BODY IN SPACE | A look back at when Rapture choreography celebrated the striking fluidity of Frank Gehry's design

Rapture was a site-specific choreography by Noémie Lafrance performed, in 2008, on the undulating roofs of the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The performance featured dancers traveling across the entire structure of the building, using innovative rigging systems.

Rapture captured the building’s dynamic architecture in movement, celebrating the striking fluidity of Frank Gehry’s design.

The performance of Rapture was preceded by Manorfield, a study of topography and time, performed by Bard College Dance Students. To fully experience Rapture, the audience was invited to travel around the building and view the performance from different vantage points.

Facts & Credits
Choreography   Noémie Lafrance
Dancers Heather Hammond, Corey Harrower, Gary Lai, Jeffrey Lyon, Chelsea O’Brian, Kevin O’Connor
Composer Janek SchaeferLive Strings Bard College Conservatory of Music
Costumes Noémie Lafrance
Lighting Design Thomas Dunn
Rigging Design Sean Riley, Gravity Design
Riggers Spencer Evans, Phil Ho, David Freitag
Commissioner The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College as part of Summerscape and the Bard Music Festival

Year  2008
Location  The exterior wall of the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Noémie Lafrance is an acclaimed choreographer, film director, conceptual artist, writer and producer based in Brooklyn, known for her innovative work in public spaces and for engaging in public interventions. Her work has been said to have “changed the fabric of New York City” – La Presse. 

Lafrance’s work presented as part of the Whitney Biennial (2004), the Whitney Museum at Altria (2005), the Neuberger Museum of Art, the “Festival TransAmeriques (FTA)” in Montreal (2008), SESC Pinheiros, in Sao Paolo, Brazil (2009), “Mellemrum Festival,” Copenhagen (2009), PS 122 (2004), the Black & White Gallery in Brooklyn (2003-2006-2011), the Irondale Theater and the “Brooklyn BEAT Festival” (2012), but is usually staged in public spaces (city-owned spaces) and invested in “reclaiming the public space.” Lafrance’s work Agora, seen by over fifteen thousand, reopened the McCarren Park pool site to the public in 2005 after 20 years of abandonment. Her signature work Descent, recipient of a Bessie Award and named “best performance of the year” in Time-Out NY and NY Times, was staged in a stairwell located in a city criminal court house. Her work Noir was staged in a public parking garage and seated the audience in cars, and her work Homeused her own body as the site of the performance. Her large-scale work Rapture staged the curved roofs of legendary architect Frank Gehry.