Kathryn Posin Dance Company re-opens Kaufman Concert Hall

Kathryn Posin Dance Company (KPCD) has been invited by the 92nd Street Y to be the company that re-opens the fabled 900-seat Kaufman Concert Hall, for years one of New York’s major dance venues, now re-opening after a long closure. Performances will take place February 11 and 12, 2016 on the stage that has seen many early performances by the companies of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey and, in 1967, the choreographic debut of Kathryn Posin. The invitation is a result of the success of the KPCD’s 2014 season at the 92nd Street Y’s Buttenweiser Hall, Voices of Bulgaria and America, which sold out and was live-streamed to 54 countries. 

Amar Ramasar, principal dancer with New York City Ballet, will return as a guest performer (appearing Friday night only), joining Megan Dickinson (of Black Swan, Flesh and Bone and An American in Paris) and a stellar company whose credits include The Joffrey Ballet, Bad Boys of Ballet, and the company of Twyla Tharp.

For Posin’s brand new work Climate Control, the otherworldly iconic Meredith Monk will be on stage with her equally virtuosic partner Theo Bleckmann, singing and playing. This is a first-time collaboration between Monk and Posin, and the first time Monk’s stunning vocalizations have been used in ballet. The choreographer envisions a world of drastic climate contradictions – the block-like dances of the Arctic juxtaposed with the fiercely rhythmic undulations of the ancient Hula. Posin, Professor of World Dance and Choreography at New York University, plans to incorporate these forms into the abstract and formal structure of the ballet.

For this special season, Posin will present her seminal 1975 work Waves, originally commissioned by the American Dance Festival and set to an original piece by electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel. A modern dance classic that grew out of the “group motion” communal spirit of the 70s, Waves was later commissioned by Jiří Kylián, Alvin Ailey and Eliot Feld for their companies. Waves is being reconstructed after 30 years by original cast member Lance Westergard.

The program will also see a repeat of Posin’s Century Rolls, a highlight of the 2014 performance at the Y. Composer John Adams’ score is his response to the turning over of a new century and his homage to piano music; thus one hears Copland, Gershwin and Bartok through the fractured vision of a post-minimalist composer. Posin has created a complex study in rhythm and partnering for an ensemble of eight dancers. It’s a fusion of neoclassical ballet and the spatial relationships of Merce Cunningham, with whom the choreographer studied.

The Kathryn Posin Dance Company is proud to have been selected to perform at the 92nd St. Y’s legendary Kaufman Concert Hall, where a diverse audience attends events in philosophy, politics, economics, international studies, poetry, classical and pop music, theater, television and now, once again, dance. For further information, visit www.kathrynposin.org or www.92y.org.

Photo by Lois Greenfield.