Christmas Oratorio, photo by Jaqlin Medlock

Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 3:00 pm
Scripps Studio Theater at the Paul Taylor Dance Company Studios
551 Grand Street, NYC
Tickets: $30

Audrey Ross presents a concert of works by and about Charles Weidman, performed by Alex Clayton, Nikolaj McKenzie, and the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble.

Lynchtown in rehearsal, photos by Peter Cai

Lynchtown (1936) is the culmination of Weidman’s suite, Atavisms, a three-part study of mob behavior. Choreographed in response to his childhood memory of witnessing a lynching in Omaha, Nebraska, Lynchtown challenges the dancers and audience to confront their own human capacity for violence.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (co-choreographed with Doris Humphrey in 1934, rechoreographed by Weidman in 1961) expresses joy, wonder, and community, with choreography whose architecture and scale rise to match the grandeur of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Lynchtown and Christmas Oratorio are being reconstructed by Gail Corbin, Director of the Doris Humphrey Foundation.

Also on the program will be “Men’s Dance” from New Dance (1936), performed by Alex Clayton of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. New Dance is considered Doris Humphrey’s masterwork, created during the existence of the Humphrey-Weidman Group (1928–1945). To this great work, Weidman contributed “Men’s Dance.”

Nikolaj McKenzie will perform Danse Americaine (1923), created by Ted Shawn for Charles Weidman, expressly designed to show off Weidman’s humor and acting ability.  The character is a mill town guy, full of bravado, bluster, and braggadocio.