Bringing light to the dark of midwinter, the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble presents a program of soaring dances to glorious music, manifesting joy in deep and nuanced ways. In this program for all ages, the company draws from three traditions of modern dance to express wonder, community, and hope.
Program
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, by Charles Weidman, the centerpiece of the program, features the full company at it most expressive, in choreography whose architecture and scale rise to match the grandeur of J. S. Bach’s music.
Anna Sokolow’s Ballade, perhaps her most lyrical dance, explores the restlessness and thrill of young love, performed to music by Scriabin.
Sokolow’s Preludes, is a rich and expressive homage to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Schubert Impromptu, choreographed by Claudia Gitelman, is a tender and dynamic work filled with lifts, leaps, and, ultimately, hope.
Created by ST/DE company members Margaret Mighty Oak Brackey and Krista Jansen, Forecast is a poignant duet inspired by memories of snow and the loss of its magic in a changing climate.
Watch excerpts from JOY
Bring JOY to your space
“JOY” can be produced in a variety of spaces.
Length of program: one hour plus intermission
Minimum floor/stage: 30′ wide by 20′ deep
Contact us
To have someone get in touch with you to discuss bringing “JOY” to your venue, please fill out the form below.
Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
The Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble is the living legacy company dedicated to presenting Anna Sokolow’s vast body of emotionally riveting work. Over a 70 year career, Ms. Sokolow continuously defied the conventions of modern dance, focusing on the human experience and drawing upon whatever genre best served her artistic purpose. Her masterpieces remain relevant to our times and touch the hearts of all people as we struggle with the universal issues of living, regardless of differences in place and culture. The company’s projects include reconstruction, reimagination, deconstruction, historical performance, teaching, lectures, archiving, and partnering with contemporary choreographers—all modes through which we step inside Sokolow’s masterworks and draw from this perspective to better frame our future. ST/DE was founded by Sokolow protégé Jim May and is currently under the artistic direction of Samantha Géracht.
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is staged and directed by Doris Humphrey/Charles Weidman specialist Gail Corbin. Schubert Impromptu was reconstructed and directed by Pamela Levy. Preludes was reconstructed and directed by Tonia Shimin. Read more in Meet Our Guest Directors.
The Choreographers
ANNA SOKOLOW (1910-2000) Known as one of the most dynamic and uncompromising of choreographers, Ms. Sokolow began her career as a dancer with Martha Graham. In the early thirties, she studied choreography with Louis Horst at the Neighborhood Playhouse and quickly became his assistant and most outstanding composition student. The work of Ms. Sokolow has had and continues to have a profound effect on the course of contemporary dance throughout the world. She founded the first modern dance companies in Israel and Mexico and influenced such artists as Alvin Ailey, Pina Bausch, and Martha Clark. Ms. Sokolow also made important contributions to the theater. Her choreography for the Broadway stage included Street Scene (1947), Regina (1949), and Candide (with Leonard Bernstein, 1956); in 1967 she created the original dances for the off-Broadway production of Hair. She was a founding member of The Actors Studio, where she taught movement for actors. As a teacher of dance, Ms. Sokolow covered much ground, from the Juilliard School (prominently featured in a 2002 documentary) and the 92nd Street Y in New York City to the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. Anna Sokolow created a body of work that combines dance and music with theater, poetry and prose. Called the “Solzenitsyn of twentieth-century dance,” she consistently and uncompromisingly reflected the realities of society through her work.
CHARLES WEIDMAN (1901–1975) was one of the pioneers of American modern dance. In 1928, after leaving the Denishawn Company, he and Doris Humphrey formed the now legendary Humphrey-Weidman Group. Until the dissolution of the company in the mid-1940’s, Humphrey and Weidman created some of the greatest works of the classic modern dance repertory. Weidman also choreographed for Broadway before deciding to devote his time to working in concert modern dance. When Humphrey left to become Artistic Director of the José Limón Company, Weidman, the best-known male dancer of his generation, formed his own group. He is credited as a leader in the development of the male dancer in America. Some of
his students included such respected artists as Alvin Ailey, Jack Cole, Bob Fosse, José Limón, and Gene Kelly. Although Weidman is often remembered for his great comedic talents, he was one of the most versatile choreographers of his time. He ventured into the area of social comment with his suite Atavisms—the third section, Lynchtown, being a searing indictment of mob violence. Examples of his lyrical pieces include Brahms Waltzes and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Flickers and Fables for Our Time were two of the best-known works from his comic repertory. Charles remained a creative force in the dance world throughout his career. He died in New York City in 1975.
CLAUDIA GITELMAN (1936–2012), dancer, choreographer, teacher, and writer, was part of an early generation of dancers who worked with pioneering choreographer Alwin Nikolais at the Henry Street Playhouse in the early 1950s. She danced in the Murray Louis Company and taught at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab. She also appeared in the original production of Camelot on Broadway, performed internationally on the concert stage, and choreographed for her own group from 1973 to 1990. A graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1958, Gitelman first attended Hanya Holm’s summer intensive in Colorado Springs 1959. She later performed as a soloist in Holm’s work and continued to be associated with her until Holm’s death in 1992. Gitelman taught modern dance and dance history at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts from 1985 to 1997, continuing to serve as Professor Emerita thereafter. She also taught at Adelphi, Sarah Lawrence College, and Columbia University Teachers’ College, where she got her MA.
MARGARET MIGHTY OAK BRACKEY is a NYC-based dancer/chore- ographer/artist. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, she grew up studying Graham technique, ballet, and dance composition at Kanopy Dance Company. In 2022, Margaret graduated with a BFA in Dance from Adelphi University. Margaret joined the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble in 2022. She also performs with The Equus Projects, where her training in natural horsemanship and passion for improvisation come together. A collaborative choreographer, Margaret has shown works around NYC and Wisconsin, and holds open monthly Playdays to generate new ideas.
KRISTA JANSEN is a dancer and choreographer born, raised and based in New York City. She is one half of the duet company Jansen & Holm, where she performs and choreographs alongside CJ Holm. Her own choreography has been performed at Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, the Flea, STUFFED! at Movement Research, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the 92nd street Y, and for award-winning film with director Bat-Sheva Guez. She was an original cast member and Assistant Rehearsal director for the critically acclaimed “Doug Elkins & Friends’ Fraulein Maria”, and for seven years performed and toured with that production around the United States and Canada. Krista is also a teaching assistant with Ellen Robbins, and choreographs for the Theater program at Beacon High School. Krista joined Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble in 2022.