REPERTOIRE

The Winter’s Tale (2024)
Lavagnino and Bresnick’s latest collaboration is based on one of William Shakespeare’s last great plays, The Winter’s Tale is a story of improbabilities, loyalty, love, and forgiveness. At times a comedy and others a tragedy, the plot resides in a patriarchal society in which the role of women is constantly thwarted and limited by male dominance. However, Shakespeare’s female characters contradict the gender mores of the period. These strong, grounded women display thoughtful judgment and compassionate morality. Utilizing gesture inspired by sign language, the movement vocabulary lends itself to the fervent emotional context displayed by the performers' embodiments of joy, madness, betrayal, jealousy, and passion. Several roles are portrayed by gender opposites to the original casting; Lavagnino utilizes this device to speak to the rich and interesting dimensionality of all people and urges the audience to lean into the acceptance of these differences to embrace the distinct expression of each individual.

In the time of… (2022)
In the time of… is Cherylyn Lavagnino’s newest work created on and for the University of Utah’s Ballet Department in collaboration with colleague and composer Brian Pappal. This dance for 13 women en pointe is Lavagnino’s response to the sense of loss, both literal and potential, we are communally experiencing. Lavagnino is tuning into the emotional weight women are carrying as they grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the political turmoil surrounding women’s rights. Finding strength and support through community, this dance reflects the healing and empowerment women provide one another.

Mythologies (2021)
Mythologies is inspired by the stories in and around the Trojan War. Set to an original score by Scott Killian, Jacob Lawson, and Carol Lipnik, this historically fictional work depicts characters including sensual sirens, ferocious Amazonian warriors, and the Sacred Band of Thebes. The sirens serve as bards introducing each of the historically fictional characterizations, the Band of Thebes center around camaraderie, and the Amazons embody strength, grace, and femininity. A combative, tender partnering section reflects the fluid sexual practices during this period.

Tales of Hopper (2020)
Tales of Hopper is the fruit of a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick inspired by the work of American painter Edward Hopper. This theater-dance work casts the dancers as figures plucked from selected Hopper paintings, illuminating human connections through gestural movement steeped in subtext, as Bresnick’s original composition for piano, violin, and cello brings emotional undercurrents to the surface. Transparent set pieces reference Hopper’s environments, contextualizing each of the eight vignettes as they unfold. Tales of Hopper marks a departure for Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, asking each of the dancers to step into the new roles of actor and collaborator in the company’s most character-driven work to date.

Douze en Jeu (2018) 
A re-creation of Treize en Jeu (2013), now titled Douze en Jeu, is a dance for twelve (8 women and 4 men), set to the fourth movement of Franz Schubert’s Trio in E Flat Major. It features duets, trios and solos set against a backdrop of counterpoint group entrances and exits to create a textured stage picture to reflect the complexity of the musical score. The off kilter use of ballet vocabulary is highlighted by classical character dance influences.

Kamila (2017)
Kamila is a dance/theater piece inspired by the poetry and music of Leoš Janáček’s song cycle, The Diary of One Who Disappeared. The poems describe a young farmer’s infatuation with a mysterious gypsy. Janacek had a long-term fascination with a young woman named Kamila Stösslova. His unfulfilled desire for Kamila generated the emotional intent for the character of the gypsy. Lavagnino’s interpretation plays with the connection between Kamila and the Gypsy as we travel through the song cycle and it’s story of the young farmer’s obsession with the beguiling sensual gypsy. Janáček lives vicariously through the character of the farmer.

Summertime (2017)
This male/female duet inspired by Edward Hopper’s Summer Evening, set to Janis Joplin’s recording of George Gershwin’s Summertime.

Duet #3 (1997, 2017)
Originally a male/female duet about the physical and emotional boundaries in a relationship, Lavagnino was interested in translating this material to suit a male-to-male interaction. This new, recent exploration is set to Martin Bresnick’s Estraña Devoción.

Drive (2016)
Lavagnino creates a double male/female duet with angular, taut movement vocabulary to explore the uncompromising aspects of ourselves that extend to our most personal relationships. Scott Killian’s evocative score builds on the dancers' unnerving sense of detachment as they dance with keen attention to one another.  Ultimately, we recognize that the conflict will not be resolved, yet their impasse is eerily harmonious.

Episodes (2016)
Episodes is a series of duets set to Rachmaninoff’s Preludes Op. 32: (G Major and A Major) that express the intimacy and passion between a man and woman.

Veiled (2016)
Veiled, a work for a female cast of six or seven, explores the idea of preserving physical and internal grace in the face of oppression. Martin Bresnick’s suspenseful score creates a mood that the dancers embody, referencing the plight of Islamic women.

Naděje (2015) 
The rich cultural and political background of the Czech culture is the inspiration for Naděje, Author/playwright Vaclav Havel ’s, Letters to Olga, and Leoš Janáček’s Violin Sonáta, served as research materials.  A loosely based narrative has shaped this dance grounded in movement and music, that shows the aspirations for a free Czech society.

RU (2014)
RU, inspired by a novel of the same name and written by Kim Thúy, describes a young woman’s life as a post-Vietnam War political refugee.  The dancers, in costumes reminiscent of the traditional Vietnamese áo dài dress, move inside composer Scott Killian’s shadowy landscape, their movement suggestive of contrasts between struggle and grace, stoicism and despair.

Rest, Beloved (2013)
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Rest, Beloved is inspired by the Bach Cantata’s #170.  It is a dance of tender restraint; expressing a gently yielding love between man and woman, with a subtle Baroque dance sensibility.

Treize en Jeu (2013) 
Music: Franz Schubert
Treize en Jeu is a dance for thirteen (8 women en pointe and 5 men), set to three movements of Franz Schubert’s Trio in E Flat Major.  It features duets, trios and solos set against a backdrop of counterpoint group entrances and exits to create a textured stage picture to reflect the complexity of the musical score. The off kilter use of ballet vocabulary is highlighted by classical character dance influences.

Compadre (2013) 
Music: Astor Piazzolla
Compadre, is a sensual, Tango-flavored duet for a man and woman.  Technically demanding and stylish, it pleases with a sense of humor and peppery interaction.

Triptych (2012)
Music: Scott Killian, Francois Couprin, Franz Von Biber
Triptych links two distinct movements featuring Baroque composer, François Couperin’s, Troisième Leçons à deux voix and an original score by Scott Killian.  Inspired by the distinct qualities of these scores, Lavagnino has developed a movement lexicon with a sense of quiet beauty and reverence.  The contrasting second movement utilizes the pointe shoe in a weighted, stilted manner shaping a metaphor to express deep spiritual struggle.

Body Talk (2011)
Music: Guillermo Brown
For 6 dancers: 3 female, 3 male, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
By coaching dancers on the integrity of the movement and music, rather than mimicking hip-hop choreography, Lavagnino achieves an intersection between contemporary urban life and classical ballet that has yet to be seen elsewhere.

And then I knew 'twas Wind (2011)
Music:Toru Takemitsu, “And then I knew 'twas wind”
For 2 dancers: 1 female, 1 male, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
The dancers appear like mythical characters, emerging from a sensuous world of nature and memory, and allowing us to recreate them in our minds for a moment before returning our gaze to the bodies before us. Even after the music draws silent, the mind, still inhabiting the world of the piece, cannot help but continue the movement of the choreography and reflect with nostalgia on a world that may never have existed.

Snapshots (2010)
Music: Original Score by Kyle Olson
For 5 dancers: 2 female, 3 male, Stage Requirements: Proscenium
Snapshots is a wildly investigative piece in which the women harness warriorlike strength while the men cascade across the space in virtuosic flashes of escape. Kyle Olson’s percussion score supports the choreography’s extreme physicality and the subtle emotional undertones.

Ménage (2010)
Music: Soundscape by Scott Kilian
For 7 dancers: 4 female, 3 male, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
An interesting connection between Killian's score and Lavagnino's choreography is that both drew inspiration for this piece from late 19th and early 20th century French artists. In the case of Killian, it was the minimalist Erik Satie, for Lavagnino, it was Edgar Degas. While paintings and sculptures are immobile, however, Lavagnino's dancers begin to transform and disfigure, resurrect and remold. Simultaneously, characters emerge who are constantly swept by waves of contortion, distorting the vertical aesthetic of classical dance and creating a world where emotion and yearning are palpable.

Will (2009)
Music: Originial score by Jane Chung
For 4 dancers: 2 male, 2 female, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
Lavagnino creates an angular, taut movement vocabulary to explore the uncompromising aspects of ourselves that extend to our most personal relationships. Jane Chung's plaintive and dissonant score for a solo violin builds on the dancers' unnerving sense of detachment. Ultimately, we recognize that the conflict will not be resolved, yet the isolation of this impasse is eerily harmonious.

3 four 1 (2009)
Music: J. Halvorsen arrangement of Handel's Passacaglia
For 4 dancers: 3 female, one male, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
The choreography in this quartet plays off the virtuosic interplay of the two string voices in the Handel – Halvorsen score with quick, technical footwork, ample movement, and quirky partnering to reflect the pull and bounce of the music and individual qualities of each dancer. The male figure responds to the specific personality of each his three female partners.

Fell of Night (2008)
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet No. 14 in C Sharp minor, Opus 131
For 7 - 9 dancers, Stage Requirements: Gallery/Alternative Proscenium
Through a series of duets and trios where temporal and spiritual worlds intersect, Fell of Night explores the tension, imbalance, and ultimately, the support that may result from the loss of a loved one.

Facets (2008)
Music: Zoë Keating, Legions {War}, Fern, We Insist
For 7 dancers: 3 male, 4 female Stage Requirements: Proscenium
Facets is a full-bodied and exuberant study of space and partnering with a truly contemporary aesthetic. The sumptuous cello score by Zoë Keating inspires movement that is direct and challenging and then giving and tender. This allows for a rich movement lexicon and dramatic shifts in the choreography.
The choreography in this quartet plays off the virtuosic interplay of the two string voices in the Handel – Halvorsen score with quick, technical footwork, ample movement, and quirky partnering to reflect the pull and bounce of the music and individual qualities of each dancer. The male figure responds to the specific personality of each his three female partners.

Inward (2008)
Music: Original composition by Scott Killian with violinist Jacob Lawson
For 9 dancers, Stage Requirements: Proscenium
Inward features an original score by Scott Killian in collaboration with violinist Jacob Lawson. The work focuses on the disappearance of free-floating thought and imagination in this age of technology-driven isolation. Inward explores the pressure, speed and focused quiet of our opposing external and internal lives.

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