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Two female dancers in dresses. One leaning forward and the other backwards with their leg in the air

Repertory

Gamelan Gardens

COMPANIES

  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

CHOREOGRAPHER

  • Karole Armitage

WORLD PREMIERE

New York City Center, 2006

MUSIC

Lou Harrison (“Double Concerto for Violin, Cello with Javanese Gamelan”)

COSTUMES

Peter Speliopoulos

LIGHTING

Clifton Taylor

RUN TIME

24 Minutes

Juxtaposing elegance and rawness, lyricism and geometry, Karole Armitage crafts dances that move like a blaze of consciousness, encouraging viewers to contemplate the mystery of their own lives. Gamelan Gardens plays with notions of time and place, setting the dancers in an ephemeral realm where dreams and memories bloom and the private and social interact. Armitage seamlessly weaves her distinctive movement with music by Lou Harrison. 

Three dancers on stage with one kicking their leg behind themselves

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Matthew Rushing, Clifton Brown, and Dwana Adiaha Smallwood in Karole Armitage’s Gamelan Gardens Photo by Paul Kolnik

Dancer leaping in the air

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Clifton Brown in Karole Armitage’s Gamelan Gardens Photo by Paul Kolnik

Two female dancers in dresses. One leaning forward and the other backwards with their leg in the air

Asha Payne and Linda Celeste Sims in Karole Armitage’s Gamelan Photo by Paul Kolnik

A group of dancers in flesh tone dresses look up and reach their hands to the sky

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