Since its 2018 world premiere opened to rave reviews at the Fisher Center at Bard, anticipation has peaked for this must-see NYC debut on BAM’s stage: Along with composer Kaija Saariaho and painter Brice Marden, choreographer Pam Tanowitz creates a sublime and thrilling performance from T. S. Eliot’s beautiful, mysterious Four Quartets. These haunting and evocative poems emerged in 1943 from the chaos of World War II as hopeful testaments to the redemptive power of spirituality, art, and human goodness in the darkest of times. Tony Award–nominated Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Wit) performs Eliot’s text live in this much-lauded collaboration, the first authorized performance based on Four Quartets.

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz—recognized by The New York Times’ “Best of Dance” 2013 through 2020—is known for her deconstructed classical and modern dance, both familiar and entirely brand-new. Since its founding in 2000, Pam Tanowitz Dance has performed acclaimed work at venues including Fisher Center at Bard’s SummerScape Festival, Barbican London, Jacob’s Pillow, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. The work is deeply rooted in formal structures, manipulated and abstracted by Tanowitz until the viewer sees through to the heart of the dance. The juxtapositions and tensions that Tanowitz creates draw upon the virtuosic skill, musical dexterity, and artistic integrity of the PTD dancers.