A.I.M by Kyle Abraham: Cassette Vol. 1

Why you shouldn’t miss this!

What Abraham brings … is an avant-garde aesthetic, an original and politically minded downtown sensibility that doesn’t distinguish between genres but freely draws on a vocabulary that is as much Merce and Martha as it is Eadweard Muybridge and Michael Jackson.

Vogue

Nostalgia isn’t just a feeling, it’s a rhythm, a groove, a dance that lives in the body. Weaving together the pop, R&B, and New Wave sounds of his youth, Kyle Abraham crafts a work that moves between camp and critique, honoring the influences that shaped him, from M/A/R/R/S to Prince, from Trisha Brown to Bill T. Jones. Ballet technique meets release-based articulation in a hybrid movement language that speaks to the non-monolithic Black experience and the cultural collisions of the 1980s and 1990s. Equal parts joy and reflection, Cassette Vol. 1 invites us to laugh at the extremes, mourn what’s lost, and move with the music that made us.

About

NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE

Launched in 2020, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is a program dedicated to dance, whose main goal is supporting creative artists and institutions linked to the world of choreography. In addition, the initiative stages a festival together with international partners each year: the first events took place in London in March 2022, and in Hong Kong in May 2023.  For this US edition, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is proud to be collaborating with NYU Skirball and other prestigious New York institutions to showcase the wealth of choreographic creation.

*Princess Grace Award Recipient  / **Princess Grace Statue Award 

Cassette Vol.1 is co-commissioned by the International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany), Festspielhaus St. Pölten (AT), Tangente St. Pölten-Festival für Gegenwartskultur and PEAK Performances, Montclair State University.

Lead Sponsorship support for Cassette Vol.1 provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation. Sustaining support for Cassette Vol.1 provided by Torrence Boone. 

Gallery

Trailer

Cassette Volum 1. (2024) By Kyle Abraham

Creative Credits

Choreography: Kyle Abraham** in collaboration with A.I.M
Scenic, Lighting Design and Video Design: Dan Scully
Scenic Construction: Tom Carroll Scenery
Costume Design: Karen Young and Kyle Abraham
Costume Construction: Karen Young and Dante Baylor
Sound Editor: Sam Crawford and Kyle Abraham
Video Editor: Simon Harding
Artistic Advisor: Risa Steinberg

Performers: Mykiah Goree, Alysia Johnson, Faith Joy Mondesire, Destin Morisset, William Okajima, Niya Smith, Taylor Stanley (Special Guest Artist), Keturah Stephen, Gianna Theodore, Olivia Wang, Jayden Williams (swing)

*Princess Grace Award Recipient

**Princess Grace Statue Award

The artist

Kyle Abraham

Support

This project is made possible with the support of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part 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 the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; Culture Ireland; The Shubert Foundation; Collins Building Services; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut New York with support from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; New England Foundation for the Arts; Harkness Foundation for Dance; and Marta Heflin Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.

Silhouette of a dancer with leaves growing from their feet, holding a book, next to the text “Harkness Foundation For Dance” on a light background.

BEYOND THE STAGE

Two dancers in loose clothing pose balancing on one leg, arms extended. White mannequins, plush toys, and retro TVs surround them on a stage with a geometric backdrop.

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