92NY Harkness Dance Center Presents the World Premiere of GOODBYE MONTANA

The creative process. Decay, obsession and Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the "zombie fungus." The 92nd Street Y, New York Harkness Dance Center's 2021-22 Mainstage Series closes with Jonathan Fredrickson's GOODBYE MONTANA, an evening-length world premiere dance theater piece with music by Oleg Stepanov. Not limited to conventional dance, the piece includes text and physical theater.

Drawing on his seven years with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Jonathan credits Pina's work with influencing some of his choreographic choices and process. He offers this artistic statement on this new work:

"While listening to Richard Strauss' "September", an almost whimsical aria about a garden slowly dying at the end of summer, I was reminded that decay, although sobering and confronting, can be quite beautiful. The theme of decay led me to rediscover a phenomenon in nature- a fungus, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis , that takes over the minds of insects and leads them to their end, turning what remains of them into a fungus themselves. To me, I connected this 'zombie fungus' with obsession. As in with love, and the creative process, our thoughts can be consumed by one singular concept. We are made captive and in the end we are transformed. In what ways do we decay in our everyday lives? Is decay only physical or does it show up as our forgetfulness, in our desires, and in our expectations?"

Jonathan Fredrickson, born in Corpus Christi, Texas, is an artist whose career has been made as a dancer, choreographer, and dramaturge. He graduated from California Institute of the Arts, where his curiosity for cross disciplinary and multidisciplinary art began. His professional performance career expanded 16 years, having danced with the Limón Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and most recently with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. On international stages, he has been featured in works by diverse artists including Pina Bausch, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Sharon Eyal, William Forsythe, Alonzo King, Jiří Kylián, Jose Limón, Ohad Naharin, Alan Lucien Øyen, and Dimitris Papaioannou.

He has created new and original work for Limón, Hubbard Street, and Tanztheater Wuppertal's choreographic platform: UNDERGROUND, as well as for international dance festivals and schools such as California Institute of the Arts, CalState Fullerton, Limon Institute, and Sundance/Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre. He was a winner of Hubbard Street's National Choreographic Competition and honored as one of Dance Magazine's "25 To Watch" in 2010. Jonathan's creative work sits at the intersection of theater, dance, conceptual art, interdisciplinary form, and storytelling. His search is about creating work that illuminates the human experience.