New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New York’s leading provider of unrestricted funding to individual artists, has awarded 136 Fellowships to 144 New York artists representing eight artistic disciplines that cover the visual, performing and literary arts. Reflected in the total are eight artistic collaborations. A NYFA Fellowship comes with an unrestricted grant in the amount of $7000.
This year’s 144 NYFA Fellows–who were chosen among over 4,500 applicants–includes
architects, choreographers, composers, fiction writers, painters, photographers, playwrights, screenwriters and video artists. The Fellows were selected by peer panels, which were assembled according to each artistic discipline.
Choreographers:
Luciana Achugar
Roxane Butterfly
Shemy Deganit
Miguel Gutierrez
Saar Harari and Lee Sher
Michel Kouakou
Nicholas Leichter
Jennifer Monson
Erick Montes – Gregory Millard Fellow
Max Pollak
Sally Silvers
Donna Uchizono
For additional information about NYFA, its fellowship program and a complete ist of 2008 NYFA Fellows, click here.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
What I've been seeing lately...
Whew! Busy month! And now it's Pride Weekend! So, some quick notes:
nicholas leichter dance concludes its Spanish Wells premiere season at Dance Theater Workshop tomorrow night, and I'm just realizing just how much the smart and energetic Leichter has manage to throw into that very choppy ocean of his. I'm also starting to hear some buzz about Leichter's newest dancer, Mathew Heggem. One to watch.
Tom Pearson and Zach Morris (of Third Rail Projects) conclude their Vanishing Point premiere season at Danspace Project (www.danspaceproject.org) tonight. Everything about this one is big with heart--performances (of which Morris, Donna Ahmadi and Tara O'Con are the standouts), visual design, and music. This is a lovely one. See it, see it, see it!
The uncommonly handsome and indecently-talented Foofwa D'Imobilité concludes his Benjamin de Bouillis season at Baryshnikov Arts Center, a co-presentation with Chez Bushwick, tonight. Of course, he is a master of movement, and his overarching concept of embodiment/disembodiment gets played out in a myriad of clever, fascinating ways. But what I really hope you'll get to see (weather permitting) is the fantastic composition of sky, water towers, pigeons and window frame designed by New York City and God. I missed my camera, desperately, desperately!
And last, there'sThierry Malandain's Ballet Biarritz, concluding a season at the Joyce Theater tonight. I'm not on board for this one, but you'll enjoy the fine dancers.
That's it for now! Happy Pride Weekend!
nicholas leichter dance concludes its Spanish Wells premiere season at Dance Theater Workshop tomorrow night, and I'm just realizing just how much the smart and energetic Leichter has manage to throw into that very choppy ocean of his. I'm also starting to hear some buzz about Leichter's newest dancer, Mathew Heggem. One to watch.
Tom Pearson and Zach Morris (of Third Rail Projects) conclude their Vanishing Point premiere season at Danspace Project (www.danspaceproject.org) tonight. Everything about this one is big with heart--performances (of which Morris, Donna Ahmadi and Tara O'Con are the standouts), visual design, and music. This is a lovely one. See it, see it, see it!
The uncommonly handsome and indecently-talented Foofwa D'Imobilité concludes his Benjamin de Bouillis season at Baryshnikov Arts Center, a co-presentation with Chez Bushwick, tonight. Of course, he is a master of movement, and his overarching concept of embodiment/disembodiment gets played out in a myriad of clever, fascinating ways. But what I really hope you'll get to see (weather permitting) is the fantastic composition of sky, water towers, pigeons and window frame designed by New York City and God. I missed my camera, desperately, desperately!
And last, there'sThierry Malandain's Ballet Biarritz, concluding a season at the Joyce Theater tonight. I'm not on board for this one, but you'll enjoy the fine dancers.
That's it for now! Happy Pride Weekend!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
DTW membership has its privileges
Dance Theater Workshop announces the expansion of its Web site with the launch of a Members Only site with greater functionality and interactive tools that offer self-producing artists an opportunity to tap into Dance Theater Workshop’s growing online network.
One of the new online features--the Member Profile Pages--allows members to upload personalized pages onto Dance Theater Workshop’s highly visible, savvy web site. To get a view of these pages, peruse the directory of member profiles now up at this link.
In addition to the Profile Pages, the Artist Services program has also updated the MOSAIC newsletter with an expanded reach on the blog and increased functionality that includes larger images and video content.
An online Bulletin Board has been launched for members to post events, classes, audition notices and more.
In the age of social networking, Dance Theater Workshop is proud to provide current online platforms that connect artists with each other and with a dance community regularly tuning into the Dance Theater Workshop site.
The first of its kind, Dance Theater Workshop Artist Services has been supporting, connecting, and empowering contemporary dance performance and the dance community for over 35 years. These resources create opportunities for artists to advance their specific goals and contribute to the overall vitality of contemporary dance and performance culture.
Membership deepens over 650 artists’ and arts organizations’ connection to the Dance Theater Workshop community, putting them in touch with a network of cultural innovators and leaders in the field.
For more information about Artist Services, visit this link.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Larry Keigwin: Body and Soul podcast
For program notes, see http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at www.keigwinandcompany.com. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
MP3 File
MP3 File
Body and Soul podcast notes: Larry Keigwin
Hi, there, fans of Body and Soul podcast!
I've been told that iTunes balks at lengthy show descriptions and just eliminates them. So, from now on, I'll simply post show notes for each episode in a separate message preceding the message that bears the Hipcast-generated audio player. If you subscribe to Body and Soul through iTunes, remember that you can always find basic show notes here and links to further information about my guests and their events.
Today, I was delighted to finally catch up with the exciting--and hugely busy--dancer-choreographer Larry Keigwin of Keigwin + Company who will present his next New York City season at the Joyce Theater (July 28-August 1). You can find out more about this season and view Larry's bio and other details by clicking here and here. I hope you'll enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
Thanks, once again, for supporting Body and Soul podcast as well as InfiniteBody. Remember to pass this information along to your friends and colleagues, and contribute a review on iTunes.
I've been told that iTunes balks at lengthy show descriptions and just eliminates them. So, from now on, I'll simply post show notes for each episode in a separate message preceding the message that bears the Hipcast-generated audio player. If you subscribe to Body and Soul through iTunes, remember that you can always find basic show notes here and links to further information about my guests and their events.
Today, I was delighted to finally catch up with the exciting--and hugely busy--dancer-choreographer Larry Keigwin of Keigwin + Company who will present his next New York City season at the Joyce Theater (July 28-August 1). You can find out more about this season and view Larry's bio and other details by clicking here and here. I hope you'll enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
Thanks, once again, for supporting Body and Soul podcast as well as InfiniteBody. Remember to pass this information along to your friends and colleagues, and contribute a review on iTunes.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Chi Movement Arts Center opens in Philly
A Day in The Life of Dance--Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers Officially Open Their New Home--CHI Movement Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
by Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast, June 15, 2008
by Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast, June 15, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
The audacity of performance
David Bench invites you to a performance on "the character of Barack Obama in the many ways you can read him as a leader and how that is relevant to today's political climate." He writes, "Three actors will be playing different aspects of his character and the audience is encouraged to interact with the characters and each other in a discussion of the issues." That's tonight, June 20,7pm at PS 122, 150 1st Avenue, Manhattan. RSVP David's program is part of "The Audacity of Desperation," presented by PS 122 Gallery at DEMO Space 122, June 19–June 22. Here's more information: DEMO Space 122 is pleased to present the NYC stop of "The Audacity of Desperation," a 3-day nomadic exhibition of take-away projects (initiated and curated by Jessica Lawless and Sarah Ross and organized by Steven Lam) in conjunction with a series of performances and workshops responding to the spin of the upcoming election. TAKE-AWAYS: Artworks by activists, artists, enthusiasts and very concerned people are made in unlimited editions to be freely distributed. These artworks function as counter-propaganda. Like a virus, they are activated outside the exhibition context, in domestic and public spaces, on bodies, clothes, bags... This collection of take-away posters, manifestos, DIY kits, postcards, stickers, buttons and multi-media projects will travel throughout the country, creating a space to build relationships and foster dialogue around the desperate state of affairs resulting from a calamitous administration, complacent congressional leaders and a disempowered citizenry. MODES OF ENCOUNTER: In parallel to the take-away work on display, the exhibition will be structured as a succession of modes of encounter orchestrated by interested volunteers. Utilizing the exhibition parameters as a site of social experimentation, this open-ended program of conversations, workshops and performances will solicit the active and reciprocal participations of visitor and artist alike, thereby inviting reflection on how communities become connected, alliances selected, coalitions established. Those interested in participating for one of the remaining empty slots are encouraged to email DEMOspacedirector@verizon.net for more information. PARTICIPANTS: Avi Alpert, Katja Aglert, Alas (Randy Wallace & Rae Culbert), Eric Anglès, Shinsuke Aso, Steve Ausbury, Mark Bechtel, David Bench, Lindsay Benedict, Mary Billyou, Jody Buchman, Center for Urban Pedagogy, Coco Rico, Heidi Cunningham, Solidad Decosta, DJ Lightbolt, Feel Tank Chicago, Andrea Domesle, Von Edwards, Sarah Ferguson, Dara Greenwald & Steve Lambert & Josh MacPhee & the Anti Advertising Agency, Benj Gerdes, Patrick Grenier, Tamar Guimaraes, Sarah Kanouse & Tianna Kennedy & Lee Azzerello, Caroline Kelley, Scott Kiernan, Rosamond S. King, Anné M. Klint, The League of Imaginary Scientists, Norene Leddy with Ed Bringas, Erin Ming Lee, Let's Re-Make, Runo Lagomarsino, Ilya Lipkin, Lizabeth Douglas Minkler, Carlos Motta, Huong Ngo, elin o'Hara slavick, Sreshta Rit Premnath, Sheila Pinkel, Jenny Polak, Nancy Popp, Jeremy Eilers & Davis Rhodes & Nic Xedro, Anthony Rayson, John Richey, Eva Rossof, Stephanie Rothenberg, Edward Schexnayder, Dorothy Schultz, Heath Schultz & Brad Thomson, Robert Samel Snyderman, Gordon Winiemko, Carrie Yury, Xtine, among others Refer to http://desperationexhibition.blogspot.com/ for more information about the national tour. DEMO Space 122 will officially open in 2009. A parallel exhibition space to the PS122 Art Gallery, DEMO Space 122 (located on the 2nd floor) is a not-for-profit organization that catalyzes new futures for contemporary artistic production with programs that utilize the intimate and participatory setting of a former classroom as a site for inquiry and process. Envisioned to be a laboratory for community participation, DEMO Space 122 seeks to further the mission of PS 122 Art Gallery by providing cross cultural dialog and a venue for art exhibitions and social activism.
Time to Barack Your Body again!
Once again, the dedicated and creative Lana Wilson invites you to "BARACK YOUR BODY" at her OBAMAEROBICS class, a benefit for my favorite presidential candidate. Lana
promises an air-conditioned dance studio and "an all-new routine to Weezer's hit single, Pork and Beans." She writes:
"OBAMAEROBICS is an easy-to-follow yet intense cardio workout—including strength training,
a little yoga, and a ridiculous crunch sequence--to tunes by artists including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Xiu Xiu, and Miley Cyrus. You WILL be sore the next day, and Barack will thank you for it. Sliding scale of $10-$50, with all proceeds to benefit the Obama campaign. No
aerobics experience necessary--all fitness levels are welcome! Please RSVP to us if you can make it—as space is limited. ***** Can't make it to class? You can still support OBAMEROBICS online by donating here. Your time for change has come--BARACK YOUR BODY."
Tuesday, June 24, 7:30pm
Location: New York Chinese Cultural Center
390 Broadway, Manhattan (2nd Floor, back studio)
To RSVP for OBAMAEROBICS, click here.
promises an air-conditioned dance studio and "an all-new routine to Weezer's hit single, Pork and Beans." She writes:
"OBAMAEROBICS is an easy-to-follow yet intense cardio workout—including strength training,
a little yoga, and a ridiculous crunch sequence--to tunes by artists including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Xiu Xiu, and Miley Cyrus. You WILL be sore the next day, and Barack will thank you for it. Sliding scale of $10-$50, with all proceeds to benefit the Obama campaign. No
aerobics experience necessary--all fitness levels are welcome! Please RSVP to us if you can make it—as space is limited. ***** Can't make it to class? You can still support OBAMEROBICS online by donating here. Your time for change has come--BARACK YOUR BODY."
Tuesday, June 24, 7:30pm
Location: New York Chinese Cultural Center
390 Broadway, Manhattan (2nd Floor, back studio)
To RSVP for OBAMAEROBICS, click here.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A beloved dance by Neil Greenberg
Everybody's thrilled by and writing about Neil Greenberg's new Really Queer Dance with Harps, and you should really queerly or otherwise see it--especially for the radiant trio of harpists, led by composer Zeena Parkins, at the golden heart of the piece. But my own really queer heart has gone and continues to go out to Quartet with Three Gay Men, the 2006 work danced by Greenberg, Luke Miller, Antonio Ramos and Colin Stillwell. It's just--hooray!--11 minutes, and some of that time is spent dancing to RuPaul's "Supermodel (You Better Work)." Can't go wrong, in my book, with RuPaul. And it's a fantastic dance, too, like a prism breaking Greenberg into four avatars who render his spacious movement with luscious, queerforward simplicity. Oh, did I mention it's only 11 minutes? Brevity, the soul of wit.
Dance Theater Workshop's got Dance By Neil Greenberg through Saturday. Click here.
Dance Theater Workshop's got Dance By Neil Greenberg through Saturday. Click here.
Remembering Cyd Charisse
Appreciations: Cyd Charisse
by Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times, June 19, 2008
An Appraisal: Sylph or Siren, the Legs Have It
by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, June 19, 2008
by Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times, June 19, 2008
An Appraisal: Sylph or Siren, the Legs Have It
by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Maguy Marin's dazzling "Umwelt"
The Joyce Theater's French Collection series--presenting provocative contemporary dance troupes from France--continues, now through Sunday, with Compagnie Maguy Marin's Umwelt. On opening night, at various points over the company's hour upon the stage, roughly two dozen audience members headed for the exits. I cannot say what drove them off because, despite having been "warned" about the production, I was utterly rivetted and captivated.
Perhaps the problem for some was the relentless, industrial-like roar of the music produced by continuous, mechanized drawing of a cord across the strings of three amplified guitars lying on the stage's floor. I suspect most of the audience had not availed themselves of the earplugs thoughtfully supplied by the Joyce and mainly ignored by its ushers. I had forgotten to bring a pair from home and was glad to spy them resting in a heap on the floor near the Joyce's piano. I spent the next hour in comfort, removing the plugs a few times only out of curiosity.
Then again, some of the audience, expecting to see dance with some variation on a capital D, might have objected to Umwelt's repetitive, un-dance-like movement. Sum that up in several literally-pedestrian walking steps--backward to enter, crossing to shift to the side, then forward to exit--that represent the core of the movement for the nine performers within the claustrophobic confines of a forest of wobbling funhouse mirrored panels that span the stage. With notable exceptions, that's it for each of many, many interations of the dancers' roughly ten seconds of visibility. But here's the kicker: the numerous changes in costuming and props are the elements that offer the primary variety within this sameness--glimpses of bits of human life, all of them precise but none of them remarkable, none more significant than any other. Wearing a crown is no different than toting a bag of trash.
Buffeted by wind--as if caught in life's unmerciful wind tunnel--dancers trod their (mainly) circular paths, coming into view to give us a fleeting impression of who they are and whatever little, immediate thing they're consumed in doing, before striding behind their concealing panel. Their places are immediately taken by another set of folks. The whole cast rotates like this throughout with rare, enigmatic moments of stillness when a single dancer emerges to stare out at the audience.
Marin's stage is a huge machine, an Existentialist's Swiss clock, with awesomely synchronized parts (the dancers) and dramatic lighting that vivifies flesh and costume colors. I know I slipped into a trance watching it because I could feel the moment when I snapped out of it. I found the whole production visually dazzling and convincing.
I also saw The French Collection's opening company--Heddy Maalem's troupe of dancers who hail from Africa--in their version of Le Sacre du printemps. I'll let you know when that review comes out on DanceMagazine.com.
For ticketing and more information on Compagnie Maguy Marin's presentation of Umwelt or for the upcoming Ballet Biarritz (directed by Thierry Malandain), click here or call 212-242-0800.
Perhaps the problem for some was the relentless, industrial-like roar of the music produced by continuous, mechanized drawing of a cord across the strings of three amplified guitars lying on the stage's floor. I suspect most of the audience had not availed themselves of the earplugs thoughtfully supplied by the Joyce and mainly ignored by its ushers. I had forgotten to bring a pair from home and was glad to spy them resting in a heap on the floor near the Joyce's piano. I spent the next hour in comfort, removing the plugs a few times only out of curiosity.
Then again, some of the audience, expecting to see dance with some variation on a capital D, might have objected to Umwelt's repetitive, un-dance-like movement. Sum that up in several literally-pedestrian walking steps--backward to enter, crossing to shift to the side, then forward to exit--that represent the core of the movement for the nine performers within the claustrophobic confines of a forest of wobbling funhouse mirrored panels that span the stage. With notable exceptions, that's it for each of many, many interations of the dancers' roughly ten seconds of visibility. But here's the kicker: the numerous changes in costuming and props are the elements that offer the primary variety within this sameness--glimpses of bits of human life, all of them precise but none of them remarkable, none more significant than any other. Wearing a crown is no different than toting a bag of trash.
Buffeted by wind--as if caught in life's unmerciful wind tunnel--dancers trod their (mainly) circular paths, coming into view to give us a fleeting impression of who they are and whatever little, immediate thing they're consumed in doing, before striding behind their concealing panel. Their places are immediately taken by another set of folks. The whole cast rotates like this throughout with rare, enigmatic moments of stillness when a single dancer emerges to stare out at the audience.
Marin's stage is a huge machine, an Existentialist's Swiss clock, with awesomely synchronized parts (the dancers) and dramatic lighting that vivifies flesh and costume colors. I know I slipped into a trance watching it because I could feel the moment when I snapped out of it. I found the whole production visually dazzling and convincing.
I also saw The French Collection's opening company--Heddy Maalem's troupe of dancers who hail from Africa--in their version of Le Sacre du printemps. I'll let you know when that review comes out on DanceMagazine.com.
For ticketing and more information on Compagnie Maguy Marin's presentation of Umwelt or for the upcoming Ballet Biarritz (directed by Thierry Malandain), click here or call 212-242-0800.
Cyd Charisse: death of a legend
Cyd Charisse, 86, Silken Dancer of the Movies, Dies
by Robert Berkvist, The New York Times, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Crossing borders
Dancing Across Borders--A Floating Festival
by Caitlin Cobb
Excerpted and abridged for The Dance Enthusiast
with a slide show by Cobb and Susan Osberg
by Caitlin Cobb
Excerpted and abridged for The Dance Enthusiast
with a slide show by Cobb and Susan Osberg
Tony on tap!
Tony Waag--Mayor of Tap City and former Body and Soul podcast interviewee--welcomes everyone to the 2008 Tap City!
Tuesday-Friday, July 8-11
Box Office: 212/864-5400 or hereFor full details on all performances, classes and special events, click here.
To listen to my podcast interview with Tony, click here.
Týnek’s Busy Bees
Visit writer/beekeeper Gerry Gomez Pearlberg's creative, informative and fun blog--Global Swarming Honeybees--and read my review of Apian Way, the world premiere by Dušan Týnek at Brooklyn Lyceum (now through June 26).
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Zuštiak at the extremes
There seems to be a wickedly smart psychology of soundscaping in today's dance, with the latest example of this coming in Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo's Blind Spot--running now through Sunday at Performance Space 122. The music alternately lulls and whips the listener, opening up regions of disturbing awareness. The set, arranged by director-choreographer Zuštiak, suggests rapid slippage between heavy haze and piercing light, between distinct layers of consciousness, perhaps between life and afterlife, by way of an Alice-in-Wonderland mirror. The obsessive activity of the amazing performers--Gina Bashour, Yo-el Cassell, Ashleigh Leite and Anthony Whitehurst--gives us a sense of minds and bodies at the extremes, stripped of any civilizing connection to sense and consensus reality. Blind Spot is, at once, melancholy and manic, and if you have been sufficiently shaken, a sudden visual revelation at the very end might leave you close to tears.
Performance Space 122: June 11-15 at 8pm with an additional late show on Saturday at 1opm
Performance Space 122: June 11-15 at 8pm with an additional late show on Saturday at 1opm
Doves for Katherine Dunham
Continuing the Salute to the Extraordinary Life of
Miss Katherine Dunham
At Doves for Dunham
5:00 pm Sunday, June 22, 2008
Miss Dunham’s 99th Birthday
Outside Symphony Space Theatre
at 95th & Broadway in New York City.
Drumming Procession
Greetings-Dr. Glory Van Scott
Shango Blessing-Jean Leon Destine
Gil Noble
Eloise Anderson
Julie Belafonte
Micki Grant
Maurice Hines
Warrington Hudlin
Woodie King, Jr.
Louis Johnson
Harold Melvin
Joan Peters
Camille Yarbrough
Releasing of 99 Doves in Honor of Miss Dunham
Followed by Drumming & Dancing
Montego Joe
Auchee Lee
Manny Ramos
Pamela Patrick
Michael Mustafa Ulmer
Jared Brown
For More Information About Doves For Dunham
Call Melony McGant
at 212-712-6559
InfiniteBody mascot found!
Okay, folks! I think we've finally found the definitive winner!
Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer is found in Italy
Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer is found in Italy
By Marta Falconi, Associated Press, June 11, 2008
Keeping an eye on the numbers
A 21st-Century Profile: Art for Art's Sake, and for the U.S. Economy, Too
by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, June 12, 2008
by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, June 12, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tom Pearson and Zach Morris: Body and Soul
It’s immediately clear that Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects take great pleasure in their work and that the personal bond between them creates an atmosphere of trust and courage that nourishes their entire artistic team. The dancer-choreographers spoke with me today about their partnership, their creative process and “Vanishing Point,” a new presentation at Danspace Project (June 26-28).
BIOS
TOM PEARSON
Tom Pearson works in a variety of media. Each work introduces its own movement and/or visual vocabulary, defined by the parameters of the subject and performance environment. Pearson’s work ranges from the surreal to the absurd, and part of his creative project includes an examination of American Indian identity in urban situations and everyday circumstances. Through the lens of a contemporary movement vocabulary, he creates dense, evocative worlds that illuminate the transient and the transformational, using movement abstracted from and coupled with everyday action. Paired with this is a fierce percussive abandon, often complimented by meditative nuance. Likewise, Pearson uses art installation to achieve rich, multi-dimensional environments, and site-specific explorations seek to mine public spaces for hidden meaning and to capture and engage unwary and uninitiated passersby.
Tom Pearson has been commissioned to create original site-specific works as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SiteLines series, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and American Express’s River to River Festival; by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the 2006 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival; and by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation for the SWIRE ISalnd East Urban Dance Festival 2007. His work has been presented in New York by Dixon Place; La Mama E.T.C.; with The Thunderbird Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church; The New York International Fringe Festival; the D.U.M.B.O. Dance Festival; The Bridge for Dance; and Crazy Cuban Productions/Dance Space Center. Pearson has been supported by creative residencies at LMCC’s MOVE:133 Beekman in space generously provided by General Growth Properties, Inc.; the Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY; by a Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center; Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts; Epiphany Theater Company; and as part of The Swarthmore Project at Swarthmore College, PA.
Tom Pearson is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and frequently collaborates with the other members of Third Rail on joint ventures. He received his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University, his B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in English from Florida State University. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at the Florida School of the Arts; as a movement instructor for Opera Workshop at LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and the Performing Arts (through New York City Opera's Arts-in-Education program); as the Dance Program Coordinator at the award-winning LEVELS teen center in Long Island; and as a part of several other high school and special interest programs and through master classes at Swarthmore College and Florida State University. Pearson's writings on dance have been published in Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Time Out New York Kids, and Uncoolkids.com.
ZACH MORRIS
Zach Morris believes that art should be fun. He also believes it should be well-crafted, engaging and have some meat to it. Most of all, Zach believes that art is a means to an end–a meditative discipline and an on-going investigation of the human condition utilizing a communicative system of images, juxtapositions and metaphors that resonate on a fundamental, intuitive level. As such, he is deeply interested in exploring themes and relationships that illuminate the broader patterns of human experience. He is fascinated with evoking archetypal images and placing them into highly personal or pedestrian contexts. By colliding the mythic with the mundane he has begun to understand how these dream-like images can inform, shape and elucidate our day-to-day existence.
Zach hopes to effect positive change by creating projects that allow both the artist and audience to sidestep our preconceived notions about our reality and ourselves, and allow us access to more elusive but equally potent ways of understanding. Some people have written about his work and said it is "wickedly funny", "visually stunning" and "hauntingly melancholy." Other people have said, "there is no escaping the feeling that you have been doing drugs for the past hour. Good drugs."
Zach is a director, choreographer, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen in London, at several theaters around the US and at numerous venues in New York City including: the South Street Seaport as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SiteLines Series, Dance Theater Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, University Settlement/The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the Williamsburg Art Nexus, and The Merce Cunningham Studio. He has received the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and has been granted residencies or commissions from La Mama, LMCC, the Swarthmore Project, The Great Neck House, Epiphany Theatre Company, Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts, and others.
Zach is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and has also served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program; the National and International Programs Associate at Dance Theater Workshop; the Bartender at a number of questionable establishments; and most recently, as the Dance Coordinator at LEVELS, a teen-center based in Long Island. Zach has a B.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. Click on name above to go to Zach's page.
EVENT
“Vanishing Point” at Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church–June 26-28, 8:30pm. A post-show discussion with dance writer Brian McCormick and the choreographers will follow the opening night performance.
LINKS
Third Rail Projects
http://www.thirdrailprojects.com
Danspace Project
http://www.danspaceproject.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
MP3 File
BIOS
TOM PEARSON
Tom Pearson works in a variety of media. Each work introduces its own movement and/or visual vocabulary, defined by the parameters of the subject and performance environment. Pearson’s work ranges from the surreal to the absurd, and part of his creative project includes an examination of American Indian identity in urban situations and everyday circumstances. Through the lens of a contemporary movement vocabulary, he creates dense, evocative worlds that illuminate the transient and the transformational, using movement abstracted from and coupled with everyday action. Paired with this is a fierce percussive abandon, often complimented by meditative nuance. Likewise, Pearson uses art installation to achieve rich, multi-dimensional environments, and site-specific explorations seek to mine public spaces for hidden meaning and to capture and engage unwary and uninitiated passersby.
Tom Pearson has been commissioned to create original site-specific works as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SiteLines series, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and American Express’s River to River Festival; by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the 2006 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival; and by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation for the SWIRE ISalnd East Urban Dance Festival 2007. His work has been presented in New York by Dixon Place; La Mama E.T.C.; with The Thunderbird Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church; The New York International Fringe Festival; the D.U.M.B.O. Dance Festival; The Bridge for Dance; and Crazy Cuban Productions/Dance Space Center. Pearson has been supported by creative residencies at LMCC’s MOVE:133 Beekman in space generously provided by General Growth Properties, Inc.; the Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY; by a Harkness Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center; Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts; Epiphany Theater Company; and as part of The Swarthmore Project at Swarthmore College, PA.
Tom Pearson is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and frequently collaborates with the other members of Third Rail on joint ventures. He received his M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University, his B.F.A. in Dance and B.A. in English from Florida State University. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at the Florida School of the Arts; as a movement instructor for Opera Workshop at LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and the Performing Arts (through New York City Opera's Arts-in-Education program); as the Dance Program Coordinator at the award-winning LEVELS teen center in Long Island; and as a part of several other high school and special interest programs and through master classes at Swarthmore College and Florida State University. Pearson's writings on dance have been published in Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Time Out New York Kids, and Uncoolkids.com.
ZACH MORRIS
Zach Morris believes that art should be fun. He also believes it should be well-crafted, engaging and have some meat to it. Most of all, Zach believes that art is a means to an end–a meditative discipline and an on-going investigation of the human condition utilizing a communicative system of images, juxtapositions and metaphors that resonate on a fundamental, intuitive level. As such, he is deeply interested in exploring themes and relationships that illuminate the broader patterns of human experience. He is fascinated with evoking archetypal images and placing them into highly personal or pedestrian contexts. By colliding the mythic with the mundane he has begun to understand how these dream-like images can inform, shape and elucidate our day-to-day existence.
Zach hopes to effect positive change by creating projects that allow both the artist and audience to sidestep our preconceived notions about our reality and ourselves, and allow us access to more elusive but equally potent ways of understanding. Some people have written about his work and said it is "wickedly funny", "visually stunning" and "hauntingly melancholy." Other people have said, "there is no escaping the feeling that you have been doing drugs for the past hour. Good drugs."
Zach is a director, choreographer, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen in London, at several theaters around the US and at numerous venues in New York City including: the South Street Seaport as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SiteLines Series, Dance Theater Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, University Settlement/The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the Williamsburg Art Nexus, and The Merce Cunningham Studio. He has received the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and has been granted residencies or commissions from La Mama, LMCC, the Swarthmore Project, The Great Neck House, Epiphany Theatre Company, Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space program at Topaz Arts, and others.
Zach is Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and has also served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program; the National and International Programs Associate at Dance Theater Workshop; the Bartender at a number of questionable establishments; and most recently, as the Dance Coordinator at LEVELS, a teen-center based in Long Island. Zach has a B.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. Click on name above to go to Zach's page.
EVENT
“Vanishing Point” at Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church–June 26-28, 8:30pm. A post-show discussion with dance writer Brian McCormick and the choreographers will follow the opening night performance.
LINKS
Third Rail Projects
http://www.thirdrailprojects.com
Danspace Project
http://www.danspaceproject.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
MP3 File
Indulge your mania
On Friday, June 13, Tribeca Performing Arts Center--located on the campus of the Borough of Manhattan Community College--welcomes Jazzmania Society: Jazz and Tap featuring Harvie S Trio with Phil Woods, Max Pollak, Roxane Butterfly, Tina Pratt and Jane Goldberg plus guests.
7pm--free Humanities Program panel discussion (moderator: Willard Jenkins)
8:30pm--concert with Harvie S (Musical Director). Dancers: Roxane Butterfly and Max Pollak. Guest appearances by Jane Goldberg and Tina Pratt. Performances by Harvie S Trio with special guest Phil Woods
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street (near Greenwich Street; subways 1,2,3, A or C to Chambers)
7pm--free Humanities Program panel discussion (moderator: Willard Jenkins)
8:30pm--concert with Harvie S (Musical Director). Dancers: Roxane Butterfly and Max Pollak. Guest appearances by Jane Goldberg and Tina Pratt. Performances by Harvie S Trio with special guest Phil Woods
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street (near Greenwich Street; subways 1,2,3, A or C to Chambers)
Hilary Easton: Body and Soul podcast
Hilary Easton's creativity combines secure craft, sharp intelligence, hearty expression and fearless exploration. Here's a delightful conversation I had with the choreographer in a studio at New York's Lincoln Center.
BIO
Hiilary Easton has danced with Kinematic, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, XXY Dance/Music and many others. Ms. Easton has been commissioned to choreograph for many exciting projects, most recently The Talking Band's "Imminence," which premiered at La MaMa in February 2008. Ms. Easton is a consultant for VSA Arts, the New York Philharmonic, and Big Thought/Dallas. She has taught at Connecticut College, Princeton University, and the University of Montana and will be in residency this November at The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Sarasota, Florida.
Hilary Easton + Company will perform "Noise + Speed" during Mt. Tremper Arts's inaugural season. The troupe will tour their 2007 work "It's All True" for Lincoln Center Institute and will present their next New York season in March 2009 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater as part of the Harkness Dance Festival.
LINK
"Noise + Speed" performance at Mt. Tremper Arts Summer Festival--Saturday, August 23
http://mttremperarts.wordpress.com/festival/hilary-easton-company/
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
BIO
Hiilary Easton has danced with Kinematic, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, XXY Dance/Music and many others. Ms. Easton has been commissioned to choreograph for many exciting projects, most recently The Talking Band's "Imminence," which premiered at La MaMa in February 2008. Ms. Easton is a consultant for VSA Arts, the New York Philharmonic, and Big Thought/Dallas. She has taught at Connecticut College, Princeton University, and the University of Montana and will be in residency this November at The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Sarasota, Florida.
Hilary Easton + Company will perform "Noise + Speed" during Mt. Tremper Arts's inaugural season. The troupe will tour their 2007 work "It's All True" for Lincoln Center Institute and will present their next New York season in March 2009 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater as part of the Harkness Dance Festival.
LINK
"Noise + Speed" performance at Mt. Tremper Arts Summer Festival--Saturday, August 23
http://mttremperarts.wordpress.com/festival/hilary-easton-company/
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
Monday, June 9, 2008
The persistence of O'Con
Tara O'Con presented the brief and intriguingly eerie Walk It Once this past weekend at The Chocolate Factory. In this little slice of surrealism, Jodi Bender, Carly Pansulla and O'Con slow-w-w-w-ly crept across the floor, contorted in a way that hid their faces while revealing the curvature of their spines. They resembled misshapen sci-fi critters and Dali's melted timepieces fashioned in flesh, radiant under Holly Ko's lighting. I'm not convinced that Jason Sebastian's accompanying music, as in a lot of today's dances, needed to be so lulling. (Is it all only about not clashing or competing with the movement?) And some tentative video play across a dancer's back promised an important turn in the piece but never delivered. But my sense of O'Con is of a young talent quickly developing confidence in her physical and visual ideas and assertive vision. Not knowing what the title means--where's the walking, after all?--only adds to mysterious effect.
The Turning World (43)
One Historic Night, Two Americas
by Frank Rich, The New York Times, June 8, 2008
Watch Out, Meryl Streep! She's a Master Thespian!
by Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, June 8, 2008
by Frank Rich, The New York Times, June 8, 2008
Watch Out, Meryl Streep! She's a Master Thespian!
by Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, June 8, 2008
Something new at the New
...Museum, that is. Dance comes to the New Museum on Friday, June 13 (7:30pm) with Mesmerized by Vangeline Theater and Ray Sweeten. The performance will take place in the museum's brand new 182-seat white box theater, the first time that this space has played host to a dance performance.
"The artists in create dances and musical compositions that move at extremely slow speeds, aspiring towards profundity with near-microscopic subtlety. The culminating effect is mesmerizing and stunningly dramatic.
"Vangeline Theater fuses the traditions of Butoh dance (characterized by exaggerated, even grotesque, isometric movement) with an aesthetic inspired by glammed-out science-fiction movies like Blade Runner and Liquid Sky. Ray Sweeten processes music through an oscilloscope—an instrument that allows voltage signals to be viewed graphically—translating shifting claustrophobic sonic environments into a mysterious new kind of sign language."
Admission: $8/members, $10/general public
New Museum
235 Bowery Street, Manhattan
"The artists in create dances and musical compositions that move at extremely slow speeds, aspiring towards profundity with near-microscopic subtlety. The culminating effect is mesmerizing and stunningly dramatic.
"Vangeline Theater fuses the traditions of Butoh dance (characterized by exaggerated, even grotesque, isometric movement) with an aesthetic inspired by glammed-out science-fiction movies like Blade Runner and Liquid Sky. Ray Sweeten processes music through an oscilloscope—an instrument that allows voltage signals to be viewed graphically—translating shifting claustrophobic sonic environments into a mysterious new kind of sign language."
Admission: $8/members, $10/general public
New Museum
235 Bowery Street, Manhattan
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Need a second opinion?
I haven't seen the new Twyla Tharp piece for American Ballet Theater, but I've certainly heard the earth-rumbling grumbles over the Macaulay review. For a more moderate approach to the same problems, try Tobi Tobias.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Gibney: What a decade!
Last evening, I had the pleasure of attending the gala celebration of Gina Gibney Dance's tenth anniversary in its current form as an all-female ensemble. A reception and silent auction was preceded by an hour-long performance of luminous excerpts from repertory works and a premiere danced with moving sincerity by women from Gibney's program for survivors of domestic violence.
The troupe brings its choreographic retrospective--10 Years/1 Hour--to the Tisch Summer Dance Residency Festival at NYU School of the Arts on Thursday, June 5, at 7:30pm. Admission is $10, and reservations are not required.
Congratulations to Gina, her creative collaborators, and her exceptional performers--Janessa Clark, Courtney Drasner, Jenni Hong, Kristy Kuhn, Mariangela Lopez, Stevie Oakes and Hannah Seidel.
Gina Gibney Dance
NYU School of the Arts
111 Second Avenue (5th Floor)
Information: 212-677-8560 or info@ginagibneydance.org
The troupe brings its choreographic retrospective--10 Years/1 Hour--to the Tisch Summer Dance Residency Festival at NYU School of the Arts on Thursday, June 5, at 7:30pm. Admission is $10, and reservations are not required.
Congratulations to Gina, her creative collaborators, and her exceptional performers--Janessa Clark, Courtney Drasner, Jenni Hong, Kristy Kuhn, Mariangela Lopez, Stevie Oakes and Hannah Seidel.
Gina Gibney Dance
NYU School of the Arts
111 Second Avenue (5th Floor)
Information: 212-677-8560 or info@ginagibneydance.org
Yvonne Rainer films at Chez Bushwick
Yvonne Rainer Film Series
Every Wednesday, June 4th - June 18th, Chez Bushwick will host The Yvonne Rainer Film Series, featuring selected films by acclaimed dancer, choreograper, director, and post-modern pioneer, Yvonne Rainer.
The Lives of Performers
By Yvonne Rainer
Wednesday, June 4th
7:30pm
$5
Murder and Murder
By Yvonne Rainer
Wednesday, June 11th
7:30pm
$5
Privilege
By Yvonne Rainer
Wednesday, June 18th
7:30pm
$5
All screenings will take place at:
Chez Bushwick
304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11 (At White)
Brooklyn, NY 11206
718.418.4405
info@chezbushwick.net
Out like that choreographers wanted!
A message from Arthur Aviles of BAAD! and BxDC
Hello Dance community!
Hello Dance community!
Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride.
Superdelegate...not!
The very idea of a dance critic being a "superdelegate"--see La Rocco in today's Times reviewing The A.W.A.R.D. Show--even if expressed in giddy jest, gives me hives and is the sort of thing that feeds justifiable resentment among dance artists. Bad enough that much mainstream criticism reads like it is written from what feels to me to be a free-floating place of purported omniscience which is not where I feel I am nor where I want to be in relationship to this art. Let's leave the superdelegates in politics where they belong and where they might actually do some good this evening.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Said/Unsaid: Thoughts on Movement Research's community dialogue
For my latest blog report from the Movement Research Spring Festival '08: Somewhere Out There, visit Critical Correspondence.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Interfacing Motion contest
An announcement from Marlon Barrios Solano of dance-tech.net:
dance-tech.net with the support of its institutional partner Eroktronix is launching a new contest, "Interfacing Motion with MidiTron Wireless," to support a young active dance/performance artist in his or her initial explorations on interactive multimedia control for live performance of movement.
For each of two consecutive six-month periods, a selected artist will be given a new MidiTron Wireless to be used as an interface in new project involving the use of physical sensors for gestural control of multimedia during live performance.
For details, click here.
Theater: a necessity
What to Watch
by Leah Hager Cohen, The New York Times, June 1, 2008
Review of The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched by Paul Woodruff (Oxford University Press)
"We must all listen to each other because we are human, because we see only what we can see from where we stand, because there is more to be seen than any one of us can appreciate alone." -- Paul Woodruff in The Necessity of Theater
by Leah Hager Cohen, The New York Times, June 1, 2008
Review of The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched by Paul Woodruff (Oxford University Press)
"We must all listen to each other because we are human, because we see only what we can see from where we stand, because there is more to be seen than any one of us can appreciate alone." -- Paul Woodruff in The Necessity of Theater