HESPERIDES
Company:
Douglas Dunn + Dancers
After eight sold-out performances this past April, Hesperides, with choreography by Douglas Dunn, costume design by Mimi Gross, lighting design by Lauren Parrish, and video design by Jacob Burckhardt, is returning with seven performances. Shows are Friday & Saturday, November 13 & 14, and Tuesday through Saturday, November 17-21 (8:00 PM) at Douglas Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, Third Floor, in Manhattan. Hesperides will be performed by 12 dancers, including Dunn.
Tickets for Hesperides, priced at $20-$25, are on sale now and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
Elevator Access
Limited seating
Doors open 30 minutes before curtain
Running time approximately 1 hour
No late seating.
Seats must be claimed no later than 10 minutes before curtain each night.
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"Idiosyncratic and unpredictable, attending a performance by Douglas Dunn + Dancers is to embark on a small adventure.”
— thINKing dance, Brendan McCall, May 6, 2026
Dunn writes of his hour-long dance:
Have you ever looked into one of Joseph Cornell's boxes and imagined its contents coming to life? Here's your chance. Lauren Parrish makes and lights the box. Douglas Dunn and Jacob Burckhardt collaborate on the music, classical and contemporary, mixed with sounds of nature. Dancers appear, costumed by Mimi Gross. They're not a group. Individuals wander in with separate agendas, deciding as they go how to pass mythical time. Why aren’t they relating more? Is there strength, will, determination and courage present enough among them to overcome somnolent decadence and activate the scene? Are these people trapped in a make-believe world of aesthetic pleasure and beauty, or, however dreamily, are they preparing to go to work to correct the high percentage of human failure?
Douglas Dunn, Choreography, Music & Text Selections
Mimi Gross, Costume Design, Set Collaboration (painted surfaces)
Lauren Parrish, Lighting and Scenery Design
Jacob Burckhardt, Video Window & Sound Design
Dancers: cove barton, Alexandra Berger, Janet Charleston, Grazia Della-Terza, Douglas Dunn, Kieran McBride, Emily Pope, Cassie Roberts Rossi, Deniz Sancak, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Timothy Ward, Angela Zhang
About the Artists
Douglas Dunn is a New York-based dancer and choreographer working since 1971. He was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1969 to 1973, and a founding member of Grand Union from 1970 to 1976. Following duet, solo, and film work in the 1970s, he formed Douglas Dunn + Dancers in 1978, and in 1980 he set Stravinsky’s Pulcinella on the Paris Opera Ballet. He is Board Member Emeritus of the New York City presenting organization Danspace Project. He likes to collaborate with poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, composers, and playwrights to offer a multifaceted theatrical experience. In 1998 he was awarded a NY Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement, and in 2008 was honored by the French government as Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. While continuing to lead Douglas Dunn + Dancers, he teaches Open Structures at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and presents salons at his studio at 541 Broadway in Manhattan. His book of collected writings, Dancer Out of Sight, is available at Amazon.com.
All the while making underground movies, Jacob Burckhardt has worked at a variety of jobs: Steel Mill laborer, grape harvester, Fuller Brush man, truck driver, taxi driver, camera repairman and freelance photographer. As an audio engineer his work in sound ranges from recording audio around the world to mixing soundtracks for independent films at a midtown studio. He now teaches in the Film/Video department at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After making two feature movies in the 1980s, he went back to making shorts where it is possible to preserve a direct relationship between the film and the film maker. Burckhardt first worked with Dunn in 1988, creating the soundtrack for Matches at The Kitchen Center.
Mimi Gross has been active as a painter, set designer, costume designer and a teacher. Working in many media, she has exhibited internationally and her art is in numerous significant public and private collections. Her diverse output includes collaborations with many artists and designers. She has collaborated with Douglas Dunn on over twenty-five dances since 1979. She has gratefully received fine arts grants from NEA (twice), NYFA, Institute of Arts and Letters, Emily Harvey Foundation residency, and for sets and costumes “the Bessie." She lives in New York City. Through early June 2026, two large iconic installation sculptures and the original documentary film, from “Ruckus Manhattan”(1976) were on view in the Brooklyn Museum lobby.
Lauren Parrish is a technical production manager and visual designer for live events and spaces. She spent 15 years touring as a production manager and lighting supervisor with dance and theater companies, such as American Repertory Ballet, KEIGWIN + COMPANY, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, EnGarde Arts, and the New York Neo-Futurists. During this time, Lauren collaborated on, planned, and adapted dozens of pieces, realizing artists' visions on stage. Lauren transitioned into venue management in 2016, where she engaged in infrastructure and capital projects that kept venues safe, functional, and aesthetically pleasing, adding improved, streamlined, and current technological systems. During the pandemic, Lauren’s commitment to keeping theater workers employed led to her expanding the services of the scenic shop at Abrons Arts Center to outside companies. Over three years the shop grew, serving Off-Broadway shows and museums while supporting the shows produced at the Center. In 2024, Lauren founded Parrish Productions, distilling over 20 years in live entertainment experience into a company focused on providing various production support services, including fabrication.
For more information about Douglas Dunn + Dancers, please visit our website: http://www.douglasdunndance.com
