Gina Gibney's choreography always reminds me of what's most important to me about art: serious attention to craft and an equally serious concern about human connection and communication. Gina is a thoughtful spokesperson for the art of dance. I've always enjoyed our encounters and usually go away feeling a little more focused and motivated as a result. I hope you'll be similarly inspired by our discussion about her work, including her development of The Distance Between Us, which premiered at the Ailey Citicorp Theater in November 2007.
This year, Gina’s company celebrates its 10th Anniversary as an all-female troupe. See below for updated information on Gibney’s projects.
GUEST BIO
Gina Gibney’s choreography has been widely presented and commissioned in the United States and abroad at such venues as Danspace Project, White Bird Dance, Yale Repertory Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street Theater, WORKS & PROCESS at the Guggenheim Museum and elsewhere. In response to her growing concern about the status of women in the professional dance world, she reorganized her company as an all-female ensemble in 1997. Since that time, she has created six evening-length works exploring the humanity and physicality of women. In 2000, she launched the Domestic Violence Project, a groundbreaking project that offers dance and creative expression to women who are survivors of domestic abuse. She is the founder of Studio 5-2, an officer of Danspace Project's Board of Directors, and a trustee of Dance/USA. Gibney graduated with honors and received an MFA in Dance from Case Western Reserve University.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Catch a sample of Gina Gibney’s work at the dancemOpolitan group show at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, March 14-15, 9:30 pm. For reservations, call 212-967-7555 or visit www.joespub.com.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary as an all-female troupe, Gina Gibney Dance holds its annual Women at Work gala on June 2 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The gala will feature a mini-retrospective performance, including excerpts from Coming from Quiet (1998), Time Remaining (2002) and unbounded (2005), and a new work developed in collaboration with survivors of domestic violence. This program will be repeated for the public on June 5 (7:30pm) as part of the Tisch Summer Dance Residency Festival.
LINK
Gina Gibney Dance at http://www.ginagibneydance.org/
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The mother of all dances
Just-pregnant women wanted to join dance
by David Whetstone, The Journal, January 29, 2008
by David Whetstone, The Journal, January 29, 2008
The Turning World (12)
Police Shooting of Mother and Infant Exposes a City's Racial Tension
by Christopher Maag, The New York Times, January 30, 2008
by Christopher Maag, The New York Times, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Luciana Achugar and Mary Cochran: Body and Soul podcast
Today, we’ll hear from Mary Cochran (Chair of the Dance Department, Barnard College of Columbia University) and Luciana Achugar (2007 Bessie Award-winning choreographer) about Sugar Salon, a program dedicated to mentoring, commissioning and presenting women at the forefront of contemporary choreography.
GUEST BIOS:
Luciana Achugar
Luciana Achugar is a Brooklyn-based Uruguayan choreographer. After moving to New York upon graduation from Cal Arts in 1995, Achugar danced with several choreographers, including Chameckilerner and John Jasperse. From 1999 to 2003, she worked in a close collaborative relationship with choreographer Levi Gonzalez. Their work was presented in New York by Dixon Place, Movement Research at Judson Church, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Dance-in-Progress at The Kitchen, and at Dance Theater. Achugar has also worked collaboratively with visual artists Marcos Rosales and Michael Mahalchick.
Mary Cochran
Department of Dance Chair and Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College of Columbia University, Mary Cochran has performed and taught on every continent except Antarctica. A renowned soloist with Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1984-1996, Cochran continues her association with Taylor to this day having completed 19 restagings of his masterworks and as Director of the Paul Taylor School’s Summer and Winter Intensives. Cochran has taught at numerous colleges and conservatories including Mills College, the Juilliard School, University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee in May of 2005.
UPCOMING EVENT:
See Sugar Salon's performances at Abrons Arts Center (February 15-16), featuring works by the 2007-08 residents: Luciana Achugar ("Franny and Zooey"), Renée Archibald ("Curtain Wall") and Heather McArdle/BLUEPRINTVIOLATION (excerpt from "Ballad of Arrivals & Departures"). Choreographer mentor Donna Uchizono will moderate a post-performance discussion with the artists on Friday, February 15. For full schedule and ticketing details, call 212-352-3101 or visit http://www.theatermania.com.
INFORMATION LINKS:
Department of Dance, Barnard College: http://www.barnard.edu/dance
Williamsburg Art NeXus (WAX): http://www.wax205.com
Abrons Arts Center: http://www.henrystreet.org/arts
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
MP3 File
GUEST BIOS:
Luciana Achugar
Luciana Achugar is a Brooklyn-based Uruguayan choreographer. After moving to New York upon graduation from Cal Arts in 1995, Achugar danced with several choreographers, including Chameckilerner and John Jasperse. From 1999 to 2003, she worked in a close collaborative relationship with choreographer Levi Gonzalez. Their work was presented in New York by Dixon Place, Movement Research at Judson Church, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Dance-in-Progress at The Kitchen, and at Dance Theater. Achugar has also worked collaboratively with visual artists Marcos Rosales and Michael Mahalchick.
Mary Cochran
Department of Dance Chair and Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College of Columbia University, Mary Cochran has performed and taught on every continent except Antarctica. A renowned soloist with Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1984-1996, Cochran continues her association with Taylor to this day having completed 19 restagings of his masterworks and as Director of the Paul Taylor School’s Summer and Winter Intensives. Cochran has taught at numerous colleges and conservatories including Mills College, the Juilliard School, University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee in May of 2005.
UPCOMING EVENT:
See Sugar Salon's performances at Abrons Arts Center (February 15-16), featuring works by the 2007-08 residents: Luciana Achugar ("Franny and Zooey"), Renée Archibald ("Curtain Wall") and Heather McArdle/BLUEPRINTVIOLATION (excerpt from "Ballad of Arrivals & Departures"). Choreographer mentor Donna Uchizono will moderate a post-performance discussion with the artists on Friday, February 15. For full schedule and ticketing details, call 212-352-3101 or visit http://www.theatermania.com.
INFORMATION LINKS:
Department of Dance, Barnard College: http://www.barnard.edu/dance
Williamsburg Art NeXus (WAX): http://www.wax205.com
Abrons Arts Center: http://www.henrystreet.org/arts
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
MP3 File
English arts council update
"Arts Council England has decided to rethink its decision to slash financing for 194 theaters, art galleries, orchestra, literary groups and the like."
Continue at English Council to Review Arts Cuts, The New York Times (January 29, 2008)
Continue at English Council to Review Arts Cuts, The New York Times (January 29, 2008)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Morrison endorses Obama
"Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom."
--Toni Morrison
Famously--some would say, infamously--known for her admiring declaration that Bill Clinton was America's first Black president, Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has now endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President. Read her complete endorsement letter here.
--Toni Morrison
Famously--some would say, infamously--known for her admiring declaration that Bill Clinton was America's first Black president, Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has now endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President. Read her complete endorsement letter here.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Luna Negra Dance Theater
More about Chicago...
Congratulations to Luna Negra Dance Theater, the lovely Chicago troupe making its New York City debut at the New Victory Theater through February 3. Founded in 1999 by artistic director Eduardo Vilaro--a Cuban-born former Ballet Hispanico principal dancer--the troupe showcases a contemporary stylistic hybrid of dances by Latino choreographers. The current program features work by Pedro Ruiz (Sonetos de Amor, 2005), Michelle Mazanales (Sugar in the Raw, 2007) and Vilaro (Quinceañera, 2006) with fresh design, delectable musical choices, and an ensemble of gifted performers who enliven the stage with fluid, intricate musicality. It's especially nice that this troupe does not seem to feel the need to sell the work; they simply dance it the best way they know how. The sparkle comes from clean, grounded technique radiant with warmth from the inside. The families at this Saturday's matinee adored the entertainment, and I hope Luna Negra will be motivated to visit our city again and often.
For more information about Luna Negra's New Victory run, click here.
Congratulations to Luna Negra Dance Theater, the lovely Chicago troupe making its New York City debut at the New Victory Theater through February 3. Founded in 1999 by artistic director Eduardo Vilaro--a Cuban-born former Ballet Hispanico principal dancer--the troupe showcases a contemporary stylistic hybrid of dances by Latino choreographers. The current program features work by Pedro Ruiz (Sonetos de Amor, 2005), Michelle Mazanales (Sugar in the Raw, 2007) and Vilaro (Quinceañera, 2006) with fresh design, delectable musical choices, and an ensemble of gifted performers who enliven the stage with fluid, intricate musicality. It's especially nice that this troupe does not seem to feel the need to sell the work; they simply dance it the best way they know how. The sparkle comes from clean, grounded technique radiant with warmth from the inside. The families at this Saturday's matinee adored the entertainment, and I hope Luna Negra will be motivated to visit our city again and often.
For more information about Luna Negra's New Victory run, click here.
The architecture of dance and vice versa
Hubbard Street Dance builds bridge with architecture students
by Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, January 25, 2008
by Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, January 25, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
New mascot contender
A new contender for InfiniteBody blog mascot has been making stunning repeat appearances at the southwest end of Union Square Park, near the Gandhi statue! Click the following links to see photos of the bird--recently ID-ed as a very rare (for New York City) Scott's Oriole--that has NYC birders all atwitter.
http://www.jczinn.com/birds/Passerines/scor_3870a.jpg
http://www.ardithbondi.com/slideshow28.html#0
http://www.jczinn.
http://www.ardithbondi.com/slideshow28.html#0
How She Move
Dance, Fight, Laugh, Cry and Read Great Literature
by Matt Zoller Seitz, The New York Times, January 25, 2008
by Matt Zoller Seitz, The New York Times, January 25, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Jen Abrams: A Body and Soul podcast interview
One of the interviews I’m most proud of was conducted in late 2007 with dancer-choreographer Jen Abrams. I’m delighted to bring this episode out of the archives and present it in Body and Soul’s new home.
When our "half-hour" interview concluded, we were amused to see that it had actually lasted a full hour! But that's what it takes to tell even part of the story of her work with the WOW Cafe Theater collective, an historic and essential part of the still-hearty cultural abundance of Manhattan's rapidly-changing East Village. Listening to Jen talk about her background in contact improvisation, I discovered a fascinating connection between contact improvisation and the "open source," grassroots nature of WOW. Her intensity and strength as an artist working in dance, theater and poetry are more than matched by the tenacity of this theater collective and space that she so clearly loves.
And here’s her bio:
Jen Abrams’ work has been presented at BAX, HERE, Dixon Place, the Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Bowery Poetry Club, as well as at WOW Café Theater, where she has been an active member for seven years.
She has produced three full-length concerts of her own work at WOW: Itch (2000), Saturn Return (2001), and Surfacing (2002), as well as two shared bill evenings: As I Was Saying (2004, with Risa Jaroslow and Eva Lawrence) and Asunder (2006 with Clarinda Mac Low and Tara O’Con.). She was a 2005 BAX space grantee, and is co-curator and co-producer with Sally Silvers of TalkTalk WalkWalk, an annual poetry and dance festival. Her choreographic work has also been seen at WOW in the stage plays The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, All Eyes, All Sides – Beckett One Acts, Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City, and Moira Cutler’s MetaMeshugenaMorphosis and Sonofabitch Stew, all with Dogsbody Theater. The Village Voice has called her work “quintessentially New York,” and her performances “convincing no matter what [she chooses] to do.”
Jen has studied the form of Contact Improvisation for twelve years, beginning at Oberlin College, the birthplace of the form. She relocated to New York City from Chicago, where she presented and performed in five full-length concerts with the contact improv-based company she co-founded, Limbic Fix. She is classically trained as an actor, and performed in plays throughout Chicago before moving to New York City to focus on movement-based performance. She is also a writer, and has given readings of her work at St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Halcyon, and Bar 13.
By day, Jen works as a fundraiser for a small poetry press, and serves as Managing Director for Risa Jaroslow & Dancers. She also teaches Contact Improv through Movement Research. Her roots in theater and immersion in literature inform her dances.
Visit Jen Abram's Web site at http://www.jenabrams.org.
Visit Eva Yaa Asantewaa's dance blog--InfiniteBody--at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com.
MP3 File
When our "half-hour" interview concluded, we were amused to see that it had actually lasted a full hour! But that's what it takes to tell even part of the story of her work with the WOW Cafe Theater collective, an historic and essential part of the still-hearty cultural abundance of Manhattan's rapidly-changing East Village. Listening to Jen talk about her background in contact improvisation, I discovered a fascinating connection between contact improvisation and the "open source," grassroots nature of WOW. Her intensity and strength as an artist working in dance, theater and poetry are more than matched by the tenacity of this theater collective and space that she so clearly loves.
And here’s her bio:
Jen Abrams’ work has been presented at BAX, HERE, Dixon Place, the Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Bowery Poetry Club, as well as at WOW Café Theater, where she has been an active member for seven years.
She has produced three full-length concerts of her own work at WOW: Itch (2000), Saturn Return (2001), and Surfacing (2002), as well as two shared bill evenings: As I Was Saying (2004, with Risa Jaroslow and Eva Lawrence) and Asunder (2006 with Clarinda Mac Low and Tara O’Con.). She was a 2005 BAX space grantee, and is co-curator and co-producer with Sally Silvers of TalkTalk WalkWalk, an annual poetry and dance festival. Her choreographic work has also been seen at WOW in the stage plays The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, All Eyes, All Sides – Beckett One Acts, Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City, and Moira Cutler’s MetaMeshugenaMorphosis and Sonofabitch Stew, all with Dogsbody Theater. The Village Voice has called her work “quintessentially New York,” and her performances “convincing no matter what [she chooses] to do.”
Jen has studied the form of Contact Improvisation for twelve years, beginning at Oberlin College, the birthplace of the form. She relocated to New York City from Chicago, where she presented and performed in five full-length concerts with the contact improv-based company she co-founded, Limbic Fix. She is classically trained as an actor, and performed in plays throughout Chicago before moving to New York City to focus on movement-based performance. She is also a writer, and has given readings of her work at St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Halcyon, and Bar 13.
By day, Jen works as a fundraiser for a small poetry press, and serves as Managing Director for Risa Jaroslow & Dancers. She also teaches Contact Improv through Movement Research. Her roots in theater and immersion in literature inform her dances.
Visit Jen Abram's Web site at http://www.jenabrams.org.
Visit Eva Yaa Asantewaa's dance blog--InfiniteBody--at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com.
MP3 File
When dancing is living
When dancing is living: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
by Bryan Rourke, The Providence Journal, January 22, 2008
by Bryan Rourke, The Providence Journal, January 22, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Faculty position in Dance Studies, UCLA
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Dance Studies
Department of World Arts and Cultures, UCLA
Beginning Fall 2008 or when filled
Position Description
The Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA invites applications for a tenure-track open rank position in dance studies focused on the study of dance in global perspective. The applicant's research should examine dance or body-based performance in relation to theories of globalization trans-nationalism and transmigratory studies which address identity, gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality. The department is interested in redefining the relationship between movement practice and dance scholarship and the ways we conceive of movement/body-based practice within varied cultural frameworks.
Responsibilities of the position will include active pursuit of research, publication and/or creative work; graduate and undergraduate teaching and mentoring students from diverse backgrounds; and service in the Department of World Arts and Cultures and university-wide. The successful candidate will contribute to the undergraduate and graduate curricula in dance studies, and will participate in the interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretical dialogues that define the intellectual vitality of the Department of World Arts and Cultures.
Specific courses the candidate should be able to teach may include the following: at the undergraduate level, World Dance Histories, Topics in Dance Studies, courses on the history of specific body-based arts practices, and courses that analyze in cross-cultural perspective the meanings of concepts such as choreography, improvisation, and technique; at the graduate level, The Body, and Theories of Performance, as well as courses of the candidate's design.
Qualifications
The position is open to scholars and artist-scholars. A Ph.D. is required. Experience in teaching in a university setting, demonstrated ability to mentor and challenge students of diverse backgrounds, collegiality, openness to new ideas, and demonstrated intellectual and administrative leadership are desirable. We invite applications from candidates who are interested in connecting with other fields and disciplines and are strongly committed to scholarly research. Theoretical and geographical interests are open.
Rank/Salary
Level of appointment and salary will be determined by the candidate's qualifications and professional experience.
Application
Applicants must apply online at www.wac.ucla.edu. Requirements include a CV; 150-250-word narrative bio and a statement providing context for the applicant's research and teaching interests; sample publication and/or documentation of creative work; and three letters of reference. Hard copies of supplemental materials that cannot be uploaded should be sent directly to:
Chair, Dance Studies Search Committee; Ref. # 0430-0708-01
UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures
Box 951608
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1608
Deadline: Application period begins Friday January 4, 2008, closing on Friday February 29, 2008, with all supplemental materials that cannot be uploaded to be received at the address above by March 7, 2008. On-line applications will be accepted starting January 7, 2008.
UCLA welcomes and encourages diversity and seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of California, to maintain the excellence of the University, and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.
The University of California, Los Angeles is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Proof of U.S. citizenship or eligibility for U.S. employment will be required prior to employment (Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986).
The mutable body: Anna Deavere Smith
New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood might well be correct in his assessment of Anna Deavere Smith's new piece, Let Me Down Easy, which runs through February 3 at New Haven's Long Wharf Theater. But any opportunity to see this chameleon-like performer work her consummate physical and vocal skills is worth it, and this time her topic is one close to dance-lovers' hearts--"the resiliency and vulnerability of the human body." Click here for more information and tickets.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Andy Palacio: New York Times obituary
Andy Palacio, Who Saved Garifuna Music, Dies at 47
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, January 21, 2008
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Prominent Garifuna Musician Andy Palacio dead at 47
Andy Palacio, an iconic musician and cultural activist in his native Belize and impassioned spokesperson for the Garifuna people of Central America, was declared dead January 19 at 9pm Belize time due to a massive and extensive stroke to the brain, a heart attack and respiratory failure due to the previous two conditions. (Read more here.)
Saturday, January 19, 2008
PBS to broadcast award-winning "Water Flowing Together"
Did you miss Dance on Camera's screenings of Water Flowing Together, first-time filmmaker Gwendolen Cates's new documentary about the life, career and retirement of New York City Ballet's Jock Soto? This film is a feast. Cates goes for a collision of images that simply pop from the screen, and she incorporates a multitude of thoughtful and heartful perspectives from Soto and the people who love him and have worked beside him. You'll have another chance to see Water Flowing Together when PBS broadcasts the 60-minute version of this 77-minute film on Independent Lens on April 8. Check your local listings for the specific time.
For other InfiniteBody posts on Water Flowing Together, click here and here.
Winners of the 2008 Jury Prize at Dance Film Associations' 36th annual Dance on Camera Festival:
FLYING LESSON
Phil Harder, Rosanne Chamecki, Andrea Lerner, USA, 2007; 4:37 minutes
http://www.chameckilerner.org
For other InfiniteBody posts on Water Flowing Together, click here and here.
Winners of the 2008 Jury Prize at Dance Film Associations' 36th annual Dance on Camera Festival:
FLYING LESSON
Phil Harder, Rosanne Chamecki, Andrea Lerner, USA, 2007; 4:37 minutes
http://www.chameckilerner.org
WATER FLOWING TOGETHER
Gwendolen Cates, USA, 2007; 77 minutes
See trailer
Friday, January 18, 2008
Louis Mofsie: A Body and Soul podcast interview
I asked my friend, Tom Pearson, to help me introduce my interviewee, Louis Mofsie, who will once again MC the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers' annual concert and pow-wow at Theater for the New City, February 8-17. Tom responded with this lovely reflection.
"Louis Mofsie is a community builder, in the truest sense. A respected elder and member of the Hopi and Winnebago tribes, and a Brooklyn native, Louis draws together urban Indians of all ages by teaching traditional dances and music, collaborating with contemporary artists, and creating opportunities for people of myriad backgrounds to gather and express cultural heritage. The dance troupe he directs, the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, has
been holding monthly socials for years at the American Indian Community House (where he serves as Chairperson of the Board of Directors) and more recently at the Museum of the American Indian, as well as annual summer powwows at the Queens County Farm for 28 years. And for 33 years, in the thick of winter, his dancers have been bringing their passionate fires to Theater for the New City.
"Events like these anchor many urban Indians to their heritage and help them
redefine for themselves notions of identity, cultural inheritance, and a sense of belonging to a thriving and diverse urban American Indian community. Most native people in NYC can trace a connection to Louis in one way or another, myself included. And aside from being a brilliant musician (he has recorded several albums), an accomplished artist (he has illustrated several books), and a consummate choreographer and director--his humor, flair for the dramatic, and stage presence also make him an engaging speaker. What the camera was to Greta Garbo, the microphone
is to Louis Mofsie! Always an educator, he imparts his wisdom and cultural knowledge every time he MCs a powwow or introduces a performance at a school showing or in the theater by explaning a dance's origin or a song's meaning. And, all of the proceeds from Thunderbird events support native
scholarships. It is his generous spirit, sense of community, and educational agenda that allows audiences and participants to glean a deeper understanding when they experience native culture and to walk away
fortified by the power of indigenous music and dance.
"Louis loaned me an outfit and taught me my first steps for the Grass Dance a few years back, setting me on the powwow trail, and he has been my collaborator on several contemporary dance projects, at The Museum of the American Indian and Lincoln Center. This year, I am thrilled to be performing the Grass Dance with Louis and the Thunderbird Dancers at TNC."
--Tom Pearson, Co-Artistic Director, Third Rail Projects
BACKGROUND
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, officially incorporated in 1963, traces its roots further back, to a group of teenagers called the Little Eagles. From the beginning, keenly aware of the great diversity of tribal groups living in and around the metropolitan area--each with a very distinct cultural background--its members were determined to learn and preserve the songs and dances of their own tribes, then to branch out and include other tribes. Their teachers were their fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Since its formation, Louis Mofsie and the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers have visited and performed in almost all fifty states, where they have learned from a wide variety of Indian peoples.
Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago) received his M.A. from Hofstra University and taught art for 35 years at the Meadowbrook School in East Meadow, New York. Mofsie has curated exhibits at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other venues. He has been a guest artist at the Walker Art Center and has shown his own work at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Woodards Museum and the Gallup Ceremonials, both in Gallup, New Mexico.
Mofsie has illustrated the books "The Hopi Way," "Coyote Tales," and "Teepee Tales" and choreographed productions for the Lincoln Center Repertory Company, the Mercer Arts Center, and Theater for the New City. He has made several recordings, including Songs and Dances of the American Indian, and Authentic USA 1, and has lectured at the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, Wesleyan University, and New York University, among others.
For further information and tickets for the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers' 33rd Annual Dance Concert and Pow-wow, visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
MP3 File
"Louis Mofsie is a community builder, in the truest sense. A respected elder and member of the Hopi and Winnebago tribes, and a Brooklyn native, Louis draws together urban Indians of all ages by teaching traditional dances and music, collaborating with contemporary artists, and creating opportunities for people of myriad backgrounds to gather and express cultural heritage. The dance troupe he directs, the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, has
been holding monthly socials for years at the American Indian Community House (where he serves as Chairperson of the Board of Directors) and more recently at the Museum of the American Indian, as well as annual summer powwows at the Queens County Farm for 28 years. And for 33 years, in the thick of winter, his dancers have been bringing their passionate fires to Theater for the New City.
"Events like these anchor many urban Indians to their heritage and help them
redefine for themselves notions of identity, cultural inheritance, and a sense of belonging to a thriving and diverse urban American Indian community. Most native people in NYC can trace a connection to Louis in one way or another, myself included. And aside from being a brilliant musician (he has recorded several albums), an accomplished artist (he has illustrated several books), and a consummate choreographer and director--his humor, flair for the dramatic, and stage presence also make him an engaging speaker. What the camera was to Greta Garbo, the microphone
is to Louis Mofsie! Always an educator, he imparts his wisdom and cultural knowledge every time he MCs a powwow or introduces a performance at a school showing or in the theater by explaning a dance's origin or a song's meaning. And, all of the proceeds from Thunderbird events support native
scholarships. It is his generous spirit, sense of community, and educational agenda that allows audiences and participants to glean a deeper understanding when they experience native culture and to walk away
fortified by the power of indigenous music and dance.
"Louis loaned me an outfit and taught me my first steps for the Grass Dance a few years back, setting me on the powwow trail, and he has been my collaborator on several contemporary dance projects, at The Museum of the American Indian and Lincoln Center. This year, I am thrilled to be performing the Grass Dance with Louis and the Thunderbird Dancers at TNC."
--Tom Pearson, Co-Artistic Director, Third Rail Projects
BACKGROUND
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, officially incorporated in 1963, traces its roots further back, to a group of teenagers called the Little Eagles. From the beginning, keenly aware of the great diversity of tribal groups living in and around the metropolitan area--each with a very distinct cultural background--its members were determined to learn and preserve the songs and dances of their own tribes, then to branch out and include other tribes. Their teachers were their fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Since its formation, Louis Mofsie and the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers have visited and performed in almost all fifty states, where they have learned from a wide variety of Indian peoples.
Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago) received his M.A. from Hofstra University and taught art for 35 years at the Meadowbrook School in East Meadow, New York. Mofsie has curated exhibits at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other venues. He has been a guest artist at the Walker Art Center and has shown his own work at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Woodards Museum and the Gallup Ceremonials, both in Gallup, New Mexico.
Mofsie has illustrated the books "The Hopi Way," "Coyote Tales," and "Teepee Tales" and choreographed productions for the Lincoln Center Repertory Company, the Mercer Arts Center, and Theater for the New City. He has made several recordings, including Songs and Dances of the American Indian, and Authentic USA 1, and has lectured at the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, Wesleyan University, and New York University, among others.
For further information and tickets for the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers' 33rd Annual Dance Concert and Pow-wow, visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
MP3 File
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Turning World (10)
Last Year's Role Model, The New York Times, January 13, 2008
This opinion piece, by novelist and short story writer Lorrie Moore, gets it so right. Finally!
This opinion piece, by novelist and short story writer Lorrie Moore, gets it so right. Finally!
Tamango's Urban Tap: A Body and Soul podcast interview
Tamango's revolutionary approach to tap transforms his dance into music with a sharpened sense of style and awe-inspiring fluidity. Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, Tamango moved to Paris at age eight and began a formal education in art. He started tap dancing in his early 20's at the American Center in Paris and the Beaux Arts de Paris, which he left to join the university of the streets before moving to New York City.
Bringing together a global mix of dancers, musicians and artists, Tamango's Urban Tap crosses and blends the cultures and rhythms of jazz, tap, hip hop, capoeira, stilt, world, free-style and more. Tamango has been hailed worldwide for the electrifying skill and elegant beauty of his dancing. The New York Times declared, "One is tempted to call him the best dancer of any kind around."
He is also a painter, drummer, didjeridoo player and spoken word artist. Currently, he is acting, singing and dancing in "In Search of Josephine," a French production that draws together stories of the sensational Josephine Baker and modern-day, flood-ravaged New Orleans.
Urban Tap performs on March 7, 2008 at New York City's Town Hall. In April, Tamango's collaborative project with jazz funk guitarist Charlie Hunter will be presented as a work-in-progress at Harlem Stage.
For more information about Tamango's Urban Tap, visit www.urbantap.net/. For ticket information for the March 7 performance at Town Hall, visit http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org/pages/calendar/march.html.
Visit Eva Yaa Asantewaa's dance blog--InfiniteBody--at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com.
Subscribe to Body and Soul, the podcast of InfiniteBody, at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml
and through iTunes.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
MP3 File
Bringing together a global mix of dancers, musicians and artists, Tamango's Urban Tap crosses and blends the cultures and rhythms of jazz, tap, hip hop, capoeira, stilt, world, free-style and more. Tamango has been hailed worldwide for the electrifying skill and elegant beauty of his dancing. The New York Times declared, "One is tempted to call him the best dancer of any kind around."
He is also a painter, drummer, didjeridoo player and spoken word artist. Currently, he is acting, singing and dancing in "In Search of Josephine," a French production that draws together stories of the sensational Josephine Baker and modern-day, flood-ravaged New Orleans.
Urban Tap performs on March 7, 2008 at New York City's Town Hall. In April, Tamango's collaborative project with jazz funk guitarist Charlie Hunter will be presented as a work-in-progress at Harlem Stage.
For more information about Tamango's Urban Tap, visit www.urbantap.net/. For ticket information for the March 7 performance at Town Hall, visit http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org/pages/calendar/march.html.
Visit Eva Yaa Asantewaa's dance blog--InfiniteBody--at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com.
Subscribe to Body and Soul, the podcast of InfiniteBody, at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml
and through iTunes.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
MP3 File
Men in motion at Dixon Place
Walking down to Dixon Place last night to see this week's Moving Men program--curated by the amiable Michael Cross Burke--I really absorbed how the Bowery area has changed. (Oh, please! Even I shop at that Whole Foods! But I spent probably no more than fifteen minutes at the New Museum's Open House, drifting past sculpture that looked exactly like the assemblages of homeless people.) Someday, we'll have to say goodbye to the impossible little haven that has been Dixon Place as we've known it and hello to a state-of-the-art performance center--"complete with a bar!"--on Chrystie Street. I'll assume I'll have a real theater seat then (sigh), a printed program so I can follow stuff and identify people (yay!) and a more conventional amount of distance between me and whoever is dancing (oh, well...).
Being extremely close to dancers in action has its charms, and I often wonder how radical audience proximity might change specific types of companies and individual dancers and pieces of choreography for the better. In any case, I loved watching Gabriel Forestieri and Ted Johnson up close, especially to savor how gracefully the tall, imposing, superbly controlled Johnson can move. Up close, you can see the origin of each movement and you think you can even feel his thoughts fire up. Gabe and Ted move like dolphins--the kind of fish trained in contact improv, perhaps--and have an original, niftily-calibrated range of vulnerability and humor in their interactions. I could have watched a whole show of these two men.
Dancing Fish Productions/Megan Sipe offered a triplet of male solos, the last of which--an electric, full-bodied shimmier--was the guy to see. Next time, Megan, make sure your dancers are individually identified.
Miri Park--in the guise of someone named "Stella Ho"--had her cheering section working overtime, but I think a Korean-American woman portraying a flamboyant Black woman pop singer wearing a skintight, spangled dress and flipping her store-bought hair is only notable because--woowee!--it's a Korean-American woman doing it and not, you know, some drag queen. Her act was cute, nothing more.
I had a little concern for Nicky Paraiso whose solo, Song for Bill, quietly followed all the hooting and hollering for "Stella Ho." The piece opened in the dark with the sounds of Nicky playing a piano and, as the lights came up, continued as he sat there with his back to us, tenderly singing a love song. He then danced something by Chris Yon which I will forever think of as the "Chris Yon Postmodern Sort-of-Hula Mime Dance." Visualize Nicky Paraiso looking as much like Chris Yon dancing as a Filipino man can. Kind of strange. But what really got me was Nicky's New York apartment/landlord story with its exploding sink and its downstairs neighbor who lives like a princess and Nicky singing the love song to Bill in his hospital bed. This tale was surprisingly suspenseful, absorbing and, yes, moving. Nicky Paraiso: a moving man, indeed.
The next Moving Men show--featuring works by David Appel, Ojay Morgan, Leslie Guyton and
Kristen Shifferdecker--will be on Wednesday, February 20 at 8pm. For further information and reservations, call 212-219-0736 or click here.
Being extremely close to dancers in action has its charms, and I often wonder how radical audience proximity might change specific types of companies and individual dancers and pieces of choreography for the better. In any case, I loved watching Gabriel Forestieri and Ted Johnson up close, especially to savor how gracefully the tall, imposing, superbly controlled Johnson can move. Up close, you can see the origin of each movement and you think you can even feel his thoughts fire up. Gabe and Ted move like dolphins--the kind of fish trained in contact improv, perhaps--and have an original, niftily-calibrated range of vulnerability and humor in their interactions. I could have watched a whole show of these two men.
Dancing Fish Productions/Megan Sipe offered a triplet of male solos, the last of which--an electric, full-bodied shimmier--was the guy to see. Next time, Megan, make sure your dancers are individually identified.
Miri Park--in the guise of someone named "Stella Ho"--had her cheering section working overtime, but I think a Korean-American woman portraying a flamboyant Black woman pop singer wearing a skintight, spangled dress and flipping her store-bought hair is only notable because--woowee!--it's a Korean-American woman doing it and not, you know, some drag queen. Her act was cute, nothing more.
I had a little concern for Nicky Paraiso whose solo, Song for Bill, quietly followed all the hooting and hollering for "Stella Ho." The piece opened in the dark with the sounds of Nicky playing a piano and, as the lights came up, continued as he sat there with his back to us, tenderly singing a love song. He then danced something by Chris Yon which I will forever think of as the "Chris Yon Postmodern Sort-of-Hula Mime Dance." Visualize Nicky Paraiso looking as much like Chris Yon dancing as a Filipino man can. Kind of strange. But what really got me was Nicky's New York apartment/landlord story with its exploding sink and its downstairs neighbor who lives like a princess and Nicky singing the love song to Bill in his hospital bed. This tale was surprisingly suspenseful, absorbing and, yes, moving. Nicky Paraiso: a moving man, indeed.
The next Moving Men show--featuring works by David Appel, Ojay Morgan, Leslie Guyton and
Kristen Shifferdecker--will be on Wednesday, February 20 at 8pm. For further information and reservations, call 212-219-0736 or click here.
British council cuts funds to the arts
Arts Council in England Taketh (and Giveth), Leaving Anger in Its Wake
by Sarah Lyall, The New York Times, January 17, 2008
by Sarah Lyall, The New York Times, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Artist of Color Performance Residency Program
The NCCC/NPN Artist of Color Performance Residency Project is a partnership between the National Performance Network and the Network of Cultural Centers of Color that subsidizes the touring of work by artists of color across the United States. The program is intended to expand the pool of artists of color who are presented in the United States and enables artists to reach out to new communities through Performance Residencies.
Who Can Apply
Artists of color and presenters who are engaged in a minimum one week (5-7 days) Performance Residency (see guidelines). Both artists and presenters must be US based. Artists must live at least 100 miles out of the presenting community where the Performance Residency is taking place. See subsidy guidelines for more eligibility criteria.
Subsidy Amount
Up to $5,000 towards Artist’s Fees for the Performance Residency.
Winter Fiscal Year 2008: February 11, 2008
For projects occurring between July 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008
Who Can Apply
Artists of color and presenters who are engaged in a minimum one week (5-7 days) Performance Residency (see guidelines). Both artists and presenters must be US based. Artists must live at least 100 miles out of the presenting community where the Performance Residency is taking place. See subsidy guidelines for more eligibility criteria.
Subsidy Amount
Up to $5,000 towards Artist’s Fees for the Performance Residency.
Winter Fiscal Year 2008: February 11, 2008
For projects occurring between July 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008
The Turning World (9)
Upcoming events at The New School
The Environment and Politics '08
Wednesday, January 30, 7pm
Admission: $8
Location: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street (2nd Floor), Manhattan
What role will the environment play in the Presidential elections? Speakers: Steve Fleischli (Waterkeeper Alliance); Rev. Patricia Ackerman (Fellowship of Reconciliation); Richard Perez (Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, SUNY-Albany). Moderator: Anthony Pereira (AltPower).
For additional information, click here.
Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America
Thursday, January 31 (10am-9pm)
Admission: free
Location: Tishman Auditorium, Johnson Building, 66 West 12th Street, Manhattan
Focus the Nation is a national teach-in on environmental issues involving more than a thousand schools, organizations and businesses. For more information, click here and here.
The Environment and Politics '08
Wednesday, January 30, 7pm
Admission: $8
Location: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street (2nd Floor), Manhattan
What role will the environment play in the Presidential elections? Speakers: Steve Fleischli (Waterkeeper Alliance); Rev. Patricia Ackerman (Fellowship of Reconciliation); Richard Perez (Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, SUNY-Albany). Moderator: Anthony Pereira (AltPower).
For additional information, click here.
Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America
Thursday, January 31 (10am-9pm)
Admission: free
Location: Tishman Auditorium, Johnson Building, 66 West 12th Street, Manhattan
Focus the Nation is a national teach-in on environmental issues involving more than a thousand schools, organizations and businesses. For more information, click here and here.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
New York pride
Yesterday, after dashing from one show (Doug Elkins's Fraulein Maria at Joe's Pub) to another (Danspace Project's Dance CoOp roundup of artists for the APAP crowd), I realized that an unanticipated feeling had blossomed in me--pride. I felt this pride most intensely while I watched Levi Gonzalez dance tribute, a "research project in progress," as he calls it, a lineup of snippets of movement prepared for him by a virtual Murderors' Row of postmodern choreographers. Before each bit, he'd call out the name of its creator: Luciana Achugar, John Jasperse, Miguel Gutierrez, Beth Gill, Maria Hassabi. I can't say why, exactly, but hearing Gonzalez's clear, resonant voice intoning each name sounded like a roll call of heroes. And I suppose it is. Sitting among all of these presenter folks from all over, I had this flash of pride for New York.
Earlier in the afternoon, I'd been swept away by Elkins's Fraulein Maria, his loving, clever dance-up of The Sound of Music--as hilarious as I'd been promised it would be but completely enchanting and soul-touching, too, which was a total surprise. Elkins packs so much rambunctious dance and comedy into an hour and a stage the size of an East Village bathroom, and his performers could not be more delightful. Too many heroic names to call out here--it takes a village to climb this mountain--but some of the most notable are Arthur Aviles, Nicole Wolcott, Jennifer Nugent, David Parker, Archie Burnett, Mark Gindick, Johnnie Moore and Elkins, the man himself. Next chance you get to see it, just go. You will be charmed and moved to your core.
Earlier in the afternoon, I'd been swept away by Elkins's Fraulein Maria, his loving, clever dance-up of The Sound of Music--as hilarious as I'd been promised it would be but completely enchanting and soul-touching, too, which was a total surprise. Elkins packs so much rambunctious dance and comedy into an hour and a stage the size of an East Village bathroom, and his performers could not be more delightful. Too many heroic names to call out here--it takes a village to climb this mountain--but some of the most notable are Arthur Aviles, Nicole Wolcott, Jennifer Nugent, David Parker, Archie Burnett, Mark Gindick, Johnnie Moore and Elkins, the man himself. Next chance you get to see it, just go. You will be charmed and moved to your core.
The Drag is Dancing
Editor's Note: Ennis Smith is another talented writer from my Spring '07 Writing on Dance group at Dance Theater Workshop, and I'm very pleased that he sent me the following review of a performance we attended together back last October. This piece has been published in the January 2008 issue of Attitude: The Dancer's Magazine, and you'll find more of Ennis's excellent writing there. (Click here to discover more about Attitude!) You can enjoy Ennis's blogging at Smokin' Room and Botticelli Black Boy.
********************************************
The Drag is Dancing
by Ennis Smith
Attitude: The Dancer's Magazine, January 2008
The East is Red
by The Legendary House of Ninja
at Dance Theater Workshop, New York, October 4-5, 2007
Concept - Benny Ninja
Written - Paris Ninja
Stage Direction - Paris Ninja
Videography/Graphics – Angel eyes Ninja
Music – Chip-Chop Ninja
Choreography – Benny Ninja and The House of Ninja
Props – George
Costumes – House of Ninja
Voice Over - Archie Ninja, Eileen Ninja, Benny Ninja, Paris Ninja
Stage Assistant – Mikey Ninja
It made perfect sense to shante, not walk, to your seat at the first performance of the Legendary House of Ninja’s The East is Red, a presentation of Dance Theater Workshop’s Studio Series on November 5, 2007; to a sinuous techno throb, one young patron earned cheers from the audience when she threw a few voguing moves in the direction of her friends. DTW asked us to check our shoes at the door, a move designed to preserve the floor but one that always loosens one’s reserve (and summons the trauma of countless high school sock-hops). Here, one’s stocking feet created another conduit for the beat as the bass coursed from our toes to our expectant hearts.
Welcome to the drag ball by way of Chelsea, where the ghosts of our youth weren’t the only ones being conjured. As the multi-generational audience leaned against the studio-length barre or seated themselves, some cross-legged on the floor, I wondered if they pondered a tradition reaching back to the 1920s: across the country, in spaces clandestine (basement bars) and mundane (convention centers and Shriner’s halls, ironically, under the protection of local law enforcement) gay men and women dolled up like Vegas Cinderellas or in traditional formal attire, found a haven where they could be their out-and-proud selves as they danced and swayed until dawn’s early hours. After the ball the assemblage of bank presidents, milkmen and secretaries returned to closeted American lives where fear of exposure, blackmail and ostracism tempered the previous night’s high spirits like bills in the mail.
Cut to the hyper-glitzed 1980s, and a drag ball culture populated almost exclusively by ethnic gay males who helped usher a dance craze as galvanic as the twist. Voguing, a semaphoric explosion of dance culled from street acrobatics and fashion runways, proved the perfect metaphor for a Reagan-era Me-Decade brimming with aspiration, glamour and conspicuous consumption. Those of us just off the bus at Port Authority could get a healthy dose of live fabulousness a few blocks north at grottos like Sally’s Hideaway on 43rd Street, Washington Square Park, the West Village piers or a plethora of drag venues stretching up to Harlem, a phenomenon that reached its apotheosis with the release of Jenny Livingston’s 1987 documentary Paris is Burning, and the popularity of a little ditty called “Vogue” by you-know-who.
Dance still fuels the houses, but more altruistic goals (mentoring of young gays, STD prevention and transgender awareness) occupy equal prominence as they strive to endure. The East is Red opened with a tribute to the late Willie Ninja, the star dancer whose appearances in music videos (Malcolm McLaren’s “Deep in Vogue”), and with major dance companies (Karole Armitage, Doug Elkins and David Neuman, among others) helped catapult the vogue into a larger arena; such evocations tap into the emotional history of queerness, since the vogue’s ascendance paralleled an era shrouded by the deaths of many from AIDS.
A whisk of red curtains transported us to the Orient and a procession of young geishas whose unison dance oozed with placid submission that turned out to be a ruse; with the words, “now bring it,” Isis Ninja (in a role suggesting the knowing court eunuch) prompted each to spread the largesse of their special gifts, a command the young women embraced by treating the audience to dazzling displays of the vogue’s many modes—runway, breakdancing and freestyle.
When the men, or sensei, entered, the plot thickened: in this court, the only way to squelch rogue factions intent on overthrowing this fictitious House of Ninja was through battle. In an artfully comic sequence that was one part Peking Opera, nine parts cheesy Kung Fu western, dancers paired off for a series of duels, some making real-time body contact in traditional martial arts fashion, while others assayed a slow motion style loaded with subtler physical attacks. Here, a look loaded with “shade” (meant to convey insult through indifference) did as much damage as a chop to the jaw; a deftly pointed foot or lightning whip of the head showed the enemy who the real men were with style and attitude.
The work’s potential was apparent. The tropes found in Asian theater have natural counterparts in house movement (butch/femme equals samurai/geisha), and the notion of one ethnic group taking on the cultural traits of another is an intriguing one. When it worked, the payoffs were golden: a giant red dragon pulsed through the proceedings, and the use of prerecorded dialogue recreated the off-kilter sensation of watching a Bruce Lee movie riddled with bad dubbing. When it didn’t (at the beginning, the quartet of dancing women lacked the necessary precision, though that could have been opening night nerves), the Asian trappings felt tacked on despite the late Ninja’s citing the Far East as his initial inspiration. Underneath the yards of silk and brocade beat hearts struggling to shake their big city roots, and why should they? This homemade art form has a vitality all its own; such dance doesn’t need a makeover to loan it legitimacy.
Still, glints of what a deeper exploration of multi-ethnic identity might yield could be seen in some of the performances. Current house head Benny Ninja is a slithery snake reincarnated as a dancer, with shoulder isolations that reminded me of that great bit of dialogue from Fred Astaire’s The Bandwagon: “She came at me in sections.” Whether pouring himself across the floor or disseminating wonderful business with a freakishly long Fu Manchu moustache, this performer embodied an eerie otherness that taunted and amused. Playing a pair of precocious twins, Pito and Javier Ninja (by now you’ve noted all members of the house share the same surname) made a spectacular late impression with fluid splits, extensions and fingers so well articulated they could be spied a city block away—all to the accompaniment of Chip Chop Ninja’s hysterical remix of Peggy Lee’s “We are Siamese” from Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp.
DTW is to be commended for its help in developing this work. But the studio’s fluorescent lights and pristine floors felt anathema to that which cried out for a touch of slightly soiled inscrutability. Keeping up with the times is tricky business, but as The Legendary House of Ninja searches for ways to propel drag ball culture and the idiosyncratic dance that springs from it to new heights, it mustn’t forget all the previous eras from which the tradition sprang. As The East is Red develops, let’s hope it draws from more of its resonant all-American history, one that might perfume the air like stolen kisses in the dark.
(c)2007, Ennis Smith
Ennis Smith is a MFA graduate of The New School. His work there won him a National Arts Club’s Literary Scholarship in Nonfiction. He earned his BA at Empire State College, where he was the recipient of a Richard Porter Leach Fellowship. His nonfiction piece, "The Man with the Toy Face," was published on the website Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood; his memoir piece, "The Rapunzel Effect," was recognized as an outstanding work of nonfiction by In Our Own Write. Other published work: dance criticism in Attitude: The Dancer’s Magazine.
As an actor, Ennis has appeared at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kennedy Center, The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, in plays ranging from Arthur Miller to Shakespeare to Fats Waller. Through his work in cabaret and pop music, he’s played engagements at Joe’s Pub, Fez, Danny’s Skylight Room, Cornelia Street Café, The Triad, Odette’s in New Hope, PA and New York’s Town Hall at the Sixth and Seventh Annual Cabaret Conventions.
For his volunteer work with Lifebeat’s Hearts and Voices (Musicians Against AIDS) in 2000, Ennis was the featured subject on PBS's In The Life.
********************************************
The Drag is Dancing
by Ennis Smith
Attitude: The Dancer's Magazine, January 2008
The East is Red
by The Legendary House of Ninja
at Dance Theater Workshop, New York, October 4-5, 2007
Concept - Benny Ninja
Written - Paris Ninja
Stage Direction - Paris Ninja
Videography/Graphics – Angel eyes Ninja
Music – Chip-Chop Ninja
Choreography – Benny Ninja and The House of Ninja
Props – George
Costumes – House of Ninja
Voice Over - Archie Ninja, Eileen Ninja, Benny Ninja, Paris Ninja
Stage Assistant – Mikey Ninja
It made perfect sense to shante, not walk, to your seat at the first performance of the Legendary House of Ninja’s The East is Red, a presentation of Dance Theater Workshop’s Studio Series on November 5, 2007; to a sinuous techno throb, one young patron earned cheers from the audience when she threw a few voguing moves in the direction of her friends. DTW asked us to check our shoes at the door, a move designed to preserve the floor but one that always loosens one’s reserve (and summons the trauma of countless high school sock-hops). Here, one’s stocking feet created another conduit for the beat as the bass coursed from our toes to our expectant hearts.
Welcome to the drag ball by way of Chelsea, where the ghosts of our youth weren’t the only ones being conjured. As the multi-generational audience leaned against the studio-length barre or seated themselves, some cross-legged on the floor, I wondered if they pondered a tradition reaching back to the 1920s: across the country, in spaces clandestine (basement bars) and mundane (convention centers and Shriner’s halls, ironically, under the protection of local law enforcement) gay men and women dolled up like Vegas Cinderellas or in traditional formal attire, found a haven where they could be their out-and-proud selves as they danced and swayed until dawn’s early hours. After the ball the assemblage of bank presidents, milkmen and secretaries returned to closeted American lives where fear of exposure, blackmail and ostracism tempered the previous night’s high spirits like bills in the mail.
Cut to the hyper-glitzed 1980s, and a drag ball culture populated almost exclusively by ethnic gay males who helped usher a dance craze as galvanic as the twist. Voguing, a semaphoric explosion of dance culled from street acrobatics and fashion runways, proved the perfect metaphor for a Reagan-era Me-Decade brimming with aspiration, glamour and conspicuous consumption. Those of us just off the bus at Port Authority could get a healthy dose of live fabulousness a few blocks north at grottos like Sally’s Hideaway on 43rd Street, Washington Square Park, the West Village piers or a plethora of drag venues stretching up to Harlem, a phenomenon that reached its apotheosis with the release of Jenny Livingston’s 1987 documentary Paris is Burning, and the popularity of a little ditty called “Vogue” by you-know-who.
Dance still fuels the houses, but more altruistic goals (mentoring of young gays, STD prevention and transgender awareness) occupy equal prominence as they strive to endure. The East is Red opened with a tribute to the late Willie Ninja, the star dancer whose appearances in music videos (Malcolm McLaren’s “Deep in Vogue”), and with major dance companies (Karole Armitage, Doug Elkins and David Neuman, among others) helped catapult the vogue into a larger arena; such evocations tap into the emotional history of queerness, since the vogue’s ascendance paralleled an era shrouded by the deaths of many from AIDS.
A whisk of red curtains transported us to the Orient and a procession of young geishas whose unison dance oozed with placid submission that turned out to be a ruse; with the words, “now bring it,” Isis Ninja (in a role suggesting the knowing court eunuch) prompted each to spread the largesse of their special gifts, a command the young women embraced by treating the audience to dazzling displays of the vogue’s many modes—runway, breakdancing and freestyle.
When the men, or sensei, entered, the plot thickened: in this court, the only way to squelch rogue factions intent on overthrowing this fictitious House of Ninja was through battle. In an artfully comic sequence that was one part Peking Opera, nine parts cheesy Kung Fu western, dancers paired off for a series of duels, some making real-time body contact in traditional martial arts fashion, while others assayed a slow motion style loaded with subtler physical attacks. Here, a look loaded with “shade” (meant to convey insult through indifference) did as much damage as a chop to the jaw; a deftly pointed foot or lightning whip of the head showed the enemy who the real men were with style and attitude.
The work’s potential was apparent. The tropes found in Asian theater have natural counterparts in house movement (butch/femme equals samurai/geisha), and the notion of one ethnic group taking on the cultural traits of another is an intriguing one. When it worked, the payoffs were golden: a giant red dragon pulsed through the proceedings, and the use of prerecorded dialogue recreated the off-kilter sensation of watching a Bruce Lee movie riddled with bad dubbing. When it didn’t (at the beginning, the quartet of dancing women lacked the necessary precision, though that could have been opening night nerves), the Asian trappings felt tacked on despite the late Ninja’s citing the Far East as his initial inspiration. Underneath the yards of silk and brocade beat hearts struggling to shake their big city roots, and why should they? This homemade art form has a vitality all its own; such dance doesn’t need a makeover to loan it legitimacy.
Still, glints of what a deeper exploration of multi-ethnic identity might yield could be seen in some of the performances. Current house head Benny Ninja is a slithery snake reincarnated as a dancer, with shoulder isolations that reminded me of that great bit of dialogue from Fred Astaire’s The Bandwagon: “She came at me in sections.” Whether pouring himself across the floor or disseminating wonderful business with a freakishly long Fu Manchu moustache, this performer embodied an eerie otherness that taunted and amused. Playing a pair of precocious twins, Pito and Javier Ninja (by now you’ve noted all members of the house share the same surname) made a spectacular late impression with fluid splits, extensions and fingers so well articulated they could be spied a city block away—all to the accompaniment of Chip Chop Ninja’s hysterical remix of Peggy Lee’s “We are Siamese” from Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp.
DTW is to be commended for its help in developing this work. But the studio’s fluorescent lights and pristine floors felt anathema to that which cried out for a touch of slightly soiled inscrutability. Keeping up with the times is tricky business, but as The Legendary House of Ninja searches for ways to propel drag ball culture and the idiosyncratic dance that springs from it to new heights, it mustn’t forget all the previous eras from which the tradition sprang. As The East is Red develops, let’s hope it draws from more of its resonant all-American history, one that might perfume the air like stolen kisses in the dark.
(c)2007, Ennis Smith
Ennis Smith is a MFA graduate of The New School. His work there won him a National Arts Club’s Literary Scholarship in Nonfiction. He earned his BA at Empire State College, where he was the recipient of a Richard Porter Leach Fellowship. His nonfiction piece, "The Man with the Toy Face," was published on the website Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood; his memoir piece, "The Rapunzel Effect," was recognized as an outstanding work of nonfiction by In Our Own Write. Other published work: dance criticism in Attitude: The Dancer’s Magazine.
As an actor, Ennis has appeared at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kennedy Center, The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, in plays ranging from Arthur Miller to Shakespeare to Fats Waller. Through his work in cabaret and pop music, he’s played engagements at Joe’s Pub, Fez, Danny’s Skylight Room, Cornelia Street Café, The Triad, Odette’s in New Hope, PA and New York’s Town Hall at the Sixth and Seventh Annual Cabaret Conventions.
For his volunteer work with Lifebeat’s Hearts and Voices (Musicians Against AIDS) in 2000, Ennis was the featured subject on PBS's In The Life.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Cedar Lake, again
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet continues to make a strong case for becoming my favorite contemporary ballet company. I'll admit that I'm rarely a fan of contemporary ballet, but this sexy troupe is growing on me. I love its cultural diversity, its in-your-face, fresh spirit and the radiant, confident stage presence of its dancers. I look forward to seeing what performers like Jon Bond--I call him "the Joy of Dancing dancer"--and the fiercely interesting Acacia Schachte and Jason Kittelberger will do with the physical and dramatic challenges that choreographers throw their way. I've even started to cheer them on as they sit there on their pot of gold, enjoying a level of abundance that most U.S. dance companies can only fantasize about. (Enjoy it, kids!) So, my hat's off to Benoit-Swan Pouffer for making this doubter sit up and take notice.
Their current program opens with Jacopo Godani's Symptoms of Development--premiered by CLCB last January--which looks and sounds like a video game and has some wicked, terrifying dancing. It concludes, unfortunately, with the company premiere of Stijn Celis's Rite, set to a recorded performance of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps by pianist Fasil Say. This incomprehensible and interminable piece made my Inner Child fidgety, sleepy and unamused. The Times's Alastair Macaulay got Rite right--see his Rituals and Symptoms in a Triple Bill of Movement online today--although, when it comes to Symptoms of Development, I'd give Godani more credit and not blame the messenger for the uncomfortable message. But Macaulay and I agree on Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite and her Ten Duets on A Theme of Rescue which underscores not only the forceful physicality of the CLCB dancers but also their sinuous musicality. And I want to see more of her work, too.
The current season concludes on the 19th. For information and tickets, visit http://www.cedarlake.com or http://smarttix.com.
Their current program opens with Jacopo Godani's Symptoms of Development--premiered by CLCB last January--which looks and sounds like a video game and has some wicked, terrifying dancing. It concludes, unfortunately, with the company premiere of Stijn Celis's Rite, set to a recorded performance of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps by pianist Fasil Say. This incomprehensible and interminable piece made my Inner Child fidgety, sleepy and unamused. The Times's Alastair Macaulay got Rite right--see his Rituals and Symptoms in a Triple Bill of Movement online today--although, when it comes to Symptoms of Development, I'd give Godani more credit and not blame the messenger for the uncomfortable message. But Macaulay and I agree on Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite and her Ten Duets on A Theme of Rescue which underscores not only the forceful physicality of the CLCB dancers but also their sinuous musicality. And I want to see more of her work, too.
The current season concludes on the 19th. For information and tickets, visit http://www.cedarlake.com or http://smarttix.com.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Jerome Foundation's Travel and Study Grant Program
The Jerome Foundation will hold an informational session on its 2008 Travel and Study Grant Program for Literature, Film/Video and Dance on Tuesday, January 15, 6-7:30 pm, at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street in Manhattan.
Jerome Foundation Senior Program Officer Robert Byrd will explain the program’s purpose, eligibility requirements and application process and will take questions from attendees. Guidelines and application forms will be available at the meeting and are also posted on the foundations's website.
Jerome Foundation Senior Program Officer Robert Byrd will explain the program’s purpose, eligibility requirements and application process and will take questions from attendees. Guidelines and application forms will be available at the meeting and are also posted on the foundations's website.
Out and about
All of New York dance is out and about these days and evenings during the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) annual conference ("Presenting America: New Ground"), running around in a crazy attempt to see as much as possible of the artists who are attempting to be seen as much as possible. I've just started, and I'm already dazed.
Last evening, I caught two hour-long shows in the East Village. The first was a preview of Deganit Shemy & Company's Iodine at P.S. 122's COIL festival, which will premiere at P.S. 122, February 5-10. (Another showing of the work will run on Sunday at 6pm.) This caustic, discordant quintet for women proved Shemy to be a choreographer with a scalding, original theatricality. And her dancers--with their intense, stunned, staring faces and their bodies that move as if made of hard and soft rubber--are fantastic. The Israeli-born Shemy has said that her experience in growing up on a kibbutz served as inspiration for Iodine. The dance stings; it covers a wound but is meant to heal it. If you get a chance, also check out Maria Hassabi's Gloria, a highlight of 2007, returning tonight at 10pm and tomorrow at 3pm as part of COIL.
Since I live between P.S. 122 and Danspace Project--whee!!!--I dropped my Shemy press kit at home and then headed over to St. Mark's Church to see Daniel Léveillé Danse. Now through tomorrow evening, this Montreal troupe is presenting Twilight of the Oceans. Jean Jauvin's delicate, shifting lighting gives the piece an otherworldly quality. In its raw, physical demands and its allusions to and mashups of various body disciplines--martial arts, discus throwing, yoga, ballet pas de deux, swimming--Léveillé's choreography made an interesting accidental companion to the Shemy work. It is intense, every bit as scarily driven, in its own way. It might be working its basic ideas overtime, though. (Once again, I wonder whatever happened to short--and non-repetitious--dances.) A gentle warning: If you have a major issue with nudity in dance, you might want to skip this one.
Last evening, I caught two hour-long shows in the East Village. The first was a preview of Deganit Shemy & Company's Iodine at P.S. 122's COIL festival, which will premiere at P.S. 122, February 5-10. (Another showing of the work will run on Sunday at 6pm.) This caustic, discordant quintet for women proved Shemy to be a choreographer with a scalding, original theatricality. And her dancers--with their intense, stunned, staring faces and their bodies that move as if made of hard and soft rubber--are fantastic. The Israeli-born Shemy has said that her experience in growing up on a kibbutz served as inspiration for Iodine. The dance stings; it covers a wound but is meant to heal it. If you get a chance, also check out Maria Hassabi's Gloria, a highlight of 2007, returning tonight at 10pm and tomorrow at 3pm as part of COIL.
Since I live between P.S. 122 and Danspace Project--whee!!!--I dropped my Shemy press kit at home and then headed over to St. Mark's Church to see Daniel Léveillé Danse. Now through tomorrow evening, this Montreal troupe is presenting Twilight of the Oceans. Jean Jauvin's delicate, shifting lighting gives the piece an otherworldly quality. In its raw, physical demands and its allusions to and mashups of various body disciplines--martial arts, discus throwing, yoga, ballet pas de deux, swimming--Léveillé's choreography made an interesting accidental companion to the Shemy work. It is intense, every bit as scarily driven, in its own way. It might be working its basic ideas overtime, though. (Once again, I wonder whatever happened to short--and non-repetitious--dances.) A gentle warning: If you have a major issue with nudity in dance, you might want to skip this one.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Dare we hope?
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Great Gay Photo Show of 2008
The Great Gay Photo Show of 2008 opens next week, featuring 175 photographic works by over 60 artists, including several photos of our very own dance hero, Arthur Aviles, taken by Lois Greenfield and Steven Haas. Photos will be for sale and the proceeds will go to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre.
Subect matter included in the exhibition ranges from political and humorous to erotic and documentary. The works exhibited will include both traditional photographic methods as well as cutting-edge digitally composed and manipulated images.
Location: Leslie Lohman Gallery, 26 Wooster Street, Manhattan
Opening reception: Tuesday, January 15 (6-8pm)
Regular run: January 16 - Feb. 16, Tuesdays through Saturdays (Noon-6pm)
Subect matter included in the exhibition ranges from political and humorous to erotic and documentary. The works exhibited will include both traditional photographic methods as well as cutting-edge digitally composed and manipulated images.
Location: Leslie Lohman Gallery, 26 Wooster Street, Manhattan
Opening reception: Tuesday, January 15 (6-8pm)
Regular run: January 16 - Feb. 16, Tuesdays through Saturdays (Noon-6pm)
Situate yourself at the Marian Goodman Gallery
Every time a new visitor wanders into artist Tino Sehgal's day-long event at the Marion Goodman Gallery, the performers, arrayed against the bare, glaring white walls, stop what they're doing and say, "Hello! Welcome to this situation." It's a jarring and exposing moment for the visitor: artificial, art-ificial and art 0fficial. Then the performers carry on. Apparently, they don't have anything to say when visitors leave--which is what I did after a relatively short viewing, not wanting to be the sole visitor left in the room after everyone else had headed for the elevator.
I had been perfectly happy to watch these several performers moving slowly, languidly, gracefully as they gently traded intellectual insights and questions but, unlike one visitor standing near me, I did not relish the idea of being questioned and drawn into the discussion. Dropping into the middle of this conversation, I had no idea where I was, and I felt disoriented but in an oddly pleasant way. I loved their subtle, naturalistic movement--a few of them were especially good at it--and I found myself so drawn into the mystery and surprise of the movement that I could not focus on the words.
One could imagine these folks lolling around on a plush rug--although the gallery floor was quite raw--after a laidback dinner, adjusting for comfort or scratching their noses or, here and there, making a strangely dancerly gesture that in no way illustrated the stated point. Conversation was sculpted and suspended in the air with no visible means of support. Movement seemed to be happening in a different dimension, and its language was very, very different and very nice to see, if only for a short while.
Sehgal's performance continues every day this week through Thursday, running nonstop during gallery hours (10AM to 6pm--and, yes, the performers are periodically relieved and replaced by other colleagues). The Marion Goodman Gallery is at 24 West 57th Street in Manhattan. Click here for further details. To read more about Tino Sehgal and his work, click here.
I had been perfectly happy to watch these several performers moving slowly, languidly, gracefully as they gently traded intellectual insights and questions but, unlike one visitor standing near me, I did not relish the idea of being questioned and drawn into the discussion. Dropping into the middle of this conversation, I had no idea where I was, and I felt disoriented but in an oddly pleasant way. I loved their subtle, naturalistic movement--a few of them were especially good at it--and I found myself so drawn into the mystery and surprise of the movement that I could not focus on the words.
One could imagine these folks lolling around on a plush rug--although the gallery floor was quite raw--after a laidback dinner, adjusting for comfort or scratching their noses or, here and there, making a strangely dancerly gesture that in no way illustrated the stated point. Conversation was sculpted and suspended in the air with no visible means of support. Movement seemed to be happening in a different dimension, and its language was very, very different and very nice to see, if only for a short while.
Sehgal's performance continues every day this week through Thursday, running nonstop during gallery hours (10AM to 6pm--and, yes, the performers are periodically relieved and replaced by other colleagues). The Marion Goodman Gallery is at 24 West 57th Street in Manhattan. Click here for further details. To read more about Tino Sehgal and his work, click here.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Get Fresh
Choreographers, please consider this New Year's resolution: "I will strive to make shorter dances." Your brilliance doesn't get more brilliant with length. It gets more brilliant with more brilliance. That's all I'm saying.
Having said that, take a look at DOORKNOB COMPANY's genuinely chilling FIVE HUNDRED BY FIVES at this season's Fresh Tracks at Dance Theater Workshop.
Fresh Tracks has a 2pm matinee today and a final performance tonight at 7:30. Click here for information and tickets.
Having said that, take a look at DOORKNOB COMPANY's genuinely chilling FIVE HUNDRED BY FIVES at this season's Fresh Tracks at Dance Theater Workshop.
Fresh Tracks has a 2pm matinee today and a final performance tonight at 7:30. Click here for information and tickets.
Language of Dance
Got iTunes? Besides subscribing to and downloading Body and Soul--ahem!--definitely check out The New Yorker Animated Cartoons and download Robert Mankoff's Language of Dance (11/14/07). Hilarious!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Turning World (9)/Dance on Camera
"I think it's important to know the world you're living in and that not everything is wonderful. That is very important to me."
--Pina Bausch in Pina Bausch, a 44-minute documentary by German filmmaker Anne Linsel (2006), part of the 2008 Dance on Camera festival, which runs through January 19 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
The Linsel film is a rich opportunity to watch quicksilver intelligence dancing across Bausch's face as she talks about her experiences and her creative process. Only her declaration of innocence--that she never intended that her work would provoke people--seems dishonest. Her works and her dancers' extraordinary performances speak for themselves, and there are tantalizing bits and pieces shown. One more thing: for this fairly recent visitor to Venice, the Venetian settings for the dancers' German-language interviews proved entirely too distracting from the English subtitles!
In Horizon of Exile (2007, UK), filmmaker/choreographer Isabel Rocamora sets two dissociated women alone amid the golden expanse of the Chilean desert. These dancers supposedly express the experiences--of longing for the homeland, of searching for one's true self--of four Iraqi women exiles interviewed by Rocamora. Often hypnotic in pacing, the 22-minute film devolves into tediousness and, in the passage where the women gasp and thrust, an unfortunate silliness. Overall, the movement ideas look obvious. A woman stands, her black burqa buffeted by wind and sand; later, she slowly rolls in the sand. Bodies crinkled up like burnt wood. After the screening, one of the dancers told the audience that the Iraqi interviewees were very moved by the film and saw their reality in it. Whether this film can reach beyond this--and beyond its stark visual seductiveness--to connect with an audience in a meaningful way remains open to question.
For more information on program schedules, click here. For ticketing, click here.
--Pina Bausch in Pina Bausch, a 44-minute documentary by German filmmaker Anne Linsel (2006), part of the 2008 Dance on Camera festival, which runs through January 19 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
The Linsel film is a rich opportunity to watch quicksilver intelligence dancing across Bausch's face as she talks about her experiences and her creative process. Only her declaration of innocence--that she never intended that her work would provoke people--seems dishonest. Her works and her dancers' extraordinary performances speak for themselves, and there are tantalizing bits and pieces shown. One more thing: for this fairly recent visitor to Venice, the Venetian settings for the dancers' German-language interviews proved entirely too distracting from the English subtitles!
In Horizon of Exile (2007, UK), filmmaker/choreographer Isabel Rocamora sets two dissociated women alone amid the golden expanse of the Chilean desert. These dancers supposedly express the experiences--of longing for the homeland, of searching for one's true self--of four Iraqi women exiles interviewed by Rocamora. Often hypnotic in pacing, the 22-minute film devolves into tediousness and, in the passage where the women gasp and thrust, an unfortunate silliness. Overall, the movement ideas look obvious. A woman stands, her black burqa buffeted by wind and sand; later, she slowly rolls in the sand. Bodies crinkled up like burnt wood. After the screening, one of the dancers told the audience that the Iraqi interviewees were very moved by the film and saw their reality in it. Whether this film can reach beyond this--and beyond its stark visual seductiveness--to connect with an audience in a meaningful way remains open to question.
For more information on program schedules, click here. For ticketing, click here.