JANE COMFORT: 40TH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE

Jane Comfort and Company celebrated its 40th anniversary with a retrospective concert in April 2018. Over 23 former and current company members performed excerpts of seminal works ranging from 1978 to 2018, including the gender and race reversed Clarence Thomas hearings from S/He, scenes from the Bessie award winning Underground River, ‘The Glass Menagerie”-based Faith Healing, the spoken word opera Asphalt, created with Carl Hancock Rux and Toshi Reagon, among many others.

Jane Comfort and Company’s 40th Anniversary Retrospective premiered April 5, 2018 at La MaMa E.T.C. | Presented in association with Lumberyard

The piece received the 2018 BESSIE Award for Outstanding Revival

Artistic Director: Jane Comfort
Lighting Design: Joe Levasseur
Video Design: Lianne Arnold
Documentary Video: Alexandra Nikolchev
Costume Design: Liz Prince
Cast:
Jane Comfort (1978 – present)
Nancy Alfaro (1985 – 1996)
Auchee Lee (1982-1985)
Mark Dendy (1989 – 1994; 2010-2011)
David Neumann (1991 – 1994)
Christina Redd Johnson (1994-1997)
Edisa Weeks (1994-1997)
Stephanie McKay (1995 – 2002)
Stephen Nunley (1995-2004)
Cynthia Svigals (1997-2005)
Julius Hollingsworth (2000-2003)
Peter Sciscioli (2004 – 2011)
Darrin Wright (2004-present)
Leslie Cuyjet (2005 – present)
Ellen Smith (2006 – 2015)
Sean Donovan (2006 – present)
Heather Christian (2009 – 2011)
Petra van Noort (2011 – present)
Javier Perez (2013 – present)
Gabrielle Revlock (2014-present)
Paul Hamilton (2015 – present)
Cori Marquis (2015 – present)
Brandon Washington (2018)

1982-FOUR SCREAMING WOMEN – Jane Comfort, Ann Papoulis, Mary Forlenza, Karen Callaghan-Photo by Paula Court
1980’s- Jane Comfort – photo shoot Arthur Elgort
1980’s-Jane Comfort and Erroll Grimes- Photo by Arthur Elgort for a concert at DTW
1985-TV LOVE-Jane Comfort – Photo by Grace Sutton
1978 – SHIFTING WEIGHT – Postcard image for first concert
1988-MACBETH- Photo by Johan Elbers
1988-MACBETH- Jane Comfort-Photo by Johan Elbers
1991-DEPORTMENT- Mark Dendy-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1993-FAITH HEALING-Nancy Alfaro and David Neumann-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1994-S/HE- Edisa Weeks, Viola Sheely, Deborah Jackson, and Nancy Alfaro-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1994-S/HE-Stephanie McKay, Suzie Nece, Edisa Weeks, Christina Redd Johnson, Rebecca Hermos- Photo by Arthur Elgort
1991-DEPORTMENT- Jane Comfort, Nancy Alfaro, and Stephen Petty-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1993-FAITH HEALING-Nancy Alfaro and Scot Willingham-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1994-S/HE-Jane Comfort and Andre Shoals- Photo by Arthur Elgort
1994-S/HE-Jane Comfort and Andre Shoals-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1990’s-3 BAGATELLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS-Suzie Nece, Christalyn Wright, Joseph Ritch, Christina Redd Johnson, Rebecca Hermos, Stephanie McKay-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1990’s-3 BAGATELLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS-Aleta Hayes, Cynthia Bueschel Svigals, Stephen Nunley, Laurie Bulman-Photo by Arthor Elgort
1990’s-3 BAGATELLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS- Stephanie McKay, Stephen Nunley, Laurie Bulman-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1990’s-3 BAGATELLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS-  Stephen Nunley, Stephanie McKay-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2008-AN AMERICAN RENDITION-Sean Donovan and Leslie Cuyjet-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2004-PERSEPHONE-Olase Freeman and Cynthia Svigals-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2001-ASPHALT-Elizabeth Haselwood, Stephen Nunley, Manchild Black, Aleta Hayes-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2001-ASPHALT-Cynthia Svigals-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2001-ASPHALT-Manchild Black and Cynthia Svigals-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1998-UNDERGROUND RIVER-Aleta Hayes, Cynthia Svigals, Stephen Nunley, Stephanie McKay-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2008-AN AMERICAN RENDITION-Leslie Cuyjet and Sean Donovan-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2004-PERSEPHONE-Olase Freeman and Cynthia Svigals-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2006-FLEETING THOUGHTS- Lisa Niedermeyer, Olase Freeman, Jessica Anthony-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2006-FLEETING THOUGHTS-Lisa Niedermeyer-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1979’s-Jane Comfort and Daniel McCusker-Photo by Nathaniel Tileston
2005-FLEETING THOUGHTS-Photo by Arthur Elgort
1998-UNDERGROUND RIVER-Cynthia Svigals, Stephen Nunley-Photo by Arthur Elgort
2012-BEAUTY-Lucie Baker, Petra van Noort, Leslie Cuyjet, Elinor Harrison-Photo by Christopher Duggan
2012-BEAUTY-Lucie Baker,  Leslie Cuyjet, Petra van Noort, Elinor Harrison-Photo by Christopher Duggan
2016-YOU ARE HERE-Gabrielle Revlock-Photo by Liz Lynch
2015-ALTIPLANO-Gabrielle Revlock, Ellen Smith, Petra van Noort, Darrin Wright, Sean Donovan, Javier Perez, Leslie Cuyjet-Photo by Maria Baranova
2015-ALTIPLANO-Darrin Wright (downstage)-Photo by Maria Baranova
2016-YOU ARE HERE-Paul Hamilton and Darrin Wright-Photo by Liz Lynch
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1980’s-Erroll Grimes, Nancy Alfaro, Roy Fialko-Photo by Grace Sutton
1980’s- Erroll Grimes, Jane Comfort – Photo by Arthur Elgort for a concert at DTW (#2)
1980’s-Arthur Elgort shoot -Jane Comfort and Nancy Alfaro
1984-URBAN RENEWAL-Jane Comfort and David Thomson-photo by Grace Sutton
1985- TV LOVE-Jane Comfort- Photo by Grace Sutton
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“Jane Comfort and Company’s 40th Anniversary Retrospective demonstrated how the choreographer’s work engages with audiences, while proving its wide-range and resistance to definition.”

—Susan Yung, THE BROOKLYN RAIL (2018)

“As relevant as ever, S/He recasts the genders and races of the protagonists and antagonists of Anita Hill’s testimony during Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings. The brutal interrogation of Hill (Sean Donovan, who ends naked in a pile of pale limbs and crushed objectives) by Black women playing white male senators seems even more harrowing in the deluge of #MeToo stories.”

—Erin Bomboy, The Dance Enthusiast (2018)

“Few of Comfort’s peers who are into dance drama have her gift for melding singing, vocalizing, speech and movement into an inseparable whole…Words, music and movement seethe together; united, their rhythms whirl the morsels of meaning into life stories.”

—Deborah Jowitt, THE VILLAGE VOICE (2011)

“As a choreographer and performer, Miss Comfort comes from the generation for whom “process” or the organizing principle of a dance is its material. She has taken life processes here, however, and made of them engaging dance.”

—Jennifer Dunning, THE NEW YORK TIMES (1980)

“I couldn’t help but remember Jane Comfort’s film about her pregnancy. She did a short phrase each month, at two weeks and at nine months after the birth of her son—a wild solo, full of tricky balances and weight shifts, done in leotards and sweat pants. There she was, all that flesh in close tight shots, moving at you, defiling our image of dancer as slight, virginal, and androgynous. A travesty, and like drag it provoked discomfort—no it provoked fear: of the omnipotent, engulfing mommy each of us had, of being subsumed by her flesh and affection, of losing our selves within her. There she was, a woman of abundant proportions and superabundant power, and Comfort was damn well ready to throw her weight around. Needless to say, the men squirmed and tittered the most…"

—Marcia Pally, IN STEP (1981)

“The guiding spirits behind the theater of mixed forms are often choreographers. Theatrical directors may not be able to choreograph, but a dance-trained artist is used to conceiving the integration of movement with rhythm: the rhythm of music and even words, spoken or sung. That is what Jane Comfort, one of the most fertile minds in this genre, has realized so effectively.”

—Anna Kisselgoff, THE NEW YORK TIMES (2000)