“Sometimes I think, I’m so old, but I think there’s something good about it,” reflects the composer and choreographer Meredith Monk. “Your backpack of experience becomes heavier and heavier, and you have to drop it and start from zero each time.” It’s been 40 years since the friendly den mother of the avant-garde set out on that hike, and for her anniversary, friends and disciples like Bill T. Jones and Ann Carlson will stage a tribute throughout November. Séan Curran says he chose his solo Am I Dead Yet?, set to Monk’s “Gotham Lullaby,” because “I used to tour big, athletic, robust, sweaty, downtown dance, but that quiet little dance was the one people always had questions about.”
Dance to Monk, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church; November 19 through 21.