Fisher Center LAB presents
Beth Gill: Nail Biter
New Commission/World Premiere
March 31 – April 2, 2023
Fisher Center LAB presents
March 31 – April 2, 2023
The second Fisher Center LAB commission from acclaimed contemporary choreographer Beth Gill, Nail Biter moves the viewer through portals of myth, memoir, psychodrama, and horror. Characters emerge as a collection of representations of our collective unconscious as the work pierces through the existential weight of our time and channels our contemporary angst and anxiety.
Beth Gill Choreographer
Jon Moniaci Composer
Baille Younkman Costume Designer
Thomas Dunn Lighting Designer
Maggie Cloud Performer
Jennifer Lafferty Performer
Jordan Demetrius Lloyd Performer
Marilyn Maywald Yahel Performer
Angela F. Kiessel Production Stage Manager
Michelle Fletcher Manager
Nail Biter is co-commissioned by the Fisher Center at Bard, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Walker Art Center.
The development of Nail Biter was supported by funding from the King’s Fountain and by CPR – Center for Performance Research’s Artist-in-Residence Program, which is made possible, in part, through Dance/NYC’s Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Beth Gill is fiscally sponsored by the Foundation for Independent Artists, Inc., a non-profit organization administered by Pentacle (DanceWorks, Inc). Pentacle is a non-profit management support organization for the performing arts.
The Fisher Center is generously supported by Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center at Bard and Bard Music Festival, and Fisher Center and Bard Music Festival members, the Ettinger Foundation, the Thendara Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. The 23-24 season of Fisher Center LAB has received funding from members of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and S. Asher Gelman ’06 through the March Forth Foundation.
Beth Gill is an award-winning choreographer based in New York City since 2005. Her multidisciplinary works are captivating, cinematic timescapes, the product of long-term collaborations with celebrated artists. Gill is the proud recipient of the Herb Alpert, Doris Duke Impact, Foundation for Contemporary Art, and two “Bessie” awards. She has produced eight commissioned evening-length works met with critical acclaim. She has toured nationally and internationally and has been honored with (among others): Guggenheim Fellowship, NEFA’s National Dance Project grant, Princeton’s Hodder Fellowship, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Artist in Residence.
Gill’s dances are serious, slow-moving, and chiseled, meditative experiences poised between performance and visual art. They feel like pressurized objects sustaining tension and seeking release. Paradoxically her work is both intimate and alienated, sensual and ascetic. She dreams and visualizes her dances, transforming her unconscious into iconographic choreography. The imagery and symbolism resonate, inviting audiences into associative thought. In this way, her work is in dialogue with contemporary psychology and folk traditions.
Jon Moniaci is a composer, performer, and computer programmer. Interested in improvisation and live electro-acoustic performance, he has collaborated extensively with dance and performance makers. A frequent collaborator of choreographer Beth Gill, his score for her dance Electric Midwife received a 2011 Bessie New York Dance and Performance Award. He has also worked with Chase Granoff, Andrew Dinwiddie, Jeff Larson, Peter Kerlin, Anna Sperber, Marissa Perel, Alex Escalante, Mark Jarecke, Dean Moss, and Peter Jacobs. He plays music with Stephen Rush and Chris Peck in their project Crystal Mooncone.
Baille Younkman is an artist, designer, and educator from Columbus, Ohio. After having studied fashion design and sculpture, Baille received her B.F.A from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Columbus, OH, where she is building her eco-art practice. Baille is an advocate for creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and slowing down to spend more time outside.
Thomas Dunn designs lighting internationally, treating it as both a sculptural medium and a facet of stage design. Previous works with Beth Gill include Brand New Sidewalk, Catacomb, and New Work for the Desert. Recent credits with other artists include Difficult Grace with Seth Parker Woods; Mud/Drowning with JoAnne Akalaitis and Philip Glass; Most Happy in Concert with Daniel Fish; Epochal Songs with Muna Tseng and (posthumously) Keith Haring; Ocean Filibuster with Katie Pearl and Lisa D’Amour, and Is This A Room with Tina Satter. Other credits include works with: Jonathan Bepler, Wally Cardona, Steve Cosson, Annie Dorsen, D.D. Dorvillier, Trajal Harrell, Ted Hearne, Jennifer Lacey, Noémie Lafrance, David Levine, Molly Lieber, Ong Keng Sen, Zeena Parkins, Jay Scheib, and Eleanor Smith. Thomas is the recipient of a Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Lighting Design as well as a Bessie Design Award for Outstanding Visual Design.
Maggie Cloud is a performer and acupuncturist based in New York City. She has been seen in the choreographic work of Moriah Evans, Beth Gill, John Jasperse, Neal Medlyn, Sarah Michelson, Pam Tanowitz, Gillian Walsh, the Merce Cunningham Trust, and The Metropolitan Opera. Maggie has taught at Chen Dance Center, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and at the University of the Arts.
Jennifer Lafferty is from Southern California. She started working with Beth Gill in 2010. She has been in the work of Sarah Michelson, Rebecca Lazier, Vicky Shick, Yasuko Yokoshi, Christopher Williams, Michou Szabo, Renée Archibald, Anna Sperber, Nina Winthrop, and Marilyn Maywald-Yahel. She has been involved with programming at Roulette (2014–17) and Weis Acres (2018).
Jordan Demetrius Lloyd is a dance artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He studied at The College at Brockport after growing up in Albany, NY. He has collaborated with and performed for Karl Rogers, Beth Gill, Netta Yerushalmy, Monica Bill Barnes, Joanna Kotze, Tammy Carrasco, Catherine Galasso, Ambika Raina, and David Dorfman Dance. He is currently teaching at Rutgers University and his work has been produced by: New York Live Arts, BRIC, ISSUE Project Room, Baryshnikov Arts Center, BAAD!, Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, and The Center for Performance Research. Recently he received the 2021–23 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship. For more, please head to jordandlloyd.com.
Angela F. Kiessel (Broadway)A Christmas Carol with Jefferson Mays, Frozen, Once on This Island, The Humans, Tuck Everlasting, Honeymoon in Vegas. (Selected Off-Broadway) Little Shop of Horrors, Space Dogs (MCC), Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (The Public Theater), Shear Madness, The Laramie Project Cycle (BAM). University of Michigan ’09. Love & thanks to Mike, Judy, Justin, Nancy, & my family.
Marilyn Maywald Yahel is a dance artist and Feldenkrais teacher based in New York City. She has worked with Maggie Bennett, Milka Djordjevich, Beth Gill, Melanie Maar, Yin Mei, Steven Reker, Melinda Ring, Vicky Shick, and Katie Workum. She has presented her own works-in-progress and short-form solos throughout NYC. Marilyn is originally from Nashville, TN, and attended Arizona State University. She lives with her family in Putnam Valley, NY.
For those coming from NYC, We recommend the following Amtrak itinerary for the April 1st and 2nd performances at 5 pm.
Departing Train
Penn Station to Rhinecliff • Station 291 Ethan Allen Express, departing at 2:19 pm.
Cab Info
Rhinecliff station pick up at 4 pm; Fisher Center pick up at 6:30 pm. Book your to/from cab trip 24–48 hours in advance with Kingston Kabs at 845-331-8294.
Returning Train
Rhinecliff Station to Penn Station • 64 Maple Leaf, departing at 7:59 pm.
Nearby villages and towns in the Hudson Valley boast a large selection of restaurants, as well as a variety of hotels, motels, inns, and bed & breakfasts.
Eat & StayBard College’s main campus is located in Annandale-on-Hudson (a hamlet of Red Hook), New York, on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 90 miles north of New York City and 220 miles southwest of Boston. The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus. Click the Google map below, or get directions by entering the following address into your GPS: 60 Manor Avenue, Red Hook, NY 12571.
From the East
If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.9 miles, turn left onto Annandale Road, then turn right onto Manor Ave.
From the West
If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.5 miles, turn left onto Annandale Road, then turn right onto Manor Ave.
LUMA Theater
Accessible Seating
Wheelchair-accessible seating is available at all performances. Due to the flexible nature of this performance space, wheelchair seating varies for each production.
Wheelchair-Accessible Restrooms
Restrooms at all locations are wheelchair accessible. Single-use restrooms are available at most locations.
All-Gender Restrooms
Bard College and the Fisher Center support guests of any gender identity/expression in using the restroom of their choice. Additionally, all-gender restrooms are available at all venues.
Our driving principle is to operate with a duty of care for all our community—artists, audiences, and staff alike.
In order to share performances with as many audience members as possible, we ask that you read our Health and Safety Protocols on the FAQs page and commit to participating in our community of care.
Read the FAQs and Safety Protocols
