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Morven moves

Thursday, May 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Photo credit: Grant Jacoby & Dancers performing at the 2023 Morven Moves.

Join us for an evening of dance! In line with Morven’s mission of preserving and celebrating authentic stories, “Morven Moves” is a biennial program that does so through dance. This year will feature a performance of Garden by Grant Jacoby & Dancers.

FOR MORVEN MEMBERS

Please note that you must login into your Morven Member account in the upper righthand corner of the registration page in order to access the member rate.

In line with Morven’s mission of preserving and celebrating authentic stories, “Morven Moves” is a biennial program that does so through dance. This year will feature an outdoor performance of Garden by Grant Jacoby & Dancers. Taking homage and imagery from historical structures, landscapes, weather patterns, and minute textural details from the state of New Jersey, Garden asks: how do we encounter and reframe the everyday of what was then, and what is now?

This event will take place outside. Chairs provided. The performance will be followed by a talkback with the choreographer and dancers. Light refreshments offered. 

Space is limited so please register early to reserve your spot. In the event of inclement weather, the program will move inside Morven’s Stockton Education Center.

More About 'Garden'

On a macro level, Garden explores viewing the dancing body as an element of man-made nature. Taking homage and imagery from historical structures, landscapes, weather patterns, and minute textural details from the state of New Jersey. The dance asks: how do we encounter and reframe the everyday of what was then, and what is now? How do we acknowledge and honor the lineage of those who have traversed and inhabited the dirt, the grass, the pavement, the sand, and the sea? What happens when we zoom out and in on the familiar, and unfamiliar, to unearth what lies beneath?

On a micro level, Garden attempts to unpack notions of displacement, discovery, and geographic acceptance. Filtering this concept through a queer lens, the work touches on how those marginalized in many spaces can find solace and a sense of belonging elsewhere. Or, how they are forced to either fight against, or hide within, spaces that actively want to negate their existence under falsehoods of “patriotism.” Additionally, what does it mean to find a home somewhere, in particular in a place that was never yours to begin with? What remains when we depart from a space, return, only to inevitably depart again? Can we ever truly belong to a location, and vice versa? 

Movement research for Garden was conducted at The Deserted Village of Feltville, the Asbury Park Boardwalk, the abandoned Deal Test Site, and Morven Museum & Garden.

About Grant Jacoby

Grant Jacoby is a New Jersey-based choreographer, performer, and teacher. Originally from Wellesley, MA, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Connecticut College with a BA in Dance and Theater and from Sarah Lawrence College where he received his MFA in Dance. A three time Boston Globe Critic's Pick, he has presented his choreography nationally and abroad in venues such as Judson Church, La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, Triskelion Arts, Movement Research, Green Space, The Mark O'Donnell Theater, The Dance Complex, Green Street Studios, Art House Productions, AS220 (Dorry Award 2016), RAW Boston (Performer of the Year 2014), Les Champs Melisey, and The International Festival of Arts & Ideas. 

He has had residencies at the Monira Foundation, The Dragon's Egg, mignolo arts center, SMUSH Gallery, Spoke the Hub, Dance Local, and as a part of The Shaker Dance Revival Project.  He was a company member of Quicksilver Dance and Lorraine Chapman The Company, and has performed in works by Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, David Parker & The Bang Group, Mark Dendy, Annie Kloppenberg, Lauren Simpson, and Audrey MacLean, among others, as well as in Ethan Stiefel & Johan Kobborg's Giselle, coached by Stiefel and Gillian Murphy, and in American Repertory Ballet's The Nutcracker. 

Outside of producing his own work, he also spearheaded and curated the Pop Up! Dance Series at Studio 550 and Morven Moves at Morven Museum & Garden. He has set additional choreographic work at Babson College, Endicott College, and OnStage Dance Company, and has choreographed numerous musicals including the premiere workshop and production of Friday the 13th: The Musical. He has been on faculty at Boston Ballet, The Boston Conservatory, Sarah Lawrence College, and The National Theater Institute. He is currently the Director of Marketing at The Princeton Ballet Society.