Inspired by the conventions of Western music and theater – choirs, orchestras, and dramas – this new dance work explores how movement can communicate what language cannot. At the center is the figure of the conductor: a conduit not only of timing and dynamics, but of something more elusive. What better way to express the indescribable than through the body? 

The work draws on the energetic pull of the conductor, the hive mind of musicians, the stage directions that dissolve into the movements and voices of actors. The communion involved in creating and enacting performance sets up a system of relations that produces – if we’re lucky – a sense of the sublime. Here, the invisible forces that shape performance are brought forward, revealing momentary, strange, deeply human encounters. 

Performed by an ensemble of five dancers, A Note That Bends centers on deep listening and collective awareness, translating musical behaviors into movement. Dramaturg Kris Pourzal contributes an evolving textual mirror that reflects and reframes the dance as it unfolds. Composer Ryan Wolfe creates a score that blends driving orchestral repetition with romantic piano passages, building a surreal atmosphere of tension and magic. The result is a postmodern dance-theater work that moves between harmony and dissonance – and might even get you to sing along.