PS21 announces highlights of PATHWAYS, our popular pas de deux between nature and the arts, at its largest and most ambitious, still free and low-cost to the community

Since 2019, in addition to earning a reputation as “a Hudson Valley outpost of the avant-garde” (New York Times, June 2022) for its exceptional seasons of interdisciplinary dance, theater, and music, PS21 has created free and affordable community programs tailored to the area’s permanent residents. Two years ago, PS21 introduced PATHWAYS: Blazing Trails to a Sustainable Future, an ambitious, multi-faceted series of spectacle, performances, art installations, educational workshops, international contemporary circus, and participatory events designed for young and old, individuals and families. Community engagement, education, and performances again form the heart of PS21’s PATHWAYS festival this season.

PATHWAYS has emerged as the linchpin of our activities that foster collaboration among regional and community groups and the municipality, increasing participation by middle- and lower-income families and youth to shatter the “glass barricade” that too often discourages nearby residents from sharing in the wealth of cultural, recreational, and intellectual offerings as spectators and participants. PATHWAYS has grown exponentially to include 26 partner organizations including the Town of Chatham Crellin Community Park Summer Camp and the Morris Memorial Afterschool Program; youth oriented urban arts groups, such as the Sylvia Center, Spark of Hudson, Hudson Youth, Perfect Ten, and Operation Unite; and environmental organizations like the Columbia Land Conservancy and Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program teaching ecological stewardship.

Dovetailing with PS21’s season of dance, PATHWAYS presents a series of free afternoon movement workshops made for our local community, open to all ages and abilities, taught by the visiting dance companies that perform evenings in our open-air Pavilion Theatre. For a summertime cure to that fenced-in feeling, PATHWAYS brings low-cost yoga, pilates, and aerobic fitness classes to the community with its season-long Movement Without Borders series. Throughout the year, from sunrise to sunset, all are welcome to explore PS21’s 100 acres of meadows, woodlands, and trails at their own pace. Encounters with artists undertaking creative practice or animals nestled among installations are among the range of experiences to be expected.

Last April, PS21 demonstrated its commitment to PATHWAYS as a core part of its mission by welcoming Matthew Gold as the first Diamonstein-Spielvogel Coordinator of Community Engagement. Matthew, himself an accomplished percussionist with the Talea Ensemble and Talujon percussion group and an innovative, adventurous educator, is the ideal person to lead PATHWAYS in new, expanding directions.

All told, the 2022 season of PATHWAYS comprises some 35 events, all free or low-cost, dedicated to our growing local community.

More details and tickets can be found on www.ps21chatham.org

PATHWAYS HIGHLIGHTS

July 25, 4 PM: PATHWAYS Community Day 

Free and fun events for the whole family: games, nature adventures, Chatham Animal Haven tours, movement workshops, and more, before a free performance of Michael Gordon’s Field of Vision.

July 25, 6 PM: Bang on a Can’s Michael Gordon | Field of Vision – 36 Percussionists on PS21’s Land and Trails

Field of Vision is a large-scale, site-responsive work adapted to PS21’s rolling landscape. Doug Perkins directs 36 percussionists in motion across an expansive field playing specially constructed and tuned instruments composed of industrial metals, recycled materials, wood, and gongs. In Field of Vision, sound is never a flat line; it takes on multiple roles in space and time, inducing a quasi-meditative, almost ecstatic state in both the audience and the performers. This performance will be held outdoors on PS21’s fields. Bring a chair or blanket to sit. In case of rain, it will be presented under PS21’s pavilion roof. Free and for all ages.

July 27, 1 PM: Community Movement Workshop | Vertigo Dance Company (Israel) Master Class

An interactive dance and movement workshop based on Vertigo Dance Company’s community-centered, ecologically focused dances. This 2 hour Master Class, the first of its kind at PS21, provides an introduction to the unique dance language developed by choreographer and artistic director Noa Wertheim, over her years with Vertigo. Influenced and inspired by a variety of dance techniques and mind-body disciplines, the workshop intersects ballet, contact improvisation, and Eastern martial arts such as Tai Chi and Chi Gong, while conversing with Jewish philosophy and spiritual teachings. Free and for all ages.

July 28 & 29, 8 PM: Vertigo Dance Company (Israel) | One. One & One

Israel’s highly regarded Vertigo Dance Company brings its vision of sustainability to PS21’s 100-acre campus with One. One & One, choreographed by Noa Wertheim and set to an original score for strings and vocals by Avi Belleli. Performed by ten dancers on a soil-strewn stage, One. One & One reflects individuals’ desire for wholeness and spiritual connection to the natural world. Mikhail Baryshnikov, who has invited Vertigo to perform in the US from their Eco-Art Village on an Israeli kibbutz, praised the company for expressing “a distinctive voice through an impressive movement quality—visceral and raw, but with a surprising, acute sensitivity.” Tickets required for entry.  Discounts available.

August 3, 7 PM: PS21 Presents Dance with the Mark Morris Dance Group at Hudson Riverfront Park

PS21 is teaming up with the City of Hudson and local youth and community organizations to present Dance with Mark Morris Dance Group at the Hudson Riverfront Park. Share in the genius of Mark Morris in this fun and participatory evening of movement taught by MMDG company members. Free and for all ages.

August 6, 3 PM: Jamal Jackson Dance Company at Crellin Park Day | 846

PS21 returns to Crellin Park Day with an interactive program featuring 846, a retelling of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. 846 reimagines Stravinsky’s seminal work in our current day US. The 1913 score depicts rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death. 846 reflects upon our “everyday” filled with love, loss, appropriation, fear, and judgment, and interrogates our nation’s compulsion with sacrificing black bodies in order to thrive. Free and for all ages.

August 8-12: Jamal Jackson Dance Company Residency with Hudson-based youth organizations

Jamal Jackson Dance Company members will work with students from Hudson-based Perfect Ten, Kite’s Nest, and Operation Unite to create dances and percussion compositions based on dama, the masked dance rituals practiced by the Dogon people of Mali and Burkina Faso. The resulting performance will incorporate the stories of racialized violence and injustice the young participants have heard and experienced into the sounds and movement of the pieces.

August 11, 7 PM: DakhaBrakha (Ukraine) | Live Soundtrack to Earth (1930)

DakhaBrakha, the Ukrainian “ethno-chaos” band whose roots lie in the nation’s folk music, culture, and ethos, perform their original live soundtrack to Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s silent film masterpiece, Earth (1930), about resistance to the Soviet collectivization of Ukrainian farms. Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, the quartet from Kyiv experiments with rhythms of the surrounding world to create unexpected new music. The name DakhaBrakha means “give/take” in old Ukrainian, reflecting their resilience and philosophy. Tickets required for entry. Discounts available.

September 2 & 3, 7 PM: Philippe Quesne (France) | Farm Fatale – North American Premiere

The North American premiere of Farm Fatale, an eco-futurist fable by French visual artist and director Philippe Quesne, is the centrepiece of PATHWAYS. In this comedic work of “post-apocalyptic” theater, the earth has been laid waste by environmental collapse, human life has ceased, and birds have gone extinct. Five scarecrows, the sole survivors, find themselves out of work and on a quest for a kinder, less harmful future for the planet. Tickets required for entry. Discounts available.

September 3 & 4, 8:30 PM: Compagnie Galmae (France) | C’est pas là, c’est par là! (It’s Not That Way, It’s This Way!) 

Closing out PATHWAYS’ 2022 season, C’est pas là, c’est par là! (It’s Not That Way, It’s This Way!) is a genre-bending work of participatory theater by Juhyung Lee, a South Korean artist based in France, and his Compagnie Galmae. Inspired by political protests and street arts Lee encountered in Seoul, C’est pas là transforms PS21’s grounds into a hive of social ferment and passive onlookers into an active, problem-solving collective. Tickets required for entry. Free for youth, students, and educators.

September 4: Philippe Quesne (France) | Moles  

In Moles, a companion piece to Farm Fatale, Philippe Quesne invites audiences into a parallel universe where there are no humans and no words. In this mysterious underground world, larger-than-life moles are the architects of something between a processional utopian spectacle and a punk rock band. One of Quesne’s signature creations, the moles are a flexible art form, becoming whatever you want them to become, from cute selfie opportunities to staunch political agitprop. Have fun, or dig deeper for the truth. Moles will appear as part of the PS21 End of Summer Celebration.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENCOUNTERS | Self-Guided Explorations of PS21’s 100 acres of open spaces 

July-October, Sunrise to Sunset: StoryWalk, an Outdoor Reading Adventure for Families

A storybook unfolds along PS21’s trails, an innovative and inviting way for children and adults to combine their enjoyment of reading and the outdoors. Created in partnership with the Columbia County Library Association and the Columbia Land Conservancy, who are installing a new edition of this popular pastime, with the featured story selected by the local community.

Year-round, Sunrise to Sunset: James Casebere’s Solo Pavilion for Two or Three

James Casebere, celebrated photographer and installation artist of the “Pictures Generation”, unveiled his imposing architectural installation Solo Pavilion for Two or Three to launch the 2021 season of PATHWAYS. Created in response to the PS21 landscape Solo Pavilion extends his interrogation of the constructed environment. The work, a permanent fixture of PS21’s rolling hills, is rich in ambivalence: luminous yet portentous, offering protection but open, exposed to the elements while shielding its occupants.

MOVEMENT WITHOUT BORDERS |Yoga, Pilates, and Community Aerobics 

Through October 1, three times a week: invigorating, adventurous 60-minute sessions, open to all ages and abilities, focused on mind, body, and spirit. Yoga with Sondra Loring – Wednesdays at Noon, Pilates with Peggy Wallin-Hart – Thursdays at 5:30 PM, and Community Aerobic Fitness with Jennifer Lawrence -Saturdays at 10 AM.

EARLIER PATHWAYS

Welcoming our neighbors with work both inviting and challenging, PATHWAYS kicked-off on June 1 with Middle Ground, an evening of live music, dance, food, and communal storytelling. All were welcome to share their stories, or to simply listen to the many voices of their community. Conceived and hosted by pre-eminent Nigerian choreographer Qudus Onikeku, Middle Ground served as prelude to our 2022 summer season opening featuring Onikeku’s QDance Company and the U.S. Premiere of his explosive dance piece Re:INCARNATION.

On June 10, PATHWAYS held a free workshop for aspiring jazz musicians to join Sean Mason, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Emerging Artist, during Sit in with The Sean Mason Quintet! Student musicians were invited to sit in and play alongside the quintet in a guided jam session with coaching from the artists and a discussion of issues in jazz and improvisation. The workshop was followed by a performance the same evening from The Sean Mason Quintet.

On July 7, Paul Taylor Dance Company held a free movement workshop, taught by company dancer Maria Ambrose, introducing the Paul Taylor style. Participants, including youth from Crellin Community Park Summer Camp, encountered samples from the Taylor repertoire featuring signature movements that have influenced modern dance as we know it.