Image by Maria Baranova, courtesy of New York Live Arts.
The David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico
Tickets $16.80 (includes $ 1.80 ticketing fee)
In this work-in-progress showing of Joanna Kotze’s this is the beginning, this is the end, she and her collaboraters interrogate the phenomenon of history repeating itself through an interdisciplinary presentation. Performed by an ensemble of six dancers and two musicians, the piece scrutinizes leadership, agency, and the thresholds we encounter individually and collectively.
Kotze and her collaborators examine how individual bodies carry the residue of political and social systems, and how the act of tearing down and rebuilding can become both an artistic and human imperative. Waves of intricate, rigorous, layered movement and sound engage with current socio-political challenges and reflect on two divergent forces: the need for collectivism to accomplish change and the risks posed by collectivism’s most dangerous manifestation, unthinking conformity.
this is the beginning, this is the end is commissioned and produced by New York Live Arts as part of the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Program. It is co-commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works and has been supported in part through residencies at The Pocantico Center, Marble House Project, Milvus Artistic Research Center, LMCC’s Rehearsal Week, the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow, the Loghaven Artist Residency, and the Chocolate Factory Theater. It is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The final piece will have it's World Premiere at Live Arts in New York City in fall 2026, with lead funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
This event will be followed by a reception in the DR Center Gallery, now showing Woven Wonders: Kykuit’s Picasso Tapestries.
Guests may arrive 45 minutes prior to the event start time to enjoy the new Sculpture Walk outside the DR Center. Please note that events will begin promptly at their scheduled start time. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of staff.
Presented in partnership with the RBF Culpeper Arts & Culture program and New York Live Arts as part of the Culpeper Summer Performance Series.
All sales final; no refunds.
A look at Joanna Kotze's artist residency at Jacob's Pillow developing this is the beginning, this is the end.
Joanna Kotze
Joanna Kotze is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, dancer, and educator who has been a distinctive force in New York’s dance community since 1998. Kotze creates highly physical dance performances through a collaborative, multi-disciplinary process. Her work looks at effort, labor, humor, violence, unpredictability, and beauty through movement and explores the body’s relationship to sound, light, physical materials, and space.