TEFAF NY Tishman Speyer Barbara D. Tober Jane Toll and Robert Toll* Deborah C. van Eck Wescustogo Foundation Winston & Strawn LLP Anonymous (2)

$10,000 to $24,999 AECOM Tishman Jody and John Arnhold Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation

Agnieszka Balaban Mercedes Bass Debra and Leon Black Sergey G Butkevich Tim Cameron Ania Coffey Betsy and Edward Cohen Con Edison David Schwartz Foundation, Inc. Antoinette Delruelle and Joshua L. Steiner Luis y Cora Delgado William F. Draper Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Sarah Jane and Trevor Gibbons Kiendl and John Gordon Harkness Foundation for Dance Herzog & de Meuron Claire King Kameron Kordestani Suzie and Bruce Kovner Leon Levy Foundation James Marlas and Marie Nugent-Head Marlas Danny and Audrey Meyer John and Lisa Miller Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Helen Nash Lily O’Boyle Joan and Joel I. Picket Kathryn Ploss Howe-Lewis International Fiona and Eric Rudin May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. Mrs. William H. Sandholm Philip Schmerbeck/Herzog & de Meuron USA David Schwartz Foundation Inc. Stephen and Christine Schwarzman Cynthia and Tom Sculco PBDW Architects Jean and Gene Stark The Polonsky Foundation Merryl and James Tisch Andrew and Purva Tsai Susan Unterberg Saundra Whitney George Wang Michael Weinstein Maria Wirth Anonymous (7)

$5,000 to $9,999 Amy and David Abrams Donald Allison and Sumiko Ito Judy Hart Angelo Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Sara and Mark Bloom The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation Nicholas Brawer Catherine and Robert Brawer Dr. Joyce F. Brown and Mr. H. Carl McCall Amanda M. Burden Mary and Brad Burnham Michael Clifford and Robert Levy Ben Cohen Orla Coleman and Rikki Tahta Connelly McLaughlin & Woloz Irene Danilovich Jennie L. and Richard K. DeScherer Jeanne Donovan Fisher armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

Douglas and Susanne Durst Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Caryl S. Englander Dr. Nancy Eppler-Wolff and Mr. John Wolff The Felicia Fund Andrew and Theresa Fenster Ella M. Foshay and Michael B. Rothfeld Jill and Michael J. Franco Amandine Freidheim Mary Ann Fribourg Bart Friedman and Wendy A. Stein The Georgetown Company Elizabeth and David Granville-Smith Dedrea and Paul Gray Great Performances Guenther Greiner George and Patty Grunebaum Shujaat Islam and Fay Sardjono Ann Kaplan Adrienne Katz The David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation Jill and Peter Kraus Sheila and Bill Lambert Kate Lauprete Gail and Alan Levenstein David and Simone Levinson The Honorable and Mrs. Earle I Mack Shelly and Tony Malkin Marian Goodman Gallery Joanie Martinez-Rudkovsky Joyce F. Menschel James and Margo Nederlander Jesse and Stéphanie Newhouse Elyse and Michael Newhouse Anna Nikolayevsky Arlena Olsten David Orentreich, MD / Orentreich Family Foundation Michael Peterson Susan Porter Anne and Skip Pratt Preserve New York, a grant program of Preservation League of New York Frank Richardson and Kimbra Wood Robert Rosen and Dr. Dale Atkins Rosen Ida and William Rosenthal Foundation Valerie Rubsamen and Cedomir Crnkovic Jane Fearer Safer Susan Savitsky Nicholas and Shelley Schorsch Sara Lee and Axel Schupf Matthew and Stephanie Sharp Denise Simon and Paulo Vieira da Cunha Lea Simonds Daisy M. Soros Patricia Brown Specter Doug C. Steiner Beatrice Stern Michael & Allison Stillman Michael and Veronica Stubbs L.F. Turner Alyssa Varadhan Bob Vila and Diana Barrett Cristina von Bargen and Jonathan McHardy Anastasia Vournas and J. William Uhrig Mr. and Mrs. Stanford Warshawsky Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation, Inc. Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg Gary and Nina Wexler Valda Witt and Jay Hatfield Cynthia Young and George Eberstadt Toni Young Elham Yousefi 11

Samiah Zafar and Minhaj Patel Judy Francis Zankel Kiddy Zhou and Lu Li Zubatkin Owner Representation, LLC Anonymous (2)

$2,500 to $4,999 Katie Adams Schaeffer Allen Adler and Frances Beatty Fabrizio and Enrica Arengi Bentivoglio Michael S. Arlein Laurel Beebe Barrack BDO United States Catherine Behrend Marjaleena and Jonathan Berger Stephanie Bernheim Katherine and Marco Birch Allison M. Blinken Clemence Boissonnas Jordan and Blythe Brock Stacey Bronfman Annabel Buckfire Arthur and Linda Carter Alexandre and Lori Chemla Betsy Cohn Margaret Conklin Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York Ellie and Edgar Cullman Joshua Dachs / Fisher Dachs Associates Joan K. Davidson (The J.M. Kaplan Fund) Peter Droste Susan Dunn and Rob Cunjak Karen Eckhoff Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg Foundation Deborah and Ronald Eisenberg Foundation Leslie Falk Jared Feldman / Anchin Private Client Laura Jane Finn Megan Flanigan Gwen and Austin Fragomen Eleanor Friedman and Jonathan J. Cohen Julie Geden Buzzy Geduld Rosalind and Eugene Glaser Robert S. Gregory Phillip Gulley Ian and Lea Highet Andrea Hirsch Johanna Hudgens and Matthew Wilson Laura Isenberg Kamila Islam Judith Jadow Anu Jayanti Tianyue Jiang Jim and Leslie Johnson Jeanne Kanders Jennie A. Kassanoff and Daniel H. Schulman Lee Kern Timothy and Jessica Kisling Jana and Gerold Klauer Meghan Klopp Douglas and Judith Krupp Lizbeth & George Krupp Theodore and Adeline Kurz Jerome and Sara Lande Lazarus Charitable Trust Chad A. Leat Julia Ledda and Hassan Taher 12

Harrison LeFrak Les Yeux Art Foundation Inc. Stephen Ludwig Lili Lynton and Michael Ryan Gina Giumarra MacArthur Charles and Georgette Mallory Bonnie Maslin Nina B. Matis Peter and Leni May Claudia and Eduardo Mazzi Peter D. McCann, MD Ryan McNaughton and Anastasia Antoniev Constance and H. Roemer McPhee Saleem and Jane Muqaddam Leslie and Curt Myers Susan and Peter* Nitze Stephen Novick Susan Numeroff Kathleen O’Grady Patsy Orlofsky Peter and Beverly Orthwein Robert Ouimette and Lee Hirsch Claudia and Gunnar Overstrom Lee and Lori Parks The Pass Family Sanjay and Leslie Patel Dennis Paul Louis and Barbara Perlmutter Richard and Rose Petrocelli Marnie Pillsbury Natalya and Nicolas Poniatowski Phyllis Posnick and Paul Cohen Rajika and Anupam Puri Jennifer Reardon Diana and Charles Revson Laura and Gerald Rosberg Tamika Rose Marjorie P. Rosenthal Deborah and Chuck Royce Susan Rudin Sana H. Sabbagh John and Shelby Saer Susan and Charles Sawyers Stacy Schiff and Marc de La Bruyère Stefan and Heidi Selig Laura Skoler Stephen and Constance Spahn Michael and Marjorie Stern Leila Maw Straus Stella Strazdas and Henry Forrest Studio Institute The Clarence Westbury Foundation Geri Thomas Union Square Events Mrs. William J. vanden Heuvel Robert Warshaw and Debbie Schmidt Jacqueline Weld Drake Andrew and Sarah Wetenhall Amy Yenkin and Robert Usdan Anonymous (5)

$1,000 to $2,499 Diane and Arthur Abbey Marina Abramović Travis Acquavella Gina Addeo Benigno Aguilar and Gerald Erickson Eric Altmann Ksenia Anisimova

Dr. Lora Aroyo Catherine S.G. Atterbury Edward and Elizabeth Baker Laurie G Beckelman Stefan Beckman Judy and Howard Berkowitz Richard Berndt and Marie-Camille Havard Elaine S. Bernstein Bluestem Prairie Foundation Boehm Family Foundation Maegan Boger Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Polly Shih Brandmeyer Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Spencer Brownstone Hugh Burns and Molly Duffy Cora Cahan Janel Anderberg Callon Sana Clegg Christine Connolly Dr. and Mrs. Bradley A. Connor Scott Corbus Marina Couloucoundis Abby and Andrew Crisses Mary Cunney Sasha Cutter and Aaron Hsu John Charles and Nathalie Danilovich Richard and Peggy Danziger Anna Denton David desJardins & Nancy Blachman Amy and Tony Downer Christopher Duda Eamon Early Roger and Carol Einiger Marla Eisbruck Frederick & Diana Elghanayan Patricia Ellis Cristina Enriquez-Bocobo Dasha Epstein Darice and Jason Fadeyi Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Farmakis Femenella & Associates, Inc. Frances Fontaine and Anthony Chedid Melanie and Robert Forman David Fox Kristin Gamble Sayuri Ganepola and Jeff Kaczynski Bruce and Alice Geismar Tracey and Scott Gerber DeNora Getachew David and Susan Getz Gladden Beth and Gary Glynn Stuart and Alice Goldman Mitch Gordon and Julie Appel Noah and Maria Gottdiener Diego Gradowczyk and Isabella Hutchinson Notoya Green and Fred Mwangaguhunga Karen and Jeff Groeger Jan M. Guifarro Frances and Gerard Guillemot Yen Ha and Richard Tesler Patricia G Hambrecht Qusai Hammouri and Elizabeth Cho Kathleen Harrison and Edward Flinn Stan Harrison and Margot Steinberg Nicole Hart Matthew Hemberger Travis Hennings Jill Herman William T. Hillman David and Rochelle Hirsch

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

Bruce Hoffman Lily and Joel Hoffman Mr. Joseph C. Hoopes, Jr. Julie and Dan Horton Tom and Amy Houston Carola Jain Weslie and William Janeway Christopher and Hilda Jones Boriana Karastoyanova Mahesh and Bhavna Katkar Sharon H. Kim Tracy Kimmel Brigadier General Edward G. Klein, NYNG (Ret.) Quentin and Jayee Koffey Hoda Kotb Kate Krauss Kathryn Kremnitzer Vinnie Kaur Kumar Mrs. Geraldine S. Kunstadter Ji Kwak Barbara Landau Dean and Mara Landis Lane Associates Dr. Judith A. Langer Tamara Lazic Strugar Ralph Lemon Linda Lindenbaum Jane Lombard Bill Luby Pinki Mahadevia Mary Stewart Malone Rachel Mansur and Stephen Chao Jana Markowicz Jacqueline Martin Diane L. Max Larry and Mary McCaffrey Stephanie McCormick-Goodhart Charles McDonald

Toni B. & Martin McKerrow Israel Meir & Steve Rivera Andrea Melton Meryl Meltzer Bella Meyer and Timothy Simonds Frances Milberg and Dylan Mills Whitney and Andrew Mogavero Julia Moody Larry Morse and Sharon Bowen Enid Nemy, Dorothy Strelsin Foundation Stephanie Neville & Alan Beller Nancy Newcomb and John Hargraves Priyanka Nishar Kay Nordeman Charles Nordlander and Patricia Tapia Lynn Nottage and Tony Gerber Dr. Catherine Orentreich Amanda Paret Gautam Patel Michael and Nina Patterson Dan Peck Harlan Peltz John and Marie Noelle Pierce Maya Polsky & Nicolas Bridon Anne and Josh Prentice Robert A Press MD Prime Parking Systems David and Leslie Puth Pierre-Antoine Raberin Martin and Anna Rabinowitz Stephanie Reif David Ritter John and Lizzie Robertshaw Alexandra Robertson David and Susan Rockefeller Marisa Rose and Robin van Bokhorst Meg Roth Whitney Rouse

List as of October 31, 2023

Will W. Sachse and Carolyn M. Hazard Alexander and Sarah Saint-Amand Kana Sakurai David and Elizabeth Saltzman Ximena and Tom Sandell Andres and Lauren Santo Domingo Herbert A Satzman Paul H. Scarbrough, Akustiks, LLC. Pat Schoenfeld Marshall Sebring and Pepper Binkley Amy and Sheetal Sharma Adrianne and William Silver Esther Simon Charitable Trust Doug Snyder James Spindler Zsofia Stadler Justin and Shirley Steinberg Colleen Stenzler Michael G Stewart Bonnie and Tom Strauss Jennifer Tipton Conor and Katherine Tochilin Jean Troubh Zachary Kress Turner Saul Unter Debra Valentine Kay and Sandy Walker Amber Ward and Nariman Hamed Captain Mati Weiderpass and Nikolas Chen Lauren and Andrew Weisenfeld Shelby White Sandra Wijnberg and Hugh Freund Francis H. Williams and Keris A. Salmon Elizabeth Wolfe Eve Yohalem and Nicholas Polsky Olivia Zacchei Anonymous (9)

* Deceased armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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WELCOME We are pleased to welcome you to the final production in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall for the 2023 season: a double bill featuring Pina Bausch’s monumental choreography for The Rite of Spring performed by a specially assembled company of dancers from countries throughout Africa paired with common ground[s], a new composition created and performed by leading figures in the dance world Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo. We are proud to present the New York premiere of these works with our partners at the Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells, enveloping audiences in the unique energy and infectious spirit of Bausch’s work.

This production is a powerful blend of past and present that pays tribute to Pina Bausch and the indelible mark she left on the field of dance, showcasing one of the most formative works of modern dance with a newly devised choreographic response. By presenting these works on one program, this production also brings together masters of dance—“the mother of contemporary African dance” and one of the originating members of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch that danced the work when it premiered—with the next generation of inspired interpreters. The performance has already gathered immense acclaim, proving the continued impact of Bausch’s choreography and the universal resonance of Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s new work, which finds common ground in our shared humanity.

We are delighted to convene so many artists from around the world for this production, bringing together dancers and choreographers from a rich mix of backgrounds, experiences, and walks of life. Having captivated New Yorkers for decades, we hope you enjoy the latest iteration of Pina Bausch’s groundbreaking work and its thrilling choreographic response.

Rebecca Robertson Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer Pierre Audi Marina Kellen French Artistic Director

OTHER HAPPENINGS MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY: SEASONS OF DANCE Sunday, December 3, 2023

ARMORY AFTER HOURS Join us after select evening performances for libations at a special bar in one of our historic period rooms.

Among this series of demonstrations and interactive conversations, Thomas F. DeFrantz moderates a consideration of the living legacy of Pina Bausch and a celebration of the diversity of contemporary dance flourishing in Africa today. He is joined by members of the company.

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Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

NEW YORK PREMIERE

THE RITE OF SPRING NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 14, 2023 WADE THOMPSON DRILL HALL

Pina Bausch Choreography Igor Stravinsky Music Rolf Borzik Original Set and Costume Design Hans Pop Collaboration Jo Ann Endicott, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Clémentine Deluy Restaging Artistic Directors Çağdaş Ermiş, Ditta Miranda Jasjfi, Barbara Kaufmann, Julie Shanahan, Kenji Takagi Rehearsal Directors Dancers Rodolphe Allui, Sahadatou Ami Touré, Anique Ayiboe, Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, Khadija Cisse, Sonia Zandile Constable, Rokhaya Coulibaly, Inas Dasylva, Astou Diop, Serge Arthur Dodo, Franne Christie Dossou, Estelle Foli, Aoufice Junior Gouri, Luciény Kaabral, Zadi Landry Kipre, Bazoumana Kouyaté, Anthony Lomuljo, Profit Lucky, Babacar Mané, Vasco Pedro Mirine, Stéphanie Mwamba, Florent Nikiéma, Shelly OheneNyako, Brian Otieno Oloo, Harivola Rakotondrasoa, Oliva Randrianasolo (Nanie), Tom Jules Samie, Amy Collé Seck, Pacôme Landry Seka, Gueassa Eva Sibi, Carmelita Siwa, Amadou Lamine Sow, Didja Kady Tiemanta, Aziz Zoundi A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells production This piece runs approximately 35 minutes.

This performance is preceded by Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s common ground[s] (30 minutes) and a 30-minute interval.

SEASON SPONSORS

PART OF THE FESTIVAL

PUBLIC SUPPORT

The Rite of Spring/common ground[s] is made possible, in part, with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and is part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival. Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by the Thompson Family Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Reed Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation.

Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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THE RITE OF SPRING: AFRICAN FUTURES FOR US ALL

BY THOMAS F. DEFRANTZ

The New York Times tells us that by 2050, one in four humans on the planet will be African. This inevitable data point shouldn’t surprise any of us, even as it predicts this remarkable production of Bausch’s Rite crafted as a collaboration between the Pina Bausch Foundation (Germany), Germaine Acogny’s École des Sables (Senegal), and Sadler’s Wells (UK) and presented in its New York premiere here at Park Avenue Armory. Salomon Bausch, son to Pina, wisely initiated this collaboration with Germaine Acogny, one of our most celebrated and important dance artists, pedagogues, and company directors.

What is evident: as the world becomes more African by way of population, so shall our myriad forms of artmaking and expression, including interpretations of contemporary dance.

FIRST RITES

Pina Bausch (1940-2009), among the most celebrated artists of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, explored doubts, insecurities, and the wounded edges of experience that can be revealed in performance. Across a long career with many outstanding works, Bausch and her collaborators made dance-theater—Tanztheater— that exposed deep divides between people who try again and again to somehow connect. Often, Bausch’s works offer unsettled anxieties as their source and subject. The curiosities and impulses that drive any interactions among characters in Bausch’s work remain blurry and indeterminate, as if in an unresolved dream. Dance arrives in these works as a register of expression among the settings, costumes, and collages of music crafted to support the non-linear rendering of human encounter.

Rite enjoys a two-part scenario, with “The Adoration of the Earth” followed by “The Sacrifice.” Many choreographers honor this division, establishing some sort of communal structure in the first part to be answered by a sacrifice of a maiden in the second. Engaging as many movement genres as there are dance cultures on the planet, the work has been realized as hip hop, as partnered social dancing, as modern dance, as contemporary ballet, and surely somewhere as tap dance.

The power of Stravinsky’s score, originally performed by some 99 musicians, embraces bitonality and complex metrical organization difficult to comprehend upon first hearing.

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring enjoys unparalleled status as music outstandingly suited for dance. Productions of Rite featuring large groups of dancers, small ensembles, soloists, puppets, and even particles arranged to imitate aspects of human movement have intrigued audiences for more than a hundred years. Experimental productions set in indigenous landscapes or in apartment living rooms somehow augmented by water or wind; amid elaborate costumes transformed by extensive film projections; or on bare stages with naked interpreters have appeared regularly. Choreographing a version of Rite seems to be something of a rite of passage for many artists, compelled by the rich, complex, driving musical score.

Rite’s groundbreaking orchestration deploys unconventional combinations of instruments with a prominent use of percussion, resulting in a rich tapestry of timbres and textures that convey a Bausch enjoyed an early-career success with the 1975 The Rite of ritualistic nature of difficult sonic event. Its unconventional rhythms Spring, which stands as one of her best-known creations. Bausch’s and dissonant harmonies have long caused a sensation, inciting both Rite joins more than one hundred danced explorations of Stravinsky’s fervent admiration and vehement controversy. singular 1913 score, matching dramatic gesture and passionate resolve to the scenario originally designated as “Pictures of Pagan Russia in Most choreographers approaching Rite engage themes of violence, Two Parts.” Bausch’s version, performed on an earth-covered stage, brutality, and a need to shed something through exertion in order for encourages a full-bodied excitation for its interpreters to labor and something new to grow. Stravinsky’s programmatic score encourages sweat in and on the ground that will produce the new life of spring. a dance toward death by exhaustion, with its final sonic passages This Rite at the Armory is performed by an ad hoc company newly assembled of over 30 dancers from 14 countries across the African continent. Selected in an unprecedented audition process, and rehearsed at Acogny’s École des Sables in Senegal, the production offers up a welcome point of interpretive view to Bausch’s invention.

The unusual opportunity to engage the work for an extended global tour allows the interpreters time to settle into the decades-old choreography and bring forward a fresh collective wondering through its contents. Bausch’s work has not often been performed by artists unaffiliated with her company; this production predicts a future abundant with unexpected considerations of how this influential choreography operates.

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confirming the end of one thing that might allow something else to bloom forth and benefit the larger community that always includes the gathered audience.

The background of Rite’s first performances at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, 1913, have been told often with great effect. The basics again, then: Russian impressario Sergei Diaghilev, committed to providing new forms of performance for a European audience, commissioned the work for his Ballets Russes company from Stravinsky, choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, and designer Nicholas Roerich. Nijinsky, not yet 25 at the time, labored to create a movement idiom that relied on angular, turned-in gestures at odds with the company’s preferred classical dance practices. Dancers stomped,

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

extraordinary production, an outstanding array of African artists face the void of social chaos, fully aware that tomorrow is not promised, and the group must respond as needed to the shifting winds of an implacable natural order. Ultimately, the well-being of the group depends on the heroic efforts of an individual. Witnessing, we wonder if we might have the courage to dance to the end for others as these African interpreters do, extending the skin of the social through a staged act of oblation. Finally, performing in New York at the Armory is an entirely appropriate venue for considering the conservation of culture. This unique production of The Rite of Spring confirms an African future for us all, one that brings forward the outrageous diversity of creative expression offered by dance interpreters proximal But after fewer than a dozen performances, the work languished, and to the cradle of humankind. after World War I and a split between choreographer Nijinsky and company director Diaghilev, its choreography couldn’t be successfully remembered. Stravinsky allowed the score to be performed in concert without choreography, and its cultural influence increased as more and more people heard its innovations. But Nijinsky’s original choreography was considered to be lost until 1987, when the Joffrey Ballet offered an exciting reconstruction based upon years of research and interview. By then, scores of choreographers had explored Stravinsky’s music in myriad variations of the recurrent themes of death and rebirth. jerked, and contorted their bodies in ways that were shocking and provocative for the Parisian audience. Roereich, known as a talented painter devoted to Russian cultural heritage, created archeological designs that surprised audiences with their bright, primitive patterns, facial makeup, and animal skins. The combination of design, dance, and musical score confounded members of the public and led to vocal outbursts and disputes as to the merit of the ballet during and after the performance. Even as some critics derided its audacity, Rite immediately garnered fervent support from a younger generation of artists and intellectuals who recognized the work’s groundbreaking achievements.

EVOLVING RITES

Pina Bausch’s version of Rite brings forward anxiety and social communion bound by gender from its opening moments. Already aware of the need for sacrifice, the group coheres nervously in order to complete its task and sacrifice a femme for the good of the whole.

Men and women are dressed according to gender, contributing to the bleak inevitability of their actions. Everyone knows that a femme must be sacrificed; but no one is sure, until the end of the dance, who that will be. The elegant and decisive marker of soil, deployed for the work’s dancing surface, and a single red cloth, to be borne by the sacrificed, distinguish Bausch’s version from any other. The earth onstage cushions the dancers, even as it clings to them heavily, slowing their gestures and marking their skin.

Fear drives the relationships of participants in this Rite. The work asks, “How are we to survive? Who will take responsibility for the future by sacrificing herself? And, what is our role as witnesses to a thomas f. defrantz is Professor of Performance Studies and Theatre at ritual that extinguishes an individual for the sake of the group?”

Northwestern University and Director of the SLIPPAGE laboratory. defrantz curated Donald Byrd: The American That is to Be for the THE RITE TONIGHT Frye Museum in Seattle, and contributed voiceover and concept to a Making the work, Pina Bausch reportedly asked her dancers, “How permanent installation on Black Social Dance for the Smithsonian would you dance, if you knew you were going to die?” The answer National Museum of African American History and Culture in offered here is one of passionate resolve and intense ferocity. In this Washington DC. slippage.org. armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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COMPANY, THE RITE OF SPRING PINA BAUSCH CHOREOGRAPHY German choreographer Pina Bausch was born 1940 in Solingen and died 2009 in Wuppertal. She received her dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, where she achieved technical excellence.

After two years in New York—first on scholarship at The Juilliard School then as a dancer at the New American Ballet and Metropolitan Opera House Ballet, Bausch returned to Essen in 1962 on Jooss’ request as a soloist at the newly founded Folkwang Dance Studio. Soon after the director of Wuppertal’s theaters, Arno Wüstenhöfer, engaged her as choreographer, from autumn 1973, she renamed the ensemble the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, although controversial at the beginning, the company gradually achieved international recognition.

Its combination of poetic and everyday elements influenced the international development of dance. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honors worldwide, Pina Bausch is considered one of the most significant choreographers of modern times.

JORGE PUERTA ARMENTA RESTAGING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Jorge Puerta Armenta became a member of the ensemble of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1997, where he danced in repertoire pieces and created other 8 under Bausch’s direction. He had previously worked with Folkwang Tanzstudio. Since 2014, Puerta Armenta has worked as a freelance choreographer and dancer. Credits include: works commissioned by IDARTES in Colombia, a full co-production between the cultural center of Universidad del Pacífico and the Goethe Institute; and a production of “Ivona” directed by Omar Sangare in Massachusetts.

He was responsible for several international restagings of Pina Bausch’s pieces, including The Rite of Spring in Paris, London, and Berlin and the restaging of Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) in Lyon. In 2020, he participated in two “Zoom” projects: a coaching video-dance workshop (La Factoría/ Colombia); and an experimental film dance workshop co-directed with Chrystel Guillebeaud for persons over 60 years old for the Festival Under Construction/Wuppertal. Film credits include: Pedro Almodovar’s Talk Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was acclaimed for his to Her (2002); and Wim Wenders’ PINA (2011). He studied at the Center many stage works, including the original ballets Petrushka, Agon, The National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, France.

Firebird, Apollo, Scènes de ballet, and The Rite of Spring, as well as the opera The Rake’s Progress. Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Russia in 1882 and raised in St. Petersburg. He first gained his acclaim in the early 1900s for his compositions for the Ballets Russes, including The Rite of Spring. In Switzerland and subsequently France, he continued After graduating from the Folkwang Universität der Kunste in his work, composing such works as Persephone and Renard. In 1939, Essen-Werden, Clémentine Deluy joined the Company Sasha Waltz Stravinsky moved to the United States and completed his Symphony in & Guests in 2002. In 2006, she became a member of Tanztheater C. Stravinsky remained in the United States until his death in 1971 in Wuppertal and since 2014 has been a guest artist of the company.

New York, at which point he had an opus of over 100 works. Stravinsky Since 2015, she has worked on further collaborations with Sasha is considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. Waltz including Romeo&Juliet, Figure Humaine (Elbephillarmonie), Kreatur, Exodus, and Rauschen. Currently, Deluy is working on pieces

by Pascal Merighi, Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, and in 2019, supported by the Globe, Deluy explored theatrical forms of artistic Rolf Borzik was born in 1944 in Posen, Germany and initially studied research in collaboration with Thusnelda Mercy, Jack Laskey, and drawing and painting in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Paris from Ben Wishaw. In the same year she also co-directed the restaging of 1963 to 1966. He continued his studies graphics and design at the Iphigenia auf Tauris by Pina Bausch for the Semperoper Dresden, a Folkwang School in Essen in 1967. He met Pina Bausch in 1970 in project developed by the Pina Bausch Foundation. Deluy also teaches Essen, and from 1973 created sets and costumes for her in Wuppertal, international dance workshops for professional and amateur dancers. making a decisive contribution to the look of dance theater. Borzik died in January 1980 at the age of 35.

IGOR STRAVINSKY MUSIC

CLÉMENTINE DELUY RESTAGING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

ROLF BORZIK ORIGINAL SET AND COSTUME DESIGN

JOSEPHINE ANN ENDICOTT RESTAGING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

ÇAGDAS ERMIS REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

Çağdaş Ermiş was born in Wuppertal and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in dance from the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen, Germany. He has been a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal since Josephine Ann Endicott is a trained classical dancer of the Australian 2014. Over the course of his career Ermiş has worked with Susanne Ballet school and Australia Ballet company. In 1973 she was chosen Linke, Henrietta Horn, Malou Airaudo, Lutz Förster, and David

by Pina Bausch to join the Tanztheater Wuppertal as a soloist, where Hernandez, amongst others. she danced until her last performance with the company in 2018 at the age of 69. At present she is rehearsal director for many of the older Bausch Productions, including The Rite of Spring. Her restagings of Kontakthof. With Ladies and Gentlemen over 65 with Beatrice Libonati Ditta Miranda Jasjfi was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. She began (1999/2000) and Kontakthof. With Teenagers over 14 with Bénédicte classical ballet training in Paris at the age of five before continuing Billiet (2009/2010) were major successes. She was responsible for her training back in Indonesia with Farida Oetoyo; she also studied several international restagings of Pina Bausch pieces, including Indonesian traditional dances from Bali, West, Mid, and East Java, The Rite of Spring and Orpheus und Eurydike at the Paris Opera. She Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Jaipong with various teachers. In 1989, she received the 2023 German Dance Award with three former dancers began studying dance at Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, and in 1993 became a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio. In of Pina Bausch.

DITTA MIRANDA JASJFI REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

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1994, she pursued an engagement in Tanztheater of the Stadttheater Atlanta Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has collaborated Bremen with Artistic Director Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich. Since with composer John Adams and several others for nearly three decades.

2000, Jasjfi has been a dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal.

His sound designs have been heard throughout most major concert halls, HD simulcast theaters, and opera houses worldwide. Armory sound design credits include Doppelganger, Euphoria, Assembly, The Shape of Things, and Deep Blue Sea, among others.

Barbara Kaufmann trained at Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in New York and Paris, Royal Ballet Academy Stockholm, Folkwang University of the Arts under Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron, and with Maestro Alfredo Corvino. She has danced with the Rodolphe Allui is a dancer and choreographer from the Ivory Coast Jessica Iwanson Dance Company, Tanzprojekt München with Birgitta who has been working in traditional and contemporary dance with Trommler, Folkwang Tanzstudio with Susanne Linke, and Pina Bausch Compagnie Dumanlé since 2012. Since completing his training at (since 1987). Since 2002, Kaufmann has worked as rehearsal assistant the National Superior Institute of Arts and Culture (INSAAC) in for The Rite of Spring, Iphigenie auf Tauris, The Tannhäuser Bacchanal, the Ivory Coast, where he obtained a master’s degree in dance, he has and as rehearsal director for Since She by Dimitris Papaioannou. She participated in several contemporary and traditional creations. also served as rehearsal director for the Foundation’s productions of The Rite of Spring at English National Ballet and Ballet Flanders and Iphigenie auf Tauris at the Semperoper. She appeared in the Wim Trained in Benin and the sub-region, Sahadatou Ami Touré promotes Wenders film Pina (2011) and has collaborated on the development of dance in schools and universities in Benin. She has created the brand video annotation, oral history projects, and documentation at the Pina AmiFusion Clothing, which specializes in the making of bombers Bausch Foundation. She was awarded the Isadora Tanzpreis in 2012. jackets and baby clothes in wax fabric to promote local clothing.

BARBARA KAUFMANN REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

RODOLPHE ALLUI DANCER, CÔTE D’IVOIRE

SAHADATOU AMI TOURÉ DANCER, BENIN

JULIE SHANAHAN REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

Julie Shanahan was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1962. She completed all her RAD classical ballet examinations and a Bachelor of the Arts in contemporary dance and choreography. She worked for two years at the Sydney-based One Extra Dance Company and Darwin Dance Mob before moving to Germany in 1984, where she worked as a soloist dancer with Reinhold Hoffmann’s Bremen Dance Theater and Schauspielhaus Bochum. In 1988, she joined the Tanztheater Wuppertal as a soloist dancer. Besides her role as dancer, she is also a rehearsal director for a number of Pina Bausch repertory pieces, including The Rite of Spring.

KENJI TAKAGI REHEARSAL DIRECTOR Kenji Takagi is from Berlin, Germany, and trained at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen. He was a permanent ensemble member of Tanztheater Wuppertal from 2001 to 2008; in 2008, he received the German theater prize “Der Faust” for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his solo in Pina Bausch’s Bamboo Blues. From 2008 to 2018 he worked as a guest artist for the company, as both a dancer and rehearsal director. His work as a rehearsal director includes the restaging of The Rite of Spring at Paris Opéra, English National Ballet, Ballet Flanders, and Staatsballett Berlin. Additionally, in 2016 he contributed to the ‘transmission’ project of Pina Bausch’s work, “For the children of yesterday, today and tomorrow,” in collaboration with the Bavarian State Ballet. Recently he has performed in various improvisation shows and interdisciplinary stage projects in Germany.

MARK GREY SOUND DESIGN, ARMORY Mark Grey is an Emmy Award-winning sound designer and composer who made history as the first sound designer for the New York Philharmonic (On the Transmigration of Souls, 2002, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in Music) and The Met Opera (Doctor Atomic, 2008; Nixon in China, 2011; Death of Klinghoffer, 2014; The Merry Widow, 2015; Bluebeard’s Castle/Iolanta, 2015; L’Amour de Loin, 2016). His grand opera, Frankenstein, recently premiered at La Monnaie in Brussels and his mobile chamber opera, Birds In The Moon, with the New York Philharmonic in 2021. He also has had several commissions from the

ANIQUE AYIBOE DANCER, TOGO

Anique Ayiboe is a Togolese professional dancer with a degree in dance from École Des Sables, Senegal. Always in search of new horizons, her love for dance pushes her to participate in many artistic projects both nationally and internationally, including in Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Germany, Spain, and France.

GLORIA UGWARELOJO BIACHI DANCER, NIGERIA Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, from Delta, Nigeriais a Lagos-based dance artist, teacher, choreographer, fitness instructor, actor, and costume designer. She has earned several national and international residencies and workshops around the world, including the 2021 AWA Dance Mentorship Program and a 2023 Artistic Development Residency at Edinburgh’s Dance Base. Her body of work includes stints in theater, television, motion pictures, and working with children of all ages.

In 2021, she premiered her solo ILE made its performance debut at the Fido International Festival of Dance at the Institute Française in Burkina Faso. Acting credits include Mystic River (Netflix) and others.

KHADIJA CISSE DANCER, SENEGAL Khadija Cisse, also known as Belgique, started dancing as a teenager with dancehall. In 2016, she decided to strengthen her dance skills at École des Sables, studying under several teachers. Dancing became her profession, and she has since participated in several projects.

SONIA ZANDILE CONSTABLE DANCER, SOUTH AFRICA

From Cape Town, Sonia Zandile Constable started dancing at age 11 at Dance For All. In 2004, she studied at Alvin Ailey in New York for six months. She has previously been a member of Dance for All Youth Company, Ikapa Dance Theatre (2008-2011), and Sean Bovim’s Bovim Ballet (2012-2013). In 2014, she joined The Dance Factory, performing Dada Masilo’s Swan Lake, Carmen, and Giselle as well as touring internationally throughout Europe, America, and Asia. Other credits include collaborations with Cape Town City Ballet, Free Flight, and Jazzart.

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ROKHAYA COULIBALY DANCER, SENEGAL Born and raised in Pikine, Rokhaya Coulibaly started dancing at the age of 13 with Koutoubo Camara. She has participated in several workshops and dance trainings in festivals. A member of the company Sunu Percu Danse since 2015, she joined the ballet of the National Theater Daniel Sorano in 2019.

INAS DASYLVA DANCER, SENEGAL Inas Dasylva was born in Dakar, Senegal and started street-dance when he was 13 years old. Six years later, he turned to traditional Senegalese sabar dance in the company Senè Africa. In 2015, he joined the Alvin Ailey Academy Senegal, where he trained in contemporary dance, jazz, and capoeira for three years. In 2016, he trained in traditional and contemporary African dance at the École des Sables. In 2018, he was selected to perform in Boy Breaking Glass choreographed by Alessandra Seutin (Vocab Dance) at Sadler’s Wells in London.

where she was invited by Nuno Barreto to work on a research project on body expression and free and contemporary movements as well as to develop projects and pieces. She has performed in several company pieces and participated in the Cape Verde Dance Festival, in the IX CPLP Biennial of Young Creators in Angola, and in artistic and creative residencies.

ZADI LANDRY KIPRE DANCER, CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Born in Abidjan, dancer, choreographer, and acrobat Zadi Landry Kipre has participated in the 7th Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, France and won third prize for Best Creation at the Algiers International Dance Festival. Kipre is currently Assistant Choreographer of both the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast and the international circus AFRIKA AFRIKA.

BAZOUMANA KOUYATÉ DANCER, MALI

Bazoumana Kouyaté, also known as Tom, is a professional dancerperformer from Mali trained in both traditional Malian and contemporary dance. He has choreographed various creations for the Astou Diop, also known as Tousa, was born in Dakar, Senegal. She stage and has participated in numerous projects. started competing in hip hop dance battles with the group Attack Dance at age 16. At 18, she started sabar and contemporary dance classes with the company Senè Africa. She has been training in traditional and contemporary African dances in Dakar since 2016 Anthony Lomuljo is an international dance artist and creator based in Stockholm, Sweden. Originally from Mountain View, California, and is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company. he earned his BFA from The Juilliard School in 2010, training under Lawrence Rhodes. After graduation, Lomuljo danced with Göteborgs Danskompani. He is currently a first soloist at The Royal Swedish Serge Arthur Dodo is a choreographer and performer from the Ivory Ballet. Since 2016, Lomuljo has appeared with companies around Coast. He trained at the National School of Theatre and Dance the world such as Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and Sasha (ENTD), where he obtained a Diploma of Artistic Advanced Studies Waltz and Guests performing the works of Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, (DESA), and at École des Sables, Senegal. He has his own dance and Alexander Ekman. Lomuljo is a part-time faculty member company, King’Art, and teaches contemporary dance at the AHK of Kungliga Svenska Balettskolan and a frequent guest teacher at University of Art in Amsterdam.

Balettakademien and Danscentrum in Stockholm.

ASTOU DIOP (TOUSA) DANCER, SENEGAL

ANTHONY LOMULJO DANCER, UNITED STATES

SERGE ARTHUR DODO DANCER, CÔTE D’IVOIRE

FRANNE CHRISTIE DOSSOU DANCER, BENIN A contemporary dancer, performer, and capoeirist from Benin, Franne Christie Dossou started dancing at the age of 24. She holds a master’s degree in project management, and she is the mother to a 10-year-old boy. Since 2014, she has pursued various forms of training. Today, “creating value through the culture of art” as a dancer with the company ANIKAYA is her focus.

PROFIT LUCKY DANCER, NIGERIA

Profit Lucky is a Nigerian dancer. He began dance training in Nigeria before moving to Ghana to train with Ghana Theatre & Contemporary Dance under the artistic direction of Valerie Miquel, where he was a soloist in two productions. Lucky was awarded a full scholarship to Eric Scott Underwood’s Online Summer Intensive Program and Alonzo King Lines Ballet Online Summer Program.

Outside of dance, Lucky has also worked as a model and dancermodel in Nigeria and Ghana and completed an Exchange Dance Estelle Foli is a professional contemporary dancer. She has honed her craft Program with École Des Sables and Amsterdam University of the through a wide range of residency, training, and performance experiences Arts. with choreographers, directors, and dance companies throughout Africa and Europe. Her technique bears the mark of each of these experiences.

ESTELLE FOLI DANCER, TOGO

BABACAR MANÉ DANCER, SENEGAL

Babacar Mané has worked with multiple dance companies. He joined the National School of Arts of Senegal to train in choreography.

Ivorian dancer-performer Aoufice Junior Gouri, also known as Junior, Mané was the winner of the Institut Français de Paris’ Visa Pour La graduated from the National Superior School of Arts and Culture in Création 2020 program. the Ivory Coast and continues to develop through further training, workshops, and performances. His motto is: “live my passion to the fullest by taking up challenges.”

Vasco Pedro Mirine is Mozambican. He graduated with a degree in

AOUFICE JUNIOR GOURI DANCER, CÔTE D’IVOIRE

VASCO PEDRO MIRINE DANCER, MOZAMBIQUE

sculpture (ADPP) and also trained in performing arts (P.A.R.T.S).

During the ten years he spent working in the visual arts, he also In 2018, Luciény Kaabral joined the dance company Raiz di Polon, worked with the municipal singing and African dance company

LUCIÉNY KAABRAL DANCER, CABO VERDE 17

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

Matola and collaborated with Culturarte Mozambique. Mirine is a modern jazz, classic, and contemporary dance. Samie then earned multidisciplinary artist and freelancer trained in contemporary Afro a professional dance diploma from École des Sables. Recent credits and Afro-street dances at École des Sables. include: Hommage, a piece he created; soloist in the opera NEHANDA

by Compagnie Nora Chipaumire; and The Rite of Spring tour with the Pina Bausch Foundation. He has also taken part in numerous dance projects.

STÊPHANIE MWAMBA DANCER, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Stéphanie Mwamba is a dancer and performer from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has been passionate about dance since 2015.

Fascinated by the dance steps and rhythms of traditional dance, Mwamba has taken part in various dance trainings and has performed at festivals including Cairo International Festival for Contemporary Experimental Theatre, Batalo East Festival (Kampala), and Amani Festival (Goma).

FLORENT NIKIEMA DANCER, BURKINA FASO

AMY COLLÉ SECK DANCER, SENEGAL Dancer and circus performer Amie Collé Seck began her career in breakdance. She has been practicing circus techniques with Sen’Cirk since 2016. In 2019, she performed at the Battle National and B2F festival in Dakar and Rufisque. Seck is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company.

PACÔME LANDRY SEKA DANCER, COTE D’IVOIRE

Florent Nikiema is a Burkinabé dancer-performer, graduate of EDIT, and certified teacher from École des Sables and CDC la Termitière. He has trained with dancers such as Salia Ni Seydou, Laurence Levasseur, Pacôme Landry Seka is a professional dancer from Abidjan, Ivory Irène Tassembédo, Angélin Preljocaj, and Germaine Acogny.

Coast. Having been passionate about dance since his early childhood, he decided to enter art school after obtaining his baccalaureate.

SHELLY OHENE-NYAKO DANCER, GHANA / SWITZERLAND

GUEASSA EVA SIBI DANCER, COTE D’IVOIRE

Shelly Ohene-Nyako is Ghanaian and Swiss. After completing her bachelor’s degree in performing arts, she worked as a freelance dancer.

She moved to Ghana in 2018, where she started teaching ballet and fusing multiples styles together. Her aim is to help the performing arts scene in Africa to grow.

BRIAN OTIENO OLOO DANCER, KENYA Brian Otieno Oloo is a Kenyan-born performer. He works with several organizations in East Africa, including Yawa dance company and Ibuka Dance Foundation as Co-Artistic Director. Oloo’s most profound work was Mizani, a piece about gender equality, which toured ten towns in Tanzania.

HARIVOLA RAKOTONDRASOA DANCER, MADAGASCAR Born in 1987, Harivola Rakotondrasoa is the Artistic Director of the DIHY Project, an association for dance training and outreach.

Living in Madagascar, he organizes cultural events and works with companies such as Hetsika Madagascar, Asara, Anjorombala, and Sasha Waltz and Guests through Zaratiana Randrianantenaina.

OLIVA RANDRIANASOLO (NANIE) DANCER, MADAGASCAR

Gueassa Eva Sibi joined the Moaye Ivoire company in 2015 and has participated in several festivals including the Rind Dance Festival (Massidi Adiatou, 2016), the opening of the eighth games of the Francophonie, and the festival Danse Raum of Jennie Mezile. She is currently a dance student at the National Institute of Arts and Cultural Action (INSAAC).

CARMELITA SIWA DANCER, BENIN Originally from Benin, Carmelita Siwa is a dancer and actress. With a degree in project management, she is also now a graduate of École des Sables. She teaches Afro-urban, contemporary awakening, and initiation dances at the Centre Chorégraphique Multicorps and French School of Cotonou. Now Artistic Director of Arts Ca’Danser, she has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Didja Kady Tiemanta.

AMADOU LAMINE SOW DANCER, SENEGAL Amadou Lamine Sow, also known as Pim, is a dancer, performer, and teacher. He is mainly focused on different traditional African dance, but trained in several styles including contemporary, house, hip-hop, and Afropop. He is member of the Senegalese National Ballet, La Linguére, and graduated from the Alvin Ailey Academy Senegal.

He serves as Choreographer for the dance company Sunu Percu and Artistic Director of the Festival International Jakarlo.

Madagascan dancer Oliva Randrianasolo, also known as Nanie, has been working with the company Tahala, based in Tamatave (Madagascar) since 2011. Nanie often collaborates with local Born in Ivory Coast, Didja Kady is a dancer and actress who lives and and international dance companies and is a member of the dance works in Bamako, Mali. Since receiving her master’s degree in dance association Dih’arajky. She graduated from École des Sables. from the Bamako Conservatory in 2017, she has trained at multiple dance schools including École des Sables and CCD la Termitière.

She has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Tom Jules Samie began dancing with Dagbeneva, a traditional Carmelita Siwa, and was an educational and artistic assistant for Togolese dance company, during which time he broadened his dance festival Fari Foni Waati in 2021.

DIDJA KADY TIEMANTA DANCER, MALI

TOM JULES SAMIE DANCER, TOGO

training through contemporary dance workshops and classes. At Alvin Ailey Academy Senegal, he studied traditional Senegalese,

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AZIZ ZOUNDI DANCER, BURKINA FASO Aziz Zoundi is a dancer, artist, and performer from Burkina Faso.

He is currently training through workshops in dance, theater, and music at the Bouamani Africa Centre. He is also part of the training program in contemporary dance at CDC La Termitière, Je Danse Donc Je Suis, and Yeleen don.

PRODUCTION CREDITS ARMORY PRODUCTION STAFF Mark Grey Sound Design, Armory Kanako Morita Company Manager Amanda Harris Assistant Company Manager Silas Rodriguez Production Assistant Ruby Carmel Production Intern Andrew Lulling Audio Systems Engineer Jeffrey Rowell Production Sound Nick Kolin, Aaron Copp Lighting Supervisors Dave “Tater” Polato Production Electrician Carl Whipple Production Carpenter Stephen Pucci Production Rigger Theodore Sarge Seating Supervisor

BNW Rigging Covey Law Five Ohm Productions Mind the Gap Premier Stagehands Lighting and Rigging Equipment by 4Wall Entertainment Audio Equipment by Masque Sound

SPECIAL THANKS Matthew Covey and Will Spitz, Covey Law

Victoria Bek Wardrobe Supervisor

TOUR PRODUCERS

TOUR PRODUCTION STAFF Adam Carrée Head of Production Imogen Clarke Touring Production Manager Florent Trioux, Isabel Patt Company Managers Emma Cameron Stage Manager Laye Kane The Rite of Spring Company Manager Ben O’Grady Head of Stage Dan Harmer Sound Engineer Anne-Marie Bigby Wardrobe Manager Connor Sale Production Electrician Hex Emalia Stage Swing Technician Alexandra Haydon Osteopath Eva Pageix Personal Assistant to Malou Airaudo Petra Leidner Costume Maker Mariola Kopczynski Costume Assistant, Dakar Silvia Franco Costume Assistant, Wuppertal

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PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE PINA BAUSCH FOUNDATION, GERMANY

The Pina Bausch Foundation carries the artistic legacy of dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch into the future. Founded in 2009, the organization makes Bausch’s work accessible and tangible for dancers worldwide, diverse audiences, and new generations. The focus is on rehearsing and performing Pina Bausch’s pieces and physically getting to know her work in workshop formats. For this purpose, the Foundation passes on Pina Bausch’s choreographies to dancers and companies worldwide and collaborates with universities. It also develops a training process for rehearsal directors and artistic strategies to safeguard the unique knowledge of the choreographies and their rehearsal process for the future. One of the Foundation’s fundamental tasks is to make the extensive materials of Pina Bausch’s artistic legacy accessible through digital archives. The Pina Bausch Archives, which include photographs and video recordings as well as written materials on the creation of the pieces, serve as a knowledge resource that is used during rehearsals and restagings. Since November 2021, first materials are publicly accessible worldwide in the online archives at pinabausch.org. The online archives are constantly being expanded with new materials and pieces.

Salomon Bausch Founder and Board of Directors Simone Rust Board of Directors Ismaël Dia Director of Archives Gertraud Johne Project Management and Finances Ana Djokic Communications Kathrin Peters Education and Outreach

Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67 th Street

ÉCOLE DES SABLES, SENEGAL

École des Sables is an international center for traditional and contemporary African dances, a school for theoretical and practical teaching, a laboratory for research, and a space for meetings, exchanges, conferences, and artistic residences. The school is dedicated to professional training for dancers from all over Africa in traditional and contemporary African dance. Its objectives are to professionalize African dance, allowing dancers to be able to live from their art, and to encourage communication and collaboration between dancers, choreographers, and companies from Africa and with the rest of the world; in short, to develop and promote contemporary African dance.

Since 1998, the school has regularly organized professional training workshops gathering dancers and choreographers from Africa, the African diaspora, and all over the world. École des Sables was created in 1998 by Germaine Acogny, considered “the mother of contemporary African Dance,” and her husband Helmut Vogt.

Germaine Acogny, Helmut Vogt Founders Helmut Vogt Manager Didier Delgado Technical Production Manager Stan Mandef, Mame Bousso MBaye Production Paul Sagne Coordinator Patrick Acogny Casting/Advisor Phillipe Bocandé Accounting Eleine de Graça-Sccientia Communications

A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells production, co-produced with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Festspielhaus, St Pölten; Ludwigsburg Festival; Teatros del Canal de la Comunidad de Madrid, Adelaide Festival and Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi.

The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North RhineWestphalia, and the International Coproduction Fund of the GoetheInstitut, and kindly supported by the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

TOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Production management in Senegal by Gacirah Diagne, Association Kaay Fecc (Papa Abdoulaye Faye, Mamadou Coumba Diouf, Francis S. Gomis, Jean Louis Junior Gomis, Ouleymatou Niang) Technical production management in Senegal by Abdou Diouf (for Les Ateliers Abdou Diouf) Audition Partners in the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal by Ange Aoussou (for Compagnie Ange Aoussou), Salamatou Diene (for CDC – La Termitière) and Gacirah Diagne (for Association Kaay Fecc) Tour filming by Fontäne Film, including Florian Heinzen-Ziob (Directing and Editing), Enno Endlicher (Cinematography), Armin Badde (Sound Engineering) et Igor Novic (Additional Camera Operations) SADLER’S WELLS, LONDON Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organization based in Tour photography by Maarten Vanden Abeele London committed to the making of dance, with over three centuries of theatrical heritage. Since 2005, Sadler’s Wells has created award- SPECIAL THANKS TO winning dance productions, co-productions, and touring projects Korotimi Barro, D’Aquin Evrard Élisée Bekoin, Vuyo Mahashe, and in collaboration with its portfolio of Associate Artists, as well as Armel Gnago Sosso-Ny international dance companies and partners. These include: Russell as well as Maliphant’s PUSH with Sylvie Guillem; Crystal Pite’s Polaris with Petra Boettcher, Keyssi Bousso, Stephan Brinkmann, Ismaël Dia, Thomas Adès; Gravity Fatigue, directed by Hussein Chalayan; Sutra S. E. M. Abdoulaye Diop, Denise Fertig, Hannah Gibbs, Theowen

by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and sculptor Antony Gormley; Michael Gilmour, Dr. Massamba Guèye, Dirk Hesse, Hochschule für Musik Keegan-Dolan’s Swan Lake/ Loch na hEala; productions by Acosta und Tanz Köln (Wuppertal), Yingqian (Sahara) Huang, Lani Huens, Danza; Natalia Osipova’s Pure Dance; Botis Seva’s BLKDOG; and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Daniel King, Nassy Konan, Abdoulaye William Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance. Sadler’s Wells has Koundoul, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Claudia Lüttringhaus, brought innovative and inspiring works to international venues such Pascal Moulard, Abdoul Mujyambere, Balla Ndiaye, Birane Niang, as the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, National Centre for Nicole Pieper, Gráinne Pollak, Madeline Ritter, Chelsea Robinson, Performing Arts in Beijing, Chekhov International Theatre Festival Asanda Ruda, Sahite Sarr Samb, Mohamed Y. Shika, Gabriel Smeets, in Moscow, and Santiago a mil Festival in Chile, and others. Recent Felicitas Willems, Laura-Inès Wilson, and Wuppertaler Bühnen premieres include: Message In A Bottle by Kate Prince, based on the songs of Sting (2020); and The Rite of Spring / common ground[s], in partnership with the Pina Bausch Foundation and École des Sables.

Alistair Spalding Artistic Director and Chief Executive Suzanne Walker CBE Executive Producer Bia Oliveira Head of Producing & Touring Ghislaine Granger Senior Producer Sophie Delahaye Assistant Producer Aristea Charalampidou Tour Producer Jordan Archer Marketing Manager Laura Neil Press Officer Freddie Todd Fordham Media Campaigns Manager Steven Lou Marketing and Communications Coordinator armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory | #PAARiteofSpring

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THE RITE OF SPRING