Sculpture Dances: KYKUIT
September 11 @ 6:00 pm - September 13 @ 7:00 pm
$1.82 – $16.82
Multiple dates, please see full schedule on our website.
Sculpture Dances: Kykuit is an hour-long site-specific performance that will activate Kykuit’s sculpture gardens with new layers of movement and music. Developed by Site-Specific Dances, an interdisciplinary performance company led by Michael Spencer Phillips and Dino Kiratzidis, in collaboration with composer Phong Tran, the performance draws from Nelson Rockefeller’s bold curatorial vision for Kykuit’s gardens.
Originally designed by William Welles Bosworth, a landscape architect who later oversaw post-WWI restorations at Versailles, Kykuit’s gardens reflect classical ideals of symmetry and order. Rockefeller disrupted this inherited order by introducing monumental modernist sculptures, flown in by helicopter. He arranged them dramatically, relocating the sculptures until he found the perfect siting while paying careful attention to sightlines, dynamic spatial relationships, and the landscape.
Sculpture Dances: Kykuit responds to the tension between formalism and freedom with a living choreography of bodies and sound as dancers interact with the site’s sculptural and architectural elements. The performance invites the audience to navigate the estate as a “performance landscape,” experienced as a guided procession while a network of speakers adds a sonic layer to the performance. Through this multidisciplinary approach, Sculpture Dances: Kykuit explores how historical landscapes can serve as platforms for contemporary experiences, bridging architectural heritage with ephemeral performance.
Each performance will conclude with a reception hosted by The Pocantico Center.
Choreography: Michael Spencer Phillips
Music (Composer, Music Director): Phong Tran
Performance Design: Dino Kiratzidis
Collaborating Curator: Katrina London (Pocantico Center)
This performance will be held entirely outdoors. Audience members will be walking through gardens that are not ADA accessible. Some parts of the performance will require walking uphill, on grass, uneven terrain, and gravel paths and up and down stairs. Seating is extremely limited. Please wear sturdy, comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing.
Presented in partnership with the RBF’s Culpeper Arts & Culture program as part of the Culpeper Summer Performance Series.
The rain date for this performance is September 14, 2025.
