Floes

Choreography by Virginie Mécène

Music by Judith Shatin

Visual Artwork by SoHyun Bae

Costume by Kathryn Taylor

Performed by Grace Sautter

Floes was inspired by a deep concern for the havoc of climate change and named after the large sheets of ice that are disappearing in polar regions. This sonic/visual/kinetic work resulted from cross-media interactions on themes of formation, collision, breaking, and flowing. Judith Shatin’s music was created by processing underwater recordings of icebergs, while SoHyun Bae’s paintings are inspired by examining the nature of water. The choreography by Virginie Mécène reflects the mesmerizing movements of crystal formation. The performances of Floes are dedicated in memory of Michael Kubovy.

Monarcas (Excerpt)

Choreography by Henning Rübsam

Monarcas is a ballet created on 11 dancers in 2024 for vildwerk.s inaugural season. This year, Megan LeCrone and Renan Cerdeiro are performing the opening pas de deux of the work paying tribute to the annual miracle of the migration of the monarch butterfly.

Performed by Megan LeCrone and Renan Cerdeiro

Costumes by David Quinn

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler

Music by JS Bach – Prelude No. 1 in C Major (from BWV 846)

Moss Anthology: Variation #5b (2025)

Choreography by Jacqulyn Buglisi

Commissioned Composer, Jeff Beal

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler

Projection Design by Wendall K. Harrington, Yana Biryükova

Projection Associate, Joey Moro

Costume Design by A. Christina Giannini

Rehearsal Director, Jessica Sgambelluri

Performed by Lauren Jaeger, Lindsay Jorgensen, Isabella Pagano, Kate Reyes, Ane Arrieta, Grace Sautter, Ashley Bromfield, Emelyn Urdahl.

Rock, Ritual, Earth, Tree, Ritual 2, Gaia

The Moss project is an awakening that seeks to bring awareness through dance to the current global environmental crises that threatens the existence of all life on our planet. Buglisi honors Potawatomi author and botanist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer whose “Gathering Moss” draws on the wisdom of indigenous ways of knowing and scientific knowledge for the sustainability of humanity through the practice of reciprocity. This variation of the Moss Anthology is especially created for vildwerk., Buglisi celebrates composer Jeff Beal and projection designer Wendall Harrington, who invited BDT to be in residence at the Yale School of Drama. “It is an enlightening experience working with film composer Jeff Beal, whose films illuminate social and environmental issues. We began our collaboration while BDT was in residence at UCSB during the very tragic time of mudslides and wildfires in Southern California near his home at the time. He is a true humanitarian.” – jb The original creation of “Moss Anthology: Variation#5” is made possible through a choreographer/composer commissioning grant from the O’Donnell Green Music and Dance Foundation. BDT is grateful to the Howard Gilman Foundation for hosting a residency at the White Oak Conservation Center that provided creative exploration in the heart of the natural world.

Choreography copyright © Jacqulyn Buglisi 2019 Music copyright © Jeff Beal 2019, Courtesy of E.C. Schirmer Classical

Network

Choreography by Gianna Reisen

Performed by Gianna Reisen, Alyssa Bulin, Peter Mazurowski and Bryan Testa.

Network is a contemporary dance piece for four dancers with an original score by David K. Israel and set photography by Samantha Bass created for vildwerk. in 2024. The work explores the magic of mycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationship it has to all plant life. Created in collaboration with and support of the Mycorrhizal Fund, Mercy Vaughn and Dennis Sheridan.

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler

Projections Design by Joey Moro

Image set art and photography by Samantha Bass

When the Water Breaks

Choreography by Bradley Shelver

When the Water Breaks explores the profound connection between the ever-shifting temperament of the ocean and the emotional landscapes of humanity. Through sweeping movement and musical fluidity, the ballet reflects the ocean’s dual nature—its serenity and its storms—as a mirror of our own inner tides.

Performed by Artists of Joffrey Concert Group

Original score by David K. Israel

Created with inspiration from World Wildlife Fund (WWF®)

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler

Projection Editing & Design by Bradley Shelver

Projections by Joey Moro

Costumes by Erica Johnston

Asylum

Choreography by Antonia Franceschi

Performed by Edward Watson, MBE

Music by Ezio Bosso Concerto No 1 for Violin Strings & Timpani

Created in Collaboration with Nature and Culture International

Costume by David Quinn

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler

Projections Design by Joey Moro

Asylum explores the ritual and tribal connections to nature that have long danced alongside Indigenous wildlife, seeking otherness and altered states. To set one’s self free at all costs, to engage with something greater. “In a trace I can change myself into a star, visit my friends in the sky, and when I return I drop to the ground, and become a person again,” from San (Bushmen) culture.

Symbiotic Twin

Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa

Performed by Benjamin Freemantle and Renan Cerdeiro

Costumes by Marc Happel after paintings by Kathleen Werner

Lighting Design by Tony Tucci

Music by Kate Moore

In Symbiotic Twin, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa delves into the natural phenomenon of symbiosis: two distinct organisms whose survival and evolution become intertwined. The choreography explores this delicate ecosystem of dependence, balance, and transformation, where beings mirror, support, and sometimes challenge each other as they move toward a shared destiny. The dancers’ interconnected bodies trace patterns reminiscent of mutualistic species in nature: host and companion, parasite and protector, twin and counterpart.

The visual world of the piece is heightened by costumes inspired by the paintings of American artist Kathleen Werner, whose fluid, organic forms echo cellular structures, botanical motifs, and the layered textures of life observed under a microscope. Symbiotic Twin becomes a poetic metaphor for coexistence, revealing how vulnerability and interdependence shape the fragile harmony that sustains life in nature.

After the Rain

Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon

Performed by Mira Nadon & Preston Chamblee (December 17|18) and

Isabella Boylston & Craig Hall (December 19|20)

Music by Arvo Pärt

Original Costumes by Holly Hynes

Original Lighting by Mark Stanley

Lighting Design at NYLA by Jack Mehler

Award-winning choreographer and vildwerk. founding Advisory Board member Christopher Wheeldon, OBE created After the Rain in 2005 for New York City Ballet’s annual New Combinations Evening, honoring the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth with a new world premiere. The ballet unfolds in two parts: an opening section for three couples, followed by a second, deeply intimate pas de deux performeed at Dancing for Our Wonderful World. Originally performed by Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto—Wheeldon’s final creation for Soto before his retirement—the pas de deux has since become iconic. On a sparse stage, a couple dressed in simple attire moves through gestures of tenderness, vulnerability, and quiet devotion, giving the work its timeless emotional resonance.

Mira, Preston, Isabella, and Craig offered vildwerk. supporters a rare window into the technically and emotionally complex rehearsal process of this legendary ballet in early December 2025. They laid bare their personal feelings and experiences with remarkable openness — something for which we are deeply grateful.

This Bitter Earth

Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon OBE
Performed by Unity Phelan and Preston Chamblee
Music by Max Richter and Clyde Otis
“This Bitter Earth” performed by Dinah Washington (from the motion picture soundtrack for Shutter Island). Music by arrangement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
Costumes by Reid Bartelme Lighting by Mary Louise Geiger
Premiere August 6, 2012, Vail International Dance Festival
New York City Ballet Premiere, September 20, 2012, David
H. Koch Theater Original Cast Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle

This breathtaking and poetic dance for a couple explores the haunting, tenuous melodies set to a remix of Dinah Washington’s soulful rendition of “This Bitter Earth” and Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight.” This Bitter Earth is a pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s Five Movements, Three Repeats. The full work was originally created for Fang-Yi Sheu & Artists, a group led by former Martha Graham Dance Company star Fang-Yi Sheu that included NYCB dancers Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle, and Craig Hall. Set to a remix of Dinah Washington’s performance of Clyde Otis’ This Bitter Earth, and Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight, the ballet had its Company premiere at NYCB’s 2012 Fall Gala. August 6, 2012, Vail International Dance Festival. Text source, New York City Ballet

NETWORK

Choreography by Gianna Reisen
Performed by Jonathan Fahoury, Alyssa Bulin, Peter Mazurowski and Vinicius Silva
Network is a contemporary dance piece for four dancers with an original score by David K. Israel and set photography by Samantha Bass.

The work explores the magic of mycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationship it has to all plant life. Created in collaboration with and support of the Mycorrhizal Fund, Mercy Vaughn and Dennis Sheridan.

For the score, David has measured mushroom frequencies with a device called Plantwave during a weekend with the creating artists in the mountains in California and converted their energy into musical data which can be heard throughout his score. Samantha’s artistic creation process of creating the visual art for Network has lead her to cultivate a large variety of mushrooms around her house over a period of more than six months. She then experimented with different lenses and photography techniques aiming to depict mycorrhizae and fungal spores through macro photography, complimenting Gianna’s choreography and David’s score.

Lighting Design by Jack Mehler Projections Design by Joey Moro

ara

Choreography by Joshua Beamish
Performed by Benjamin Freemantle, Lloyd Knight and Luciana Paris
Featuring Altar de cuerda I. Moriscochilango by Gabriela Ortiz,as performed by Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel & María Dueñas
Costumes by Eric Winterling
Lighting Design by Jack Mehler
Created in collaboration with Nature and Culture International.

Ará means “macaw” in the Tupi language of Brazil. The word is an onomatopoeia based on the sound of their call. This work draws attention to the preservation of migratory corridors for macaws, and other endangered species, as they cross the manmade borders of the Americas.

The work of Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY America is made possible through the support of the Samuel H Scripps Foundation, James Andrews, Louis Hedgecock and Charles and Debbi Adelman.

Moss Anthology #5 (2024) Rock, Ritual, Earth, Tree, Ritual 2, Gaia created for vildwerk.

BUGLISI DANCE THEATRE Choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi Commissioned Composer Jeff Beal, Lighting Designer Jack Mehler, Co-Projection Desigers Wendall K. Harrington, Yana Biryükova, Costume Design A. Christina Giannini, Rehearsal Directors Jessica Higgins and Jessica Sgambelluri.

Performed by Lauren Jaeger, Aoi Sato Lindsay Jorgensen, Isabella Pagano, Grace Sautter Lauryn Rickman, Ashley Bromfield, Kennedy Davidson.

The Moss project is an awakening that seeks to bring awareness through dance, the universal language of the body, to the current global environmental crises that threatens the existence of all life. Buglisi is greatly inspired by Potawatomi author and botanist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer whose “Gathering Moss” draws on the wisdom of indigenous ways of knowing and scientific knowledge for the sustainability of humanity through the practice of reciprocity. For Variation #5 of the Moss Anthology, Buglisi collaborates with composer Jeff Beal and projection designer Wendall Harrington, who invited BDT to be in residence at the Yale School of Drama. The work has been performed on the East and West coasts, and commissioned by the UCSB Dance Company touring Scandinavia and Europe. Buglisi Dance Theatre is honored to perform in the vildwerk.s inaugural season supporting its conservation initiatives through the art of dance. This variation #5 is especially created for the vildwerk. performances. The original creation of “Moss Anthology Variations” is made possible through a choreographer/composer commissioning grants from the O’Donnell Music and Dance Foundation, and through the generous support of Jody & John Arnhold, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and with public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. BDT is grateful to the Howard Gilman Foundation for hosting a residency at the White Oak Conservation Center that provided creative exploration in the heart of the natural world. Choreography copyright © Jacqulyn Buglisi 2019 Music copyright © Jeff Beal 2019, Courtesy of Post Meridian Music. Management Past | Future Consultants

The work of Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY America is made possible through the support of the Samuel H Scripps Foundation, James Andrews, Louis Hedgecock and Charles and Debbi Adelman.

The Golden Turtle

Choreography by Joshua Beamish
Performed by Mara Galeazzi
Music Vesiculobiliar by Felipe Pérez Santiago, as performed by Ónix Ensamble
Costume by Amanda Barrow
Lighting Design by Jack Mehler Created in collaboration with Re:Wild and Turtle Conservancy

The Golden Turtle explores the inner turmoil of species experiencing habitat devastation and poaching as part of the illegal turtle trade. Turtles that are already almost extinct in the wild, such as the Madagascan Ploughshare Tortoise or the Burmese Roof Headed Turtle are being illegally sold to “collectors” for sums as high as USD 200,000 and are being trafficked internationally.There is still a chance for us to save these much loved animals that have roamed the earth for millions of years and that form the very basis of our ecosystem serving an essential purpose in the circle of life. Contact us at info@vildwerk.org to find out what you can personally do to help through direct activism and financial support to causes like vildwerk.s
#therubyinitiative.

The work of Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY America is made possible through the support of the Samuel H Scripps Foundation, James Andrews, Louis Hedgecock and Charles and Debbi Adelman.

monarcas

Choreography by Henning Rübsam
Performed by Fernando Montaño, Luciana Paris, Eriko Sugimura, Carmela Arcidi, Daede Ott, Simran Simi Vilain, Solenn Etienne, Maximilian Tenenbaum, Julia Grady, and Valentina Rudkevich.
Costumes by David Quinn
Lighting by Jack Mehler
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude No. 1 in C Major (from BWV 846), Prelude and Fugue
No. 3 in C Sharp Major (BWV 848).

Lovingly dedicated to Mrs Barbara Tober and with thanks to The Acronym Fund.

“A long bus ride in Mexico took me to a butterfly sanctuary in the state of Michoacán. It was mesmerizing to see the sky become filled with butterflies. I was there for at least three hours quietly taking in this extraordinary beauty. I love that there are no borders for butterflies. Being based in NYC I’m a snowbird and I too ‘migrate’ to warmer climates in Mexico, Central and South America each winter. I feel a kinship with these butterflies, – their need for sunshine and warmth.” Henning Rübsam choreographed Monarcas, a piece for ten dancers about the migrating monarchs for vildwerk.

Henning Rübsam’s work was supported by the generosity of Jane Schnorrenberg, Jens Daume, Sheila McInerney, and Patsy Tar.

toujours

Choreography by Mara Galeazzi
Performed by Mara Galeazzi and Jason Kittelberger
Music by Domenico Clapasson
Lighting by Jack Mehler

Toujours examines the emotions of loss and extinction of being. It relates to the daily number of species lost on our planet and the deep feeling of realizing that we are responsible for our actions on earth.

vildwerk. is thankful to the generosity of Matt Brady, Hatch House Wiltshire, Covent Garden Dance Company and The Dickie Buckle Fund for their support in making it possible to bring Toujours to the USA for the first time.

Divinity in Paradox (DIP)

Choreography by Briana J. Reed
Music Production by Michael Djareem Campbell
Vocalist Charles Temenu
Sound Engineer Jim Morgan
Lighting Design Jack Mehler
Costume Design Renato Dicent
Costume Concept Briana J. Reed
Rehearsal Director Telly Fowler
Choreographic Advisor Linda Kent
Performed by Amar Ramasar, Fernando Montaño, Jacob Rodriguez, Erin Gonzales, Gabi Roller, Eriko Sugimura and Sydney Willams

Acts
I. Invocation
II. As Above So Below
III. Paradigm Permutation

Music
I. Chorist: Michael Djareem Campbell
II. Giulio Cesare, Act
II: Se pietà di me non senti by George Fredric Hande
III. Jeanine De Bique, Concerto Köln & Luca Quintavall
IV. Kajo: by Michael Djareem Campbell featuring Charles Temenu

Corinthians 13:13 And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Divinity In Paradox, is a prayer from our primordial ancestral ascended masters to the enlightened ones, chosen in this era as emissaries to awaken the innate divinity within themselves in order to restore, replenish, renew and honor the inherent divinity we inhibit without. It seems that each day we hear of the detrimental effects of climate change backed up by scientists worldwide. Drastic changes in weather patterns, loss of biodiversity, extinction of entire species with a growing number becoming endangered, destruction of rainforest and the pollution of earth’s waterways; all for capital gain. Indigenous peoples worldwide have lived symbiotically with nature in an infinite dance of reciprocity taking only what was needed in order for nature to replenish its reserves. We have deviated from these ideals and in doing so plants, animals, the planet and humanity suffer. When thinking about creating a work for vildwerk. I thought what would the Divine, the Creative Energy, which created all that is; think of the way we are treating our collective Mother, Earth. The wondrous creatures that inhabit it are each created with distinct purpose. Humanity, being the only sentient beings with free will in the legacy that is left behind. Is it one that serves to build or destroy? Were the great civilizations we read about and watch documentaries about destroyed because their love of the treasures of Divine outweighed respect of that which the Divine has given? In Invocation we meet our cast of Divine beings from times so far gone we fail to remember whether they, in fact myth or history. Our Divine Trinity are: Divine Love, Amar Ramasar; Divine Faith, Fernando Montaño; and Hope Divine, Jr. Artist Jacob Rodriguez. It is the wish of the Divine Trinity to awaken four Goddesses representative of the “four corners” of the Earth. These Goddesses are on a mission to change thoughts, minds, and hearts. Each Goddess intent on unification of people worldwide regardless of race, religion or socio-economic standing for the greater goal of mending our Mother Earth and in essence healing ourselves. Goddesses: Isis, Sydney Williams healing the African diaspora; Brigid, Gabi Roller healing the European diaspora; Amaterasu, Eriko Sugimura healing the Asian diaspora; and Xōchiquetzal, Erin Gonzales healing the Indigenous diaspora. In As Above So Below we are imbued with the gift of Divine Love joined by Divine Faith and Hope Divine helping us to fully shed that which no longer serves us. In Paradigm Permutation all diasporas unite in Love, Hope and Faith shifting us into a new paradigm. Divinity In Paradox asks the viewer to examine the interconnectivity and intersectionality of climate change, social justice and the right of all sentient beings to exist on a planet that is honored both in word and deed How can you help to shift the paradigm within your own community? Briana J. Reed

Grow Little Tree

Choreography by Briana J. Reed
Music by Andrea Ramsey
Performed by Cassandra Longville
Conducted by Amber Salladin
Anton Figueroa at the piano
Chorus
Aria De Chicchis
Annabelle Figueroa
Noah & Polina Gorodesky
Caleb & Peter Salladin
Andrea Ticas

Performed at vildwerk.s Inaugural Performance and Gala Dinner on May 1, 2023 at The Bowery Hotel, New York City Dinner Chairman, Christopher Wheeldon, OBE