ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE

Armitage launched Armitage Gone! Dance in New York in 2004 upon her return to the city after 15 years in Europe. Dedicated to redefining the boundaries and perceptions of contemporary dance, the company extends the mandate of innovation that characterized both her earlier Armitage Ballet, founded in 1985, and her first full-time company, Armitage Gone!, founded in 1979.

Armitage distinguishes her company from its contemporaries through her extreme versatility and originality. She builds upon classical and modern idioms from the Balanchine and Cunningham traditions, and infuses experimental thinking into the geometric balance, speed, rhythm and beauty of dance steps. She derives inspiration from such wide-ranging sources as physics, Japanese aesthetics, fashion, pop culture and new media, and from her ten dancers, who come from diverse cultural and dance backgrounds.

Armitage Gone! Dance is well known for its collaborations with innovators in music, science and the visual arts, including artists David Salle and Jeff Koons and string-theory physicist Brian Greene. The company regularly performs to live music and has commissioned many scores since its 2005 debut. Its wide-ranging projects include poetic ballets set to 20th and 21st-century scores, work with the African pop band Burkina Electric (Itutu, 2009), opera (notably, the 2009 collaboration with Gotham Opera on Ariadne Unhinged), Made in Naples (a comedy centered on Pulcinella) and Armitage “punk ballet” classics danced to loud, live music.

Since its launch at the Duke on 42nd Street Theatre, Armitage Gone! Dance has presented New York seasons each year at venues that include Brooklyn Academy of Music, Joyce Theater, The Kitchen, Miller Theatre, New York City Center, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Lincoln Center. The company offers ongoing educational (K-12) programs at the Abrons Art Center/Henry Street Settlement. The company also regularly performs at prestigious festivals and venues throughout the United States, Europe and Central America, from Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival to the Venice Biennale Festival of Contemporary Dance, which Armitage directed in 2005. Armitage’s next work Fables on Global Warming, addresses ecological sustainability through a tapestry of international animal fables woven together with visual designs and puppetry by Doug Fitch and a commissioned score by Corey Dargel, set to premiere at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on September 24, 2013.

The company is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, as well as corporate, foundation and individual patrons. An annual Gone! Gala and art auction provide principal support. David Salle chairs the company’s Board of Directors.

Last updated: March 19, 2015