Trisha Brown Dance Company Presents its First Commission at The Joyce Theater

The Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) returns to The Joyce Theater (May 2-7) with a new program featuring its first choreographic commission, Let's talk about bleeding, by Cuban-born artist and former TBDC dancer Judith Sánchez Ruíz. This world-premiere celebrates Trisha Brown's dynamic legacy by giving the 50+ year-old company an opportunity to engage with a new contemporary artistic voice that has a connection to Brown's work. The season also pays homage to Brown's prolific collaborations with composer Alvin Curran with two pivotal pieces, For M.G.: The Movie (1991) and Rogues (2011).

Judith Sánchez Ruíz, who danced with the Company from 2006-2009, was profoundly inspired by Trisha Brown's creative process. Let's talk about bleeding, with musical direction and composition by Cuban composer Adonis Gonzalez, is a very personal piece exploring movement that is raw, uninhibited, and deeply liberating while also grounded in the architecture of form. The six dancers blend like a symphony of layers with each dancer representing different expressions that overlap one another. Gonzalez's score features live piano, along with recorded music of violins, horns, and percussion.

For M.G.: The Movie, is a haunting memorial to Michel Guy, the French Minister of Culture and first director of the annual Festival d'Automne à Paris. It is the second piece in Brown's Back to Zero cycle, a series of works investigating unconscious movement in which she pulls back from external virtuosity to explore simpler forms. Set to Curran's discordant score, the guiding principles for this choreography are enigma and time - not measured time - but the perception of time and its inconsistency. The New York Times has hailed For M.G.: The Movie as one of the "greatest pieces in Brown's oeuvre."

Rogues, a poignant study in rhythm, timing, and kinesthetic transmission, features original music by Curran for harmonica and electronic sounds. The duet's simple form marks a return to Brown's exploration of unembellished gesture and pedestrian physicality and is a testament to the pleasure of surprise found throughout Brown's body of work.