Lydia Johnson Dance Reveals 2024 Season at The Graham Studio Theater

Lydia Johnson Dance has announced its 2024 Season at the Graham Studio Theater. The company will host performances on Wednesday, December 4, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, December 8, at 3 p.m. Ticket prices are as follows: $65 for Patrons, $35 for General Admission and $20 for Dancers/Students. Tickets can be purchased here.

The 2024 Season features the World Premiere Yet to be Titled (2024), set to music by Terry Riley, Chapters (2023), featuring music by William Duckworth and Christopher Dennis Coleman, the revival of her signature piece Summer House (2011), performed to Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes and Poems for Solo Cello. Rounding out the program will be excerpts from Time …and again (2022), set to musical standards performed by Oscar Peterson. 

“I’m thrilled our company is returning to the same studio theater where many of my early works were performed,” said Johnson. “The emotional resonance of music is at the heart of my choreography, and this Season audiences will connect with a range of human experience expressed in both my recent work and earlier pieces.”

The engagement marks the third Season of an ongoing collaboration with New York City Ballet repertory director and former soloist Craig Hall, who will perform in Time …and again. While dancing at New York City Ballet he performed in featured roles in numerous George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Justin Peck and Alexei Ratmansky masterworks. 

“I love that music is the common language Lydia Johnson and I speak even as we come from the different worlds of ballet and modern,” said Hall. “Music has always been the foundation for me, the driving force, and this is true of Lydia as well. I’m excited to return to the company and dance with one of my all-time favorite partners, Laura Di Orio, and make some more magic together.”  

The program will feature a World Premiere Yet to be Titled (2024). Set to an arrangement of minimalist composer Terry Riley’s IN C (1964), the piece highlights Johnson’s distinctive use of emotional gestures within movement phrases. The work features a central trio and a group of children, evoking a community intertwined with Riley’s iconic minimalist score. Johnson’s musicality shines through as the dancers explore themes of repetition, connection and evolving relationships. 

Chapters (2023), a precursor to the World Premiere, is set to several minimalist and film score compositions by William Duckworth, Christopher Dennis Coleman and others. The work begins with three emotionally charged duets, with each couple moving through their own narrative. As the piece develops, an ensemble section brings the community aspect into focus, with dancers lifting and supporting one another.

A revival of Summer House (2011) will also be presented. This chamber piece, inspired by Johnson’s own experiences in a rural summer cottage in Maine, is set to Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes and Poems for Solo Cello. The quartet fuses memories of relationships past with the present, creating an emotional journey for the audience.

Rounding out the program are excerpts from Time …and again (2022), featuring Hall. This work, composed with a loving nod to musical theater and old movies, is set to the music of jazz legend Oscar Peterson and reflects on time, memory and the beauty found in dancing itself. Hall’s appearance provides an added layer of depth to this poignant piece composed during the pandemic.