City Life Org - Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center Commemorate 20th Anniversary of September 11th with Reimagined Table of Silence Project 9/11

Table of Silence Project 9.11. Photo c Terri Gold.

Livestream Featuring Live and Virtual Performance Elements

Saturday, September 11, 2021 at 8am ET

A Project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund

Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Dance/NYC, honor the 20^th year since the events of 9/11, and current crises that face humanity today, with a livestreamed performance of the Table of Silence Project 9/11, the annual free public ritual for peace conceived and choreographed in 2011 by Jacqulyn Buglisi, Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre. Artistic collaborators for this year’s reimagined program are Composer/Music Director Daniel Bernard Roumain, spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Buglisi Dance Theatre Co-Founder/Principal Dancer Terese Capucilli, and videographer Nel Shelby.

This year’s presentation is part of Restart Stages, the outdoor performing arts center constructed on the Lincoln Center campus to champion the city’s cultural and economic revival and reimagined for our current moment.

The site-specific work had its first presentation on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 on Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center. Since the inaugural performance, more than 1400 professional dancers, musicians, and singers representing the voices of the NYC arts community in all its diversity have performed to viewership reaching more than two million people across all 50 states and in 229 countries via livestream.

The socially distanced performance will begin this year with an excerpt of Ms. Buglisi’s masterwork Requiem, created in 2001 as an immediate response to 9/11. Premiering in the shadow of tragedy, Requiem became a vehicle for collective healing. For the 2021 Table of Silence Project 9/11, the original 10-foot-long silk costumes in vibrant reds, golds and greens will be transformed by costume designer Elena Comendador into tones of alchemic white and silver, to recall the ashes, purity and sacredness of the lost souls remembered on this anniversary.

“Through each iteration of the Table of Silence Project 9/11, we have connected the threads of every passing year since September 11th to weave a more profound and meaningful ritual,” said Ms. Buglisi. “Expressing so much of what makes us human, the Table of Silence Project’s message of peace and healing is far-reaching and holds great relevance today. Our goal is to offer a transformative experience that honors the strength and resilience of our collective society.”

“At moments when we come together to mark milestones like this, the arts must help us process, find community, and move forward together,” said Henry Timms, President and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “Our city has been through so much since 2001, and over this last year in particular. We are honored to host this beautiful work of art to honor those lost and provide solace for fellow New Yorkers and those beyond.”

Table of Silence Project 9/11 is a project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund and is presented as part of Restart Stages, a program of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), which activates outdoor space through artistic and community initiatives that speak to our current moment, and reimagines cultural engagement in public space for a new era.

The live performance feature is the reimagined Table of Silence Prologue ritual, created in 2020, performed live by 32 courageous dancers encircling Lincoln Center’s Revson Fountain with Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin, Marc Bamuthi Joseph performing his spoken word “Awakening” and Terese Capucilli leading the ritual as Bell Master.

The livestream will also include:

* the World Premiere of Études II, a film by Nel Shelby Productions that features dancers from around the world in movement stories inspired by the twelve repetitive sacred gestures of the Table of Silence Project; and

* the full presentation of the 2019 Table of Silence Project 9/11, a public tribute to the events of 9/11 and a call to action for peace in our world.

The Table of Silence Project 9/11 typically features more than 150 dancers who slowly ascend onto Josie Robertson Plaza from multiple directions with the sound of a conch shell’s call to action for peace. Moving to the minimal, plaintive strains of the flute, the “heartbeat” of bass drums, trumpet, bells, and the cries of a chorus, the dancers form patterns of concentric circles around the iconic Revson Fountain to create an ancient Peace Labyrinth while repeating twelve symbolic ritualistic gestures. This sacred landscape becomes filled with the transcendent energy of the Mandala for healing, peace and harmony.

This year’s socially distanced performance will be live streamed from Lincoln Center beginning at 8:00am on Saturday, September 11, 2021 and will be available at LincolnCenter.org and on Lincoln Center’s Facebook Page. The video will also be available on-demand on LincolnCenter.org/TableOfSilenceProject and Facebook as well as Buglisi Dance Theatre’s YouTube channel following the premiere.

About Restart Stages

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is spearheading Restart Stages, a sweeping initiative creating 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces—an outdoor performing arts center—as well as other civic venues to help kickstart the performing arts sector and contribute to the revival of New York City.

As one of New York City’s leading arts institutions and an anchor of its cultural and public life, Lincoln Center is embarking on this effort as a symbol of its commitment to the city and to an equitable revitalization that elevates all New Yorkers. Restart Stages is a major, public-facing component of its broader effort to provide resources in this moment not just to Lincoln Center’s resident companies, but to the performing arts community as a whole — helping get artists back to work and supporting institutions from Brooklyn to the Bronx to engage their communities in the elevating power of the arts.

Designed with expert advice from medical and public health professionals, Restart Stages will create a safe, welcoming, accessible, and dynamic environment for arts and community organizations from across New York City, including Lincoln Center resident companies.

The initiative is being developed in coordination with NY State PopsUp, part of Governor Cuomo’s New York Arts Revival, in a partnership to help extend reach of the initiative far beyond Lincoln Center’s campus.

Restart Stages is made possible through the generous support of the Lincoln Center Board of Directors and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative, a collaboration that reimagines and reactivates cultural engagement in public space for a new era. The transatlantic exhibition, Faces of the Hero, a partnership with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is now on view.

Select Restart Stages events are being offered via livestream on Lincoln Center and partner organization digital platforms, increasing access nationally and internationally, well beyond those able to travel to the physical campus. Visit RestartStages.org for more information.

About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world’s leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit’s strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21^stcentury and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life. LincolnCenter.org.

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Table of Silence Project 9/11 is a project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund

Major support provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund

Leadership Support for Buglisi Dance Theatre provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Arnhold Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Heinz Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and public support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts

Restart Stages is made possible by Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative

Major support provided by First Republic Bank

Additional support provided by BNY Mellon, Cleary Gottlieb, Warburg Pincus, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc., the Scully Peretsman Foundation, Shari and Jeff Aronson, and Lincoln Center’s 20/21 Donors and Members

Endowment support is provided by Oak Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund

In-kind support is provided by United Staging and Rigging, Worldstage, Inc., Audio, Inc., Hudson Scenic Studio, and TGIF Event Services

Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence is made possible by the dedication and generosity of our board members

Operation of Lincoln Center’s public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York

Public support for Lincoln Center is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Gonzalo Casals, Commissioner, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature

NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center.