On the heels of the premiere of The Encounter: Buffalo at Torn Space Theater in May, NYC-based Choreographer/Director Kimberly Bartosik returns to TST this month to develop a unique iteration of The Encounter which will premiere in NYC as part of French Institute/Alliance Francaise/FIAF’s prestigious Crossing the Line Festival. The work will feature performers and designers from NYC and Torn Space, and her residency will conclude with an in-process rehearsal open to the public. 

Please join us on Saturday, September 17, 8 PM at Torn Space Theater to witness her extraordinary cast in process and engage in a post-showing conversation. The showing is free and no RSVP is necessary.  

Initiated with a mix of teens from The Ailey School and professional dancers, The Encounter blossomed from the celebratory energy and gratitude of choreographer and former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Kimberly Bartosik and her return to the studio post-quarantine.

The work is an encounter with oneself, pulling from what we are currently carrying in our bodies–grief, hope, fear, desire, newfound power– and pairs it with our dreams in this moment of reconciliation with time. Working with communities around the world merging professional, pre-professional, and non-professional performers, The Encounter is an intergenerational cross-geographic, global conversation about the ferocious power of the body as a form of communication and the potency of movement as a connective language.

Following the Buffalo residency, The Encounter will premiere at the FIAF Le Skyroom in NYC Thursday October 6 – Saturday Oct 8, 7:30pm. Tickets for these performances are available at the FIAF link:  https://fiaf.org/event/2022-ctl-the-encounter/ For more information about The Encounter, visit the website: https://www.daela.org/the-encounter

Photo Credit: Maria Baranova