A partnership between The Kitchen and Madison Square Park Conservancy brings live performance outside the walls of The Kitchen and into the public space of the park, creating new opportunities for dialogue and exchange among artists, publics, and landscape. Arising out of this partnership is the premiere of a new performance project by Beau Bree Rhee, Shadow of the Sea, conceived in dialogue with Cristina Iglesias’s exhibition Landscape and Memory at Madison Square Park.

Rhee’s work Shadow of the Sea opens with a question: The sea covers 71% of our planet: and its shadow? Composed as a “dance poem,” the performance has eight stanzas, each with vastly differing qualities. An ensemble of dancers will begin the first section on the east and west coasts of Manhattan, performing a migratory score—a Brutal Meditation—that traces where the sea may eventually reclaim the land within the next hundred years. The following seven stanzas—including a Blues, an X, an Insurrection, a Loss—take place on the Oval Lawn in Madison Square Park, where Iglesias’s installation of five bronze sculptural pools traces a historic creek. Here, Shadow of the Sea further expresses “the shadow” within contemporary life, probing the social, historical, and philosophical dimensions of this concept.

The piece is created through multi-layered research into scientific maps projecting future coastlines; historical maps of Indigenous pathways in New York City; Indigenous spiritual beliefs; recordings of land that Rhee stewards as an earth work; and poems and songs on ecology and justice, particularly the books Poésie Perdue (published in 2000) by French writer Paul Valéry and 님의 침묵 The Silence of Nim (published in 1926) by Korean writer and activist Manhae (Han Yong-un). These associations coalesce in Rhee’s choreographic language for engaging the body with land and atmosphere.

Beau Bree Rhee: Shadow of the Sea is organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, with Angelique Rosales Salgado, Curatorial Assistant. Production by Zack Tinkelman, Production Manager and Tassja Walker, Production Supervisor.

To view the performance program, click here.

Time & date:

September 21, October 12, October 20, 6pm*

Madison Square Park Oval Lawn (park entrance at 23rd Street and Broadway)

*Prior to the performance in Madison Square Park at 6pm, Shadow of the Sea begins with Coastal Walks at 5pm simultaneously on the east and west sides of Manhattan. Visitors who are interested in experiencing this migratory portion of the performance are invited to join at either the East River Promenade and East 10th (east side) or Pier 64 (west side) at 5pm. Kitchen staff members will be present at both locations to direct visitors. RSVP here to attend Coastal Walks.

Credits:

Ensemble: Bria Bacon, Cara McManus, Chaery Moon, Caitlin Scranton*
Production: Michael Hernandez (Audio Engineer and Sound Design), Siena Sherer (Audio Assistant), Joe Galan, KC Athol (Assistant Stage Managers)
Front of House: Nico Grelli, David Sierra, Yael Shacham, Neal Medlyn, Sacha Yanow, Joe Wakeman (House Managers)

*Scranton choreographed Stanza 2 of Shadow of the Sea in collaboration with Rhee

ACCESS NOTE: The Coastal Walks will last approximately 30 minutes. Visitors will need to travel from the concluding point of the walks on the east and west sides of the city to Madison Square Park to view the rest of the performance. For the portion of the performance in Madison Square Park, limited chairs will be available and made priority for visitors who request them. Visitors will be invited to sit on the grass or stand during the performance. For questions, please contact accessfeedback@thekitchen.org.