The 2024 season featured one of the most significant productions in PS21’s history: the US Premiere of Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, directed by Festival d’Avignon Director Tiago Rodrigues.

Catarina—which takes place in a future Portugal under a fascist regime, where a family enacts a tradition of resistance by capturing and killing a fascist every year—came to PS21 for two nights on Independence Day weekend. The piece provided an uncomfortably close look at authoritarianism on a weekend where plenty of us were anxiously grappling with our own proximity to that possible outcome—as many of us still are today.

In writing about Catarina, The New York Times said of Rodrigues: “He is a humanist at heart, preoccupied with empathy and the ways in which today’s world undermines it.” His work fits perfectly within the PS21 programmatic ethos: both challenging and humorous, engaging critically and empathetically with the most crucial issues of our times, and delivered via world-class artistic execution.

The US Premiere of Hamlet, by Chela De Ferrari and Teatro La Plaza (Peru), featuring actors with down syndrome, was cancelled due to visa issues. 

The 2024 season was full of movement, with world-class dancers gracing the PS21 campus throughout the summer. We opened the season with a double-bill of ballet and hip-hop from Japan, the Paul Taylor Dance Companyreturned to PS21 in August, and French-Moroccan choreographer Ismaël Mouaraki and his company performed the US Premiere ofLe sacre de Lila in September.

In May, we welcomed choreographer Rebecca Lazier, a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, and her company of eight dancers to PS21 for a six-week residency to develop Noli Timere. A multidisciplinary aerial performance-installation, the piece features dancers moving around a large netting sculpture by visual artist Janet Echelman. Meaning “be not afraid” in Latin, Noli Timere asks bold questions around navigating interconnectedness and instability in a changing world.

The company concluded their residency with two in-the-round preview performances, each to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd.

After their time at PS21, the Noli Timere team was awarded a 2024 National Dance Project Production Grant to support ongoing performances of the piece. Congratulations to Rebecca, Janet, and the whole team on this accomplishment!

Our new season-long series featured musicians from across the world and our own backyard. The series celebrated 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 were 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), and Elori Saxl (Hudson Valley).

Curated 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. House Blend 2024 included Conor Hanick playing the complete Piano Sonatas of Galina Ustvolskaya; Bonnie Whiting performing Wang Lu’s Stages, with stage design by artist Polly Apfelbaum then and Frederic Rzewski’s To the Earth; Hanick returning for a program of Xenakis, Bach, Ives, and Copland, with violinist Miranda Cuckson; Gelsey Bell and Erin Rogers premiering Skylighght, for voice and saxophone; and Patrick Higgins performing improvisations on works from his latest release, Versus; and pathbreaking bass-baritone Davóne Tines debuting Eastman Evensong, his suite of solo vocal works by Julius Eastman, developed in residency at PS21.

Pathways is our series of free and low-cost workshops, classes, installations, and immersive performances offered across our campus, in nature, and in the community.  This year’s Pathways programming led us on trails far beyond the PS21 grounds: to neighboring Crellin Park for juggling workshops with Sean Gandini, to Tivoli for a high-flying performance by Quebec’s Cirque Kikasse, and to Hudson’s Shiloh Baptist Church for a special Father’s Day service with the Legendary Ingramettes.

Closer to home, the community lit up our Dance Barn with hip-hop classes taught by Tokyo-based MWMW, a master class from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and a weekly Movement Without Borders roster that included Modern Dance, Vinyasa Yoga, Community Fitness, Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

We are so grateful to everyone — over a thousand of you, in fact — who participated in these free and low-cost events. It is always such a joy to see our community in action (especially when that action involves being suspended in one of Janet Echelman’s aerial nets!).

To encourage and nurture the incubation of new work, PS21 provides an open, creative environment where throughout the year performers spend residencies in our theater, barns, and fields to experiment and develop new dances, theater pieces, and musical compositions. We welcomed over 50 artists for residencies in 2024 include unclassifiable visual artist Deville Cohen working on Hand to Mouth: Three Duets (April 14–28); the musicians of Next Fest in workshops and rehearsals, preparing their June 7 concert (June 1–8); choreographer Rebecca Lazier and visual artist Janet Echelman creating Noli Timere (May 19–31 and June 8–21), with a new score commissioned from composer/songwriter Jorene; Davóne Tines developing Eastman Evensong, three solo vocal works by Julius Eastman (August 16–21); Half Waif developing the live arrangements, choreography, and visuals for their seventeen song new record, See You At The Maypole (September 29–October 5).

March 22. QUATUOR VAN KUIJK (France). Special event. Off-site, in NYC 

May 17. CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE. Beyond Ballet/Beyond Hip-Hop: two groundbreaking, genre-defying works from Japan’s vibrant dance scene. In 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 1-8. The Next Festival of Emerging Artists residency. Plus concerts and PATHWAYS workshops with local schools.

June 7. The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Final Concert. Three World Premieres, plus Rebecca Saunders’ Ire, concerto for cello, strings, and percussion, featuring guest artist cellist Seth Parker Woods. Proceeds benefit the Town of Chatham Crellin Park Summer Camp, one of PS21 PATHWAYS community partners.

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,” celebrate Juneteenth at Hudson’s Shiloh Baptist Church and Ps21’s Pavilion Theater with their roof-raising harmonies. 

June 21. PS21 GALA. Noli Timere

June 22. CONTEMPORARY DANCE & PERFORMANCE. Noli Timere, a performance-installation by Rebecca Lazier and Janet Echelman with an original score from Jorane. Activated and transformed by nine outstanding acrobatic performers, the work synthesizes experimental dance, avant-garde circus, engineering, art installation, music, public sculpture, and social practice.  

June 23, 2024 – PS21 PATHWAYS/Consuming Culture weekend.

What does the food we eat say about us and the world we live in, and what stories can we tell through food? An afternoon of conversations reflecting on some of the most urgent economic, social, and environmental issues of our time through the prism of food. 

Stories of Food and Migration, with writers Sanaë Lemoine and Mayukh Sen, moderated by Adam Dalva. Growing Together: Pathways to Sustainable Food Systems, Conversation + Q&A with Lindsey Lusher Shute and Emma Ractliffe, moderated by Lela Nargi. Book Signing with Sanaë Lemoine and Mayukh Sen. Tarte-ography, an interactive pastry workshop for all ages led by architect chef Savinien Caracostea, exploring the multi-cultural urbanization of New York City through flavors, textures, and patterns. Followed by a Dance Craze Dance Party with Professor Tim Davis, AKA DJ Giant Corporation and Martha Graham dancer Gillian Bowen. 

In partnership with the French Embassy’s Villa Albertine’s Books & Ideas.

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 5–6. INTERNATIONAL THEATER. US premiere of Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists by Tiago Rodrigues. It’s 2028, Portugal is again ruled by an authoritarian regime, and every year, a family commemorates the 1954 murder of activist Catarina Eufémia at the hands of the Salazar dictatorship by kidnapping and killing a fascist. A tantalizing dystopian work by Tiago Rodrigues, Artistic Director of Festival d’Avignon, addresses one of today’s most urgent issues: What does fascism look like in 2024?

July 7. GLOBAL | LOCAL. Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano, with a community dance party. 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, Deville Cohen, Neil Enggist, Elisa Lendavy, Nate Mars, Shanikia McIntosh, Maggie Pate, Aaron Poritz, and 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. New York-based GAMELAN Yowana Sari, 20 artists performing traditional Balinese music and dance for the Samara Dana gamelan, plus contemporary compositions by Dewa Alit, Michael Gordon, Kyle Miller, 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. 

August 18. PS21 HOUSE BLEND I. Conor Hanick plays Galina Ustvolskaya’s complete Piano Sonatas.

August 19. PS21 HOUSE BLEND II. A double-bill:  Skylighght, written and performed by Gelsey Bell (voice) and Erin Rogers (saxophone). Plus composer/multi-instrumentalist Patrick Higgins (guitar, drums, electronics) performs select pieces from his new album. 

August 20. PS21 HOUSE BLEND III. Miranda Cuckson (violin) and Conor Hanick (piano) play Iannis Xenakis: Mikka S.; J.S. Bach: Sonata in D minor (BWV 1004); Charles Ives: selections from Songs (Opus 114); Aaron Copland: Sonata for Violin and Piano.

August 21. PS21 HOUSE BLEND IV. A double-bill: Bonnie Whiting performs Wang Lu’s Stages (2023) for a solo speaking/singing percussionist, with a stage design by Polly Apfelbaum, and Frederic Rzewski’s To the Earth for speaking percussionist and four flower pots (text from the Homeric Hymn to Gaia, Mother of All). Plus Bass-baritone Davóne Tines performs Eastman Evensong, a ceremony interweaving three solo vocal works by Julius Eastman, created in residency at PS21.

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. 

September 21. PS21/PATHWAYS. PS21 presents a Hudson Valley CirqueFest Event: SANTE! By Cirque Kikasse (Quebec), at the Village of Tivoli Memorial Recreation Park.

September 29. 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. US Premiere

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. Hudson Valley-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.

PS21 sponsors Kinetic Independent Solar System: Greenwash (K.I.S.S.), an installation by artist Deville Cohen during Upstate Art Weekend (July 18–21) and at Columbia County Climate Carnival (September 14). 

PS21/PATHWAYS. Collaborative, Participatory, Free, & Accessible, PS21’s initiative of more than 35 free events beyond our theater and 100-acres of meadows & trails, in venues throughout the region: parklands, schools, libraries, churches, village streets, farms, parking lots, and more:

May 14. Hip-Hop Master class with dancers from MWMW dance company. 

May 31. Movement and dance workshop with choreographer Rebecca Lazier and dancers of Noli Timere within the suspended nets of Janet Echelman’s net sculpture. The work is activated as a civic gathering site for everyone to experience. 

June 1-7. The NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists workshop and student performances at the Chatham Central School District. 

June 15. Arturo O’Farrill and musicians, a percussion workshop for a group of students from Hudson Kids for Harmony and Hudson Youth at PS21’s Solo Pavilion for Two or Three. 

June 16. Morning service, discussion + Juneteenth Performance by the Legendary Ingramettes at Shiloh Baptist Church in Hudson. In partnership with WhoWeBe!

July 5, 6, 9. In conjunction with PS21’s US premiere of Tiago Rodrigues’s Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, Thomas Bartscherer, Bard College Hannah Arendt Center scholar in residence, leads three seminar-style discussions, exploring the intersection of theater and politics, past and present, and considering the presence of violence in political life and artistic representation. 

July 13. JUGGLING FOR ALL workshop with members of GANDINI JUGGLING. 

July 19–21. ENCHANTED ECOLOGIES. Upstate Art Weekend (Hudson Valley Artists). A celebration of local artists along with local ecology, free workshops & installations. 

July 31. Film screening: Paul Taylor: Creative Domain

August 2. Master class, with members of Paul Taylor Dance Company.

August 4. Gamelan Yowana Sari hands-on workshop with members of the gamelan ensemble. 

August 5, 7. Deep Listening workshops with composer Nomi Epstein 

August 29. Singer and songwriter Ngonda Badila aka Lady Moon will lead workshop that features song, dance and an introduction to the Bantu-Kongo cosmology that influences their music at The Spark of Hudson.

September 14.  PS21 sponsors Kinetic Independent Solar System: Greenwash (K.I.S.S.), an installation by artist Deville Cohen. At Columbia County Climate Carnival, Chatham NY Fairgrounds

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.