FROM SKY TO EARTH
A collaboration between James Brandon Lewis and Antoine Le Menestrel.
September 12 | NYCEDC’s MADE Bush Terminal | 5:00 pm | RSVP
*This event is free and open to the public.
From Sky to Earth reimagines New York City’s built environment as a site of performance, transforming building façades into a dynamic stage where Le Menestrel’s vertical dance meets Lewis’s live, improvised score. Blurring the boundaries between architecture, performance, and live music, the work invites audiences to experience the city from an entirely new perspective.
Acclaimed composer, saxophonist, and 2026 Guggenheim Fellow James Brandon Lewis joins French vertical dance pioneer Antoine Le Menestrel, Artistic Director of Cie Lézards Bleus, for the world premiere of From Sky to Earth.
James Brandon Lewis
Antoine Le Menestrel
Photo credits: James Brandon Lewis photo © Eva Kapanadze; Antoine Le Menestrel photo © G. Ceccaldi.
From Sky to Earth was commissioned by Citizen Arts International and is co-produced by Citizen Arts International and Citizen Arts and Education.
Based in Brooklyn, James Brandon Lewis is one of the most provocative and prolific musical voices of his generation, whose work fuses jazz, gospel, blues, and experimental improvisation. Named “one of the fiercest sounds in jazz today” (The Guardian) with a “penchant for unbound exploration” (Pitchfork), Lewis released his first album in 2014, followed by 15 more including the award-winning Jesup Wagon (2021) and his most recent Omni (2026). Lewis has received accolades from NPR, the ASCAP Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the MacDowell Foundation, among others. He was named Downbeat’s Artist of the Year in 2025 and Saxophonist of the Year in 2026. James is a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow.
Antoine Le Menestrel is a French choreographer, dancer, and pioneering figure of “vertical dance” (dance de façade), in which urban architecture becomes a choreographic surface. A former elite climber, he was one of the leading figures in the development of free climbing in the 1980s and worked internationally as a route-setter for climbing competitions, shaping the creative and performative dimensions of the sport. In 1992, he co-founded Cie Lézards Bleus, dedicated to site-specific vertical dance in public space. His work transforms facades, monuments, and industrial structures into theatrical and poetic landscapes, blending acrobatics, theatre, and live performance. He has presented work internationally and is widely recognized as a key innovator in contemporary vertical performance practice.
This project is supported by FUSED, a program of Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Zankel Music Fund.
