The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Boston, MA
October 18, 2018
Commissioned by the museum as part of the 2018 Inaugural Choreographer-in-Residence Program
Boston, MA
October 18, 2018
Commissioned by the museum as part of the 2018 Inaugural Choreographer-in-Residence Program
"DiMuro demonstrated a true talent for bringing out his dancers’ strengths in ways that complimented the group as a whole. At certain points, DiMuro himself – with a truly commanding presence – walked through, making hand motions as if shaping the action on stage. There was a sense of him being like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. He didn’t have any interactions with dancers on stage; pay no attention to the man in the long coat."
- Kathryn Boland, Dance Informa
As part of Peter's residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the company and he created two new performance works. In addition to the 50 minute dancer lead tours of the Palace, Small Visitations in a Near Empty Room was created especially for the museum's Calderwood Hall. Audience viewed the work from the balconies high above the stage, with the dancers inhabiting the space below.
Peter imagined the piece as if a wild dream of Isabella's as she neared death- a rush of images and scenes as if postcards of her life and her collection come to life. Although the great heist of 13 works of art from the museum in 1990 was well past her death, the inclusion of two artists with disabilities- Kris Lenzo, who is a double-leg amputee and Elver Ariza Silva, an adult survivor of polio - embodied metaphors that paralleled what was supposedly lost, what was missing. But the abundance of the beauty that remains at the Gardner, and how new beauty is created after a perceived loss by replacing emptiness with new juxtapositions, new movement not possible before.
Small Visitations... was performed three times in Calderwood Hall in one evening, October 18, with original music composed by Beau Kenyon, performed live by Kenyon and opera soprano Rena Harms. Original costumes designed by Heidi Henderson, with properties design by Brooke Stanton and lighting design by Stephen Petrilli.
Additional support for this work has been provided by The Dance Complex, The Aliad Fund and Next Steps Grant of The Boston Foundation, New England Conservatory, the Boston Center for the Arts, Davio’s Restaurant, and Central Square Florists.
Peter imagined the piece as if a wild dream of Isabella's as she neared death- a rush of images and scenes as if postcards of her life and her collection come to life. Although the great heist of 13 works of art from the museum in 1990 was well past her death, the inclusion of two artists with disabilities- Kris Lenzo, who is a double-leg amputee and Elver Ariza Silva, an adult survivor of polio - embodied metaphors that paralleled what was supposedly lost, what was missing. But the abundance of the beauty that remains at the Gardner, and how new beauty is created after a perceived loss by replacing emptiness with new juxtapositions, new movement not possible before.
Small Visitations... was performed three times in Calderwood Hall in one evening, October 18, with original music composed by Beau Kenyon, performed live by Kenyon and opera soprano Rena Harms. Original costumes designed by Heidi Henderson, with properties design by Brooke Stanton and lighting design by Stephen Petrilli.
Additional support for this work has been provided by The Dance Complex, The Aliad Fund and Next Steps Grant of The Boston Foundation, New England Conservatory, the Boston Center for the Arts, Davio’s Restaurant, and Central Square Florists.
Press:
Dance Informa reviews Small Visitations in a Near Empty Room
Top Cover Photo and Slideshow Photos by: The Fleet NYC
Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion (PDM) is under the fiscal sponsorship of The Dance Complex. Tax deductible donations can be made through The Dance Complex's website. Follow this link, and select Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion when making your donation.