It’s been 23 years since the 9/11 attacks, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Buglisi Dance Theatre, will once again commemorate the tragic events, and the current crises that face humanity today, with its annual free public performance of the Table of Silence Project 9/11. The live ritual and call to action for peace, conceived and choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi (Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre) in 2011, takes place in on the Josie Robertson Plaza (between 63rd and 64th Streets, Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, at 10 Lincoln Center Plaza) on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, beginning at 8:10 am, and will also be livestreamed by Nel Shelby Productions on the Lincoln Center website and YouTube channel.
A project of Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund, artistic collaborators include bell master and principal dancer Terese Capucilli, visual artist Rossella Vasta, composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, John Ragusa on conch and flute, Pamela Fleming on conch and trumpet, percussionists Jeremy Smith and Stahv Danker, and over 150 dancers for peace, in community partnerships with Chelsea Factory, The Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Martha Graham Dance Center, Hunter College, Dance/NYC, Steps on Broadway, and others.
The performance begins with a conch shell sounding the call to action, while recognizing the indigenous people of our land. Accompanied by violin, flute, saxophone, trumpet, bells, vocalists, and the resonant beat of bass drums, the dancers enter the plaza and form patterns of concentric circles around the iconic Revson Fountain to create an ancient Peace Labyrinth, while repeating twelve symbolic ritualistic gestures. The sacred landscape thereby becomes filled with the transcendent energy of the Mandala for healing, peace, and harmony. At precisely 8:46 am, the dancers raise their arms skyward in a powerful gesture of universal peace, designed to awaken compassion and unity, bridging all cultural and geographical boundaries through a shared experience of resilience.
In the words of Buglisi, “Scattering the seeds of hope, we recognize the need for healing, compassion, and the courage that it takes to make change . . . One step at a time, we shall change the world.”
