In recognition of World AIDS Day 2009, WNYC's Jerome L. Greene Performance Space welcomes poet Sonia Sanchez and choreographer Ronald K. Brown, plus a discussion of AIDS in the African-American community.
Complete information here
Tuesday, December 1 -- 7pm-9pm
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Breaking Ground: our day at Federal Hall
I was honored to be asked to invited to participate in Breaking Ground: A Public Charrette--a workshop created and facilitated by San Francisco-based choreographer Joanna Haigood through New York's Dancing in the Streets program.
Here's a post I wrote about my experience for Breaking Ground's blog.
Do spend some time at the blog's site: You'll find writing by other participants, photos from the event and lots of information about our site (historic Federal Hall) and Haigood's fascinating project.
Here's a post I wrote about my experience for Breaking Ground's blog.
Do spend some time at the blog's site: You'll find writing by other participants, photos from the event and lots of information about our site (historic Federal Hall) and Haigood's fascinating project.
Gray: the man behind the body
Book Review: Ruth Richardson's The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy
by Sue Taylor, Art in America, November 2009
by Sue Taylor, Art in America, November 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Holiday dancing at WFC
arts>World Financial Center dance events for Holiday 2009
New York Theatre Ballet in The Nutcracker
Tuesday, December 1 (12:30pm and 6pm)
Hour-long version. The 6pm show will be preceded by the annual Winter Garden lighting celebration.
ETHEL and Annie-B Parson: Wait for Green
Friday, December 18 (12:30pm and 7pm)
Choreographer/director Parson once again joins forces with postclassical string quartet ETHEL, restaging their 2008 collaboration, Wait for Green.
Ase Dance Theatre Collective
Monday, December 28 (12:30pm)
Dance and song in celebration of Kwanzaa
All events take place in WFC's Winter Garden and are free; no tickets required.
Map and directions
For a complete schedule and information on all Holiday 2009 events in the arts>World Financial Center series, click here.
New York Theatre Ballet in The Nutcracker
Tuesday, December 1 (12:30pm and 6pm)
Hour-long version. The 6pm show will be preceded by the annual Winter Garden lighting celebration.
ETHEL and Annie-B Parson: Wait for Green
Friday, December 18 (12:30pm and 7pm)
Choreographer/director Parson once again joins forces with postclassical string quartet ETHEL, restaging their 2008 collaboration, Wait for Green.
Ase Dance Theatre Collective
Monday, December 28 (12:30pm)
Dance and song in celebration of Kwanzaa
All events take place in WFC's Winter Garden and are free; no tickets required.
Map and directions
For a complete schedule and information on all Holiday 2009 events in the arts>World Financial Center series, click here.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Audition for Aviles: female singers with sense of humor
Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre is preparing a new musical theatre/dance work called Super Maeva de Oz which takes inspiration from The Wizard of Oz to tell the story of a young Latina lesbian coming out in the South Bronx in 1977. The piece will need a chorus made up of 6 to 12 participants that backs up the actress. The songs include cursing, humorous and sexually explicit references.
Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre is seeking singers for the chorus who have: a good singing voice (formal training a plus); can sing with Spanish/ Latina accent; and OK with being perceived as Queer.
We are having auditions on Saturday November 28, from 10am to 12pm and from 6pm to 9pm. Also on Sunday, November 29th from 5pm to 10pm.
Audition will be at BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance, 841 Barretto Street, Bronx, NY 10474.
Preview performance of the songs will take place the second week of February at BAAD!
REHEARSAL STIPEND AND PERFORMANCE PAY. Rehearsals start in December.
Directions: Take #6 train to Hunts Point Avenue. Visit website: www.BronxAcademyOfArtsAndDance.org/directions.htm
To make an appointment call BAAD! at 718.824.5223.
Fax or e-mail resumes to 718.542.4077 or arthuraviles@gmail.com
Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre is seeking singers for the chorus who have: a good singing voice (formal training a plus); can sing with Spanish/ Latina accent; and OK with being perceived as Queer.
We are having auditions on Saturday November 28, from 10am to 12pm and from 6pm to 9pm. Also on Sunday, November 29th from 5pm to 10pm.
Audition will be at BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance, 841 Barretto Street, Bronx, NY 10474.
Preview performance of the songs will take place the second week of February at BAAD!
REHEARSAL STIPEND AND PERFORMANCE PAY. Rehearsals start in December.
Directions: Take #6 train to Hunts Point Avenue. Visit website: www.BronxAcademyOfArtsAndDance.org/directions.htm
To make an appointment call BAAD! at 718.824.5223.
Fax or e-mail resumes to 718.542.4077 or arthuraviles@gmail.com
Rogoff and Mozgala: Dancing the body's diversity
Overcoming Cerebral Palsy, Gregg Mozgala Learns to Dance
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, November 24, 2009
I'm looking forward to seeing this piece, which I will be reviewing for Dance Magazine.
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, November 24, 2009
I'm looking forward to seeing this piece, which I will be reviewing for Dance Magazine.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
She's a revelation!
See my "Dance Matters" feature on Ailey's Judith Jamison--celebrating her 20th Anniversary at the helm of the world's best-loved company--in the December issue of Dance Magazine (pp. 20-22).
Bernard Dove: Gotta dance!
Experience Necessary - Bernard Dove Is Doing What He Loves, Leading Dance Classes
by Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, November 23, 2009
by Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Run away and join the circus
Learning Acrobatics at New York Circus Arts Academy
by Nida Najar, The New York Times, November 22, 2009
by Nida Najar, The New York Times, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
A recovering heart
Robin Williams Opens Wide His (Repaired) Heart
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, November 19, 2009
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, November 19, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Ahern's spook house
Halloween might be long gone, but Carrie Ahern and her fellow dancers are haunting the Brooklyn Lyceum this week. They're decidely flesh-and-blood creatures. But, if you go, you'll feel the hairs on your arms tingling, particularly if you spend any time in the small, upstairs room where powerful Donna Costello might thrash around like a maniac only a millimeter away from you.
Sensate, running for three hours at every installation performance, offers each audience member his or her choice of arrival and departure time, viewing location and even intermission. (A restroom is conveniently located to the rear of the main space's primary seating area. Quietly slip back to your bench without fuss, and know that it's okay that you've missed what you've chosen to miss.) Ahern invites us to collaborate with her by creating our own experience of the work, going beyond her own efforts to shape its structure by willfully reorganizing her output.
From what I could tell, last night's small audience saw itself in a far more linear way. For instance, for long stretches of time, people sat in a conventional arrangement, facing the main space head-on. And Ahern's use of the Lyceum's features--including stairs to different levels--rarely went beyond expected functionality. It's certainly not the first time, we've seen dancers suddenly arrive or withdraw by taking the stairs.
A live, visually-innovative performance voice and electronic music by composer Anne Hege and eerie lighting by Jay Ryan contribute to the spooky, mysterious air. Costumer Naoko Nagata's raggedy layers make the dancers resemble survivors of some unnamed disaster. And the site itself, a former public bathhouse, is a potentially eccentric space for a show. But it needs more imaginative magic-making.
Ahern's choreography, however, and the Bacchante-like performances of her fellow dancers--Costello, David Figueroa, Kelly Hayes and Jillian Hollis--can often sizzle. The audience might evade Ahern's invitation to freedom, but her dancers do not. They take to this work with feverish abandon and put their bodies--maybe even their sanity--on the line.
You'll find the Brooklyn Lyceum (227 4th Avenue, Park Slope) right upstairs from the Union Street station on the R line. Remaining performances of Sensate run tonight (7:30-10:30pm) and tomorrow (3-6pm).
Information and ticketing
718-857-4816
Sensate, running for three hours at every installation performance, offers each audience member his or her choice of arrival and departure time, viewing location and even intermission. (A restroom is conveniently located to the rear of the main space's primary seating area. Quietly slip back to your bench without fuss, and know that it's okay that you've missed what you've chosen to miss.) Ahern invites us to collaborate with her by creating our own experience of the work, going beyond her own efforts to shape its structure by willfully reorganizing her output.
From what I could tell, last night's small audience saw itself in a far more linear way. For instance, for long stretches of time, people sat in a conventional arrangement, facing the main space head-on. And Ahern's use of the Lyceum's features--including stairs to different levels--rarely went beyond expected functionality. It's certainly not the first time, we've seen dancers suddenly arrive or withdraw by taking the stairs.
A live, visually-innovative performance voice and electronic music by composer Anne Hege and eerie lighting by Jay Ryan contribute to the spooky, mysterious air. Costumer Naoko Nagata's raggedy layers make the dancers resemble survivors of some unnamed disaster. And the site itself, a former public bathhouse, is a potentially eccentric space for a show. But it needs more imaginative magic-making.
Ahern's choreography, however, and the Bacchante-like performances of her fellow dancers--Costello, David Figueroa, Kelly Hayes and Jillian Hollis--can often sizzle. The audience might evade Ahern's invitation to freedom, but her dancers do not. They take to this work with feverish abandon and put their bodies--maybe even their sanity--on the line.
You'll find the Brooklyn Lyceum (227 4th Avenue, Park Slope) right upstairs from the Union Street station on the R line. Remaining performances of Sensate run tonight (7:30-10:30pm) and tomorrow (3-6pm).
Information and ticketing
718-857-4816
Listening to Savion
Savion Glover - Tap Dancing (Or Is It Composing) at the Blue Note
by Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, November 20, 2009
by Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Environmental artist Jeanne-Claude, 74
Jeanne-Claude, Collaborator With Christo, Dies at 74
by William Grimes, The New York Times, November 19, 2009
by William Grimes, The New York Times, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
New online presence for Tudor trust
The Antony Tudor Ballet Trust launches www.antonytudor.org to reinforce the relevance and enduring importance of Antony Tudor's ballets, and, ensure his works are never lost.
The new website features a comprehensive online catalogue of Tudor's ballets, complete with premiere dates, details of music, production, and cast; supplemented notes on the work, revisions and stagings; rich and historical content on the life of Antony Tudor; and, upcoming performances and related ballet news.
Nearly every major and minor ballet company in the world and many
distinguished university dance programs have licensed Tudor ballets since his death. This website will best serve to further motivate artistic directors, and future artistic directors, to continue to perform and add Tudor ballets to their repertoire. A comprehensive catalogue of ballets, archival images, and video will reinforce the power of this master choreographer and his influence on so many choreographers of the twentieth century including: Jerome Robbins, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Pina Bausch, Sir Frederick Ashton, Agnes DeMille, Glen Tetley, and Eliot Feld, to name just a few.
"Only a handful of truly great ballets survive their creators," said Sally Brayley Bliss, Trustee. "Tudor's Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies, Judgment of Paris, Gala Performance, Dim Lustre, Leaves are Fading, Echoing of Trumpets, and Undertow, as well as his smaller works including Little Improvisations, Continuo, Cereus and Sunflowers, represent irreplaceable choreography threatened with extinction in society's current fixation on full-length ballets."
As noted by The Washington Post, April 4th, 2008, following The Antony Tudor Centennial Celebration at Lincoln Center, "His (Tudor's) works are largely written off as too delicately nuanced to teach to today's technique-oriented dancers, too demanding for an audience groomed on the ready thrills and speed of George Balanchine, too financially risky for boards of directors who prefer easy sells -- Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and so on." And yet, performing in even one Tudor ballet, said the celebrated former dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, in a recent interview, amounted to "a passport to become mature, to be an adult dancer, a dancer in depth..."
The Antony Tudor Ballet Trust is a not for profit organization created under the Last Will and Testament of Antony Tudor. Mr. Tudor appointed Sally Brayley Bliss as the Co-Executrix of his Estate, and sole Trustee of his ballets, to preserve the artistic integrity and standard of excellence Mr. Tudor insisted upon.
The new website features a comprehensive online catalogue of Tudor's ballets, complete with premiere dates, details of music, production, and cast; supplemented notes on the work, revisions and stagings; rich and historical content on the life of Antony Tudor; and, upcoming performances and related ballet news.
Nearly every major and minor ballet company in the world and many
distinguished university dance programs have licensed Tudor ballets since his death. This website will best serve to further motivate artistic directors, and future artistic directors, to continue to perform and add Tudor ballets to their repertoire. A comprehensive catalogue of ballets, archival images, and video will reinforce the power of this master choreographer and his influence on so many choreographers of the twentieth century including: Jerome Robbins, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Pina Bausch, Sir Frederick Ashton, Agnes DeMille, Glen Tetley, and Eliot Feld, to name just a few.
"Only a handful of truly great ballets survive their creators," said Sally Brayley Bliss, Trustee. "Tudor's Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies, Judgment of Paris, Gala Performance, Dim Lustre, Leaves are Fading, Echoing of Trumpets, and Undertow, as well as his smaller works including Little Improvisations, Continuo, Cereus and Sunflowers, represent irreplaceable choreography threatened with extinction in society's current fixation on full-length ballets."
As noted by The Washington Post, April 4th, 2008, following The Antony Tudor Centennial Celebration at Lincoln Center, "His (Tudor's) works are largely written off as too delicately nuanced to teach to today's technique-oriented dancers, too demanding for an audience groomed on the ready thrills and speed of George Balanchine, too financially risky for boards of directors who prefer easy sells -- Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and so on." And yet, performing in even one Tudor ballet, said the celebrated former dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, in a recent interview, amounted to "a passport to become mature, to be an adult dancer, a dancer in depth..."
The Antony Tudor Ballet Trust is a not for profit organization created under the Last Will and Testament of Antony Tudor. Mr. Tudor appointed Sally Brayley Bliss as the Co-Executrix of his Estate, and sole Trustee of his ballets, to preserve the artistic integrity and standard of excellence Mr. Tudor insisted upon.
New business chief at NYCB
Katherine Brown to Run New York City Ballet Business Affairs
by Julie Bloom, The New York Times, November 16, 2009
by Julie Bloom, The New York Times, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Stars to shine for ‘Fela!’
Jay-Z, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Have Joined ‘Fela!’ as Producers
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, November 16, 2009
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
@katiecouric: Sapphire
Katie Couric's intelligent and sensitive interview of "Push" author Sapphire on the new film "Precious"
Friday, November 13, 2009
Theater's role in healing
Theater of War Uses Sophocles to Help Anguished Soldiers
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, November 12, 2009
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, November 12, 2009
Show some "Evidence" you can dance
Ronald K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company will hold a five-day workshop (November 16-20) including master classes taught by Brown and Associate Artistic Director and dancer Arcell Cabuag. There will be a student showing of Evidence repertory on Saturday, November 21 at 3pm. Invite your friends to see what you've learned!
Come for the whole week ($50) or by the class ($12).
Schedule
Brown: Tuesday, Thursday
Cabuag: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Location
Black River Dance
345 Lenox Avenue (127th-128th Streets), Manhattan
Come for the whole week ($50) or by the class ($12).
Schedule
Brown: Tuesday, Thursday
Cabuag: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Location
Black River Dance
345 Lenox Avenue (127th-128th Streets), Manhattan
Hassabi's collage
When the audience enters Performance Space 122's theater, dancer Maria Hassabi is already in action--well, maybe not in action, since SoloShow is so much about the collaging of a series of static images--"the history of female representation...pulled from art history, pop culture and everyday life." But she's there, amid James Lo's recording of what sounds like a large, bustling audience assembling for a performance.
Wearing a cream-colored, sleeveless top and pants clinging to her ballerina-skinny frame, she occupies one corner of a large platform, shifting from pose to pose. We don't often see her expression. When we do, it's like a thunderclap; she suddenly pivots towards us with that haunted, big-eyed face and legs splayed in tremulous, claw-like rigidity. Soon, though, she tilts her head back so far that her torso appears beheaded. Although the soundtrack's roar subsides, the severe tension of her pose increases. Joe Levasseur's overhead lighting blasts her, but she appears to take to it, willingly, like a lizard adjusting and drying itself under desert sun.
Sometimes she drapes herself over the platform's edge, neck straining, blood pooling in her face. Often, she will turn her body into brittle sculpture on the featureless, ungiving platform. The work lasts about an hour of clock time--quite a testament to Hassabi's vigor and determination--but you might find yourself completely losing track of time.
I regret missing Hassabi's Solo--conceived as an autonomous half of a diptych and premiered at PS 122 last month as part of FIAF's Crossing the Line festival--and I also haven't seen her SoloShow alternate, Hristoula Harakas.
A joint presentation of Performa 09 and PS 122, SoloShow continues through Sunday: Friday and Saturday, 8pm and 10pm; Sunday, 6pm. Complete information and ticketing here.
Wearing a cream-colored, sleeveless top and pants clinging to her ballerina-skinny frame, she occupies one corner of a large platform, shifting from pose to pose. We don't often see her expression. When we do, it's like a thunderclap; she suddenly pivots towards us with that haunted, big-eyed face and legs splayed in tremulous, claw-like rigidity. Soon, though, she tilts her head back so far that her torso appears beheaded. Although the soundtrack's roar subsides, the severe tension of her pose increases. Joe Levasseur's overhead lighting blasts her, but she appears to take to it, willingly, like a lizard adjusting and drying itself under desert sun.
Sometimes she drapes herself over the platform's edge, neck straining, blood pooling in her face. Often, she will turn her body into brittle sculpture on the featureless, ungiving platform. The work lasts about an hour of clock time--quite a testament to Hassabi's vigor and determination--but you might find yourself completely losing track of time.
I regret missing Hassabi's Solo--conceived as an autonomous half of a diptych and premiered at PS 122 last month as part of FIAF's Crossing the Line festival--and I also haven't seen her SoloShow alternate, Hristoula Harakas.
A joint presentation of Performa 09 and PS 122, SoloShow continues through Sunday: Friday and Saturday, 8pm and 10pm; Sunday, 6pm. Complete information and ticketing here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
What O'Connor wrought
The only way to have fit more people into Dance Theater Workshop for last night's Tere O'Connor world premiere would have been to stack them sideways over our heads. So, if you haven't made your reservation yet, I would advise you to do it now. Wrought Iron Fog runs through Saturday (7:30pm) with an additional 10pm performance on Friday.
This piece might not have stirred and rocked me like Rammed Earth but it's a solid work of craft by O'Connor and his creative team--most notably, dancers Hilary Clark, Daniel Clifton, Erin Gerken, Heather Olson and Matthew Rogers; composer James Baker; and lighting designer Michael O'Connor. Walter Dundervill collaborated with Tere O'Connor on the beautiful set, and Gerkin and Jennifer Goggans designed costumes.
I really dug the transparency of how O'Connor set his dancers against the generous DTW space, almost always keeping them at fair distances from one another so each one's movements--even the little, witty details in the choreography--would be visible and prominent. This brings out not only the physical and stylistic differences in his fascinating corps--contrast the persistent neatness of Gerkin with the increasing rawness of Rogers, for instance--but also hints at the elusive, variable self enthroned by the body.
The empty air seemed charged as if each body was an instrument strummed, plucked, thwacked and shaken to produce Baker's dynamic music. With this magnetic spaciousness, graceful architecture and body-music as matrix, the abstract piece maintained coherence--and interest--throughout its hour, and then the audience roared its love.
Information and tickets at DTW
This piece might not have stirred and rocked me like Rammed Earth but it's a solid work of craft by O'Connor and his creative team--most notably, dancers Hilary Clark, Daniel Clifton, Erin Gerken, Heather Olson and Matthew Rogers; composer James Baker; and lighting designer Michael O'Connor. Walter Dundervill collaborated with Tere O'Connor on the beautiful set, and Gerkin and Jennifer Goggans designed costumes.
I really dug the transparency of how O'Connor set his dancers against the generous DTW space, almost always keeping them at fair distances from one another so each one's movements--even the little, witty details in the choreography--would be visible and prominent. This brings out not only the physical and stylistic differences in his fascinating corps--contrast the persistent neatness of Gerkin with the increasing rawness of Rogers, for instance--but also hints at the elusive, variable self enthroned by the body.
The empty air seemed charged as if each body was an instrument strummed, plucked, thwacked and shaken to produce Baker's dynamic music. With this magnetic spaciousness, graceful architecture and body-music as matrix, the abstract piece maintained coherence--and interest--throughout its hour, and then the audience roared its love.
Information and tickets at DTW
Perspectives on Dylan
The Inventions of Bob Dylan
a roundtable with Christopher Ricks, Matthew von Unwerth and Sean Wilentz
November 15, 2:30pm (free)
Philoctetes
247 East 82nd Street, Manhattan
info@philoctetes.org
646-422-0544
In consideration of Bob Dylan's 2009 releases, Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart, this discussion brings together two scholars with multidisciplinary perspectives on Bob Dylan. In his book Dylan's Visions of Sin, preeminent poetry critic Christopher Ricks gives Dylan's work and words their most sustained reading to date, and reveals him as an inheritor and interpreter of the Anglo-American poetic tradition. Sean Wilentz, a Princeton professor and Historian-in-Residence at bobdylan.com, situates Dylan in the cultural and historical contexts that thrust him into the core of 20th century American iconography. Moderated by Matthew von Unwerth, this roundtable will explore Dylan's work as an ongoing conversation with tradition—literary, musical, historical, cultural—as opposed to and in productive tension with his works' innovations, and their erstwhile reputation as new, groundbreaking, and prophetic. Panelists will address Dylan's borrowings—from scripture, Chaucer, Civil War poet Henry Timrod, vaudeville—as well as his prolific non-musical output, including his stint as host of Theme Time Radio Hour, interpreting his work through the prisms of their respective expertise.
Christopher Ricks is Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University. He was President of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers from 2007 to 2008, and Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 2004 to 2009. In 2004, he published Dylan's Visions of Sin.
Matthew von Unwerth is the author of Freud's Requiem: Memory, Mourning and the Invisible History of a Summer Walk. He is Director of the A.A. Brill Library of The New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Coordinator of the Film Program at the Philoctetes Center. He is a candidate in psychoanalytic training in New York.
Sean Wilentz is Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the American Revolutionary Era at Princeton University. A recipient of the Bancroft and Beveridge Prizes in American history, he is also Historian-in-Residence at Bob Dylan's official website, www.bobdylan.com. His new book, Bob Dylan in America, will be published by Doubleday in 2010.
More information at Philoctetes
a roundtable with Christopher Ricks, Matthew von Unwerth and Sean Wilentz
November 15, 2:30pm (free)
Philoctetes
247 East 82nd Street, Manhattan
info@philoctetes.org
646-422-0544
In consideration of Bob Dylan's 2009 releases, Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart, this discussion brings together two scholars with multidisciplinary perspectives on Bob Dylan. In his book Dylan's Visions of Sin, preeminent poetry critic Christopher Ricks gives Dylan's work and words their most sustained reading to date, and reveals him as an inheritor and interpreter of the Anglo-American poetic tradition. Sean Wilentz, a Princeton professor and Historian-in-Residence at bobdylan.com, situates Dylan in the cultural and historical contexts that thrust him into the core of 20th century American iconography. Moderated by Matthew von Unwerth, this roundtable will explore Dylan's work as an ongoing conversation with tradition—literary, musical, historical, cultural—as opposed to and in productive tension with his works' innovations, and their erstwhile reputation as new, groundbreaking, and prophetic. Panelists will address Dylan's borrowings—from scripture, Chaucer, Civil War poet Henry Timrod, vaudeville—as well as his prolific non-musical output, including his stint as host of Theme Time Radio Hour, interpreting his work through the prisms of their respective expertise.
Christopher Ricks is Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University. He was President of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers from 2007 to 2008, and Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 2004 to 2009. In 2004, he published Dylan's Visions of Sin.
Matthew von Unwerth is the author of Freud's Requiem: Memory, Mourning and the Invisible History of a Summer Walk. He is Director of the A.A. Brill Library of The New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Coordinator of the Film Program at the Philoctetes Center. He is a candidate in psychoanalytic training in New York.
Sean Wilentz is Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the American Revolutionary Era at Princeton University. A recipient of the Bancroft and Beveridge Prizes in American history, he is also Historian-in-Residence at Bob Dylan's official website, www.bobdylan.com. His new book, Bob Dylan in America, will be published by Doubleday in 2010.
More information at Philoctetes
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Speaking from the heart
Off Broadway Play ‘Let Me Down Easy’ Tackles Issues of Death
by Gina Kolata, The New York Times, November 9, 2009
by Gina Kolata, The New York Times, November 9, 2009
Garbage endures
Researchers Explore Growing Ocean Garbage Patches
by Lindsey Hoshaw, The New York Times, November 9, 2009
jill sigman/thinkdance's Our Lady of Detritus project
Excerpts of performance at Solar One, Manhattan
by Lindsey Hoshaw, The New York Times, November 9, 2009
jill sigman/thinkdance's Our Lady of Detritus project
Excerpts of performance at Solar One, Manhattan
Monday, November 9, 2009
Jason Samuels Smith: On time!
The fabulous Jason Samuels Smith--along with Ohad Naharin, Sara Rudner and Allegra Kent--will be picking up a Dance Magazine Award tonight. Make some noisssse!
Check out "The Time Step with Jason Samuels Smith."
Check out "The Time Step with Jason Samuels Smith."
Israel's Yasmin Levy
Yasmin Levy--innovative singer of Sephardic culture's endangered language, Ladino--performed on Saturday evening at Symphony Space, presented by World Music Institute. Her show was perfection--from Levy's own romantic, dramatic elegance to the exhilarating lilt of her skillful band. If you enjoy fado or flamenco, you will find much to admire in her stylistic approach and musical arrangements. Go here to sample songs from her new CD, Sentir, and her most recent North American release, Mano Suave; and check the schedule of remaining tour dates (North America and France). Be sure to give yourself a generous gift and catch her next time.
Interview with Yasmin Levy on FLY Global Music Culture
Interview with Yasmin Levy in The Independent
Interview with Yasmin Levy on FLY Global Music Culture
Interview with Yasmin Levy in The Independent
Gerstler: poetic abundance
Animal Planet: review of Amy Gerstler's 'Dearest Creature'
by David Kirby, The New York Times, November 8, 2009
by David Kirby, The New York Times, November 8, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Meg Stuart lays it out on the table
I hope Meg Stuart and Performa 09 will not mind my quoting a bit of the promotion for Auf den Tisch! (At the Table!) which I attended, last night, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. It's really the best way to get the concept right:
The spectacular "Floral Cat"--the spectacular Hennessy in costume--touched off a segment of leftover Halloween shenanigans. Sanchez--in a kind of Soupy Sales act flipped upside down and turned psychological--encouraged all of us to take a piece of paper money from our own wallets and simply rip it up. Amid more scampering, a few words were carefully added to a flipchart and just left there, meaninglessly, until someone gave the equally meaningless order for the flipchart to be flattened to the floor.
Picture this: you enter a room and can take a seat at an enormous table, with four microphones at the ready, as if in a conference situation. From your chair you can see how the table becomes a platform for action and reflection. Or something of the kind. You see performers sing, play, dance, and talk about performance issues, fragility, and territories. Or not. Meeting and improvising at an oversized table such as this one, it is no wonder that things get out of proportion. “Auf den Tisch!” (At the Table!) is a curatorial improvisation-project by Meg Stuart. Upon her invitation and initiation, a changing cast of performers, thinkers, writers, musicians, actors, and dancers confer about their pressing issues while presenting a performance of negotiations.
If you manage to get a reservation for tonight's final performance (7:30pm), you too can witness--or, as you wish, more directly participate in--this conference of sorts.
The table--a huge, blond wood beauty with a couple of unimaginatively used trap doors--is a total performer magnet. Who wouldn't look at this spacious, brightly lit thing and want to clamber on and act out? Combining the likes of Stuart, David Thomson, Yvonne Meier, George Emilio Sanchez, Trajal Harrell, Keith Hennessy and others, you certainly have the makings of a major act of acting out. Audience folk sit to table with the performers or occupy a few rows of chairs that ring it. As Stuart settles down in front of her microphone and gazes around the room, there's a sense of something momentous about to happen.
She starts by reading text. It sounds sensitive, fragile and quiet, a kind of table-like base for what will follow, and might represent Stuart's essential nature as the dreamer and generator of the entire project. The performance I saw contained a repeating motif of a heavy body or bodies piling on top of or rolling over a body underneath. Stuart's opening words are followed by other voices around the table that accumulate and spill over one another, swelling, eventually subsiding.
Stuff happens. Lots of it. Anything can happen, since improvisation is in the room. Thomson, dressed in a comic-strip hoodie and jeans, prowled the
space between table and outer chairs. Later, he was the first to bust out dancing, top and center, in loose-limbed, splayed-out movements.
Meier--challenged by Stuart at one point-- retorted, "I'm sorry. I'm not sitting on my mouth." Someone, to clunky effect, alluded to the Fort Hood shooting: "I'm still stuck on the psychiatrist with a machine gun. Was he improvising?"
A parlor game broke out, and the possible fucking of pineapples and righteous politics of pineapples were contemplated. Thomson and Harrell engaged in a cross-table Q&A about forgiveness. A belligerent Janez Jansa somewhat reluctantly performed the history of Richard Schechner's "putting off of clothes." This "getting close to history" made Meier at last "sit on her mouth."
The spectacular "Floral Cat"--the spectacular Hennessy in costume--touched off a segment of leftover Halloween shenanigans. Sanchez--in a kind of Soupy Sales act flipped upside down and turned psychological--encouraged all of us to take a piece of paper money from our own wallets and simply rip it up. Amid more scampering, a few words were carefully added to a flipchart and just left there, meaninglessly, until someone gave the equally meaningless order for the flipchart to be flattened to the floor.
There were dashes of chemistry, untethered patches of the jazz of delicious movement (Thomson, Harrell) and wide-awake humor (Sanchez), and not a little mystification and diminishing returns. The performers seemed unwilling to acknowledge signs that energy and interest had dropped. What I had been told would last "maybe a little over an hour," stretched towards two hours before, having had more than enough, I rose to leave.
You have to know when to push back from the table.
At that point, Stuart, having just asked the audience if it had any questions, was answered by a heavy silence. For an interesting moment, we were left with her standing rather defenselessly before us in all her original sensitivity, fragility and quiet. Okay. Matters could have ended there, and quite reasonably.
But then, Performa founder and director RoseLee Goldberg took the mic and asked something on the order of "Do you think improvisation is still alive?"
I'm not really sure what she was going for with that question but, in light of the overall lack of surprise, challenge or revelation in the performance, I'd rephrase the question, maybe split it into two parts:
"Do you think there's still life in your improvisation?" and "Can improvisation still matter?"
450 West 37th Street, Manhattan
"Red Shoes" forever
'Red Shoes,' Newly Restored, Opens at Film Forum
by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, November 5, 2009
by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, November 5, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Art D’Lugoff, Village Gate Impresario, 85
Art D’Lugoff, Village Gate Impresario, Dies at 85
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, November 6, 2009
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, November 6, 2009
Topaz Arts welcomes you to its Open House
TOPAZ ARTS celebrates nine years of providing a creative space for the performing and visual arts on Saturday, November 21, 4pm-8pm.
4pm: “Cabaret Solitaire,” a dance performance featuring solo works by choreographers Molissa Fenley, Nicholas Leichter, and Paz Tanjuaquio. Admission: $15. Seating is limited. Tickets at http://www.topazarts.org.
6pm: opening reception for “Footnotes For Revelation,” a solo exhibition of new work by visual artist Roger Rothstein. Free admission to the gallery after 6pm.
For full details on program and artists, click here or contact rsvp@topazarts.org or 718-505-0440.
Topaz Arts
55-03 39th Avenue
Woodside, Queens
Subways: #7 to 61 Street or R, V, G to Northern Boulevard
Topaz Arts
55-03 39th Avenue
Woodside, Queens
Subways: #7 to 61 Street or R, V, G to Northern Boulevard
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Jerome Robbins Bogliasco Fellowship in Dance
The Bogliasco Foundation is pleased to announce that, thanks to a generous grant from the Jerome Robbins Foundation, it will offer its sixth annual Special Fellowship in Dance to an American choreographer during the 2010-11 academic year at the Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities, near Genoa, Italy. The one-month residency is intended for a single choreographer working on material for a future piece or on a solo work. Bogliasco Fellows in Dance have access to a private studio with a sprung dance floor. Applicants are expected to demonstrate significant achievement commensurate with age and experience.
Under the terms of this award, the recipients travel expenses of up to $1,000 will be paid and s/he will also receive a stipend of $1,000. Bogliasco Fellows are provided with full room and board, and given studios/offices with computers and internet access.
The Bogliasco Foundation grants approximately 50 residential Fellowships during the academic year to qualified persons doing advanced creative work or scholarly research in the various disciplines of the arts and humanities. Fellows come from many different countries and may be accompanied by spouses or spouse-equivalent companions for all or part of their stay. They are housed in three villas, all of which offer spectacular views of the Mediterranean and Ligurian coastline, an inspiring setting that has proved to be a powerful stimulant for reflection and creativity. Any choreographer who is interested in being considered for this special Fellowship needs to submit an application by January 15, 2010 for the fall/winter semester and April 15, 2010 for the winter/spring semester. Announcements as to the recipients of all Special Fellowships are made on July 1.
We encourage interested candidates to visit the Foundations website for more detailed information about how to apply to the Bogliasco Foundation’s Fellowship program.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Scott on "La Danse"
Creating Dialogue from Body Language
by A. O. Scott, The New York Times, November 4, 2009
by A. O. Scott, The New York Times, November 4, 2009
For the love of Judson
Join Judson Memorial Church, Movement Research and the entire New York dance and performance community for a benefit party to raise money for renovation of the church's bathrooms.
Friday November 6, 6-8:30 pm
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South, Greenwich Village
$20 available online (Scroll down.)
Auctions, free food, drink and live performances
The live auction, beginning at 7pm, will feature treasures from the Judson archive and tons of fun goods and services. Bring you checkbook!
Friday November 6, 6-8:30 pm
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South, Greenwich Village
$20 available online (Scroll down.)
Auctions, free food, drink and live performances
The live auction, beginning at 7pm, will feature treasures from the Judson archive and tons of fun goods and services. Bring you checkbook!
Karen Williams performs to benefit Astraea
Join Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for a one-night-only performance with extraordinary comedian Karen Williams in honor of Astraea's Lynn Campbell Memorial Fund.
Whether as an organizer of the first Take Back the Night, or through her work with the Funding Exchange, or as co-founder of Funders for Lesbian & Gay Issues -- Lynn's legacy serves a reminder to us that justice is sweet, and worth the fight. Karen, known for her quick repartee, insightful commentary and audience rapport starred in LAUGHING MATTERS, the award-winning documentary film and also has her own Logo Network comedy showcase, “I NEED A SNACK.” She is currently on her national comedy tour, “HEALING WITH HUMOR – FREEDOM FROM FEAR,” which she dedicates to victory over sexual violence. Let's share and locate those essential moments of joy, humor and activism together.
Tuesday, November 10
6:30 PM - Wine Reception
7:30 PM - Program
Comix
353 West 14th Street, Manhattan
Tickets $60 (Limited income tickets available)
Tickets and sponsorships available here or call 212.529.8021 x14
Sponsoring Partner: Olivia Cruises
Host Committee: Katherine Acey, Carol Alpert, Marion Banzhaf, Alexa Birdsong, Jill Campbell, Mary & Warren Campbell, Cheryl Clarke & Barbara Balliet, Constance Cohrt & Amy Reichman, Steve Fahrer & Monona Yin, Tucker Farley, Kim Ford & Avril Dass, Ellen Gurzinsky, Ileana Jiménez, Terry Lawler, June Makela, Nancy Meyer & Mark Weiss, Shaheen Nazerali, Cheri Pies, Achebe Powell, Sarina Scialabba, Michael Seltzer & Ralph Tachuk, Carmen Vázquez, Karen Zelermyer
The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is the world's only foundation solely dedicated to funding LGBTI organizations in both the United States and internationally. For more than 30 years, Astraea has been raising funds and distributing grants based on the belief that all people can participate in the philanthropic process-from giving to grantmaking. Today, Astraea grantee and donor partners are fueling the movement for social, racial, economic and gender justice in villages, cities and towns around the world.
Whether as an organizer of the first Take Back the Night, or through her work with the Funding Exchange, or as co-founder of Funders for Lesbian & Gay Issues -- Lynn's legacy serves a reminder to us that justice is sweet, and worth the fight. Karen, known for her quick repartee, insightful commentary and audience rapport starred in LAUGHING MATTERS, the award-winning documentary film and also has her own Logo Network comedy showcase, “I NEED A SNACK.” She is currently on her national comedy tour, “HEALING WITH HUMOR – FREEDOM FROM FEAR,” which she dedicates to victory over sexual violence. Let's share and locate those essential moments of joy, humor and activism together.
Tuesday, November 10
6:30 PM - Wine Reception
7:30 PM - Program
Comix
353 West 14th Street, Manhattan
Tickets $60 (Limited income tickets available)
Tickets and sponsorships available here or call 212.529.8021 x14
Sponsoring Partner: Olivia Cruises
Host Committee: Katherine Acey, Carol Alpert, Marion Banzhaf, Alexa Birdsong, Jill Campbell, Mary & Warren Campbell, Cheryl Clarke & Barbara Balliet, Constance Cohrt & Amy Reichman, Steve Fahrer & Monona Yin, Tucker Farley, Kim Ford & Avril Dass, Ellen Gurzinsky, Ileana Jiménez, Terry Lawler, June Makela, Nancy Meyer & Mark Weiss, Shaheen Nazerali, Cheri Pies, Achebe Powell, Sarina Scialabba, Michael Seltzer & Ralph Tachuk, Carmen Vázquez, Karen Zelermyer
The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is the world's only foundation solely dedicated to funding LGBTI organizations in both the United States and internationally. For more than 30 years, Astraea has been raising funds and distributing grants based on the belief that all people can participate in the philanthropic process-from giving to grantmaking. Today, Astraea grantee and donor partners are fueling the movement for social, racial, economic and gender justice in villages, cities and towns around the world.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Always have Paris
Wiseman's Lens on Dance
by Tobi Tobias, Seeing Things, ArtsJournal.com, November 3, 2009
by Tobi Tobias, Seeing Things, ArtsJournal.com, November 3, 2009
Woetzel named to President's arts council
President's Arts Committee Names 25 Members
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, November 3, 2009
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, November 3, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
The genius of Anna Deavere Smith
Just a quick note: You're going to Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy, aren't you? The only right answer--unless you've already seen the show--is a resounding Yes!
Everyone should see this piece, especially since much of the heated debate around health care reform has been devoid of heart and soul. This brilliant performance--perhaps Smith's best, certainly her most affecting--reminds us of what's so often missing.
Let Me Down Easy runs through December 6 at 2econdStageTheatre.
Everyone should see this piece, especially since much of the heated debate around health care reform has been devoid of heart and soul. This brilliant performance--perhaps Smith's best, certainly her most affecting--reminds us of what's so often missing.
Let Me Down Easy runs through December 6 at 2econdStageTheatre.