Works & Process at the Guggenheim

presents a dance commission

Battleground
Ryan McNamara

January 10 - 12, 2018 at 7:30pm

"Over seventy years ago, Frank Lloyd Wright sketched a room to be built under the Guggenheim. People seem to think it's a theater. In actuality, it's a set Wright prophetically designed for the sci-fi cosplay house-music ballet-battle that fell into my mind the moment I saw the space. The Peter B. Lewis Theater will realize its destiny in my piece Battleground." - Ryan McNamara

Artforum Top 10 of 2016

Following the sold-out premiere of Battleground in 2016, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of this "Cosplay-Battle-Ballet" on January 10-12, 2017 at 7:30pm. During a rare residency opportunity that spanned five months, McNamara created a one-of-a-kind work made in and for the unique architecture of the Guggenheim's Peter B. Lewis Theater. Audience members act as embedded witnesses to the three dance squads battling for dominance in each of the space's three zones: the Red Choir Loft, the Green Balcony, and the Blue Stage. 

Cast of collaborators include:

Reid Bartelme, Effie Bowen, Jason Collins, Dylan Crossman, Kyli Kleven, Sigrid Lauren, Mickey Mahar, Courtney Spears, Brandon Washington