On Thursday, April 6th, Site-Specific Dances, co-founded by dancer/choreographer Michael Spencer Phillips and South Africa-born architect Dino Kiratzidis premiered at the Paul Taylor Dance Studio in lower Manhattan with an exceptional immersive experience that includes live dancers, a 16-musician chamber orchestra under the masterful direction of conductor David Hattner, and immersive videos that integrated the duo’s past performances in Northern Ireland,
Arizona and California.
The duo’s very first “exhibition performance” in New York City, as well as their first in an urban environment, was received unanimously with a standing ovation by a cross-section of guests from the worlds of art & culture, film, design, society, fashion, and more, including Liliana & William Cavendish, filmmaker Douglas Keeve, curators Brett Gorvy, Amy Gold, Job Piston and Eve Therond, Public Art Fund’s Nicholas Baume, Gustaf Demarchelier, and Lex Fenwick; photographers Cheryl Dunn, Charlotte Kidd, Christopher Makos & Jesse Frohman; and authors Coerte Felske & Toby Usnik, among many others …
“A truly exceptional & magical experience”, commented a guest, “and a feast for the eyes, ears, and soul”.
The duo also announced that the Rockefeller Brothers Fund commissioned them to create a performance in Summer 2023 at Olana, the 19th-century artist Frederic Edwin Church’s landmarked property located upstate.