The Inclusive Empire of Gibney Dance

From new work to vital spaces, Gina Gibney offers the dance world a rich array

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If time management is a challenge, however, she doesn’t show it. She discusses budget figures, scheduling logistics, and fundraising details as enthusiastically as she talks about finding the music for Folding In, her new work which runs November 2-12 at the Center.

Then, a little over five years ago, things changed on the fifth floor. “When various tenants left, I started to realize it would actually be a wonderful thing for the dance community to have that space — and that it also might help the organization to have a more efficient financial model,” Gibney says. Even though expansion had not previously been on her mind, she decided to take the plunge.

There’s a primary performance space — a black box theatre — and two of the studios double as performance venues. Gibney chose the large second-floor studio for performances of Folding In. She envisions the setting for her new dance as a white box. “I wanted to keep it simple — maybe because my life is so complicated!” she says.

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The piece is set to an atmospheric score in 11 sections with shifting moods, by Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. “I always work from a core image or theme. I started to think about the notion of how life offers these opportunities where you extend yourself — physically, psychologically, emotionally, spatially,” Gibney says. “I wanted to explore a sense of spatial expansiveness, how you learn and grow, and then how you return and find solace inside of yourself.”

She’s clearly finding balance, and great satisfaction, in the larger, more diversified dance organization she now helms. “For decades, I felt we were doing well just by maintaining our model, staying solvent, and keeping our one studio,” she says. “It’s just been extraordinary to see what happens when you get the wind at your back. It’s really been an incredible experience. I think there’s so much more that we can do. I think the dance field really needs organizations like this that are bringing people together, creating space for people to meet and work together, and have experiences that help them grow as artists.”

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Susan Reiter regularly covers dance for TDF Stages

Performance photo by Julieta Cervantes. Photo of Gina Gibney by Christopher Duggan.

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Susan Reiter covers dance for TDF Stages.