World Premiere

Choreographed by New York artist and producer Legacy Russell, Initiation enacts three moments of initiation within contemporary Western culture. Fostering experimentation between private and public social gatherings, Initiation will reconstruct the actions of preparing for shared social rituals: whether dressing for a birthday party, graduation, funeral, or evening on the town. Placed in close proximity, these milestones simultaneously reflect and deflect one another, calling into question the cultural value of each. In this way, Russell examines how social rituals come to define our sense of appropriateness in public and private gatherings.

featuring Maria Dizzia, Elizabeth Koke, Rance Palmer, and Adrea Teasdale.