Gibney Company. Photo: Whitney Browne
Join us for a transformative evening as Gibney Company, one of New York’s leading contemporary dance ensembles, makes its debut at Guild Hall. With a powerful mix of athleticism, artistry, and thought-provoking storytelling, this debut performance showcases a carefully curated program of new and reimagined works by three visionary choreographers: Roy Assaf, Lucinda Childs and William Forsythe.
PROGRAM
Roy Assaf – A Couple
Perhaps you are a couple. Perhaps you are lifelong friends, perhaps soulmates, perhaps you have history, perhaps you had an affair, perhaps you once fought together for a greater purpose, perhaps you fight every day over little things but share a love that survives them all.
William Forsythe – Trio (of six) (1996, reconfigured for Gibney Company)
Trio (of six) is a reconfiguration of William Forsythe’s celebrated 1996 work, which had been a staple of his repertoire in Frankfurt, Germany. Restaged several times in its original trio form, including at the Paris Opera Ballet, Forsythe requested the opportunity to adapt the work for Gibney Company, whose small ensemble offered a unique level of organizational flexibility. This six-person staging reflects Forsythe’s practice of evolving works over time, adapting them to different environments and creative contexts.
INTERMISSION
Lucinda Childs – Three Dances (for prepared piano) John Cage
Lucinda Childs’ Three Dances (for prepared piano) John Cage explores the rhythmic intensity of John Cage’s 1944-45 composition Three Dances through a lens of movement. Childs’ signature postmodern minimalist precision and deep reverence for structured repetition shine in this world premiere for eight dancers. The work exemplifies Childs’ lifelong engagement with transdisciplinarity and formalism, while also nodding to her roots in the Judson Dance Theater. It is a stunning exploration of how sound and movement can intimately coexist.
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GIBNEY COMPANY
Guild Hall is pleased to welcome GIBNEY Company as 2026 Artists-in-Residence, alongside the Company’s newly announced Resident Choreographer, Lucinda Childs.
Childs and the Company will be in residence intermittently throughout Guild Hall’s 2026 Season, with time dedicated to both preparing Childs’ work, Canto Ostinato ahead of the company’s 2026 Joyce Season, and developing a new full-length work for future seasons. Throughout their time in-residence, the Company will engage audiences through open rehearsals, conversations, and led classes.
Guild Hall is proud to support GIBNEY Company and Lucinda Childs as they begin this new partnership together.
GIBNEY Company is a world-class contemporary dance company that commissions and performs works by renowned and rising international choreographers exploring the intersection of rigorous physicality and responsive, humanistic storytelling.
Led by Artistic Director Gina Gibney and Company Director Gilbert T Small II, the Company is committed to reimagining the possibilities of dance—both on stage and in the community. Based in New York City at Gibney, a dance and social justice organization founded in 1991, the Company has expanded significantly since a transformative gift in 2020, commissioning and premiering new works while building a repertory for performances in New York and internationally. Recent choreographic collaborations include works by Lucinda Childs, Peter Chu, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Emilie Leriche, Ohad Naharin, Mthuthuzeli November, Sonya Tayeh, and Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, with performances at The Joyce Theater, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, and international festivals across Europe and North America.
At the heart of Gibney Company’s mission are its Artistic Associates—full time dancers who are also cultural entrepreneurs and advocates, engaging in Moving Toward Justice Fellowships that address social issues in the dance field. Through its unique model that supports sustainable careers, fosters collaboration, and champions artistic excellence, Gibney Company is shaping the future of contemporary dance—pushing boundaries, amplifying voices, and making an impact beyond the stage.
Lucinda Childs, born in 1940, began her career at the Judson Dance Theater In New York in 1963. Since forming her dance company ten years later, she has created over fifty works, both solo and ensemble and received numerous awards including the Dance Magazine Award, The Golden Lion award from the Venice Biennale and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival award for lifetime achievement. In 1976 she was featured in the landmark avant-garde opera EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, for which she won an Obie Award. In 1979 Childs choreographed one of her most enduring works, DANCE, with music by Philip Glass and film décor by Sol LeWitt, which toured internationally and has been added to the repertory of the Lyon Opera Ballet. Since 1981 Childs has choreographed over thirty works for major ballet companies and directed and choreographed a number of contemporary and eighteenth-century operas for the Los Angeles Opera, for La Monnaie in Brussels and for the Opera du Rhin, among others. Most recently, Childs directed and choreographed Philip Glass’s SATYGRAHA for Nice Opera Cote D’Azur which premiered in November 2025.
Sponsors
Performing Arts programming is supported in part by funding from Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and Monica and Peter Tessler. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: John and Joan D’Addario, Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Christine and Bill Campbell, Gabrielle and Gianpaolo de Felice, Lena Kaplan, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Michèle and Steve Pesner, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Jayne Baron Sherman and Deborah Zum, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, Leila Straus, Susi and Peter Wunsch, and Andrew Yuder and Kyle Glaeser.