‘Monument,’ Adam H. Weinert (photo Christopher Duggan/courtesy Jacob’s Pillow)
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Choreographer Adam H. Weinert stages a program of works associated with Jacob’s Pillow Dance founder Ted Shawn, as well as his own site-specific work, Monument, at Hudson Hall on Friday, July 21, at 7pm; Saturday, July 22, at 7pm; and Sunday, July 23, at 5pm.
Fueled by his critically acclaimed “reaccession” of modernist choreographer Ted Shawn at the Museum of Modern Art, and recent performances at Tate Modern as part of “The Dancing Museum,” Weinert – who calls Hudson home — offers a contemporary take on historical dance. With ingenuity, reverence, and grace, he and an ensemble of stunning dancers perform classic solos by Doris Humphrey, José Limón, and Ted Shawn, and then transport audiences to a world of original choreography in an immersive, multimedia dance production.
For these performances, composer Chris Garneau returns to Hudson to perform his original score. Set to original piano-led compositions, the singer-songwriter’s “dangerously beautiful voice” (New Yorker) recalls the artistry of Nina Simone, Elliott Smith, and Regina Spektor in equal measure. French-born artist and fashion designer Marine Penvern, who recently opened an atelier on Warren Street in Hudson, designed costumes for MONUMENT.
Tickets are $30 and available at Hudson Hall or by calling (518) 822-1438.
‘Monument’ by Adam H. Weinert (photo Hayim Heron/courtesy Jacob’s Pillow)
Choreographer and dancer Adam Weinert has a history of dancing with ghosts. Monument grew out of an earlier investigation by Weinert into Jacob’s Pillow founder Ted Shawn’s legacy, called The Reaccession of Ted Shawn. In 2013, Weinert was invited to reconstruct and perform the early solos of pioneering modernist choreographer Ted Shawn at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the exhibit, “20 Dancers of the 20th Century,” curated by Boris Charmatz.
During his research, Weinert learned that Shawn had made a gift of his works to MoMA in the 1940s. The museum later gave these materials away, which contradicted MoMA’s policy not to sell or give away works by living artists. (Shawn was living at the time of his deaccession.)
In creating The Reaccession of Ted Shawn, Weinert subversively returned the choreography of Ted Shawn to the institution Shawn entrusted with its preservation through the use of a covert, augmented-reality digital installation. Built in collaboration with DanceTech and Interactive Media Culture, The Reaccession of Ted Shawn used location-specific triggers throughout MoMA to load reconstructions of Shawn’s works onto mobile devices. In doing so, Weinert became interested in new ways to both preserve and disseminate dance history and “create new material in a format that preserves the quality of the experience of the dance. A living archive, so to speak.”
Weinert further delved into this early branch of dance history with composer Chris Garneau and dancer Logan Kruger during a residency at the Hudson Opera House in 2014. Out of this residency came Monument, an evocative new work that went on to premiere at the 2016 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, with New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay declaring it “impressive, strange, a puzzle you want to solve, a social order changing before your eyes.”
Adam H. Weinert is a choreographer and performance-based artist born and raised in New York City and now living in Hudson. He has trained with The School of American Ballet, Vassar College, and Juilliard School, and has danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and Christopher Williams, among others.
Weinert has also been published in the New York Times, the Juilliard Journal and has produced and choreographed an award-winning collection of dance film shorts screened nationally and abroad. His performance works have toured to four continents, including a number of non-traditional dance venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Museum, and the Tate Modern. He recently served as Bard College’s Visiting Artist in Residence.
PROGRAM
Pierrot in the Dead City (1935), choreographed by Ted Shawn
Two Ecstatic Themes (1931), choreographed by Doris Humphrey
The Unsung: “Tecumseh” (1970), choreographed by José Limón
Monument (2015)
Choreographed by Adam H. Weinert
Original Music by Chris Garneau
Lighting design by JAX Messenger
Set design by Paul Tate DePoo III
Costume design by Marine Penvern
Friday, July 21 at 7pm
Saturday, July 22 at 7pm
Sunday, July 23 at 5pm
Tickets: $30
Hudson Hall
at the historic Hudson Opera House
327 Warren Street
Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 822-1438
ABOUT HUDSON HALL
Hudson Hall offers a dynamic year-round schedule of music, theater, dance, literature, workshops for youth and adults, as well as family programs and large-scale community events such as Winter Walk. Located in an historic landmark that houses New York State’s oldest surviving theater, Hudson Hall reopened in April 2017 following a yearlong historic restoration. The newly restored Hudson Hall reflects Hudson’s rich history in a modern facility that welcomes residents and visitors from throughout our local community, across the nation, and around the globe.