John Jasperse Projects makes its first appearance at NYU Skirball with the premiere of Visitation, a new dance that is part seance and part exorcism. Created in collaboration with performers Tim Bendernagel, Cynthia Koppe, and Doug LeCours, the work loosely draws on spiritualism, Mesmerism, the occult, hysteria, and the exoticization of myth. The dance vacillates between pensive, introspective sensing and lush sequences of cascading movement that verge on camp. By channeling ghosts, the dance moves from present day, into the past, and back again. Original music by Jasperse’s long-time collaborator Hahn Rowe is interspersed with orchestral fragments by the controversial and polarizing composer Richard Wagner. As we emerge from this musical time-traveling into the present, we are left to ponder how our own feelings carry us into action as we shape our collective future.
John Jasperse has been working as a dance artist in New York City for 37 years. He has created nineteen evening-length works with John Jasperse Projects as well as numerous commissions for other companies including Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opera Ballet. John Jasperse Projects has been presented in 26 US cities and 29 countries. He is the recipient of a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award and two Bessie awards (in 2014 and 2001). Jasperse is co-founder of CPR — Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, New York and is Director of Dance at Sarah Lawrence College.
NYU COVID-19 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS:
- Audience members must be 12 years of age or older to enter the theater.
- Audience members must show a valid government-issued photo ID.
- All audience members must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and receive a COVID-19 booster shot (if eligible for the booster based on CDC criteria). Documentation must include name, birthday, dates of doses & vaccine manufacturer. Documentation must be in English.
- All audience members will be required to show proof of being fully vaccinated and boosted (if eligible), with an FDA-authorized or WHO-listed vaccine.
- All audience members must wear a well-fitted mask at all times.
Allowable masks: disposable masks (surgical or medical procedure masks), KN95 masks, KF94 masks, N95 masks are allowable.
SUPPORT
This project was made possible in part through the generous support of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by Howard Gilman Foundation, FACE Foundation, General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA, Collins Building Services, Consolidated Edison, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and Marta Heflin Foundation, as well as our valued donors through memberships and commissioning fund support.
