Baryshnikov Arts Announces Fall 2024 Performances + Artist Residencies

Baryshnikov Arts will present a fall season of dance, music, and digital performances beginning September 20 with the encore of MERCE / MISHA / MORE, a film celebrating decades of friendship, mutual admiration, and collaboration between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham. 

On October 21, the annual Fall Fête benefit will present the world premiere of Woolgathering. Directed and composed by Oliver Tompkins Ray and choreographed by John Heginbotham, the piece will feature Patti Smith with Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Connor Gallaher (pedal steel/guitar), and Oliver Tompkins Ray (guitar and electronics), as well as dancers Gerald Casel and Mykel Marai Nairne of Dance Heginbotham. After the Fall Fête, Woolgathering will run October 23 and 24 in the Jerome Robbins Theater at Baryshnikov Arts Center. 

The Fall Fête will honor dance luminary Yvonne Rainer and include a pre-performance cocktail reception at 6 PM, performance at 7 PM, and seated fundraising dinner at 8 PM. To reserve a ticket or table, please email gala@baryshnikovarts.org. Baryshnikov Arts gratefully acknowledges Hudson Yards as Lead Sponsor of the 2024 Fall Fête.

Additional highlights include jakob & imani by dancer Imani Gaudin and visual artist Jakob Vitale (commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts and the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance), a world premiere by dance/music/beatboxing collective PRISMA (commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts), and the world premiere of STAGED, a digital dance piece by vAL.

PERFORMANCES

MERCE / MISHA / MORE
Featuring Cunningham, Baryshnikov, Jacquelin Harris, Chalvar Monteiro and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
September 20 at 7 PM
Jerome Robbins Theater
Tickets: $35 ($31 + $4 fee)

Baryshnikov Arts presents the encore of MERCE / MISHA / MORE, a film celebrating decades of friendship, mutual admiration, and collaboration between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham. Back by popular demand after its spring 2024 premiere, the production includes interviews with Mikhail Baryshnikov, rarely seen rehearsal footage from 1967 and 1994, the duet from Cunningham’s Landrover, featuring Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro, and Daniel Madoff’s film Event at REDCAT, performed in 2010 by Mikhail Baryshnikov with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and produced by Nancy Dalva. 

This program celebrates the 60th anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s first Event, and the 50th anniversary of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s arrival in the West.

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jakob & imani
Imani Gaudin and Jakob Vitale
October 3 at 12 PM
Commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts and the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance 
Bella Abzug Park
FREE

With support from the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, Baryshnikov Arts will premiere jakob & imani, a performance art piece created by choreographer Imani Gaudin and visual artist Jakob Vitale. Exploring the symbiotic relationship between graffiti and contemporary dance, this site-specific work will investigate how movement shapes the perceived meaning of graffiti art, and conversely, how the visual elements of graffiti influence the dancer’s physical expression. Through improvisation and audience interaction, jakob & imani will use the large open space of Bella Abzug Park as the location for exploration around a central graffiti mural. This performance will take place throughout the day of October 3, 2024, and will be presented free of charge.

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Woolgathering (Commission, World Premiere)
Directed and composed by Oliver Tompkins Ray
Choreography by John Heginbotham
Featuring Patti Smith
October 23, 24 at 7 PM
Jerome Robbins Theater

October 21 Annual Fall Fête benefit performance and dinner honoring Yvonne Rainer. For more information, please email gala@baryshnikovarts.org

Baryshnikov Arts commissions the world premiere of Woolgathering, an evening-length spoken word opera directed and composed by Oliver Tompkins Ray, based upon singer-songwriter and author Patti Smith’s book, Woolgathering. As a longtime artistic collaborator of Smith’s, Ray is joined by John Heginbotham, who will develop a choreographic vision and language that inspirit the natural and supernatural worlds of Woolgathering, a meditation on memory, childhood, and imagination. Smith’s words will enliven and amplify the setting, music, and dance. The work will feature Patti Smith (voice), Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Connor Gallaher (pedal steel/guitar), and Oliver Tompkins Ray (guitar and electronics), as well as Gerald Casel and Mykel Marai Nairne of Dance Heginbotham. The production includes lighting design by Thomas Dunn, sound design by Chris Mclaughlin, and costumes by Maile Okamura. 

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PRISMA
ARKAI, Chris Celiz, Gene Shinozaki, Quinn Wharton
World premiere of a new work commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts
November 14, 15, 16 at 7 PM
Jerome Robbins Theater

Built around the ideas of origins and personal mythology, the work will explore genesis moments. Each of the artists involved has a particular and impactful moment where they started pursuing One Direction in their life, and their world was changed by a singular moment. Using this frame, they will explore the ideas storytelling has around the personal human journey and growth. The show will be a 50- to 60-minute performance using live music and choreography to express the ineffable experiences we have on these journeys. The audience will experience the hybrid musical form of beatboxing mixed with classical strings as well as dance in the form of contemporary, partnering, and hip hop.

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STAGED (Digital, World Premiere)
vAL 
Begins November 1

What happens to an “American Gothic” under the weight of a curtain that never falls? 

What is at stake if we decide to play the wrong role? 

What is your cue to enter the scene?

STAGED is a short film by vAL featuring Corey Scott-Gilbert and Roderick George in an endless loop of false starts where two nihilistic characters rally through self-reflection to interrogate their roles inside of a theatrical conundrum. In this virtual commission from Baryshnikov Arts, STAGED employs the theater itself as a reflective pool, mirroring life’s absurdities in search of a glint of horizon. Accompanied by the voice of Gus Solomons, Jr., STAGED unpacks a world of exuberant exile where rules are meant to be broken and caricatures confronted.

Perhaps hope is only elsewhere; perhaps elsewhere is already here…

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Charles Overton Group 
December 5, 6, 7 at 7 PM
Howard Gilman Performance Space

Harpist Charles Overton presents a program of original compositions and arrangements of jazz standards in his first run of shows as a band leader in New York City. Having strong foundations in classical music, Overton explores finding his own identity as a creative musician through the reimagining of existing work and the exploration of new sounds. This production will take place salon-style. 

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SEASON TICKETING

Tickets are available at baryshnikovarts.org.

MEMBERSHIP

Join Baryshnikov Arts’ membership program! Become a Fan, Friend, Patron, Advocate, Benefactor, or Leader to get access to exclusive perks throughout the 2024 fall season. Details: https://ci.ovationtix.com/31295/store/donations/50788

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

Gianna Burright
November 4–9, 11–16
Dance

Hai-Ting Chinn
November 11–16, 18–23
Music/Theater/Opera

Ariel Freedman + vAL
September 16–21
Dance/Theater

Martin Harriague
October 28–November 2, 4–9
Dance

Kashia Kancey
September 9–14, 16–21
Dance/Theater

John Kelly
November 11–17, 18–24
Performance Art
Baryshnikov Arts Fellowship
at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

Andrea Kleine
November 18–23
Interdisciplinary

Samora la Perdida
November 4–9, 11–16
Musical Theater

Nicole Vaughan-Diaz
September 9–14
Dance/Theater

Clara Yang
September 16–21
Music/Visual Arts

Susannah Yugler
September 23–28
Dance/Theater

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

In 2005, Mikhail Baryshnikov launched Baryshnikov Arts in New York City, a creative space designed to support multidisciplinary artists from around the globe. Among Mr. Baryshnikov’s many awards are the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, the Commonwealth Award, the Chubb Fellowship, the Jerome Robbins Award, and the Vilcek Award. In 2010, he was given the rank of Officer of the French Legion of Honor, and in 2017 he received Japan’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award in Theatre/Film. Born 1948 in Riga, Latvia, Mikhail Baryshnikov is considered one of the greatest dancers of our time. After commencing a spectacular career with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he came to the West in 1974, settling in New York City as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). In 1978 he joined New York City Ballet, where he worked with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. A year later he was appointed artistic director of ABT where, for the next decade, he introduced a new generation of dancers and choreographers. From 1990–2002, Mr. Baryshnikov was director and dancer of the White Oak Dance Project, which he and choreographer Mark Morris co-founded to expand the repertoire and visibility of American modern dance. As an actor he has performed widely on- and off-Broadway, as well as in television and film, receiving a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Metamorphosis, and an Academy Award nomination for The Turning Point. Other theatrical productions include Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor and the Patient, Beckett Shorts, In Paris, Man in a Case, The Old Woman, Letter to a Man, and Brodsky/Baryshnikov. Recent projects include NOT ONCE., a cinematic installation developed in collaboration with Jan Fabre and Phil Griffin, a theatrical production and film directed by Latvian director Alvis Hermanis entitled The White Helicopter, a new adaptation of Chekhov’s masterpiece The Cherry Orchard directed by Igor Golyak, and most recently François Girard’s The Hunting Gun.

Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) was a celebrated dancer and choreographer renowned for his groundbreaking work and his profound influence on generations of dancemakers and artists. Born in Centralia, Washington, he attended the Cornish School in Seattle where he was introduced to the work of Martha Graham and met the composer John Cage who would become his closest collaborator and life partner. In 1939, after relocating to New York City, Cunningham began a six-year tenure as a soloist in the Graham company, and soon began presenting his own choreography. In the summer of 1953, during a teaching residency at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed a dance company to explore his innovative ideas. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company remained in continuous operation until its closure in 2011, with Cunningham as artistic director until his death in 2009. In collaboration with John Cage, Cunningham proposed a series of radical ideas including the separation of music and dance, the use of chance operations, and novel ways to utilize film and technology. Over the course of his seventy-year career he choreographed 180 dances and over 700 Events, collaborated with such renowned artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, David Tudor and Christian Wolff, and earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts. Today his work continues to be performed by professional and student dancers worldwide.

Originally from Alaska, John Heginbotham graduated from The Juilliard School (1993), and was a member of Mark Morris Dance Group (1998–2012). In 2011, he founded Dance Heginbotham and the company quickly gained recognition for its unique blend of inventive, thoughtful, and rigorous dance theater works. John received a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2014 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in recognition of his unique choreographic vision and promise. John was a Research Fellow at the National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron (NCCAkron), was awarded a 2017/18 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship, was a 2016 Fellow at NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts, and is a two-time recipient of the Jerome Robbins Foundation New Essential Works (NEW) Fellowship (2010, 2012). As a freelance choreographer, John’s projects include Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy;” the Tony Award– and Olivier Award-winning revival of Oklahoma!, directed by Daniel Fish; and John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West, directed by Peter Sellars. John is the Director of the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble, and is a founding teacher of Dance for PD®.

Oliver Tompkins Ray is a poet, musician, and composer. Most recently his work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail and on the Fall of America vol 2, A Musical Tribute to Allen Ginsberg. He is the author of the Substack “Rimbaud’s Lost Papers.” In 2024 he received a grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation. Born in Boston, Mass, and raised in New York City, for the last 15 years he has lived and worked in Tucson, AZ.

Patti Smith is a performer, author, visual artist. Her memoir, Just Kids, was awarded the National Book Award. Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, named Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and the National Legion of Honor by the French Republic and received Sweden’s Polar Award, for significant achievements in music. Her books include Just Kids, Auguries of Innocence, Woolgathering, M Train, Collected Lyrics, Devotion, Year of the Monkey and most recently, A Book of Days. She is a featured writer on Substack, where her twice weekly writings and readings can be subscribed to online.

Imani Gaudin and Jakob Vitale are a New York City–based performing arts duo, merging their distinct talents into a mesmerizing collaboration of movement and graffiti art. Both are proud graduates of Purchase College with BFAs in dance and visual arts, and were Baryshnikov Arts Spring 2024 residency artists. Gaudin’s years of dedication to mastering various styles of movement, coupled with an innate ability to turn movement structures into choreography, have earned her recognition in the dance community. Vitale is a visionary visual artist renowned for his complex scenes, allegories, and narrations on urban environments of New York City and Los Angeles. Together, their synergy creates a unique sensory experience, where the movement of dance and graffiti harmonize, bringing to life narratives that transcend the boundaries of traditional art forms. Their collaborative performances captivate audiences, sparking conversations about the fusion of movement and visual art. With their innovative approach to artistic expression, Imani Gaudin and Jakob Vitale continue to push boundaries and inspire audiences with their dynamic collaborations.

ARKAI is an award-winning electroacoustic duo consisting of Jonathan Miron and Philip Sheegog. They have inspired audiences around the world through their genre-defying string music. Graduates of The Juilliard School, their past engagements have included performances at The MET, Joe’s Pub, City Winery, US Air Force Academy, Rockwood Music Hall, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, Musikfest, Chateau Marmont, Carnegie Hall and TED. They recently opened for Oscar- and Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste at YPO EDGE hosted in NYC's Javits Center. 

Chris Celiz is an artist, music educator, world-champion beatboxer and all-around fun-haver. He is a New York City native and graduate of State University of New York at Fredonia. He is the founder of The Beatbox House, a collective of world-champion beatboxers based in New York.

Gene Shinozaki, originally from California, attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. In 2015, he won the Grand Beatbox Battles (Switzerland), making him the first American to take the title. He is one of the core members of The Beatbox House. Gene's most famous routines include: “Hero,” “Metamorphosis,” “Jigsaw,” and “Brain.”

Quinn Wharton is a choreographer and director with a specialty in human movement. He was born in Seattle and raised in a yurt on Hawaii. He danced for the San Francisco Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and served as the assistant choreographer on four award-winning ballets by Yuri Possokhov at the Bolshoi Ballet. He has directed films for Rolex, American Ballet Theatre, New York Choreographic Institute, and Baryshnikov Arts. He has lectured at Stanford University and the University of Chicago.

Charles Overton began his musical journey with the American Youth Harp Ensemble and the Interlochen Arts Academy before moving to Boston in 2012 to expand his musical horizons at the Berklee College of Music. During his studies he became immersed in the world of jazz and improvised music, owing much of his outlook on music to lessons from the renowned artist-faculty of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. Overton performs frequently with the Boston Symphony as both a second and substitute harpist, and highlights in chamber music include concerts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia and several summers performing at the Yellow Barn Summer Music Festival. An avid jazz musician, he performs regularly in venues across the northeast as a band leader and internationally in collaboration with such artists as Shabaka Hutchings, Ganavya Doraiswamy, and Rajna Swaminathan. He released his first recording as a bandleader entitled “Convergence” in 2017 under the Boston-based Jazz Urbane record label, and is currently writing and arranging music for a follow-up recording project entitled “Once More.” Overton currently serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Corey Scott-Gilbert aka vAL was born in Washington, D.C. in 1983. After graduation from the Baltimore School for the Arts and The Juilliard School, he became a soloist with the Lyon Opera Ballet, receiving the Princess Grace Award in 2009. He has been featured in the 84th Academy Awards (2012) and Louis Vuitton Shows (2021-2022). Following his mentorship by Alonzo King and an ankle injury, Scott-Gilbert’s path shifted to that of an independent artist based in Berlin, engaging in collaborations with Eszter Salamon, Sasha Waltz, Julian Rosenfeldt and Ligia Lewis and developing an adopted creative identity in the form of ‘vAL.’ With an inherently Queer perspective and off-grid aesthetic, vAL’s agenda is to further understand the mental state from which creation springs; concerned with sketches of possibility unconfined by genre, gender, demographic or any other limitation placed on the individual by society. The artist’s personal history of movement serves as a vehicle for interrogating their own breath, a process in which collaging wordplay and physical utterance often serve as the foundation for their multidisciplinary playgrounds.

ABOUT BARYSHNIKOV ARTS RESIDENCIES

Baryshnikov Arts Residencies provide space for creative investigation in all performing arts disciplines: dance, music, theater, multimedia, performance art, or any combination thereof. Each year, we host up to 20 artists in residence, with support that can include the use of Baryshnikov Arts’ studios and theaters, work-in-progress showings, artist honoraria, and technical and administrative services.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Baryshnikov Arts, founded in 2005 by Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov, is rooted in the belief that artists hold irreplaceable roles in our world, shaping perspectives, offering new approaches, and initiating crucial conversations in complex social, political, and cultural environments. Baryshnikov Arts supports extraordinary performers to experiment with unique artistic expression that asks audiences to view the world in new ways. We offer performance and commissioning opportunities, artist residencies, and more. President and Executive Director Sonja Kostich brings focus to cultivating and supporting new perspectives. With the recent rebrand of the organization in June 2023, Baryshnikov Arts expands its capacity to create multi-platform and collaborative havens for artistic expression, innovation and freedom, further committing to elevating and sharing the stories of artists of diverse cultures and histories. baryshnikovarts.org

Tables and tickets to the 2024 Fall Fête can be reserved through gala@baryshnikovarts.org. Tickets to fall performances are available at baryshnikovarts.org.