Robin Becker Dance (RBD) has celebrated its 23rd anniversary with the creation and production of our largest project to date, Into Sunlight. This work furthers the company’s vision to develop work that expresses the universality and power of the body's primordial voice. Into Sunlight, an evening-length work, premiered in the spring of 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and at Hofstra University, where the dance was the centerpiece for interdisciplinary conferences: “Into Sunlight: The Impact of War on the Social Body from Vietnam to the Present.” The concept for the dance derived from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss’ remarkable book, They Marched Into Sunlight, a cultural history of war and protest set in 1967. The book chronicles the month of October 1967, and interweaves battle stories from the Vietnam War alongside student protests at the UW-Madison and officials’ actions in Washington, DC. Subsequent performances were hosted by the 92nd Street Y and Georgetown University. This spring, members of the Company offered an extensive residency at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville, NY, engaging every department in the school, and presenting two public performances. And Stony Brook University included Into Sunlight in its Festival of the Moving Body.
The Company has an extensive repertory of previous work inspired by Artistic Director Robin Becker’s love of world traditions, Native American culture, poetry, visual art and music. The repertory also includes ritualistic pieces that explore the realm of myth as well as piercingly insightful character studies. The choreography of Robin Becker Dance combines lyric elegance and potent imagery to create richly textured dance that communicates with power and immediacy.
The Company of seven dancers is distinguished in New York City by sold-out performances at the Joyce Theater's Altogether Different Series, the inaugural season of the 92nd St. Y Harkness Playhouse 91 Series, St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery, the Fiorello Festival, the Merce Cunningham Studio Theater, and the opening performance series of The Joyce SoHo. Other highlights include a collaborative work with Roberta Flack for Breast Cancer Research with costumes created by Nicole Miller. The Company presented a concert series at The Joyce SoHo entitled The Subject Tonight is Love, an evening of choreography inspired by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. In The New York Times, Jack Anderson wrote, “One dancer not afraid of eloquent simplicity was Ms. Becker… This was this evening’s loveliest performance.”
In fulfilling its mission to bring dance to a larger audience, the Company has been in residence at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, The Abode, a retreat center in upstate New York, and the Zenith Institute in Olivone, Switzerland. Robin Becker Dance has been the dance company in residence for an entire year in the public school system of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The Company has also participated in numerous educational and performance workshops in public schools throughout New England, as well as residencies in congregations, and community centers including a workshop for women and girls at risk at the Westchester County Department of Corrections.