Hollow City

Hollow City is an 11-minute intimate work for four dancers exploring the fluid and complex nature of modern-day friendship in an anxious world. The work examines how we seek acceptance, honesty, and empathy from those closest to us, presented through hybrid contemporary and ballroom partnering and processed through the dancers’ own bodies and temperaments. The world of Hollow City is one of introspection, reminding the audience that it is love between friends that saves us time and time again in times of anxiety and trouble.

Commissioned By The: Columbia Ballet Collaborative

World Premiere: Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York. 17 November, 2018

Director & Choreographer: Kosta Karakashyan, in collaboration with the dancers

Costume Design: Nadia Halim

Original Music & Live Performance: Jude Icarus

Dancers: Bridget Scanlon, James Chapman, Philip Grayson, Jamie Rieger

Artistic Director: Saskia Randle

Choreographic Mentor: Michelle Thompson Ulerich

Photography & Video: Ken Westrick

PRESS

New York Times: 7 Dance Performances to See This Weekend, Nov 15, 2018.

“Karakashyan’s final product felt deeply intimate as dancers wove solo and group sequences together under dark and dramatic lights.”
The Columbia Spectator: Artistry Shines at Columbia Ballet Collaborative Fall Performances, Nov 18, 2018.

“Hollow City was one of the more experimental pieces of the performance, featuring a live musician on stage, low lighting, and only four dancers [one of which en pointe]. This made for interesting and intricate choreography with complex partner work among all the dancers, relying on physical contact and different ranges of movement.”
Bwog: Columbia Ballet Celebration, Nov 18, 2018.

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan 2

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan 3

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan 4

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan 5

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Kosta Karakashyan 6