Program: Gibney Company

Boston premiere of

Gibney Company

Bliss
A Measurable Existence
SARA

Friday, March 17, 2023
Saturday, March 18, 2023
ICA/Boston

Gibney Company extends warm thanks to Maure Aronson and the staff of Global Arts Live and ICA/Boston for making the troupe's Boston premiere possible. 

Bliss (2016 / Company Premiere 2022) 
Choreography by Johan Inger
Staging by Yvan Dubreuil
Scenery Design by Johan Inger
Costume Design by Johan Inger & Francesca Messori
Costume Construction by Victoria Bek
Lighting Design by Peter Lundin
Lighting Adaptation by Tsubasa Kamei
Set Design by Johan Inger
Music by Keith Jarett, The Köln Concert, Part 1
Performed by Scott Autry, Alicia Delgadillo, Graham Feeny, Miriam Gittens, Zui Gomez, Eddieomar Gonzalez-Castillo, Eleni Loving, Jesse Obremski, Kevin Pajarillaga, Jordan Powell (apprentice), Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Jacob Thoman, Jake Tribus
World Premiere: Commissioned and premiered by Aterballeto in March 2016 in Modena, Italy 

Run Time: 27 minutes 

For this large-scale ensemble piece, Swedish choreographer Johan Inger uses the legendary Köln Concert by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett; music that many consider to be the epitome of virtuoso improvisation. Rather than translating the music one-to-one into movement, it is more the feeling of Jarrett's iconic music—free, soaring, and ecstatic—that Inger translates into beautifully crafted dance, sending not only listeners but audience members into a state of bliss. 

~ INTERMISSION ~

A Measurable Existence (World Premiere 2022)
Choreography by Yue Yin
Original Score by Rutger Zuydervelt
Lighting Design by Asami Morita
Lighting Adaptation by Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design by Christine Darch
Friday Evening—Performed by Kevin Pajarillaga & Jacob Thoman
Saturday Evening—Performed by Jesse Obremski  & Jake Tribus  

Run Time: 16 minutes  

Our existence is often measured, remembered, shared, and felt by our interactions with space, time, and each other. In A Measurable Existence, Yue Yin delves into how we discover aspects of ourselves by discovering others. The moment we realize our journeys parallel, intersect, repel, or collide with others’ experiences, we begin a new understanding of our own existence that may frighten, challenge, and at the same time sustain us. 

~ Pause ~

SARA (Company Premiere 2023)
SARA, supported by MART
Company Premiere March 2023, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv
Choreography by Sharon Eyal, Gai Behar
Assistant and Stager: Keren Lurie-Pardes
Costume Design by Odelia Arnold and Maayan Goldman
Costume Construction by Victoria Bek
Lighting Design by Alon Cohen
Sound Artist by Ori Lichtik
Music by The Knife, “From Off to On," and Ori Lichtik, “Saratan"
Mixed and arranged by Ori Lichtik 
Friday Evening—Performed by Graham Feeny, Miriam Gittens, Eleni Loving, Kevin Pajarillaga, Connie Jie-Hung Shiau, Jacob Thoman, Jake Tribus
Saturday  Evening—Performed by Scott Autry, Alicia Delgadillo, Eddieomar Gonzalez-Castillo, Jordan Powell, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Jake Tribus, Jacob Thoman

Run Time: 13 minutes 

SARA is like a pearl in a treasure, a box of jewels that smells ancient but seems new. The box cannot be opened all the way; its charm will fade. White pearl, transparent, leaking colors, but always remaining a pearl. SARA is minimalist, gentle, emotional, sensitive, hardcore, and old-fashioned at the same time. There’s a sense of restraint and taking advantage of the minimum and the maximum. She is not allowing distance and is getting closer to the heart. She comes from there and enters the world as a cloud crumbles into the dust of love. 

GIBNEY COMPANY 

Gibney Company, led by Artistic Director Gina Gibney and Director Gilbert T Small II, commissions and performs works by renowned and emerging choreographers from New York and around the world who are committed to exploring connections between the rigorous, often superhuman physicality of contemporary dance alongside responsive, humanistic storytelling. Presenting a broad range of aesthetics and techniques, Gibney Company has an unrelenting focus on artistic excellence and social integrity. 

In January 2020, Gibney received a generous lead gift to support the transformation of its professional dance company. In the 2020–2021 season, the company doubled in size and made its debut at The Joyce Theater. The Company recently performed as part of New York City Center’s Fall for Dance 2022 and is in the midst of its first national tour to nine cities across the country. Since its expansion, the company has commissioned eight new works from a wide range of choreographers, including Rena Butler, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Sonya Tayeh, and Yue Yin, and performed acclaimed repertory by Johan Inger and Ohad Naharin.  

Gibney Company’s model for a 21st century dance company supports sustainable careers for dancers and healthy working relationships for artists and collaborators. The company members, known as Artistic Associates, advance the quality of the organization’s artistry through performance and deepen its community engagement through Moving Toward Justice Fellowships designed to address social issues and inequities in the dance field. 

Gina Gibney 
Founder, Artistic Director & CEO 

Gilbert T Small II
Company Director, Rehearsal Director

Asami Morita
Direction of Production  

Thuy Wyckoff
Deputy General Manager  

Tsubasa Kamei
Technical Director 

Madison Ellis
Stage Manager 

Chelsea Hilding
Company Manager

Gina Gibney
Founder, Artistic Director & CEO
@ginagibney

Gina Gibney, a nationally recognized leader and entrepreneur in the field of arts and social justice, is the founder, director, and CEO of Gibney, a New York City–based arts organization dedicated to dance and social action. With a belief in the vast potential of movement, creativity, and performance to effect personal change and social transformation, Gina Gibney established the Gibney organization in Manhattan in 1991. Today, Gibney’s presenting, training, fellowship, and residency programs have served and supported thousands of New York City artists and audiences, and her company’s community outreach programs have had an impact on hundreds of lives, especially in the areas of domestic violence, economic inequality, and workforce development. Gibney Company has grown from a small troupe of dancers presenting Gina Gibney’s choreography into a critically acclaimed international touring contemporary dance company dedicated to commissioning and presenting today’s most compelling choreographers. Gibney operates two New York City locations—280 Broadway near City Hall and 890 Broadway above Union Square—encompassing 23 studios and five performing spaces that serve as a nexus for a diverse and expansive artistic community. 

Gina Gibney is known for pioneering innovative new programs that connect the arts with the broader community. Her work has impacted the lives of thousands of domestic violence survivors through programs like Move to Move Beyond, an evidence-based program that offers the transformative power of movement to survivors of gender-based violence and their families. Her Moving Toward Justice incubator uses art as a tool for activism and social impact with a focus on entrepreneurship, social engagement, and mobilization alongside artistry. 

Gilbert T Small II
Company Director
@gil_ty

Gilbert T Small II (he/him) joined Gibney Company in 2020 as Curatorial Director of Training and Company Rehearsal Director and was promoted to Company Director in 2022. He is a mentor to many emerging artists in New York and abroad and serves as guest faculty for institutions internationally, cultivating relationships and connections across many demographics and communities. Previously, Small was a leading artist with the internationally acclaimed Ballet British Columbia under the leadership of Emily Molnar. During his ten years with the company, he worked with choreographers William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Medhi Walerski, Emily Molnar, Cayetano Soto, and others, and took on the role of Rehearsal Director for the company’s fall 2017 season. He received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Purchase College, SUNY Conservatory of Dance in 2009. While at Purchase, he studied abroad at Codarts in Rotterdam, an opportunity that shifted his perspective, pushing him to investigate and explore the multifaceted nature of the art form. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Small began his formal training at the Baltimore School for the Arts.

Scott Autry
Artistic Associate
@scott_autry 

Scott Autry (he/him) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2022. Autry is a 2022 graduate of The Juilliard School. He has been able to share the work of choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Bobbi Jene Smith, Aszure Barton, Johan Inger, and Lea Ved. He was selected as the 2022 Juilliard Choreographic Fellow for the inaugural collaboration between LaGuardia Dance and Juilliard Dance and received the Héctor Zaraspe Prize from the Juilliard Dance Department for demonstrating outstanding talent and development as a choreographer. Autry will be initiating “a space to see” choreographic residency as his Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project to support young, queer creators in developing deeper roots in their own artistic voice. He is a native of Colorado Springs, Colorado.  

Alicia Delgadillo
Artistic Associate
@aliisabel 

Alicia Delgadillo (she/her) joined Gibney Company in 2021 as an Artistic Associate. Prior to joining Gibney Company, Delgadillo danced with Hubbard Street 2 and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and is a founding member of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre. Delgadillo has collaborated with a wide array of choreographers and institutions, including Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Alejandro Cerrudo, Third Coast Percussion, and The Second City. She graduated with honors from the Ailey-Fordham BFA program, where she was able to foster her passion for arts outreach through JUNTOS Collective, a nonprofit dance outreach organization. As an arts educator and entrepreneur, Delgadillo has served as Artistic Coordinator for Hubbard Street Summer Intensive and as Company Manager for PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, and she has produced various artistic projects. She was born in San Francisco, California, and began her dance training in Half Moon Bay, California, before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she studied at Charlotte School of Ballet and Piedmont School of Music and Dance.  

Graham Feeny
Artistic Associate
@grahamfeeny 

Graham Feeny (he/him) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2022. He was previously an apprentice with Chamber Dance Project and most recently danced with BalletCollective and staged Justin Peck’s Become a Mountain for BalletX. Feeny is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he performed works by Marco Goecke, Bobbi Jene Smith, Justin Peck, Trisha Brown, Jamar Roberts, Paul Taylor, and Ohad Naharin. Additionally, he has participated in training programs with NDT, Arts Umbrella, and Springboard Dans Montreal, where he studied works by Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Alan Lucien, Sharon Eyal, and Paul Lightfoot, among others. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Feeny began dancing at age two and trained in all dance styles for many years at Company C Dance Club. 

Miriam Gittens
Artistic Associate
@miriamgittens 

Miriam Gittens (she/her) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2022. Gittens was born and raised in Fresno, California, and received a diverse dance education from The Dance Studio of Fresno. She graduated from The Juilliard School with a BFA in dance in 2017 and joined chuthis. under the direction of Peter Chu. In 2018, Gittens joined Ballet BC, where she performed works by Aszure Barton, Sharon Eyal + Gai Behar, William Forsythe, Marco Goecke, Johan Inger, Felix Landerer, Emily Molnar, Ohad Naharin, Out Innerspace, Crystal Pite, and Medhi Walerski spanning over four seasons. Miriam is committed to further developing her Moving Toward Justice Fellowship. 

Zultari (Zui) Gomez
Artistic Associate
@iam.zui 

Zultari (Zui) Gomez (she/her) joined Gibney as an Artistic Associate in 2017. After receiving a BFA in dance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Gomez danced with Ballet Hispánico, Ballet Hispánico Dos, Collage Dance Collective, DanceNOW! Ensemble, ArmitageGone! Dance, RuddUR Dance Company, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, and Zest Collective, and has accepted other freelance assignments. She has performed works by Bobbi Jene Smith, Micaela Taylor, Adam Barruch, Shannon Gillen, Stephanie Batten Bland, Bryan Arias, Alan Lucien Øyen, and Ohad Naharin and has collaborated with Mark Caserta, Jamar Roberts, and Marla Phelan, among others.Her Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project at Gibney, CONFIDANZ (CONFIDANZ.org), uses movement to help create more confidence for artists in front of the camera, while also providing guidance and knowledge on lighting, angles, agency, and advocacy. Gomez was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Miami, Florida. 

Eddieomar Gonzalez-Castillo
Artistic Associate
@Eddieomar.Gonzalez 

Eddieomar Gonzalez-Castillo (he/him) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2022. He graduated with a BFA in modern performance from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance in 2019 and studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth, Australia, with a concentration in Classical Ballet. Throughout his training, he has performed repertory by Jose Limón, Shannon Gillen, Ana Maria Lucaciu, Kimberly Bartosik, Tom Weinberger, and Crystal Pite. The start of his professional journey led him to work for companies such as Visceral Dance Chicago and Bocatuya. In 2021 he joined Alejandro Cerrudo on his self-produced work It Starts Now, and most recently he was seen in the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof, performing choreography by Hofesh Shechter. A South Florida native, Gonzalez-Castillo began his formal training at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts and Florida School for Dance Education. 

Eleni Loving
Artistic Associate
@eleni.loving

Eleni Loving (she/her) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic associate in 2022. A 2022 graduate of The Juilliard School, Loving is a 2022 Princess Grace Honoraria Award winner and was presented the Artist as Citizen award by Juilliard’s President, Damian Woetzel. She was named a 2018 YoungArts winner in Modern/Contemporary Dance and an NAACP ACT-SO awardee. She has worked with choreographers Ohad Naharin, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Francesca Harper, Bobbi Jene Smith, and Justin Peck, among others. In 2022, Loving helped lead the first Juilliard improvisation residency for Ballet Tech by teaching the 6th grade class. She worked with Shamel Pitts and TRIBE Collective, appearing in Calvin Klein’s 2022 “This is Love” Pride Campaign, and collaborated with Francesca Harper for her work in Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum. Loving believes in focusing on developing her humanity just as much as her artistry; one always informs the other. Her Moving Toward Justice Fellowship, BEYOND THE SCOPE (BTS) podcast, aims to highlight the multiplicity of dancers as people and foster the awareness that dancers have agency in moving into whatever passions they might have, either after a Performance career or alongside it. Loving is a native of Dallas, Texas, and began her training with Dallas Black Dance Academy. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, supplementing her training with programs at The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arts Umbrella, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and others. 

Jesse Obremski
Artistic Associate
@jesse_obremski 

Jesse Obremski (he/him) joined Gibney Company in 2018 as a Guest Artist and became an Artistic Associate in 2019. He joined Lar Lubovitch Dance Company at the age of 19 and has since then worked with Helen Simoneau Dance, WHITE WAVE, Brian Brooks Moving Company, and the Limón Dance Company (as soloist and principal), among others. Obremski's choreographic work has been presented internationally by Gibney Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Brigham Young University, and Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance (EMDOD), among others. He is also the movement director and choreographer for the musical production of 100 Years of Song. He is a sought-after educator and speaker and has restaged José Limón’s work at MOVE|NYC| and the University of Wyoming and has assisted at The Juilliard School (2015– 2018). He is the recipient of the Asian American Arts Alliance’s 2016 Jadin Wong Award, is an Eagle Scout, has been mentioned in the New York Times and on NY1 and was named Dance Magazine's March 2019 dancer "On The Rise." He became the Associate Executive Director of Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance in 2022, after serving on its Board for four years. In 2018, he founded Obremski/Works, which has appeared internationally with an emphasis on dance films and AAPI Support Fellowships. For his Gibney Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project, Obremski founded OUR PATHS, which cultivates greater communal empathy through podcasts, video interviews, written articles, and workshops. A native of New York City, Obremski began his studies at The Ailey School, studied at Jacob’s Pillow and Springboard Danse Montreal, and is a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and The Juilliard School. 

Kevin Pajarillaga
Artistic Associate
@kevin.pajarillaga 

Kevin Pajarillaga (he/him) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2020. Previously, he worked with NW Dance Project, Yue Yin's YY Dance Company, and Sonya Tayeh Dance, among others. He has guest-performed with Parsons Dance Company, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. On film, Pajarillaga danced in the 2021 MTV VMAs with artist Doja Cat, GAP’s 2018 spring campaign “Experiment in Color,” Celia Rowlson-Hall’s short film First Snow featured on NOWNESS, and Times Square Arts’s “Midnight Moment.” Pajarillaga has performed works by choreographers Alan Lucien Oyen, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Felix Landerer, Gustavo Ramirez, Alejandro Cerrudo, Ihsan Rustem, Yue Yin, Maleek Washington, and Dwight Rhoden, among others. He has choreographed for Gibney Company’s Company Created, NW Dance Project’s In Good Company, The Juilliard School’s senior showcase, and the DREAMscape Gala. He co-choreographed The Executioner with painter-sculptor Dan Colen and Claude Johnson. Pajarillaga is the cofounder of Moving Forward Dallas, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing thriving young artists in Dallas, Texas. Pajarillaga’s Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project with Gibney, EVERGREEN, is a platform for diverse creators to produce socially relevant and impactful new works on film. In 2022, he signed with Stetts modeling agency as a model. Pajarillaga is a Filipino American, born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

Jordan Powell
Artistic Associate
@jordannpow

Jordan Powell (she/her) joined Gibney Company in 2022 as an Artistic Associate. She graduated from the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, where she performed works by George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Doug Varone, Ohad Naharin, Barak Marshall, and Hope Boykin, among others. She has done additional intensive training at Jacob’s Pillow, The Juilliard School, BalletX, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. As a dance educator, Powell has taught at Everybody Dance LA! and Project Dance in New Jersey. Powell is originally from Freehold, New Jersey.

Jie-Hung Connie Shiau
Artistic Associate
@jiehungshiau

Jie-Hung Connie Shiau (she/her) joined Gibney Company in 2020 as an Artistic Associate and has been selected as a Gibney Choreographic Fellow for the 2022–2023 season. For her fellowship, she created a new work that was presented at Gibney Center in New York in November 2022. As a dancer, choreographer, and educator, Shiau has worked as a collaborator with an array of companies, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Gallim Dance, Helen Simoneau Danse, MeenMoves, Adam Barruch/Anatomiae Occultii, and Kevin Wynn Works. Her choreographic work has been presented at New Choreographer Project in Taipei, Taiwan; Loyola University; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago summer  intensives; Earl Mosley Diversity of Dance; Little Island Dance Festival; SUNY Purchase Spring Concert; and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 43rd Virtual Season. Shiau’s film Greener Grass was a semifinalist in the London International Web & Shorts Film Festival 2021. As an artist, Shiau has been recognized as a Chicago Dancemaker Forum Greenhouse Artist in 2019, as one of Dance magazine’s 2018 “25 To Watch,” with an Honorable Mention for the Jadin Wong Award for Emerging Asian American Dancer in 2014, and with a Reverb Dance Festival Dancer Award in 2014. Her Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project with Gibney is BODYHUES, a platform to promote self-caring and self-loving practices as a means of fighting body shaming culture. Born in Gainesville, Florida, Shiau was raised in Tainan, Taiwan.  

Jacob Thoman 
Artistic Associate
@jacob.thoman 

Jacob Thoman (he/them) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2019. Thoman graduated from The Juilliard School in 2019, under the direction of Larry Rhodes and Alicia Graf Mack, and has performed works by Roy Assaf, Crystal Pite, and Stephanie Batten Bland and in the inaugural production of Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise at The Shed, choreographed by Akram Khan. Last season, they took part in an artist exchange tour of Story, Story, Die. with Winter Guests, created by Alan Lucien Øyen and dancers. Thoman grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Manila, Philippines, where they trained and performed between The School for Creative and Performing Arts, Cincinnati Ballet, and Performing Arts and Exhale Dance Tribe, following Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard.  

Jake Tribus
Artistic Associate
@jake.tribus 

Jake Tribus (he/him) joined Gibney Company as an Artistic Associate in 2020. He is a 2020 graduate of USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance under the direction of Jodie Gates. Tribus’s past training includes intensives with Nederlands Dans Theater, Batsheva Gaga Technique, The Juilliard School, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Additionally he has performed repertoire from choreographers William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Jîrí Kylián, Johan Inger, Sharon Eyal, Paul Taylor, Victor Quijada, Aszure Barton, and Dwight Rhoden. Jake has performed on stages including The Joyce Theatre (with Gibney Company and the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance), The Shed (with A Quiet Evening of Dance by William Forsythe), the Kampnagel International Summer Festival (premiering Where There’s Form by Aszure Barton), and in 2022 the Fire Island Dance Festival (choreography by Akira Uchida and Micaela Taylor). He has also performed in music videos and on stage for artists including Taylor Swift, Lorde, Backstreet Boys, and Janet Jackson, among others. Tribus is the recipient of a 2022 Princess Grace Award in Dance. His Moving Toward Justice Fellowship project with Gibney, Converge2Emerge (C2E), aims to magnify emerging choreographic voices in New York City through career mentorship, financial resources, and artistic collaboration. He is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he began his training at CC & Company Dance Complex. He also trained at Next Generation Ballet in Tampa, Florida, under the direction of Peter Stark. 

Gibney Company is grateful for leadership support from Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund. The Company also receives generous support from the Bay & Paul Foundations, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Con Edison, Consulate General of Israel in New York, DBI Projects, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, the MacMillan Family Foundation, The Ready Foundation, Meringoff Family Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the SHS Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, and Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation. Gibney is additionally grateful for in-kind support from Symbio Physiotherapy and Winston & Strawn LLP.