“Vespers, Reimagined” Premieres at Danspace Project, NYC, March 27–29

March 27–29, 7:30pm
Danspace Project, NYC

Vespers, Reimagined is being presented as part of Danspace Project‘s 50th anniversary.

Bebe Miller launched her choreographic career at Danspace Project with the premiere of her breathtaking Vespers in 1982 as part of the seminal Parallels, a series curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones and featuring an extraordinary group of young Black choreographers who were working “in the parallel worlds of Black America and new dance.” After Parallels, Miller went on to a brilliant 40-year career and toured extensively with her company throughout the United States. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, four Bessie Awards, and a Doris Duke Award.

Miller has reimagined her 1982 dance (with vocal accompaniment), Vespers, with an intergenerational group of dance artists. This project began as a co-viewing of the video of Vespers and conversation between Program Director and Associate Curator Seta Morton and artist Niall Jones.

“In thinking about the 50th anniversary, this happenstance-into-project-mode [of Vespers, Reimagined] blossomed, alongside other [50th Anniversary] projects, as a possible re-visit of seminal works,” writes Bebe. “Returning to Vespers now, reimagined with these artists, has been a kind of archeological dig into how we’ve all arrived at our various understandings of the art, the currencies, as well as the physics of dancing.”

Original choreography & performance: Bebe Miller
Collaborating performers: Bria Bacon, Jasmine Hearn, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Chloe London, Stacy Matthew Spence; K.J. Holmes, vocalist; Hearn Gadbois, musician
Creative Consultant: Niall Jones