All Brooklyn news
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Special sections
About The Paper
Mobile site
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds

Love ‘Letters’! Dance work inspired by history’s greatest epistles

The Brooklyn Paper

They’re words that move hearts — and feet!

Buglisi Dance Theatre will hit the stage of the Kingsborough Performing Arts Center this month with an exclusive (and free!) preview of its original ballet, “Letters of Love on Ripped Paper.” The work is based on historical figures’ mail to their sweethearts.

Creator Jacqulyn Buglisi hired actors to record excerpts of letters that date back to 750 AD.

There’s Napoleon Bonaparte’s heartfelt ode to his wife, Josephine; Abigail Adams’s notes to her husband, John Adams; and Queen Victoria’s passionate letters to Prince Albert. They’re all set to an original score by composer Daniel Brewbaker, with Buglisi choreographing various dances based on the emotive writing.

“I wanted it to come across like a play with a story,” Buglisi said. “The rhythm and pulse of the dances are inspired by the feelings behind the words.”

The company will take the show to the Joyce Theatre in West Brooklyn for a week-long run in February, but the Kingsborough production will feature a special act that won’t be part of that show: performers will dance to love letters written by audience members.

“We’ve already incorporated five audience submissions,” Buglisi said. “And we may improvise dances to additional letters that people bring to the Kingsborough show.”

So get writing!

“Letters of Love on Ripped Paper” at the Kingsborough Performing Arts Center [2001 Oriental Blvd. at Decatur Avenue in Manhattan Beach, (718) 368-5596], Jan. 18 at 8 pm. Free. For info, visit www.kcckpac.org.

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Links