The Turning World (54)

McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere
by Frank Rich, The New York Times, September 27, 2008

Westwood and VIA show the way

If you haven't yet had a chance, listen to my interview (click here) with emerging choreographer Adrienne Westwood of VIA Dance Collaborative.  Her new work--The Dream Project: Lullaby in Surrealism--premiered last night at the Ailey Citigroup Theater and continues its run through tomorrow evening (8pm). It's a beautiful ensemble piece, inspired by the art of Rene Magritte, rich in elegant, total design and performance--which helps as some of its latter passages stretch on maybe a bit too dreamily. Westwood is a promising choreographer of delicate craft, one worth watching.  

Ailey Citigroup Theater

305 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue), Manhattan

Ticketing at SmartTix or 212-868-4444

Fall for Farrell

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet appears on tonight's Fall for Dance bill at City Center. Hear an interview with Farrell and company member Elisabeth Holowchuk on yesterday's Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC).

O'Connor's "Rammed Earth"

I relished the chance to return to Tere O'Connor's Rammed Earth (2007)--which I'd first experienced at The Chocolate Factory last autumn--with its dozens of chairs that, for the initial section, spread audience members throughout the performance space, each chair facing this way or that, set in its own eccentric inclination. Against the ushers' gentle suggestions, I kept my well-stuffed messenger bag (on my lap, where it would not get in the way of any dancer). And in accord with a (perhaps not so gentle) suggestion that O'Connor once offered dance critics some time ago--a suggestion I clicked with straightaway--I left my notebook and pen stowed deep in the recesses of that bag where they would not get in my way.

I remembered what it felt like to inhabit the same space as Rammed Earth, with its high-pitched, mysterious poetics and its wide-open possibilities of meaning, and these masterful dancers--Hilary Clark, Heather Olson, Matthew Rogers and Christopher Williams--so weirdly good they make my skin crawl. This time, in the Howard Gilman Performance Space at Baryshnikov Arts Center, it felt as if we, the audience, were being buffeted and shaped by those four powerful bodies and intelligences.  Make that five, not four; of course, O'Connor shapes us, too, as architectural elements in his environment and as nervous systems that cannot help but fire up in such a charged setting.  

More than any other, this dance explicitly reminds me that a work of dance seen more than once is never the same, that it alters and is altered by the giver and by the receiver, and that there's always more there than can be grasped on first glance or easily told. I cherish this dance without needing to figure it all out. And even those things I think I do know about it are things that I'm just as happy to silently nod at and leave alone.

See Tere O'Connor Dance in Rammed Earth, now through Sunday, with two shows per evening: 7pm and 9pm; no late seating.

Baryshnikov Arts Center

450 West 37th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues), Manhattan

Ticketing at Ticket Central or 212-279-4200

First steps in Dance@DMAC

Michelangelo Alasa brings big dance to small places--well, to his Duo Multicultural Arts Center on East 4th Street--with this incandescent lineup of "downtown" dancer-choreographers in what he hopes will be an regular presentation at DMAC. Check it out on Wednesday or Thursday, October 8-9 (8pm).

Ticketing at SmartTix.com

Information at DMAC

In Cleveland, one beat does not go on

Cleveland Music Critic vs. Maestro - One Of Them Loses His Beat
by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, September 24, 2008

Yummy baked goods at Fall for Dance

Mmmm... Some scrumptious doings at last night's Fall for Dance dance-sampler festival at City Center from Ayman Harper and Mario Zambrano of Richard Siegal/The Bakery in Siegal's The New 45, a duet premiered in 2006. It was like watching some of those Tharp-heyday performances from Sara Rudner, Shelley Washington, Rose Marie Wright...and then some. Loose, fluid, spritely physical with impulses that come from everywhere and from out of nowhere, zippy timing, an outpouring of invention and easygoing humor, and that impudent way of snuggling up to jazz and calypso. The audience roared.

Siegal will perform his solo, As If Stranger--which won Siegal and his collaborators a 2008 Bessie Award for visual design--for the opening ceremonies of EMPAC, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (Troy, New York, October 9-10). I missed As If Stranger when it ran at Danspace Project this past season. After savoring The New 45, I intend to run to the next show Siegal brings to New York City.

DTW's Greco to step down

The Board of Directors of Dance Theater Workshop has named Andrea Sholler as its new Executive Director effective October 1. Stephen Greco will step down from that position and will focus on marketing and branding opportunities for cultural institutions.

Sholler served as Dance Theater Workshop’s interim Executive Director prior to Greco’s appointment in July, 2007. She most recently served as a Program Officer with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs where she helped to administer the $27 million Cultural Development Fund.

“I have been honored and pleased to serve Dance Theater Workshop as Executive Director during a time of great change,” said Greco. “Dance Theater Workshop, like so many cultural organizations throughout New York, is looking toward new ways to promote its work and attract new audiences. I am proud of the branding work we have accomplished over the last year and look forward to continuing to help Dance Theater Workshop and other cultural institutions achieve their branding goals.”

Said Sholler, “Stephen has a brilliant marketing mind and I look forward to his continued involvement in our efforts to inform the public of Dance Theater Workshop's mission and incomparable programming. From the 1980’s, when I managed a dance company that frequently performed at Dance Theater Workshop to the incredible 2008/9 season created by Artistic Director, Carla Peterson, I have always been impressed by the amazing opportunities that this organization is able to offer a wide range of artists working to push the boundaries of movement and the meaning of dance. I am thrilled to be returning to Dance Theater Workshop and look forward to working closely with the organization's staff, board, funders, and friends, to support this unique institution and the extraordinary artists and art form it serves.”

Said Peterson, “I look forward to building a dynamic partnership with Andrea Sholler as Executive Director to ensure Dance Theater Workshop’s continuing leadership role in the field of dance and performance. In trying economic times, our holistic approach in support of artists and creative process, and in providing a platform for the lively intersection of contemporary voices that illuminate global as well as local and national issues, is more important than ever. I have full confidence that Dance Theater Workshop’s rich legacy will continue to inform a responsive and innovative future."

Free moves for all

Free dance lessons continue at City Center's bustling Fall for Dance Festival Lounge (55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues) at 6:30pm prior to the evening's 8pm Fall for Dance show. These informal sessions are open to the public as well as to festival ticketholders.

On Thursday, September 25, try hip hop moves with Tammy Colucci. Or just kick back with some refreshments and conversation.

Here are some photos from last night's hula lesson with Luana Haraguchi and members of Halau Hula O Na Mele 'Aina O Hawai'i. Click any photo to see a larger image. All photos (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Live Processing with koosil-ja

A call for dancers for koosil-ja's new project:

We are looking for two dancers for our new project called Blocks of Continuality/Movement-Live Cinema. The project will employ three dancers and a team of 3D modelers, programmers, an interactive designer, and installation and sound artists.

The rehearsals will begin in January 2009. Rehearsals will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 am to 5 pm at the beginning and will get more intense as the process continues. We will begin performing the work starting from the fall of 2009 and continue to perform to spring 2010.

We will dance using a performance technique called Live Processing*. The dancers will receive rehearsal fees based on an hourly rate, in addition to performance fees.

If you are a disciplined dancer who possesses strong body and mental strength and can commit to hard work for this long period, I will like to have a one-on-one session with you. I would like you to try Live Processing, no longer than an hour in our studio located in the East Village (4th Street between First and Second Avenue). Please come warmed up.

Please contact me via email dancekk@earthlink.net and specify the time that best works for you according to the following dates. The time frame for all the dates is from noon to 3 pm.

Tues Oct. 14
Thurs. Nov. 13
Thurs. Nov 20
Tues. Dec 2
Thurs Dec. 4


*About Live Processing

The dancers respond to multiple movement source materials displayed on video monitors to generate movement, neither improvising nor executing set choreography. They dance while abstracting only the movement information from the clips - freeing the movement from emotional, political, psychological, and religious attributions - and synthesizing all the sources of information as they dance.

Thank you.

koosil-ja
dancekk.com
212-375-0186

Warren Adams: Body and Soul podcast

Warren Adams, born and raised in South Africa, is among several choreographers whose dances will receive their New York premieres during BalletMet Columbus's return engagement at The Joyce Theater (September 30-October 5). Adams will present "The Audacious One," inspired by the speech that first brought Senator Barack Obama to national and international attention and acclaim. Created as a four-minute piece for BalletMet's 30th anniversary season in Columbus, Ohio, the work will now be seen in an expanded version, set to Mozart's Requiem.


Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at http://www.joyce.org and http://www.balletmet.org/performances_hot_nights_adams.php. (c)2008, Eva Yaa
Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

Warren Adams, born and raised in South Africa, is among several choreographers whose dances will receive their New York premieres during BalletMet Columbus's return engagement at The Joyce Theater (September 30-October 5).  Adams will present The Audacious One, inspired by the speech that first brought Senator Barack Obama to national and international attention and acclaim. Created as a four-minute piece for BalletMet's 30th anniversary season in Columbus, Ohio, the work will now be seen in an expanded version, set to Mozart's Requiem.

BalletMet Columbus

The Joyce Theater

Eighth Avenue and 19th Street, Manhattan

For ticketing, click here.

September 30-October 5

Tuesday and Wednesday, 7:30pm

Thursday and Friday, 8pm

Saturday, 2pm and 8pm

Sunday, 2pm

The Saturday matinee is part of The Joyce's Family Matinee series and will be followed by a special chance to meet the artists.

The Wednesday performance will be followed by a conversation with BalletMet's Artistic Director Gerard Charles, Adam Hundt, Warren Adams and Jimmy Orrante.

Other New York premieres include Darrell Grand Moultrie's !Square Off!, Jimmy Orrante's Ad Infinitum, Adam Hundt's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), David Shimotakahara's Sweet and Pas De Deux from David Nixon's Dracula. Another season highlight will be the revival of Stanton Welch's Play, last seen in New York in 2004.

Warren Adams won the Mandela/Sainsbury scholarship to study at the Rambert Ballet in London. A graduate of Brunel University in England and winner of the Rudolf Nureyev Award, he has been nominated for the FNB Vita Award for Best Choreographer. Mr. Adams represented Phoenix Dance Company at the Commonwealth Gathering in Edinburgh where he performed before several dignitaries including The Queen, Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair.

He recently choreographed the critically-acclaimed Off Broadway production Oroonoko (TFANA), and Toy Story the Musical for Disney which premiered April 2008. Upcoming projects include Nora Ephron's new film Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

Other theatre: Life is a Dream (South Coast Rep), Camille (Fisher Center), I See London, I See France (NYMF), World Drummers (Hong Kong Disney) and Der Zwerg (Fisher Center).

Film and TV: The View starring Ben Vereen (ABC), The Windrush Gala and The Sportsbank Documentary (BBC) and Top Billing (South African Broad Casting ). He also worked on the film Bewitched starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

Ballet and Modern works include: The Audacious One (BalletMet Columbus), Worlds Apart (Ballet Theatre Afrikan), Cornered (Phoenix Dance Company), and Organized Chaos (Rambert School of Ballet).

In 2007, Mr. Adams joined Princeton University as a guest lecturer. He has worked extensively in South Africa, the UK, the USA, Asia and Europe He continues his work in the USA, but his passion has become setting up The Adams Project, in order to create artistic opportunities for young performing artists in South Africa.

The Turning World (53)

Nancy Hicks Maynard, Journalistic Pioneer, Dies
by Dennis Hevesi, The New York Times, September 22, 2008

Sara Juli: Body and Soul podcast

Acclaimed performance artist Sara Juli discusses her new solo piece--"Death"--which premieres at Performance Space 122 on October 24.

Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at http://www.ps122.org and http://www.elsieman.org/artists/sara_juli.html. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

In the critically-acclaimed The Money Conversation,  performance artist Sara Juli has invited audiences in New York and around the world to grapple with the meaning of money in their lives as she explores her own discomfort in broaching this often challenging topic.  Now, she turns her attention to another taboo and discomfiting subject--death.  Her new 50-minute solo show--simply and directly titled Death--will premiere at PS 122 this fall.

Death

Friday, October 24-Sunday, November 2 (Wednesdays-Sundays at 8:30pm)

Performance Space 122

150 First Avenue, Manhattan

Additional information and tickets at PS 122's site or 212-352-3101

Sara Juli has been creating and performing innovative solo work in New York City for the past seven years.  Her work has been performed at New York City venues including Dixon Place, Performance Space122, The Ontological Theater, Manhattan Theater Source, Williamsburg Art NeXus, The Flea Theater, Joyce SoHo and Joe’s Pub as part of the Dancenow/NYC Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, Danspace Project at St. Marks Church and American Dance Festival, where her work was selected as one of “The Best of Dance 2003” by the Independent Weekly.  In February 2006, she created and performed her first full-evening solo show, The Money Conversation, where she gives away her life savings, in a sold-out run at Performance Space 122.  The Money Conversation was an instant hit and has been touring nationally and internationally over the last two years to sold-out houses in Gronigen, The Netherlands, Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, and around the United States.  The piece has received notable press coverage in The New York Times, The New York Post, Time Out (New York & New Zealand), Fox Five News, National Public Radio and in major publications, television and radio spots abroad.  In June 2006, Sara created and performed, Deep Throat at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.  She has collaborated and/or performed with Debra Fernandez, Deborah Hay, Roxana Ramseur, Melissa Riker, Hana van der Kolk, and Chris Ajemian.  She graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Dance and Anthropology.  Sara also works in the world of arts administration and is the Director of Development at Dance Theater Workshop.  Sara Juli’s show, The Money Conversation, is represented by Elsie Management. Click here for more information.

The Turning World (52)

Editorial Observer - Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race
by Brent Staples, The New York Times, September 21, 2008

Becoming Delirious

LIAISONS is a mutable event by Delirious Dances that happens in someone's living room (or your own) or in a senior center, hospital or gallery and brings Edisa Week's dancers and their big, alive, full-out performing within inches of your face...sometimes closer. Just under an hour and accompanied by some easy-listening Mantovani that--I swear to you, up and down--you will come to love, the piece experiments with the potential of human interaction, touch and vulnerability. It is, by turns, lovely, funny and hair-raising.

The cast I saw included Benjamin Asriel, Maxx Passion, Melissa Guerrero and Solomon Bafana Matea; LIAISONS has also been performed by Jenni Hong, Kate Johnson, Benjamin Kamino and Jeffrey Peterson. The variety of venues and diversity of audiences inspire the unexpected from these performers who, within Weeks's flexible choreographic parameters, use physical-spatial control to keep from mashing our toes but otherwise allow their imaginations free range.

Catch a few performances this coming weekend in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg. In October, the company gives two performances at Princeton University. Visit the Delirious Dances site for a schedule of events, ticketing details and more information.

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson

Video interview with performance/dance artist Layard Thompson
by Marlon Barrios Solano, producer of dance-tech.net

I KIFFE NY

Accrorap (photo by Yves Petit)

I KIFFE NY, the festival of French Urban Culture, breaks out all over New York City this October with live music, film, dance, visual art, talks and documentaries. Two hip-hop dance companies Accrorap and Pockemon Crew will present American premieres of new works at the Florence Gould Hall at FIAF (French Institute Alliance Française).

Accrorap, whom Le Monde has called “an artistic goldmine” performs Little Stories.com on Friday and Saturday, October 10 and 11 at 8pm.

Pockemon Crew, which won the 2003 international hip-hop championship dance competition, will perform That’s Life!? on Friday, October 17 at 8pm and Saturday, October 18 at 2pm.

Tickets for all performances are available via Ticketmaster. Standard admission is $25; $15 with FIAF member discount. Florence Gould Hall is located at 55 East 59th Street, between Park & Madison Avenues, Manhattan.

Kader Attou, Mourad Merzouki and Eric Mézino founded the Accrorap collective in 1989 in Saint-Priest, near Lyon. Now, nearly ten years on, the company is headed by Attou and has become one of France’s premier hip-hop companies with founding members hailing from diverse backgrounds and places: Algeria, Switzerland and other countries, in addition to France. Little Stories.com’s main themes are the will to survive, the fight against repression and the effort break free from the confines of “urban” culture into a broader social context.

Pockemon Crew, another of France’s foremost dance ensembles, has helped disseminate the American urban tradition of hip-hop throughout French youth and urban cultures. The group began ten years ago as an assemblage of teenagers and, since 2006, has been preeminent on the international hip-hop dance scene. Drawing on variety of music, from cabaret to traditional Arabic, That’s Life!? juxtaposes France’s “urban experiment” with the varied traditions and influences of the dancers. With strength and elegance, the company provides an electrifying performance that will serve as an apt introduction to hip-hop dance à la française.

Tango lessons at Lafayette Grill

Dardo Galletto and Karina Romero will offer a tango lesson, followed by practice/milonga, every Wednesday and Saturday at Lafayette Grill.

Wednesdays at 8:30 PM, followed by a Milonga, 9:30 to 1 AM
Saturday from 12pm-5pm

Lafayette Grill, 54 Franklin Street (between Broadway & Lafayette Street), Manhattan

$15 (Wednesday); $20 (Saturday)

Whether it's your pleasure to observe, dance, and/or dine, you're invited to join two of New York's premier teachers of Argentine Tango, Dardo Galletto and Karina Romero, for an evening of tango. The couple taught for several years at the Sandra Cameron Dance School and are also directors of New Generation Dance, which will appear at Symphony Space November 7 & 8 with superb tango dancers Guillermina Quiroga and Natalia Hills as guests.

The Argentinean husband and wife moved to New York several years ago and have established themselves as major figures here in tango. Their recent productions have featured other tango greats, including Carlos Copello and his son Maxi, as well as guests from American Ballet Theater.

Dardo and Karina seem to have the town covered - their classes are held downtown at Lafayette Grill, on the West Side at the Ailey School (Sundays only), and the first Saturday of every month at the 92nd Street Y on the East Side.

Gina Gibney update: Body and Soul podcast

Choreographer Gina Gibney--who was my guest on "Body and Soul" in January--discusses a significant development for her dance troupe: changing from an all-female company into one that will now include men.

Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at http://www.ginagibneydance.org. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

In the upcoming episode of Body and Soul podcast, choreographer Gina Gibney--who was my guest in January--discusses a significant development for her dance troupe: changing from an all-female company into one that will now include men.  Gibney explained this new initiative in a message recently sent to her company's supporters and posted on the troupe's Web site:

"For the past ten years, our company has been steadfast in its dedication to working as an all-female company.  Our tenth anniversary activities highlighted and celebrated an exciting and productive decade.   I am proud of what we accomplished, how we accomplished it and the support we built along the way.  

 

After much thought about the company’s next chapter, I have made the decision to add the words “and men” to our mission statement.  To accomplish this, we are holding auditions in the next few weeks and will reform the company to include male dancers.  I have come to believe there is now no better way to show the power, compassion and equality of women than in mixed company.  I am excited and energized by the prospect of reframing the issues my work addresses – partnering, communication, complex interaction and internal motivation – in a broader context."

Click to visit Gina Gibney Dance's Web site.

Click to listen to the January 2008 Body and Soul podcast interview.

Three Rings (and Then Some)

Three Rings (and Then Some)
Need a Party Livened Up? Try a Fire Eater or Two
by Mathew R. Warren, The New York Times, September 17, 2008

Dancemakers Meet The Composer

Meet The Composer announces the collaborations awarded for the 2008 COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA program. They are a diverse group of 15 composers and 17 choreographers, theater artists, filmmakers, and visual artists. This year, MTC awards $180,000 to 21 organizations to commission 15 new works. Composers at the leading edge of contemporary classical, jazz, and theater music will join with a wide variety of artists to combine music with dance, theater, film, and puppetry. (For a complete lists of artists and organizations, see below.)

Meet The Composer president Ed Harsh says of this year’s selections, “We are thrilled by the creative energy that MTC is able to unleash from this excitingly varied group of artistic collaborations. Audiences across the country are going to find these new works fresh and engaging.”

Some highlights from the 2008 Commissioning Music/USA projects:

· Jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran and choreographer Alonzo King will create a new ballet for King’s LINES Ballet to premiere at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in October 2009.

· Broadway composer Michael John LaChiusa and writer Sybille Pearson will create a new musical theater piece Giant, based on the novel by Edna Ferber about a Texas ranch-farming family and the sacrifices demanded by life in the ever-changing American landscape.

· Composer and trumpeter Dave Douglas will partner with experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison for The History of Gadgetry, a music and film exploration of how technology and invention influence our lives and revolutionize the way we see the world. The project will incorporate film with acoustic as well as electronic instrumentation.

· Composer Nico Muhly and choreographer Stephen Petronio will develop an evening-length dance piece, I Drink the Air Before Me, exploring the power and drama of weather. The work will feature Petronio’s New York dance company and the Young People’s Chorus of New York.

· Indian classical music master Dr. L. Subramaniam and choreographer Ranee Ramaswamy will create Sthree (Women), a contemporary interpretation of Cilappatikaram, the national epic of the Tamil people of southeastern India.

· Composer David Van Tieghem and choreographer Doug Varone will create a new repertory dance piece, Broken Visual Novel, based on the motif of a single lamp hanging over the stage and the different scenes that can be played out beneath it.

· Composer Steve Mackey, actor/singer Rinde Eckert, and the new music ensemble eighth blackbird will collaborate to create Slide, a multidisciplinary work about human perception of images and the seduction and manipulation of the American psyche through imagery.

· Composers Cornelius Boots and Nils Frykdahl will work with visual artist/designer Claire Mack on The American Faust, a multidisciplinary retelling of the Faust legend staged at the Oakland Opera. The piece will use puppetry, set design, and rock artists to create an innovative multi-roomed stage in which the audience will literally follow Faust on his journey to redemption.

Full list of COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA 2008 Awards

Composer/Collaborators: Lead Commissioner:

Jason Moran, Alonzo King: Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet

Michael Friedman, Steven Cosson: The Civilians

David Van Tieghem, Doug Varone: DOVA, Inc.

Evan Flory-Barnes, Dufon Smith: Earshot Jazz Society

Sven Abow, Helanius J. Wilkins: Edgeworks Dance Theater

Steve Mackey, Rinde Eckert: eighth blackbird

Dan Moses Schreier, Dan Hurlin: Mapp International Productions

Du Yun, Ryan Kelly, Brennan Gerard: Moving Theater

Cornelius Boots, Nils Frykdahl, Claire Mack: Oakland Opera

Dr. L. Subramaniam, Ranee Ramaswamy: Ragamala Music and Dance Theater

Pete Drungle, Sarah Michelson: Sarah Michelson

Michael John LaChiusa, Sybille Pearson: Signature Theatre

Dave Douglas, Bill Morrison: Stanford Lively Arts

Nico Muhly, Stephen Petronio: Stephen Petronio Dance Company

Hahn Rowe, John Jasperse: Thin Man Dance

For two decades, Meet The Composer’s commissioning programs have facilitated the creation and multiple performances of over 1,300 works by many of America’s most exciting contemporary composers. Examples of celebrated works that MTC has commissioned include: John Adams’s opera The Death of Klinghoffer and Andre Previn’s opera A Streetcar Named Desire; orchestral works such as John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, Philip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy, and William Bolcolm’s Symphony No. 6; multimedia pieces such as Meredith Monk’s Mercy and Paul Dresher’s Sound Stage; dance collaborations such as Lou Harrison’s Rhymes with Silver (Mark Morris Dance Group) and Zakir Hussain’s Flammable Contents; and ensemble works such as Tan Dun’s Concerto for Six Players, John Harbison’s Flashes and Illuminations, and Julia Wolfe’s Early That Summer.

ABOUT COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA

COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA is a landmark commissioning program developed by Meet The Composer in response to a critical need on the part of the music community. COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA provides national support for the commissioning and multiple performances of new works representing all styles of music. The program provides support for emerging and established composers, promotes wider knowledge and appreciation of contemporary works, and encourages organizations to work together to build the repertoire for new music. Commissioning Music/USA is made possible by generous support from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Francis Goelet Trust, the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Target, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The submission deadline and guidelines for the 2009 round of COMMISSIONING MUSIC/USA will be posted on MTC’s website in the fall of 2008: www.meetthecomposer.org. For further information, contact MTC’s Program Department at (212) 645-6949.

ABOUT MEET THE COMPOSER

Meet The Composer is a national organization founded in 1974 that has revolutionized the environment for composers in this country. Its mission is to increase opportunities for composers of every style of music by fostering the creation, performance, dissemination, and appreciation of their work. In so doing, Meet The Composer has radically expanded the repertoire of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, creating a legacy for the music of our time—over 1,300 new works have been added since MTC's first commissioning program was launched in 1988. Meet The Composer's core programs include Commissioning Music/USA; JP Morgan Chase Regrant Program for Small Ensembles; Global Connections; Music Alive; New Music, New Donors; and MetLife Creative Connections (formerly the Meet The Composer Fund). The impact of these programs is felt in all 50 states and involves approximately 300 composers annually, representing the full spectrum of contemporary American culture and such idioms as classical, opera, jazz, folk, ethnic, electronic, and more. Meet The Composer is currently engaged in a number of special projects designed to further its vision—that composers should become an integral part of the cultural life and creative output of their communities, and that their music find broad, new audiences and benefit communities across the country.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROJECT summaries for commissioning music/usa 2008:

http://www.meetthecomposer.org/CommUSA08awards.pdf

More info is available at: www.meetthecomposer.org

Lincoln Center, refreshed

New York Times Editorial - The Shape of Lincoln Center to Come

Falcon Project takes wing at LGBT Center

Ellis Wood Dance will offer members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community a chance to participate in free dance workshops and performances of the Falcon Project: A Meditation on Movement and Gender Identity. The company will present a five-week workshop series at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan. Meeting once a week for two hours, these workshops will culminate in a video documentary and a performance at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City.

No previous dance experience needed. All age groups and gender identities are welcome.

Workshop orientation: Sept. 23, 6pm-7pm at the LGBT Center (208 W. 13th Street. Manhattan, 212-620-7310) Please note: If you can't make it to the orientation, you are still welcome to join us for the workshops.

Workshops: Saturdays, 10:30AM-12:30pm: Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25 at the LGBT Center

Showing: Saturday, Nov. 1 at LGBT Center

Dress Rehearsals: Week of November 3 at Tribeca Performing Arts Center (199 Chambers Street between Greenwich and West Street)

Performances: Nov 6-8, 8pm at Tribeca Performing Arts Center

For more information about Ellis Wood Dance, click here.

Volunteering for BurtSupree.com

photo (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Marta Renzi and her son, Amos Wolff, were among many fans, friends and former colleagues of the late Burt Supree volunteering to transcribe his Village Voice reviews for the new BURT SUPREE site, yesterday at Dance Theater Workshop's lobby. Burt was my first editor at the Voice and is still dearly missed.

Over the moon at the Bessies

The 24th Annual New York Dance and Performance Awards (the "Bessies") were presented last evening at Spiegelworld at Pier 17, South Street Seaport. Blessed by perfect weather, a backdrop to die for and a merry crowd, the community event successfully transformed from a theater ceremony to an all-out party with the chipper Terry Dean Bartlett and Katie Workum as co-MCs and music by The Dang-it Bobbys and DJ Crazy Cuban (aka Alberto Denis).


(Click on any photo to see a larger image or slide show.)

The Bessies acknowledge outstanding creative work by independent artists in the fields of dance and related performance in New York City. This year's ceremony included 24 citations honoring artists for achievements during the 2007-2008 season. Each recipient receives a cash award.

Winners

Choreographer/Creator Awards

Back to Back Theatre (Small Metal Objects at Staten Island Ferry Terminal)
Nora Chipaumire (Chimurenga at Dance Theater Workshop)
Doug Elkins (Fraulein Maria at Joe's Pub)
Juliette Mapp (Anna, IKEA and I at Danspace Project)
Maguy Marin (Umwelt at The Joyce Theater)
Tom Pearson and Zach Morris (Vanishing Point at Danspace Project)
Susan Rethorst (for 208 East Broadway, Part 2: Suitcase Dreams at Danspace Project)
Meg Stuart (body of work)

Installation & New Media Award

David Michalek (Slow Dances at Lincoln Center Festival)

Performer Awards

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (50th Anniversary season)
Hilary Clark (body of work)
William Isaac (Karole Armitage's Connoisseurs of Chaos at The Joyce Theater)
Jodi Melnick (works by Susan Rethorst, Vicky Shick, John Jasperse and Donna Uchizono)
Leah Morrison (Trisha Brown's If You Couldn't See Me at The Joyce Theater)
Layard Thompson (performances with the Pixie Harlots and in solo performances inspired by Deborah Hay)

Composer Awards

Kris Bauman (Tom Pearson and Zach Morris' Vanishing Point at Danspace Project)
Zeena Parkins (body of work)
Nitin Sawhney (Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Zero Degrees at City Center)

Visual Design Awards

Aaron Copp (Jonah Bokaer's The Invention of Minus One at The Abrons Arts Center)
Joe Lavasseur (body of work)
Richard Siegal, Antoine Seigneur-Guerrini, Phillip Bußman and Norbert Pape (Siegal's As If Stranger at Danspace Project)

Special Citations

Jennifer Dunning (for her service to dance as an author and New York Times dance critic)
Deborah Jowitt (for her longstanding dedication as a chronicler of the dance community)
Laurie Uprichard (for her contribution to contemporary dance and performanc through her leadership at Danspace Project)

THE 2007-2008 BESSIES COMMITTEE*

Nolini Barretto, Producer, Sitelines Series, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Barbara Bryan, Executive Director, Movement Research
Lili Chopra, Performing Arts Director, French Institute Alliance Française
Rachel Cooper, Director, Cultural Programs and Performing Arts, Asia Society
Boo Froebel, Associate Producer, Lincoln Center Festival
Vallejo Gantner, Artistic Director, Performance Space 122
Stephen Greco, Executive Director, Dance Theater Workshop (committee chair)
Trajal Harrell, Choreographer and Editor, Movement Research Performance Journal
Judy Hussie-Taylor, Executive Director, Danspace Project (Co-Producer)
Iréne Hultman, Choreographer
Denise Jefferson, Director, The Ailey School
Isabel Lewis, Choreographer
Brad Learmonth, Director of Programming, Harlem Stage
Brian McCormick, Journalist
Nicky Paraiso, Curator for Performance - The Club, La MaMa ETC
David Parker, Artistic Director, The Bang Group
Carla Peterson, Artistic Director, Dance Theater Workshop (Co-Producer)
Martin Wechsler, Director of Programming, The Joyce Theater (Co-Producer)
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody blog; Producer and Host, Body and Soul podcast

*Positions held by Bessie Committee Member through the 2007-2008 season

Sketchy encounters at Green Space

Cross Pollination presented by Green Space

Cross Pollination is a monthly event for sketch artists to draw dancers as models-in-motion and for dancers to improvise with one another, while being inspired to move by the art in the making! This is a unique opportunity to explore the combination of visual, motion-based and audio arts. As host, Green Space hopes to provide a relaxed environment for spontaneous, free expression and improvisation between the different forms while encouraging synergy amongst artists. These sessions are open to artists, dancers, musicians and viewers alike. Please, come and join us!

First Saturdays (6-9pm): Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6

Fee: $5

Green Space

34-24 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens

Click here for directions and other information or call 718-956-3037.

Got an itch? Get one!

itch journal (issue #8)
sweet release party and reading

Tuesday, September 16th, 6-9pm, in the REDCAT lounge!
Readings begin at 7pm, come early for music, $3 drinks, and your own copy of itch!

Fresh off the presses, the much-awaited itch journal #8: pornocracy
arrives at the REDCAT lounge on Tuesday, September 16
631 West 2nd Street @ corner of Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA'

Be among the first to pick up this hot and heavy special issue, in which our contributors get emotionally and sometimes physically naked as they take an up-close and unabashed look at the line between choreography and pornography; the metaphoric capacity of dancing bodies vs. the explicitness of actual flesh; moral valuations and intercessions of/in bodiliness; and the politically efficacious and tactical use of the particular, the graphic, and the carnal.

team itch (editors Taisha Paggett, Sara Wolf, Meg Wolfe) invites you to come celebrate with us as issue contributors give a taste of this delectable issue and revisit highlights from past itches.

itch journal #8: pornocracy is a limited edition special issue featuring 50+ pages of artists writing from Los Angeles, NYC, San Francisco, and Berlin, plus a full-color portfolio with our centerfold contest winner(s).

copies of itch #8 will be available for sale, $6 per copy. past issues also available for sale.

click here for more info and more ways to get itch.

itch is an evolving art project in the form of a journal that aspires to serve the community of dancers and other artists of the Los Angeles area and beyond.

Practice participation in the developing LA dance culture: insert your thoughts, your body, your voice. help itch grow should you be enhanced by it...

submit
volunteer
donate
distribute

DO40: Alive and kicking

Dancers Over 40 presents Jack Cole: Alive and kicking, including a panel featuring DO40 Advisory Board members Chita Rivera and Marge Champion, as well as many more hoofers from the Golden Age of Dance.

Monday, October 13, 8pm
Symphony Space
95th Street and Broadway

Tickets: 212-864-5400 or Symphony Space box office

Dancers Over 40's YouTube Channel includes 78 video clips featuring performances, panel discussions and concert work--a laudable resource!

Dancers Over 40, Inc. was created as a not-for-profit organization to provide a community of support in response to the fiscal -- as well as physical - needs of mature dancers, choreographers and related artists. The goals are to seek educational opportunities, present seminars, socials and panel discussions on topics important to mature dancers concerned about their ability to continue to live and work in a creative environment and continue the legacy to those dancers about to begin their journey. Founded in 1994 by a group of Broadway dancers, the growing organization also publishes a newsletter.

Vote for Change

Vote for Change

Finding out how to vote is now quick and easy!

On this new, handy-dandy Web site, you can:

*Register to vote.
*Request to vote absentee.
*Find your polling location.
*Get your other questions about voting answered.
*Share this resource with your friends.

How do you get to the Bessies? Practice, man...

Paul Lazar is out of this world!

Just five minutes from Grand Central Station, there's a curiously-enchanting world known as 1965UU, created in all its fabulous fabulosity by playwright Mac Wellman from his book of imaginary tales about real asteroids--A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds--and directed by Stephen Mellor.

1965UU is a tiny world inhabited by the likes of the looming, mean, lustily-flatulent Albedo, the delicious but elusively-speedy Rosalind, and a thoughtful, heartsick but resilient soul, Ravenelo, played by Paul Lazar. Lazar--co-founder, with Annie-B Parsons, of Big Dance Theater--gives one of his cherishable performances as the focus of the piece, acting like a spinning wheel that refines Wellman's textual flights of absurd fancy through every well-considered, masterfully-coordinated inflection of movement, glance and voice. Supporting Lazar in what is considered a solo performance are narrator Heather Christian, dancer Kate Marks, and actors Ed Jewett and Daniel Manley.

Now through October 4, the asteroid 1965UU will be in residence at The Chocolate Factory in Long Island City, which is certainly as good a place as any for a miniscule space body that appears to be a long, metallic platform spanning the length of the performance space.  Get yourself a front-row seat, and see a show in which, thrillingly, sparks really fly!

For tickets, directions and more information, click here.

Why do politicians need artists?

Why Do Politicians Need Artists?
Crossing the Line 2008, French Institute Alliance Française

Saturday, September 20 (4pm-6pm)
French Institute Alliance Française (Tinker Auditorium)
55 East 59th Street, Manhattan

Moderator:

André Lepecki, Associate Professor of Performance Studies (NYU)

Panelists:

Ralph Lemon, Independent Artist (New York)
Julia Mandle, Independent Artist (New York)
Arthur Nauzyciel, Artistic Director of National Dramatic Center of Orléans (France)

Americans, and the world, will remember 2008 for its historic presidential election. As the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain move into full gear, little is said about the candidates’ positions on the arts, or their views on the role of artists in contemporary society.

This panel brings together independent artists from France and New York whose work engages with social and political issues. They will examine what role artists already play in relation to building a healthier society, and what value and function Americans place on a vibrant artistic community.

Join FIAF for this pertinent and timely round-table discussion on the role of the artist in society including an opportunityfor audience members’ questions and observations.

Free admission by reservation only (by September 18): rsvp@fiaf.org or 646-388-6681

Fela! run extended through October 4

The Bill T. Jones musical Fela!--reviewed here on September 4--has been extended.

Tickets for this extension (September 24-October 4) will go on sale Monday, September 15 at 12pm. Visit Ticketmaster or call 212-560-8912.

I couldn't have said it better!

For those of us who spend many of our waking hours in theaters, this time of year can feel like staring down the chute at the start of a long, daunting obstacle course: the shows are coming, and fast, more than we can ever possibly see. How to make it to the winter holidays and take in most of them? How to remain sane while doing so?

--Claudia La Rocco, "When Perceptions Are Performance," The New York Times, Spetember 12, 2008

I deeply empathize with Ms. La Rocco, who opened her review of Jérôme Bel with this telling plaint. I, for one, have decided to opt for sanity. And since I have now completed my three-year term on the Bessie Awards committee--see you at the awards celebration on Monday?--it should be easier for me to achieve that sanity and some balance in my life (I have one) and my dance-going (which is still a very nice part of a privileged life). I've been at this dance criticism thing for 32 years, and I've come to learn that it has its limitations, many of them.

I want to spend less time "staring down the chute at the start of a long, daunting obstacle course" and more time staring through camera lenses and binoculars at the wondrous world. It would be nice to have more time to stare at my cats and my wife and to stare at other forms of art and science and other beautiful and rich places on our planet. I'm also due for a little navel-staring--or is that gazing?--some loving, renewed attention to my spiritual life and work and my own creativity. I also have to do some serious staring (without flinching) at what's going on politically in this country with its serious choice between a road of reactive retrogression, arrogant lying and aggression and a road of progress and healing, because if we're not careful, we'll be staring at something far worse than what we've stared at for the past eight years.

So, bear with me as you find me perhaps staring a little less--or a little less fixedly--at dance in the coming season. I might not get around to a lot of your shows, but I still care deeply about you and your work and about this field, and I hope to serve it more through the medium of sound, through Body and Soul podcast, a medium for many creative, authoritative voices as opposed to one critical one.

All the best,
Eva