Guild Hall in East Hampton presents a summer dance series, kicking off on July 29 and 30 with GET DANCING – a Unique Evening of Contemporary Dance by Andy de Groat and Catherine Galasso, presented with The Watermill Center, including “Viewpoints” — an opening night conversation with Sheryl Sutton and Robert Wilson.
Dance programming continues with Hamptons Dance Project from August 13 to 15, a Guild Hall 90th birthday performance by New York City Ballet on August 19 featuring Adrian Danchig-Waring, and Tiler Peck with a sneak peek of her role as Marie in the upcoming Broadway Musical Little Dancer as part of the STROMAN PRESENTS! Series on August 28.
New York “Bessie”-nominated GET DANCING is a collaboration between Andy de Groat and Catherine Galasso that was initially created while de Groat was still living, commissioned by Danspace Project and developed at The Watermill Center. Galasso will re-stage de Groatʼs Fan Dance and Get Wreck with local community performers from the East End alongside Galasso’s company dancers.
The program also includes a film by Jon Meaney and Andrew Horn of de Groatʼs Rope Dance Translations (1979), as well as music by Catherine Galassoʼs father and frequent de Groat collaborator, the César Award-winning composer Michael Galasso, who is best known for his soundtrack for Wong Kar Waiʼs In The Mood For Love. Andy de Groat emerged as a choreographer in the 1970s, and his early choreography places spinning and pedestrian movement within a complex framework, presented with a keen sense of timing, phrasing, and rhythm. He is known for numerous collaborations with Robert Wilson, including the choreography for the original Einstein on the Beach in 1976. de Groat and his company, red notes, were based in France for 30 years where he was nominated twice to the National Order of Arts and Letters.
Jose Sebastian and the Hamptons Dance Project return with another exciting mix of new and classic work from a diverse blend of noted choreographers featuring artists from American Ballet Theatre and beyond. The event will be presented on a beautiful 20-acre property overlooking Gardiners Bay and will showcase a world premiere by Gemma Bond with music by singer/songwriter Pat Alger, excerpts from Justin Peck’s “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”, Christopher Wheeldon’s “This Bitter Earth”, an electrifying tap number by Demi Remick, and much more. This year’s company includes Isabella Boylston, Aran Bell, Skylar Brandt, Catherine Hurlin, Devon Teuscher, Cory Stearns, Thomas Foster, and others.
On August 19 at 7:30 PM, New York City Ballet: On and Off Stage will present a unique and intimate look at NYCB with Principal Dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring, who hosts an informal evening of excerpts from the Company’s world-renowned repertory. This special one-night-only program on the stage of the John Drew Theater honors the 90th anniversary of Guild Hall and will feature excerpts from treasured works by Founding Choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins such as Jewels, The Four Temperaments, Dances at a Gathering, Fancy Free, and more performed by the sublime dancers and musicians of NYCB. Focusing on the power of human connection, this unique presentation illuminates the themes of isolation and intimacy found in these ballet masterpieces and draws us closer together in the process.
As part of the theatrical STROMAN PRESENTS! series, Guild Hall will welcome New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Tiler Peck to the stage with Terrence Mann, Melissa Errico, and Dee Hoty on August 28 at 8 PM with excerpts from “Little Dancer,” an original musical set in the glamorous and dangerous backstage world of the Paris Opera Ballet. The story is inspired by the life of Marie van Goethem, the headstrong young ballerina who posed for Edgar Degas’s groundbreaking “Little Dancer” sculpture — an unknown dancer who inadvertently became the most famous dancer in the world. The upcoming Broadway production will be directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.
And to add to the fun for everyone, Guild Hall will host its first Outdoor Silent Dance Party on Thursday, August 19, from 8 to 11 PM, which will be the finale to a full day of 90th birthday festivities. Come ready to hustle, bounce, floss, spin and slide to the best music from the 70s to today, all piped into three channels on wireless headphones so there will always be your favorite tune to groove to.
“After a year of cribbed, cramped, constrained confinement — how potent, how gorgeous, how necessary it is to dance again,” said John Drew Theater Artistic Director Josh Gladstone. “Guild Hall embraces joy and celebrates the body explosively with remarkable programs starring some of America’s best and brightest young artists: principal dancers from the New York City Ballet honoring our 90th Anniversary; a host of celebrants — musicians, vocalists and stars of the American Ballet Theatre — collaborating as the Hamptons Dance Project (performing on a stage in deep Springs overlooking Gardiners Bay), a stunning retrospective of a titan of the avant garde, introduced by legendary theatre director Robert Wilson, and a sneak peek of the upcoming Broadway musical ‘Little Dancer’ starring Tiler Peck. Guild Hall is unique, adventurous, and fun.”