Artist Notes

Bardo was created in homage to Keith Haring.

Bardo had a lot of stillness in it, yet within that stillness, there was the sense that this metabolic body is continuing and that our sense of watching is continuing. It’s taking that stillness of the body and the stillness of the person watching, and maybe together going somewhere. I think that stillness allows for an entrance that doesn’t happen through the continuum of dancing. In my early work, when the dancing was constantly ‘going’, that was really my interest in that period, particularly with group work—that there would always be this feeling that space was being emptied and filled, that there was this ongoing-ness . . . . An area of the space would be taken by one dancer, that dancer would leave, it would be alluded to by someone else, in an inverse relationship to what the other person had just done—maybe an arc was described, then another dancer performed its inverse or performed it smaller or larger or in the air or on the floor.

“Bardo” is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one’s next birth, when one’s consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one’s previous unskillful actions. For the prepared and appropriately trained individuals, the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality; for others, it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less-than-desirable rebirth.  The Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism that emerged in Central Asia and particularly in Tibet developed the concept of the bardos, the intermediate or transitional states that mark an individual’s life from birth to death and rebirth. The period between death and rebirth lasts 49 days and involves the six realities of the Bardo.

The intermediate being who makes the passage through the Bardo from one existence to the next is formed, like every living being, of the five aggregates (skandha). His existence is demonstrated by the fact that it cannot have any discontinuity in time and space between the place and moment of death and those of rebirth, and therefore it must be that the two existences belonging to the same series are linked in time and space by an intermediate stage. 

The intermediate being is the Gandharva and travels through the six realities of the bardo: 

the bardo of this life 
the bardo of dream
the bardo of meditation
the bardo of dying
the bardo of reality
the bardo of existence/becoming

The 5 deities:

1. Vairochana - center
Within the central channel of the heart is the Buddha Vairochana.  He is brilliantly white in color.
Vairochana holds a Wheel and a Bell. Represents the pristine cognition of reality’s expanse and freedom from delusion.

2. Akshobya - to the east
Resides on the eastern channel of supreme bliss, representing the mirror-like pristine cognition and freedom from aversion.
He is azure blue in color and holds a Vajra and a Bell 

3. Ratnasambhava  - to the south
Residing on the southern channel is the Buddha Ratnasambhava - Radiantly yellow in color.
Ratnasambhava holds a jewel and a bell in his hands, sits in a crossed leg position, and represents the combination of radiance and emptiness, symbolizing the pristine cognition of sameness and freedom from pride.

4. Amitabha - to the west
Residing on the western channel, he is the pristine cognition of discernment and freedom from attachments.
Amitabha is Copper red in color and holds a lotus and a bell.

5. Amoghasiddhi - to the north
Residing in the northern channel. Colored in radiant turquoise green, he holds a crossed Vajra and a bell in his hands. Representing the pristine cognition of accomplishment and freedom from envy.

What is an intermediate being, and an intermediate existence? Intermediate existence, which inserts itself between existence at death and existence at birth, not having arrived at the location where it should go, cannot be said to be born. The state between death and rebirth is called intermediate existence.

Originally, bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification. There was considerable dispute over this theory during the early centuries of Buddhism, with one side arguing that rebirth (or conception) follows immediately after death, and the other saying that there must be an interval between the two. With the rise of Mahayana, belief in a transitional period prevailed. Later, Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states, covering the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth. But it can also be interpreted as any transitional experience, any state that lies between two other states. Its original meaning, the experience of being between death and rebirth, is the prototype of the bardo experience, while the six traditional bardos show how the essential qualities of that experience are also present in other transitional periods. By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future.  

A modern view of the Bardo emphasises the bardo of becoming: “When we move past the convenience of language and categories, every second manifests the bardo of becoming.  Becoming and becoming. All phenomena always just become. When we sensitize ourselves to the subtle transitions of emotions, or of bodily change, or shifts in social circumstances, or environmental transformations such as differences in landscape and light, or developments in language, art, or politics, we see that it’s all always changing, dying, and becoming.

The founder of Soto Zen, Dogen, writes about how to navigate the intermediate state: “When you leave this life, and before you enter the next life, there is a place called an intermediary realm. You stay there for seven days. You should resolve to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing while you are there. After seven days, you die in the intermediary realm and remain there for no more than seven days. At this time, you can see and hear without hindrance, like having a celestial eye. Resolve to encourage yourself to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing: ‘I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.’ After passing through the intermediary realm, when you approach your parents to be conceived, resolve to maintain authentic wisdom. Keep chanting refuge in the three treasures in your mother’s womb. Do not neglect chanting while you are given birth. Resolve deeply to dedicate yourself to chant and take refuge in the three treasures through the six sense roots. When your life ends, your eyesight will suddenly become dark. Know that this is the end of your life and be determined to chant, ‘I take refuge in the Buddha.’ Then, all Buddhas will show compassion to you. Even if, due to conditions, you are bound to an unwholesome realm, you will be able to be born in the deva realm or in the presence of the Buddha. Bow and listen to the Buddha.”

— Molissa Fenley

Performer Bios

Somei Satoh (composer)  was born in 1947 in Sendai (northern Honshu), Japan. He began his career in 1969 with Tone Field, an experimental, mixed-media group based in Tokyo. In 1972, he produced “Global Vision,” a multimedia arts festival encompassing musical events, works by visual artists, and improvisational performance groups. In one of his most interesting projects held at a hot springs resort in Tochigi Prefecture in 1981, Satoh placed eight speakers approximately one kilometer apart on mountaintops overlooking a huge valley. As a man-made fog rose from below, the music from the speakers combined with laser beams and moved the clouds into various formations. Satoh has collaborated twice since 1985 with theater designer Manuel Luetgenhorst in dramatic stagings of his music at The Arts at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn, New York.  Satoh was awarded the Japan Arts Festival prize in 1980 and received a visiting artist grant from the Asian Cultural Council in 1983, enabling him to spend one year in the United States. He has written more than thirty compositions, including works for piano, orchestra, chamber music, choral and electronic music, theater pieces, and music for traditional Japanese instruments.

Christiana Axelsen (Dancer) is originally from Bainbridge Island, Washington. In addition to her work with Molissa Fenley and Company (since 2013), she has danced with Christopher Williams, Beth Gill, Michou Szabo, zoe|juniper, Korhan Basaran, Courtney Krantz, Dai Jian, Raja Kelly, Jules Skloot, and Mana Kawamura, among others. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in dance and geology from Mount Holyoke College and is a graduate of the Merce Cunningham Professional Training Program.

Betsy Cooper (Dancer) trained at the School of American Ballet and has performed with classical and contemporary companies nationally and abroad, including Nationaltheater Mannheim, Matthew Nash Music & Dance, San Francisco Opera Ballet, Makarova & Company, Connecticut Ballet, and Seattle Dance Project. She first had the pleasure of performing Molissa’s choreography in 2010 and has been involved in several projects with Molissa Fenley and Company since 2018. Betsy has served in higher education leadership roles in dance and the arts since 2001. Her scholarly research investigates the intersections of dance, politics, and censorship of the body. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Washington and a BA in Archeological Studies from Yale University, and is the recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Washington.

Justin Lynch (Dancer) is from Kingston, Jamaica. In addition to his work with Molissa Fenley, he has worked with the Bang Group, the Merce Cunningham Trust, the Metropolitan Opera, Elisa Monte, Christopher Williams, Megan Williams and others. Since 2015, he has also collaborated regularly with Third Rail Projects, performing in and co-creating several of its productions. Justin studied piano at the Royal College of Music in London and Boston University, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in music before earning a law degree at Columbia University. When not dancing, he is an immigration lawyer for artists and a collaborative pianist at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Michael Trusnovec (Dancer) was a Principal Dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1998—2019, performing in works by Mr. Taylor, as well as by Pam Tanowitz, Brian Arias, Margie Gillis, Doug Varone, and more. Additionally, he was Associate Rehearsal Director and served as the Director of Worldwide Licensing. Michael received a 2018 Dance Magazine Award and a 2006 Bessie Award and was a 1992 YoungArts awardee and Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He is co-founder of the Asbury Park Dance Festival, co-curator of the Dance on Camera Festival and continues to stage Mr. Taylor’s dances, teach, and perform, most recently in the Joyce Theater Productions presentation of Molissa Fenley’s State of Darkness, New York 2020-21 and at The American Dance Festival, summer 2022; and in New York City Ballet’s 2020 Lincoln Center performances of George Balanchine’s Episodes. Michael currently serves as the Dance Co-Director for The Metropolitan Opera.

Timothy Ward (Dancer) grew up in Abita Springs, LA, graduated from high school at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, and subsequently earned a BFA in dance at the Juilliard School. After college, he was a final member of the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group. Since and during that time, he has worked for over 30 other choreographers. In 2025, Tim has plans to dance in the works of Douglas Dunn, Pat Catterson, and Molissa Fenley. Photographs of Tim are featured in two books: Vain Combat by Douglas Dunn and Remembering a Dance: Parts of Some Sextets, 1965/2019 by Yvonne Rainer, Emily Coates, and Nick Mauss. Tim has taught master classes at universities and primary schools around the country and the NYC area. Tim currently teaches Cunningham Technique® at 100 Grand and Ballet at The Good Move Studio. 

Banner Photo: Far Left - Pierre DuFour - Molissa Fenley in Bardo, 1990; Middle - Julie Lemberger - company in rehearsal (Christiana Axelsen, Molissa Fenley, Timothy Ward), 2023; Far Right - Pierre DuFour - Molissa Fenley in Bardo, 1990, Courtesy of Molissa Fenley and Company; Artist Photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.