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Friday, May 31, 2013

Wondrous Michelle Boulé

Aztec goddess giving birth

A woman, stark naked, bursts in as bright lights and pumping dance music flood the space. You could say she strides, but her forceful, relentless action more closely resembles flight: a rigid wingspan of glistening arms, the same electric tension extending through neck, jaw, constant grimace, upward stare.

She stops, now and then, to rhythmically wave her arms to the music but never looks into the eyes of the people surrounding the performance space on all four sides. Though she eventually also roams and waves behind the audience rows, you never sense that she's aware of other people in the room. For the span of a long, repetitive song, she's just... elsewhere. A figure of human flesh, gleaming under the light, nevertheless she appears to be constructed of steel capable of resisting and deflecting anything projected upon it.

Michelle Boulé's opening to Wonder--her solo, commissioned by Issue Project Room and premiered in the Gallim Dance Studio at Clinton Hill's Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew--could be remembered as this dance season's most stunning and certainly most courageous adventure.

Isadora Duncan
(Arnold Genthe, 1917)
As the song suddenly deflates, though, so does her velocity, her energy, her mood. She retrieves a stash of clothing tucked under a chair, dressing in underwear, a tank top and leggings, before turning back to the space. Her dancing remains expansive and rapturous in its fashion--just different, more human. She moves in every which way, and you feel the weight of her body parts moving her. Like sentences, her twisty phrases often roll to a complete stop where you can sit for a moment, absorbing what you have just "heard."

A little later, when she neatly settles into a yoga pose,  we actually do hear speech--a voice-over monologue about a dancer's life and career and disappointments and killer ambition (Boulé's?). These musings flow a little too rapidly to record or retain, but one line stays with me: "I could have built cities with that power." It feels right for a dancer to say that.

"Shame on me for trying so hard. Shame on me for being afraid." Dance, dance, dance! Keep on dancing!, sings Chic. Boulé spins a hula hoop around her waist, then spins within it with undeniable, if somewhat desperate, virtuosity.

The woman who spins out of that hoop takes up space, makes her footfalls resound, yells her identification and desire (for everthing!) from the core and is not at all afraid to make herself look increasingly ridiculous.

Frog anatomy
Michelle Boulé dances Wonder
(photo by Wah-Ming Chang)






The dance--about forty-five minutes in length--takes an affecting turn towards its conclusion. Boulé gradually makes her way around the room, around the circle of watchers. She lingers in front of one after another, presenting each of many people with what appears to be a dance tailored and perhaps responding to that individual.

Wonder finishes its two-night run this evening with a sold-out performance at 8pm.

For more information about Issue Project Room events, click here.

Boulé blogs at http://michelleboule.wordpress.com/ where she has shared insights that followed a trip to the West Bank city of Ramallah:
At the very least, I can be responsible towards myself and the people I interact with everyday.  It almost feels like a violent act to jump from a conflict-stricken nation to focusing solely on me, myself, and I, but it’s here where I truly have the immediate power to make a difference–to attempt to undo all that I’ve acquired that supports fear, judgement, violence, manipulation, and separation, and to literally turn myself ON to the fierce clarity of love, forgiveness, and growth.  It’s a physical reaction.  If I can pay attention to this simple feeling of when I close down, when my heart literally beats less freely, I can also ask myself in the moment what other choice I can make to support space and movement.
Read more of I'm turning myself ON by Michelle Boulé here.

Benoit-Swan Pouffer leaves Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Artistic Director of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Steps Down
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, May 30, 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Coming up: An extraordinary presentation of "The Painted Bird"

from Strange Cargo (photo by Paula Lobo)
The acclaimed dance trilogy, The Painted Bird, will be shown in New York in its entirety (four hours with two intermissions) for the first time as a highlight of the 2013 La MaMa Moves! Festival!.

A presentation of Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo Company, the work addresses themes of "displacement, otherness and transformation," taking its impetus from the 1965 controversial novel by Jerzy Kosinski. Previously, New Yorkers have seen individual sections--Bastard, Amidst and Strange Cargo--at various venues as the piece developed. La MaMa will offer tickets for the complete trilogy or for individual sections.

This should prove to be a hot ticket. Put it on your calendar now (June 21-30). For a schedule and complete ticketing details, click here.

La MaMa (Ellen Stewart Theatre)
66 East 4th Street (between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Dance New Amsterdam files for bankruptcy protection

Dance New Amsterdam Files for Bankruptcy
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, May 29, 2013

****

May 29, 2013

To the Students and Community of Dance New Amsterdam:

Many of you have seen the announcement that DNA has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  We'd like to talk to you about what this means for the organization, and how it affects you directly.

First, let me say that DNA isn't going anywhere.  Our doors are open, all our classes, workshops, and programs are happening as planned, and the theater is buzzing with performances.  

Second, I'd like to shed some light on our current situation:

DNA's financial challenges aren't about the amount of money we take in every year.  In fact, what we earned in 2012 completely covered our expenses.  Our challenge is past debt.

Our move to 280 Broadway was filled with delays, cost overruns, and several poor decisions by past management that created close to 4.5 million dollars in debt.  That is a big number, and it impacts our ability to solicit funding from foundations and the government. 

However, a lot of good things are happening that help chip away at that number.  Here are just a few:

Thanks to you, class and workshop numbers are strong and steady
We've added some new, fantastic folks to our contemporary faculty
Applications for our International Student Visa program are way up
Our existing partnership with Pace University remains strong, and new partnerships with the Joffrey Ballet School and the Tom Todoroff Acting Studio are diversifying the DNA community.

We now have a number of commercial clients who have committed to rehearsal space on an ongoing basis.

So why file for bankruptcy?  Chapter 11 is a business reorganization process that exists to protect organizations from their creditors while they get back on their feet.  It allows us to chip away at that debt faster without the looming threat of eviction.  More importantly, it allows us to focus on providing you with a creative space to train, perform, and collaborate with your peers. 

Finally, the most important thing you can do to help is to come to class, sign up for a workshop, see a performance, and continue to donate!  DNA is your home, and if there's something we can do to make you feel more welcome, please let us know.

We'll continue to communicate updates on our progress, but in the meantime, come and dance!

All the best,
   
Catherine A. Peila
Executive/Artistic Director
Dance New Amsterdam

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Body and Soul podcast: Cristiane Bouger: Listen.

Cristiane Bouger
Let us now take time to walk around time and talk of time.

To listen to Cristiane Bouger, download my Body and Soul mp3 recording or subscribe to the podcast series here.

Cristiane Bouger is a Brooklyn-based artist and writer. She explores the intersection of performance, theater, philosophy, literature, do-­it-­yourself practices and post-­punk influences. Her work reveals existential examinations reflecting upon the female body, desire, cultural conducts, behavior and symbols, biography and fiction. She is a 2012 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence and a 2012-2013 Performa Magazine Writer-in-Residence. To read her complete bio, click here.

Website
Critical Writing Archive

Subscribe to Body and Soul podcast (free!) here:


Your donation will help keep Body and Soul together. Please get in touch, and I'll happily send instructions. Thanks!

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaaa, InfiniteBody (http://infinitebody.blogspot.com)

Jean Bach, 94

Jean Bach, Jazz Documentarian and Fan, Dies at 94
by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, May 28, 2013

Courtesy is contagious...and so is dancing!

Young men perform daring aerial dances in a crowded New York City subway car. (video 2:08)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

"Touching Into Text" workshop with Marissa Perel

presents

Marissa Perel
"Touching Into Text"

Saturdays, June 1 and June 8, 1-3pm

Description
This class will combine somatic awareness with reading to create an embodied approach to understanding language. For each class a short selection of text will be presented for reading and discussion. Through exercises that draw from various somatic practices, and experiments made up by the instructor and participants, the class will play with ways of feeling language; bringing words and their meanings into an intimate experiential sphere.
There is room in this class for contemplation, finding an individual pathway for movement and speech, and for giving space to the often daunting mind-body split. It’s possible that we will get emotional about language, that we will love or not love how some texts feel, and that we will invent radical interpretations of what we read. We will investigate who we are as bodies that are simultaneously reading and being read by others.
There is no level of ability, skill or virtuosity required for this class, except real investment in writing, reading, and taking your own body and the bodies of others seriously. Being able to listen to your body as it is reading and experimenting, and being sensitive to the processes of your peers is highly valued here. The desired outcome of this class is that participants find possibilities for integrating language and movement in their artistic processes.
The first hour of class will be a short meditation and relaxation exercise, followed by reading and discussion of the selected text. In the second hour of class, participants will find their own space in the room to investigate the text somatically, with exercises provided by the instructor and the participants. For the last hour, we will debrief on our investigations, and individually present our discoveries.
There will be guest facilitators and lecturers on specific class days coming from diverse fields of art, writing, cultural theory and criticism, poetry, music, science and healing arts practices who will either provide the selected texts, or lead discussions or experiments.
Texts will include selections from such writers as Gertrude Stein, Claire Bishop, Jack Halberstam, Dodie Bellamy, CA Conrad, David Wojnarowicz, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Camille Roy, Kim Jones, Yvonne Rainer, Amelia Jones, Peggy Phelan, Lucy Lippard, Laurie Weeks, Judith Butler, Helene Cixous, Roland Barthes, Carole Maso, kari edwards, Jill Johnston, Faith Wilding, Avital Ronell.
Marissa Perel bio:
I am an artist, writer, independent curator and editor whose work spans performance, video, installation, visual text, poetry and criticism. Recent work has been presented at Danspace Project, Golden gallery, Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, and Ontological-Hysteric Theater. I was co-curator of Movement Research Festival 2012: Push It. Real. Good, and co-editor of Critical Correspondence, for which I co-curated two Judson 50th Anniversary events at Judson Church and the New Museum. I write the column “Gimme Shelter: Performance Now” on the Art21 blog, and am a contributor to P-Club. B.A. Naropa University, M.F.A School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
marissaperel.com
thebodyofmarissaperel.blogspot.com
art21 blog
Admission: $8 per class

St. Nick's Alliance / Arts@Renaissance
2 Kingsland Avenue (at Maspeth Avenue), Garden Level, Brooklyn
L train to Graham Avenue (map/directions)

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Last chance to see Victoria Libertore's "No Need for Seduction"

If it's not Eros, it's Thanatos. And if it's not Thanatos, it's Eros.

The always provocative Victoria Libertore (My Journey of Decay, GIRL MEAT) goes right to the core of things in her latest monologue performance, No Need for Seduction. And if that's all there ever is--love and death--at least the seriousness of looming death can make us wake up and get serious about love. The 75-minute piece, which closes tonight at Dixon Place, traces Libertore's anxious uncertainty about her lesbian relationship with an easy-going, loving butch and the twisty, literally life-threatening journey to the mountains of Bali that appears to have resolved their situation.

Listening in as a monologist seated at a table with props and a few visual projections relates amusing or hair-raising true-life stories is certainly nothing new. But this is Victoria Libertore, a woman who can work what is really several distinct stories spanning many periods of time, at least a few geographical regions and a gaggle of characters into a pulsing network of tension, humor, poignancy and meaning. It's a network steely of construction with one possible exception--the inclusion of material on how Libertore confronted her father about memories of being molested by him as a child (memories and consequences previously dealt with in My Journey of Decay). This history surely connects to her later thinking and impulses in life, but it does not work as easily, as convincingly, as a thread in the fabric of this new, otherwise riveting performance.

Directed by Leigh Fondakowski

See the final performance of No Need for Seduction, a Dixon Place commission, tonight at 7:30pm. Tickets must be picked up by 10 minutes before curtain time for guaranteed seating. For tickets, click here or call 212-219-0763.

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

"Singing Sexuality" brings multimedia diversity education to Palestinian youth

Sexuality and gender taboos challenged by Haifa project
by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Electronic Intifada, May 24, 2013

Acclaim for controversial film about lesbians at Cannes fest

'Blue Is The Warmest Color,' Lesbian Film At Cannes With Explicit Sex, Draws Praise From Critics
by Christopher Rudolph, The Huffington Post, May 24 2013

Hollywood in the age of Hitler

Film No Evil: ‘Hollywood and Hitler,’ by Thomas Doherty
by Dave Kehr, The New York Times, May 23, 2013

Taylor Mac rehearses song marathon: Come listen!

Taylor Mac (photo by Tim Hailand)
The magical, mystical Taylor Mac is gearing up for his sensational, 240-song 24-Hour Concert of The History of Popular Music, and you can listen in on his rehearsals! The Lounge at Dixon Place will host open rehearsals on June 5, June 9 and June 12, all beginning at 7:30pm.

Admission is "pass-the-hat" free!

Dixon Place (Lounge)
161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

James L. Tolbert, 86

James L. Tolbert, Lawyer to Black Hollywood, Dies at 86
by William Yardley, The New York Times, May 25, 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013

Legendary Darrell Jones tears it up at Danspace Project

Curator Ishmael Houston-Jones's 2012 PARALLELS platform for Danspace Project might seem distant in time but, in actuality, it's still top of mind for a lot of people who love contemporary dance in New York. We're still talking about it, referencing it. Simply put, PARALLELS was one of the most mind-freeing and stimulating dance series we'd ever witnessed. As long as it ran, we could never get enough. A tasty morsel from Darrell Jones's club dancing fantasia, HOO-HA (for your eyes only), was a big part of that success, and this weekend--lucky us--we get the whole thing.


Once again, there's Jones with fellow dancers Damon Green and J'Sun Howard--a trio emerging from semi-darkness into protected space. The three men, all Black, are dressed alike in black garments with silver sneakers and chunky silver bangles. Their stocking caps, looped around their chins like helmets, have long, horsetail switches sewn into them which the men often flip, twirl and otherwise worry. One's mind explodes with the choreography's multiple, simultaneous hints of ninjas clashing, sleek show horses prancing, club kids voguing and ritualists in high, esoteric ceremony--energetic, determined to a fare-thee-well, amid the occasional, unmistakable sound of a lashing whip. Martial and stylish all at once, the men enact their secret rite across a floor strewn with rose petals and, like those petals, they fall, drift, litter the space with the kind of beauty that stays fresh for a time. And sometimes they touch, giggle, leap into waiting arms. And sometimes they werrrrk into ecstasy.

With Justin Mitchell (DJ Swaguerilla), sound designer/DJ/mixing and dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks

HOO-HA (for your eyes only), which runs just under an hour, continues at 8pm tonight and Saturday. For ticket information, click here.

Danspace Project
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street (at Second Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The heroic song of Emel Mathlouthi: World Nomads Tunisia

Tunisian vocalist-guitarist Emel Mathlouthi (photo by Ghaith Ghoufa)
Emel Mathlouthi--exalted voice of the Arab Spring--concluded the live performance offerings of French Institute Alliance Française's World Nomads Tunisia last evening, accompanied by pianist Emmanuel Trouvé and guitarist Karim Attoumane. (The festival's film and visual arts presentations continue. See here.) Mathlouthi, who spent several years abroad in France where she could freely develop her career, is revered by progressive forces in her homeland. Her "Kelmti Horra" ("My Word is Free"), a song from 2007, became a major anthem of Tunisia's uprising. At Florence Gould Hall, she took a full and mesmerized audience on a ninety-minute tour through a spectrum of emotions--from alienated despair to thoughtful hope and even giddiness.

Mathlouthi is quite a mix: bare feet not quite squaring with the resplendence of her tomato-red party dress; pure, mellifluous vocals channeling anger and heartbreak not quite aligning with the impulse to sprinkle a couple of songs with Stevie Nicks spins. "Ethnia Twila," or "The Road is Long"--dedicated to "all those courageous people who fought for dignity and freedom"--veers from ballad to power ballad to New Age, Celtic-tinged folk reminiscent of Ireland's Máire Ní Bhraonáin (the voice of Clannad) and Canada's Loreena McKennitt.

Her gorgeous voice, soaring over the poetic, sometimes spooky work of Trouvé and Attoumane, often strongly evokes Björk. I noted that Björk resemblance and, later in the evening, chuckled to myself when, with an expression of ruefulness and yearning, Mathlouthi actually pulled Björk's "All Is Full of Love" from up her sleeve. Oh, and there was a Canadian angle, too, both unexpected and, curiously, expected. Can you guess? Yes, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," little more than dutiful in execution yet well-received.

Mathlouthi also doesn't need the reverb effects she occasionally applies to her songs. From art song to full-throated protest, her straight-ahead singing is quite enough.

It's regretable that FI:AF did not make provision for at least one or two more shows with this inspiring artist. But let's hope that the audience response--warm and loving--will encourage them to bring her back. While she need not have worried that her show would suffer without the two musicians who were unable to secure visas in time, it would be grand to have her return someday, able to share her songs in the way that, to her taste, represents them best.

Download Mathlouthi's Kelmti Horra CD here.

Connect with FI:AF here.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei rocks out

Ai Weiwei Has Released a Heavy Metal Video for His Song “Dumbass”
By Chloe Pantazi, Flavorwire, May 22, 2013

Jena Strong on "The Inside of Out"

poet Jena Strong
A few months ago, Jena Strong, author of Don't Miss This (see my July 2012 review, "Don't Miss Jena Strong," here) posted this Status Update to Facebook:
In 2012, I got laid off, self-published my first book, landed a new job, moved, sold my house, signed divorce papers, and got engaged. One breath, one moment, one day at a time meets 30,000-foot view. Whew.
Today, she writes:
After nearly fifty people “liked” this status update, I found myself wondering what it was that seemed to resonate so deeply. And then I realized: We all live here, in the space between the ordinary and the vast, the intimate and the universal, the day-to-day and the Big Picture.
Strong, who I described in my review as "an engaging, captivating storyteller," will soon bring out a new volume of work, The Inside of Out. Find out more about it and pre-order your copy here.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The power of mentorship

In Conversation | Bruce Weber and Kathleen Turner on Becoming Mentors
by Jesse Ashlock, The New York Times, May 20, 2013

A special screening of "Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life"

Katherine Dunham (photo by Dwight Carter)
The Museum of the Moving Image 
Saturday, June 22 (3pm)

with director Terry Carter
and dancers Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott in person

This screening is scheduled in celebration of the 104th anniversary of Katherine Dunham's birth. Following the screening will be a town hall discussion of the Dunham legacy with the film's director, Terry Carter, and two celebrated Dunham dancers, Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott. The discussion will be moderated by Warrington Hudlin, a former Dunham drummer and trustee of Museum of the Movie Image.
Dir. Terry Carter. 2013, 73 mins. (work-in-progress)
One of America's most influential performing artists, Katherine Dunham introduced African Diaspora dance movements to the American stage, greatly influencing the character and development of modern dance. This documentary by the renowned actor and director Terry Carter explores Dunham’s intellectual curiosity and artistic genius. The film documents Dunham as an artist/scholar whose anthropological fieldwork shaped her vision as a choreographer and led to her creating a new dance technique. The technique is based on a series of physical exercises that enable dancers to master and execute her complex dance vocabulary. Over time, this set of exercises evolved into what is today considered an important methodology of dance: The Dunham Technique.
Featured are excerpts of recorded performances from the early years of Katherine Dunham's career, including Carnival of Rhythm (1939), Hollywood’s first Technicolor dance film; The Spirit of Boogie-Woogie, a “soundie” short film of the Dunham dance troupe in action from the late 1930s, and the star-studded motion picture Stormy Weather (1943) which featured Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Katherine Dunham's remarkable performance with the Dunham company. Included in this painstakingly researched film are clips that have never been seen in the United States including rare highlights of Dunham Company's European performances from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as well as scenes from the Italian motion pictures, Botta e Riposta (1952) and Mambo (1954), featuring Ms. Dunham as actress-dancer-choreographer. In addition to interviews with dancers and scholars who speak to her great artistic legacy, the film includes Katherine Dunham's reflection on coping with the racial bigotry of the times she confronted as she traveled with her dance company.
About the filmmaker
Terry Carter is an esteemed black film and television pioneer whose career as an actor and filmmaker spans 60 years. His television acting credits include The Phil Silvers Show, Julia, McCloud, and the original series Battlestar Galactica. He starred opposite Pam Grier in the cult classic Foxy Brown. His Emmy nominated documentary, A Duke Named Ellington, won several international awards and is widely considered to be the best documentary ever made on the life and art of Duke Ellington.
Program information

Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718-777-6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

Pam Tanowitz at New York Live Arts

Read my review of Pam Tanowitz's The Spectators (New York Live Arts, May 15-18). Click here!

Ray Manzarek, 74

Ray Manzarek, Doors Keyboardist, Dies at 74
by James C. McKinley Jr., The New York Times, May 20 2013

Ray Manzarek, 74, Keyboardist and a Founder of the Doors, Is Dead
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, May 20 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

"The Firebird, A Ballez" at Danspace Project

This lesbian princess expects this Firebird to perch on her finger! (Photo: Christy Pessagno)

I think what I love most about Katy Pyle's queer appropriation of The Firebird--in the Firebird, A Ballez, concluding tonight at Danspace Project--is that almost nobody's trying terribly hard to live up to critical standards, to tailor themselves to any outsider's approval.

The first person we meet, the Narrator (Sacha Yanow) isn't declaiming her lines in a well-trained theatrical voice. She's just talking. She could be your lesbian girlfren' from around the block with a big grin and bit of gossip on her tongue. From what I can see, she's having a quick word with an audience filled with people who are a lot like her. So, yeah, she is your lesbian girlfren' from around the block!

Pyle, herself, for all her training in ballet, isn't the princess you might expect from the traditional Firebird tale and its balletic renderings. In this "ballez," she chooses to look like a cross between an animated ragdoll and a cake left out in the rain, but she shows no hesitation in stalking her desired "tranimal" Firebird (Jules Skloot) or lifting him numerous times like a stevedore--a stevedore with blue and purple hair. Dance technique- and plot-wise, she's more will than grace.

I love the chorus of lez and trans princes* in their ballet school black tights and white t-shirts and don't want them to aim for "perfect." Their earnestness and willingness and sense of togetherness in all things move me like little else can. That's a team any princess--this one included--would be lucky to gather close.

I love the space that Pyle and Skloot, with his modest charm, make for ballet to contain imperfection and feeling by reeling it back from mechanical exactitude and just plain giving it to the people. So that when the vampirish Sorceress (Cassie Mey) finally makes her electrifying entrance, with flapper-like bob, velvet, floor-sweeping coat and barely-there costume of straps and rhinestones, we see her flashy technique as a cold, heartless, relentless, manipulative thing with no room for love.

There's also the fancy of Hedia Maron's video, projected on the church's altar wall. It conjures a sense of place--a formidable castle rising on craggy heights; a classic garden with statuary and orange trees; a raging pyre--that we might find illustrating a volume of kid's fairytales. This naivete turns my heart over and turns me childlike. The excellent Queer Urban Orchestra, conducted by Nolan Dresden, brings the Stravinsky in a thrilling performance from St. Marks's balcony.

This evening-length version of The Firebird, A Ballez--long in the dreaming and making--has arrived. Tonight's performance (8pm) is sold out, but it's definitely worth a try. The wait list starts at 7:15pm.

[*Princes: Effie Bowen, Zari Esaian, Ariel "Speedwagon" Federow, Leah Hafezi, Sam Greenleaf Miller, Francis Rabkin, Mary Read, Lindsay Reuter, Lollo Romanski, Silky Shoemaker, Sacha Yanow and Nyx Zierhut]

Danspace Project
Second Avenue at 10th Street, Manhattan
(directions)

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Radhouane El Meddeb: He's Everywoman

In Sous leur pied, le paradis ("under their feet, heaven"), Tunisia-born Radhouane El Meddeb dances to rapturous music and crowd cheers from a live performance by Umm Kulthum, the Egyptian vocalist who died in 1975 after a long, world-renowned career. Costume El Meddeb in satin brocade and glitter, and he might look quite a bit like this beloved singer, substantial of face and body. But in his hour-long solo--a U.S. premiere presented at Alliance Française's Florence Gould Hall for the World Nomads Tunisia festival--the dancer wears a loose black t-shirt and black shorts and sometimes slips behind or between folds of heavy black drapery.

Through a minimalist, schematic approach to both self-presentation and movement, El Meddeb pursues not self-camouflage but revelation of a state of consciousness, sourced in women's experience, existing beyond gender. His bare feet and limbs, the casualness of his attire, eschew glamour but do not preclude regality. He allows the tangy, shimmering, low-rumbling music and the singer's dark, earthy voice to entrance him into stark, iconic postures and gestures. Despite difference in language, that voice and that music, both unsparing in passion and torment, reach right into the listener's chest.

"Under their feet, heaven" refers to the Islamic saying, "Paradise is found under the feet of mothers." Choreographed by the performer in collaboration with French dancemaker Thomas Lebrun, the solo presents a lens through which we are invited to see the condition and striving of women of the Arab world and Arab Spring. It is a dance of recognition, of honor, of celebratory ululation and encouragement to action--just as Umm Kulthum's bitter love song, the famous "Al-Atlal" ("The Ruins"), can be read as a sly indictment of any form of seduction and betrayal, from intimate dyad to oppressive societal hierarchy.
My heart, don't ask where the love has gone/It was only a mirage that collapsed....
Give me my freedom, release my hands/Indeed, I've given everything and have nothing.
We woke up, ah if only we did not awaken/Wakefulness ruined the dreams of slumber....
Perhaps one day our fates will cross/when our desire to meet is strong enough.
As El Meddeb's hour nears its end, he gradually sheds his meager clothing. Shorts off. A little later, bikini briefs off. Then, the t-shirt--tugged down in front and behind before it, too, gets pulled away. In themselves, these are acts of rebellion, modest only in the quiet, matter-of-fact manner of their execution. The dancer's broad back gleams at us under the lights before he draws a train of filmy, white fabric around his lower body and sinks into the floor. The singer's voice rises to crescendo, and the trance is done.

For more on El Meddeb, read this account of a journey of the senses in another work, I Dance & I Feed You, reported by Neil de la Flor in Miami for Knight Arts.

For information on remaining World Nomads Tunisia 2013 events and exhibits, click here.

Behind the scenes with Gelsey Kirkland

presents


Wed, Jul 31 (12pm)
Go behind the scenes as acclaimed ballerina Gelsey Kirkland conducts a demonstration with an advanced class at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in Tribeca.
After the demonstration, join Michael Chernov, the Academy’s co-founder and co-artistic director, for a reception and Q&A about how he and Ms. Kirkland groom the next generation of dancers.
Gelsey Kirkland began her storied career in 1968 at New York City Ballet, where she rose to principal dancer. At the American Ballet Theatre she danced with Baryshnikov, receiving worldwide acclaim for performances in title roles in Giselle, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and others.
Michael Chernov has been an actor, dancer, director, classical ballet teacher and choreographer. 
Meet at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy, 355 Broadway (between Grand and Leonard Streets in Tribeca), 2nd floor.

Admission: $38

Information and registration

Robert Lindgren, 89

Robert Lindgren, 89, Ballet Dancer and College Dean, Is Dead
by Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times, May 14, 2013

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Stapleton and Fitzgerald on nudity in dance

The naked truth about dance
In Greek mythology, the gods were depicted nude to show their higher status, but these days little inflames indignation like the sight of the naked human body. For some artists, and dancers in particular, it’s an essential, everyday part of their work.
Michael Seaver, The Irish Times, May 14, 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Dances of Iran and Afghanistan with master teacher Rana Gorgani


Anahid Sofian Dance Studio
welcomes you to

and

two workshops and slide presentations

with Persian master dancer 
Rana Gorgani

Traditional and Sacred Dances of Iran
Saturday, June 29 (3-6pm)
Very honored and respected in ancient times, Persian Dances come directly from ancestral customs and traditions. Taught and preserved through generations, the Dance is delicate, elegant, subtle, and full of emotions, as is Persian Poetry and Arts. All the different dances of Persia have always expressed the joy of life and love.
Dance was essential in every sacred and divine rite related to the cultural environment of each people.
Drawing its roots from the heart of the Indo-European cultures, we can find in Iran more than ten style of dance, each owning its own vocabulary of the gesture, rhythms, garments, and meaning according to the region and people.
Rana Gorgani is one of the few Iranian artists promoting and preserving Persian folk and traditional dances. As an active member of the international dance council of UNESCO, her work is the result of years of research on music, customs, rites and symbols of Persia through dance. It is with authentic dresses, full of colors and amazing detail that she embodies and represents the variety of Persian peoples, revealing a rich and precious heritage. 
Nomadic Dances of Iran and Afghanistan
Sunday, June 30 (2-5pm)
Dances of Afghanistan
Afghan dance is characterized by its amazing turns and movements intense in rhythms. It is a perpetual interaction between the dancer and the public. The improvisation of the music and the dance is omnipresent, creating breaks and accelerations. In the Afghan dances, the dancer's veil holds an essential place, such as in the culture, and it is by games of "hide-and-seek" that the movements evolve and become furthermore rich in meaning, always keeping a part of mystery.
Nomadic Dances (Ghashghai)
As a symbol of unity and harmony, this dance celebrates the joyful events of the tribe, with the dancers dressed in colorful and bright dresses and waving their shiny scarves towards the sky and then the earth. Precise gestures chain up ceaselessly, reminding of all the art of the Ghashghai women, who make colored carpets called "Ghabbeh." Their dances create a kind of trance, rocked by their light and swift movements. The dances symbolize the long trip gone through every year as the seasons pass by.
Her slide show and lecture is a journey, a walk danced in the heart of Persia, a mosaic colored with wonderful traditions and the rich diversity of Persia. From Khorasan, on the road of the Ghashghai nomads across the rice fields of Gilan … on the deserts of Yazd, the country of Zoroasters, on the path to Shiraz, Persian city of the great poets … Rana guides us through Iran.
Space is limited, and registration required (no walk-ins). For fees and other information or to register, contact sofiana@tiac.net.

Anahid Sofian Studio
29 West 15th Street, 6th Floor (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Friday, May 10, 2013

Taylor Mead, 88

Taylor Mead, Bohemian and Actor, Dies at 88
by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, May 9, 2013

Tom Gualtieri goes solo

Tom Gualtieri
Tom Gualtieri (photo by Rob Sutton)
He had us from "When shall we three meet again...?"

He never lets us go.

Tom Gualtieri is Macbeth.

And Lady Macbeth.

And pretty much everyone else, including that infamous trio of "secret, black, and midnight hags" that he embodies in fully-invested, tense and gnarled physicality.
Painting showing three faces with hooked noses in profile, eyes looking up. Each has an arm outstretched with crooked fingers.
Die drei Hexen by Johann Heinrich Füssli (1783)
I might still long to see Alan Cumming make his way through Shakespearean darkness alone (and, yes, yes, I do). But I'm not at all sorry to have spent eighty minutes in thrall to sly, supple Gualtieri and That Play: A Solo Macbeth at Stage Left Studio.

Even when not physically conjuring the three weird ones, he knows how to shape every minute tilt of the head or flick of the eye into telling elements along a winding, complex dance. His silky, sinuous, glittering snake of a Lady Macbeth could fill an entire performance on her own. You can feel how much he relishes his moments as her, his finest.

Tom Gualtieri
photo by Rob Sutton
A word of warning. Stage Left Studio--you may remember it from my review of Margaret Morrison's Home in Her Heart--is a tiny speck of space tucked away on the sixth floor of an unassuming building just south of Penn Station. Seating is not only scarce; it is virtually in the lap of any performer strutting and fretting his or her hour or so upon the slip of a stage. Audience and player(s) are both captive. And, in the case of That Play, you might find yourself fretting and sweating along with an increasingly desperate Scotsman, particularly when you're asked to recall...well, I'm not going to give that juicy part away.

Gualtieri and co-writer and director Heather Hill seem to take perverse pleasure in plunging each one of us into the shadows. For this is not just the "Scottish Play," but the Scottish Play with a clever, sometimes amusing Narrator who not only guides and comments but also obeys his own compulsion to, as he would put it, "write the darkness into the room."

Nominated for the 2013 Drama Desk Award ("Unique Theatrical Experience"), That Play: A Solo Macbeth concludes its extended run on May 25. Just five performances remain--Saturday, May 11; Tuesday, May 14; Wednesday, May 15; Thursday, May 16, and Saturday, May 25, all at 7:30pm.

For Stage Left Studio information and tickets, click here.
To visit the Web site of That Play: A Solo Macbeth, click here.

Stage Left Studio
214 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Merrill Brockway, 90

Merrill Brockway, Producer of TV’s ‘Dance in America,’ Dies at 90
by Julie Bloom, The New York Times, May 9, 2013

Dance at the Delacorte!

Fall for Dance Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Performances at the Delacorte Theater
by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, May 9, 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Jill Sigman's field of dance

In Jill Sigman's work, the art of dance and the greater world out there are not strangers to each other. Her choreographic and visual creations arise from inquiry into the nature of humanity's complicated relationship with and severe impact on our environment. Now last days/first field--her latest work, presented at The Invisible Dog through tomorrow evening--takes this connection a step further. This contemporary ritual brings the living world inside where it can no longer be ignored or abstracted.

last days/first field takes place on a long, rectangular space surrounded by audience on three sides; beyond the fourth end, composer-singer Kristin Norderval holds forth with her Mac and her ringing, exhilarating vocals. Sigman and several other women--Hadar AhuviaCorinne CappellettiDonna CostelloSally HessIrene Hsi and Paloma McGregor--wear costumes made of an elaborate patchwork of fabrics and plastics. (Given Sigman's penchant for recycling trash for art, I'm guessing designer kymkym formed these constructions from discarded material.) Their movements suggest a massive, repetitive, accumulating process and arc of labor--forcefully mechanical, like threshers, and alert, assertively present in the space, clearly transformative. Since they surge and gallop so close to where we sit, we can't help but feel their strength. When they bind their legs to long, slender branches with rope and strips of cloth, reduced to rolling side-to-side, we feel life turned even more driven by that temporary confinement.

As they move, another dancer, Devika Wickremesinghe, circumnavigates the space, carrying boxes of little plantings suspended from a long tree branch or encased in pouches stitched into the front and rear of her gown. This elegant Spirit of Time slowly, very slowly, makes her way around as other dancers channel the dynamic inner processes of soil, roots and shoots.

That larger, outer world grows increasingly visible in the Invisible Dog space. The dancers construct perfect rows of rich, black soil and carefully plant little green seedlings along the ridge of these rows. Their tending of this field, along with Norderval's music, can induce serenity--as can the proffered cups of hot, sweet tea and the invitation to join little groups of performers, fellow audience members, farmers, educators and activists for a friendly chat.

jill sigman/thinkdance's last days/first field continues this evening and tomorrow evening with performances at 7:30pm. Be prepared for a roughly two-hour experience (sans intermission). For information and ticketing, click here.

The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street (between Smith and Court Streets), Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Have you seen the latest Google doodle?

Don't miss today's Google doodle in honor of the 93rd birthday of the late graphic designer and filmmaker, Saul Bass (1920-1996). Click here and enjoy!

Colgate University will return Aboriginal art to Australia

Aboriginal Artworks to Return to Australia
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, May 7, 2013

Sonia M'barek performs at World Nomads Tunisia fest

Tradition Performed With a Twist
Sonia M’barek at the French Institute Alliance Française
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, May 7, 2013

Discount on Dance/USA conference fee available now


Register for the 2013 Dance/USA Conference (Philadelphia, June 12-15) by this Friday, May 10, at 5pm, and you'll save $50. Don't miss the opportunity to engage in four days of networking, creative conversation and enriching training sessions at the largest national gathering of dance professionals.

Click here for details.

Also, register now and save 10% on Amtrak!
Discount code: 2013NYC

If you have any difficulty in registering, please contact the Dance/USA office at 202-833-1717, M-F 9:30am to 5:30pm ET or at annualconference@danceusa.org.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

They did it anyway: Women in jazz [UPDATE]


THE GIRLS IN THE BAND, written, directed and produced by Judy Chaikin, tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 30′s to the present day.
“A vivid experience…I sat there watching and just wiping tears away… tears of joy.” -- Herbie Hancock 

NYC Premiere Screening (invitation only): May 10, 7:15pm at Walter Reade Theater

Public Screenings at The Beale Theater, Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

May 10, 11am
May 10, 1pm
May 10, 3pm
May 10, 5pm
May 10, 9:15pm
May 11–16, 11:30am
May 11–16, 2pm
May 11–16, 4:30pm
May 11–16, 7pm
May 11–16, 9:30pm

TICKETS

For further information on The Girls in The Band, click here.

UPDATE


by Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times, May 9, 2013

Have a Lobby TALK with us at New York Live Arts


Join me and dance artists Ishmael Houston-Jones, iele paloumpis, Katy Pyle and Larissa Velez-Jackson on Tuesday, May 21 (7:30pm) at New York Live Arts for Lobby TALKS: Identity Matters: Persona and Politics.
About Lobby TALKS
The spring 2013 Lobby TALKS series kicks of May 14 at 7:30pm with Curating Performance: The New Wave. With a panel of young curators featuring Lydia Bell, Travis Chamberlain, Christopher Lew and Lana Wilson, the discussion will explore the role of live performances in diverse contexts, from historical sites and theaters, to museums and biennials. The series continues with Identity Matters: Persona and Politics on May 21 at 7:30pm. Featuring Ishmael Houston-Jones, iele paloumpis, Katy Pyle, Larissa Velez-Jackson and Eva Yaa Asantewaa, this talk will concentrate on contemporary identity politics and issues that shape perceptions of persona and embodiment. Closing the series will be Feedback: Say it, Mean it, with Megan Byrne, Nicole Daunic, Andy Horwitz and Dean Moss on May 28 at 7:30pm. In this final talk, questions surrounding review-based qualifying systems and forms of feedback will be probed.
Originally created by Dance Theater Workshop, Lobby TALKS create a forum for open and in-depth discourse on contemporary issues in dance and performance. Conceptual themes are investigated, challenged and considered by an invited group of artists, curators, scholars and critics. Discussions are open to all who would like to participate.
All Lobby TALKS take place in New York Live Arts’ Ford Foundation Live Gallery.
Admission is FREE; reservations are not required.
Following the live discussion, Lobby TALKS are available for download on iTunes.
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Monday, May 6, 2013

This Earth, our home: Siobhan Burke interviews Jill Sigman

SOON THE EARTH WILL BE IN THE SQUARE
Jill Sigman with Siobhan Burke
by Siobhan Burke, The Brooklyn Rail, May 2013

Rujeko Dumbutshena workshop for annual SOAK Festival


The 2013 SOAK Festival presents dancer Rujeko Dumbutshena in a special LEIMAY Ludus Lab on June 9.

RUJEKO_PETROZZELLO_8x10_L7F0211
Rujeko Dumbutshena (photo by James Petrozzelo)
Participants will learn movements inspired by traditional Zimbabwean African dance. Rujeko’s class is influenced by her study of West African, Congolese and ballet techniques as well as her experience in FELA! The Musical. She is passionate about teaching the rhythmic intricacies embedded in Zimbabwean dance traditions in a manner that is accessible to people regardless of their previous dance experience. Students will have the opportunity to internalize the movements and rhythms of a dance form that is rarely performed or taught.
June 9 | 4pm-6pm | @ CAVE home of LEIMAY

58 Grand Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues), Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Custom image

Fee: $22 (online registration required)

REGISTER HERE

For information on all SOAK workshops, click here.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Frederic Franklin, 98

Frederic Franklin, Inventive and Charismatic Ballet Star, Is Dead at 98
by Jack Anderson, The New York Times, May 5, 2013

Scenes from "Dance for DNA" at Dance New Amsterdam

For Dance for DNA, a part of the Ideas City 2013 festival, numerous choreographers turned out to show short works-in-progress at Dance New Amsterdam. From the building's roomy lobby to a tiny sliver of space inside the women's locker room, DNA was hopping with fresh dance from morning 'til night.

Located just across Chambers Street from City Hall, DNA represents an essential part of New York's dance ecosystem for its extensive education and performance programs as well as its support of young and emerging artists. Well-recognized, award-winning choreographers--such as Ronald K. Brown, Kyle Abraham, Souleymane Badolo, Jonah Bokaer, Bill Shannon, Monica Bill Barnes and Nora Chipaumire--have all found opportunities to develop and showcase nascent work at DNA.

Learn more about Dance New Amsterdam here and find out how you can lend your support to this important institution.

All photos by Eva Yaa Asantewaa (c)2013


This and following: choreography by Catherine Galasso
  

This and below: choreographers Tara Lee Burns (left) and Kellie Ann Lynch


Choreography by Marissa Niederhauser
Choreographer Elena Demyanenko (right) with Leah Morrison
This and below: choreographer Julian Barnett

Friday, May 3, 2013

Artists come together against gun violence

Participate in Art = Ammo
an Artists Against Gun Violence performance/event

Saturday May 18, 2pm
(rehearsal 12:30 pm)

in Newark, exact location TBA

For more information and to see an example of the performance: http://www.artammo.org/ {listed on site as soon as we clear the location}

To participate, please email gguncontrol21@gmail.com.
It started on February 24, 2013. Almost 200 artists and activists met in NYC’s Times Square. We held our hands up in a surrender position for 26 seconds, 26 seconds to honor the 26 victims of Newtown. Vulnerable to opposition in a very public place, we singularly sank to the ground and dropped into a lifeless position as our partners traced our outlines with chalk. An exponential crime scene emerged. We wrote a word inside each chalked body image­ the name of a victim, their age, a statistic, 'senseless,' 'loophole,' 'mother,' 'son,' 'enough' and then...walked away. Left on the ground was a sea of literary and visual reminders of lives lost." 
--Lorin Latorro
In the words of Brecht, ‘Non­action is a tragic flaw’. As artists, we have the responsibility to act.

Bronx ideas--and dance artists--needed for new projects

Members of the Bronx dance community are invited to a brainstorming forum at BAAD, convened by Arthur Aviles (Director, Bronx Dance Coalition) and Aviva Davidson (Executive and Artistic Director, Dancing in the Streets) to discuss issues of anti-gentrification and prospective collaborative projects offering opportunities for local dance artists.

The gathering is scheduled for Thursday, May 9, 5:30pm. For more information, contact Aviles at arthuraviles[at]gmail[dot]com or 718-842-5223.

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD)
841 Baretto Street, 2nd Floor, the Bronx
(map/directions)

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Stephen Petronio stages post-death experience at The Joyce


Before world premiere of "Like Lazarus Did (LLD 4/30)" (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
View from Eighth Avenue (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
The view of the afterlife offered by Stephen Petronio at The Joyce Theater this week in Like Lazurus Did (LLD 4/30) is so alluring and vital that "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" could be its score. But rather than Blue Oyster Cult, Petronio has the brilliant composer-singer Son Lux whose reverberating instrumental work and vocals saturate everything with shimmering ghosts of music past--at one point, I heard a trace of Dvorak, a composer haunted, in turn, by Black spirituals--and intimations of suffering transcended.
C. J. Camerieri outside The Joyce (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Composer Son Lux outside The Joyce (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Before the performance began, the choreographer, himself, appeared as a "corpse" lying onstage, just visible beneath a slightly raised curtain. When the Joyce named Petronio its first artist-in-residence, is this what they envisioned?

Death also hovered above us in the form of Janine Antoni's installation. The artist lay completely motionless and mostly unseen in a helicopter stretcher suspended above the audience. Waxy models of body parts and skeletal fragments dangled above her from a frame of bars.

To formally open the world premiere, Son Lux and his colleagues--violinist Rob Moose and trumpeter C. J. Camerieri, both from hipster-classical yMusic--formed a procession outside the theater with members of the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Once inside, the chorus filled the aisles and one arm of the theater's balcony.

The ever-present, intimate and eventually propulsive music gave this performance an air of sacred ritual but one slipped free of specific religious or cultural reference. Powerful archetypes of death and renewal cross human cultures and traditions, of course, and Petronio restores these essential symbols to an art form that is, by its very nature, associated with life, youth and vigorous corporeality.
Lights outside The Joyce (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Members of Young People's Chorus of New York City before the procession
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Petronio's ensemble--Julian De LeonDavalois Fearon, Joshua Green, Gino GrenekBarrington Hinds, Natalie MackessyJaqlin Medlock, Nicholas SciscioneEmily Stone and Joshua Tuason--performed what it means to be recently shed of material form. They make their bodies-- suffused with the soft luminosity of Ken Tabachnick's light--open, silky, and capable of great flexibility and response.

Son Lux and musicians on Eighth Avenue (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Rob Moose (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
C. J. Camerieri and Son Lux (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Camerieri's trumpet (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Stephen Petronio Company's Like Lazarus Did (LLD 4/30) runs through May 5.  For a schedule of performances and to purchase tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater
Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, Manhattan
(directions)

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