A conversation with Harkness Dance Center Director Taryn Kaschock Russell about 92Y’s new Harkness Mainstage Series
“The pioneers of modern dance were creating their work and taking risks on the stage of Kaufmann Concert Hall before anyone had even heard their names,” says Harkness Dance Center Director Taryn Kaschock Russell. “I thought, ‘There are amazing artists who are pushing the art form forward now. They need to be on this stage.’”
On Thursday, September 23, for the first time in 50 years, dance performance returns to the stage where modern dance was born. It marks the premiere performance in 92Y’s new Harkness Mainstage Series, the brainchild of Kaschock Russell, who joined 92Y just months before the pandemic shut our doors. “The reason I joined 92Y is because of the history that was made inside this building, and a great deal of it happened on that stage. It’s what inspired me to become part of this organization.”
The stage of Kaufmann Concert Hall is where the pioneers of modern dance – Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Jose Limón, Pearl Primus and so many more – first presented the groundbreaking works that became the foundation of the art form. Kaschock Russell says, “This hall carries the energy, fire and spark of the pioneering artists who inhabited it in the past – to me, it is not only important, but essential, to have this new generation of artists make history again in the same space.”
The Harkness Mainstage Series presents 10 performances over 10 months by some of the most exciting, boundary-breaking artists and choreographers in dance right now. The series opens with FLOCK, the dynamic, almost otherworldly choreographic duo Florian Lochner and Alice Klock, in the premiere of their new work, Familiar. FLOCK began work on Familiar, which explores the joys, struggles and wonders of connection between two beings, early in the pandemic. Situated thousands of miles apart, Alice from her home base in Seattle and Florian from his in Germany, they started with ideas – most essentially, that “we are stronger together than apart.” The work began taking physical shape in rehearsals together in both locations and others around the world. “FLOCK is an extraordinary duo,” says Kaschock Russell. “Watching them move together, you find yourself in awe of what their bodies can physically do, then you suddenly realize what they are making you feel emotionally. That doesn’t always happen – their work is joyful, deep, and thrilling.”
Four weeks later, on Thursday, October 21, the Harkness Mainstage Series presents 2021 Bessie Award nominee for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer Hope Boykin in the New York premiere of her ReDefine US, From The INside OUT and other new works. A former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Philadanco, Boykin has long had a champion in Kashchock Russell, who says, “Hope radiates humanity in her work and in her being. She worked with us during 92Y’s Charlie Parker Celebration last summer, creating an amazing and powerful original dance – on film, due to COVID-19,” Kaschock Russell says. “It was a huge pivot for her, and the beginning of the emergence of her powerful personal choreographic voice and vision.” Kaschock Russell says, “It was actually working with Hope on the Charlie Parker project that made me think deeply about the importance of presenting today’s choreographic innovators on our main stage. It’s interesting, upon reflection … Hope shared that I opened up something huge for her, but she also opened up something that is huge for me – and for 92Y.”
On Thursday, November 18, Yin Yue, whose work dazzled audiences with her performance in our 2021 Virtual Gala, presents the world premiere of a new work with her company, Yin Yue Dance Company. A compelling choreographer and stunning mover, Kaschock Russell has been enthralled with Yin Yue for years. In fact, Yin Yue was a Harkness Dance Center Artist in Residence in 2016-17, yet until her Gala performance, had never stepped foot on Kaufmann Concert Hall’s hallowed stage. “The Harkness Mainstage Series was born out of a moment of reconnection from every perspective,” says Kaschock Russell. “It is incredibly meaningful to me to support an artist with a connection to the Harkness Dance Center in this moment of rebirth and to enable an opportunity that didn’t exist before, in the very space where modern dance was born.”
The Harkness Mainstage Series will present seven other cutting-edge artists at the forefront of dance over the next 10 months. Reflecting on what Kaschock Russell finds most meaningful in the series she conceived she says, “Other theaters in NYC and around the world are opening up with their pre-pandemic programming, presenting works that had been put on hold for 18 months. We’re doing something entirely different, offering not only performance opportunities, but creative opportunities for exciting artists making work they couldn’t even have envisioned 18 months or two years ago. New works are being born expressly because of the Harkness Mainstage Series,” she says. “This is all about wanting to create a platform for where dance is headed next, not where it’s been.”
Taking the risks and breaking the boundaries that move the art form forward. It’s the spirit behind the artists in our new Harkness Mainstage Series – and the Harkness Dance Center’s equally fearless director.
Get full details on the Harkness Mainstage Series.
92Y Harkness Dance Center recognizes the ongoing generosity of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.