
“...capturing the mood of Hopper’s paintings, often a kind of melancholy loneliness that I think resonates with our current moment. ”
Tales of Hopper is the fruit of a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick inspired by the work of American painter Edward Hopper.
This theater-dance work casts the dancers as figures plucked from selected Hopper paintings, illuminating human connections through gestural movement steeped in subtext, as Bresnick’s original composition for piano, violin, and cello brings emotional undercurrents to the surface.
“Hopper unknowingly painted for the novel coronavirus era. Thus, a new dance adaptation, luckily coming weeks before bans on in-person performances, has significant resonance.”
February 2020 Premiere at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Mary Flagler Carey Hall
Choreographer: Cherylyn Lavagnino in collaboration with the dancers
Composer: Martin Bresnick
Set Design: Jesse Seegers
Lighting Design: Frank DenDanto III
Costume Design: Christopher Metzger
Dramaturge: Scott Killian
Musicians: Lisa Moore, Elly Toyoda, and Ashley Bathgate
Dancers: Sharon Milanese, Dervla Carey-Jones, Gwendolyn Gussman, Malcolm Miles Young, Emma Pajewski, Philip Strom, Justin Faircloth, Lila Simmons, Oscar Rodriguez, Kristen Foote, Corinne Hart, Claire Westby