Select a title for image and information on each piece.
Select image for larger picture and videos (* indicates available video).
*Quasi Normal | *Breathless | *Oceans 1:Wetlands | *Short Term Memory | Still | Woa Cholena | *Songs Without Words | *Out of the Mist, Above the Real | *The System | *Voices and Echoes | *No Fear of Flying - First Leg | *Significant Soil | *Suite Real | *Enfold
Quasi Normal
World Premiere - 2008
video available
Quasi Normal is composed of three sections, all informed by the idea that the past contains the building blocks for the future works.
The movement vocabulary in the first section is inspired by the body positions of the body in the Mary Wigman work, Niobe, a kind of mourning-dance.
In the second section, improvisations were extrapolated from the choreographic sketches of Dore Hoyer, a dancer and follower of the Wigman branch of German expressionist dance, or Ausdruckstanz.
In the final section, movement impulses were inspired by the play between opposing forces: yin/yang, permanence/fleetingness, positive/negative.
Choreography: Susanne Linke
Guest Artist : Brigitta Herrman
Music: Tomasz Sikorski, Michael von Hintzenstern
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski
Length of Dance: 25 min.
Breathless
World premiere - 2005
reimaged - 2008
video available
In 1925, Theodore Dreiser published a novel centered around the drowning of an unmarried pregnant woman by the unborn child's father. He believed life offered him better prospects. In 1996, a young unmarried Delaware woman was murdered and her body entombed on the ocean floor by her powerful, politically connected lover, who refused to permit her to end their affair. In 1997, a Philadelphia man drugged and strangled his wife (and mother of his young daughter) and placed her body in the bathtub, in order to collect insurance proceeds and continue to pursue a professional stripper. In 2002, a Californian fertilizer salesman murdered his pregnant wife and set her adrift in the San Francisco Bay, culminating a pattern of infidelity.
Breathless is informed and inspired by these stories. Spanning many months, the scenes include a pastoral lakeside, room interiors, an insurance company office and a stripper bar.
Choreography: Jeanne Ruddy
Original Sound Score: Jorge Cousineau
2008 Sound Score: Ellen Fishman-Johnson
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski
Photographic Projections: Bob Emmott
Video Projections: Jorge CousineauLenght of Dance: 25 min.
Ocean 1: Wetlands
World Premiere - 2007
Inspired by the Southern New Jersey Wetlands, this work uses modern movement, text, and images to explore environmental threats and their ongoing effects on Earth's waterways, landscapes, and wildlife. Replete with references to shellfish, ospreys and even styrofoam, Ocean1: Wetlands is a compelling homage to everything alive and green and the importance of its preservation.
Choreography: Jeanne
Ruddy
Music: Ellen
Fishman-Johnson
Set Photography: Bob
Emmott
Costume Design: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter
J. Jakubowski
Length of Dance: 25 min.
information on the creation of Oceans
1:Wetlands
Short Term Memory
World Premiere - 2007
Short Term Memory, by New York City writer/director/choreographer Jane Comfort, examines the boundaries of space; physical, emotional and psychological.
Choreography: Jane
Comfort
Costume Design: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter
J. Jakubowski
Lenght of Dance: 12 min.
Still
World Premiere - 2006
Still explores the fragmented aspects of love through abstract gestures and sometimes subtle, sometimes explosive interaction, expressing the complexities and elusive journey of the heart.
Choreography: Robert
Battle
Music: Arvo Part
Costumes: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter
J. Jakubowski
Assistant to the Choreographer: Meredith
Riley Stewart
Lenght of Dance: 13 min.
Woa Cholena
World premier - 2006
Set on three women and one man, this dance explores movement for movement's sake. Woa Cholena is Native American for "the great white bird".
Choreography: Jeanne
Ruddy
Music: Stravinsky's Concerto for 12 instruments (1920, arr. 1952)
Costume Design: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter
J. Jakubowski
Lenght of Dance: 6 min.
Songs Without Words
2004
Reinking, the recognized Fosse acolyte, is known for her roles in the film All that Jazz and on Broadway in Chicago. Songs Without Words is created especially for Jeanne Ruddy Dance, with music by Dudley Moore. A luscious new work with six women, two men, and our special guest artist, Zane Booker, formerly of The Netherlands Dans Theatre. Reinking has created a work that expresses the beauty and vulnerability of first love. Costumes designed by Jeffrey Wirsing, former assistant to Halston, current costume designer for The Martha Graham Company.
Choreography: Ann Reinking
Music: Dudley Moore
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. JakubowskiLenght of Dance: 25 min.
Out of the Mist, Above the
Real
2004
JRD will premiere a new work set to composer, Daniel Brewbaker’s work titled, Out of the Mist, Above the Real. The composition’s inspiration first came from the topography and spirit of Ireland where both Jeanne and Daniel have traveled. The musical composition is an Irish Cantata for Soprano, Uilleann Pipes, Children’s, Youth and Mixed Choruses. It is based on poems that express a search for ancient origins. The title is from the poem The Irish Cliffs of Moher” by Wallace Stevens. Out of the Mist, Above the Real was commissioned by the CME New Millennium Institute and Dr. Doreen Rao, who conducted its’ world premiere at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland on July 27, 2002.
Choreography: Jeanne Ruddy
Music: Daniel Brewbaker
Costume Design: Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. JakubowskiLenght of Dance: 25 min.
The System
2002
Philadelphia Premiere
video
available
This newly choreographed duet explores a mature relationship with its long developed habits and unspoken boundaries
Choreography: Janet Lilly and Peter Sparling
Original Score: Frank Pahl
Visual Artist: Terry Rosenberg
Spoken Text: Charles Baxter
Costume Design: Alison Roberts
Lighting Design: Peter J. JakubowskiLenght of Dance: 11 min.
Voices and Echoes
1999
video
available
Voices and Echoes speaks to the sorrows of women and the strengths found in their lifelong mutual support. The title reflects the four "voices" of the dancers, while "echoes" addresses the many movement canons found in their work.
Choreography: Igal
Perry
Original string quartet composed by John Mackey and performed live
Costumes: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Nanette Hudson Joyce
Lenght of Dance: 15 min.
No Fear of Flying - First
Leg
Premiere June 2000
video
available
No Fear of Flying incorporates a gestural vocabulary developed in collaboration with the dancers, along with the use of experimental use of text, movement, and dramatic characterization. The building of strong female characterizations and themes related to the "diva" are explored.
Choreography: Mark
Dendy
Costumes: Cloe Fox
Lighting: John Hoey
Music: Peggy Lee, Nancy Sinatra, and Australian Dijeridoo music
Lenght of Dance: 25 min.
Significant Soil
Premiere June 2000
video
available
Life takes on new meaning after faced with the possibility of death. It is here that the soul asks the deeper questions of purpose, of the meaning of one's life. It is the incredible gift of a reprieve from such an early sentence that one strives for a renewed life built on significant soil.
Choreography: Jeanne
Ruddy
Costumes: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting and Set Design: John Hoey
Music: Philip Glass Violin Concert
Lenght of Dance: 25 min.
Suite Reel
premiere 2001
video
available
Choreography: Jeanne
Ruddy
Music: Appalachian Bluegrass Music
Costume Design: Jeffrey
Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter
J. Jakubowski
Musicians:
Lawrence Cohen, guitar and arrangments
William Dominick, fiddle
Beth Mead Sullivan, banjo
Jennie Heitler-Klevans, vocals
George Abramson, guitar and mandolin
Ray Duffy, guitar
Bill Hangley, guitar
Joe Spinelli, bass
Lenght of Dance: 25 min.
Enfold
Choreography: Zvi Gotheiner
Music: Zarah
Costume design: Alison Roberts
Lighting: Peter J. JakubowskiLenght of Dance: 6 min.
