vildwerk. Debuts Inaugural Gala Uniting Dance, Music, and Conservation at The Bowery Hotel
Chiara Gorodesky, founder of vildwerk., announced the inaugural gala event at The Bowery Hotel in New York City, stating that leaders in various fields had come together because of a crisis in the world and the need to take action. She shared that vildwerk. was uniquely positioned to give a voice to conservation organizations in the performing arts, where there was currently none. Gorodesky expressed the importance of telling stories of what’s happening in the world through the arts and vowed to collaborate with local organizations to give them a platform.
Christopher Wheeldon, chairman of the evening, praised vildwerk. for being the first organization to invite choreographers and composers to work alongside conservationists and environmentalists. He expressed his excitement to be one of the first choreographers to present new work during the 2024 season.
A Night of World Premieres and Conservation Storytelling
The event featured a world premiere by choreographer Joshua Beamish, titled Golden Tortoise, performed by Mara Galeazzi, with music by Felipe Perez Santiago. What made this premiere especially moving was its origin story: standing beside a nearly extinct ploughshare tortoise and joining the gala by video, Turtle Conservancy Founder Eric Goode introduced the piece himself, grounding the performance in the very species it was created to honor. That direct link between the choreography and the animal it represented gave the evening’s central artistic statement a rare sense of urgency, transforming a dance premiere into a genuine act of advocacy.
Click here to view “Golden Tortoise”
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra cellists Dorothea and Rafael Figueroa also performed, following a video message from David K. Israel, his composition Windansea, along with a classical piece by Jean Baptiste Barrière, before closing with Dying Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns, joined on piano by Amber Salladin. Salladin, Co-Artistic Director of Inspire, Chorus for Unity, also conducted Grow Little Tree, sung by seven young vocal artists and accompanied by nine year old Anton Figueroa at the keyboard. Cassandra Longville performed a piece choreographed by former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater star Briana Reed.
Speakers throughout the evening included Professor Russell Mittermeier, Chief Conservation Officer of Re:Wild, Professor James Juvik, Senior Scientist at Turtle Conservancy, and Jorge Islas Lopez, Consul General of Mexico in New York. Host Sergey Gordeev closed the evening by calling on guests to take action and make a difference in the world.
Guests at the event included notable names from various industries. vildwerk. aims to raise awareness about global environmental conservation through dance and the performing arts, and to help create a sustainable home for everyone.
For more information, visit https://vildwerk.org/
