Site-Specific Dances Makes Its Grand New York Debut at Paul Taylor Dance Studio
In April of this year, Site-Specific Dances, a groundbreaking collaboration between renowned American dancer and choreographer Michael Spencer Phillips and South African born architect Dino Kiratzidis, made its grand debut at the prestigious Paul Taylor Dance Studio in lower Manhattan. This immersive production offered an exceptional experience, featuring live dancers, a sixteen musician chamber orchestra led by the masterful conductor David Hattner, and captivating immersive videos seamlessly integrating the duo’s previous performances in Northern Ireland, Arizona, and California.
The inaugural exhibition performance in New York City, and the pair’s first in an urban setting, garnered resounding applause from a diverse array of attendees hailing from the realms of art, culture, film, design, society, and fashion. Among the distinguished guests were Liliana and William Cavendish, filmmaker Douglas Keeve, esteemed curators Brett Gorvy, Amy Gold, Job Piston, and Eve Therond, Nicholas Baume of the Public Art Fund, Christine de Lassus, Gustaf Demarchelier, Ricky Clifton, Lex Fenwick, photographers Cheryl Dunn, Charlotte Kidd, Christopher Makos, and Jesse Frohman, and authors Coerte Felske and Toby Usnik, among many other luminaries.
Site-Specific Dances represents a groundbreaking approach to immersive performance, where the site itself becomes the narrative. In each location, the project involves collaboration with local dancers, experts in their field, and community leaders to create a unique artistic endeavor. After two years of traversing the globe, the directors are thrilled to share the fruits of their experiences through performance installations that harmoniously combine live chamber orchestra, dance, and video documentation. The eagerly anticipated launch of Site-Specific Dances took place over three evenings, from April 6th to 8th, in New York City, showcasing the fusion of live music, dance, and immersive video projection.
Where Architecture Meets Movement
What distinguishes Site-Specific Dances from a traditional performance is how deeply the surrounding architecture shapes the choreography itself, rather than simply hosting it. Kiratzidis’s background in designing spaces for the performing arts brings a distinct sensitivity to how movement interacts with structure, light, and sound within a given room. The result is a production where the venue is never a neutral backdrop, but an active collaborator in telling each location’s story.
Michael Spencer Phillips is a multi disciplinary artist, choreographer, and producer whose work intersects dance, film, community engagement, environmentalism, and social issues. His impressive portfolio includes commissioned works for esteemed institutions such as Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Universal Records, UC Berkeley, Ariel Rivka Dance, Open Look Festival, Notre Dame, University of Michigan, Interlochen, and the Ailey School, among others. Phillips holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Michigan and has served as a panelist for esteemed organizations including the New York State Council for the Arts, the Joyce Theater, the American Dance Festival, CBS News, and the NYC Department of Education. His work has garnered support from prestigious entities including the Stonewall Community Foundation, ArtsEverywhere Canada, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Bloody Sunday Trust, and the Swedish Arts Council. With over twenty five years of experience as a dancer in New York City, Phillips has established himself as a true luminary in the field.
Dino Kiratzidis, an architectural designer at the esteemed firm Diller Scofidio and Renfro, has primarily focused on concept and schematic development for projects in the performing arts, museums, institutional buildings, and most recently, the new arts school at Rice University. Kiratzidis earned his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University and has been invited as a reviewer at renowned institutions including Yale University, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has also taught design studios at UPenn and the Yale School of Architecture. In 2020, Kiratzidis co-founded Site-Specific Dances alongside Michael Spencer Phillips, marking a significant collaboration that bridges the worlds of dance and architecture.
