Paradis
2011
“At a certain point, the dancers began to sing…Was it before or after they ran away, disappearing into the night, that Dauphinais invited us to sing along? Either way, we were left alone to carry on the tune–continue the performance without the performers, interpret the message without the messengers, and do what we would with the weight of that responsibility. We kept on singing, for a while at least. Whatever this strange paradise was, far removed from civilization, it now belonged to us as much as them.”
— Siobhan Burke, Dance Magazine Blog," Site-Specific Stirrings: Dance in New York Comes Out of Hibernation”
Paradis was a performance with live piano performed outdoors at twilight. Inspired by the final section of Jean-Luc Godard’s 2004 film Notre Musique, Paradis explores the space between the performer and audience member: the tension in the simultaneous experience of distance and intimacy inherent in the performative moment.
Paradis premiered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, presented by Dance Theater Workshop, and was the first site-based dance work in the Garden’s hundred-year history.
Team
Director, Choreographer: Yanira Castro
Performers, Co-choreographers: Peggy Cheng, Simon Courchel, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Luke Miller, Peter Schmitz (soloist), Stuart Singer, Pamela Vail, Kimberly Young, Darrin Wright
Sound Installation Designer: Stephan Moore
Pianist: Michael Dauphinais
Production Manager: William Schaffner
Presentations
Brooklyn Botanic Garden presented by New York Live Arts, June 2–4, 2011 (World Premiere)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden presented by New York Live Arts, July 8–10, 2012 (Remount)
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Projects at Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, IL, Aug 6–8, 2013
Press
Carrie Stern for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Site-Specific Performance Blooms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden”
Critical Correspondence for Movement Research, “Yanira Castro in conversation with Peggy Cheng”
Maura Donohue for Culturebot, “Get closer: thoughts on activating the audience in live performance”
Michael J. Kramer, “Gated Community”
Siobhan Burke for Dance Magazine, “Site-Specific Stirrings: Dance in New York Comes Out of Hibernation”
Susan Yung for Thirteen/WNET, “Yanira Castro’s ‘Paradis’ in Brooklyn’s Eden”
This Week in New York, “DTW Off-Site—Yanira Castro I a canary torsi: Paradis”
Theo Boguszewski for The Dance Enthusiast, “Impressions of A Canary Torsi I Yanira Castro’s ‘Paradis’”
Funding
Paradis was sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC), and was created in part through The Field’s Field Artist Residency program, supported by Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation. Paradis was funded, in part, by The Jerome Foundation.
