CUNY Dance Initiative And John Jay College Present The World Premiere Of Gabrielle Lamb's PLEXUS

The CUNY Dance Initiative and John Jay College, in collaboration with Pigeonwing Dance, present the World Premiere of Gabrielle Lamb's Plexus (a Work in Knots) on Friday, February 7, 2020 at 7:30pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 W. 59th Street, NYC. Tickets are $25 ($15 students/seniors) and can be purchased starting January 2, 2020 at https://www.pigeonwingdance.com/pwd/plexus.

In Plexus (a Work in Knots), Princess Grace Award winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb creates a complex ecosystem of interdependent bodies, a mysterious network of fluctuating loyalties built upon an unsteady balance of power. This world premiere is performed by the seven members of Pigeonwing Dance - Lamb's own NYC-based company - and set to a commissioned electroacoustic score from composer James Budinich that mixes traditional instruments with sounds from found objects.

"Plexus explores and embodies the importance of interdependence," said Lamb. "Western culture has traditionally prized individuality, encouraging humans to sever our obligations to each other---then further dividing us into a separate body and mind. This work reintegrates body and mind, then coordinates multiple bodies as linked, interlocking parts of a larger whole."

Plexus (a Work in Knots)features lighting design by Barry Steele and costumes by Christine Darch, and is performed by Cody Berkeley, Robin Cantrell, Giovanna Gamna, Tiffany Mangulabnan, Patrick O'Brien, Victoria Sames, Kailei Sin.

Gabrielle Lamb, the winner of a Princess Grace Award, is an NYC-based choreographer. A native of Savannah, GA, she was a longtime soloist at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, touring the world in works by classical and contemporary masters. DANCE Magazine described her as "a dancer of stunning clarity who illuminates the smallest details-qualities she brings to the dances she makes, too". Her work has been presented by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, BalletX, Ballet Collective, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Jacob's Pillow, and Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center. She has won fellowships and competitions at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet, the Banff Centre, and NY City Center, as well as the S&R Foundation's Grand Prize Washington Award. In 2018, she was selected to create for ABT's Choreographic Incubator.

James Budinich composes music inspired by minimalism, Croatian folk traditions, and American popular music. He has written for orchestra, voice, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and electronics, and has worked with ensembles such as the Momenta Quartet, Yarn/Wire, the Lontano Ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, and Pigeonwing Dance. In 2017, he was commissioned by Ensemble Móbile; the resulting trio (Embrace for flute, violin, and guitar) premiered in Brazil as part of their 2017-18 season. James is currently studying towards his PhD in Composition at Duke University, having previously earned his Master of Music in Composition from Binghamton University.

Pigeonwing Dance, founded by Gabrielle Lamb in 2016, seeks the coordinates where beauty turns to awkwardness and tension dissolves into ease. Murmurations, accidents, and chance encounters are caught, preserved, and folded into dance. These moments of improvisatory abandon are counterbalanced by hours of calculation, revealing intricate structures of architectural precision.

The company, described in The New Yorker as "eccentric...playful...curious," has been presented by Baruch Performing Arts Center, Garth Newel Music Center, Dance Gallery Festival, Jamaica Performing Arts Center, the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival, Bryant Park, and the CUNY Dance Initiative's 5th Year Fest. In December 2018, PWD became the first dance company commissioned by Symphony Space's beloved "Selected Shorts" series.