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Friday, October 12, 2007

On vacation!

InfiniteBody will be closed for vacation--yay!!!--and will return to the Net sometime in early November. See you all then!

Into "Thin Air"

Donna Uchizono's Thin Air--running at Dance Theater Workshop through Saturday--is only the latest work of a genius, one never content to repeat others' solutions, one who regularly sails out to visit the dragons. For this artist and her collaborating dancers, the body is a minimalist canvas lashed by contradictory lush details--like the arms and supple hands snaking out from dancers serenely and securely perched atop ladders, or the feet dancing out amusingly fast, frenetic patterns as if the dancers were figures in a speeded-up film with a few frames missing here and there.

And these dancers! Julie Alexander! Hristoula Harakas! Antonio Ramos! They are picked out of various pockets of soft darkness and lit like the jewels, the divinities, they are. Credit Jane Shaw for the textured sophistication of this lighting design. Fred Frith (music), Michael Casselli (video) and James Lo and Myles Boisen (sound engineering) complete the collaborative team for one of this young season's most affecting and important achievements.

Tickets will probably be hard to come by. See DTW's site for more details.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

What's up with the world?

Okay, it's not about dance, but don't you want to keep current with progressive radio's most brilliant, most vigilant host? Then check out Rachel Maddow's Air America show podcast from Green 960! Yes, she's a Red Sox fan, but I forgive her!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Podcast interview with Jen Abrams

To listen to my Body and Soul podcast interview with dancer-choreographer Jen Abrams, a member of the WOW Café Theater collective, click here.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Wheeldon open rehearsal at NY City Center

A free, open rehearsal of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company has been scheduled for Friday, October 19 at 4pm, at New York City Center as part of the company's efforts "to help to demystify ballet and help cultivate a new generation of dance audiences."

Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon will discuss and demonstrate the artistic process involved in creating new works, and hold an open conversation with the audience. Doors open at 3:30pm. Seating is limited and admission is on a first come, first served basis.

The troupe makes its US debut at New York City Center, October 17-21.

New York City Center is at West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. Click here for additional information.

And I can't get up!

Here's a piece by my friend and colleague Tobi Tobias on the phenomenon that is Fall for Dance.

Events at Library for the Performing Arts

Wednesday, October 10 at 3pm:
Pamina Devi: New Dimensions in Cambodian Dance
Choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro and dance ethnologist Toni Shapiro Phim in Conversation

Saturday, October 13 at 3PM:
The Theater and Theatricality of Merce Cunningham
Lecture by New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay.

Admission is free and first come, first served.

Bruno Walter Auditorium
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center

Enter on Lincoln Center Plaza or at 111 Amsterdam Avenue, near 65th Street.

For information, call 212-642-0142.

So I think he can dance!

And now, another challenger for the crown of InfiniteBody blog mascot! Introducing Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Cigarette-maker Altria pulls the rug out

As a Company Leaves Town, Arts Grants Go With It
Published: October 8, 2007, The New York Times
New York’s arts community is bracing itself as one of its top donors, the tobacco giant Altria, prepares to move.

Also click here.

Friday, October 5, 2007

The East is Burning!

DTW's two-night studio showing of The East is Red by The Legendary House of Ninja--heirs to the legacy of the late, extraordinary Vogue master Willi Ninja--ends this evening. Curated by Hip Hop artists Kwikstep and Rokafella of Full Circle, conceived by house father Benny Ninja, and written by Paris Greeneyes Ninja, this work-in-development liberally combines drag ball culture, elements of Asian culture and martial arts and Hip Hop, showcasing the personal style and sometimes mindblowing movement skills of each of its performers. About half of the small studio's space is taken up by a very lucky group of watchers. So the audience gets an up-close-and-personal infusion of energy and fabulousness. Such fun!

Admission is free. Seating is very limited. Reservations are required, and you'd best be on time! To try for a reservation, contact DTW's box office at 212-924-0077 or click here. While you're there, you can also get information on DTW's upcoming studio showing by Michel Kouakou/Daara Dance, curated by Bessie Award winner Nora Chipaumire.

On YouTube:

Willi Ninja on Vogue

Deep in Vogue

Father Almighty -- Willi Ninja and the House of Ninja

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Franceoff! Danceoff!

Only a smidgen of my memory of Franceoff!Danceoff!--presented last night at PS 122 in conjunction with Crossing the Line: FIAF Fall Festival--survived a good night's sleep. I'm a fan of curators Terry Dean Bartlett and Katie Workum, but this was not their finest hour-and-a-half.

I did enjoy filmmaker John Bush's opener--Zephyr--with its altered-state clarity of color and depth and its breathless, innocent whimsy. Choreography by French-born Nadine Helstroffer--danced by Helstroffer, Patti Bradshaw and Celeste Hastings--featured a trio of sleepy, wind-ruffled blossoms in the green soul of the city.

Franceoff!Danceoff then veered off into the hyper, the slight and the murky--except for Laura Peterson's Security, a piece I almost dismissed on first sight as a trifle. Katie Harris, Christopher Hutchins, Kate Martel and Peterson--all clad in black-and-pink striped costumes, pale panties with rows of ruffles across the butt, and serious kneepads--entered the space on all fours and began to crisply pad to and fro across the floor to the sound of an Eartha Kitt tune, moving their limbs and heads as if they were little mechanical dogs. I was prepared to file this under Cutesy, and it was cute but not without actual humor--a big distinction these days. In a little doggy interaction--sometimes flirtatious, sometimes standoffish--between Peterson's and Christopher Hutchings's mercurial facial expressions have genuine sly humor. Guess that title refers to the most recent airport security concerns, huh? Timely!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Where Fans Are Encouraged to Dance With the Dancers

Where Fans Are Encouraged to Dance With the Dancers
by Julie Bloom
Published: October 3, 2007, The New York Times

Dancers, choreographers, audience members and passers-by mingle and commune each night of the 10-performance Fall for Dance festival at City Center.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Dance and Memory

Art in Which Reputations Rest on Ephemeral Memory and Fragile Faith
Published: October 2, 2007, The New York Times

The ephemeral nature of dance often leads to clichés about its being the art of the present. Would that it were.

Justices Deal Setback to Tobacco Companies

Justices Deal Setback to Tobacco Companies
Published: October 2, 2007, The New York Times

Cigarette makers have lost a Supreme Court bid to prevent smokers in Florida lawsuits from taking advantage of jury findings against the industry.

Swedish Smokeless Tobacco Aims at U.S. Market

by Mark Landler and Andrew Martin
Published: October 3, 2007, The New York Times

The American tobacco industry is looking to snus - moist ground tobacco that users tuck between the cheek and the gum - as a potentially profitable alternative to cigarettes.