Ladianne Henderson’s time based works exemplify her multidisciplinary exploration into the kinetic and sensorial dimensions of movement, sound, and visual poetry. These projects, including 1960: Four Poems, reflect her passion for dissolving boundaries between artistic disciplines, illuminating the subtle interplay of memory, identity, and embodied experience. With a fluid integration of choreography, original music, and experimental video, Henderson pursues new, collaborative forms of storytelling—foregrounding the way fragments of lived experience connect to create profound narrative resonance.
An Overview of 1960: Four Poems
Among Henderson’s time-based explorations, 1960: Four Poems stands out as an evocative meditation on loss, connection, and transformation. Inspired by four poems by Sylvia Plath—“You’re,” “Stillborn,” “A Life,” and “Leaving Early”—this ambitious work weaves together music, dance, and photography into a unified whole. Henderson composed original music for the project and collaborated closely on choreography and still imagery, letting each element inform the others in a dynamic, layered process.
The title forms a continuous phrase from Plath’s poem titles, underscoring Henderson’s enduring fascination with how disparate fragments—of a life, a body, a memory, an idea—can gather meaning and power in relation to one another. Through this lens, the work insists that nothing exists in isolation: fragments find kaleidoscopic meaning when held together, challenging us to look beyond surface to complexity beneath.
Created in partnership with choreographer Tammy Fox and dancers including Audrey Baran, the performance imagined two aspects of a single character: the outer and inner selves, danced in dialogue. This duality gave form to “sonder”—the realization that each passerby has a life as complex as one’s own—and captured the restless, often lurching dynamism of being human, especially for women.
Visual Documentation
The project’s choreography, though never staged for live performance, lives on through a series of compelling still photographs by Greg Ainsley. Captured in Charlotte, NC, the dancers—clad simply in black leotards—embody moments of vulnerability, strength, and introspection. These images invite viewers to project their own interpretations, suggesting the multiplicity contained within every individual, both inside and out.
Henderson welcomes inquiries from individuals and organizations interested in collaborating on the staging of 1960: Four Poems. She can be contacted through this form to discuss performances or the use of the original score for this work.
Through 1960: Four Poems and her broader time-based work, Henderson invites us to witness how memory, movement, and meaning converge—revealing the hidden patterns and connections that animate our shared stories. Following are stills as well as rare footage of the work in progress in rehearsal, Charlotte, NC 2009.
About the Score for 1960: Four Poems
The musical score for 1960: Four Poems, composed by Ladianne Henderson, centers intimately on the interplay between two instruments—oboe and cello. This spare, evocative pairing was chosen deliberately to mirror the dualities and dialogue present throughout the project. Their intertwining voices create a vivid soundscape that echoes the emotional terrain inspired by Sylvia Plath’s poems: “You’re,” “Stillborn,” “A Life,” and “Leaving Early.”
Score Composition
- Oboe and Cello:
The entire score is realized solely through oboe and cello, with each instrument offering a distinct expressive register. The oboe’s plaintive, lyrical tone weaves gracefully with the cello’s resonant depth, fostering a conversation that evolves throughout the piece. - Intentional Simplicity:
By paring the audio palette to these two instruments, Henderson magnifies the emotional clarity and intimacy of the score—inviting listeners to attend closely to the shifting melodies, tensions, and harmonies as they unfold. - Motivic Development:
Musical themes recur and transform, mirroring the choreography’s layered movements and the project’s meditation on loss, memory, and connection.
Audio Experience
- Balanced Dialogue:
Oboe and cello engage in moments of duet and subtle counterpoint, using silence as a meaningful element between phrases. This restrained interplay draws the audience into a contemplative, responsive listening space. - Emotional Resonance:
The choice of these two instruments adds warmth, vulnerability, and strength—echoing the project’s themes of presence and absence.
Henderson’s score is crafted as an integral narrative element, with oboe and cello serving as sonic stand-ins for the figures in the dance: at times solitary, at times intertwined, always searching for connection. Through their voices alone, the music becomes a vital layer of the project’s storytelling, offering an unadorned yet deeply expressive dimension to 1960: Four Poems. For information on using the score, and to discuss receipt of notation, contact Henderson via this form.
1960: Four Poems – “You’re”
1960: Four Poems – “Stillborn”
1960: Four Poems – “A Life”
1960: Four Poems – “Leaving Early”