CATHERINE GALASSO
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    • notes on de groat
    • Fall of the Rebel Angels
    • the floatones
    • bring on the lumiere
    • show me the money
    • memorandum of understanding
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notes on de groat

"notes on de groat was done with such clarity, love, and sly wit that it won me over. You felt a tug from the past, but more than that, an exchange with the past."

Wendy Perron, A Fresh Breeze: Galassos and de Groat
In December 2015, Catherine collaborated with choreographer Andy de Groat to present an evening of his early works at Danspace Project, and the evening was titled GET DANCING. Danspace also commissioned Catherine to create a new work in response, which resulted in notes on de groat for performers Chris DeVita, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal and Meg Weeks.

GET DANCING was nominated for a 2016 "Bessie" Award for Outstanding Revival.

It was described by Siobhan Burke in The New York Times as "an illuminating, heartfelt program of old and new work."

Wendy Perron included it on her Best of 2015 list, and later wrote an in depth article reflecting on the program, incorporating interviews with several cast members: "The experience was like following a string back through time and finding some sort of treasure. What [Catherine] found wasn’t flashy or transgressive, but an enchanted meeting of movement and music."
Read other reviews here

TOURING OPTIONS

notes on de groat can be presented as a standalone 30-minute lecture/dance performance with 3 performers, or as part of the full GET DANCING 70-minute program featuring Andy de Groat recreations from the 1970's, incorporating local performers.

From our latest tour to Guild Hall (July 2021):
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all photos by Victoria Sendra except where noted
GET DANCING 
- program - 


Danspace Project Presents 
Andy de Groat & Catherine Galasso
get dancing
December 10-12, 2015

- 75 minutes, no intermission  -

This program includes four dances by Andy de Groat, recreated by Catherine Galasso in conversation with de Groat and former collaborators, and one new work by Galasso, created in response.

Rope Dance Translations, 1974/1979
Choreography by Andy de Groat
Film by John Meaney and Andrew Horn, with original music by Michael Galasso on solo violin, featuring Robyn Brentano, Ritty Ann Burchfield, Frank Conversano, Charles Dennis and Andy de Groat. 
Performance: Ritty Ann Burchfield, Frank Conversano, Charles Dennis and Buck Wanner

get wreck, 1978
Choreography by Andy de Groat
Poem written by Christopher Knowles
Performed by Christine Bonansea, Ritty Ann Burchfield*, Frank Conversano*, Charles Dennis, Chris DeVita, Catherine Galasso, Kathryn Ray*, Alex Romania, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal, Meg Weeks
Chorus: Jacob Burckhardt, Kirstin Kapustik, Christopher Knowles, Keith McDermott, Ghan Patel, Lillian Pickett, Satya Celeste Stainton, Saori Tsukada, Shelley Valfer

fan dance, 1978
Music by Michael Galasso
Performed by: Ritty Ann Burchfield*, Patrick Gallagher, Makram Hamdan**, Meg Harper, Kirstin Kapustik, Kathryn Ray*, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal, Sarah Sandoval, Satya Celeste Stainton, Julia Vickers, Buck Wanner, Emily Wassyng, Meg Weeks

- pause -

notes on de groat, 2015
Written and directed by Catherine Galasso
in collaboration with Chris DeVita, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal and Meg Weeks
Music by Michael Galasso, including pieces composed for Andy de Groat’s stabat (1990), and Iranian Suite (1975)


Swan Lac, 1982
Performed by Patrick Gallagher, Austin Selden, Madeline Wilcox
Music: Talking Heads
This is an excerpt from de Groat’s evening length Swan Lac, which premiered in Aix-en-Provence in 1982, and was performed at Danspace Project in 1983 by de Groat, Viviane Serry and Michael O'Rourke.


Lighting Design: Carol Mullins
Costume Design: Karen Boyer
Stage Manager: Martita Abril
Rehearsal Assistant, fan dance: Patrick Gallagher

In the lobby:
Excerpts from Syracuse Sequence, 16mm film
Director: Robyn Brentano
Dancers: Andy de Groat and Julia Busto
Art: John Willenbecher
Music: Michael Galasso
Camera: Jacob Burckhardt and Robyn Brentano


*original cast, 1978 premiere at Danspace Project
**member of Andy de Groat's company red notes in France from 1991-1995 and worked intermittently on projects with Andy from 1995-1999



performances

Premiere: December 10-12 2015
Danspace Project, NYC

Reprisal: January 20, 2018
Bard Graduate Center, NYC


Reprisal: ​December 13, 2019
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Reprisal: July 29-30, 2021
Guild Hall
East Hampton, NY

More info

about

notes on de groat, 2015
Written and directed by Catherine Galasso
in collaboration with Chris DeVita/Doug LeCours, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal and Meg Weeks
Music by Michael Galasso
Lights by Carol Mullins
Costumes by Karen Boyer


support + funding

The creation of GET DANCING was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project 2015-16 Commissioning Initiative, with support from the Jerome Foundation. Additional support provided by the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, individual donors, and the 92nd Street Y. The project was developed through residencies at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, the Centre National de la Danse Pantin, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center with support from the New York State DanceForce and funding from the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program, and through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Dance Development program made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Photo at top by ​Julieta Cervantes
  • Works
    • Choreography for Theater
    • Field Notes
    • Cloud Dance 2.0
    • Alone Together
    • Of Granite and Glass (Palm Springz)
    • Of Iron and Diamonds
    • notes on de groat
    • Fall of the Rebel Angels
    • the floatones
    • bring on the lumiere
    • show me the money
    • memorandum of understanding
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • UPCOMING