Deborah Hay - Animals on the Beach & my choreographed body … revisited

Deborah Hay is known as one of the most influential choreographers of postmodern dance in the 20^th and 21^st century. She was a founding member of the experimental Judson Dance Theater and toured with the world-renowned Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Her creative energy, her methods and artistic practices are still a source of great inspiration for generations of young dancers today. In late February, this legend of choreography will present two new productions at Tanzquartier Wien.

Animals on the Beach

They look like animals on the beach, thought Deborah Hay as she observed workshop participants and didn’t really know what she was seeing: it was precise, but also poetic and enigmatic. The association led Hay to the title of her new piece, Animals on the Beach, in which she has collaborated with five outstanding dancers familiar with the intimacy and stringency of her performance practice, and who have also contributed their own knowledge. For Deborah Hay is less interested in the movement than the person dancing and the relationships that create this dance.

my choreographed body … revisited

50 years’ practice has deeply choreographed Deborah Hay as an artist. In order to preserve her interest in dance, Hay has continually re-invented how she engages in it. Her new solo, my choreographed body… revisited, a tribute to this wealth of experience – Hay is without the compositional edifice that previously determined one solo from the Other.