A Project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund

Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center, in partnership with Dance/NYC, honor the 20th year since the events of 9/11, and current crises that face humanity today, with a livestreamed performance of the Table of Silence Project 9/11, an annual free public performance ritual for peace conceived and choreographed in 2011 by Jacqulyn Buglisi, Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre. Artistic collaborators for this year’s reimagined program include Composer/Music Director Daniel Bernard Roumain, spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Buglisi Dance Theatre Co-Founder/Principal Dancer Terese Capucilli, and Video Producer, Nel Shelby and Nel Shelby Productions. 

The socially distanced performance will begin this year with an excerpt of Ms. Buglisi’s masterwork Requiem,  created in 2001 as an immediate response to 9/11 and performed live at Lincoln Center this year. Premiering in the shadow of tragedy, Requiem became a vehicle for collective healing. For the 2021 Table of Silence Project 9/11, the original 10-foot-long silk costumes in vibrant reds, golds and greens will be transformed by costume designer Elena Comendador into tones of alchemic white and silver, to recall the ashes, purity and sacredness of the lost souls remembered on this anniversary.

The live performance feature is the reimagined Table of Silence Prologue ritual, created in 2020, performed live by 32 courageous dancers encircling Lincoln Center’s Revson Fountain with Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin, Marc Bamuthi Joseph performing his spoken word “Awakening” and Terese Capucilli leading the ritual as Bell Master. The livestream will also include the World Premiere of Études II, a film by Nel Shelby Productions that features dancers from around the world in movement stories inspired by the twelve repetitive sacred gestures of the Table of Silence Project; and the full presentation of the 2019 Table of Silence Project 9/11, a public tribute to the events of 9/11 and a call to action for peace in our world.

Table of Silence Project 9/11 is presented as part of Restart Stages, a program of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), which activates outdoor space through artistic and community initiatives that speak to our current moment, and reimagines cultural engagement in public space for a new era.  

"Dance has the power to transcend all boundaries and bring cultures together through our shared humanity. One step at a time, we make change for peace as we recognize our resilience for the future of all life on our beautiful planet.”

– Jacqulyn Buglisi