Kyle Marshall Choreography brings Bound, a new dance for five performers, to Danspace Project in the East Village from Thursday, November 5, through Saturday, November 7, with a free open dress rehearsal on Tuesday, November 3. All four evenings begin at 7:30 p.m. in Danspace's space at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street.

What Bound is about

Danspace frames the piece as looking past the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Marshall's choreography draws on the history of covert strategies Black Americans used in the pursuit of liberation, and the work uses text by Frederick Douglass. The five performers, Justin Daniels, Khalid Dunton, Kyle Marshall, Kellye Smith and Syd Worthy, work with spoken words, gestures and rhythms to examine the distance between American ideals and American realities, moving through both the text and what sits underneath it.

The production's visual design, covering set, costumes and projections, is by Edo Tastic, the company's creative director. Sound is performed live by Cal Fish and Kwami Winfield, who combine traditional Western instruments with electronics.

About the choreographer

Kyle Marshall is a choreographer, performer and the artistic director of Kyle Marshall Choreography, which he founded in 2014. Since then the company has performed at The Joyce Theater, BAM, The Shed, PS21, FringeArts in Philadelphia and the Barbican Centre in London. His choreographic and film commissions include work for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Montclair's Dance on the Lawn festival and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Marshall has received two New York Dance and Performance Awards, known as the Bessies, and a 2020 Harkness Promise Award from Dance Magazine. He has also held fellowships at Princeton University, the University of Iowa and NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts.

The free open dress rehearsal on November 3

Danspace opens the Tuesday, November 3, dress rehearsal to the public at no charge, with an RSVP through the Danspace website. Seating is limited and first come, first served, and there is no late seating or waitlist for the rehearsal. The organization runs its open dress rehearsals as a community program aimed at audiences who are immunocompromised or have low incomes, and masks (N95 or KN95) are required for staff and audience members at that performance.

Tickets for November 5 to 7

Tickets for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances start at $20, or $10 for Danspace members, and are sold through the Danspace Project website.

Bound is part of a fall season at Danspace that also includes DraftWork, a free series of work-in-development showings followed by conversation between the artists, the curator and the audience. DraftWork has been facilitated by choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones since the 1990s and is now co-curated by Houston-Jones with the Danspace curators.

About Danspace Project

Danspace Project is based at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, at the corner of Second Avenue and East 10th Street, where it presents its season of dance performances alongside free programs such as DraftWork. Visitor details for each program, including accessibility information, are posted on the Danspace website, and the organization offers memberships that lower the price of tickets across its season.

How to go

  • Open dress rehearsal: Tuesday, November 3, 7:30 p.m. Free with RSVP, limited seating, masks required.
  • Performances: Thursday, November 5; Friday, November 6; Saturday, November 7; all at 7:30 p.m. Tickets from $20, or $10 for members.
  • Where: Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street, at Second Avenue.

The closest trains are the 6 to Astor Place, the L to Third Avenue and the F to Second Avenue, each a short walk to East 10th Street and Second Avenue.

Sources