Peter Stathas Dance Presents The World Premiere Of IN THE GARDEN

Peter Stathas Dance presents the World Premiere of In the Garden from Thursday-Saturday, February 20-22, 2020 at 8pm at The Theater at Gibney, 280 Broadway (entrance at 53A Chambers). Tickets are $15 and are available at https://gibneydance.org/event/pop-performance-peter-stathas-dance/2020-02-20. Pending availability, tickets can be purchased at the door for $20.

A new solo piece, In The Garden is the exploration of our life cycle. It dwells on the questions we ask ourselves as we move through this continuum. And it immerses us in the natural, authentic aspects of our creative growth. This is the initial solo of what will evolve into a larger group work. The piece will combine music with the dancer's recorded voice. Other dances performed this evening include: Five Studies for a Waiter and a Business Woman (1985) and Assuage (2018) as well as Conundrum, which premiered last year at St. Marks Church as part of Danspace Community Access Program. Conundrum was conceived with the idea of specific confined spaces being used to represent your own and others' perceptions. As each new dancer is added, the "space" expands to allow the dancers to shed those perceptions and to be their authentic selves. Dancers: Selina Hack, Ty Graynor, Paulina Meneses, Jesse Obremski, Emilee Pratt, Sasha Rydlizky and Lauren Twomley.

Peter Stathas began his dance training at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the mid '70s, and continued his training at SUNY Purchase. He moved to New York City to continue his education and studied with dance luminaries such as Maggie Black, Geri Houlihan, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, Marjorie Mussman, Ernie Pagnano, Zena Rommentt, and Mel Wong. Peter is grateful to these teachers, past and present, for their knowledge and training which continues to influence his work today. In 1979, he became a member of the Jose Limon Dance Company and soon after joined Marta Renzi and Dancers. As a part of Marta Renzi's company, he danced many roles and toured extensively before finding his passion for choreography, which lead him to begin creating his own works. In 1986, Peter became interested in physical therapy as a way to combine his knowledge and love of dance with the awareness of proper physical alignment, so he enrolled at University of Massachusetts Lowell School for Physical Therapy.

For 26 years, he focused solely on building his physical therapy practice and business, Freedom Physical Therapy Services. In 2016, he was inspired to return to dance and created two new pieces of work, which were featured in his first live performance in 30 years. In 2018, Peter was selected for the choreographic mentorship program DOVA with Doug Varone and Dancers. His duet Assauge premiered at Gibney in August of 2018. Peter Stathas Dance was created to give dancers a forum to unleash their creativity and individuality through a collaborative process with the choreographer to generate innovative movement. www.peterstathasdance.com

In the Garden is presented as part of Gibney's POP: Performance Opportunity Project series. POP serves the dance community by providing space, support, and subsidized theater rental rates to non-profit companies and individual dance artists.