REIMAGINE, Celebrating 30 Years

Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre Presents REIMAGINE: Celebrating 30 Years

A celebratory performance of dance with live music by Graham Reynolds
performed April 29 – May 1, 2022 at The Long Center / Rollins Theatre

In celebration of its 30th Anniversary, AADT’s critically-acclaimed Founding Artistic and Producing Director Andrea Ariel reunited with long-time collaborator and composer Graham Reynolds for an evening of dance and live music that fuses past repertoire with new work.

During REIMAGINE, audiences experienced the dynamic expanse of Ariel’s more than 32 years of choreography that “manifests a personae of poignant stillness, razor-edged frenzy, flowing grace, and of downright absurdity in expressing the dimensions of humanness,”(Austin Chronicle).  The celebratory performance brought together acclaimed works from past repertoire with new works that were all choreographed to scores for piano and strings composed and performed by Graham Reynolds with Alexis Buffum on violin and Ilia De la Rosa on cello. REIMAGINE was performed by the AADT’s ensemble members Luis Ordaz Gutierrez, Sade Jones, Clay Moore, Whitney O’Baugh, Ceci Proeger and Jun (Sunny) Shen.

Called “Evocative & enigmatic” (The Seattle Times) and his music “Beautiful and raucous…” (Vogue Magazine), Graham Reynolds began working with AADT in 1999 and over the span of 14 years, he has collaborated on 12 productions. The music for REIMAGINE includes pieces from Reynolds’ albums The Difference Engine: A Triple Concert, a collaboration with Tosca String Quartet and an early piece from Golden Arm Trio’s Tick-Tock Club. New works have been created to music originally composed by Reynolds for AADT’s shows Five Two Ten (2008) and The Geometry of Proximity (2011).

“Over all these years we were both developing our own work, and there are many threads of Graham’s compositions that had been part of my work during that time,” said Andrea Ariel. “I thought it would be interesting to reimagine older works while creating new ones to a selection of scores that resonated with these connections.”

Check out this absolutely eloquent and thoughtful review of REIMAGINE, Celebrating 30 Years by David Robinson for Central Texas Live Theatre. He brings his experience and insights of seeing the original works from 1990, 1996, 2008, and 2012. Read it HERE.

We were featured on Fox 7 morning news! A big thanks to anchor, Amanda Salinas, for creating this wonderful piece about our 30 years and our upcoming performance. Check it out HERE.

Here is a wonderful feature preview about our show and the journey to actually present it by Dave Robinson published by CTX Live Theatre. Read it HERE.

Here are some of the things people wrote in our surveys. Thanks to everyone who supported this work and all who came out to see it!

“There’s nothing like live performance with such high caliber of choreography and music. This kind of experience keeps us human and connected not only to each other but to our souls.”

“This production was truly amazing and breathtaking. The performance was undeniable perfect. Definitely a show stopper performance.”

“Transcendent. I found myself lost inside it, only remembering when it ended. Need More.”

A wonderful reminder that the world needs live dance. Wanted to clap between (dances) but the energy/emotion was so palatable it never seemed over, (in a great way). You go!

“Absolutely wonderful – so creative, engaging, inspiring, colorful, energizing, exciting and moving.”