IN THE STUDIO at NEW YORK CITY CENTER
Photo Gallery
Thursday, June 25 at 1pm and Friday, June 26, 2026, at New York City Center’s 4th Floor Studio, DGDC hosted IN THE STUDIO, a 90-minute program of performance and conversation. Audience members entered into a rehearsal already in process. Daniel narrated the event, contextualizing each dance the Company performed and sharing insights into the creative process of making the work. The audience asked questions and shared observations about the diverse range of choreography.
DANCERS: Derek Crescenti, Daniel Gwirtzman, Vanessa Martínez de Baños,
Johnny Mathews, Aria Roach, Katie Bateman
PHOTOGRAPHY: Claudio Rodriguez
Before the house opened, the Company rehearsed various sections.
Daniel rehearses Derek, Aria and Vanessa in a new lift in Flashpoint.
Johnny reviews the angle of a leaning fall in Automobile Ride from ENCORE.
Rehearsing one of the lifts in Embraceable from ENCORE.
↑ Back to top
When the house did open, audience members entered into a rehearsal in process.
Working through the mechanics of a partnering moment from the trio in Embraceable.
The dancers worked for twenty minutes on individual and duet choreography.
At the sound of a gong, the dancers shifted to a new dance to rehearse.
↑ Back to top
The vibrant, fast, and playful Automobile Ride kicked off the program, an audience favorite.
At only a minute and change it’s the briefest dance in the rep, but one that packs a memorable punch.
↑ Back to top
The dancers leaned into “Class” from ENCORE.
Daniel offered corrections in real time, explaining that a note is never a personal thing to a dancer, rather an essential element for growth.
Balancing precision with individual expression also has to take into account the specific musicality.
The audience observed how a rehearsal unfolds, which includes a healthy dose of laughter!
↑ Back to top
Derek performed a flurry of steps at a breakneck tempo in the beloved King Porter Stomp from ENCORE.
↑ Back to top
Derek and Daniel performed Embraceable from ENCORE.
The dance is set to Embraceable You interpreted by Charlie Parker.
The dance is characterized by a succession of lifts.
“It’s great to see imaginative dancing to music like this” wrote Deborah Jowitt in The Village Voice.
ENCORE premiered in 2007 at Joyce SoHo, a theater that used to exist on Mercer Street.
Derek and Daniel first began dancing the duet together in 2017.
Vanessa Martínez de Baños joins unexpectedly, turning the duet into a trio.
The trio is a brief interlude, and the dance finishes as a duet as it began.
↑ Back to top
Vanessa Martínez de Baños and Johnny Mathews in the opening of Flashpoint.
The dance was developed during a residency at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.
The dance explores the contours of relationships.
The work resonates for its strong emotionality.
Aria Roach and Derek in Flashpoint.
Derek and Johnny have a central extended duet, the heart of Flashpoint.
The narrative dance explores how emotions can pivot on a dime.
A ten-minute new piece of choreography, hot off the press, was shared.
The work created spirited conversations as a work that is tackling contemporary themes of isolation and the pressures of technology.
The choreography will premiere October 29-31 during the Company’s fall season at the Ailey Theater.
↑ Back to top
The bow acknowledges and thanks the audience for their support.
Each dancer shared what they were focused on, illuminating their experience.
IN THE STUDIO is designed to illuminate insights into the process of making dance.
At each of the two events audience members shared thoughts about the program and asked questions.
Audiences remarked how they enjoyed the intimacy of seeing dance in the studio.
The Company plans to host future IN THE STUDIO programs in the coming months.
↑ Back to top
