What Wendy's Watching: Petronio Straddles Past and Present

Stephen Petronio brings a bracing season to New York City’s Joyce Theater, where he has performed almost every year for 24 years. His work is exciting to the subscription audience as well as to many dance artists. He delves into movement invention at the same time as creating complex postmodern forms. The new work, Hardness 10, is his third collaboration with composer Nico Muhly. The costumes are by Patricia Field ARTFASHION, hand-painted by Iris Bonner/These Pink Lips. Petronio’s work still practically defines the word contemporary.

Stephen Petronio Company also continues with its Bloodlines series. That’s where he pays homage to landmark works of the past that have influenced his own edgy aesthetics. This season he’s chosen Merce Cunningham’s playful trio Signals (1970), which will be performed with live music from Composers Inside Electronics.

Completing the program is an excerpt from Petronio’s Underland (2003), with music by Nick Cave. Video footage courtesy of Stephen Petronio Company, filmed by Blake Martin.