Preparations are underway to present three performances of Wilderness: Paradis, a new piece by acclaimed choreographer Yanira Castro | a canary torsi, on site at BBG next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The piece is actually part of Dance Theater Workshop’s 2011 spring season, but has been sculpted especially for BBG, and unfolds at twilight in two locations within the Garden: the Desert Pavilion, in the Steinhardt Conservatory, and Cherry Esplanade. A very limited audience (only 50 per night!) will have the chance to intimately experience this evening performance, which is inspired by the final section of Jean-Luc Godard’s 2004 film, Notre Musique. Paradis opens with a stark and fragile solo in the Desert House, followed by eight dancers in the Esplanade whose simple, quiet movement heightens the solitary landscape of the night Garden. The audience informs the work as their movement is tracked to generate elements of the performance as it unfolds around them.
Dance and other arts programming have been part of BBG’s festival offerings for decades, but we’re delighted to move into special site-specific work created by artists who are inspired by BBG’s unique landscape and history. Castro has built an impressive reputation on the strength of her work and the unusual environments in which she has developed them (including an award-winning piece presented in the men’s lobby bathroom at the Gershwin Hotel), and the ethereal, mesmerizing environment she has created with Paradis is sure to make the audience experience BBG in a whole new way.
