A Landmark Farewell
- Scott Edward Anderson
- Jul 8
- 4 min read
STEPHEN PETRONIO ON HIS COMPANY’S FINAL BOW THIS SUMMER AT JACOB’S PILLOW
By Scott Edward Anderson
AFTER FOUR DECADES of bold innovation and artistic exploration, the Stephen Petronio Company will have its final performances from July 23 to 27 at Jacob’s Pillow. Renowned for his boundary-pushing choreography that blends everyday movement with classical expansiveness, Petronio has established himself as one of contemporary dance’s most influential voices. His company’s relationship with the Pillow spans the entirety of his career—from his earliest appearances as a dancer with Trisha Brown to his company’s debut as artists-in-residence, to numerous acclaimed performances in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Petronio reflects on his artistic journey, the significance of this final season, and what lies ahead as he brings his groundbreaking company to a close exactly 40 years after its Pillow debut.
After 40 remarkable years, what led to your decision to conclude your company’s journey? The decision to close was hard, but I’m having an amazing time. We’re putting together our final season, focusing on works from across 40 years. For me, it’s a real cause for celebration.
The upcoming performance at Jacob’s Pillow represents your company’s final bow, and it comes exactly 40 years after the company’s Pillow debut as artists-in-residence. What makes this venue particularly meaningful for this closure? I’m very honored to be landing the ship at Jacob’s Pillow. It’s a very emotional moment. My first appearance there was with Trisha Brown in 1980. A few years later, Liz Thompson was running the Pillow and knew me as a dancer with Trisha. She gave me the opportunity to be on the Inside/Out stage, which I loved, and it grew from there. Then I climbed my way up to the Ted Shawn Theatre and had a few seasons there.
How did you approach curating the repertoire for this final season? What pieces felt essential to include? That was really a nightmare. Originally, we were going to do more than one program, but we decided it would be too stressful for the audience to choose, so we created one final program. I decided to bring back my favorite works. We’re bringing back MiddleSexGorge, my breakthrough work from around 1990, when I was involved with ACT UP. That’s where my language came into focus in a way that shaped the rest of my career. It came at a formative time, everything falling together for me around my dance-making, sexual identity, and political interests.
After 9/11, I made Broken Man, a solo I’m now teaching to company dancers for the first time. It’s not so virtuosic technically, but more about inhabiting emotional states. I also wanted to include BUD, a male duet to Rufus Wainwright’s music. I’ve made a series of male duets over my career. I understand how men touch men, and it comes naturally to me.
We’re also performing American Landscapes, the last big piece I made before the pandemic, with Robert Longo. Much of my career involved collaborating with visual artists, so I wanted to highlight that aspect. Finally, I’m doing a little solo, Another Kind of Steve, which is a talking and dancing work that I change every time. I’ll talk about how I got to be me and who helped shape me.
Your choice in music has always struck me as unique and unconventional. You’ve choreographed everything from Blixa Bargeld to Wire and Wainwright. How do you choose music for your choreography? I really love music that’s in the contemporary world, that’s not dance music in the traditional sense. I think of my work as journals of the moment I’m living through, and those are musical artists who moved me. When I was coming up as a choreographer, using pop music wasn’t considered serious art. I’ve choreographed The Rite of Spring and Yoko Ono, which is as difficult as Stravinsky. Getting a non-illustrative investigation into three minutes is challenging but fun. This music was the soundtrack of my life.
What do you see as your legacy in dance? And what are you seeing that’s new and exciting? I think I brought to dance the combination of loose, casual pedestrian release work with movement that stretches space in a more classical manner. That was revolutionary back in 1980, and the world has absorbed that influence. What I don’t see continued is my interest in the architecture of space; how bodies shape space and make an audience feel. Today, I see a lot of identity politics, which is how I started my career. This generation seems less interested in space and more in the body itself and what stories they’re telling. I’m also seeing a long overdue racial equity story happening in New York. Finally. That’s really exciting.
What’s next for Stephen Petronio?
I’m focused on the present, on the now. We’ve been through a major transition from the pandemic. The company went from being my vehicle to honoring the Judson pioneers who inspired me, to expanding into a residency center at Round Top. After the pandemic, touring and funding dropped off significantly. So, I thought it was time to wrap that story up and look for the next one. There’ll be something called “Petronio Projects,” which will be outside the not-for-profit realm, creating commercial projects and re-staging works from my 40-year repertory. I wanted to get off the hamster wheel of production every year. During the pandemic, I took care of the dancers, which was my responsibility, but it took a toll on me. I’m 69, I’ve had an amazing career with the Stephen Petronio Company, and I want some freedom to see what happens next.
The Stephen Petronio Company will perform in the Ted Shawn Theatre for the first time since 2003, Wednesday–Sunday, July 23–27. For tickets and
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