SAVE THE DATE ~ February 13-14, 2026
2 evenings of dance at the Mark Morris Dance Center Brooklyn, NY
4 works, including my 1983 quartet What Practice Makes
Saturday, February 14 a celebration of Liz Thompson, visionary director at Jacob's Pillow 1980-1990
info & tix: PeterStathasDance
Quick! Before the end of 2025, some kind of wrap-up. You might have been following on FB (martarenzi) or Instagram (#renzimarta) the series I've been posting of nearly 20 trailers from my videodance archives. Although not being revealed chronologically, the oldest is Thaw (2006) and the most recent so far is Kata (2023). Interestingly, both were shot at Rockland Lake State Park, apparently a touchstone for me. This year I'm a bit chagrined to report I won't be editing a WRAP UP of the year's work as I've done for the past several years. The truth is I haven't made anything brand new: hence my focus instead on the voluminous archives. I did say this was a Legacy year.
Speaking of legacy, I recently re-connected with Hetty King, EdD - Dr. Hetty King, to you - who danced with me years ago, notably in Soft Sell from 1986. Hetty asked if she could learn a dance from our time together to present at a dance teachers showcase next year. I suggested I'm Not Very Pretty, a solo which is actually derived from Soft Sell. Hetty is in fact as beautiful as ever, and very youthful looking. But she's an older not dancer than has ever performed Pretty, so I expect it will have a different resonance than previously.
Late in 2025, I did edit an "instructional" video of What Practice Makes, pictured above, to help in the re-construction of that 1983 quartet by the members ofPeter Stathas Dance. [So far my favorite clips in the edited video are from the 1983 Inside/Out audience at the Pillow, complete with Farrah Fawcett haircuts and rapt focus.] The Baryshnikov open rehearsal was instructive in itself; the process of editing several past versions was even more so. Notes to the dancers: more pedestrian treatment of the movement material; more ensemble behavior; a tighter kinesphere; a more condensed use of the stage space. I have some hope that the "instructional" video might turn out to have value as a bona fide dance video once there's performance footage from 2026 to intercut with it.
Very early in 2026 there's a too-quick residency-and-shoot here in Nyack that I don't dare share much news of yet. I've "commissioned" two dancers I hardly know, whose dancing I admire, to create something that we'll film at the Nyack Boat Club. It's a leap of faith, apt for the dawning of a new year.
I'm still sitting on the final version of The Lake (shot at said touchstone over the course of several months in 2024-25) because I can't quite figure out if it's finished. Funny, I thought it was more of a dance film than it seems to be. The other project that's been stymied this past year and is now postponed till 2026, will focus on the quietly powerful Francine Maitland Abbott who I met making Where Love Leads in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania several years ago.
So stay tuned for spring. And for 2026 mid-term elections, please.
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