Tomorrow
Commissioned by Wayne State University through Gibney Dance (2025)
Created in Residence at Gibney through the Learning and Leadership Program in partnership with Wayne State University, Tomorrow a movement exploration of how one can stay fiercely hopeful for a better tomorrow. In this process we researched lightness and heaviness emotionally, physically and mentally. We dance through being pulled apart and sticking together, through hysteria and reality, through presence and distance.
“In March, Gibney welcomed the senior dancers of Wayne State University for a rich week of creation, exploration, and professional development in New York City.At the heart of the residency was the development of a new work titled Tomorrow, created by choreographer Gianna Burright in collaboration with composer Sio Tepper. This powerful piece—set to premiere in Detroit during WSU’s spring 2025 performances—was shared as a work-in-progress showing in Studio C for an invited audience of alumni and guests.”
“Gianna incubates a real reverence in the space — reverence for the opportunity to engage with the sacred gift of bringing humans together in a space to move, to lift, to notice and craft practices that not only support us in our art-making, but support us along our human journeys over time.”
- Amy Miller, Gibney Dance
“So thoughtfully driven and yet open for surprises and spontaneous decision-making along the way, Gianna is exquisitely clear, committed and personally invested in each moment and each artist. She embodies a deep cognizance of an arc of the creative process that she's been honing for many years.”
- Amy Miller, Gibney Dance
Length: 10 minutes
Performed by Wayne State University Artists
Premiered at Gibney Dance (March 2025)
“I sense her chomping at the bit to produce and create something out of nothing constantly. To engage with what's at hand — turning jackets and brooms into otherworldly artifacts of delight. To invite and encourage such a beautiful use of facial expressions rooted into an internal sensation and inner life of each artist.”
- Amy Miller, Gibney Dance
