GLORIA MCLEAN / CONVERGENCE

LEO KOENIG INC

11 DELAWARE AVENUE, ANDES, NY

 

JULY 10 AND 11, 2026 AT 7:30PM

 

Program

 

Skin, Flesh and Bone, Part 2 (1998, 2026)

Choreography:  Gloria McLean

Dancer:  Fina

Music:  Takao Heisho

Original Costume: Ken Hiratsuka

Skin, Flesh and Bone is inspired by the 3-part image of the qualities of the performer, found in the writings of Motokiyo Zeami on the Japanese Noh Drama in the 15th century.  Premiere performance by Gloria McLean 1998 Dia Center for the Arts.

 

DaVinci Redux II (2026)

Choreography:  Gloria McLean

Dancers:  Colleen Blacklock, Joy McEwen, Fina, Pamela Graham, Megan Lighty, Jeana Musacchio

Text:  From the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci on the Proportions of the Body

Narrator:  Marshall Coid

 

I Am. It Dances/The Athens Solo (2023)*

Choreography:  Gloria McLean

Dancer:  Gloria McLean

Music:  Somei Satoh, “Birds in Warped Time” recorded by Margaret Leng Tan & Frank Almond

I Am. It Dances/The Athens Solo is an excerpted version of McLean’s retrospective investigation of her personal history of embodied movement.

 

end.less.bow (2024/26, excerpt of the full-length 45’ version)*

Choreography, Performance, Script, Costume:  Bert Gstettner

Music:  ZART una cantata moebius – Hofstetter Kurt 

Art Objects:  Peter Sandbichler.   Text excerpts:  Inclination (2024) by Reinhard F. Handl

Production:  Tanz*Hotel / Art*Act Kunstverein, Vienna AT /With support from Vienna City Council

The work is a tribute to American Modern Dance Choreographer Erick Hawkins and Austrian-American sculptor/architect Frederick Kiesler. At Kiesler’s funeral on December 30, 1965 in New York, Hawkins held a eulogy and performed a slow bow in front of the coffin — a gesture that resonates as both farewell and continuation.  Taking this act as a point of departure, Bert Gstettner expands Hawkins’ speech through present text. He wonders about the slow bow, recalls selected Hawkins movement shapes and develops a choreographic tribute to friendship, legacy and artistic transmission.

 

*Gstettner will perform the full-length 45’  end.less.bow along with McLean’s solo in NYC on July 16 8 pm at the Ailey Studios, 405 West 55th Street.

 

--- short pause ---

 

Moment In Process (premiere)

Dance:  Gloria McLean

Sculpture:  Ken Hiratsuka

Live Video:  Alan Powell

Music:  Michael Suchorsky

 

TREE DANCE (2025-2026)

Choreography:  Gloria McLean

Duet:  Bert Gstettner & Gloria McLean

Music:  Marshall Coid, Takao Heisho, Michael Suchorsky

Dancers:  Colleen Blacklock, Constance Clare-Newman, Fina, Pamela Graham, Bert Gstettner, Dacia Lange, Megan Lighty, Jeana Musacchio, Joy McEwen, Joelle Penso, Jackie Wilson, Gloria McLean

Film:  Mace Fleeger

Projection:  Alan Powell

Tree Dance began as an ode to a fallen white pine on our land. It grew into a reflection on the Haudenosaunee Great Tree of Peace—a symbol of the historic confederation that united once-warring nations and later influenced the U.S. Constitution. On the 250th anniversary of American democracy, this dance invites us to consider the urgent need to renew our commitment to our common humanity and the rule of law.

 

Special Thanks to Leo Koenig, Ben Dowell, Anke Warda (for assistance at the Gallery), Casey Christensen (flyer design), James Pakiela (reception), Alan Powell (overall technical support and execution), Ken Hiratsuka, and to all the dancers and musicians whose dedication makes this work possible.

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About the Artists:

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Gloria McLean is an internationally recognized Modern Dancer, leading soloist in the Erick Hawkins Dance Company (1982-1993), and artistic director of LIFEDANCE/Gloria McLean & Dancers.  She has performed in festivals in the US, Japan, Korea, China, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria. She was Professor of Modern Dance at Keimyung University in South Korea and taught at UW/Madison and George Washington University. McLean is known to audiences in Andes and Delaware County through her work as a founding member of Andes Dancing in the Park (2014-2019), Delaware County Dance & Film Festivals (2022, 2023), Andes Dance Collective, and her studio LIFEDANCE at Squid Farm which she shares with sculptor and collaborator Ken Hiratsuka. McLean’s choreography has involved her in collaborations with composers and artists that include Ushio Torikai, Charlie Morrow, Rip Hayman, event maker Marilyn Wood, David First, Ben Neill, David Wojnorovski, Lisa Karrer/David Simons, et al. Her video “Twice Marked” (2007) was shown at Brattleboro Museum and American Dance Festival. Her LifeDrawing: Embrace, Displace, Erase, Replace was created and exhibited in April 2025 in Paris Galerie Memoire de l’Avenir.   “McLean has…an intelligent, witty and sensuous choreographic voice … One of the most satisfying concerts of the New York season.” (Jennifer Dunning, NY Times) www.gloriamcleandance.com

 

Bert Gstettner (AT) is a dancer, choreographer, and the artistic director of Tanz*Hotel in Vienna. He studied dance and choreography in Vienna, Paris, and in New York directly with Erick Hawkins, where he stays connected to his artistic legacy. In 1992, Gstettner founded his company Tanz*Hotel. Since then, he has been constantly creating choreographic works, presenting productions at international festivals and collaborating with major theaters. Alongside his artistic practice, he is deeply engaged in teaching, mentoring and directing AAR-residency programs at Tanz*Hotel Studios. Mr. Gstettner will perform the full-length version of end.less.bow in New York City on July 16th at Ailey Studios, 405 W. 55thSstreet.  More Information: http://www.tanzhotel.at/de/aktuell

 

Ken Hiratsuka is an internationally recognized stone sculptor known through his unique method of carving one continuous line in stone around the world. To date Ken has site works and commissions in 26 countries including recent work in PhuQuoc, Vietnam sponsored by Sun Group; Oaxaca, Mexico National Archives Building, sponsored by the Youth Library. From Large site boulders to gallery works to drawings and paintings, Ken’s signature “one-continuous-line” speaks to the universal language of art that breaks through barriers of language and culture. www.kenrock.com

 

Marshall Coid, Music Director, enjoys unique multi-discipline career as violinist, composer, vocalist, actor and director. Recently retired from 25 years as the onstage violin soloist for CHICAGO on Broadway, he is now focused on composition and performance with the Moss Ensemble and Composers Concordance, et al. Marshall and Gloria worked together in the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Marshall has composed works for McLean’s choreography in NYC and upstate including writing the film score for Andes Dance Collective film “Wind Wide Enough” (2020); composed “Dance Landscapes” for Andes Dancing in the Park 2019;  was a collaborator in the Dance Film festivals; composed and played for Gloria McLean/LIFEDANCE Summer Workshops in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

 

Michael Suchorsky, percussionist, has spent decades performing and recording around the world in genres from middle eastern jazz to microtonal music, to rock and roll. Playing venues that stretch from the iconic punk club CBGBS to Lincoln Center, to the Berlin Jazz Festival, to the Mores New Music festival in France; touring and recording with performing artist Lou Reed, jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, French rock legend Jacques Higelin, Soldier String Quartet, his own collaboration EMB and many more. Michael has been working with Gloria and the dancers of Delaware County since 2003.

“Drummer, Michael Suchorsky, can turn typical rhythms sideways.”—New York Times

 

Takao Heisho, percussionist, has been working with Gloria McLean as accompanist for classes and composer for the past 10 years. He plays percussion regularly with and arranges for Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, in many venues including Lincoln Center.

 

Alan Powell, video projection artist and painter, now based in Fleischmanns, works in many media. Recently he is known for his video projections on buildings. He collaborated with Gloria and Marshall Coid, Michael Suchorsky and Bea Ortiz on the “The Vessel in July 2025.  https://www.alanpowellartist.com/  Alan Powell has exhibited his work at the Kitchen, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the Moving Image, Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris and The Long Beach Museum.

 

Mace Fleeger is a video artist, graphic designer and website designer, and videographer.

 

 

Dancers:

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Fina, originally from Germany, graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse, is a freelance dancer and actor in New York City. She began studying with Gloria at the 92nd Street Y in 2022 and performed in Gloria’s choreography Archaic Intrusion at Ailey Citigroup Theater (2024); One Line String Piece at Corner Gallery (2026); and in summer Squid Farm productions since 2022. She performs with Rachel Cohen/Racoco and other independent performance artists. https://www.fi-na.com

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Joy McEwen trained and performed with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company from 1991-2006. She has danced

extensively with McLean’s company LIFEDANCE (1994-2004) performing in Polyrhythmic Perversity, Ryoanji Dreaming Me, Her Father, Bridges and Windows, Soma, DaVinci Redux, and McLean’s solo The Dress featured at the 92nd Street Y. She has continued to work with McLean at Squid Farm productions during the summer. Mrs. McEwen is an instructor in the Department of Theater and Dance at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

 

Colleen Blacklock is a lifelong dancer and choreographer and student of many movement forms including Hawkins technique, ballet, martial arts, Qi Gong and yoga. She danced in the Erick Hawkins company along with Gloria McLean, in the early 90’s. She now has an acupuncture and herbal practice called Blue Lotus Medicine in Oneonta, NY and she teaches a Hawkins based dance class called Body and Soul Dance.

 

Pamela Graham has been dancing with Gloria McLean’s LIFEDANCE Workshops 2022- 2025, and studying with her in New York City. Pam danced with Gloria in Juicy Summer with Lisa Karrer/David Simons in 2023 at Squid Farm.  She has studied Cunningham and Simonson techniques and performed work by Isabel Gotzkowsky and Anne-Rene Petrarca. She works full time as a library director at Columbia University.

 

Megan Lighty has been studying with Gloria since 2019 at the 92nd Street Y and Warshaw studio downtown. She joined the upstate Dance & Film Festival 2021 and 2022. She performed Archaic Intrusion at Ailey in 2024; danced in Juicy Summer with Karrer/Simons and McLean in 2023. Megan enjoys art in many forms and works full time as a User Experience Designer in NYC.

 

Jeana Musacchio works with Dances for a Variable Population, founded by Naomi Greenberg-Haas, expanding dance to movers of all ages and abilities. She danced with Anahid Sofian Dance Company, and teaches yoga and movement. Jeana joined the Sculpting Movement Workshop in 2024 and 2025, and studies with Gloria in NYC.

 

Constance Clare-Newman is an Alexander Teacher and active Dancer/Choreographer from California and Provincetown, Cape Cod. She has become a regular participant in the summer workshops since 2021 performing at Open Eye, Roxbury Kirkside Park & Squid Farm.

 

Joelle Penso, a life-long resident of Paris, is a professional Psychotherapist and an amateur singer. A long time friend, she joined Gloria’s workshop in 2025 and is enjoying expanding her practice into movement.

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Jackie Wilson is a resident of Andes and NYC and member of the Lifedance Summer Workshops since 2023.

 

Dacia Lange is creating an herbal sanctuary on 8 acres at her new home in Franklin, NY. Her passion is permaculture, creating outdoor spaces, and movement; including yoga, gymnastics, and dance. She joined Gloria's LIFEDANCE in 2025 and is currently a student of Colleen Blacklock at Body and Soul Dance Oneonta.