Breath of the Beast
Stephen Petronio Company is honored to dedicate this work to Sylvia Drulie Mazzola,
a longtime friend, supporter and passionate patron of the arts.
Choreography & Concept: Stephen Petronio
Original Score & Performance: Jennifer Koh
Costume Design: Michelle Rhee
Lighting Designer: Ken Tabachnick
Production Manager: Joe Doran
Stage Manager: Jessie Ksanznak
Sound Engineer: Paul Vazquez
Dancers:
Larissa Asebedo
Liviya England
Jaqlin Medlock
Tess Montoya
Ryan Pliss
Nicholas Sciscione
Guest Artist:
Jerron Herman
Understudy:
Deniz Sanack
Runtime:
60 minutes
Funding for the Stephen Petronio Company
Stephen Petronio Company recognizes commissioning support for “Breath of the Beast” provided by Alison Mazzola, Harold Koda and Alan Kornberg, Jody and John Arnhold, American Dance Festival: Jodee Nimerichter, Jacqueline Davis, Sarah Arison, Jerry Greenfield, Laura T. Harris, Sarah Arison, and Paul King and Walter Jaffe of White Bird.
Stephen Petronio Company’s 2023 Season and “Breath of the Beast” are made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greene County Cultural Fund, New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Arnhold Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Hover Foundation, Neil Barsky & Joan S. Davidson Foundation, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, The SHS Foundation, Serena Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.
Stephen Petronio Company, Staff and Board
Artistic Director: Stephen Petronio
General Manager: Lay’la K. Rogers
Associate: Haley Morgan Miller
Institutional Research and Development: Eliza Stamps
Bookkeeping: Jana Hicks
Management Consulting Services: Robert Dorf
Resident Lighting Designer: Ken Tabachnick
Booking: Cathy Pruzan
Board of Directors
Jill Brienza, Chair
Malin Yhr, Treasurer
Joa Baldinger
Jean-Marc Flack
Marcus McGregor
Gary Holder
Sheila Hollender
Alison Mazzola
Sarah Silver
Ken Tabachnick
Todd Whitley
About the Company
The mission of Stephen Petronio Company (SPC) is to support the vision of choreographer Stephen Petronio, which includes the creation and presentation of his existing and new works, alongside legacy initiatives meant to preserve the history of postmodern dance lineage, while advancing our future through new works that honor and offer a platform for a greater inclusivity of artistic voices.
Founded in 1984, Stephen Petronio Company has performed in 40 countries throughout the world, including numerous New York City engagements with 25 seasons at The Joyce Theater. The Company has been commissioned by Dance Umbrella Festival/London, Hebbel Theater/Berlin, Scène National de Sceaux, Festival d’Automne à Paris, CNDC Angers/France, The Holland Festival, Festival Montpellier Danse, Danceworks UK Ltd, Festival de Danse–Cannes, and in the U.S. by San Francisco Performances, The Joyce Theater, UCSB Arts & Lectures, Wexner Center for the Arts, Walker Art Center, and White Bird, among others and is the recipient of a Dancing Lab residency at the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron (NCCAkron).
The 2014–15 season marked the first incarnation of Bloodlines, a project of Stephen Petronio Company to honor and embody a lineage of American postmodern dance masters. Distinguished for creating original languages that exemplify the highest level of artistic excellence displayed through extreme physical and conceptual rigor, these artists have had a profound impact on Petronio’s own artistic path. To date, the Company has restaged twelve works, by Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Anna Halprin, Yvonne Rainer, Rudy Perez, and Steve Paxton, receiving two New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award nominations for the 2017 Bloodlines season. The juxtapositions of Bloodlines repertory alongside Petronio’s works offers audiences an experiential insight into the evolution of this strand of creativity in American choreography. This season is the third iteration of Bloodlines(future), looking towards future generations of artists and heirs to the Bloodlines lineage and how these historical masters frame the future of modern dance.
In 2017, Stephen Petronio Company expanded its focus on American postmodern dance to explore the meaning of legacy and its impact on the future and sustainability, establishing the Petronio Residency Center (PRC) to a safe haven for intensive developmental choreographic research. Located in the Hudson Valley, PRC supported future choreographic invention in the field with artist residencies and education initiatives. The program has since served over 100 artists, and took its place in a growing ecosystem in the U.S. dedicated to fostering a new model for the future of contemporary dance.
In 2021, with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, PRC established a permanent conservation easement for 77 acres of the 172-acre property, designating The Doris Duke Preserve at Round Top, Greene County as a preserve in perpetuity, putting PRC at the forefront of regional conservation efforts. Sheltered in and enlivened by the restorative and inspirational power of the natural world, artists at PRC were invited to immerse themselves in a pristine natural environment, benefitting from a residency and a retreat with unconstrained time and resources to make new work, with no deliverables required, and unfettered access to an extraordinary natural landscape. In 2023 PRC was obliged to close its programming due to insurmountable financial constraints felt across the field. The property is currently for sale. We are proud of our short but vibrant history and are confident that profits that result from a sale will transform into new and essential support of SPC and the artists and programs in NYC and Greene County NY that align with its mission.
For more information about the company, visit www.petron.io
Choreographer, Musician, & Dancers Biographies
STEPHEN PETRONIO (Artistic Director/Choreographer), is an iconic figure in U.S. dance who deeply loves everything in motion. He has honed an unmistakably original and audaciously physical language of movement based on multidirectional speed and architectural invention. Dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Stephen Petronio Company for over 40 yrs, he has built an expansive body of work with some of the most provocative collaborators in music, music art, and fashion. His company has created a haven for dancers with a keen interest in the history of contemporary movement and an appetite for the unknown.
Petronio was born in Newark, New Jersey, and received a B.A. from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he began his early training in improvisation and dance technique. He has received numerous accolades, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, an American Choreographer Award, a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, and a 2015 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Petronio has created over 40 works for his company and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies, including William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt (1987), Deutsche Oper Berlin (1992), Lyon Opera Ballet (1994), Maggio Danza Florence (1996), Sydney Dance Company (2003, full evening), Norrdans (2006), the Washington Ballet (2007), The Scottish Ballet (2007), and two works for National Dance Company Wales (2010 and 2013). Over his career, Petronio has collaborated with a wide range of artists in many disciplines: composers Monstah Black, Joszef VanWissen, Jim Jarmush, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and Peter Gordon and several works with the beloved Young Peoples Chorus of New York; visual artists Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Donald Baechler, Teresita Fernandez, and Janine Antoni; fashion designers These Pink Lips, Narciso Rodriguez, John Bartlett, Benjamin Cho, Tara Subkoff/Imitation of Christ and Leigh Bowery.
Petronio, whose training originated with leading figures of the Judson era, was the first cis-male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company (1979-86) AND performed Man Walking Down the Side of a Building in 2010 for Trisha Brown Company at the Whitney Museum. He also performed his 2012 rendition of Steve Paxton’s Intravenous Lecture (1970) in New York, Portland, and the TEDMED-2012 conference at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC. Petronio received the distinction of being named the first Artist-in-Residence at The Joyce Theater from 2012 to 2014.
He has collaborated with numerous visual art icons, including with Janine Antoni, on several discipline-blurring projects, including the video installation Honey Baby (2013), with composer Tom Laurie and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson; and most recently Ally, in collaboration with Anna Halprin and Adrian Heathfield, which premiered at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in (2016). Petronio and Antoni were the 2017 McCormack Artists in Residence at Skidmore College, where they showed their series of installations, Entangle. The Juilliard School commissioned him to set a work, #PrayerForNow, on their fourth-year students for the New Dances Edition 2019. Petronio’s memoir, Confessions of a Motion Addict, is available at Amazon.com. His latest limited edition book, In Absentia, features entries from his journals written in quarantine at the Petronio Residency Center, paired with never before seen studio and behind-the-scenes photos by Sarah Silver and Grant Friedman.
In 2016 Petronio founded the Petronio Residency Center (PRC), a research and development facility to award choreographers the unencumbered support they require to make new work of depth and value. PRC has been a crowning achievement in the Hudson Valley, NY, amid pristine Catskill reserves. Furthermore, In an unprecedented collaboration with DD Foundation, they created the Doris Duke Preserve Round Top NY as a 77-acre forever wild preserve to cradle the retreat and conserve this natural forest in perpetuity.
In 2017 he founded Bloodlines, an initiative to present and preserve the postmodern masters that have inspired him (Merce Cunningham, Steve Paxton Yvonne Rainer, and Rudy Perez), and Bloodlines (future) to support the next generation of young talent and help to rebalance the equitable picture in our dance field ( Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Tendayi Kuumba & Gregg Purnell, and Davalois Fearon).
Jennifer Koh (Original Score & Violin Performance) Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. She is a forward-thinking artist dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire while promoting equity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects and has premiered more than 100 works written especially for her. Named Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, Koh has won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Concert Artists Guild Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has a BA in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. She is an active lecturer, teacher, and recording artist for Cedille Records. Koh is Artistic Director of the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Chamber Music Concerts and Artistic Director of arco collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit.
LARISSA ASEBEDO (Dancer) is an American of latin, european, & indigenous descent who grew up in Colorado until attending & graduating from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase. There she completed her BFA in dance & minor in psychology while also studying abroad in Perth, Australia. Larissa misses the nature & lifestyle of Colorado but can’t stay away from the community & dance happenings in NYC. She has had the pleasure of working professionally with Suzzanne Ponomarenko Dance, Nicole Fuentes, Dishman + Co. Choreography, Rachel Germond, Daniel Gwirtzman, L’Opera de Lyon, & the Merce Cunningham Trust. Larissa joined Stephen Petronio Company in 2020 just in time for the pandemic. Alongside SPC, Larissa has begun choreographing her own work again & cherishes her other vocation teaching dance to kids & teens.
LIVIYA ENGLAND (Dancer) began training in her hometown, Minneapolis. She ventured to New York to study at the Ailey School, where she dedicated her pursuits to Modern Dance as the recipient of the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Toulmin Scholarships. She graduated from NYU Tisch School with academic honors while studying Dance and Social and Cultural Analysis. Throughout her time in New York, Liviya has performed works by Wayne McGregor, Sidra Bell, Christian von Howard, and Earl Mosley. As a dedicated member of the dance community, she brings her passion and expertise as both a dancer and administrator. She understands the crucial role administrators play in providing the necessary assistance for artists to thrive. Her past administrative experience includes working at NYU Tisch and Joffrey Ballet School. Currently, Liviya performs as a member of Stephen Petronio Company, works as a freelance model, and is the administrative lead at ETD Outreach.
JAQLIN MEDLOCK (Dancer) works with people in need of capturing movement, as a dancer, photographer, and occasionally a model. Medlock is from the Bronx, NY and holds a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She has performed works by various artists, including Nacho Duato, Angelin Preljocaj, Donald Byrd, Max Stone, Tyce Diorio, Sonya Tayeh, Julie Bour, Pedro Ruiz, and Nejla Yatkin. Medlock joined Stephen Petronio Company in 2011. She was named “On The Rise” by Dance Magazine in 2012, and received a TWI-NY Pandemic Award for Best Solo Dance Performance in 2020.
TESS MONTOYA (Dancer and Education Director) was raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she began her training at the National Dance Institute of New Mexico. She graduated from Point Park University with a Bachelor of Arts in dance. Since moving to New York, Montoya has worked with Megan Kendzior, Daniel Gwirtzman, Daniel Roberts, and Alexandria Giroux. She has taken part in multiple workshops and performances through the Merce Cunningham Trust Fellowship Program. Tess is currently General Manager with Davalois Fearon Dance. She joined Stephen Petronio Company in 2015 and is Director of the Company’s Education Program.
RYAN PLISS (Dancer) (he/him) is originally from Ithaca, New York. He trained at De Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten and received a BFA in Dance Performance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase in 2014. Ryan has had the pleasure to tour domestically and internationally performing the works of renowned choreographers such as Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Steve Paxton, Nelly van Bommel, Julie Bour, Johannes Wieland, and Marie Chouinard. He has been a consistent participant in the restaging of works with The Merce Cunningham Trust since 2012 and is working with the Trust to become an authorized teacher of Cunningham Technique™. Ryan began dancing with Kimberly Bartosik/Daela in 2020 and has been a member of the Stephen Petronio Company since 2017.
NICHOLAS SCISCIONE (Dancer) was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2011. Sciscione has worked with Netta Yerushalmy, Joshua Beamish, Kyle Marshall Choreography, and 10 Hairy Legs. He is a student of Susan Klein and the Klein Technique. Sciscione joined Stephen Petronio Company in 2011 and has been the Assistant to the Artistic Director since 2016. He has been nominated for “NY Bessie Awards Outstanding Performer” in 2017 and 2021.
GUEST & UNDERSTUDY DANCERS
JERRON HERMAN (Dancer, Guest Artist) is a dancer/writer compelled to create images of freedom. He has premiered works at Danspace Project, Performance Space New York, and The Whitney Museum. Jerron’s VITRUVIAN premiered in NYC and is touring. Lax (2023) was commissioned by Stephen Petronio Company and premiered at Battery Dance Festival, and activated Park Avenue Armory and the rooftop of The Met Museum. His art has led him to EKWC in the Netherlands and exhibits for 1969 Gallery, LOMAA in Ontario, and ICA Philadelphia. Jerron is also the choreographer/co-director of Sensorium Ex, a new opera debuting in 2025. He is a part of INTERIM, a boutique centering joy for disabled artists. Accolades: 2023-24 Fellowship at NYU/Center for Ballet and the Arts, 2021 Grants to Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, 2021-2022 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship from the Jerome Foundation, 2021 PETRONIO Award, 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship by the Ford Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Jerronherman.com
DENIZ ERKAN SANACK (Dancer, Understudy) (he/him) was born and raised in Ankara, Türkiye and began his career in gymnastics and Latin dance. He became a member of the national team of Turkey for latin american dance sports, competing around the world from 2013-2017. At age 18, he moved to New York to study in The Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. He was awarded several scholarships throughout his education, including the Adapt-a-dancer scholarship, BTF (Bridge to Turkey Fund) Impact Educational scholarship, and many more. Deniz graduated from Purchase with a concentration in Ballet in May of 2022. He danced with Peridance Contemporary Dance Company (as an apprentice) and Wonderbound (Ballet Nouveau Colorado) Before Joining the Stephen Petronio Company in 2023. So far he had the opportunity to perform works by Anna Maria Lucaciu, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Jenelle Figgins, Eve Chan, Anna Sokolow, Binnaz Dorkip, Korhan Başaran and many more. Besides dance and movement based improvisation, He has been creating in visual/plastic arts starting in his early ages, and music as a piano player with certifications from the Royal academy (UK).
CREATIVE TEAM
MICHELLE RHEE (Costume Designer) grew up in Los Angeles, California, and moved to New York to pursue degrees in art history and studio art at NYU, and fashion design at Parsons. Rhee went on to hone her craft working with the design teams at Marc Jacobs, Derek Lam, and AREA. In 2023 she launched her namesake womenswear ready-to-wear brand, focusing on all aspects of dress to create a style that is classic but thoughtfully considered and distinctive in detail, with an urban edge. With care for quality craftsmanship, beautiful materials, and gratitude for the community built from the beginning to end of each garment, Rhee hopes to empower the wearer through the expression of style.
KEN TABACHNICK (Lighting Designer) is currently the Executive Director of the Merce Cunningham Trust, where he oversees all operations and long-term planning. Prior to that, Ken worked as a Senior Associate at AEA Consulting. From 2013-2016, he was Deputy Dean at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and prior to joining Tisch, he was the first Dean of the School of the Arts at Purchase College. Before joining academia, Ken was the General Manager for New York City Ballet (NYCB), where, in addition to overseeing administrative aspects of operations, he supervised the renovation of the David H. Koch Theater. He began his career as a lighting designer and is a Bessie Award winner for his work with Stephen Petronio. He has worked with artists such as Trish Brown, Robert Wilson, and the Met, the Kirov, and Bolshoi organizations. Ken earned his J. D. from Fordham Law School in 1996. Ken is a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
JOE DORAN (Lighting Supervisor/ TD) Broadway (Asst. LD): Summer, The Donna Summer Musical, Prince of Broadway; Doctor Zhivago, Magic/Bird; National Tours: Hamilton, Joseph… Dreamcoat, Anything Goes, West Side Story, Flashdance the Musical, In the Heights; Off Broadway: H4 and Shakespeare’s Slave. NYC Dance: Sean Curran Company, Armitage Gone! Dance, Stephen Petronio Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. Regional Credits: Virginia Repertory Theatre, Red Mountain Theatre, Bristol Riverside Theatre, The Fulton Theatre, Alpine Theatre Project, The Richmond Ballet, The Atlanta Ballet, and Swift Creek Mill Theatre. Graduate of NC School of the Arts and member of USA Local 829. www.joedorandesign.com
JESSIE KSANZNAK (Production Stage Manager, she/they) Jessie has toured the world as a stage manager/ show caller for over 20 years. Career highlights include The Little Prince (Broadway), New York Fashion Week, The House of Dancing Water (Dragone Entertainment, Macau), Voyage de la Vie (Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore), Queen of the Night (Diamond Horseshoe, NYC), Freestyle Love Supreme (TV), Trisha Brown Dance Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Twyla Tharp’s 50th Anniversary Tour, Martha Graham Dance Company, The Joffrey Ballet, and Ailey II. Jessie is also a proud small business owner. Her hand-dyed yarn company, Yarn Over New York, features unique products for knitters and crocheters that can be found online and in yarn stores across North America and Australia.
PAUL VAZQUEZ (Sound Engineer) is the owner of Digital Mission Audio Services and provides concert recording, sound design and live sound needs for clients such as Philadelphia based professional chamber choir The Crossing, Lyric Fest, Westminster Choir College, Jason Max Ferdinand Singers and more. Always passionate about sound, he founded Digital Mission Audio Services to address the unique needs of the classical and new music community. Recent projects have included Ted Hearne’s premiere of Farming with performances in the Netherlands, Caramoor and a working farm in Bucks County PA. Paul’s work can be heard on WNYC, WRTI, as well as The Crossing’s CD releases including three Grammy winning albums The Fifth Century, Zealot Canticles and Born. A native of Long Island, NY, Paul now resides in Madison, NJ with his wife Jennifer and children Emma and Christopher. Paul is a voting member of NARAS and local NY AES chapter. dmasrecording@gmail.com
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
LAY’LA K. ROGERS (General Manager) (Lie-yay-la) Kesi Rogers is a Chicago born – Las Vegas native. Lay’la attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she danced professionally with the Red Desert Dance Co. & West Las Vegas Arts Center while receiving a BFA in Dance Performance & Choreography. Believing in the power of dance and education, Lay’la has taught and performed nationally and internationally; her most recent adventures include the Korean National Sports University in South Korea and Uganda with the Kisubi University. A graduate from New York University, with an MA/MFA dual degree from Steinhardt School of Education & Tisch School of the Performing Arts, Lay’la has dedicated her career as a dance scholar to researching, creating, & implementing anti-racist and holistic dance pedagogy. Her most recent accomplishment is presenting for the Tisch Dance department’s Community Forum and at St. Mark’s Church on Combating Racism in Dance Higher Education. Layla will utilize her gifts as a dance scholar to continue to bring awareness and allyship to causes such as BLM, women’s rights, & LGBTQ+ rights in the most creative ways possible. Lay’la worked as the Inaugural Rights and Arts Management Associate for the Merce Cunningham Trust and dances professionally throughout the city of New York, currently with the choreographers, Hope Boykin and André Zachary. Lay’la currently works for the Stephen Petronio Company as the company’s General Manager.
ROBERT DORF (Management Consulting Services) is a native New Yorker; he received a BA in English Literature from Colgate University. Spending 16 years in the international logistics and transportation business he developed an expertise in shipping, international finance, and import and export regulations. He was also a guest lecturer on trade issues at NYU.
In 1998 he followed his interest in community development and the arts and arts policy and enrolled in the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, receiving a MS in Not-for-Profit Management, after which he managed and has consulted in the performing arts and not for profit sector.
In addition to his business endeavors, he has enjoyed guest lecturing, teaching, and mentoring at several university arts, not for profit, and arts administration programs.
Dorf has volunteered extensively and has served as a trustee, committee chair, and officer of Dance/USA; director of the Colgate University Alumni Council; member of the Advisory Board of Dance/NYC; director of the Artists Community Federal Credit Union; He has been awarded a Maroon Citation by Colgate University, in recognition of significant and invaluable personal contributions to the University.
HALEY MORGAN MILLER (Associate) is a dance and media artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her media art and creative technology has been presented with Art She Says, Rubulad, Estia Day Fest, JUNTO, and Paraffin Magazine. Haley’s choreography has been shown at Movement Research, Emerging Artists Theatre – Spark Theater Festival NYC, Christina Noel & The Creature, Fabled Narcissism, and Marinnovators Science and Technology Festival. They have presented films at Saint Bimbo’s Film Church, Anyplace Anytime Dance Film Festival, and FRAMES Virtual Festival. Haley is a company member with sarAika movement collective. They have worked with BIGMESS as the Operations Assistant and Yana Schniztler HUMAN KINETICS as the Administrator and Marketer. Her freelance work includes lighting design for Haus of PVMNT, and CreateArt Performance. Haley graduated with a BFA in Contemporary Dance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she performed work by Mark Morris, Juel D. Lane, Michael Figueroa, and Jun Kuribayashi.
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks to the dedicated dancers who gallantly helped to shape this evening with commitment, the collaborative team of Jennnifer Koh, Michelle Rhee and Ken Tabachnick, our commissioning partners who supported this endeavor, our loyal Board of Directors, and the Petronio and NYU Skirball teams including Lay’la Rogers, Robert Dorf, Haley Miller, Eliza Stamps, Jana Hicks, Joe Doran, Jessie Ksanznak, Cathy Pruzan, Jay Wegman and the entire crew and team at NYU Skirball, Stanford Makishi, and finally to my handsome husband Jean-Marc Flack who watches it all with love and support.
- Stephen Petronio