NINE

NINE, a solo work by choreographer and performer Nicole von Arx, was created in New York City during the height of the pandemic. Born from a period of global stillness and disconnection, the piece explores the artist’s search for meaning and connection in a time when the world had been flattened into screens.

Drawing from her background in both theater and contemporary dance, von Arx shifts through nine distinct versions of herself, each a response to inner longing and external chaos. In this performance, she pirouettes, slow-strips, and delivers a voiceless monologue, her body becoming both question and answer.

NINE begins in confinement, a figure boxed in, like a porcelain doll left to gather dust, then unravels into a layered meditation on identity, purpose, and climate anxiety. As the world quietly unravels, the work asks: What is the role of the artist in times of crisis? What does it mean to be witnessed? How do we still come together, to feel something real, in a fractured world?

Blurring the boundary between performer and observer, von Arx also invites the audience to participate in the unfolding of the piece through a simple game of raising hands.

Threading theatricality, vulnerability, and emotional precision through nine transformations, NINE is a solo staged at the edge of collapse where hope and despair meet in motion.

Length: 45 minutes evening-length | 5 minutes except

Performance: 1 Dancer

Premiere: December 5th 2020 at Theatre am Gleis in Winterthur, Switzerland

Performance and Choreography: Nicole von Arx

Choreographer Assistant: Julia Discenza

Costume Design: Caitlin Taylor and Nicole von Arx

Music Arrangement and Text: Nicole von Arx

Projections: Nicole von Arx and James Balog

Mentors: Dianne McIntyre and Risa Steinberg

Made possible with the support of: Theatre am Gleis, The School at Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellowship, Public School #34, and Center for Performance Research.

“Apparently, this is an excerpt from a larger work and seeing these six minutes definitely made me want to see more…. The dynamic that I saw in the interpretation, the inventiveness of her attack and the way that she controlled the space and used her energy to go past the screen that I was watching it on really impressed me. So that’s why I selected this work and I’m sure you’ll agree that the quality is just excellent.”

— Victor Quijada, Founder and Director of RUBBERBAND on selecting NINE for 92Y Harkness’s The Future Dance Festival

Photos by Arnaud Falchier