Steven Holl and Jessica Lang, dance couple

02/12/2015. [VIDEO] from JessicaLangDanceTV. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance [Chicago] US
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Jessica Lang Dance will present a world premiere featuring choreography by Jessica Lang, with a set design by famed architect Steven Holl. This new piece is co-commissioned by the Harris Theater and the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial and represents a tremendous collaborative opportunity between the fields of dance and architecture.
Jessica Lang Dance in
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Tesseracts of Time is an exploration, and collaboration between architect Steven Holl and choreographer Jessica Lang, of the architectural concepts “under, in, on, and over,” that will “awaken the human imagination.” The piece is co-commissioned by the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Society for the Performing Arts and The Joyce Theater Foundation. They have created what the duo bills as, “a dance for architecture." The architectural dance performance explores the four types of architecture as they correspond to the four seasons.

Description of project by Steven Holl Architects

The four sections of the dance correspond to the four types of architecture: (1.) Under the ground (2.) In the ground (3.) On the ground (4.) Over the ground.

The first section ‘UNDER’ begins with a slow movement of sunlight coming from above, sweeping across the curved interior spaces of the architecture. The dance physically vibrates in the dark shadows of the stage. Dancers are dressed in black geometric and angular costumes. Their movement is grounded and driven with linear thought to the percussive score Anvil Chorus by David Lang.

For the second section ‘IN’, compressed spatial sequences filled in deep light are projected in film. The dance movement defies gravity and explores geometry with emotional expression. Space and body in black and white work in synchrony with the minimalist piano music Patterns in a Chromatic Field by Morton Feldman.

The third section ‘ON’ -all in white- reveals on stage three twelve-foot-tall Tesseract Fragments. In geometry, the tesseract is the four-dimensional analog of a cube. In dance, the movement explores space now present in the 3rd dimension of the stage. The music is percussive, prepared piano The Perilous Night by John Cage.

The fourth section ‘OVER’, begins with the tension of sound and energy as the Tesseracts rise upwards to the music Metastaseis by Iannis Xenakis. Unlike the previous sections, bursting color floods the stage with dancers in asymmetrical colors of oranges and reds. Arvo Pärt’s Solfeggio takes shape in a synthesis of chromatic forms as the dance releases like a sunrise into intensely lyrical and hypnotic meditative phrases.

Like Seasons, the ending returns to the darkness of ‘UNDER’ at the beginning. No beginning No ending.

The whole piece takes a year—four seasons—but is compressed into twenty minutes. As there are 525,600 minutes in one year, this compression ratio would render an average human life as four years.

Notes:
The architecture used in the dance was developed through a research project called ‘Explorations of IN’. Read more about Explorations of IN.

Lang and Holl carefully chose music that has influenced both in their individual work and for its architectonic qualities, studied at Columbia University’s design program The Architectonics of Music (led by Steven Holl and Dimitra Tsachrelia). Read more about Architectonics of Music

CREDITS. TECHNICAL SHEET.-

Architecture.- Steven Holl Architects. Steven Holl (concept). Dimitra Tsachrelia (design director). Ruoyu Wei (filming and editing, ‘Explorations of IN’ project team). Yuliya Savelyeva (‘Explorations of IN’ project team).
Dance.- Jessica Lang Dance. Jessica Lang (concept, director and choreographer). Milan Misko (film consultant). Clifton Brown, Randy Castillo, Julie Fiorenza, John Harnage, Eve Jacobs, Kana Kimura, Milan Misko, Jammie Walker (dancers).
Music.- John Cage - Morton Feldman - David Lang - Arvo Part - Iannis Xenakis.
Lighting design.- Nicole Pearce.
Costume design.- Bradon McDonald.
Stage and set construction.- Paper Mâché Monkey.
This project was made possible with support from.- The Rockefeller Brothers Fund – The Harkness Foundation for Dance – Charles & Deborah Adelman – The Dau Family Foundation.
This dance was created at.- - a New York City Center fellowship residency - a Pocantico Center residency - Kaatsbaan International Dance Center.
Tesseracts of Time is co-commissioned by.- - The Chicago Architectural Biennial. John and Caroline Balantine. Sandra and Jack Guthman. Michael and Sharon Tiknis through the Imagine Campaign. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The Society for the Performing Arts. The Joyce Theater Foundation.

For Tesseracts of Time tour dates and more information, click here.

 

Jessica Lang Dance in
Kana Kimura, with Jammie Walker, John Harnage, Julie Fiorenza y Eve Jacobs. Jessica Lang Dance in Jessica Lang Dance in
Jessica Lang Dance in
Jessica Lang Dance in
Jessica Lang Dance in
Kana Kimura. Jessica Lang Dance in
Eve Jacobs. Jessica Lang Dance in
Kana Kimura and Clifton Brown in a still from the film of
Kana Kimura and Clifton Brown in a still from the film of
Kana Kimura and Clifton Brown in a still from the film of
Sketch by Steven Holl. The four sections of the dance correspond to the four types of architecture: (1.) Under the ground (2.) In the ground (3.) On the ground (4.) Over the ground.. Courtesy Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Sketch by Steven Holl. Courtesy Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Sketch by Steven Holl. Courtesy Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Jessica Lang Dance in
Chicago and Harris Theater. Image courtesy of Jessica Lang Dance.
Harris Theater,Chicago Architecture Biennial, with Laura Mead, Milan Misko and Eve Jacobs.
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More information

JESSICA LANG

Jessica Lang is a choreographer and the artistic director of Jessica Lang Dance. Hailed as "a master of visual composition" by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works.

Since 1999, Lang has created more than 85 works on companies worldwide including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ailey II, ABT II, Hubbard Street 2, and New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, among many others. American Ballet Theatre has presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House, and she has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum for its Works and Process series. For opera, Lang received outstanding acclaim for her directorial debut and choreography of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass Opera Festival.

Lang is a New York City Center Fellow for 2015 and the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Bessie Award. Her ballet Lyric Pieces, commissioned and performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet earned a nomination for a coveted 2013 Manchester Theatre Award in the UK. Lang has received numerous grants for her work on ballet companies from organizations including the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the NEA, and the Choo San Goh Foundation. Her receipt of a 2010 Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helped launch her own company, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) in 2011.

Since its inception, JLD has made rapid success performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the country including Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Joyce Theater and the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, TX, among others.

Lang's work has also been performed by numerous educational institutions including The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, Marymount Manhattan College, SUNY Purchase College, Southern Methodist University, Princeton University, University of Richmond, and Point Park University, among others. She is on faculty of American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School as well as a teaching artist for the Make A Ballet program. With her strong belief in the importance of education, Lang recently developed her own methodology called LANGuage, a unique creative curriculum that teaches individuals from all populations to cultivate the habit of creative thinking through exercise.

In addition to JLD's tour engagements, during the 2015/16 season Lang's work will be performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, Orlando Ballet, National Ballet of Japan, Cincinnati Ballet and Ballet West. She has also been commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet to create a new work which will premiere in May 2016 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. A co-commission by The Chicago Architecture Biennial, The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Society for the Performing Arts and The Joyce Theater Foundation will result in a world premiere by Lang for JLD in Fall 2015 featuring a set by world-renowned architect Steven Holl.

Lang, a graduate of The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, is a former member of Twyla Tharp's company, THARP!

STEVEN HOLL

Steven Holl was born in 1947 in Bremerton, Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976 he attended the Architectural Association in London and established STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS in New York City. Considered one of America's most important architects.He has realized cultural, civic, academic and residential projects both in the United States and internationally. Most recently completed are the Cité de l'Océan et du Surf in Biarritz, France (2011).

Steven Holl is a tenured Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. He has lectured and exhibited widely and has published numerous texts.

Recently the office has won a number of international design competitions including the new design for the Contemporary Art Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, USA) and he has been recognized with architecture's most prestigious awards and prizes. Recently, he received the RIBA 2010 Jencks Award, and the first ever Arts Award of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (2009). In 2006 Steven Holl received honorary degrees from Seattle University and Moholy-Nagy University in Budapest. In 2003 he was named Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Steven Holl is a member of the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, the Honorary Whitney Circle, the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the International Honorary Committee, Vilpuri Library, of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

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