(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Peak Performances presents the U.S. premiere of Gandini Juggling and choreographer Alexander Whitley’s Spring, a mesmerizing collaboration setting the company’s avant-garde approach to juggling in juxtaposition with contemporary dance. Following the success of last year’s Smashed, Gandini Juggling joins forces with Whitley for a kaleidoscopic dreamscape of a performance. The production features six virtuosic jugglers: Kati Ylä-Hokkala, Tristan Curty, Dominik Harant, Kim Huynh, Liza van Brakel, and Wes Peden and four contemporary dancers: Sakeema Peng Crook, Tia Hockey, Erin O'Toole, and Yu-Hsien Wu, and an immersive score by London-based composer and producer Gabriel Prokofiev. Performances take place December 12-15 at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University.
The Guardian called Spring “joyfully hypnotic…filled with intricate skill.” Visually arresting, colorful—with lighting design by Guy Hoare and costume design by Claire Ashley—and bursting with rhythm and pattern, Spring is a refreshing and entertaining production at the vanguard of contemporary circus.
Spring comes to the Kasser just after final performances of the Phelim McDermott-directed production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at The Metropolitan Opera, for which Sean Gandini and members of the company have infused Glass’ work with their mesmeric movement, “toss[ing] their balls into the air like ancient etchings brought to life” as “Glass’ pulsing arpeggios rise from the orchestra pit” (Los Angeles Times). On Tuesday, December 3, Sean Gandini will join Pulitzer Prize-winning composer/ singer Caroline Shaw and multi-instrumentalist/instrument inventor Mark Stewart at National Sawdust in a conversation moderated by NationalSawdust+ curator Elena Park. The evening will be punctuated by juggling excerpts performed by the company and a special appearance by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who sings the title role of the Egyptian sun god in the opera.
Spring builds on Gandini’s time exploring various art forms—including opera (Akhnaten), the tanztheater of Pina Bausch (Smashed), bharatanatyam (Sigma), and ballet (4x4: Ephemeral Architectures, a collaboration with Royal Ballet dancer Ludovic Ondiviela). Gandini considers Spring as completing a trilogy with the latter two works. Spring embraces deconstructed rhythms and jubilant patterning, delving deeper into the company’s obsession with juggling as a pure choreography. Gandini and Whitley share a passion for pure form—both similarly interested in the differences between what a word describes and the thing itself. For them, it is in these limits of language where dance and juggling unfold their revelatory powers. Of Spring, The Guardian wrote: “there is something so satisfying about watching the repetitions of the jugglers’ hypnotic geometry, the balls caught to the coarse beat and glitchy melodies of Gabriel Prokofiev’s live strings and electronics soundtrack.”
Gandini says, “The production is inspired by the spring season, with echoes to Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ and all its joyeux implications; the nature blooming in the garden, the lightness and the brightness of little details. Spring is also a reflection on choreography. With our previous show 4x4, dance and juggling operated at the same time, while in Spring the notion of counterpoint is introduced. Another difference is the approach to gravity. While in classic dance, the weight is very high, aerial; in contemporary dance, the weight is attracted by the floor, to the earth.”
Spring continues Peak Performances’ 2019-2020 season, offering its state-of-the-art platform to artists who work with—and sometimes against—established vocabularies in the creation of exhilarating new performance works. This theme has lent itself to the presentation of momentous collaborations and the merging of groundbreaking artistic practices. These have already included Elizabeth Streb and Anne Bogart’s collaborative adaptation of works by Charles Mee, FALLING & LOVING and Lena Herzog’s Last Whispers, for which she worked with composers to create an immersive oratorio of endangered and extinct languages.
Performance Schedule and Ticketing
Spring will take place Thursday, December 12 and Friday, December 13 at 7:30pm; Saturday, December 14 at 8pm; and Sunday, December 15 at 3pm at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University (1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ). Performances run 60 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets are affordably priced at $30, and can be purchased at www.peakperfs.org or 973.655.5112. Tickets are always free for Montclair State students.
A First Impressions talk with Alexander Whitley, Sean Gandini, and Gandini Juggling co-founder, co-artistic director, and performer Kati Ylä-Hokkala, moderated by Ruth Wikler, Director of Circus Programming at TOHU, will take place December 14.
Spring is co-produced with Cambridge Junction, London International Mime Festival, and Plateforme 2 pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg et le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf. Spring is supported by artsdepot, Arts Council England, Birmingham Hippodrome, CIRCa pôle National des Arts du Cirque Auch Gers Occitanie, Lighthouse Poole, Theatre Op de Markt.
Programs in Peak Performances’ 2019-20 season are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
About Gandini Juggling
Formed in 1992 by world-renowned jugglers Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala, Gandini Juggling was set up to explore the wondrous choreographic potential of juggling: to filter juggling through a dance aesthetic. Over the past 27 years their artistic journey has been prolific and rich, producing 30 full-length pieces and performing in 50 countries.
The Gandinis have recently completed a trilogy of pieces that are dialogues between juggling and sophisticated dance forms. The company is a central part of the Metropolitan Opera House’s upcoming production of Akhnaten, which features 10 jugglers meticulously choreographed to Philip Glass’s enigmatic score.
The Gandinis’ journeys have always been countercurrent, an individual voice in the global circus scene, with quotidian risk-taking and fearless upturns. They continue to be at the vanguard of contemporary circus, reinventing and reinvigorating juggling for the 21st century.
About Sean Gandini (Director/Gandini Co-Artistic Director)
Sean Gandini is one of the pioneers of contemporary juggling. Working as a performer, choreographer and director he has, for over 25 years, pushed the boundaries of juggling as a discipline and as an art form. Sean’s professional career began in the 1980s, regularly performing in London’s famous Covent Garden and touring with various theatre companies—including the pioneering Ra-Ra Zoo. In 1991, with Kati Ylä-Hokkala, he co-founded Gandini Juggling and together they have been at the forefront of experiments into what juggling is and what juggling can be.
About Kati Ylä-Hokkala (Gandini Co-Artistic Director/Performer)
Kati is one of her generation's iconic jugglers. Renowned as one of the leading innovators in dance/juggling, her ability to combine movement and extremely complex coordination is second to none. A former rhythmic gymnast, Kati's juggling has a unique calm precision, which comes from 25 years of throwing whilst standing on one leg. In recent years she has co-directed many of the company's pieces.
About Alexander Whitley (Choreographer)
Artistic director of Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Whitley has developed a reputation for his bold interdisciplinary approach to dance making. His choreography has won him nominations for the 2012 Arts Foundation fellowship, the 2014 Sky Arts Southbank Awards, and the 2015 Critics' Circle Awards.
Whitley is a New Wave Associate Artist at Sadler's Wells, an Associate at Rambert, and a former Choreographic Affiliate of the Royal Ballet. He is an Artist Fellow at Queen Mary University of London and a lecturer on the Design for Performance and Interaction at UCL.
About Gabriel Prokofiev (Composer)
Prokofiev is a composer, producer, DJ and founder of the Nonclassical record label & club night. He is at the forefront of a new approach to classical music, composing work for traditional symphony orchestra, string quartets, and electronics, and has composed 3 Concertos featuring Turntables.
Prokofiev’s works have been performed internationally by a host of orchestras including: Seattle Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony, BBCPhilharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonique, Buenos Aires Filharmonica, Naples Philharmonic, and London Contemporary Orchestra. Conductors and soloists such as Vladimir Jurowksi, Ludovic Morlot, DJ Mr Switch, Joby Burgess, and Branford Marsalis have championed his music. He has composed over 8 dance works, for renowned companies such as: Stuttgart Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Luzerner Tanz Theatre, Bern Ballet, Shobana Jeyasingh.
About Guy Hoare (Lighting Design)
Guy designs lighting for juggling, dance, theatre and opera. Spring is his fourth collaboration with Gandini Juggling.
Dance includes Arthur Pita’s Metamorphosis and Mark Bruce’s Dracula (South Bank Award 2012 / 2014) and works for Rafael Bonachela, Christopher Bruce, Nilda Guerra, Shobana Jeyasingh, Akram Khan, and Ben Wright.Theatre includes National Theatre, Young Vic, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse and transfers to the West End and New York. Opera includes ETO’s King Priam and Paul Bunyan (Olivier Award 2014); and pieces for ROH, ENO, and Bregenz Festival. Guy is an Associate Artist at Wilton’s Music Hall.
About Claire Ashley (Costume Design)
Claire Ashley studied fashion and design in New Zealand, discovering the world of costuming through work with a site-specific theatre group, a dance company, and various theatres. She moved to London to pursue her passion in costume design and making. Claire has run her studio in East London since 2002, offering bespoke costumes and clothing, from metamorphic/quick-change, circus, cabaret and vintage inspired costumes to bridal and tailoring.
About Emma Lister (Rehearsal Director)
Born in Canada, Lister trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. On moving to England, she danced with English National Ballet in several productions at the Royal Albert Hall. With English Youth Ballet she danced lead roles in Coppélia, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and Swan Lake, as well as principal roles in The National Ballet of Ireland’s The Nutcracker and Carmen. Her rehearsal director experience includes Icon Dance, The National Ballet of Ireland, and Hubert Essakow's TERRA. Lister is currently studying for a BA in Humanities.
About PEAK Performances
Under the artistic direction of ACP’s Executive Director, Jedediah Wheeler, PEAK Performances has achieved international recognition for presenting and producing innovative works in dance, music theater and opera. With a celebrated emphasis on interdisciplinary work, PEAK hosted 75 World and American Premieres since 2005. Notable among the artists whose work has been seen on the Alexander Kasser Theater stage are Richard Alston, David Rousseve, Bill T Jones, Camille A. Brown, Wayne MacGregor, Robyn Orlin, Romeo Castelucci, Crystal Pite, Liz Gerring, Faye Driscoll, Angelica Liddell, Jan Fabre, Emma Dante, and Pam Tanowitz.
Robert Wilson conceived and directed The Life of Clementine Hunter for the Kasser stage and has also directed Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape with himself in the title role. Writer, director, designer, and choreographer David Gordon revived his production of Robert Brustein’s seminal musical, Schlemiel the First. PEAK-commissioned works notably include Dog Days by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek; Spinning by Maya Beiser, Julia Wolfe and Laurie Olinder; Leonora and Alejandro by Stacy Klein for Double Edge Theater; and My Coma Dreams by Fred Hersch.
Companies who have made their American debuts with PEAK include Gandini Juggling (UK), Via Katlehong (South Africa), Inbal Oshman (Israel), Charlotte Vincent (UK) and Raphaelle Boitel (France). By bringing together artists of uncommon imagination with diverse audiences of adventuresome spirit, PEAK promotes a greater appreciation of human possibility.
PEAK Performances is a program of the Office of Arts + Cultural Programming at Montclair State University. Programs in this season are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
