Invisible Cities: Dance Performance by Dunya McPherson

Dunya McPherson’s Invisible Cities is a richly layered work combining live dance and dance-on-film that contemplates themes of decay, transformation, and renewal. Worlds crumble. Worlds emerge.

Inspired by Italo Calvino’s enigmatic and provocative novel Invisible Cities, this performance takes its title from the celebrated work in which an aging Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo sit together in a garden. Sensing the approaching decline of his empire, the Khan listens as Polo recounts tales of cities encountered during his travels. As the stories unfold, it becomes clear that these fantastical places are far more than they appear.

Drawing from the visceral tradition of Japanese Butoh, rooted in the aftermath of Hiroshima, and the mystical movement practices of Sufism, McPherson—a Juilliard-trained choreographer and National Endowment for the Arts recipient—creates a landscape of stark beauty and quiet revelation. Ceremonial gestures, such as the gentle pouring of water from elegant vessels, intertwine with vividly costumed abstract movement that evokes yearning, awakening, and seasonal transformation. Fleeting images recall the dreamlike worlds of Frida Kahlo and Botticelli’s Minerva. At times contemplative and slow, at others vibrating with otherworldly intensity, the work moves between serenity and unease, inviting audiences into a richly textured and evocative experience.

Accompanying the live performance, video projections feature dance films of McPherson traversing the vast underground corridors of MBL’s Lillie Building and the empty Clapp Auditorium (videography by Erika Hahn and Yiwen Chen), as well as a windswept desert mesa and a sunlit forest (videography by Ric Miccio). These images place the small human figure within landscapes and architectures that seem timeless and enduring. Yet beneath their apparent permanence lies a subtle tension. What appears solid may be dissolving. What seems eternal may already be changing.

Invisible Cities asks enduring questions:

What is solid? What is real?

And how do we live—and move—within the uncertainty of those questions?

“As a dancer, I have long explored what I call the Three Bodies: the Transparent Body, the Hidden Body, and the Invisible Body. These dimensions of embodiment form the foundation of my daily movement practice.

The Transparent Body is the body of direct experience—the body through which I feel each sensation, each breath, and every nuance of movement. The Hidden Body emerges when I enter a receptive state of consciousness. In this realm, the body itself becomes the guide; dreams, memories, and intuitive perceptions arise through movement. The body reveals itself to the mind.

The Invisible Body appears when I am fully aligned with Mystery. Here, personal identity dissolves—both physical and psychological—and movement arises from a deeper source beyond the self.

Years ago, when I witnessed Kazuo Ohno, one of the founders of Japanese Butoh, perform in New York City, something fundamental shifted within me. I was in my thirties; he was in his eighties. The experience transformed my understanding of dance and altered the course of my artistic life.

That encounter led me to extensive training with a Sufi master in the exploration of mystical states through movement. Although much of this work is traditionally non-performative, the states of awareness it cultivates can be brought into a theatrical setting and shared through performance. It was through witnessing such work that I was first profoundly moved, and it remains the source from which my creative practice continues to unfold.”

— Dunya McPherson

Dunya McPherson, BFA, MA, is a critically acclaimed choreographer, performer, educator, author, and pioneer in the field of embodied mysticism. A graduate of The Juilliard School and a recipient of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, she has spent decades exploring the intersection of movement, consciousness, and spiritual practice.

As a Sufi Master Teacher in the Shattari lineage and the founder of Dancemeditation™, McPherson has developed a distinctive body of work that integrates contemporary performance, contemplative practice, and transformative movement inquiry. Through performances, workshops, retreats, and academic teaching, she has guided audiences and participants around the world into deeper experiences of embodied awareness, creativity, and presence.

McPherson’s choreography has been praised for its originality, intelligence, and expressive depth. Her work continues to bridge artistic excellence and contemplative exploration, inviting audiences into encounters with mystery, imagination, and the subtle dimensions of human experience.