2nd Best Dance Company
Slumber

DECEMBER 9-11, 2021

This is a play in 2 acts, there will be a 15-minute intermission

Sound warning:
Performers enter with raised voices and will scream at multiple points during the performance without warning.

Content warning:
The performance contains sexual content, alluded to or referenced in metaphor; no explicit language is used.

This is a story we know, mostly, with princes and magic and good vs evil and epic battles with ugly dragons. And it’s a story about waiting. A story we are telling right now. Even if it scares us. Even if we don’t know what comes next. Or if it will be worth it. Even if waiting becomes ‘the thing’ instead of the thing we were waiting for. Suppose we tell it anyway. Suppose we tell it together.

Slumber is a new evening-length work by Hannah Garner’s 2nd Best Dance Company that walks the fuzzy line between dance and play to share a well-known story about waiting: Sleeping Beauty. ‘Slumber counters the perception that waiting is a passive state, wonders how we make meaning, and questions what is valued in live performance and, subsequently, what is valued in life itself.

Written, directed, and choreographed by:
Hannah Garner
in collaboration with the performers

Performed by:
Courtney Barth
Hannah Garner
Will Noling
Hsiao-Jou Tang
Ryan Yamauchi

Music by:
Sky's the Limit by The Duprees

Petite Fleur by Sidney Bechet

Act II: Una Furtiva Lagrima…Un Solo Instante
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Performed by Enrico Caruso

Inspirit - Takuya’s Ryūteki Dragons
Composed and performed by Julianna Barwick

The Sleeping Beauty, Op 66, TH.13 / Act 3: 21 Variation II - The Silver Fairy
Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Performed by Orchestra Victoria,
Conducted by Nicolette Fraillon

Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) - For Ryan
by The Gas House Gang

Les Chansons des Roses: V. Dirait-on
Composed by Morten Lauridsen
Performed by Chamber Choir of Europe
Conducted by Nicol Matt

Dionysus by Jocelyn Pook
Sung by Melanie Pappenheim

Costumes by:
CM Carney

Additional Direction by:
Ann Noling

Lighting Design by:
Matt Morris

Graphic by:
Ariel Noltimier Strauss

Photos by:
Ingrid Holmquist

2nd Best Dance Company creates, performs, and teaches physically rigorous, sometimes virtuosic, almost always slapstick dance-plays. Since their founding in 2016, 2nd Best connects to audiences, students, and professionals to share emotionally accessible work that is relatable, honest, and resonant. They play very seriously and invite audiences into that play to ask: what does it mean to be alive?

Led by Hannah Garner, recently named ‘25 to Watch’ by Dance Magazine, 2nd Best Dance Company “tackles topics like death and queer identity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit” (Dance Magazine). Pursuing these interests, the work moves past the traditional dance proscenium to include collaborations in sculpture, animation, theater, film, and site-specific works. They seek beauty in failure, explore limits of the body, and find solace in the humor of being human.

2nd Best has been commissioned by GroundWorks DanceTheater, Gibney’s ‘dance-mobile’ series, GALLIM x CreateArt, SMUSH Gallery, Kizuna Dance, A-Y/Dancers, musical artists (such as Snail Mail, Frankie Cosmos, and Half Waif), and SUNY Purchase, among others. 2nd Best was the 2019 Resident Artist of Triskelion Arts and a 2021 Moving Woman Resident Artist at GALLIM. 2nd Best works in person in NYC and lives online at 2ndbestdance.com.

Courtney Barth (she/her/hers) is from Las Vegas, NV, and trained at Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts. She is a performer, dancer, and collaborator based out of New York. Courtney earned a BFA in Dance at SUNY Purchase where she performed works by Kyle Abraham, Martha Graham, and Kevin Wynn. She studied abroad at London Contemporary Dance School, where she performed as an original cast member in Polaris by Crystal Pite at Sadler’s Wells. In New York, she has collaborated with Shannon Gillen, Kensaku Shinohara, and Loni Landon. She currently works with Doug Varone and Dancers and 2nd Best Dance Company.

Hannah Garner (she/her/hers), recently named ‘25 to Watch’ by Dance Magazine (2020), is an NYC-based dancer and dance-maker. She graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Performance/Composition and a minor in Arts Management. Hannah has worked with Doug Varone, Raja Feather Kelly, Sue Bernhard, and Megan Williams, at The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Park Avenue Armory, and New York Live Arts. Her work as 2nd Best Dance Company “tackles topics like death and queer identity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit” (Dance Magazine) and has been presented and commissioned nationally. Hannah is currently a contemporary faculty member at Gibney Dance Center.

Will Noling (they/them), is a performer and educator born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Will graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance with a BFA in Dance Performance. Will also serves as Community Actionist and Partnership Manager for Hands are for Holding® at Gibney, facilitating movement workshops for trauma survivors and working in schools with young people to promote healthy relationships. Will was previously an Artistic Associate with Gibney Company and company apprentice for Doug Varone and Dancers and has performed works by Kyle Abraham, Raja Feather Kelly, Chuck Wilt, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and Crystal Pite.

Hsiao-Jou Tang (she/her/hers) was born and raised in Taiwan. In 2008, she graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. Hsiao-Jou was a company member of Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion (2010-2012) and Doug Varone and Dancers (2012-2019). As a freelance dancer, Hsiao-Jou has had the pleasure of working with John Jasperse, Netta Yerushalmy, Joanna Kotze, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Nancy Bannon, Shen Wei Dance Arts, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Luke Murphy- Attic Projects, Xan Burley+Alex Springer, and The Pharmacy Project, among others.

Ryan Yamauchi (he/him/his) was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and began his dance training at the Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts. He later moved to New York and received his BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. Ryan has had the pleasure of dancing with 2nd Best Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, Loni Landon Dance Projects, and Sidra Bell Dance New York. He has performed as a guest dancer with Gibney Dance Company and Santa Barbara Dance Theater. As a choreographer, Ryan has been commissioned to create work for students at SUNY Purchase and The Juilliard School.

CM Carney (she/her/hers) is an artist and designer whose work spans clothing, sculpture, and performance. Currently, her studio practice is focused mainly on costuming and creating ready-to-wear clothing under the label name Social Call. She is a graduate of SUNY Purchase College, presently living and working between Brooklyn, NY and her hometown in Montclair, NJ, with her unfriendly but lovable cat called 'chicken.'

Ann Noling (she/her/hers) is a director and teacher from Brooklyn. Previous collaborations with 2nd Best include Red, and Pony. Other favorite projects include Pim’s Metamorphosis by Neil Redfield, Jessica Dickey’s ensemble Amish Project at WTF professional training program, and Julia Izumi’s Meet Murasaki Shikibu Followed by Book-Signing and Other Things in the NYC Fringe. She has directed new work seen at The Tank, Dixon Place, The Brick, and The Fourth Street Theatre, and has had directing fellowships with Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Manhattan Theatre Club. MFA in directing from Brooklyn College.

Matt Morris (he/him/his) is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer with a wide array of lighting design experience including theater, dance and movement, music events, comedy, broadcast, and even theme park lighting. He has designed in various parts of the US from New York to California, as well as internationally in England, Scotland and Dubai. He has had the privilege of designing at Triskelion Arts since 2019 and his Trisk credits include Jamal Jackson Dance Company's "846", 2nd Best Dance Company "Red", and Nicole Wolcott's "Luggage Lost".

Special thanks to Triskelion Arts, Ann Noling, Ariel Noltimier-Strauss, The Garner Family, Rebecca Fitton, and Alexa Carroll.

Slumber was made possible by Emilia DeRossi, Motive Brooklyn, the GALLIM Moving Women Residency and Andrea Miller, Atlantic Center for the Arts and Doug Varone, The Croft, and Chen Dance Center.

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