August 18, 7-8:30pm LIVE PERFORMANCE

This LIVE performance will be held in the Garden at Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, 82 North Broadway, Nyack, NY, on August 18. A wine reception will begin at 7pm, followed by the dance performance at 7:30 with a Q&A/interview after that. 


​Automat: An Excerpt from Tales of Hopper by Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance in collaboration with composer Martin Bresnick and performer Claire Westby, sponsored by Ken & Virginia Morris
Tales of Hopper is the fruit of a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick inspired by the work of American painter Edward Hopper. This theater-dance work casts the dancers as figures plucked from selected Hopper paintings, illuminating human connections through gestural movement steeped in subtext, as Bresnick’s original composition for piano, violin, and cello brings emotional undercurrents to the surface. Transparent set pieces reference Hopper’s environments, contextualizing each of the eight vignettes as they unfold. Tales of Hopper marks a departure for Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, asking each of the dancers to step into the new roles of actor and collaborator in the company’s most character-driven work to date. 
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Automat is the final vignette of Tales of Hopper. In connection with the preceding vignettes Sunlight in a Cafeteria and Nighthawks, Lavagnino used creative license to craft a narrative of an entangled love triangle between the male and two female characters. The man faces a dichotomy of emotional repression and sexual yearning; he is searching for an exciting intimacy while realizing the need for stability that only his current relationship can provide him. It is clear he is unable to fulfil the emotional needs of either woman as we find Westby’s figure despairingly lonely in Automat. Lavagnino’s interpretation of Hopper’s painting finds the woman in emotional distress after a failed affair. 

“Edward Hopper’s paintings portray a sense of despair and emptiness—a crisis of an alienated world reflecting the loneliness of the human situation in a new, modern age. As artists, we have the only real job security: the expression of the human experience cannot be replaced by computers or machines. CLD has a responsibility to provide insight into and reflection on these disturbing concepts through collaborative, connected performance.” - Cherylyn Lavagnino, Artistic Director

C Lavagnino Headshot by Travis Magee

Cherylyn Lavagnino has created over forty works in the past fifteen years, and since 2000 the platform for her choreography has been Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance (CLD). Twelve exceptional artists make up CLD stemming from distinguished backgrounds and professional work experiences such as Twyla Tharp, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Jose Limon Dance Foundation, Lucinda Childs, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and John Jaspers. The company supports a Live Music and Dance incentive by collaborating with composers Scott Killian and Martin Bresnick on new works, as well as performing alongside world-renowned musical artists such as Lisa Moore, Elly Toyoda, Ashley Bathgate, and New York City Ballet Orchestra members Derek Ratzenboeck and Cameron Grant. CLD has been presented in New York City and abroad: The New Festival in Beijing, Bryant Park, Danspace Project, The 92nd Street Y, Dance Theater Workshop, Symphony Space, DanceNow/NYC, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, Kaatsban International Dance Center, Indianapolis City Ballet, Intermezzo Dance, The Joyce Theatre’s “Evening Stars'' series, and the Off the Grid Festival. The company also has a long history of performing in museum and gallery spaces such as Chelsea Art Museum, OK Harris Works of Art, and the James Cohan Gallery. CLD serves annual residencies in Vermont and upstate New York which offer the communities educational outreach enrichment and live performances. The company has been supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance grant, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Fund, the NYU Global Research Institute grant, and receives matching corporate funding.

Nighthawks:
​A Socially Distant Reimagination

Tales of Hopper is a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick inspired by the work of American painter Edward Hopper. This theater-dance work cast the dancers as figures plucked from selected Hopper paintings, illuminating human connections through gestural movement steeped in the subtext of Bresnick’s score. 

Nighthawks: A Socially Distant Reimagination is a Zoom creation based on the original choreographic intention of Tales of Hopper. This process framed by COVID restrictions and isolation dictated that the work be driven by imagery as much as movement. Gesture and deeply considered human moments are juxtaposed with shorter movement sequences as space is limited in our personal environments. Multiple camera angles of the same sequence create a complex visual and emotional experience for viewers.

​The work takes on a very private exploration that the stage cannot achieve due to spectators' distance from the performer. In this case, the Zoom experience is more personal and intimate.