Up Close: An Evening with Johan Inger

Gibney Company, New York City’s dynamic creation-based repertory company, brings its fearless dancers and emotionally charged storytelling back to New York Live Arts, October 30–November 1, for its annual Up Close series.

This year’s program celebrates acclaimed Swedish choreographer Johan Inger, whose work moves from  gritty, poetic intensity to luminous joy. His raw meditation Rain Dogs, set to the unmistakable voice of Tom Waits, and his audience favorite Bliss, danced to Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert, and are bridged by the world premiere of When It Was, a new work created for Gibney Company described by the choreographer as “an elegy for beauty remembered, and for what slips away.”

More than a performance, UP CLOSE draws audiences into the Company’s creative world. With post-show conversations featuring Inger, his collaborators, and Gibney’s artistic team, the series offers a rare opportunity to experience the virtuosity, intimacy, and daring spirit that define Gibney Company.

Experience Gibney Company UP CLOSE — just four performances at New York Live Arts.

“The evening will not be a story, but a journey: from earth to elegy, from memory to possibility. A meditation on what remains, and what can still be found.” – Johan Inger

The 2025-2026 Season Artistic Associates: Graham Feeny, Amari Frazier, Madison Goodman, Tiare Keeno, Lounes Landri, Andrew McShea, Jie-hung Connie Shiau, Zack Sommer, and Madi Tanguay. Season Guest Artists: Joan Dwiartanto and Destinee Jimenez.

PROGRAM

Rain Dogs

Choreography: Johan Inger

Music: Tom Waits

Set & Costume Design: Johan Inger

Lighting Design: Peter Lundin

Duration: 35 minutes

World Premiere: September 30, 2011, Basel Ballett, Switzerland

A dog ventures beyond its territory, only to lose the scent of home—its trail washed away by rain. This image sparked Rain Dogs, Johan Inger’s reflection on disorientation, identity, and the often-contradictory nature of human connection. Set to the gravelly soundscape of Tom Waits, the work unfolds with irony, grit, and emotional depth.

When It Was

WORLD PREMIERE

Choreography, Costume and Set Design: Johan Inger

Music: Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber (Berlin Philharmonic, Director Simon Rattle) 

Lighting Design: Peter Lundin

Conceived as a farewell, When It Was is a poignant duet as an attempt to grasp what unexpectedly shifts and might never return. Set to the aching strains of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the work captures the unspoken strength and dependency in a partnership, up until a fragile and sudden place, where trust and balance are questioned, redefining the sense of identity.

These fleeting moments of intimacy and loss are bridging the exuberance of Bliss and the grit of Rain Dogs with quiet reflection and emotional depth.

Bliss

Choreography: Johan Inger

Music: Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett

Costume Design: Johan Inger and Francesca Messori

Set Design: Johan Inger

Lighting Design: Peter Lundin

Duration: 27 minutes

World Premiere: April 2016, Aterballetto, Italy

Set to Keith Jarrett’s legendary “Köln Concert,” this large-scale ensemble work channels the music’s free, soaring spirit into beautifully crafted movement, capturing its ecstatic energy and leaving audiences in a state of bliss.

About JOHAN INGER

The Swede Johan Inger (Stockholm, 1967) joined Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 1990 and was a high-profile dancer of the company until 2002.

His debut as choreographer (1995), also for Nederlands Dans Theater, quickly became promising with immediate recognition: for his ballets Dream Play and Walking Mad he received the Lucas Hoving Production Award in October 2001. Walking Mad was later also awarded the Danza & Danza Award 2005.

Johan left Nederlands Dans Theater to take on the artistic leadership of Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm in 2003 where he created numerous works.

Since 2008, Johan works as freelance choreographer and creates for many companies around the globe such as GoteborgsOperan, Ballet Basel, Swedish National Ballet, Compania Nacional de Danza, Aterballetto, Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Ballet BC and of course Nederlands Dans Theater, holding the position as Associate Choreographer from 2009 to 2016.

Between 2016 and 2023, among other creations, Johan also choreographed his own versions of the narrative pieces Petrushka (Ballets de Monte Carlo) and Sleeping Beauty (Aurora’s Nap) for the Stuttgart Ballet, and full evenings such as Carmen (CND), Peer Gynt (Ballet Basel), Don Juan (Aterballetto) and A Swan Lake for SemperOper Ballett Dresden.

He was honoured in 2016 with the Benois de la Danse Prize for his Carmen (CND- Madrid), the piece One on One (NDT2), and with the Danza & Danza award for his piece Bliss, as well in 2020 for his Don Juan as best Italian production. 

In 2022, Johan Inger also became artistic director of Take Off Dance, a training program for pre-professional dancers between the ages of 18 and 24 based in Sevilla.