Above: the studio at Battery Dance where Lydia Johnson Dance rehearsed during the first years of our association; photo by Kokyat
It was on a March evening in 2009 that I first encountered the choreography of Lydia Johnson; a press invitation sent to me by publicist Audrey Ross had piqued my curiosity enough to prompt me to go – with my fellow blogger Evan Namerow – to a studio showing by Lydia Johnson Dance.
What I discovered that night was choreography that successfully melded elements of classical ballet and contemporary dance, that had a keen connection to the music, and that – rarest of all – had an emotional resonance that I had found in only a handful of works by current choreographers of the day.
Above: Tucker Ty Davis and Jessica Sand; photo by Julie Lemberger. Tucker and Jessica were among the dancers who appeared in that first-encounter studio event
I can’t remember now the sequence of correspondence between Lydia and myself that led to my being invited, along with my photographer/friend Kokyat, to a rehearsal of Lydia’s company down at the Battery Dance studios. At that time, Kokyat was a dance photographer in the making; he became a master over time. In the ensuing months, he and I spent many hours in that studio – so steeped in the very essence of dance – and we became friends with all the dancers…and with Lydia herself.
Here are some of Kokyat’s photos from those happy days at Battery Dance:
Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand
Lisa Iannacito and Jesse Marks
Jessica Sand
Robert Robinson, Jessica Sand
Jessica Sand
Lisa Iannacito
Laura Di Orio
Kerry Shea
Sean Patrick Mahoney, a guest artist from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, with Jessica Sand
Sarah Pon and Blake Hennessy-York, a young married couple who joined Lydia Johnson Dance and made it their artistic home
Guest artist Sean Patrick Mahoney
Guest artist Max van der Sterre with Kerry Shea
An early rehearsal of SUMMER HOUSE
Laura Di Orio, Kaitlin Accetta
Blake Hennessy-York and the ensemble
A rehearsal of CROSSINGS BY RIVER
Guest artist Max van der Sterre
Celebrating dancer Robert Robinson’s birthday
Lydia Johnson
Now for some of Kokyat’s onstage images of the Lydia Johnson Dance in works we saw in the first two or three seasons of our affiliation:
UNTITLED BACH (Shannon Maynor, Eric Vlach)
SUMMER HOUSE (Laura Di Orio, Robert Robinson)
Dancer Justin Lynch
DREAM SEQUENCE (Jesse Marks, center)
DUSK
END OF THE MOVIE (Erica Schweer, Laura Di Orio)
DUSK (Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand)
UNTITLED BACH (James Hernandez, Laura Di Orio)
IN CONVERSATION (Jessica Sand)
UNTITLED BACH (Robert Robinson, Jesse Marks)
LAMENT
DREAM SEQUENCE (Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand, James Hernandez, Laura Barbee).
IN CONVERSATION (John-Mark Owen, Kerry Shea)
And some studio shots from Oberon:
Robert Robinson, Jessica Sand
SUMMER HOUSE rehearsal: Lisa and Jessica
SUMMER HOUSE rehearsal: Robert, Laura
Lauren Perry
Laura Di Orio
By now, the dancers were used to having Kokyat and I breathing down their necks, so to speak…so much so, that Kokyat was permitted to photograph the Company’s 2011 performance in New York City from backstage.
This first installment covers roughly 2009-2011, with a couple of 2012 images thrown in. I’ll continue this retrospective in a few days – picking up where I left off – when I have had time to gather photos for a second gallery.
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 