The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center announces the New York City premiere performance of Kurt Jooss's The Green Table by the Paul Taylor Dance Company, celebrating the work's 90th anniversary. Jooss, pioneering choreographer, dancer and theoretician stood among the great figures of 20th-century dance.
This prescient anti-war masterpiece is as resonant today as it was when first performed in 1932 during Hitler's rise to power. Cinematic, packed with drama, visually stunning and still shocking, it's a profoundly human work of social protest. Jooss's genius for expressing emotion with "piercing truth and vibrant theatricality" has lost none of its power in the passage of time; his message of the futile, relentless tragedy of war is powerfully apposite today. The live performance is on April 6 at 7:30 pm ET and will also be livestreamed and available online for 72 hours.
Following the performance, policy experts Dr. Stephen Biddle and Janine di Giovanni discuss the work and its relationship to war, policy and atrocity with
David Rubenstein, who comments, "I look forward to my conversation with these two experts whose remarkable writing and experience enables them to contextualize the work within the policy and experience of war."
"We're in a similar geopolitical situation today as in 1932 when
Kurt Jooss created The Green Table, with diplomats and policy experts negotiating in an effort to avert war," comments 92Y Harkness Dance Center Director Taryn Kaschock Russell. "The timing couldn't be more apropos for this powerful piece, combined with a discussion by policy experts. 92Y has long been known for conversations with world leaders and diplomats, and for presenting iconic works of art. It's appropriate that this work is being performed on the same stage where such politically-motivated and ground-breaking choreographers as
Alvin Ailey (Revelations),
Pearl Primus (Hard Time Blues) and
Paul Taylor himself (Seven New Dances) premiered their work."
"The Green Table by
Kurt Jooss is a seminal work in the canon of 20th century dance, one that I have wanted to bring to the stage for quite some time," comments
Paul Taylor Dance Company Artistic Director
Michael Novak. "Although it is a work usually performed by ballet companies, I knew the Taylor dancers would execute it with abandon, ferocity and precision. I am thrilled that our first NYC performance will take place at the Kaufmann Concert Hall Stage at 92Y, which holds a special significance for our Company since
Paul Taylor premiered Seven New Dances in 1957 on the same stage."
"This masterwork is both timeless and timely," comments 92Y Board Chair
Jody Gottfried Arnhold. "We're thrilled that audiences in our hall and those watching virtually around the world, will see
Paul Taylor Dance Company present their New York City premiere of this cinematic and visually stunning work at the
92nd Street Y."
92Y's historic Kaufmann Concert Hall is being transformed to accommodate this production, with seats removed to add a stage extension for the set and two grand pianos. The Green Table has an original score by F. A. Cohen that will be performed live by musicians of the Orchestra of St. Luke's.
