Oxbow—named for the remnant lakes that slowly create themselves only to be left behind—is an evening-length dance which explores the inexorable nature of the two forces that contain us all: space and time; geology and chronology. Bound together they form an unknowing and indifferent vessel for our every event and experience, our messy, intimate, human concerns of loss, love, and loneliness.

Choreography Ivy Baldwin
Performed by Lawrence Cassella, Anna Carapetyan, Eleanor Smith, Ryan Tracy, and Katie Workum
Music Composition Justin Jones, with additional music for piano composed and performed by Ryan Tracy
Lighting Design Michael O’Conner
Costume Design Alice Ritter
Set Design Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen
Musicians Ryan Tracy and Eleanor Smith
Creative Producer Meredith Boggia

Premiere American Dance Institute (World Premiere) and BAM (NY Premiere), 2014

“Oxbow is a riveting dance performed by an extremely talented company … Throughout Oxbow, the performers keep a close watch on one another as they interact in a lovely piece by an imaginative choreographer who is always worth watching as well.”
– The Week in New York

“In it, as in most of her work (she founded her small company 15 years ago), she pieces together images, thoughts, sensations, and memories to create a dance that is both visually clear and profoundly enigmatic.”
– Arts Journal

““Oxbow,” named for a bow-shaped lake formed by a meandering river, is suffused with sadness, and seems to continue a recent turn toward seriousness. Wade Cavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen’s set of twisted paper suggests the gnarled trees that come to menacing life in fairy tales, and Baldwin’s capricious imagination tries to find a way out.”
– The New Yorker

Oxbow was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and received its BAM Next Wave Festival premiere November 13-16, 2014. Oxbow was incubated during Baldwin’s time as the 2014 Harkness Foundation Artist in Residence at the BAM Fisher. Oxbow had its world premiere at American Dance Institute (ADI) October 18-19, 2014 where it also received production development support from ADI’s National Incubator residency program. Oxbow was made possible, in part, through the Movement Research Artist-in-Residence program, funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts and the Davis/Dauray Family Fund. Oxbow has received generous support from the William and Karen Tell Foundation, Jerome Foundation (50th Anniversary Grant), New York Foundation for the Arts BUILD, and Lumpkin Family Foundation. Oxbow was developed, in part, during creative residencies provided by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space Program, and Abrons Arts Center. Oxbow received generous support from the IBD Commissioning Circle–Kathleen Williams and Mark Abel, Michael Grossman, Robert and Judith Baldwin, Tina and Woodson Duncan, and numerous individuals across the country.