bloodlines

A key voice in actualizing the importance of our postmodern dance predecessors and the present, Stephen Petronio created Bloodlines in 2014 as a Company project to honor this lineage. Distinguished for creating original languages that exemplify the highest level of artistic excellence displayed through extreme physical and conceptual rigor, these artists have had a profound impact on the field as well as Petronio’s own artistic path. The project placed works by these postmodern masters in dialogue with Petronio’s own choreography. He worked with many of these artists in the flesh and served as a connective tissue between generations. Stephen Petronio Company restaged 12 Bloodlines works, including dances by Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Anna Halprin, Yvonne Rainer, Rudy Perez, and Steve Paxton. The Bloodlines(future) initiative followed, directing support toward a new generation of dancers and choreographers more equitably in this artistic lineage.

Visit the Bloodlines Room

Works

BLOODLINES | Merce Cunningham’s RainForest

BLOODLINES | Rudy Perez’s Coverage

BLOODLINES | MERCE CUNNINGHAM’S TREAD

BLOODLINES | STEVE PAXTON’S JAG VILL GÄRNA TELEFONERA

Bloodlines | Merce Cunningham’s Signals

Bloodlines | Anna Halprin’s The Courtesan and the Crone

Bloodlines | Steve Paxton’s Excerpt from Goldberg Variations

Bloodlines | Yvonne Rainer’s Diagonal, Trio A with Flags, and Chair-Pillow

Bloodlines | Trisha Brown’s Glacial Decoy

PROJECT DETAILS

RainForest (1968)
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Music: David Tudor, Rainforest
Décor: Andy Warhol, Silver Pillows
Lighting: Aaron Copp
Staged for Stephen Petronio Company by: Andrea Weber, with Meg Harper and Rashaun Mitchell
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: April 27, 2015; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Signals (1970)
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Music played live: Composers Inside Electronics
Lighting: Richard Nelson
Costumes: Merce Cunningham, recreated by Jeffrey Wirsing
Staged for the Stephen Petronio Company by: Rashaun Mitchell and Melissa Toogood
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: March 20, 2018; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Tread (1970)
Choreographer: Merce Cunningham
Music: For 1, 2, or 3 People by Christian Wolff, performed live by Composers Inside Electronics
Set: Bruce Nauman
Costumes: After the design by Merce Cunningham
Lighting: Richard Nelson
Staged for the Stephen Petronio Company by: Jennifer Goggans
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: April 11, 2019; NYU Skirball, New York, NY

Glacial Decoy (1979)
Choreography: Trisha Brown
Set, Costumes, and Visual Direction: Robert Rauschenberg
Lighting: Beverly Emmons
Staged for Stephen Petronio Company by: Diane Madden and Lisa Kraus
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: October 1, 2015; The Dance Center, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Courtesan and the Crone (1999)
By Anna Halprin
Music: Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D Minor, by Alessandro Marcello
Alessandro Marcello
Lighting: Joe Doran
Costume: Stephen Petronio in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum
Performed by Stephen Petronio, March 28, 2017; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Diagonal (1963)
Choreography: Yvonne Rainer
Lighting: Joe Doran
Staged for the Stephen Petronio Company by: Pat Catterson
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: March 28, 2017; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Trio A with Flags (1966/1970)
Choreography: Yvonne Rainer
Music: The Chambers Brothers
Lighting: Joe Doran
Staging for the Stephen Petronio Company by: Pat Catterson
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: March 28, 2017; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Chair-Pillow (1969)
Choreography: Yvonne Rainer
Music: Ike and Tina Turner
Lighting: Joe Doran
Staged for the Stephen Petronio Company by: Pat Catterson
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: March 28, 2017; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

Excerpt from Goldberg Variations (1986)
Choreography: Steve Paxton
Music: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, Variations 16-23, by J.S. Bach, performed by Glenn Gould
Lighting: Ken Tabachnick
Performed by Nicholas Sciscione
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: March 28, 2017; The Joyce Theater, New York, NY

JAG VILL GÄRNA TELEFONERA (I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A PHONE CALL) (1964/1982)
Score: Steve Paxton
Created and performed in 1982 by Stephen Petronio and Randy Warshaw
Performed by: Rotating members of Stephen Petronio Company
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: December 9, 2018; MoMA as part of Judson Dance Theater: The Work is Never Done;
October 9, 2018

Coverage Revisted (1970)
Choreography, Sound Assemblage, and Costumes: Rudy Perez
Lighting: Joe Doran
Staged for Stephen Petronio Company by: Sarah Swenson
Stephen Petronio Company premiere: April 11, 2019; NYU Skirball, New York, NY