Joyce Theater Begins Fall/Winter 2018-2019 Season with NY QUADRILLE

After a season of thrilling and diverse programming,The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director), New York City's premier presenter of dance, proudly kicks off its 2018-2019 Fall/Winter Season with the return of the wildly popular NY Quadrille, which had its debut in the fall of 2016. The three-week engagement, performed in a transformed Joyce Theater performance space, is conceived and curated by famed choreographer Lar Lubovitch, and features works by some of today's most acclaimed and celebrated choreographers/companies including John Jasperse Projects, Kyle Abraham's A.I.M, former Merce Cunningham dancers Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Donna Uchizono Company, and Beth Gill.

The title, NY Quadrille, was inspired by the 18th century dance of the same name. A 'quadrille' was a dance performed in a rectangular configuration and seen from four sides; therefore, as it was for its 2016 debut, The Joyce Theater will be temporarily transformed from September 24 - October 13. A specially-designed platform will be built to extend from the front half of the ("regular") stage and over the first six rows of seating in the theater; riser seating will be built on the stage, allowing for four-sided viewing options in The Joyce's proscenium theater. Each choreographers' quadrille will be performed in their own program as follows:

John Jasperse Projects: Hinterland

September 24-28

Mon-Wed 7:30pm; Thurs-Fri 8pm

(Curtain Chat: Tue, Sep 25)

A.I.M: Dearest Home

September 29-October 1

Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm; Mon 7:30pm

(Curtain Chat: Sun, Sep 30, following the 2pm performance)

Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener: Switch (part of Desire Lines)

October 2-6

Tue & Wed 7:30pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm

Beth Gill: Pitkin Grove

October 4-7

Thu & Fri 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

(Curtain Chat: Fri, Oct 5)

Donna Uchizono Company: into the aLong

October 10-13

Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm

(Curtain Chat: Thu, October 11)

Tickets for NY Quadrille are $35 (General Admission; there will be no assigned seating) and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenueat 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theatre Foundation, said today, "We are thrilled to open the season with the return of the NY Quadrille, conceived and curated by renowned choreographer Lar Lubovitch. This year five New-York based companies will present adventurous works on a re-configured Joyce stage."

John Jasperse Projects returns to The Joyce Theater to present the New York premiere ofHinterland. This evening-length work features a varied group of dancers, including Jasperse, together with a commissioned score by Hahn Rowe, building a micro-community, where dance is both a celebration and a refuge from the wreckage of culture and history. Performances of Hinterland will take place on the following schedule: Monday, September 24 at 7:30pm; Tuesday, September 25 at 7:30pm; Wednesday, September 26 at 7:30pm; Thursday, September 27 at 8pm; Friday, September 29 at 8pm. Curtain Chat, a free post-performance dialogue with artistic directors and/or company members, will follow the performance on Tuesday, September 25.

Kyle Abraham's A.I.M is back with the intimate and evocative Dearest Home, a love letter to relationships and a meditation on memories. Exploring themes of love, longing, and loss, the work features a lush collection of solos and duets performed by Abraham's raw and powerful dancers. Dearest Home will be performed as follows: Saturday, September 29 at 8pm; Sunday, September 30 at 2pm and 7:30pm; Monday, October 1 at 7:30pm. A Curtain Chat will follow the 2pm performance on Sunday, September 30.

Contemporary dance makers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener-who met while performing in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company-work with structured improvisations to create dance that is both formal and radical. In a world premiere for The Joyce's expanded stage, the company searches for new paths to a utopia that is constantly making and unmaking itself. Performances of Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener will take place on the following schedule: Tuesday, October 2 at 7:30pm; Wednesday, October 3 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 6 at 2pm and 8pm. There will be no Curtain Chat for this engagement.

One of the most arresting choreographic talents to emerge in recent years, Beth Gill makes her Joyce debut with a world premiere, Pitkin Grove. The piece utilizes symbolism and storytelling to weave surreal landscapes and rogue characters in a dreamlike space that reaches for the past and future simultaneously. Strongly influenced by the fields of psychology and visual design, Gill creates works of dark beauty toned with the themes of alienation, objectification, female sexuality, rage, and obsession. The creation of this work was supported at every stage of development by The Joyce with a creative residency, a commission, and a week-long production residency in the theater. Beth Gill will perform on the following schedule: Thursday, October 4 at 8pm; Friday, October 5 at 8pm; Sunday, October 7 at 2pm and 7:30pm. A Curtain Chat will follow the performance on Friday, October 5.

Recognized for her vivid imagery and wit laced with unexpected beauty, Donna Uchizonomakes a long-awaited return to The Joyce with a world premiere. Featuring eight dancers, the work is custom-made to view from four sides and features set design by Carrie Norman and Thomas Kelley of Norman Kelley Architects. Performances of Donna UchizonoCompany will be as follows: Wednesday, October 10 at 7:30pm; Thursday, October 11 at 8pm; Friday, October 12 at 8pm; Saturday, October 13 at 8pm. There will be a Curtain Chat following the performance on Thursday, October 11.

Performances of The Joyce Theater's NY Quadrille will take place from September 24 -October 13 at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. Tickets are $35 (General Admission) and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Lar Lubovitch (Conceiver and Curator of NY Quadrille) founded the Lubovitch Dance Company 50 years ago. In the years since, he has choreographed more than 100 dances for his New York-based company, which has performed in nearly all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 foreign countries. Mr. Lubovitch's dances are renowned for their musicality, rhapsodic style, and sophisticated formal structures. His radiant, highly technical choreography, and deeply humanistic voice have been acclaimed throughout the world.

John Jasperse Projects (JJP) was founded in 1989, along with Thin Man Dance, Inc., to support the artistic work of choreographer John Jasperse. The organization's primary focus is the presentation of live performances of contemporary dance; surrounding this, JJP engages in a broad range of residency activities in the U.S. and abroad. Over the past 28 years, JJP has grown, and been recognized nationally and internationally, as one of the leading contemporary dance companies working today. Jasperse has created seventeen evening-length works through this non-profit structure as well as numerous commissions for other companies including Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opera Ballet.

The mission of A.I.M is to create an evocative interdisciplinary body of work. Born into hip-hop culture in the late 1970s and grounded in Artistic Director Kyle Abraham's artistic upbringing in classical cello, piano, and the visual arts, the goal of the movement is to delve into identity in relation to a personal history. The work entwines a sensual and provocative vocabulary with a strong emphasis on sound, human behavior, and all things visual in an effort to create an avenue for personal investigation and exposing that on stage. A.I.M. is a representation of dancers from various disciplines and diverse personal backgrounds. Combined together, these individualities create movement that is manipulated and molded into something fresh and unique. Abraham is the recipient of one of two 2017-2018 Joyce Theater Foundation Creative Residencies.

Since 2010 Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener have created dance in response to complex and active spatial environments, often merging elements of fantasy, absurdity, and quiet contemplation into challenging multifaceted performance. After working together for years in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Mitchell and Riener developed a keen interest in the way abstraction and representation coincide in the body. Their practice relies heavily on improvisation and maintains a deep commitment to formal dance training, physical rigor, and virtuosic, highly skilled movement that equally values the high extension of a leg and the subtle unfurling of fingers. Their collaborative work takes many forms, from site-specific installations, improvisational dances, and traditional proscenium pieces to highly crafted and intimate, immersive experiences. Historical influences and aesthetic forms collapse into a visually charged hybrid physical language.

Donna Uchizono Company (DUC), is a contemporary modern dance company formed in 1990 by Artistic Director Donna Uchizono to create and present works for the public. The company is committed to fostering public awareness and appreciation of the performing and visual arts. DUC offers an expansive vision imbued with passion and rigor to create active and permanent contributions to New York City's cultural community as well as the national and international dance community.

Guggenheim-, Doris Duke Impact-, and Bessie Awardwinning choreographer Beth Gill has been making contemporary dance and performance in New York City since 2005. Her body of work critically examines issues within the fields of contemporary dance and performance studies, through a focused exploration of aesthetics and perception. Gill is the recipient of one of two 2017-2018 Joyce Theater Foundation Creative Residencies, is a 2015-2016 Princeton Hodder Fellow, and a LMCC Extended Life Artist in Residence. She was a 2013-2014 New York City Center Choreography Fellow, received a 2012 Foundation for Contemporary Art grant and was a selected artist for the Hatchery Project. In 2011, Gill was awarded two NY Dance and Performance "Bessie" Awards for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer and the Juried Award for the choreographer exhibiting some of the most interesting and exciting ideas happening in dance in NYC today.

ABOUT THE Joyce Theater Foundation

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a nonprofit organization, has proudly served the dance community for over three decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and The Joyce renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also presented dance at Lincoln Center since 2012, and launched Joyce Unleashed in 2014 to feature emerging and experimental artists. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 150,000.