SARA is like a pearl in a treasure, a box of jewels that smells ancient with the feeling of a new. The box cannot be opened all the way,  its charm will fade. White pearl, transparent, leaking colors but always remains a pearl. SARA is minimalist, gentle, emotional and sensitive, hardcore, and old fashioned at the same time. There’s a sense of restraint and taking advantage of the minimum and the maximum. She is not allowing distance and is getting closer to the heart. She comes from there and leaves into the world as a cloud crumbles into the dust of love.

SARA was restaged for Gibney Company in 2022 with the support of MART.

For this large-scale ensemble piece, Swedish choreographer Johan Inger uses the legendary Köln Concert by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett; music that many consider to be the epitome of virtuoso improvisation. Rather than translating the music one-to-one into movement, it is more the feeling of Jarrett’s iconic music — free, soaring and ecstatic — that Inger translates into beautifully crafted dance, sending not only listeners, but audience members into a state of bliss.

OH COURAGE! is a piece about self-reflection, truth and resilience. It is a soul march that navigates what occurs when there is a guttural need for change. In that need, there is a sense of euphoria in possibility, and a vivid mourning for what is being lost along the way. How do we create a sanctuary for both?

This work was made possible by the generous support of Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and the Omomuki Foundation.