Laura Di Orio and Michael Miles in Chapters - Photo by Steven Pisano
(NEW YORK, NY) –- Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD), a company known for its distinctive choreography by Artistic Director and Choreographer Lydia Johnson, which fuses ballet technique with contemporary phrases and gestures, will perform at the Graham Studio Theater on Wednesday, December 4 at 7:30pm; Thursday, December 5 at 7:30pm; and Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 3:00pm.
Performances will feature the World Premiere Legacy (2024), set to music by Terry Riley, Chapters (2023), featuring music by William Duckworth and Christopher Dennis Coleman, the revival of her signature piece Summer House (2011), performed to Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes and Poems for Solo Cello. Rounding out the program will be excerpts from Time …and again (2022), set to musical standards performed by Oscar Peterson.
“I’m thrilled our company is returning to the same studio theater where many of my early works were performed,” said Johnson. “The emotional resonance of music is at the heart of my choreography, and this Season audiences will connect with a range of human experience expressed in both my recent work and earlier pieces.”
Ticket prices are as follows: $65 for Patrons, $35 for General Admission and $20 for Dancers/Students. Tickets are available for purchase online. The Graham Studio Theater is located at 55 Bethune Street in New York, NY.
The engagement marks the third Season of an ongoing collaboration with New York City Ballet repertory director and former soloist Craig Hall, who will perform in Time …and again. While dancing at New York City Ballet he performed in featured roles in numerous George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Justin Peck and Alexei Ratmansky masterworks.
“I love that music is the common language Lydia Johnson and I speak even as we come from the different worlds of ballet and modern,” said Hall. “Music has always been the foundation for me, the driving force, and this is true of Lydia as well. I’m excited to return to the company and dance with one of my all-time favorite partners, Laura Di Orio, and make some more magic together.”
The program will feature a World Premiere Legacy (2024). Set to an arrangement of minimalist composer Terry Riley’s IN C (1964), the piece highlights Johnson’s distinctive use of emotional gestures within movement phrases. The work features a central trio and a group of children, evoking a community intertwined with Riley’s iconic minimalist score. Johnson’s musicality shines through as the dancers explore themes of repetition, connection and evolving relationships.
Chapters (2023), a precursor to the World Premiere, is set to several minimalist and film score compositions by William Duckworth, Christopher Dennis Coleman and others. The work begins with three emotionally charged duets, with each couple moving through their own narrative. As the piece develops, an ensemble section brings the community aspect into focus, with dancers lifting and supporting one another.
A revival of Summer House (2011) will also be presented. This chamber piece, inspired by Johnson’s own experiences in a rural summer cottage in Maine, is set to Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes and Poems for Solo Cello. The quartet fuses memories of relationships past with the present, creating an emotional journey for the audience.
Rounding out the program are excerpts from Time …and again (2022), featuring Hall. This work, composed with a loving nod to musical theater and old movies, is set to the music of jazz legend Oscar Peterson and reflects on time, memory and the beauty found in dancing itself. Hall’s appearance provides an added layer of depth to this poignant piece composed during the pandemic.
Originally from Massachusetts Lydia Johnson trained in New York on scholarship at The Ailey School as well as with members of Twyla Tharp’s company including Sara Rudner. After an injury, she began to choreograph, working with one dancer in a studio space in the then mostly vacant far West Village. Her choreography has been woven into her life as a working mother as she has juggled her artistry with both financial need and being with her 3 children. Her early pieces were shown in lofts and downtown studios. She founded a choreographers’ collective at the Cunningham studio (now the Graham studio) to allow choreographers to afford the cost of performances.
In 1999 she founded Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD) as a nonprofit and then worked consistently in various studios developing a vocabulary that includes emotional gestures, a sense of the human story and is deeply linked to music. Her love of Balanchine’s musicality led to Deborah Wingert, who sets his works internationally, coaching many of Ms. Johnson’s duets. Recently Craig Hall (former NYCB dancer and current Ballet Master) has performed with LJD as a Guest Artist. LJD has had recent Guest Artists from NYCB, American Ballet Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group and other companies. Ms. Johnson recently developed a new work at a Residency for her company at Kaatsbaan when it was under the Directorship of Stella Abrera.
Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD) is celebrated for its seamless integration of classical ballet into a contemporary dance vocabulary. The company’s performances have been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Backstage Magazine, and other notable publications. LJD’s repertoire is marked by its emotional depth, musicality, and its focus on the human experience. The company has performed at prestigious venues such as New York Live Arts, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, Jacob’s Pillow and numerous dance festivals. LJD is also committed to making dance accessible through its school, scholarship and teen internship programs, and community outreach initiatives.
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