BUGLISI DANCE THEATRE
Jacqulyn Buglisi, Founder/Artistic Director/Choreographer/Educator
Terese Capucilli, Associate Artistic Director
presents
‘PORTRAYALS OF HUMANITY’
A Season Featuring the Power of Artistic Collaborations and Commissions
Tuesday & Wednesday, June 23 & 24 at 7:30 PM
Joan Weill Center for Dance/Ailey Citigroup Theater,
405 West 55 Street (at Ninth Avenue)
Tickets; $38; $20 for students
To purchase tickets: https://shorturl.at/LASfw
Narrator: Christine Dakin
Guest artists: Kristine Bendul & Abdiel (6/23 performance) and Lorenzo Pagano
Commissioned composer/musicians: Stahv Danker and Erán Fink
Company Dancers: Ane Arrieta, Ashley Bromfield, Antonio Cangiano, Zachary Jeppsen-Toy, Lindsay Jorgensen, Isabella Pagano, Jai Perez, Esteban Santamaria, Rayan Lecurieux-Durival, Grace Sautter, Jessica Sgambelluri
Apprentice: Emelyn Urdahl
Buglisi Dance Theatre is thrilled to present “Portrayals of Humanity,” a season featuring the power of artistic collaborations and commissions, with a preview by Jacqulyn Buglisi along with iconic BDT repertory, and new works by guest choreographers Lorenzo Pagano, whose many credits in concert dance, theater, and opera include the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and the Martha Graham Dance Company where he is currently regisseur; and Ron De Jesús, former member of Hubbard Street Dance and original cast member of Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out,” and current repetiteur for Twyla Tharp Productions.
The season is dedicated to the memory of Sondra Lee, BDT founding board member and theater luminary.
The program will preview Buglisi’s “The Wing and the Shell – A Hummingbird and A Turtle” – commissioned by vildwerk, an organization that inspires conservation awareness through dance. The original music will be performed live by the composers Stahv Danker and Erán Fink, and is made possible through a Choreographer/Composer Commissioning Grant Award from the O’Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation. Narration is by renowned artist Christine Dakin.
Inspired by the book “Dreaming in Turtle,” by Peter Laufer, a masterpiece of nature writing, Buglisi’s new dance expands the evolution of her environmental works through a new direction that explores living species in danger of extinction, adding to her canon of works that illuminate the fragility of our planet. Buglisi became moved by the dangers facing these gentle, ancient creatures in peril from climate change and human greed, and her fierce concern for the fragile hummingbird species whose populations are declining. Using the symbolism of the turtle and the hummingbird, she has created an original fantasy, a love song, a play on opposites that unfolds in dreams, where time bends and the two can meet without limit of speed and space. Their love transcends boundaries, yet nature dictates that they must part. “To this day, when you see a hummingbird pause in the air, and a turtle raise its eyes to the sky, it is their memory that stirs – love not bound by distance, but held in balance.” (JB)
“Bare to the Wall Suite,” restaged from the original “Bare to the Wall” was created by Buglisi and Donlin Foreman in 1996, commissioned by The Joyce Theater Foundation for the Altogether Different series. Set to music by Shostakovich, Hindemith, and John Tavener, the work reveals both the “fragility and power of the individual who soars and tears through an evolving landscape of grove and garden”.
Buglisi’s much acclaimed 1989 duet “Sospiri,” with music by Edward Elgar, is inspired by the tragic, true story of Camila O’Gorman (the Juliet of the pampas) and her lover, the Jesuit priest Ladislav Gutierrez who, in 1848, were hunted down and executed by a firing squad for their illicit love. This timeless story has become legend among the peasants of Argentina. “Sospiri” was first performed in 1989 by the Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center.
Buglisi Dance Theatre company member Jai Perez,will perform Buglisi’s solo “Being Mortal,” set to composer Nils Frahm’s “Chant”. The choreographer states that “Being Mortal”….”illuminates the energy, resilience, and spirit that lives beneath the surface – powerful, real, deeply felt – and personal.” Ms. Buglisi expresses her gratitude to Jai Perez for his collaboration on the choreography.
Dancer/choreographer Lorenzo Pagano is honored to have his first choreography, the solo “Dream/Existence”, in a BDT premiere. Pagano will perform to “Nuages” by composer Alan Watts, who remarked: “If you awaken from this illusion…you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental. What you are basically deep, deep down, far, far in, is simply the fabric and structure of existence itself.”
On opening night, the award-winning ballroom dancers Kristine Bendul & Abdiel will perform the New York Premiere of “Consortium,” a duet choreographed by Ron De Jesús through a Works and Process residency at The Church in Sag Harbor during January 2026. Pioneers in the field of ballroom dance, Abdiel and Kristine made history as the first professional ballroom couple in the United States to compete in DanceSport with a gender-neutral approach – seamlessly exchanging the roles of lead and follow across all five American Rhythm dances. This spring, BDT presented Kristine & Abdiel in an immersive event on the Latin Hustle at Taylor Dance West, made possible through the NYC Council’s Cultural Immigrant Initiative, awarded by New York Senator Erik Bottcher and District 3 Council Member Carl Wilson.
Jacqulyn Buglisi, Founder/Artistic Director/Educator/Mentor has had a profound impact on the field of dance over her five-decade career. She has been honored with the 2022 Juilliard President’s Medal, a 2020 Bessie Award for the Table of Silence Project, and a 2024 Martha Hill Award. A former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Ms. Buglisi has created over 100 ballets for BDT, many of which are archived in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the NY Public Library. Ms. Buglisi’s works have been commissioned and performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, MGDC, The Juilliard School, Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater, and the NY Flamenco Festival at Sadler’s Wells; and have been seen on the stages of the Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, BAM and NY City Center. Her artistic collaborators include composers/musicians Jeff Beal, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Paola Prestini, John Ragusa, spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, videographer Nel Shelby, filmmaker Lukas Hauser, and environmental artist Jacobo Borges, to name a few. A master teacher of Graham technique for 50 years, she is Chair of the Graham Department at The Ailey School and has taught on faculty at The Juilliard School, Martha Graham School, and in residencies at Yale, SUNY Purchase, Aspen Festival, and Chautauqua. Among her honors are the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund award, Kaatsbaan Playing Field Award, and National Endowment for the Arts choreographer fellowships and grants.
The award-winning Buglisi Dance Theatre is renowned for poignant theatrical dances on the human condition that speak to critical issues and emotions of our time, from social justice to climate change. BDT was co-founded in 1993/94 by Artistic Director Jacqulyn Buglisi, with Capucilli, Dakin and Foreman, in NYC, where it has presented 32 seasons at such venues as The Joyce Theater, New Victory Theater, New York Live Arts, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Juilliard Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Chelsea Factory, and at NY City Center for Dance Against Cancer. On tour, BDT has performed at Jacob’s Pillow, Kennedy Center, Vail Festival, Kaatsbaan, Kravis Center, Dance St. Louis’ Spring to Dance Festival; Melbourne Festival, Prague Festival, France, Mexico, Israel and Italy. Commissions include Alvin Ailey, Richmond Ballet, UCSB, MMMC, and Ice Theater of NY. BDT builds the legacy of American culture through its interactive educational programs and residencies in public schools and universities. BDT is honored to be included in the Graham100 celebrations. In partnership with Lincoln Center, BDT presents the Table of Silence Project 9/11 public performance ritual and Call to Action to Peace reaching over 4 million viewers via live stream in 235 countries/territories. The 16th annual Table of Silence will take place on Friday, September 11th, 8AM on the Josie Robertson Plaza, marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In production is a documentary on the Table of Silence.
Buglisi Dance Theatre’s 2026 NYC Season is made possible with the generous support of
Jody and John Arnhold/Arnhold Foundation, The O’Donnell-Green Music
& Dance Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Edward and Caroline Hyman
Family Foundation, and public support from the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts,
with the support of the Governor and the State Legislature.
Opera, My Love Magazine 