*"[T]he most authoritative work in Philadelphia this year." (The Philadelphia Inquirer) (Click on quote for full review.)
*"The precision and control in this piece is fascinating, disturbing and finally spellbinding." (The Dance Journal)
*"devotion to technique, razor-sharp dancing, and a laserlike vision of each work's arc." (Philly.com)
*"Gibson . . . is a serious choreographer who braces her works with the formalism of her ballet training, then isolates those movement phrases into still frames." (Philly.com)
*"severely focused intellectual beauty" (Philly.com)
*"[U]nrelentingly dynamic movement." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Requirements:
Please contact for a full list of technical requirements.
Booking Contact:
Nora Gibson
267.847.5459
Email:
[email protected]
Web: http://noragibsoncontemporaryballet.com
Please contact for a full list of technical requirements.
Booking Contact:
Nora Gibson
267.847.5459
Email:
[email protected]
Web: http://noragibsoncontemporaryballet.com
Synopsis of the Ballets
Choreographer Nora Gibson presents contemporary concepts through a classical and architectural language. Preserving the balletic idiom while re-contextualizing through radical forms,
Choreographer Nora Gibson presents contemporary concepts through a classical and architectural language. Preserving the balletic idiom while re-contextualizing through radical forms,
Ephemeral (Running time: 70 minutes)
"...Ephemeral, her smartest, most accomplished work to date. She is truly someone to watch, a choreographer who shows a new and strangely poetic direction, a dreamer, a philosopher, a seer." (Merilyn Jackson, critic for Philadelphia Inquirer, on FB)
"poetically charged atmosphere " (Philly.com)
Ephemeral is a full-evening ballet that is inspired by life cycles, seasons, and our relationship to Time. Incorporated into this work is a lighting score of cyclical and temporal states, a sound score encompassing both the earthly and planetary, and a choreographic score reflecting the rhythmic identity of the seasons, while acknowledging Time as a limited commodity. The ballet is constructed in 11 parts, with Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" as a deeply embedded subtext - a work that is able to describe with such particularity, though abstractly, both the details and essence of each season, all the while with such creativity in the compositional structure. The resultant work, Ephemeral, is my own attempt to find my Four Seasons in the choreography/structure: to find a rhythmic identity and mode to each section, to think imagistically, and to incorporate the life cycles or patterns within nature.
"...Ephemeral, her smartest, most accomplished work to date. She is truly someone to watch, a choreographer who shows a new and strangely poetic direction, a dreamer, a philosopher, a seer." (Merilyn Jackson, critic for Philadelphia Inquirer, on FB)
"poetically charged atmosphere " (Philly.com)
Ephemeral is a full-evening ballet that is inspired by life cycles, seasons, and our relationship to Time. Incorporated into this work is a lighting score of cyclical and temporal states, a sound score encompassing both the earthly and planetary, and a choreographic score reflecting the rhythmic identity of the seasons, while acknowledging Time as a limited commodity. The ballet is constructed in 11 parts, with Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" as a deeply embedded subtext - a work that is able to describe with such particularity, though abstractly, both the details and essence of each season, all the while with such creativity in the compositional structure. The resultant work, Ephemeral, is my own attempt to find my Four Seasons in the choreography/structure: to find a rhythmic identity and mode to each section, to think imagistically, and to incorporate the life cycles or patterns within nature.
2^57,885,161 - 1(Running time: 35 minutes)
An interview about this work here:
http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2015/02/23/nora-gibsons-dance-by-the-prime-numbers/
By Merilyn Jackson, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Facebook:
"Gibson is brilliant, though IMHO, one of the least appreciated, underfunded artists in Philly. You may think the cerebral nature of her work is too abstract and has no emotion. But think of how happy you are when you have a wonderful, creative idea. Its the kind of emotion found in Merce Cunningham's or Lucinda Child's work -- the joy of doing something well pulls you right in."
An interview about this work here:
http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2015/02/23/nora-gibsons-dance-by-the-prime-numbers/
By Merilyn Jackson, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Facebook:
"Gibson is brilliant, though IMHO, one of the least appreciated, underfunded artists in Philly. You may think the cerebral nature of her work is too abstract and has no emotion. But think of how happy you are when you have a wonderful, creative idea. Its the kind of emotion found in Merce Cunningham's or Lucinda Child's work -- the joy of doing something well pulls you right in."
TEMPORAL OBJECTS (Running time: 32 minutes) This half-evening length piece for five dancers has grew out of my interest in fugue analysis, and my work with lighting designer, Clifford Greer, to integrate lighting and choreography as equal voices in the work. As this piece developed, those foundational elements led to further questions about how time and memory are perceived, as the manipulation of light and movement patterns began to resemble
instances of recollection in the mind, and how memories, themselves are replayed and re-patterned. Elements from distant points in time: the baroque, romantic era, and the present were invited into the same moment as objects co-existing in the conscious mind.
"devotion to technique, razor-sharp dancing, and a laserlike vision of each
work's arc." (Philly.com)
"Gibson is a serious choreographer who braces her works with the formalism of her ballet
training, then isolates those movement phrases into still frames." (Philly.com)
instances of recollection in the mind, and how memories, themselves are replayed and re-patterned. Elements from distant points in time: the baroque, romantic era, and the present were invited into the same moment as objects co-existing in the conscious mind.
"devotion to technique, razor-sharp dancing, and a laserlike vision of each
work's arc." (Philly.com)
"Gibson is a serious choreographer who braces her works with the formalism of her ballet
training, then isolates those movement phrases into still frames." (Philly.com)
SIMPLE RESTRICTIONS (Running time: 11 minutes) This quartet employs the hauntingly spare construction of Ligeti's Musica Ricercata. Four sections of this radical composition are featured in this quartet for four women en pointe.
"The precision and control in this piece is fascinating, disturbing and finally
spellbinding." (The Dance Journal)
"The precision and control in this piece is fascinating, disturbing and finally
spellbinding." (The Dance Journal)
DIVERGENT ITERATION (Running time: 10 minutes) This piece is a stylish interpretation of a concept used largely in the field of computer science. In this fundamental principle, a process is repeated until an answer is achieved. In this duet, the dancers' re-iterative compositional formula charts their eventual divergence.
COROLLARY TO FUGUE IN G MINOR (Running time: 10 minutes)
"softly sustained" Lisa Bardarson, thINKing Dance
"softly sustained" Lisa Bardarson, thINKing Dance
VESTED SOULS
"...the crisp mathematically diagrammed concepts of Lucinda Childs. . . but unmistakeably the product of the smart dynamo that is Gibson." Philadelphia Inquirer (click on quote for full review)
VESTED SOULS (50 minutes)
prologue - 2 min
trio - 21 min
solo - 6 min
duet i - 10 min
duet ii - 11 min
VESTED SOULS is an evening length piece for two male and two female dancers. This work consists of five vignettes, and is accompanied by an original electronic music score that can be performed live or pre-recorded. The sections may be performed separately, but as an evening work are presented without breaks.
Descriptive Synopsis: VESTED SOULS is the elegant struggle of the Everyman in five vignettes. The complexities of "successful" life are depicted through rigorously technical and minimalist movement. VESTED SOULS is both a study in compositional austerity and a poetic comment on our passions and ambivalence.
Technical docs here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5LZl00mzhBoM1lNVlhuanBFWnM&authuser=0
Other technical needs:
White marley floor, white cyc, strip lighting
Watch duet i from VESTED here:
http://vimeo.com/13017326
prologue - 2 min
trio - 21 min
solo - 6 min
duet i - 10 min
duet ii - 11 min
VESTED SOULS is an evening length piece for two male and two female dancers. This work consists of five vignettes, and is accompanied by an original electronic music score that can be performed live or pre-recorded. The sections may be performed separately, but as an evening work are presented without breaks.
Descriptive Synopsis: VESTED SOULS is the elegant struggle of the Everyman in five vignettes. The complexities of "successful" life are depicted through rigorously technical and minimalist movement. VESTED SOULS is both a study in compositional austerity and a poetic comment on our passions and ambivalence.
Technical docs here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5LZl00mzhBoM1lNVlhuanBFWnM&authuser=0
Other technical needs:
White marley floor, white cyc, strip lighting
Watch duet i from VESTED here:
http://vimeo.com/13017326
TRINITY PROJECT (Running time: 45 minutes)
TRINITY PROJECT is an evening length piece for three dancers, set to live or pre-recorded original music. This work is a study in the profundity, beauty, and mystical qualities of the number three. Discrete sections are woven together through a mesmerizing minimal movement vocabulary and thematic lighting design.
"severely focused intellectual beauty" (Philly.com)
TRINITY PROJECT is an evening length piece for three dancers, set to live or pre-recorded original music. This work is a study in the profundity, beauty, and mystical qualities of the number three. Discrete sections are woven together through a mesmerizing minimal movement vocabulary and thematic lighting design.
"severely focused intellectual beauty" (Philly.com)
ETUDE #1 (Running time: 10 minutes)
ETUDE #1 is a duet accompanied by pre-recorded ambient music.
Descriptive Synopsis: ETUDE #1 is an intricately patterned duet, reminiscent of filigree. Abstract and meditative, the dancers phase in and out of phrase-work together, communicating a feeling of calm and bliss.
For an informal showing of this work, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqmAfSVqdJc