By Elizabeth Howard

Facebook

Patreon

Episode Summary

Stephen Petronio, choreographer, dancer, and the artistic director of the Stephen Petronio Company, has honed a unique language of movement that speaks to the intuitive and complex possibilities of the body, informed by its shifting cultural context. As an innovator in the dance community, he has created Crows Nest, a residency for dancers, and BLOODLINES, an initiative to honor an incomparable lineage of American postmodern dance masters.

Episode Notes

Stephen Petronio is a choreographer, dancer, and the artistic director of the Stephen Petronio Company.

Stephen Petronio

Petronio has created over 35 works for his company and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies, including William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt (1987), Deutsche Opera Berlin (1992), Lyon Opera Ballet (1994), Maggio Danza Florence (1996), Sydney Dance Company (2003, full evening), Norrdans (2006), the Washington Ballet (2007), The Scottish Ballet (2007), and two works for National Dance Company Wales (2010 and 2013). Over his career, Petronio has collaborated with a wide range of artists in many disciplines. Collaborators include some of the most talented and provocative artists in the world: composers Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and Peter Gordon; visual artists Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Donald Baechler, and Janine Antoni; fashion designers Narciso Rodriguez, John Bartlett, Benjamin Cho, and Leigh Bowery.

Stephen Petronio’s training originated with leading figures of the Judson era, performed Man Walking Down the Side of a Building in 2010 for Trisha Brown Company at the Whitney Museum, and performed his 2012 rendition of Steve Paxton’s Intravenous Lecture (1970) in New York, Portland, and at the TEDMED-2012 conference at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC. Petronio received the distinction of being named the first artist-in-residence at the Joyce Theater from 2012 to 2014. He has been entangled with visual artist Janine Antoni in a number of discipline-blurring projects, including the video installation Honey Baby (2013), created in collaboration with composer Tom Laurie and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, and most recently Ally, in collaboration with Anna Halprin and Adrian Heathfield, which premiered at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in the summer of 2016. Petronio and Antoni were the 2017 McCormack artists-in-residence at Skidmore college, where they showed their series of installations, Entangle. Most recently, he was commissioned by the Juilliard School to set a work, #PrayerForNow, on their fourth-year students for the New Dances Edition 2019. Petronio’s memoir, Confessions of a Motion Addict, is available at Amazon.com.

Movement without Borders Festival – October 2, 2021 – Ernesto Breton performing Rudy Perez’s Coverage Revisited. 

Fall for Dance – October 15 & 16, 2021 – New York City Center – SPC performing American Landscapes (2019).

Petronio Punk Picks and Other Delights – November 18-21 – La MaMa – SPC revives a series of solos and duets from Petronio’s formative days coming up in the East Village and invites Bloodlines (future) artist Johnnie Cruise Mercer to the stage.

Show Contributors

Elizabeth Howard has never had boundaries between her life, work, art, and writing. Experience, sense of place, and exploration define the choices she makes, seeking collaboration, flexibility, and spontaneity. She is an author, journalist, and creative director. Elizabeth has organized programming around the arts and social issues for organizations in the United States and internationally.

Alex Waters is a media producer and editor for the Short Fuse Podcast, a music producer, and a Berklee College of Music student. He has written and produced music for podcasts such as The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He produces his own music, as well as writing and recording for independent artists such as The Living. Alex lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats and enjoys creating and writing music. You can reach him with inquiries by emailing alexwatersmusic12@gmail.com.

The Short Fuse Podcast is produced by the Arts Fuse.

Email: theshortfusepodcast@gmail.com