Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Dance Solo, GOLDBERG VARIATIONS, is Coming to NYU Skirball

​NYU Skirball will present the North American premiere of The Goldberg Variations, A Solo Dance by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker February 22 - February 24, 2024.

In this dance solo, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker continues her journey with Bach, this time together with pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. She stays true to her main principle of using the musical score as the blueprint for choreography.

The Goldberg Variations belong to Bach's late period, in which the composer pushes the boundaries of musical themes in a play of variations, canons, and fugues. Spanning one aria and thirty variations, the music challenges the choreographer to find a form of dance capable of adaptation and flexibility while retaining an immutable core. To De Keersmaeker, it is above all an invitation to consolidate the road traveled as an artist, posing today's questions in her ongoing search for a personal choreographic idiom. rosas.be/en/

In 1980, after studying dance at Mudra School in Brussels and Tisch School of the Arts in New York, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (b. 1960) created Asch, her first choreographic work. Two years later came the premiere of Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich. She established the dance company Rosas in Brussels in 1983, while creating the work Rosas danst Rosas. Her choreography is grounded in a rigorous and prolific exploration of the relationship between dance and music. With Rosas, she has created a wide-ranging body of work engaging the musical structures and scores of several periods, from early music to contemporary and popular idioms. Her choreographic practice also draws formal principles from geometry, numerical patterns, the natural world, and social structures to offer a unique perspective on the body's articulation in space and time.

London-based Pavel Kolesnikov was born in Siberia and studied both the piano and violin before concentrating solely on the piano. He has given recitals in London at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and at Kings Place. He enjoys collaborating with other musicians, such as the Brahms Violin and Viola Sonatas with Lawrence Power, again at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Pavel has also given recitals in South Korea, Japan, Spain, and Germany, and at the La Roque d'Antheron festival, the Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, and the Aldeburgh Festival. He returns regularly to the Wigmore Hall in London. His 6th album, Bach's Goldberg Variations, was released in 2020. His collaboration with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker on the Goldberg Variations premiered in August 2020 and is touring the world.

NYU Skirball is located in the heart of Greenwich Village, historically a center of resistance, dissent and free thinking. NYU Skirball's programing reflects this history and embraces today's renegade artists and companies, presenting works that aim to engage, provoke and inspire audiences. NYU Skirball is NYC's home for cutting-edge performance, artistic research, and discourse, holding close to James Baldwin's dictum that “artists are here to disturb the peace.” The 800-seat theatre provides a home for internationally renowned artists, innovators, and thinkers and presents ground-breaking events ranging from re-inventions of the classics to cutting-edge premieres, in genres ranging from dance, theatre and performance arts to comedy, music and film.

TICKETS

The Goldberg Variations will play February 22 – 24 at 7:30 pm. Tickets begin at $70 and can be purchased online, by visiting the box office in person, Tuesday – Saturday from 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm, or by calling 212.998.4941. NYU Skirball is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012. www.nyuskirball.org.

NYU Skirball's programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; Collins Building Services; Korean Cultural Center New York; Van Cleef & Arpels; Marta Heflin Foundation; and Harkness Foundation for Dance, as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.

Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, M to West 4th St.; R & W to 8th Street; 6 to Astor Place.

Programs, artists, and ticket prices are subject to change.