BalletCollective to Present 10th NYC Fall Season THE FLUIDITY OF TIME Featuring Two World Premieres

BalletCollective will present their 10th NYC Fall Season, "The Fluidity of Time," on November 2nd and 3rd at Trinity Commons, the first ballet performance offered in Trinity Church Wall Street's new community center in Lower Manhattan.

Two world premieres will be featured; "Forest of Shifting Time" by BalletCollective Artistic Director and choreographer Troy Schumacher, composer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Augusta Read Thomas, and visual artist Doug Fitch, and "The First and Last Light" by choreographer Bryn Cohn and composer Alex Somers, inspired by The weather project by artist Olafur Eliasson. The works will be performed live by a group of 13 artists, including dancers from New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company and the Akropolis Reed Quintet.

Each piece is rooted in the choreographer and composer's changed perception and understanding of time in recent years.

Inspired by Olafur Elliason's The Weather Project, "The First and Last Light" explores the cyclical nature of time as a path towards locating community and self-actualization. Six strangers land on a deserted island with the task of migrating through fantastical environments and interpersonal scenarios to understand themselves, one another and why they are there. Cohn is the third recipient of BalletCollective's Commission for Developing Choreographers.

In "Forest of Shifting Time" two explorers enter an unknown place with no way out but forward, and find themselves among shifting trees, dancing dinosaurs, playful insects, and more. Choreographed and directed by BalletCollective Artistic Director Troy Schumacher and set to a vibrant, commissioned score by Augusta Read Thomas for the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Forest of Shifting Time features whimsical costumes and props by artist and designer Doug Fitch and lighting by Ben Rawson.

"Over the past three years, I've noticed a drastic shift in the way time presents itself to me and my relationships. For a while, I chalked it up to the birth of my twin girls, but in my conversations with my fellow artists, I began to realize that there's been a profound alteration in how the people around me are experiencing and relating to time as well. As we began selecting our collaborators for the new season, this 'time conversation' was at the forefront of our discussions," Schumacher observes.

The Fluidity of Time will feature dancers trained in a multitude of methodologies, including dancers from New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and alumni of The Ailey School and The Juilliard School. Detroit-based Akropolis Reed Quintet will accompany "Forest of Shifting Time."

THE BALLETCOLLECTIVE PROCESS

In a process that brings choreographers, composers, and non-performing artists together, BalletCollective uproots the common model of a singular choreographic voice dictating the process and outcome, with the aim of generating breakthroughs and providing artistic growth for artists. BalletCollective identifies choreographers through an open application process and helps them select a composer. Together they choose a non-performing Source Artist to collaborate with. After initial artistic and thematic discussions, the Source Artist develops a work for the composer and choreographer to utilize as inspiration for the ballet and a communication tool to ground the artistic conversation. The Source Art may not become part of the performance, but the performance could not exist without it.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Performance Dates: November 2nd and 3rd, 2022 at 7:30 PM

Performance Location: Trinity Commons, 89 Broadway New York, NY 10006

Ticket information: Tickets priced $20-$100 can be purchased at balletcollective.com/tickets, with November 2nd benefit tickets starting at $300. Tickets are currently on sale.

Free live stream information: The November 3rd 7:30 PM performance will be live streamed for free at balletcollective.com/live

Running Time: 75 minutes

ABOUT BALLETCOLLECTIVE

Founded in 2010 by Troy Schumacher, BalletCollective creates and performs forward-thinking works that reflect the world we live in. BalletCollective commissions emerging, established and acclaimed choreographers, composers, writers and visual artists to collaborate on ballet based works. BalletCollective exclusively performs commissioned, collaborative work.

Each BalletCollective project takes as its source a contemporary work of art in any medium chosen or commissioned by its choreographer and composer. From this starting point, the choreographer and composer collaborate to create a work that interprets, explores, or responds to its source. The result of the collaboration is performed live. By its nature, BalletCollective consists of a rotating group of artists and collaborators, and with each new collective there are new ideas, new challenges, and, ultimately, new forms of expression that emerge.

BalletCollective has collaborated with a roster of over 160 acclaimed artists, choreographers, composers, musicians, designers, and dancers, including Zaria Forman, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Karen Russell, James Ramsey, Ken Liu, Julianna Barwick, David Salle, Dafy Hagai, Judd Greenstein, Gabrielle Lamb, Preston Chamblee, and Cynthia Zarin, and has produced sixteen new ballets. BalletCollective has been presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Joyce Theater, NYU Skirball Center, Guggenheim Works & Process, Guggenheim Bilbao, the Fire Island Dance Festival, and the Savannah Music Festival.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, BalletCollective commissioned. produced and safely performed live both the first world-premiere one-act ballet, Natural History, and the first full-length world premiere ballet, The Nutcracker at Wethersfield, in the US.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Troy Schumacher (Artistic Director and Choreographer) is an American choreographer, dancer, and director living in New York, NY. His athletic aesthetic draws upon the artists he collaborates with to produce fresh, unexpected results. He is a soloist with New York City Ballet and the founder and Artistic Director of BalletCollective. He has been dubbed a "visionary artist" by T Magazine and is "one of his generation's most acclaimed choreographers" (PBS).

Schumacher's work has been presented by New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Performa, Danspace Project, Guggenheim Works & Process, Guggenheim Bilbao, Peak Performances, The Joyce Theater, the Savannah Music Festival, and NYU Skirball Center, among others. He has collaborated with many artists including Jeff Koons, Karen Russell, Zaria Forman, Thom Browne, Ken Liu, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Maddie Ziegler, and David Salle. In addition to live performances, Schumacher has choreographed numerous art, fashion and commercial shoots, including works for Google, Sony PlayStation, Capezio, HP, Aritzia, CR Fashion Book, Tom Ford, and The New York Times.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Schumacher created, directed, and produced the first live world premiere ballets in the US: the one act Natural History and the full-length, immersive Nutcracker at Wethersfield.

Akropolis Reed Quintet (Musical Ensemble) Celebrating their 14th year making music with a "collective voice driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure" (The Wire), Akropolis has "taken the chamber music world by storm" (Fanfare). As the first reed quintet to grace the Billboard Charts (May 2021), the untamed band of 5 reed players and entrepreneurs are united by a shared passion: to make music that sparks joy and wonder. Winner of 7 national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events each year and has premiered over 130 works. They are the first ensemble of their kind to grace the stage on noteworthy series like Oneppo (Yale University), Chamber Music San Antonio, Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Summerwinds Münster (Germany), Flagler Museum (Palm Beach), and many more.

"There's nothing tentative in [Akropolis'] approach, and that extends to their programming of multifariously challenging and imaginative new works" (The Wire). Currently, Akropolis is collaborating with GRAMMY-nominated pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman on their Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? project, an album and touring program drawing classical and jazz idioms together to reflect on American identity. Akropolis' 22-23 season will include premieres of the music of Augusta Read Thomas and Omar Thomas; imaginative renditions of music by Ravel, Bernstein, Rameau, Shostakovich, and Gershwin; and touring their 4th album, Ghost Light, lauded for its "range, agility, and grace" (The Whole Note). Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award and a nonprofit organization which has received 5 consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Akropolis runs a festival in Detroit called Together We Sound and an annual, yearlong residency at three public Detroit high schools. The "pure gold" (San Francisco Chronicle) Akropolis Reed Quintet performs worldwide and is represented exclusively by Ariel Artists.

Alex Somers (Composer) is an American composer and producer who now resides in Los Angeles, having spent time in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he studied visual art at the Academy of the Arts. Alex was born in Baltimore and studied composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since releasing the 2009 ambient album Riceboy Sleeps with Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Alex has collaborated with artists including Julianna Barwick, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Gyða Valtýsdóttir, as well as co-producing Jónsi's debut album Go and Sigur Rós's 2013 album Valtari. Alex has scored for both TV and film. His most recent projects include Angel Manuel Soto's Charm City Kings, Audrey, following the life of Audrey Hepburn, and Mimi Cave's thriller Fresh. 2021 also saw the release of Alex's debut solo albums Siblings and Siblings 2.

Augusta Read Thomas (Composer) writes music that is nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, and colorful - "it is boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music." (Philadelphia Inquirer) Her impressive works embody unbridled passion & fierce poetry. The New Yorker called her "a true virtuoso composer." Critic Edward Reichel wrote, "Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance, depth, and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and knows how to say it -and in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated." Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony, for Barenboim and Boulez, from 1997 through 2006. This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle, one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

Recent commissions include those from the BBC Proms, Boston Symphony, Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, PEAK Performances and the Martha Graham Dance Company, Santa Fe Opera along with a consortium of seven opera companies, JACK quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Tanglewood, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Philharmonic, the Danish Chamber Players, and the Fromm Foundation. She won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, among many other coveted awards. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Former American Music Center Board Chair, she serves on many boards and is a generous contributor to the profession at large.

Ben Rawson (Lighting Designer) Ben Rawson is an Atlanta-based Lighting Designer for Theatre, Opera, and Dance, member USA 829. Theatrical/Opera design work can be seen at The Alliance Theatre, Detroit Opera, Florida Studio Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Theatrical Outfit, Actors Express, Aurora Theatre, Atlanta Lyric Theatre, 7 Stages, and Synchronicity Theatre. Dance design work includes collaborations with choreographers Ana Maria Lucaciu, Troy Schumacher, Danielle Agami, and Claudia Schreier as well as with Atlanta Ballet, Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, BalletCollective, Fly On A Wall, Staibdance, Proia Dance Project, and Emily Cargill and Dancers.

Bryn Cohn (Choreographer) Described as having "a brilliant mind" and a "choreographer who does not shy away from much" (Dance Enthusiast), Bryn Cohn is an award-winning choreographer whose work merges storytelling, rhythmic play and kinetic physical languages. Her choreography has been presented by Jacob's Pillow, Danspace Project, Bryant Park, Hudson Valley Dance Festival, 92nd Street Y, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, McCallum's Choreography Competition and REDCAT Theater among others. She has been commissioned by BalletCollective, Repertory Dance Theatre, Los Angeles Ballet II, Big Muddy Dance Company, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Backhaus Dance, Youth America Grand Prix, Jacksonville Dance Theater and Billy Bell's Lunge Dance. Cohn has been hired for commercial, fashion and visual art projects with Louis Vuitton, Smartwater, Betsey Johnson, Artists & Fleas and Tribeca Art Night.

Cohn was nominated for a Princess Grace Fellowship in Choreography. She was selected to participate in the New Directions Choreography Lab at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater - a creative residency supported by the Ford Foundation. She has been in artistic residence at Cal State Fullerton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of Minnesota Duluth, Stockton University, Texas Christian University, Roger Williams College, University at Buffalo and Grand Valley State University. Cohn received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from CalArts and was honored as a distinguished alumni. She has a Master of Fine Arts from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a High Honors, Chancellor's and Regent's award recipient.

Douglas Fitch (Contributing Visual Artist and Costume Design) Visual artist, designer, director Doug Fitch's several productions with the NY Philharmonic include Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre; Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen; A Dancer's Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky; and HK Gruber's Gloria - A Pig Tale. Mr. Fitch has also created productions for Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and for Bard's SummerScape Festival. His Tanglewood production of Elliott Carter's What Next? was conducted by James Levine; filmed and later screened at the Museum of Modern Art.

Fitch directed and designed Matthew Aucoin's Orphic Moments at National Sawdust, a production, later remounted at Salzburg's Landestheater, then reconfigured for Master Voices at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. At La Jolla Summerfest, he performed a live-animated version of Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition Inon Barnaton. His cabaret, Doug Fitch's Art Gallery Variety Show, has appeared at National Sawdust and Maison Francaise at Columbia University.

Mr. Fitch is a co-founder of Giants Are Small, which, in co-production with Universal Music and Deutsche Grammophon, developed Peter and the Wolf in Hollywood - a digital album featuring Alice Cooper as narrator and the German National Youth Orchestra. Recent highlights include LA Opera's remount of Hansel and Gretel, Le Grand Macabre at the ElbPhilharmonie in Hamburg and Punkitititi: a new show commissioned by Rolando Villazon for Mozart Woche 2020 with the Salzburg Marionette Theater, featuring Geoff Sobelle, and Pan, developed in collaboration with composer Marcos Balter and flutist Claire Chase. He is a Hermitage Fellow and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lauren Starobin (Costume Designer) Lauren studied art and design at RISD as well as in Paris at Studio Berçot. She received her BFA in fashion design from FIT in 2021 where she was the recipient of several scholarly awards including two Critics' Awards as well as the 1st prize in the Underfashion Club's Student Design Scholarship Competition. Since graduating she has sought to combine her knowledge and love of fashion and dance. She apprenticed with celebrated dance costume designers Reid & Harriet and honed her skills at various prominent Broadway costume shops. Lauren has designed original costumes for Alexei Ratmansky, James Whiteside, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Buglisi Dance Theater, Al Blackstone and others.

Olafur Eliasson (Artist) Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) works with sculpture, painting, photography, film, installation, and digital media. His art is driven by his interests in perception, movement, embodied experience, and feelings of self and community. Not limited to the confines of the museum and gallery, his practice engages the public through architectural projects, interventions in civic space, arts education, policy-making, and climate action.Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows have appeared in major museums around the globe. He represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed The weather project, an enormous artificial sun shrouded by mist, in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, London, which was seen by more than two million people. In 2014, Contact was the opening exhibition of Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Verklighetsmaskiner (Reality machines), at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 2015, became the museum's most visited show by a living artist. In 2016, Eliasson created a series of interventions for the palace and gardens of Versailles and mounted two large-scale exhibitions: Nothingness is not nothing at all, at Long Museum, Shanghai, and The parliament of possibilities, at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul. Eliasson's site- specific installation Reality projector opened at the Marciano Foundation, Los Angeles, in March 2018, the same month as The unspeakable openness of things, his solo exhibition at Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing. In 2019, In real life, a wide-ranging survey exhibition of Eliasson's artistic practice over the past twenty-five years, opened at Tate Modern, in London, before traveling to Guggenheim Bilbao in 2020. Olafur Eliasson: Symbiotic seeing opened at Kunsthaus Zürich in January 2020, and Sometimes the river is the bridge was shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from April to September 2020. For the exhibition Life, in 2021, Eliasson removed the glass facade of the Fondation Beyeler, in Basel, Switzerland, and conducted the bright green waters of the existing pond into the museum's galleries, along with a host of aquatic plants and the odd duck or spider.

Located in Berlin, Studio Olafur Eliasson comprises a large team of craftsmen, architects, archivists, researchers, administrators, cooks, art historians, and specialized technicians.