Rosner at Joyce SoHo: Yay, oh!

With the world premiere of 90 ways to Wake from drowning, Sarah A.O. Rosner and her ensemble, The A.O. Movement Collective, have taken an important, assertive step into the spotlight of contemporary dance. After two years of developing 90 ways--their first evening-length work and first New York season--these performers show a remarkable cohesion and intensity that other troupes might take a decade or more to achieve. Rosner and her young colleagues are ready to rock.

90 ways to Wake from drowning emerges out of the shambles of the past--a messy performance space strewn with analog tvs, cassettes and VHSes, some with tape unspooled, an ancient projector and wadded-up plastic bags. Dancers mill about, alluding to some never-identified incident that sounds dire and final. Now and again, bodies appear on the floor. Television screens run scenes of cars crashing, cars on fire. One section's soundscore might trigger terrible memories of the roar of low-flying planes on 9/11. Rosner, who is also a filmmaker, utilizes drastic, cinematic splicing effects to make visible and audible those nightmarish things stuck in a looping pattern in the head.

"I just need to see it again," says dancer Ilona Bito about something never defined. She's quickly told, "You can't. It. Doesn't. Exist. Anymore."

What disaster has happened here? Might as well supply your own. You might think, too, about the tension between the immediacy and corporeality of dance and the fact that, usually, when it's done, it's gone, a memory. Rosner, a dedicated documenter of process, must wrestle with this issue of dance, here and gone, as we usually think of this art.

Rosner's brutal focus on relationships and emotions might seem retro, but there's nothing clichéd or formulaic about how she handles these things in her theater. Among the many, many elements to admire here is a male-female duet in which the heaviness of the dancers' bodies and the seriousness of their interactions are, very strangely, manipulated by the airy lightness of the crumpled plastic bag that they toss, whirl and reach to grab. Rosner makes you look at a wafting plastic grocery bag that you might swerve to avoid on a windy street, and suddenly see a batch of things that this stupid object could be or mean.

She also handles space with gutsy imagination. For example, I enjoyed her vertical line of four dancers from nearest to farthest from the audience, each with his or her assignment to be still, slow, active or variable (from still-to-active in relation to dancer #3).

I also marveled at the outright, raw ferocity of her dancers. At first, I was thinking it was only the men--Cory Antiel, Jon Cooper and Rowan Magee--and I wanted more edginess from the women. But forget that. The women-- Bito along with Lillie DeArmon, Cristina Jasen and Larissa Sheldon--turn out to be plenty edgy, like a python wrapping itself around your neck and torso. The entire company keeps the audience on edge at all time.

"I just need to see it again."

Yeah, I could see this one again. And whatever's next in Rosner's plans. The only question, now, is whether to take anxiety meds before or after.

Keep an eye on this choreographer and this collective.

The A.O. Movement Collective completes its run with a show tonight at Joyce SoHo (8pm). See a video clip from the show and get tickets here.

Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince Streets), Manhattan
Directions

Get with hip hop on August 15

Charlene "Chi Chi" Smith 

(photo by Montana)

DANCING IN THE STREETS 

presents

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE: Hip Hop Generations @ Lincoln Center 

HIP HOP GENERATION NEXT ‘10

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 -- Two Big Events!

5pm-6:30pm -- free public performance of the world premiere of CENTRIFUGAL FORCE: Hip Hop Generations at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival

Four generations of dancers converging on Lincoln Center’s plazas, dancers and audience traveling together through the grounds of Lincoln Center

Choreographers: Emilio “Buddha Stretch” Austin Jr, Adesola Osakalumi and Gus Solomons jr

Music Director: DJ Doc

Location: LC's Josie Robertson Plaza, Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street, Manhattan (Subway: 1 to Broadway/65th Street or A, B, C, D to Columbus Circle)

AFTER-PARTY TO SUPPORT

DANCING IN THE STREETS' 

FREE SHOWS

7:30pm-11:30pm--benefit after-party with CENTRIFUGAL FORCE choreographers and dancers

Two-hour open bar and dinner buffet.

Music: DJ Jaze Art Remote

7:30-9:30: open bar and dinner buffet

9:30-11:30: cash bar

Location: BRANCH, 226 East 54th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue), Manhattan. Bus from Lincoln Center: M57 from West 57th Street/Broadway to East 57th Street/2nd Avenue. Or M31 from West 57th Street and 9th Avenue to East 57th Street/2nd Avenue

After-party ticket information/purchasing (until 8/14) here

Tickets at door by cash or check only

ProjectSite: where artists and donors connect

The enterprising United States Artists organization has launched ProjectSite, an Internet portal to facilitate direct connection between potential donors and artists from a variety of disciplines, including the dance companies Urban Bush Women and Eiko and Koma:

ProjectSite was created by United States Artists to expand its mission of investing in the creativity of American artists collectively and individually by encouraging personal encounters and choices. Eiko & Koma were honored with a United States Artists Fellowship when it was first created in 2006. ProjectSite is a community where artists and those that love and support them can share their latest work, discover new artists, enter into a dialog with each other, and make direct donations (of any size, all of which are tax deductible) in new projects created by each artist. US Artists envisioned ProjectSite as the first Internet site that allows direct public donations between art patrons and pre-selected artists.

Visit Eiko & Koma's ProjectSite here.

Visit Urban Bush Women and the Hot 8 Brass Band's ProjectSite here.

Artists and potential donors, learn more about how ProjectSite works here.

The ascent of apps: AMNH comes to iTunes

The Ascent of Man: Museum of Natural History Offers a New iPhone App

by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, July 30, 2010

Howard Dodson reassures Harlem

Howard Dodson Says Schomburg Center’s Home Is Harlem

by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, July 30, 2010

Baryshnikov By Seliger

Nikon D3S Presents: Baryshnikov By Seliger

Gorgeous man. He's still got it. This is a wonderful series of photos and the video is a nice visit with photographer Mark Seliger.

Hot!ness lost and found

smithsoniansmith.

911? Help! There's a heap of denim clothing--layers and layers of jeans and jackets--standing like a man in the middle of my performance space. I don't know what to do with it. It's not going anywhere. What? No, it doesn't look threatening. Just a little lost and sad.

911? Listen, I might be witnessing a crime! There's this woman in this really odd rubber bra. I mean, she’s got these two rubber things sticking out from her breasts. And she's got this guy on a table. And she's strapping and sticking all kinds of strange things on his body. God, is that weird! What? Does he seem to be in distress? I can't really tell.

311? Hey, I came here to see a dance show, and I can't really see it because of all this trash. And there are these homeless people with a shopping cart from the supermarket, and they’re loading up all this trashy stuff on it. A crutch, a traffic cone, a broken umbrella... Can’t the city do anything about all this shit?

But, no, really. smithsoniansmith at Dixon Place? Loved it. You know how they say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?

The detritus here is thick on the ground, a virtual Smithsonian of found artifacts and theatrical bits that Scott Heron and HIJACK (Kristin Van Loon and Arwen Wilder) resourcefully, if mystifyingly, press into service. From glue-gun constructions and discard-wearables to leather-belt calisthenics, it’s a quick hour-or-so tour of the externalized id of the collectible unconscious. 

It’s also as artificial as the fake, freestanding door-to-nowhere the performers use for swift exits and slamming. It’s gawky and stupid and ham-handed and reckless–in a good way, mind you. But, beneath it all, you detect the controlled, focused understructure of Van Loon’s and Wilder’s performance technique, which is why you won’t be able to take your eyes off these women's faces, their carriage, their gait, even just the way they sit. The slender, playful Heron is another matter–a much-beloved, veteran performer but, for me, a taste yet to be acquired. The transparency of his performing here borders on absence of performing. Costume him and send him out there with props, and he’s clearly as comfy as a child in a treehouse, but he doesn’t fire my imagination. I’ll admit that whenever he appeared with Van Loon and Wilder, I found myself mentally cropping him out of the picture.

smithsoniansmith–a presentation of Dixon Place’s Hot! Festival–runs through August 7 at 7:30pm. For tickets and details on other events in the series, click here.

Painter Nicolas Carone, 93

Nicolas Carone, Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 93

by Roberta Smith, The New York Times, July 29, 2010

New online presence for the Ailey organization

Visit the new online home of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and keep up with all things Ailey!

‘Fela!’ producers face copyright suit

Photographer Sues ‘Fela!’ Producers Over Image Used in Show

by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, July 28, 2010

Cherry Lane to suspend productions for a year

Cherry Lane Says Stage to Darken Over Deficit

by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, July 28, 2010

I think I'll just wrap myself up...

That’s Life: ‘Come Fly Away’ to Close

by Erik Piepenburg, The New York Times, July 28, 2010

Gibney Dance Center to open September 1

Choreographer Gina Gibney, artistic director of Gina Gibney Dance, today announced plans to greatly expand both her studio space and the range of programs designed to serve the rapidly growing needs of New York's dance and performance community. Her Gibney Dance Center will open on September 1.

Gina Gibney (c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

For two decades, Gibney has maintained Studio 5-2 at 890 Broadway for company rehearsals and a full roster of professional and specialty classes. Now, with the support of Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech Foundation, Gibney has acquired two more spaces in the building, also known as The Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theater.

In addition to Studio 5-2 (renamed Studio 3), Gibney Dance Center will be home to two new studios:

Studio 1--a 36' x 36' rehearsal studio and production office designed and equipped for rehearsals and residencies for dance and theater groups

Studio 2--20' x 36' workspace for small group rehearsals, exploratory work and special creative programs; affordable for independent artists and small dance groups

Building on her long track record in community service and innovation, Gibney plans to launch two new programs:

boo-koo--a space grant program that will provide choreographers with rehearsal time and technical assistance in exchange for community give-backs, such as free workshops or performances for audience with limited exposure to the arts

One-Shot--a web-based, solo performance relay curated by Sarah Maxfield. Each participating artist receives six hours of rehearsal time at GDC, during which he or she will create a solo performance specifically for the Internet. Each web-based solo will be premiered online, and remain available in a web-based catalogue for performance viewing at any time.

For Gibney Dance Center rental inquiries, contact Michele Wilson at 212-677-1818 or michele@ginagibneydance.org.

Giving themselves away at every moment...

A luminous summer evening. Dancers slip through breezecloudsmusic at the river's edge. I still get a powerful little thrill as I look through my photographs.

We Give Ourselves Away at Every Moment: An EVENT for Merce

July 26, 2010--First anniversary of the death of Merce Cunningham

"...we come together to nod in his direction through the ritual of dance itself."

Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City esplanade

a program of the River to River Festival, co-presented by Arts World Financial Center and the Battery Park City Authority

featuring choreography by Jon Kinzel, Lucinda Childs, Susan Marshall, Faye Driscoll and Bill T. Jones. Live music by David Eggar, Geoff Hersh and Kotchy.

curated and produced by Annie-B Parson and Will Knapp

The future of The Joyce

The Joyce Ponders New Sites

by Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times, July 27, 2010

Dance Talks: Dancing Identity

Members of Abraham.In.Motion (c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of SummerStage, City Parks Foundation and The Greene Space (New York Public Radio) hosted Dance Talks: Dancing Identity, a conversation on issues of concern to contemporary Black dance artists. Moderated by choreographer and cultural scholar Dr. Kariamu Welsh, the discussion featured panelists Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden of Complexions Contemporary Ballet; Francesca Harper of The Francesca Harper Project; Jamel Gaines of Creative Outlet Dance Theater; and Kyle Abraham of Abraham.In.Motion. The hour-long program opened with the presentation of an excerpt from Abraham's critically-acclaimed ensemble piece, The Radio Show.

"What is Black dance?" Dr. Welsh dared to ask. "Can it be defined? Is there such a thing? Have we passed its moment? Are we all just humans dancing?"

While the panelists agreed that, ultimately, we were all humans dancing, each emphasized the value of reaching into the wealth of one's culture and telling the stories that, Welsh declared, must never be abandoned.

Richardson recalled Alvin Ailey's teaching: "Don't exist just in that mode [Black dance, Black culture] but use it. You climb on the shoulders of folks who went before you."

"Here we are in 2010," said Rhoden, "And the world is a different place. We are celebrating the idea of diversity, watching the differences work in harmonious ways. But that doesn't mean you have to forget where you came from. It brings dimension to it."

But Harper also touched on the historical context of "Black dance" and the Black arts movement. "At the time, it was necessary and appropriate. It was important to establish the Black voice. Now we're expanding, opening up," she said. Her mother--the late Denise Jefferson, director of the Ailey School--taught her to prepare for a world of opportunities across dance techniques and performance disciplines. "She instilled in me to have the training to go wherever I wanted to. It was important to declare myself an equal."

Gaines agreed that Black artists had learned much from the Civil Rights movement but that today's performing artists draw inspiration and take training from diverse sources--ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, singing and acting. As a strict category, "'Black dance' is a small part of an industry that is huge." He added that his work is recognizably Black in its foundation but not only that. "You might see ballet, hip hop, a step from Jamaica. Black dance is universal."

"I've always accepted all the labels," said Abraham, "Black. Gay. My experience growing up is reflected in the work I make. But I make work for a general audience."

So, is it okay to be "post-Black" now?

Welsh reflected on the "heavy, heavy, heavy burden" carried by Black artists of her generation, having to prove themselves in so many settings. "I'd like us to get past the proving part and just be: This is who I am."

"We always seem to get it," Welsh remarked. "It's the rest of the world that I'm worried about." And Gaines reminded us that the term "Black dance" can be used to limit artists: Black troupes suddenly become popular when it's time for presenters to draw up plans for Black History Month. "You can work from MLK Day to perhaps the second week in March," he said. To make a real difference, Black artists and other people of color must train not only for the stage but for the management office.

For the most part--aside from Abraham's brief, personal mention of sexual identity and a few panelists noting the dim employment prospects for Black ballerinas--speakers steered clear of potential flash points.

"As we continue, our stories get broader and broader, and that's a good thing," said Rhoden. "We have many, many layers. African American people are rich people with many stories to tell. The stories are changing because we are changing."

The conversation drew to a close too soon, with much left to be shared. Welsh requested a moment of silence. Panelists linked hands and closed their eyes as a screen showed a picture of the beloved Denise Jefferson. Afterward, Harper remembered that she had a message that her mother had sent her. She took out her smartphone and read it to us. Here are the final words:

"You can't be a dancer if your spirit is strained and cut off. You must touch that special place inside."

***

For information on upcoming events at The Greene Space, click here.

Celebrate citywide with SummerStage: Here's the schedule.

SummerStage welcomes Creative Outlet Dance Theater and Abraham.In.Motion this Friday at Harlem's Jackie Robinson Park. Click here for details.