HOLY

Originally created and performed by Mike Tyus and Luca Francesco Renzi for CONGRESS, hosted by L.A. Dance Project, Holy was later restaged on the dancers of the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon, entering the company’s repertoire as part of United Dances of America.

Set to the words of Allen Ginsberg and the music of J.S. Bach, Holy is an intimate duet examining spirituality, devotion, masculinity, and the sacredness of the human body. In Avignon, Tyus and Renzi transmitted the work to a new generation of performers, allowing a deeply personal duet to take on new identities through different bodies.

The work has since traveled with the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon, including performances at the Festival de Danse Cannes Côte d’Azur.

Concept + Choreography: Mike Tyus & Luca Francesco Renzi
Original Performers: Mike Tyus & Luca Francesco Renzi
Originally Presented at: CONGRESS, hosted by L.A. Dance Project
Restaged for: Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon
Program:United Dances of America
Music: J.S. Bach
Text: Allen Ginsberg

AVIGNON

While working with the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon, Tyus and Renzi extended their collaboration with the company beyond the stage, creating Avignon, an original dance film with the dancers of the Ballet.

Filmed within the extraordinary architecture and history of Avignon, the work places contemporary bodies in conversation with spaces shaped by centuries of ritual, religion, power, and human presence. The camera moves between choreography, architecture, and portraiture, transforming the city itself into part of the work.

Avignon continues Tyus, Renzi, and Brown’s ongoing exploration of choreography made specifically for the camera, using movement to reconsider how bodies inhabit history, landscape, and monumental space.

Produced + Directed by: Mike Tyus & Luca Francesco Renzi
Cinematography: Luca Francesco Renzi & Joy Isabella Brown
Editor: Joy Isabella Brown
Color: Jack Tadigian
Composer: Trace Polly
Performers: Dancers of the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon
Artistic Director of Le Ballet Grand Opera Avignon: Martin Harriague
With special thanks to: Palais des Papes