PS21’s 2024 season, diverse, distinctive performances by American and international artists, World, US, and North American premieres, work developed in our growing artists’ residency program, and expanded community programming for Columbia County residents.
UNEXPECTED, ENGAGING, WELCOMING
Performances in our open-air Pavilion Theater and 100 acres of orchards, meadows, and woodlands in the heart of the Hudson Valley
Tickets on sale March 19.
More than 50 events, in the theater, in our fields, and along our trails, by a constellation of celebrated and emerging dancers and choreographers, musicians and singers, actors, directors, and international street artists who are breathing new life into traditional genres and creating new ones. PS21 PATHWAYS, our popular pas de deux between nature and the arts, at its largest and most ambitious, still free of charge to the community.
INTERNATIONAL THEATER
Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, Tiago Rodrigues (Portugal); Hamlet, Chela De Ferrari, Teatro La Plaza (Peru)
CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE
NOLI TIMERE, Rebecca Lazier (Canada/US); LE SACRE DE LILA, Ismaël Mouaraki (Morocco/Canada) with Destins Croisés dance company; BEYOND BALLET I BEYOND HIP-HOP, Toshiki Okada & Moto Takahashi (Japan); SMASHED2, Gandini Juggling (UK)
TWO MUSICAL SERIES : GLOBAL | LOCAL & PS21 HOUSE BLEND:
GLOBAL | LOCAL: Musical Worlds Meet at PS21
Our new season-long series features musicians from across the world and our own backyard. The series celebrates the intersection of two ideas: the wealth of international art and perspectives, and the growing importance of local community, place, and togetherness in an increasingly decentralized and digitized world. PS21 resides in a hotbed of creativity—the Hudson Valley—and many of its finest musicians will be presented alongside world-class international acts in this summer-long series. The lineup includes Seo Jungmin (Korea), Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano (Cuba), Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (Mexico/NYC), Half Waif (Chatham), Lady Moon and the Eclipse (Hudson), Kendra McKinley (Catskill), Alexander Turnquist (Kingston), Elori Saxl (Ghent), and more.
PS21 HOUSE BLEND: Brewed with Our Audiences in Mind
Brewed especially for PS21’s audiences, each House Blend concert program is conceived for our acoustic space, bringing virtuosic, inventive musicians together in genre-defying musical mixes, with new collaborations specific to our moment, venue, and audiences, unique programs that can only be heard at PS21. Highlights include Bonnie Whiting performing Wang Lu’s Stages, with a stage design by artist Polly Apfelbaum; a Konus Quartett premiere; Conor Hanick in a program of Brahms and Ustvolskaya; and Gelsey Bell and Erin Rogers premiering Skylighght, for voice and saxophone.
PS21/PATHWAYS
Our Immersive and participatory series is the linchpin of PS21’s activities. Free and low-cost programming, often in partnership with local organizations and fostering collaboration among community groups. PATHWAYS highlights in 2024 include PS21/Hudson Valley CirqueFest, Food (is) Culture Weekend in partnership with Villa Albertine; Movement Without Borders; and Resident Artist Workshops: artists, ensembles, and companies offering free performances and participatory experiences for community members.
RESIDENCIES
PS21: A laboratory for the incubation of new work. PS21 is an open, creative environment where throughout the year performers occupy our theater, barns, and fields to experiment and develop new dances, theater pieces, and musical compositions. Our grounds are open every day from dawn to dusk; visitors wandering the trails, meadows, and woodlands, will encounter artists in the acts of creation in our untamed natural landscape. The Residencies in 2024/2025 include unclassifiable visual artist Deville Cohen working on Hand to Mouth: Three Duets (April 14–28), the musicians of Next Fest preparing their June 7 concert (June 1–8), and choreographer Rebecca Lazier creating Noli Timere (May 19–31 and June 8–21), with a new score commissioned from composer songwriter Jorene, and Kyle Marshall Choreography (KMC) to developing Feminine, a radically queer, 70-minute embodiment of Julius Eastman’s jubilant minimalist composition (1974) of the same title (January 20–27, 2025).
SEASON AT A GLANCE
May 17. CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE. Beyond Ballet/Beyond Hip-Hop: The Dying Swan/The Dying Swan and Its Cause of Death. Celebrated Japanese ballerina Hana Sakai looks beyond the reverential Fokine classic in Toshiki Okada’s tragicomic unraveling of the legend, and Moto Takahashi’s all-woman MWMW challenges gender stereotypes with Encounter.
June 7. The Next Festival of Emerging Artists. Three World Premieres and a performance of Rebecca Saunders’ Ire, concerto for cello, strings, and percussion, featuring guest artist cellist Seth Parker Woods.
June 15. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. 2023’s Latin Jazz Grammy winners deliver their rich big band jazz and Latin music sound, played by 18 world-class musicians.
June 16. PS21/PATHWAYS. The Legendary Ingramettes. Richmond’s “First Family of Gospel,” bring their roof-raising harmonies to Hudson to celebrate Juneteenth.
June 22. CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE. Noli Timere, a performance-installation by Rebecca Lazier and Janet Echelman. A soaring aerial work, eight dancers moving, within, on, under, and around Janet Echelman’s voluminous floating, iridescent net sculpture, choreographed by Rebecca Lazier with an original score by Jorene.
June 26. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Seo Jungmin (South Korea). Composer and virtuoso of the 25-string gayageum, in concert with percussionist You Byoung Wook and daegeum bamboo flute player Baek Dasom. Renowned Kingston-based 12-string guitarist and composer, Alexander Turnquist, opens the evening, connecting two musical worlds far apart geographically but with much in common stylistically.
July 4–5. INTERNATIONAL THEATER. Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists by Tiago Rodrigues. It’s 2028, and every year, a Portuguese family commemorates the 1954 murder of activist Catarina Eufémia at the hands of the Salazar dictatorship by kidnapping and killing a fascist. But this year, the young woman chosen to carry out the ritual refuses. US Premiere.
July 7. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano. The master cuatro player and composer and his ensemble of internationally acclaimed musicians. Tracing its origins to Spain and Africa, the call-and-response format and percussive beat of son cubano echoes throughout contemporary jazz and Latin genres.
July 12–13. CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE. Gandini Juggling: Smashed2. Seven women and two men share the stage with eighty oranges and seven watermelons to disrupt the rigid conventions of etiquette, dress, and body language. The company that enchanted audiences in Phillip Glass’s Akhnaten borrows from Pina Bausch’s gestural choreography to reimagine the dark art of juggling and contemporary circus for the 21st Century.
July 19–21. PS21/PATHWAYS. Upstate Art Weekend: Enchanted Ecologies Area artists Julia Whitney Barnes and Maggie Pate, botanist/designer Rebecca O’Donnell, and musician Nandi Rose join the annual celebration of the region’s cultural vibrancy.
July 19–20. INTERNATIONAL THEATER. New York premiere of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, boldly reimagined by Chela De Ferrari, artistic director of Teatro La Plaza (Peru), for a cast of young actors with Down syndrome. Expressing the desires and frustrations of people who have historically been devalued and ignored, they invest new meaning in the play’s central question, “To be or not to be?”
August 2–3. CONTEMPORARY DANCE. Paul Taylor Dance Company. The renowned dance troupe returns to the Pavilion Theater with three of Taylor’s signature works: Brandenburgs (1988) and Promethean Fire (2002), music by J. S. Bach and Runes (1975), music by Gerald Busby. Saturday, August 3, a Producers Circle evening, featuring a pre-performance Farm-to-Table Dinner.
August 4. PS21/PATHWAYS. Gamelan Yowana Sari. An indoor-outdoor, site-responsive performance of traditional Balinese music for the Samara Dana gamelan, some accompanying native dances, plus contemporary pieces by Vivian Fung, Michael Gordon, and Evan Ziporyn.
August 17. PS21/PATHWAYS. Hudson Valley CirqueFest: Cirque Kikasse (Quebec) delivers a breathtaking, mouthwatering tour de force pairing of high-flying acrobatics and juggling with fast food and bar service from their dual-purpose street truck. A PS21 PATHWAYS/CRELLIN PARK DAY event, presented in partnership with the Town of Chatham Crellin Park Recreation Committee and Chatham Brewing Company.
August 18. PS21 HOUSE BLEND I. Conor Hanick piano recital. The pianist plays works by Galina Ustvolskaya and Johannes Brahms. Hanick has earned plaudits for the “technical refinement, color, crispness, and wondrous variety of articulation” of his musicianship (The New York Times)
August 19. PS21 HOUSE BLEND II. Konus Quartett. Konus performs Klaus Lang’s Drei Allmenden, for saxophone quartet and harmonium, which the quartet recorded for Cubus Records in 2020 with the composer as soloist. Paired with Skylighght, written and performed by Gelsey Bell (voice) and Erin Rogers (saxophone).
August 20. PS21 HOUSE BLEND III. Miranda Cuckson and Conor Hanick. PS21 favorites Violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Conor Hanick return with a program of contemporary works
August 21. PS21 HOUSE BLEND IV. Bonnie Whiting performs Wang Lu’s Stages (2023) for a solo speaking/singing percussionist, with a stage design by Polly Apfelbaum.
August 24–25. CONTEMPORARY DANCE. Le sacre de Lila. French-Canadian choreographer Ismaël Mouaraki’s distillation of Lila, a nocturnal mystical ritual of the Moroccan Maghreb expressed through music and dance. Performed by the Destins Croisés dance company, the work fuses the trance and spiritual traditions of Lila (“night,” in Arabic) with Mouaraki’s signature urban dance style and a mesmerizing electronic soundscape by Antoine Berthiaume.
August 29. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Lady Moon & the Eclipse and Kendra McKinley. Multicultural music collective Lady Moon & The Eclipse layers their soaring vocal textures over contemporary R&B and Afrobeat-influenced rhythms to deliver “celestial magic” (The Berkshire Edge) from Ngonda Badila’s honeyed vocals, backup singers Ntangou Badila, Nkoula Badila, and Aatifa Drayton, Arlen Hart on piano, Ken Reichl on drums, and Jonathan Camuzo on electric bass. The music ranges over an eclectic palette of musical genres that includes jazz, soul, rock, and house.
OCTOBER 5. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Half Waif and Elori Saxl. Chatham-based singer, songwriter, and producer Nandi Rose, who records and performs internationally as Half Waif, premieres a brand new work—a collection of songs focusing on themes of fertility and pregnancy loss, motherhood, mortality, and the role of nature in healing. Ghent-based composer and filmmaker Elori Saxl, whose music is “more serene than Steve Reich, more textured than Philip Glass” (Jayson Greene, Pitchfork) combines the rich resonances of experimental electronics and traditional chamber orchestration.
MAY–OCTOBER, ONGOING
PS21/PATHWAYS/Movement Without Borders, weekly sessions of yoga, Pilates, ballet, and wellness classes, plus free workshops with visiting luminaries. Ecstatic Dance with Hudson Valley-based DJ Joro-Boro and Keena Maya, architectural designer, sound artist, and instrumentalist.
Season-long creative engagement with the grounds including open rehearsals with visiting artists, self-guided ecology walks, and StoryWalk, a collaboration between PS21 and the Columbia Land Conservancy.
Site-specific art installations: James Casebere’s Solo Pavilion for Two or Three, an architectural sculpture that interrogates the delicate balancing act between the human need for shelter and our desire to preserve the landscape. Dandelions: Taking inspiration from nature, while exaggerated both in scale and its durable materials, Silda Wall Spitzer and Tim Jones’ Dandelions extends the flowers’ ability to surprise and delight beyond the brief summer season.
Open Trails Explore PS21’s fields and trails and learn about environmental stewardship. PATHWAYS invites everyone to learn about PS21’s open spaces through self-directed activities created in partnership with neighboring organizations, with a focus on environmental stewardship. Throughout the season, from sunrise to sunset, all are welcome to explore PS21’s 100 acres of meadows, woodlands, and trails at their own pace. Encounter artists engaged in creative practice and animals nestled among installations as you wander.
ABOUT PS21
BRINGING TOMORROW’S MASTERWORKS TO HUDSON VALLEY AUDIENCES
A vibrant center for contemporary performance in the Hudson Valley, PS21 “presents work that challenges and invites” (The New York Times). Our adventurous productions by leading and emerging American and international artists showcase what’s new and thought-provoking in music, international contemporary circus, dance, theater—and in entirely new genres. We’re a must-see, must-experience destination for performances that you won’t find anywhere else, at ticket prices that won’t box anyone out.
On our open-air Pavilion Theater stage, in our Black Box Theater, across our expansive grounds—and in our surrounding communities—PS21 cultivates and presents productions that transcend boundaries and revitalize artistic conventions. Our programming often engages creatively with critical global and social issues: you’ll leave our campus recharged, invigorated, and perhaps thinking differently.
We also host residencies for dancers, musicians, actors, and creators—supporting their development of new, even unclassifiable, work.
Our PATHWAYS programs of participatory workshops, classes, installations, and immersive performances are offered on our 100-acre grounds and in the community, where we bring visionary international artists to schools, libraries, city parks, village streets, farms, and parking lots—all free of charge or at low cost. A creative placemaking program, PATHWAYS fosters collaboration between regional and community arts groups and the Town of Chatham, sustaining cultural life and strengthening communities.
PS21’s Pavilion Theater is a state-of-the-art, green-energy marvel, sitting atop our 100-acre campus of unspoiled meadows, woodlands, and trails—all open to the public every day. With the sights and sounds of nature seeping into every PS21 performance, the Theater offers a truly special performance experience and embodies our commitments to our community: open, inviting, and designed for everyone’s enjoyment—encouraging your expression and participation.
Visiting PS21
Center for Contemporary Performance is a state-of-the-art venue on 100 acres of unspoiled meadows, trails, and woodlands in the heart of the Hudson Valley.
Accessibility
PS21’s theater is fully accessible and reservations for wheelchair spaces and aisle seating for those with mobility needs are available upon request. Ample parking is available, with spaces reserved for the disabled closest to the theater. Headsets may be requested at the box office before the show. Accessible restrooms are located in the theater lobby. For more information visit ps21chatham.org
Directions
PS21 is located at 2980 New York Route 66, in Chatham, New York. Driving time from Manhattan is approximately 2-2.5 hours. Free parking is available. If taking Amtrak, PS21 is 15 miles from the Hudson station, and 21 miles from the Albany/Rensselaer station. Transportation to and from the train stations is available through Uber, and local taxi companies Northern Cab (518-828-4222), H Transport LLC, (518) 577-5388, htransportllc.com, and McManns Transportation (518-610-0071).
