Lynn Brings SIX SOLOS to United Solo Festival, October 28

Lynn Needle, former Nikolais Dance Theatre soloist, will appear on the United Solo Festival in her 'Six Solos - Legend, Myth and Nature," a one hour, six solo, presentation that features works by seminal choreographers Alwin Nikolais (1953) and Claudia Gitelman (1978), along with dances by Ms. Needle that exemplify the German school of modern dance and its evolution.

The evening unfolds with interludes of spoken text by Needle, and a feast of elaborate costumes of butterfly wings, jeweled masks, deconstructed modernism, and a Gala creature exploring all things organic.

The evening opens with Nikolais' signature work, Noumenon, with choreography, projection, costume and sound score by Alwin Nikolais (1910-1993). The licensing and performance of this work has been granted through the exclusive rights of Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, Inc.

By Claudia Gitelman is Impromptu, created by the choreographer in 1978 while on a Fulbright grant in Brazil, and set to music by Schubert. Performed with the permission of the Gitelman Estate. Gitelman (1936-2012) was part of an early generation of dancers who worked with pioneering choreographer Alwin Nikolais, and director of her own company.

Lynn Needle's four dances are Forest, music by David Lanz, digital projection by Dr. Ruth Grauert, longtime lighting designer for the Alwin Nikolais company; Haunted, music by Dr. Dinu Ghezzo, video direction and animation by John Crawford; Monarch, music by Stevie Wonder; digital projection by Dr. Ruth Grauert; and Shakti, music by Mickey Hart. Forest, Monarch, and Shakti are excerpted from Needle's creation myth Heaven and Earth, i??created through the Art of Motion Dance Theatre, founder/directors Lynn Needle and Olivia Galgano.

Lynn Needle toured six out of seven continents and more than 40 of the United States as a soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre. She is also co-founder and director of Art of Motion, Inc., a non-profit conservatory and home to the Art of Motion Dance Theatre, located in Ridgewood, N.J.

Lynn is the recipient of numerous grants, including an international Andrew W. Mellon Cultural Exchange Fund grant for a teaching residency in Mexico, the ACDFA National Dance Magazine Award for Choreography, the Harkness Foundation, Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, and the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.

Her work has been presented at the Kennedy Center, Jacob's Pillow, and international venues. Lynn is a recipient of lifetime Achievement Awards from the Ridgewood Arts Foundation, Dance in the Desert Festival, and has been featured on PBS, podcasts, and VR film.