Paramodernities is a six-part series of lecture-performances or dance-experiments that weaves theory and performance into a four-hour-long hybrid event.

“Yerushalmy and a cast of 20 dancers and scholars, ranging in age from 20 to 68, perform deconstructed installments of Nijinsky’s Sacre (1913), Graham’s Night Journey (1947), Ailey’s Revelations (1960), a mix of Cunningham works Rainforest, Sounddance, Points in Space, Beach Birds, and Ocean (1968-1990), dance numbers from the 1969 Fosse’s film Sweet Charity, and a response to Balanchine’s Agon (1957) that includes none of the original choreography. […] Each section was created as an independent unit with a distinct creative process that features text, read live, by scholars and writers from various fields who place the dances within a larger context. The cast joins Yerushalmy in generating questions about the different paths taken by the modern tradition in dance and beyond. Within each installment, fundamental tenets of modernism are explored, such as sovereignty, spectacle, race, feminism and ableism.”–New York Live Arts

Shown above:

The Work of Art in the Age of Sacred Lives: A Response to Vaslav Nijinsky’s Le Sacre de Printemps (1913)

Female Trauma, Interdiction, and Agency in :The House of Pelvic Truth”: A Response to Martha Graham’s Night Journey (1947)

All That Spectacle: Dance on Stage and Screens: A Response to Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity (1969)

Revelations: The Afterlives of Slavery, A Response to Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” (1960)