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Friday, July 31, 2009

The HOT! and Festive Keckler and Steele

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Joseph Keckler and Max Steele

I totally loved this queeralicious HOT! Festival show, presented by Dixon Place offsite at The New Museum for Contemporary Art, regrettably for one night only. Both of these monologuists take audiences to dark, Scorpionic places, although Max Steele's sweet, ditzy, CyberGeneration persona subtly tricks you into thinking that, at worst, you've stumbled into typically dicey fairy tale territory when, in reality, you're in way deeper than that. You have never had a relationship from hell like the one that Steele had with the likes of one "Scott Panther," who sounds like his surname is more than just a little descriptive. Here's a charming Interview magazine video clip of Steele.

Joseph Keckler--a charismatic, astonishingly gifted performer all around--masters a wealth of faces, voices and sounds as he unspools strange/wacky stories or sings his songs, catching you up in silky, sticky webs of wonder and emotion. He commands a versatile vocal range, at times reminding me of Freddie Mercury, or Rufus Wainright, or Antony. As a storyteller, he's an action painter of fallen rainbows and dog-chewed Crayolas. How dangerous a spider is this Keckler? Ask the fan who found an out-of-control wireless mic inadvertently lobbed in her direction. "That's what qualifies this as peformance art," said momentarily unnerved Keckler. "The element of danger!"

Indeed. Oh, brave queer world!

Biting commentary

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Why Vampires Never Die
by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, The New York Times, July 31, 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

If you can't make it here...

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Bright Lights, Big Internet
by Bill Wasik, The New York Times, July 30, 2009

Muscles!

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Show me your muscles
by Dorothy Snarker, Dorothy Surrenders, July 30, 2009

Dance for our nation's health!

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One Approach to Reducing Health Care Costs: The Discipline of Dance
by Michael Kaiser, The Huffington Post, July 27, 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Burning Broadway's floor

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‘Burn the Floor’ Dance Theater Romps From Australia to Broadway
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, July 29, 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Theater all over the place

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Presenting New York Theater Where It’s Least Expected
by Erik Piepenburg, The New York Times, July 28, 2009

Trisha Brown remembers Merce Cunningham

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A message received from Trisha Brown:

I am filled with great sorrow upon the loss of dear Merce. We all adored him. Merce and I were transports from the West Coast and shared a connection through our roots in the Pacific Northwest. Our houses were accustomed to speaking old Chinook jargon, a dialect of the Indian sea traders in Washington. It’s based largely on Nootka which is used as a lingua franca from Alaska to Oregon. For me, Merce will always be a Tillicum, which translates as "old friend."

Kaufman: Cunningham and the ephemeral

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Merce Cunningham's Modern Dance Steps in Jeopardy With His Passing
by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, July 28, 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

Statement from the Cunningham Dance Foundation

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The board and staff of the Cunningham Dance Foundation and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company honor the extraordinary life of our friend and mentor Merce Cunningham. Merce revolutionized the visual and performing arts – not for the sake of iconoclasm, but for the beauty and wonder that lay in exploring new possibilities. An inspiring performer and dancer into his 80s, and a visionary choreographer and dedicated teacher throughout his life, he led quietly and by example. With his partner John Cage, he opened up new ways of perceiving and experiencing the world, and his insatiable curiosity, collaborative spirit, and love of the new inspired countless artists across disciplines. Merce has left an indelible mark on our collective creativity and culture; his legacy will resonate in the dance world and beyond for generations to come.

“Merce saw beauty in the ordinary, which is what made him extraordinary. He did not allow convention to lead him, but was a true artist, honest and forthcoming in everything he did. His approach to art and life opened so many paths for others­not to follow, but to discover. The world is a lesser place without him, but without question, a better place because of him. We will miss him dearly.” – Trevor Carlson, Executive Director, Cunningham Dance Foundation

“Merce was an artistic maverick and the gentlest of geniuses. We have lost a great man and a great artist, but we celebrate his extraordinary life, his art, and the dancers and the artists with whom he worked. To honor Merce, we plan to carry on our efforts to share and preserve his legacy, so that audiences of today and generations of tomorrow may witness the work of this legendary artist.” Judith R. Fishman, Chairman, Cunningham Dance Foundation

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Cunningham Dance Foundation’s Legacy Campaign for the preservation of Merce’s work. Visitors will be received in the Merce Cunningham Studio from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

Merce Cunningham passes at 90

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Merce Cunningham Dies
by Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times, July 27, 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

They!

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All-Purpose Pronoun
by Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman, The New York Times, July 26, 2009

An angel, formerly unawares

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Angel's face uncovered at Istanbul's Haghia Sophia
by Suzan Fraser, Associated Press, July 25, 2009

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Author E. Lynn Harris dead at 54

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E. Lynn Harris, Who Wrote of Gay Black Men’s Lives, Dies at 54
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 24, 2009

Movement (R)evolution Africa

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A few days ago, I posted my review of Nora--a 2008 documentary about Nora Chipaumire and her life in Zimbabwe by filmmakers Alla Kovgan and David Hinton. At the end, I added a link to information on Movement (R)evolution Africa (a story of an art form in four acts), an earlier documentary directed by Kovgan and Joan Frosch, Nora's producer.

Unfortunately, at the time, I was unable to say anything more about M(R)A, since my computer's media player had balked at reading the DVD. However, since then, my regular DVD player kicked into action, and now I'm thrilled to be able to urge you to add both films to your must-see list.

If anything, M(R)A electrified me even more than Nora--which is really saying something.

M(R)A is an absorbing, kaleidoscopic introduction to contemporary dance as conceived by artists from many of Africa's regions, artists committed to reflecting 21st Century African realities.

Creators and performers familiar to most serious dance fans--such as Chipaumire, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of New York's Urban Bush Women and Germaine Acogny of Senegal's Jant-Bi--flow through. But we're also treated to numerous tastes of unfamiliar cultural aesthetics and troupes, such as exquisite Company Rary from Madagascar. If your notion of dance from Africa extends only to theatricalized versions of traditional tribal dancing from Africa's West, it's time for you to see M(R)A. Among other things, this film certainly makes the point--still a necessary lesson for many Americans--that the continent of Africa is not only abundant in cultures but historically impacted by, and, in turn, strongly influential upon, a world of cultures.

With lush, fast-paced imagery and a range of intimate interview clips, M(R)A celebrates Africa's contemporary artists as searching innovators who clearly have much to teach and share with American artists. One of my favorite segments involves an exploration of the African concept of contact dance. The filmmakers piece together samples of this from many of the companies, and I found the palpable human connectedness, groundedness and inherent drama even in abstract movement deeply affecting.

You will want to own a copy and revisit M(R)A many times to catch new ideas and inspirations and to dream of seeing artists you might not yet have had the opportunity to see in New York or elsewhere.

For further information and to view a clip from M(R)A, click here.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Post-racial?

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President Obama, Professor Gates and the Cambridge Police
by Brent Staples, The New York Times, July 24, 2009

Case Recalls Tightrope Blacks Walk With Police
by Susan Saulny and Robbie Brown, The New York Times, July 24, 2009

Is there life after NYCB?

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Sudden Finale - New York City Ballet Dancers After Layoffs
by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, July 22, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sweet, old-fashioned girls...not!

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Courtney Jo Drasner and Janessa Clark
of Janessa Clark/KILTERBOX

(photo by Alexandra Albrecht)

There's deliberate, unsettling tension in (inner)views I-VII, a piece by choreographer Janessa Clark of the Janessa Clark/KILTERBOX troupe. With its juxtaposition of erotic live movement and engaging video interviews, its trampling of the fourth wall, it forces you, gentle viewer, to think about your place as a reactive/creative mind taking in or making up information that lurches between honesty and theatrical manipulation.

Clark has worked this provocative piece for several years. I first saw it last summer at Dixon Place's Hot! Festival where it was a duet between Clark and Courtney Jo Drasner (see my review of that work-in-progress here). The finished, evening-length version--featuring Clark, Drasner and Alexandra Albrecht--took its world premiere bow in this year's festival at DP's new Chrystie Street location. Last night, after a few technical snafus, it completed that run.

(inner)views I-VII highlights what people tend to imagine about lesbians and how seven real-life lesbian interviewees--so real, I actually know two of them--view themselves, their sexuality, their life stories and daily challenges within homophobic society.

The dancers place live, soft-core girly action right in front of you. (For those of you who have yet to visit the new Dixon Place theater, that would still be pretty much right in front of you, and one embarrassed person even gets a brief lap dance.) You're occasionally asked what you think of what you're looking at, how you feel about it, how you might arrange things differently. I don't remember as much audience-tugging in last year's show, and it now feels a bit forced, muddling Clark's obvious point: When we encounter the Other--whether it be a person different in race, gender, sexual orientation or what have you, say, a woman in hijab on the subway or Henry Louis Gates, Jr. struggling to open his own front door--what's flickering across the sooty cave walls of our minds usually conflicts with reality.

Well, yeah, Prof. Gates, I guess some folks still need to hear this.

I still value the way (inner)views I-VII spurs us to wonder just how it could be that lesbians who share their stories with us, interviewed and presented through the two-dimensional medium of film, turn out to be even more palpable than a trio of babes that we could actually reach out and touch if we dared. And, as I wrote in my 2008 review, when it comes down to it, who would we rather watch and get to know?

Very nice work by Ganessa James, guitarist and singer-songwriter. Her warm, supple and vibrant voice brought Tracy Chapman, Joan Armatrading and Lizz Wright to mind as she provided live original music prior to and during the piece.

NYPL expands Wi-Fi access

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Library Expands Wi-Fi Access and Will Lend Laptops
by Sewell Chan, The New York Times, July 22, 2009

An education in human rights

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Opposition Causes Thio Li-ann to Skip N.Y.U. Appointment
by
Winnie Hu, The New York Times, July 23, 2009

Clearly an expert in her field and equally clued-in about the nature of New York City and NYU. Oh, my! What an incredible loss for the university! :-D

Spirit in voice and body

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SINGING IN TONGUES

Chanting/Meditation Encounters: Indian, Asian and African Songs uttered in the ancient form of kirtan (call and response chanting).

Come sing with us, dance with us or just be with us in the tranquil energy and infinite possibilities of the present moment.

Led by Bret Cohen on vocal and percussion; featuring Donna Wang on harmonium

Fridays: July 24, August 21, October 23, November 13 and December 11, all from 7-9pm

CHI Movement Arts Center (home of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers)
1316 South Ninth Street (between Wharton & Reed), Philadelphia
Directions

$10-$20 suggested donation, or pay what you can

For more information, click here.


CHI Movement Arts Center is also offering the following workshops:

Contemplative Practices Workshops with visual artist Jeff Sable
(for dancers and non-dancers)

August 9, 16; September 13, 20, 27; October 4, all 11:30am-12:30pm ($12/class/workshop)

and Open Dialog on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2pm (free)

Explore the landscape between our mental process, our bodies and our creative voice, utilizing contemporary and ancient tools of contemplation, meditation, tai chi movement, voice and improvisation to enrich and deepen our personal and creative communication with the confidence of direct awareness.

CHI Movement Arts Center (home of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers)
1316 South Ninth Street (between Wharton & Reed), Philadelphia
Directions

For more information, click here.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

InfiniteBody seeks sponsorship

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I am seeking ongoing sponsorship for InfiniteBody's features, including coverage and commentary on cultural activities in New York and abroad, the continuation of Body and Soul podcasts (interviews with dance artists, collaborators and advocates), and the prospective launch of a series of special events.

If you are interested in partnering with me in sustaining and expanding InfiniteBody, please contact me, using the Contact form near the top of this page.

Thank you!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Ndegeocello comes to LC OOD 8/7

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Meshell Ndegeocello and Raul Midón Co-headline Lincoln Center OUT OF DOORS Concert 8/7

...and I can't wait!

Also look for Lizz Wright and Allen Toussaint on Saturday, August 22, 7-10pm at Damrosch Park Bandshell, as well as a whole host of fun programming from August 5-23. Details here
or through LCOOD's Twitter feed.

Wim Wenders will continue Bausch project

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Wim Wenders to Continue Work on Pina Bausch Project
by David Itzkoff, The New York Times, July 21, 2009

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Chipaumire: dancing her path of light

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For fans of Nora Chipaumire--and anyone who has yet to encounter this extraordinary dancer-choreographer--I strongly recommend Nora (2008), a 35-minute, award-winning film by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton.

"I am a dancer," begins the film's opening narrative text, "Born by the side of the road/on June 26, 1965, in Zimbabwe/which was then called Rhodesia." These simple facts--and shots of the rounded humps of mountains and of hands quietly resting atop the skin of drums--soon give way to poetic, often fanciful, always passionate storytelling by way of text, dance, breathtaking cinematography by Mkrtich Malkhasyan and original music by the legendary Thomas Mapfumo.

Chipaumire, who left Zimbabwe in 1989 and lives in New York City, collaborated on the screenplay with directors Kovgan and Hinton. Due to the repressive political situation in her homeland, the film was shot in Mozambique, near the Zimbabwean border. In a dream-like collage of sequences, Chipaumire revisits the red earth of her land, her people, her memories of childhood and youth. We get a sense of the often terrible familial and societal ingredients that set in motion a free-spirited, strong-willed, committed artist.

The film highlights Chipaumire's skillful chameleon nature--athletically masculine at one moment, romantically demure at another; towering and severe at one turn, playful at another. It is--all of it--utterly convincing, absorbing, intriguing. The film also draws together the sources that flavor her contemporary dance, which has won her world-wide acclaim and a 2007 Bessie Award--from village women's dancing to the fierce toi toi of Zimbabwean freedom fighters of the chimurenga (war of liberation) and to expansive, celebratory disco dancing.

Malkhasyan often shoots Chipaumire's dance segments through partitions or the framing of schoolhouse windows and doorways, not only achieving arresting compositions but also alluding to the searing realities of Zimbabwean and familial conflict that shaped this woman and, for a time, confined her. Together, these two artists create a most effective, imaginative partnership of dance and environment.

For additional information about Nora and to view brief excerpts, click here.

For information on Joan Frosch and Alla Kovgan's 2007 film, Movement (R)evolution Africa--which features Chipaumire as well as performers from Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Senegal and the US--click here.

Upcoming screenings of Nora

Monday, July 20, 2009

Tell your friends about InfiniteBody!


NYC Dance Parade 2009
(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa


If you've been enjoying InfiniteBody blog--as well as Body and Soul podcast, which is on hiatus for the summer--please pass this blog's link along to your friends. They can subscribe here--using the cute orange button near the top of the page--and never miss out on another post or podcast interview!

Thanks so much for your support!

Eva :-)

Luminescent Orchestrii at Celebrate Brooklyn

Photos from a recent show at Celebrate Brooklyn, where Luminescent Orchestrii performed a rousing opening for the sublime Kronos Quartet

(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Summer's losses continue...

Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes Author, Dies at 78
by William Grimes, The New York Times, July 19, 2009

A Storyteller Even as a Teacher
by Eric Konigsberg, The New York Times, July 19, 2009

Remembering Frank McCourt and Walter Cronkite

Scribd Blog, July 20, 2009

Judi Ann Mason, Who Wrote Plays and TV Sitcoms, Dies at 54
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 18, 2009

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Drawn...to photograph!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in The Big Draw 2009 at New York's National Museum of the American Indian, a River to River Festival event co-sponsored by The Drawing Center. The program featured the Native Pride Dancers--led by Larry Yazzie (Diné)--who posed and performed dances as we drew.

While I did manage to work up a small pastel drawing, I spent most of my time trying to keep my multicolored fingers away from my white pants and taking lots and lots of photos. Here's a selection.

To see any photo larger, just click on it. Please enjoy.

All photos (c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody http://infinitebody.blogspot.com

Saturday, July 18, 2009

ColleenThomasDance at DTW

The fact that ColleenThomasDance has only one remaining night--that would be tonight, kids--of a two-night gig at Dance Theater Workshop makes me very unhappy. You're likely to miss this show, The Christopher Lancaster Period: Circumstance of a fall. But if you make it, you'll have a good time and come to the conclusion that Thomas and her musical soul mate, Chris Lancaster, are geniuses at making richly satisfying "downtown" performance.

Together with an awesome cast of dancers and band, including classically-trained singer Lisa Komara, these collaborators create multidimensional movement/sound collages that bypass a watcher's literal, linear mind. I love the way Thomas deploys dancers who are full, vivid persons often doing kooky stuff that seems plucked out of rational context but steadily evolves its own internal logic right before your eyes. And Lancaster's live music--which grows festive and passionate--simply soars. You wish for these two, lots of space, lots of time, not merely a weekend.

The Christopher Lancaster Period: Circumstance of a fall includes three pieces--Winning You With Words (this is how we fall), Jane Can't Connect (aka open arms) and When the earth was flat, it smelled like the color pink, and I believed--the last two of which cleverly overlap.

Information and ticketing at Dance Theater Workshop

Friday, July 17, 2009

DMAC announces 2009 commission opportunity

DMAC- Duo Multicultural Arts Center is seeking to commission and premiere five new dance works to be premiered December 7-11, 2009, in our beautiful turn-of-the-century playhouse. Each piece must be between 8-10 minutes in length. Choreographers will receive a commission fee of $500.00 and adequate rehearsal time in one of our studios. The program is being curated by Lisa Rinehart and Michelangelo Alasa’.

Since 2008, DMAC has presented 16 new dance premieres by Aszure Barton, Keely Garfield, Julian Barnett, Maria Hassabi, Alex Escalante, Anna Sperber, Deganit Shemy, Ariane Anthony, Claire Porter, Yin Yue, Kelley Donovan, Art Bridgeman, Myrna Packer, Nicole Wolcott, Catherine Galasso, Lauri Stallings, Carlos Velazquez as well as guest performances by Doug Elkin, David Parker and the Bang Group, Carlos Velazquez and the Rod Rodgers Dance Company.

Click to download application.

DMAC
duo multicultural arts center
theatre dance film music art
62 East 4th Street, East Village,
212-598-4320

Cotter's RWP54321

RWP54321 invites your participation.

RWP54321 is the RETTOCAMME Web Project, a worldwide choreography experiment using online social networks to create a low budget and potentially massive collaboration. Premise: Choreographer Emma Cotter offers a written description of a short dance piece to the dance community. Choreographers are invited to translate the ideas into their own movement material and publish a video to the web following a few simple guidelines.


For complete information, visit RWP54321 here.

Winterizing our summer: Gat at Lincoln Center

Last night, Lincoln Center Festival 09 presented the New York premiere of Emanuel Gat Dance's Winter Variations--starring Gat, Roy Assaf and the stark, Gat-lit stage of LC's Rose Theater. I've never warmed to the old notion that art is Man's attempt to upstage the awesome works of Nature. But Gat and Assaf and that stage really did put me in a state of awe.

Winter Variations is grey tones and suspended moments, drones and bleak shadows, yawning space around men in uncanny, telepathic coordination, ornate simplicity, fluid, softness of motion, the treading of time into infinity. Also on the bill: Gat's Silent Ballet, in its North American premiere run. As in Winter Variations, Gat's innovative lighting design defines and electrifies the space and--with the dancer-and-audience-exposing lack of musical accompaniment, the ensemble's sifting and shifting, their attraction/repulsion, the movements' eccentric pacing--both draws one in and creates a visceral disorientation. Silent Ballet is interesting and handsomely performed, but Winter Variations is the fine instrument, one of the most exciting duets in my experience.

I urge you to see these exceptional works and performers tomorrow night or Friday, if you can still get tickets. Try here.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Times set to sell WQXR

The Times Agrees to Sell WQXR Radio

A director reflects on "Nefes" and Bausch


Stephanie Gilman


On Seeing Pina Bausch’s Nefes in Wroclaw, Poland

by Stephanie Gilman

I am a New York City-based theater director, incredibly fortunate to have been part of the US Artists Initiative for The World as a Place of Truth festival in Wroclaw, Poland, in June. This international theater festival, part of the Grotowski Year, featured work by Peter Brook, Tadashi Suzuki, Krystian Lupa, Eugenio Barba, Richard Shechner and Pina Bausch.

I’ve seen Bausch’s work since 1995, perhaps ten shows over the years, beginning with Two Cigarettes in the Dark. Her work has had a huge impact on me as an artist: her sense of theatricality; her use of humor and repetition; the way she creates a common language with her audience, usually at the outset, by having dancers cross the stage and gaze at us. All changed the way I see and direct theater. I was also struck by her sense of scale. Her work helped me continue to question the boundaries between theater and dance.

In Wroclaw, I attended a film screening prior to the performance of Nefes, and a few of Pina’s thoughts resonated deeply with me:

Dare to go into the unknown.

Dare to be disliked.

Move in a fog and don’t know where you are going.


Delay decisions as long as possible.


Approach the material with naivety.


I used to think about these ideas a lot. It was so very good to be reminded, and hear them from someone I admired so deeply.

Pina spoke the film’s last words: “I have seen many springs. I hope to see many more…”

To say I am saddened by her death is an understatement. I am devastated, and only feel more urgency to do my work and carry on. I can’t even imagine what her dancers are experiencing. They did go on with their final performance of Nefes on June 30, even after hearing of her death.

Our group had attended the performance on June 29, and I’d heard she was in the hospital, and that a rare open conversation with her might be canceled. But I did not know how sick she was.

Nefes was incredible: luscious, sexy, dense, hot, beautiful. Bausch’s command of formal craft and theatrical pacing were, as always, evident. Nefes is, loosely, about Istanbul. (Bausch’s works are often inspired by a city). In Nefes, the romantic alternates with the dream-like, and the workaday. But, whereas many of Bausch’s pieces contain chilling and violent images, Nefes is especially joyful. It made me smile, laugh out loud and jump out of my seat several times. Beautiful women gaze at the audience while towel clad men cross the stage. Billows of soap cause giddy delight on stage and off. A man jumps into a giant pool of water nestled in the stage, and then performs an unbelievable solo in a huge shower of water shooting down onto the stage.

Pina Bausch was a choreographer, but she understood theater. She knew how to tell a story with an image, to create that oh-so-powerful mash up of text, movement and music so many of us strive for in our work. She knew how to use repetition to startling effect. She knew how to surprise us, make us laugh and move us. About her dancers, she said, “I look for something else.” She continued, “The possibility of making them feel what each gesture means internally. Everything must come from the heart, must be lived.” If that isn’t acting, I don’t know what is!

After the performance of Nefes, there was a party at the festival club. The music: Michael Jackson. The participants: people from the US, Poland, Turkey, England, Greece, Hungary, Brazil, Germany. It was hot. Smoky. A far-flung community of people who wanted to dance together. Beautiful post-Nefes Pina Bausch-inspired dancing. I will never forget this night, and continue to mourn the loss of one of our greatest artists.


Stephanie Gilman is an independent director based in New York City. She has directed and taught all over the Northeastern US. She was the co-founder and co-artistic director of Collision Theory, an award winning ensemble company that created and produced interdisciplinary, physical theater. Stephanie continues to develop and teach the movement work of the late Beatrice Lees, as a training system as well as to create original, movement-based performance. Stephanie is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a Drama League Directing Fellow and a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.


More on Poland's The World as a Place of Truth festival:

In Praise of a Polish Theater Master
by Sally McGrane, The New York Times, July 6, 2009

Monday, July 13, 2009

Montes on technique and body awareness

How Dance Technique Supports Our Body Awareness
Movement for non-performers
with Erick Montes

Wednesday, July 15 (2-4pm)

A free community event presented by Harlem Stage

A fun summer class with Erick Montes, dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and choreographer. Erick will teach us posture-consciousness and efficient ways to manipulate our bodies to move through space to enjoy and maintain a peaceful state of mind and a shared space in a social environment. Wear comfortable clothes you can move freely in. We will provide water.

Erick Montes is a 2008 Artist Fellowship recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This presentation is co-sponsored by Artists & Audiences Exchange, a NYFA public program

The Harlem Stage Gatehouse at 150 Convent Avenue (at 135th Street)

1 train to 137th Street at Broadway
or A, B, C, D to 125th Street at St. Nicholas


Information

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Thursday, July 9, 2009

"We are a dance band!"


Benjy Fox Rosen (left, bottom); Rima Fand (right)
(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa


Rima Fand (left), Sarah Alden (right)
(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa


Yes, they are.

That would be Brooklyn's Luminescent Orchestrii, with their waltzes for the proletariat, their mashups of klezmer and Jimi Hendrix, their transformation of what they called Andy Statman's "quiet mandolin thing" with its droning, pleasing dragginess into something raucous, their Yiddish songs that proclaim things like "I can't dance/my shoes are broken/I will dance in my socks!" These musician/singers are peppery and irresistible, and it did my heart good to see a couple of totally unselfconscious dads twirling and frolicking with their joyful tots right in front of the stage. Any band that can get a couple of (presumably straight) guys to cut loose like that will surely stir your weary ass, too.



Rima and Sarah (left); Sxip Shirey (right); Sarah (bottom)
(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa



Sxip (c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa


So, if you missed today's show at World Financial Center Plaza, you can catch Luminescent Orchestrii at Celebrate Brooklyn, where they will open for the Kronos Quartet in a free show on Thursday, July 16 (7:30pm).

Check out some LO music here.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

DTW looks forward



Dance Theater Workshop's 2009-2010 season will present a diverse and breathtaking spectrum of projects sure to excite and challenge audiences. Today, artistic director Carla Peterson announced her roster of participating artists, including Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People, Raimund Hoghe, Neal Medlyn, Tere O'Connor, Urban Bush Women, Kimberly Bartosik/daela, Bruno Beltrão/Grupo de Rua, koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO, Sahar Javedani, Yasuko Yokoshi, Faye Driscoll, Nora Chipaumire, Pat Graney Company and many others.

With reduced ticket prices, a new fee-free ticketing policy and expanded socializing/education initiatives that include a pioneering Dance Docent program, DTW hopes to make some of the world's most innovative dance enticing and accessible to far more people. Hooray!

From September 8, 2009 through June 2010, the savvy dance fan might find him- or herself tempted to set up household at DTW.

Connect with this re-energized, forward-moving DTW at its website and blog and on Twitter.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Waag taps out a space for tap

Tony Waag, director of the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF), has signed a 10-year lease for a studio/rehearsal space exclusively for tap--the new American Tap Dance Center. The 3000 square foot space, located on Christopher and Washington Streets, will house three studios for tap classes and rehearsals, as well as the foundation's administrative offices.

"The reality is that for more than a century, tap has fought for its place on the legitimate stage," Waag notes. "Appropriate venues where dancers, both aspiring and professional, can perfect their craft are limited. Even necessities, such as the special floor and the shoes, add to the complexity of trying to legitimize the art form. There is also the deep-seated notion that tap lacks composition and, in turn, training and artistry, because improvisation is so much a part of the art form."

ATDF is one of only a handful of dance organizations committed to ensuring that tap's great performers receive recognition, alongside the masters of ballet and modern and jazz dance.

News of the lease-signing comes as ATDF swings into its wildly-popular New York City summer festival--Tap City. For further information on Tap City events and resources, click here.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Collaboration on the "Corner"

Here are a handful of my photos from the premiere of Untitled Corner, a site-specific work by Jonah Bokaer and Judith Sánchez Ruíz (choreographers/performers) with Daniel Arsham (visual designer/performer) and Alexis Georgopoulos/ARP (original sound score).

Sitelines 09
at One Chase Manhattan Plaza

All photos (c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
InfiniteBody (http://infinitebody.blogspot.com)



Above Chase Manhattan Plaza



Jonah Bokaer & Judith Sánchez Ruíz
in “Untitled Corner”








Bokaer with Daniel Arsham


Untitled Corner will be performed again on July 10, 13 and 17 at 12:30pm and on July 8 and 15 at 7pm.

One Chase Manhattan Plaza faces Nassau Street, between Liberty and Cedar Streets. Take the 2/3/4/5 to Wall Street.

Admission is free. Chairs and other seating options are available, but come early.

Sitelines 09 is a presentation of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the River to River Festival.

Sounds good to me

Sound Tunnel: Avant-Garde Park Portrait
by Randy Kennedy, The New York Times, July 6, 2009

A Calming Presence Amid the Groans and Screeches
by Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times, July 6, 2009

How the Thunder Sounds
by Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times, July 6, 2009

Friday, July 3, 2009

Got that swing!


Brenda Bufalino
(photo by Lois Greenfield)


In a recent rehearsal at Stepping Out Studios, big swinging tap master Brenda Bufalino and her dancers were looking good as they worked through reconstructions of her works, supported by NEA's "American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius" grant.

Bufalino will be one of several awardees honored at the 2009 Tap City Awards Ceremony, July 8 (8pm), at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue (65th Street).

Tap City 2009 opens this coming Monday, July 6 (9:30pm) with Jam@Joe's, a tap jam at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street. 212-967-7555

For the complete schedule of all Tap City festival classes, events and ticketing, visit the American Tap Dance Foundation site, call 646-230-9564 or email registrar@atdf.org.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Environment as healer

The Puzzle of Spaces That Soothe by Esther Sternberg, M.D.
reviewed by Abigail Zuger, M.D., The New York Times, June 30, 2009