Ariel Rivka Dance Spring Season Featuring the World Premiere of What You Wa

Ariel Rivka Dance (ARD) presents their Spring Season from May 19-21, 2022 at 7:30pm, with an additional family matinee performance featuring ARD students and company on May 21, 2022 at 2pm, at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 W. 60th Street, NYC. The finale performance on May 21, 2022 at 7:30pm will also be livestreamed on YouTube. All ticket buyers will receive a link to the livestream after the final performance, available for ten days only. Tickets are $35 (General), $60 (Supporter), $75 (Supporter and reception on Thursday and Saturday night), $20 (Equity Artists), and for the family matinee performance, $10 (Children 12 and under), and can be purchased online at https://www.arielrivkadance.com/2022-annual-spring-season, by phone at (212) 787-1178. RSVP for the livestream at https://bit.ly/38aC1ed. 

It is not always easy to determine what you want. Ariel Rivka Dance opens up space for self-reflection in the company's expansive 2022 Spring Season program, featuring the World Premiere of What You Want, and beloved company repertoire. 

From moments of stillness and solitude to bursts of energy and passion, the company's new work showcases the vulnerability needed to fly, even at the risk of falling. Choreographer Ariel Grossman seeks out the true self—uncovering layers imposed by others and ones we use to protect ourselves—through expressive duets, lingering solos and powerful collective displays. Each repertory work highlights the strength in desire and honesty in perseverance. With live music by new company collaborator Summer Dregs, this Spring Season asks audiences to probe deeper to find what they truly want.

"After many virtual performances, I am thrilled to bring some of my favorite pieces back in front of a live audience," said Ariel Grossman, Artistic Director and Executive Director, Ariel Rivka Dance. "We have been choreographing this season's world premiere, a piece called What You Want, now for several months. The work feels like a real culmination of the vulnerability, passion, and spirit of collaboration that we have been experiencing during the last few years. Throughout this season, my dancers pointed out that I've been sharing more freely than before, tapping into a newfound bravery and sense of self, which allows them to do the same."

Program Details:

What You Want (World Premiere)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Costumes by Natasha Rinis

Original Composition by Summer Dregs, with Stefania de Kenessey

Arranged and performed by Summer Dregs

Performed by Amy Ashley, Asia Bonilla, Caitlyn Casson, Kristin Licata, Casie O'Kane, Maria Gracia Perez, Kyleigh Sackandy, Hana Ginsburg Tirosh

Emerging from a year of isolation, we have started to uncover the layered identities that inform our lives. Like thoughts on a page leading to a discovery, this work questions what it is we want when we are left with ourselves. This is the beginning of the piece, not the beginning of the story.

Mossy (2019)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Music by Stefania de Kenessey

Costumes by Marianna Tsartolia 

Performed by Caitlyn Casson & Casie O'Kane

Mossy is a duet that reflects the physical, emotional and intellectual consequences of constant interruption. Created from a mother's perspective, familial love evokes positive and negative impulses where frustration and desire compete with the need for space and independence. Composer Stefania de Kenessey incorporates her own experience as a mother in the creation of the electronic and melodic score.

Lead Me (2020)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Music by Stefania de Kenessey

Costumes by deborah@arielrivkadance.com they use their own clothes...

Originally Commissioned by Dance Lab NY

Performed by Amy Ashley, Asia Bonilla, Caitlyn Casson, Abriona Cherry, Kristin Licata, Casie O'Kane, Maria Gracia Perez, Kyleigh Sackandy, Hana Ginsburg Tirosh

Lead Me has now been adapted from the barriers of online rehearsal of four dancers to an in-person performance with the full company of nine dancers. Through the embodiment and exploration of what it means to be a leader, Lead Meshows the inner turmoil and struggle that comes with power.

Ori (2015)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Music by David Homan

Costumes by Mondo Morales and reimagined by Marianna Tsartolia 

Performed by Amy Ashley, Caitlyn Casson, Kristin Licata, Casie O'Kane, Maria Gracia Perez, Kyleigh Sackandy, Hana Ginsburg Tirosh

Ori is a contemporary exploration of light and athleticism accompanied by four amplified cellos.

"Ori is by far one of the most well crafted and layered, yet accessible contemporary dance work I have encountered in years. The depth and nuance in the choreography is staggering and yet it perfectly pairs with David Homan's score. Which itself is nothing short of musical genius. Ariel's work in general is thoughtful and provocative without being at all preachy. She is a true contemporary master who not only understands dancemaking but storytelling. The company is a wonderful example to us all of what we all can accomplish despite our gender, sex, religion, body type, or background. The artists are some of the finest examples of both dancers and human beings I have ever had the privilege of presenting." - Adam Schnell, Ballet Vero Beach Artistic Director / CEO

Converge (2021)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Music by David Homan

Costumes by Marianna Tsartolia

Originally Commissioned by Konverdans

Cast A: Abriona Cherry, Kyleigh Sackandy, Hana Ginsburg Tirosh 

Cast B: Amy Ashley, Abriona Cherry, Asia Bonilla

Shifting between the frantic and the calm, Converge emerged from an improvisation using gestures of loneliness, frustration, and connectivity. The piece explores the internal, intimate space of the dancers and how that sometimes conflicts with how they are perceived externally.

The family matinee program on May 21, 2022 at 2pm will include What You Want, Lead Me, Converge, as well as a student piece, a mini workshop, and:

Excerpt from No Words (2017)

Choreographed by Ariel Grossman

Music by David Homan

Costumes by Mondo Morales

Performed by ARD students 

In the spring of 2016 ARD began collaborating on No Words, a new work in reaction to a particularly charged moment in our country. Instead of leaving current events at the rehearsal door, we processed uncertainty and frustration through dance—finding a movement dialogue that helps us channel fear, frustration and confusion into something impactful.

COVID-19 Protocols

All audience members over the age of five will need to be fully vaccinated, and wear masks while indoors.

Performers will be required to be vaccinated and will perform unmasked.

Ariel Rivka Dance (ARD) is an all-female contemporary dance company based in New Jersey led by Artistic/Executive Director Ariel Grossman. ARD's mission is to champion female creatives through original choreography, commissioned music, and curated family and educational programming. Through movement, ARD creates a community of vulnerability and acceptance, providing opportunities for hope and connection.

Ariel Rivka Dance is committed to creating work that explores emotionally driven movement with technique and structure. Collaboration and accessibility are the heart of ARD, and they produce shows that incorporate various styles of dance and newly commissioned music from living composers, exposing our audiences to quality artistry in an inviting way.

ARD has been presented at prestigious venues around the nation, including New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Rutgers University, BAM Fisher, New York Live Arts, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Howard Community College, Nimbus Arts Center, Oklahoma International Dance Festival, Detroit City Dance Festival, Dixon Place and in California, Arkansas, Memphis, Houston, Ohio and more. In spring 2022, ARD will be presented internationally at the Istanbul Fringe Festival and lead a workshop at a local art school with the support of Mid-Atlantic Arts. 

The Company has collaborated with Rioult Dance NY, Taylor 2, Heidi Latsky, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, and Sean Curran and received commissions from Ballet Vero Beach (2019-2023), Nickerson Rossi Dance (2023), Konverjdans (2020), DanceLab NY Nexus Lab (2020), and Skidmore College (2008). 

Grossman is a past recipient of New Jersey Performing Arts Center (New) Moves Fellowship, Dance/NYC, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, , Dance New Jersey sponsored by Princeton Area Community Foundation, and Jersey City Dance Artist Relief Fund by Nimbus, with support from the New Jersey State Arts and Culture Recovery Fund. ARD has received a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council grant, Nathan Cummings Foundation grant, The Charles & Joan Gross Family Foundation, Jersey City Council of the Arts grant, and from New Jersey State Arts Council. For more information, visit https://www.arielrivkadance.com/. 

Summer Dregs, led by music producer Carl Cadwell, brings stunningly unexpected and unique music to life. He specializes in helping artists make music that is their own, that only they and he together could make. Carl started off touring with jazz-fusion and old soul outfits. Though the percussion and urgency of those early groups can still be felt in his production, his love for the rhythms of modern R&B and global-pop soon took center stage. Summer Dregs started when Carl's drive to blend pop and experimentalism could no longer be contained in a single band. He started producing and writing songs with a myriad of Chattanooga artists under the name Summer Dregs. His penchant for reckless ecstasy, neon synths and collaboration has led him to produce for many musicians in the bubbling Chattanooga scene and beyond.

The Manhattan Movement and Arts Center (MMAC) was developed by Rose Caiola as the home of the Manhattan Youth Ballet, a graded, pre-professional ballet academy and performance company. Ms. Caiola, a lifelong dance enthusiast and a former actress, founded the academy in fall of 1994 as Studio Maestro at 48 W. 68th Street, and serves today as the youth ballet's executive artistic director. The school is modeled after the European academies and adheres to the classical ballet technique. Under the direction of Rose Caiola, artistic director, the Manhattan Youth Ballet has acquired a reputation for excellent teaching in an intimate and individually supportive environment. The school's graduates have danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nederland Dans Theater, Ballet de Espana, San Francisco Ballet and Complexions. As the ballet academy grew, the search for a larger space inspired in Ms. Caiola a highly personal vision of a studio and theater complex that would encompass all aspects of dance education and performance. MMAC opened its doors in June 2008, occupying a dramatic bi-level space within The Element, a luxury high-rise condominium located to the southwest of Lincoln Center. In addition to the Manhattan Youth Ballet, MMAC's studios and theater host the MMAC Kids program, Broadway lockouts, summer intensive programs, as well as an array of performances and special events.