SALLY SILVERS: ACTUAL SIZE
AT 92Y HARKNESS DANCE FESTIVAL
March 20-22
NEW YORK, NY: February 10— For the fifth and final week of 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Festival, Sally Silvers’ award-winning choreography pays homage to the films and motifs of Alfred Hitchcock, teasing romance with fear, sampling many of his classic looks and obsessions.
Actual Size includes an arresting North by Northwest duet with former Merce Cunningham stars Melissa Toogood and Dylan Crossman. The cast also includes Alicia Ohs, Carolyn Hall and Luke Miller and is framed by Ursula Scherrer’s inventive, skewed video projections, lighting by Joe Levasseur, costumes by Elizabeth Hope Clancy, atmospherics by text/sound designer Bruce Andrews, and live accompaniment by electronic composer Michael Schumacher. Silvers promises that “this performance includes many surprises—mysterious encounters, secrets revealed and a guest performer each night to echo the Hitchcock cameo that he made in almost all of his films.”
Using festival curator Doug Varone’s “Stripped/Dressed” format, each choreographer spends the first half of the program taking apart the dance – talking about it, showing how it was built and giving the audience a direct experience of dance-making without lights or costumes. After intermission, the work is presented fully “Dressed.”
In the “Stripped” portion of Actual Size, Silvers, with the dancers demonstrating, shows the connection to different Hitchcock clips—mostly from North by Northwest, and how Hitchcock’s motifs and designs influenced spatial design, movement ideas, structure, and relationships between the dancers. Silvers also develops and performs “live choreography,” spontaneously making work on the dancers in front of the audience and then including this new choreography in the “Dressed” section.
This year’s Festival is dedicated to the late Theodore S. Bartwink, long-time executive director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.
WHAT: 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival: Stripped/Dressed — Week FIVE: SALLY SILVERS: ACTUAL SIZE
WHEN: Fri, Mar 20 and Sat, Mar 21 at 8 pm; Sun, Mar 22 at 3 pm
WHERE: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY, 10128
TICKETS: $25 at 92Y.org or 212.415.5500
Press Information: Carrie Oman at [email protected] or 212.415.5435
About 92Y Harkness Dance Center
In 1935, what became the 92Y Harkness Dance Center provided a home to the fledgling American modern dance movement and its leader, Martha Graham. In the decades that followed, every great American dancer and choreographer – visionaries including Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Robert Joffrey and Donald McKayle – spent time at 92Y, building the foundation for modern dance as we know it. Through the generous support of the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Dance Center continues this proud tradition of dance teaching, creation and performance, serving the professional world and the community at large. Technique classes range from ballet and modern dance to hip-hop and Flamenco. Rounding out the program are several performance programs including the annual 92Y Harkness Dance Festival; a professional development program for dance educators; and several teen dance troupes. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/dance.
Now celebrating its 140th Anniversary, 92nd Street Y is a world-class, nonprofit cultural and community center that fosters the mental, physical and spiritual health of people throughout their lives, offering: wide-ranging conversations with the world’s best minds; outstanding programming in the performing, visual and literary arts; fitness and sports programs; and activities for children and families. 92Y is the home of #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving launched in 2012. More than 300,000 people visit 92Y annually; millions more participate in 92Y’s digital and online initiatives. A proudly Jewish organization, 92Y embraces its Jewish heritage and welcomes people of all backgrounds and perspectives. For more information, visit www.92Y.org.
