CITYist

From the ethereal costumes to the dynamic explosive moves of the Stephen Petronio Company dancers, Stephen Petronio has managed to not only cap a successful 25th season, but has also created another moving piece to add to his already impressive repertoire.

Petronio, choreographer for the Stephen Petronio Company, is well known for his edgy performance art-esq dance numbers that have shocked and moved audiences since 1984. He has received fellowships from Guggenheim, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts, as well as a New York Dance & Performance Award (Bessie) and grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, National Endowment of the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

The 25th season anniversary performance included Petronio himself performing his signature dance #3, the always controversial MiddleSexGeorge, and, for the first time in the US, the performance of Foreign Import. MiddleSexGeorge shocked conventional dance audiences with its risqué costumes, (men in bustiers, thongs and flower covered pants), edgy sexually-charged dance moves and hot-button topic of AIDS.

Not to be out-done by his previous works, Petronio’s newest piece, Ghostown, stunned and moved the audience that attended the premiere. Petronio was inspired by “Shards of lost and hidden narratives emerging out of a kinetic fog,” and “Concealing information as much as revealing it, and creating a sense of a world that is implied but not completely revealed.” Petronio had help in creating this ghostly imagery thanks to the costumes designed by Project Runway finalist Jillian Lewis. Petronio chose Lewis to design as he felt she “Understands clothing that is made to move and drape ‘in motion’ and how to give a subtle sense of story to a piece without being literal.”

While the Stephen Petronio Company finished their performances at the Joyce Theater on May 2, you can still catch their performances when they begin their global tour. You can see performances on July 17 and 18 at the Fire Island Festival (Benefit for Dancers Responding to Aids), Aug. 7 – Sept. 10 at the National Dance Company of Wales in Cardiff (with a Premiere of a new dance Sept 23), Oct 5 & 6 at the UK premiere of I Drink the Air Before Me at the Barbican Centre, London, England, and Oct. 8 through 14 at Milano Oltre Festival, Milan, Italy.