Souvenir is co-commissioned and presented by BAC and LMCC, with generous support from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, as part of the River To River Festival 2015.
"What are the ideal conditions for dance? Souvenir forces us to confront this question—and offers a space in which to imagine the possibilities.” – Lydia Bell, 2013 BAC Story contributor
Souvenir Undone
Jun 19-20, 22, + 24-25 at 1PM + 4PM
Jun 27-28 at 1PM
Developed during a 2013 Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works-in-Progress Residency at BAC, and LMCC's Process Space residency in 2014, Souvenir Undone is Rachel Tess's ongoing dance project that explores the relationship between architecture and choreography, and choreographer and audience. The work delves into the concept of pre-existing institutional structures and how this design may impact the making and viewing of performance. As part of LMCC's River To River Festival 2015, Rachel Tess further investigates the relationships between surrounding environments and people occupying the space, in a site-specific work created in Fort Jay Magazine on Governors Island. Performers Rachel Tess and Luis Rodriguez move to the sounds of the island and adapt the choreography to the Magazine using constructed modules to move the existing architecture. Audiences will shift their vantage point throughout the performance.
These are bodies, These are motions, This is the place
Jun 21 at 1PM + 4PM
In a landscape of palpable textures, performers Rachel Tess and Benoît Lachambre navigate the link between inner body and tangible object and animating the inanimate through an exploration of the senses in These are bodies, These are motions, This is the place. Skin becomes canvas, bodies become abstracted, glimpses of the recognizable are sometimes present, and the byproduct of contact with the outer environment is an acoustic/rhythmic transmission of the sensuous. Letting be, being with, and sensing the profundity of silence allows the performers to refer unobtrusively to the complexities of human relationships.
Souvenir Undone is supported in part by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and Howard Gilman Foundation.
Souvenir Undone was developed, in part, during a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works-in-Progress Residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center and during a LMCC Process Space residency. Souvenir at LMCC in September, 2014 was made possible with a stipend for International projects from the Swedish Arts Council. Souvenir is also made possible by the generous supporters of Rachel Tess Dance (501c3 non-profit).
These are bodies, These are motions, This is the place is co-presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Baryshnikov Arts Center as part of the River to River Festival 2015.
These are bodies, These are motions, This is the place is produced by Rachel Tess Dance (Oregon, United States) with support from Par B.L.eux (Montreal, Canada). It was developed during a one month residency at Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC) in Skåne, Sweden with support from Skåne Region, Simrishamn’s Kommun, and The Swedish Arts Grants Committee.
"Review: ‘Souvenir Undone’ Beckons Its Audience Through Historic Fort Jay"

Rachel Tess
Choreographer/dancer Rachel Tess was educated at the Oregon Ballet Theater School 1985-1998, and the Juilliard School 2000-2002 under the artistic direction of Benjamin Harkarvy and Lawrence Rhodes. She has performed with Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Lar Lubovich Dance Company, Gothenburg Opera Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

BAC Story by Lydia Bell
Rachel Tess
Jul 1, 2013
If you went into Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Studio 6A today, you would find a small house. Upon further inspection, you might think of it more as a variation on a house. It has four walls, yes. It offers sanctuary, intimacy, and an ordering of space. But its primary purpose is as a container for dance.
Slide photos: Michael Mazzola / Bio photo: Luis Rodriguez