Tales Of Hopper by Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance

Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance will return to NYC February 25 and 26, 2020 with the premiere of Tales of Hopper (2019), a new theater-dance work inspired by American realist painter Edward Hopper. Performances will take place at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York, NY 10018. 

Tales of Hopper, in a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick, uses dancers cast as figures plucked from selected Edward Hopper paintings. Human connections are illuminated though gestural movement steeped in subtext, with Bresnick’s original compositions for piano, violin, and cello bringing emotional undercurrents to the surface. Transparent set pieces reference Hopper’s environments, contextualizing each of the eight vignettes as they unfold. Tales of Hopper marks a departure for Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, asking each of the dancers to step into the new roles of actor and collaborator in the company’s most character-driven work to date.

“Edward Hopper’s paintings portray a sense of despair and emptiness—a crisis of an alienated world reflecting the loneliness of the human situation in a new, modern age. As artists, we have the only real job security: the expression of the human experience cannot be replaced by computers or machines. CLD has a responsibility to provide insight into and reflection on these disturbing concepts through collaborative, connected performance.” – Cherylyn Lavagnino, Artistic Director

Lavagnino’s newest work is a collaboration with world-renowned artists including composer Martin Bresnick, pianist Lisa Moore, violinist Elly Toyoda, cellist Ashley Bathgate, set designer Jesse Seegers, and costumer Christopher Metzger. CLD performing artists include Sharon Milanese, Kristen Foote, Claire Westby, Justin Faircloth, Corinne Hart, Lila Simmons, Oscar Rodriguez, Emma Pajewski, Philip Strom, Dervla Carey-Jones, Gwen Gussman, and Malcom Miles Young.

A full evening performance will also include two repertory works:

·       Triptych (Excerpt, 2012) links two distinct scores: Francois Couperin’s “Troisième Leçons Tenèbres à Deux Voix,” from the deeply religious Baroque period, and an original score by longtime CLD collaborator Scott Killian. A reverent, intertwining entrance for the female chorus, seeped in the religious ecstasy evoked by Couperin’s composition, prefaces each section of the work. Through abstraction, Lavagnino’s choreography references several Christian icons; the distinct qualities of each dancer embody the individual nature of spiritual expression. This excerpt features the first of two movements.

·       Veiled (2016), a work for a female cast of six, explores the enactment of physical and internal grace in the face of oppression. Lavagnino choreographed movements that are pared-down and stripped of virtuosity, invoking the harsh angles of rituals and formal prayer. Together the dancers forge a rite born of shared experiences that unifies the individual spirits of the group. To Martin Bresnick’s austere score, Veiled reflects women who carry themselves with strength and dignity through an unjust world.

Tickets and further information: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4418307 

Image courtesy of Tales Of Hopper by Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance