Interesting news from Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) in New York: the 50+ year-old dance company has announced its first creative commission since the death of its founding choreographer Trisha Brown in 2017. Cuban-born choreographer Judith Sánchez Ruíz, who was a TBDC member from 2006 to 2009, has been the first artist to receive such a commission, giving the company an opportunity to engage with a contemporary artistic voice but one with a connection to Brown’s work, while reaffirming its primary role of preserving Brown’s legacy.
Currently a teacher and repetiteur of Brown’s work, Sánchez Ruíz assisted Brown in the creation of I love my robots (2007), and L’Amour au théatre (2009) and has been instrumental in restaging Set and Reset/Reset and Glacial Decoy. Her new original piece, Let’s talk about bleeding, with music by Cuban composer Adonis Gonzalez, will premiere during the company’s Spring 2023 season at The Joyce Theater.
Judith Sánchez Ruíz began her dance studies at the age of eleven at the National School of Arts in Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba. The choreographer, performer, and teacher worked in New York City from 1999 to 2011, before relocating to Berlin. She has performed the works of notable choreographers including Sasha Waltz, Deborah Hay, Trisha Brown, She founded JSR Company in NYC in 2010, creating numerous choreographic staged works and site-specific projects with innovative composers and visual artists throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin American, and Asia.
TBDC Executive Director Barbara Dufty says, “After years of being dedicated solely to the presentation and preservation of works by Trisha Brown, the company believes it is now also important to place Brown’s body of work in conversation with contemporary sensibilities. This venture reflects TBDC’s commitment to keep Brown’s work alive in today’s dance landscape, while also fulfilling its primary mission of presenting Brown’s own work.”
Judith Sánchez Ruíz new work | Trisha Brown Dance Company | The Joyce Theater | Spring 2023