John Jasperse Canyon

Note: there are currently no tickets available to the Saturday and Sunday performances.

“When John Jasperse makes a new work, it should be seen: end of story.”—New York Times

For this latest piece, choreographer John Jasperse taps into states of wonder and the ineffable and celebrates the transformative power of losing yourself in visceral experience, where the sway of the intellect is held in check by the overwhelming rush of awe. The New York-based Jasperse observes, “a canyon is formed by the simple action of erosion, where the earth yields over time to that repetitive force, giving birth to a majestic landscape of opening rather than of imposition. It isn’t something you understand, per se, yet many have described witnessing nature of this scale as life changing.” Although abstract in form, Canyon seeks to reflect these natural qualities by exploring the extraordinary that originates in the ordinary. The dancers, including Jasperse, turn the stage into a space beyond language, where strangeness, subtlety, spaciousness, density, and fervent shifts all play a role.

Jasperse’s collaborative team for Canyon (co-commissioned by the Wexner Center) includes performers Lindsay Clark, Kennis Hawkins, Burr Johnson, and John Sorensen Jolink (plus original cast members Erin Cornell and James McGinn); composer Hahn Rowe; visual designer Tony Orrico; and lighting designer James Clotfelter. Reviewing Canyon, the New York Times noted that it is “sophisticated and poetic” with “the dancers unfurling across the stage in buoyant, looping trajectories, marked by fast jumps and presentational, balletic extensions.” The critic continued, “you think of water and wind snaking through rock.… Jasperse has a keen eye for detail and composition.”

Canyon was commissioned as part of the BAM 2011 Next Wave Festival and is co-commisioned by the Wexner Center.

Canyon was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Canyon is supported by the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Canyon is commissioned through Meet The Composer’s Commissioning Music/U.S.A. program and by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program. Canyon is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the James E. Robison Foundation, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Canyon was developed in residencies at The Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC), MASS MoCA, and CPR—Center for Performance Research.

This performance is funded in part by the National Dance Project (NDP) of the New England Foundation for the Arts. NDP is supported by lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, with additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust.

The Wexner Center is a NPN Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). This project is made possible in part by support from the NPN Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of NPN include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the MetLife Foundation, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.