‘Horizon’: An Up and Coming Evening of Dance
Start the holiday season off right with a trip to the Alexander Kasser Theater, located conveniently at Montclair State University. From Dec. 10 through 13, The Liz Gerring Dance Company commissioned by Peak Performances will be showcasing the company’s most recent work titled, Horizon. The show is choreographed by Liz Gerring herself, with a score composed by renowned musician, Michael J. Schumacher.
“This piece seems very much its own world that the audience is kind of getting a little sneak peak into,” said dancer, Julia Jurgilewics.
Gerring is an abstract choreographer. Her works incorporate evidence of her own experiences with various emotions including but not limited to love, anger, triumph, and despair. The idea of relationships is often expressed in her choreography by distinct movements of the body. Gerring received a B.F.A. from the Juilliard School in 1987 and has been a choreographing professionally since then. Her works have been performed in various venues primarily located in New York.
“When I began [my] work on Horizon I wanted to experiment with the idea of complexity; multiple dancers all on stage doing different movements at the same time. This was a layering that added a texture I had not used before,” said Gerring. “It is a journey of discovery, almost like a puzzle, trying to figure out what will happen next.”
Composer and Musical Director, Michael J. Schumacher has been in collaboration with Gerring for over 20 years. Aside from this, Schumacher has also worked with various other choreographers, poets and musicians. He and Gerring make an excellent team of artists, and based off of their previous work in Glacier, this next show, Horizon will be both beautiful and innovative. Aside from the music and choreography, another important aspect of Horizon is the set and the lighting, designed by Robert Wierzel.
“It is important to trust ones’ collaborators and be able to argue ideas with them,” said Gerring in regards to her work with collaborators Schumacher and Wierzel.
A show is never complete unless all aspects compliment each other. Dancer, Jake Szczypek provides his commentary on the relationship between the music and the choreography: “I don’t necessarily dance to the score, I feel like the score is often influenced by the movement we do.”
Gerring said, “Horizon was built on a company of seven dancers, four of whom were new to my work. [It] is full of the exuberance and energy of this group, watching them navigate this hour-long, challenging work is inspiring. Once the piece enters the stage space of the theater, it is like giving birth to a baby; a baby that can now breath on it’s own. My work is done and it belongs to the dancers now. Sometimes it is hard to let go but it can be freeing as well. Montclair is such a beautiful theater to present work, it’s really a pleasure to see my work on that stage.”
Horizon will be a breathtaking evening of dance and a show that you will not want to miss. Gerring is such a passionate artist, that her love for dance will shine through in each movement made on the stage.
Tickets for Liz Gerring’s Horizon are available at peakperfs.org or at the Alexander Kasser Theater’s Box Office, adjacent to the Red Hawk Parking Deck. Tickets are $20 to the public and free for MSU students with a school id present. For more information about the show itself and all those involved in production, visit lizgerringdance.org/works/horizon.
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