PearsonWidrig DanceTheater
Encyclopedia
Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig's PearsonWidrig DanceTheater was formed in 1987 in New York City
. Their work has been produced by the city's major dance venues including Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theater
, the City Center Fall for Dance Festival, DTW
, the Kitchen
, Central Park SummerStage, P.S. 122, The 92nd Street Y
Harkness Dance Project, and Dancing in the Streets. They have received foundation support from the NEA, NYSCA, and NPN, and the Rockefeller, Altria, Harkness, Jerome, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, Puffin, Swiss Center and Sequoia foundations, as well as the Asian Cultural Council
and Arts International. Video specials featuring their work have appeared on the national television networks of India
, South Korea
, Mexico
and Greece
.
Their best-known work is "Ordinary Festivals", which has been seen by over 18,000 people on three continents. The New York Times
called it "most amazing! most enjoyable!" The company employs dance, text, and video to explore ideas ranging from the socio-political--in "Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New Orleans" (“Heart-wrenching and wryly comic” [The Washington Post]) -- to the poetic -- in "Thaw" (“Carries enough everyday magic for several productions” -- Eva Yaa Asantewaa) -- to the mystical piece "The Return of Lot’s Wife" ("unfolds with the pulsating rhythm of a carefully crafted poem" [The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, New York
]).
They also do site-specific projects and community dance/theater/video installations. This site work has featured rowboats in Central Park
, the Great Lawn at Jacob's Pillow
, the Eiun-In Buddhist temple in Kyoto
, the modern architecture of I. M. Pei’s Portland Museum of Art
, and Wave Hill
, the bucolic estate in the Bronx
. Their most recent site-adaptive work, "Paradise Pond", premiered on and around the campus pond at Bates College
and involved over 100 festival dancers, community participants, and musicians. The work marks the fourth major collaboration with Obie and Bessie Award-winning composer Robert Een
.
Their biggest site-adaptive work, "A Curious Invasion" at Wave Hill, featured 88 performers, 24 haystacks, 10 fans, 5 sprinklers, 4 TV/VCR’s, and 2,000 ice cubes. Elizabeth Zimmer of The Village Voice
wrote, "In over a decade of watching Wave Hill events, I’ve never had such a good time. It really was perfect." The piece has also been performed at Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary, Falmouth, Maine
, in 1997, commissioned by the Bates Dance Festival; Wave Hill, Bronx, New York in 2001, co-commissioned by Dancing in the Streets and Wave Hill; Dartmouth College
, commissioned by the Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire
, in 2003.
They have also collaborated with composers on work which included music created and performed live by Robert Een, Andy Teirstein, Philip Hamilton, Carman Moore, and Carter Burwell
, who created "one of the finest scores for modern dance" (Back Stage) for "The Return of Lot’s Wife".
In 2007-08 they brought "Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New Orleans" to Washington DC, New Orleans, Saratoga Springs
, and Atlanta. They also developed a new company/concert stage work "Sayonara, Martha", and created the site-specific performance project "Paradise Pond" in celebration of the Bates Dance Festival’s 25th anniversary, with original music by Robert Een. The year included a New York performance season at the Thalia at Symphony Space
, a choreographic residency with the Pacific Northwest Ballet
in Seattle; and creative residencies in Switzerland
, India
, and upstate New York
.
In August 2009 Pearson and Widrig joined the Dance faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park
, where they teach choreography and performance. Their 2010 schedule included a 12-performance, 8-venue tour of "Unmoored: Love Letters to New Orleans" featuring the Pearson-Widrig Dance Theater and 12 University of Maryland dancers. In May 2011 they are teaching choreography in China at Beijing Normal University
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Their work has been produced by the city's major dance venues including Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theater
Joyce Theater
The Joyce Theater is a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea area of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The Joyce Theater Foundation, the organization founded in 1982 that operates the theater, also owns the Joyce SoHo dance center located in a former firehouse on Mercer...
, the City Center Fall for Dance Festival, DTW
Dance Theater Workshop
Dance Theater Workshop, colloquially known as DTW, is a New York City performance space and service organization for dance companies. Located as 219 West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, DTW was founded in 1965 by Jeff Duncan, Art Bauman and...
, the Kitchen
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
, Central Park SummerStage, P.S. 122, The 92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, at the corner of E. 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Its full name is 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association...
Harkness Dance Project, and Dancing in the Streets. They have received foundation support from the NEA, NYSCA, and NPN, and the Rockefeller, Altria, Harkness, Jerome, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, Puffin, Swiss Center and Sequoia foundations, as well as the Asian Cultural Council
Asian Cultural Council
The Asian Cultural Council is an American non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Asian-American cultural exchange in the areas of visual and performing arts.- History :...
and Arts International. Video specials featuring their work have appeared on the national television networks of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Their best-known work is "Ordinary Festivals", which has been seen by over 18,000 people on three continents. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "most amazing! most enjoyable!" The company employs dance, text, and video to explore ideas ranging from the socio-political--in "Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New Orleans" (“Heart-wrenching and wryly comic” [The Washington Post]) -- to the poetic -- in "Thaw" (“Carries enough everyday magic for several productions” -- Eva Yaa Asantewaa) -- to the mystical piece "The Return of Lot’s Wife" ("unfolds with the pulsating rhythm of a carefully crafted poem" [The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
]).
They also do site-specific projects and community dance/theater/video installations. This site work has featured rowboats in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, the Great Lawn at Jacob's Pillow
Jacob's Pillow
Jacob’s Pillow Dance is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive...
, the Eiun-In Buddhist temple in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, the modern architecture of I. M. Pei’s Portland Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art is an art museum in Portland, Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882, it is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District, and is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S...
, and Wave Hill
Wave Hill (New York)
Wave Hill is a 28 acre estate, consisting of public gardens and a cultural center, in the Hudson Hill section of the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It is situated on the slopes overlooking the Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades. Listed on the National Register of...
, the bucolic estate in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. Their most recent site-adaptive work, "Paradise Pond", premiered on and around the campus pond at Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
and involved over 100 festival dancers, community participants, and musicians. The work marks the fourth major collaboration with Obie and Bessie Award-winning composer Robert Een
Robert Een
-Career:Known for his use of extended vocal and cello techniques, Een has recorded eight albums of his compositions, as well as composing scores for seven films. His music for dance and theater can be heard in the repertories of Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Jennifer Muller, and Yin Mei among others....
.
Their biggest site-adaptive work, "A Curious Invasion" at Wave Hill, featured 88 performers, 24 haystacks, 10 fans, 5 sprinklers, 4 TV/VCR’s, and 2,000 ice cubes. Elizabeth Zimmer of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
wrote, "In over a decade of watching Wave Hill events, I’ve never had such a good time. It really was perfect." The piece has also been performed at Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary, Falmouth, Maine
Falmouth, Maine
Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 11,185 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area....
, in 1997, commissioned by the Bates Dance Festival; Wave Hill, Bronx, New York in 2001, co-commissioned by Dancing in the Streets and Wave Hill; Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, commissioned by the Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007....
, in 2003.
They have also collaborated with composers on work which included music created and performed live by Robert Een, Andy Teirstein, Philip Hamilton, Carman Moore, and Carter Burwell
Carter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
, who created "one of the finest scores for modern dance" (Back Stage) for "The Return of Lot’s Wife".
In 2007-08 they brought "Katrina, Katrina: Love Letters to New Orleans" to Washington DC, New Orleans, Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs, also known as simply Saratoga, is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, ...
, and Atlanta. They also developed a new company/concert stage work "Sayonara, Martha", and created the site-specific performance project "Paradise Pond" in celebration of the Bates Dance Festival’s 25th anniversary, with original music by Robert Een. The year included a New York performance season at the Thalia at Symphony Space
Symphony Space
Symphony Space is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre or the 160-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater. Programs include music, dance, theater, film, and literary readings...
, a choreographic residency with the Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. It is said to have the highest per...
in Seattle; and creative residencies in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
.
In August 2009 Pearson and Widrig joined the Dance faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, where they teach choreography and performance. Their 2010 schedule included a 12-performance, 8-venue tour of "Unmoored: Love Letters to New Orleans" featuring the Pearson-Widrig Dance Theater and 12 University of Maryland dancers. In May 2011 they are teaching choreography in China at Beijing Normal University
Beijing Normal University
Beijing Normal University , colloqiually known as 北师大 or Beishida, is a public research university located in Beijing with strong emphasis on basic disciplines of humanities and sciences...
.