by Holland Cotter, The New York Times, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
A portrait of Kollwitz
Shades of Loss: Expressions of Grief in the Printmaking of Käthe Kollwitz
by Deborah Feller, DeborahFeller.com, May 30, 2010
by Deborah Feller, DeborahFeller.com, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
What's cookin' at the Factory
Keeping It Small at Chocolate Factory in Queens
by Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times, May 25, 2010
The human side of medical heroes
Mark Hopkins’s Film Explores Doctors Without Borders
by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, May 28, 2010
Zaritt: the ties that fail to bind
Watching Jesse Zaritt dance his solo Binding, I could not help but flash back to perhaps the strangest, most cringe-worthy reaction anyone has ever had upon meeting President Obama: "You're a hottie with a smokin' body!"
Okay, way stranger things have been said about Obama. Way, way stranger things. But truer things may never have been said about Jesse Zaritt. Buff but elegantly slender, supple and lyrical, Zaritt is one of contemporary dance's most beautiful movers. To my eye, that pretty much sums up what Binding has to offer.
I get that this roughly 40-minute multimedia solo--performed as part of the soloNOVA Arts Festival in Performance Space 122's downstairs theater--is an interior spacewalk through one guy's repressed and released sensuality. ("A rapture of violence and tenderness," say the publicity notes.) That's cool. But I think a lot must have gotten lost in all the vague, awkward fussing about with stretchy fabric. I'm just not getting what--beyond Zaritt's seamless, rubbery slipping, flipping and gliding--is going on here choreographically and why it should matter.
Sharath Patel's sound work--including the queer grandeur of Freddy Mercury and a tingling, sonically delicious song played backwards--conjures an expansive space for powerful magic, but the magic never arrives.
Binding has closed, but terraNOVA Collective's 7th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival--devoted to solo performance as a form of storytelling--continues through June 6 at PS 122. For more information and ticketing, click here.
Okay, way stranger things have been said about Obama. Way, way stranger things. But truer things may never have been said about Jesse Zaritt. Buff but elegantly slender, supple and lyrical, Zaritt is one of contemporary dance's most beautiful movers. To my eye, that pretty much sums up what Binding has to offer.
I get that this roughly 40-minute multimedia solo--performed as part of the soloNOVA Arts Festival in Performance Space 122's downstairs theater--is an interior spacewalk through one guy's repressed and released sensuality. ("A rapture of violence and tenderness," say the publicity notes.) That's cool. But I think a lot must have gotten lost in all the vague, awkward fussing about with stretchy fabric. I'm just not getting what--beyond Zaritt's seamless, rubbery slipping, flipping and gliding--is going on here choreographically and why it should matter.
Sharath Patel's sound work--including the queer grandeur of Freddy Mercury and a tingling, sonically delicious song played backwards--conjures an expansive space for powerful magic, but the magic never arrives.
Binding has closed, but terraNOVA Collective's 7th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival--devoted to solo performance as a form of storytelling--continues through June 6 at PS 122. For more information and ticketing, click here.
Catch it now: "This One Girl's Story"
"We think this is going to go far," declared GAYFEST NYC co-producer Jack Batman as he proudly introduced a Saturday matinee of This One Girl's Story. Oh, yes. I'll second that emotion. This accomplished musical has got what it takes to win over any audience--queer or straight.
Running now through June 6 at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, the show draws inspiration from the 2003 murder of Sakia Gunn, a black lesbian teen. Heading home late one night after partying in Greenwich Village, she and her friends were accosted by two strangers at a Newark bus stop. When the young women did not return the men's interest and identified themselves as lesbians, the men grew enraged. Gunn put up a fight and was fatally stabbed. Her death received little mainstream news coverage but, even if you've never heard of her, you cannot fail to be affected by This One Girl's Story.
Bil Wright (book) and Dionne McClain-Freeney (music and lyrics) have lifted the outline of this tragic event and imagined a backstory with vibrant, sympathetic characters and relationships. Cee Cee--played by Lacretta Nicole, the cast's heartiest singer and its sexy, radiant core--is the kind of buddy every girl would wish for. She's self-assured, comfortable in her own skin, and possessing a great, sassy sense of fun. Tough when she needs to be, she's got your back. Wright surrounds Cee Cee with women who adore her--her young cousin Patrice (Chasten Harmon) who likes to think of herself as stubbornly independent; her estranged-but-longing lover Dessa (Zonya Love Johnson); and spirited but unhappily single Lourdes (Desirée Rodriguez). Before this crew sets off from Newark for a fateful night on the town, we learn a lot about each one, especially through McClain-Freeney's songs. And I cannot say enough about the richness and sophistication of these lovely numbers, the natural, effortless way they segue from Wright's dialogue, the nimble way they slip into one's heart.
With warmth, playful humor, a wonderful cast and Devanand Janki's tight direction and choreography, nearly everything works. One flaw: The first scene is physically, awkwardly static, with two or more characters just standing around and looking on as others interact. Everyone should be more actively and emotionally involved. And this seems more puzzling in retrospect, after the story's flashback scenes have played out and Wright has brought us back to this crucial opening scenario.
But, otherwise, This One Girl's Story is a sure winner and one that deserves your support and continued life beyond, way beyond, GAYFEST NYC. Hurry! Go!
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 West 36th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues), Manhattan
Schedule information and ticketing
Running now through June 6 at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, the show draws inspiration from the 2003 murder of Sakia Gunn, a black lesbian teen. Heading home late one night after partying in Greenwich Village, she and her friends were accosted by two strangers at a Newark bus stop. When the young women did not return the men's interest and identified themselves as lesbians, the men grew enraged. Gunn put up a fight and was fatally stabbed. Her death received little mainstream news coverage but, even if you've never heard of her, you cannot fail to be affected by This One Girl's Story.
Bil Wright (book) and Dionne McClain-Freeney (music and lyrics) have lifted the outline of this tragic event and imagined a backstory with vibrant, sympathetic characters and relationships. Cee Cee--played by Lacretta Nicole, the cast's heartiest singer and its sexy, radiant core--is the kind of buddy every girl would wish for. She's self-assured, comfortable in her own skin, and possessing a great, sassy sense of fun. Tough when she needs to be, she's got your back. Wright surrounds Cee Cee with women who adore her--her young cousin Patrice (Chasten Harmon) who likes to think of herself as stubbornly independent; her estranged-but-longing lover Dessa (Zonya Love Johnson); and spirited but unhappily single Lourdes (Desirée Rodriguez). Before this crew sets off from Newark for a fateful night on the town, we learn a lot about each one, especially through McClain-Freeney's songs. And I cannot say enough about the richness and sophistication of these lovely numbers, the natural, effortless way they segue from Wright's dialogue, the nimble way they slip into one's heart.
With warmth, playful humor, a wonderful cast and Devanand Janki's tight direction and choreography, nearly everything works. One flaw: The first scene is physically, awkwardly static, with two or more characters just standing around and looking on as others interact. Everyone should be more actively and emotionally involved. And this seems more puzzling in retrospect, after the story's flashback scenes have played out and Wright has brought us back to this crucial opening scenario.
But, otherwise, This One Girl's Story is a sure winner and one that deserves your support and continued life beyond, way beyond, GAYFEST NYC. Hurry! Go!
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 West 36th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues), Manhattan
Schedule information and ticketing
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Met Escapes
Did you know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a great program for individuals with dementia and their care partners? It's called Met Escapes.
Met Escapes is an innovative, multisensory program created to serve individuals with dementia and their care partners. In a supportive and relaxing environment, participants explore the Met's collection through specially designed workshops.
A primary goal of Met Escapes is to create a positive, non-medical environment that fosters interaction between care partners and those with dementia. Everyone participates. We know that art can act as a catalyst for memories, a door to emotions, and a positive mood stimulator. A work of art also offers a subject for discussion that requires no memory of past events or facts; it prompts shared discussion about what is seen and experienced in the moment and allows caregivers to forget their loved-ones' condition briefly and have a meaningful experience with them.Click here for more information on Met Escapes and a schedule of upcoming events.
Gulf disaster: what's at risk
The National Audubon Society's site has many resources concerning the BP oil spill's devastating effect on the environment and wildlife around the Gulf of Mexico as well as suggestions of things you can do to help. Here's one video from that site.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Dinwiddie delivers "a message to the young people of today"
Now through June 5, The Chocolate Factory is presenting Andrew Dinwiddie's heroic performance of Get Mad at Sin! In this demanding, hour-long solo, directed by Jeff Larson, Dinwiddie channels the fevered words and maniacal body language of a fundamentalist Christian preacher--specifically, one Jimmy Swaggart, the powerful televangelist brought low in 1988 by the revelation that he had solicited a prostitute.
Get Mad at Sin! is preached to a small audience arranged in an unusual seating pattern: two elevated facing rows crossing the length of the upstairs theater. Dinwiddie prowls between these rows, at times coming dangerously close to his watchers. He brings to life, verbatim, an LP recording of one of Swaggart's all-too-revealing fulminations against youthful licentiousness, a sermon preached at a First Assembly of God church in Arkansas.
It's a full-tilt, breathtaking performance: Southern-style verbal rhythms meant to rev up a congregation, pull it into his psychic whirlpool; physical tension and caged-panther pacing that erupts in lashing rage; Swaggart's verbal imprecisions and stumbles so perfectly modeled by Dinwiddie. A dark sensual longing, darker resentment of freedom, and even darker vindictiveness towards the free roil beneath the slicked-down, beige-suited surface of this disturbing and, at moments, comical ranter. Dinwiddie, as faithful as he is to the recording, brings all of this up and out like rancid sweat.
If we ever see Bessie Awards again, Dinwiddie will be a contender. At the very least, I'd be tickled to see Get Mad at Sin! join Wikipedia's list of parodies and riffs on Swaggart and his troubles.
Given the seating limitations, you should hurry if you'd like to see Get Mad at Sin! Get tickets here or call 212-352-3101.
The Chocolate Factory
5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
Map and directions
Get Mad at Sin! is preached to a small audience arranged in an unusual seating pattern: two elevated facing rows crossing the length of the upstairs theater. Dinwiddie prowls between these rows, at times coming dangerously close to his watchers. He brings to life, verbatim, an LP recording of one of Swaggart's all-too-revealing fulminations against youthful licentiousness, a sermon preached at a First Assembly of God church in Arkansas.
It's a full-tilt, breathtaking performance: Southern-style verbal rhythms meant to rev up a congregation, pull it into his psychic whirlpool; physical tension and caged-panther pacing that erupts in lashing rage; Swaggart's verbal imprecisions and stumbles so perfectly modeled by Dinwiddie. A dark sensual longing, darker resentment of freedom, and even darker vindictiveness towards the free roil beneath the slicked-down, beige-suited surface of this disturbing and, at moments, comical ranter. Dinwiddie, as faithful as he is to the recording, brings all of this up and out like rancid sweat.
If we ever see Bessie Awards again, Dinwiddie will be a contender. At the very least, I'd be tickled to see Get Mad at Sin! join Wikipedia's list of parodies and riffs on Swaggart and his troubles.
Given the seating limitations, you should hurry if you'd like to see Get Mad at Sin! Get tickets here or call 212-352-3101.
The Chocolate Factory
5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
Map and directions
Boycotting AZ
Performers to Stay Away From Arizona in Protest of Law
by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, May 27, 2010
Ballerina, you must have seen her...
Secret Papers Show Ballerina's Role in Panama Coup
by The Associated Press, The New York Times, May 27, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Daze of love at Dixon Place
With the hectic spring dance and performance season, I'm able to only dip into the X-YU Festival, a co-presentation of WaxFactory, Dixon Place and Dance New Amsterdam. Curated by WaxFactory's Ivan Talijancic, the festival showcases new performance works by artists of the former Yugoslav republics. Shows are running, in a rather packed schedule, through June 3 at Dixon Place. Each show will set you back only about an hour.
Just a few words, then, on Ways of Love, a multimedia presentation created and performed by Slovenia's Maja Delak and Luka Prinčič. From a few things I've seen at Dixon Place in recent months, I'd say DP is already ground zero for edgy, festishistic eroticism in contemporary performance. At first, this pair spent a lot of time going there, and that was about as remarkable as the academic word salad in their poster-sized brochure, which I hope was meant to be a goof. It was also goofy to watch lots and lots of donning and doffing of clothes to no apparent point--except, perhaps, to suggest a kind of time-lapse passage in which many things have happened that we cannot see. There are hints, throughout, of human vulnerability; as it turns out, the vignettes of love are not all a total yawn. The completely brilliant selection, interpretation and manhandling of standards and pop songs earn respect, and Delak proves to be an absorbing performer with dramatic range, stamina and grit. Ways of Love is intense, saturated, obnoxious and, literally, hard to get rid of. It outstays its welcome. So, when it gets too clingy, just do what the opening night audience did and applaud it away.
Two great arts residencies with June deadlines
A Studio in the Woods (New Orleans, LA)
deadline: June 18
offered to established foreign artists and writers
deadline: June 20
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The ephemeral dance
Spend an hour in Central Park with performing arts co-op projectlimb:
Handleless
May 28, June 4 or June 5 at 7pm
Free (donations accepted at event or via the projectlimb website)
Performed by Loren Dempster-Paek, Gabriel Forestieri, Adrian Jevicki, Emily Moore, Margaret Dempster-Paek
Music by Loren Dempster-Paek
Directed by Gabriel Forestieri
After many years of integrating dance, landscape, culture, and performance projectLIMB has arrived at the Handleless project.
Handleless emerged as a way to examine how we create, evolve, and perform a work, keeping the relationships, rather than the content as primary. The work therefore is designed for all spaces, especially those not usually associated with performance.
Handleless draws upon the world as it is being received through our senses, while avoiding the trap of naming, deciding, or fixing? Awakening to the relationships that are everywhere and constantly inform and create our reality.
Handleless cherishes impermanence, with all its possibility and chance for renewal. We are not fixed, none of us, and dance is a way to celebrate this.
Handleless
May 28, June 4 or June 5 at 7pm
Cherry Hill Plaza fountain, Central Park
(West 72nd Street; see map)
Performed by Loren Dempster-Paek, Gabriel Forestieri, Adrian Jevicki, Emily Moore, Margaret Dempster-Paek
Music by Loren Dempster-Paek
Directed by Gabriel Forestieri
After many years of integrating dance, landscape, culture, and performance projectLIMB has arrived at the Handleless project.
Handleless emerged as a way to examine how we create, evolve, and perform a work, keeping the relationships, rather than the content as primary. The work therefore is designed for all spaces, especially those not usually associated with performance.
Handleless draws upon the world as it is being received through our senses, while avoiding the trap of naming, deciding, or fixing? Awakening to the relationships that are everywhere and constantly inform and create our reality.
Handleless cherishes impermanence, with all its possibility and chance for renewal. We are not fixed, none of us, and dance is a way to celebrate this.
Terrance McKnight interviews Bill T. Jones...with music!
In this special two-hour edition of Q2, host Terrance McKnight interviews acclaimed director-choreographer Bill T. Jones and traces his life through music.
The legendary artistic director, choreographer and dancer reminisces about listening to B.B. King back in the days when he and his parents pulled potatoes as migrant workers; discovering Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez at college; sharing Barbra Streisand recordings with his late partner, Arnie Zane, with whom he would later found theBill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in New York; and the music that played as Zane died in his arms.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wacky Whitney pay-what-you-wish
Whitney Museum of American Art: Whitney Biennial: Open All Day and Night
From Wednesday, May 26 at 12am through Friday, May 28 at 11:59 pm, the Whitney Museum will remain open for three consecutive days as part of 2010 artist Michael Asher’s Biennial project.
Michael Asher’s initial proposal for the Whitney Biennial was to have the exhibition open continuously to the public twenty-four hours a day for one week (Monday, May 24 through Sunday, May 30).
Due to budgetary and human resources limitations, the Museum is unable to remain open to the public twenty-four hours a day for one week. As a result, the duration of this work has been shortened from the artist’s original proposal.
ADMISSION IS PAY-WHAT-YOU-WISH AT THE FOLLOWING TIMES:
From 12 am to 9 am on Wednesday, May 26
From 11 pm on Wednesday, May 26
to 9 am on Thursday, May 27
From 11 pm on Thursday, May 27
to 9 am on Friday, May 28
From 6 pm to 11:59 pm on Friday, May 28
Regular admission prices are in effect for all other hours.
From Wednesday, May 26 at 12am through Friday, May 28 at 11:59 pm, the Whitney Museum will remain open for three consecutive days as part of 2010 artist Michael Asher’s Biennial project.
Michael Asher’s initial proposal for the Whitney Biennial was to have the exhibition open continuously to the public twenty-four hours a day for one week (Monday, May 24 through Sunday, May 30).
Due to budgetary and human resources limitations, the Museum is unable to remain open to the public twenty-four hours a day for one week. As a result, the duration of this work has been shortened from the artist’s original proposal.
ADMISSION IS PAY-WHAT-YOU-WISH AT THE FOLLOWING TIMES:
From 12 am to 9 am on Wednesday, May 26
From 11 pm on Wednesday, May 26
to 9 am on Thursday, May 27
From 11 pm on Thursday, May 27
to 9 am on Friday, May 28
From 6 pm to 11:59 pm on Friday, May 28
Regular admission prices are in effect for all other hours.
Call for submissions: Yellow Medicine Review
Yellow Medicine Review: A journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought, seeks material "The Ancestors We Were Looking for We Have Become: International Queer Indigenous Voices," edited by Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán.
As queer Indigenous writers, and queer artists of color more broadly, we have spent many years looking for our ancestors, looking for those Native and brown people who loved as we did, who moved in the world and created a space for us. Part of our queer genealogy involves not only finding those voices in our lineage, in our Nations, but also recognizing the way we are becoming those we have sought, and the importance of recording our stories for those coming after, and making the journey with, for we are not only descendents but ancestors.
Kin coming together at the meeting grounds to share sustenance: stories of survival, resistance, and affirmation. May we make good medicine for our peoples and Nations. May our words nurture and move us forward, our visions deeply rooted in the past and the continuance of our presence.Submission deadline: June 25. For complete information and submission instructions, click here.
Same-gender-loving, multiple-gender-loving, and transgender Indigenous peoples from around the world are invited to submit their work, words. May they be blessed.
Help NYC's essential libraries
Click this book now to send a letter to the New York City Council and Mayor Bloomberg to protest severe budget cuts threatening our city's libraries' accessibility, staffing and resources!
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Monday, May 24, 2010
277danceproject at BAC
277danceproject--an all-female corps, formed in 2008 by choreographer Nicole Philippidis--performs contemporary dance with well-groomed discipline and grace. Two Philippidis works--shown this past weekend at the Baryshnikov Arts Center--seem to aim for conventional accessibility by way of a pleasant, dreamy aesthetic.
The opening piece, In Between--featuring watercolor projections by Peter Zaharatos--reportedly has something to do with time, space and states of consciousness. (All dance can claim the same, no?) Over its 25 or so minutes, the movement and performances are neat and uniform; the music, lulling. One waits for a radical nerve end to start throbbing and inject a little rebellion to go along with the deepening intensity of Zaharatos's imagery.
After an intermission, the company came back with a work made with a quite different, earthy approach--choreographed by guest artist Kim Jones. In Burning Consumption, several women act out examples of women's compulsive behavior around appearance, exercise, vitamin-consumption and the like. Oddly enough, it's a work that's not afraid to be awkward and ugly in service to the cause. However, it's over very quickly as if--having held a mirror up to certain excesses, then lightly swatting us over the head with that mirror--Jones had nowhere else to take us.
Philippidis's romantic Red Forest concluded the program on a soft, sleepy note, with a space filled with women evoking perhaps classical statuary of nymphs dancing and bathing under the moon in the grove of a temple. Philippidis's structure shows musical, formalist skill, and Ariel Pierce's lighting is wonderfully sensitive.
Visit 277danceproject here.
The opening piece, In Between--featuring watercolor projections by Peter Zaharatos--reportedly has something to do with time, space and states of consciousness. (All dance can claim the same, no?) Over its 25 or so minutes, the movement and performances are neat and uniform; the music, lulling. One waits for a radical nerve end to start throbbing and inject a little rebellion to go along with the deepening intensity of Zaharatos's imagery.
After an intermission, the company came back with a work made with a quite different, earthy approach--choreographed by guest artist Kim Jones. In Burning Consumption, several women act out examples of women's compulsive behavior around appearance, exercise, vitamin-consumption and the like. Oddly enough, it's a work that's not afraid to be awkward and ugly in service to the cause. However, it's over very quickly as if--having held a mirror up to certain excesses, then lightly swatting us over the head with that mirror--Jones had nowhere else to take us.
Philippidis's romantic Red Forest concluded the program on a soft, sleepy note, with a space filled with women evoking perhaps classical statuary of nymphs dancing and bathing under the moon in the grove of a temple. Philippidis's structure shows musical, formalist skill, and Ariel Pierce's lighting is wonderfully sensitive.
Visit 277danceproject here.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Erasing Borders--Festival of Indian Dance
Asia Society and the Indo‐American Arts Council present
Erasing Borders - Festival of Indian Dance
Spring 2010
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Ticketing: 212-517-ASIA or online
Erasing Borders - Festival of Indian Dance
Spring 2010
Friday-Sunday, June 4-6
Indian—and India inspired—dance in an array of forms, old and new: Two evening concerts feature performances traditional and experimental, classical and post-modern, highlighting both dramatic and non-narrative dance. Day sessions of panels, workshops, and demonstrations explore aspects of Indian dance across genres.
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Ticketing: 212-517-ASIA or online
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The BP outrage
More Than Just an Oil Spill
by Bob Herbert, The New York Times, May 21, 2010
One of the best--and angriest--columns by Bob Herbert, and that's saying something.
One of the best--and angriest--columns by Bob Herbert, and that's saying something.
See "lions will roar" tonight!
lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi--choreographed and directed by Nora Chipaumire and featuring original music played live by the renowned Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited--thrills and overwhelms me. The grand, propulsive, indomitable energy suggested by the title wells up, to varying degrees, in the work's visual, kinetic and sonic elements.
Romain Tardy's video projection streams over a scrim at the front of the stage and over the backdrop, creating a looming, breathing bubble of space that encloses the musicians and dancers. The images appear to expand and float towards us, inviting us to inhale them, seductively inhaling us, too. There are moments when the video shows a sky nearly blackened by silhouettes of what must be thousands of migrating birds. Perhaps it's largely because I am a birder, but each time that imagery arose, I felt shaken, not only by its beauty and dynamic flow but also by reminders of worldwide environmental and wildlife loss as well as the loss of one's native land. Chipaumire and Mapfumo, both courageous artists, represent the excellence of Zimbabwe; both are exiled from a homeland in the dead-hand grip of political repression. Tardy offers a deceptively simple visual idea here, yet one layered with profound, palpable meaning.
Mapfumo has been called "The Lion of Zimbabwe." In a previous solo, Chipaumire has worked idiosyncratic changes on classical ballet's iconic "dying swan." When this new production wrestles with all that is of earth and of heaven, Mapfumo's gentle, buoyant, healing, indestructible music flows from a seemingly limitless source. It is music that feels like confidence, spiritual security, even joy. To listen is to feel cleansed by rain. Unlike most accompanists, typically tucked away in some corner, the five entrancing musicians--Mapfumo (vocals/guitar), Lancelot Kashesha (percussion/vocals), Gilbert Zvamaida (guitar/vocals), Christopher Muchabaiwa (bass guitar) and Chakaipa Mhembere (mbira)--sit in positions of honor, at the center of the action. The dancers--Chipaumire and Souleymane Badolo, who hails from Burkina Faso--animate the space around them.
But these are dancers to be honored, too--the electric, mercurial Chipaumire, one of our greatest performers, and Badolo, her perfect partner, the perfect combination of solidity, rubbery malleability and resilience. Solos and duets work like jagged pieces of wood and metal tossed into the stream of music. Seemingly abstract, yet strongly evocative and expressive, they show us something of the spirit of contemporary, urban Africa and of the diaspora of progressive African-born artists. It is Chipaumire's intent to broaden our lazy perceptions of what Zimbabwe and Africa are all about--poverty, illiteracy, disease, continual strife--and replace our limited expectations of Africa's arts, too. I'm reminded of singer Emeline Michel's similar aim to foster awareness of Haiti's culture and strengths, and Michel would well understand the apt Rumi verse that Chipaumire quotes in her program notes:
Dance whe you're broken open.
Dance if you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance when you're perfectly free.
Many in the opening night audience treated the performance like a concert--applauding after every musical number, treating the dancers, too, like rock stars. Some even greeted choice moments with ululations or clapped along with parts of the music. After a short while, I realized this wasn't distracting, just different, and it might be exactly what Chipaumire wanted. (After all, she set some of that clapping into the movement.) In a post-performance Q&A moderated by Farai Chideya, she spoke about how a lot of New York's contemporary dance artists are content to perform mostly for colleagues and people in the know, an echo chamber of sorts. She wants to break out of that "dance ghetto," as she called it. Hooking up with the world-acclaimed Mapfumo and his music, she said, frankly, is part of her strategy. As someone who has raised this issue, too, I hail her efforts. In lions will roar, her heroic vision, determination and skill have brought us a work that should resonate widely and is not to be missed.
lions will roar is presented by 651 Arts in association with Dance Theater Workshop and will offer its final performance this evening at 8pm at Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, Long Island University (Flatbush Avenue between DeKalb and Willoughby). For more information and tickets, click here and do so soon!
Scream real loud!!!
I Meant to Do That: ‘The Pee-wee Herman Show’ Coming to Broadway
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Emeline Michel: "The guest is king!"
Lincoln Center's Target Free Thursdays at the Rubenstein Atrium hosted an extraordinary performance by Emeline Michel and guest artists last evening. This gorgeous performer has been called "the Joni Mitchell of Haiti," but the singer she most reminds me of is Benin's and Brooklyn's great Angélique Kidjo. That should give you a sense of Michel's incandescent warmth, energy, generosity and motivational power--as well as her world-hugging sound. Besides Kidjo, I'm reminded of a couple of other artists I've loved--Rubén Blades and Angela Bofill.
At a time of great sorrow and challenge for the people of her remarkable home island, Michel asserts a desire to show us a Haiti beyond the pain, "to share the art," as she says, "to bring community together." Well, last night she drew so much of the New York metro area branch of the Haitian community--as well as lots of non-Haitian admirers--that the Atrium's security had to deny admission to anyone who made the mistake of arriving less than about 45 minutes early for an 8:30 show. A lot of unhappy people--some of whom had expected friends to save seats--were left out on the sidewalk.
For Michel, as is the Haitian way, "the guest is king." She takes quite seriously--and lightheartedly--her mission to entertain. Those of us lucky enough to get in had a sensational time from start to finish, a lesson in how Haitians "embrace the tragedy, embrace when times are good," according to Michel. If a voice can teach, by example, how to be resilient, how to rise and transform, it is this one--a free, exalted voice like a sleek seabird catching a thermal, gliding with her wonderful band providing lilting, percolating matrix. Her special guests--Haitian-born jazz saxophonist Buyu Ambroise and jazz vocalist Pauline Jean, a native New Yorker of Haitian descent--contributed to the program's soulful depth and passion.
If you missed this show, don't worry: Summer offers another chance to catch up with Michel. Bill Bragin--Lincoln Center's imaginative Director of Public Programming, invites you to Ansanm (In Love We Stand), featuring Michel, Beethova Obas, BélO, Zili Misik and Peniel Guerrier in collaboration with the Mikerline Dance Company on July 29, 7:30pm, at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Damrosch Park Bandshell. Click here, and check back in June for more details.
Pearson to teach American Indian hoop dancing
Open Level American Indian Hoop Class
taught by Tom Pearson
at Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway (and Chambers), Manhattan
Ongoing, Sundays: 3-5pm, beginning June 6. Take a FREE class on June 6!
For class rates visit Dance New Amsterdam.
DNA is expanding its core technique classes to include new dance forms. As always DNA strives to expose students to a diverse selection of curriculum and faculty. The new classes added include: American Indian Hoop Dance, Flamenco, Tap, American Dance Machine (ADM) Theater Dance, Hula Hoop Dance and Social Dance. Come and Dance for FREE* June 6 through June 12
*Space is limited, please arrive early to sign in and secure a spot.
DESCRIPTION
The Hoop Dance, which originated among the Southwest Pueblos, is performed at American Indian gatherings around the U.S. It is a form of traditional Native storytelling dance that incorporates anywhere from one to 30 hoops, which are used to create both static and dynamic formations representing various aspects of the natural world. The dance was created as way to test the skills of the dancer and express connection with the earth.
In this class, students will learn steps drawn from different styles of American Indian dance as well as techniques for working with hoops. Beginning with an integrated warm-up drawing on simple contemporary exercises, the class will progress into the fundamentals of Native American social dance steps, rhythmic relationship, and placement. From there, we will explore the possibilities of movement and rhythm together with object manipulation—starting with a single hoop to explore the myriad ways in which the dancer and object can move together, and incrementally graduating to two, three, four or more hoops. We will simultaneously look at the structure, progression, and symbolism of Hoop Dance through combinations that cumulatively build into performance. Once a month, the class will work with live music as Native guest drummers play while students practice hoop routines. Hoops will be provided for use in class.
Hoops will be available for use or students may bring their own.
Tom Pearson, Co-Director of Third Rail Projects, is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer working in a variety of media including site-specific performance, dance film, art installation, and works for the stage. Known for “movement that shimmers with unusual psychic static” (The New Yorker), his work has been seen at numerous venues nationally and internationally. Of Cherokee and Creek heritage, Pearson also participates in American Indian events as a Grass and Hoop dancer, and his teachings share what he has learned over the years from members of the Native community in the New York area. Additionally, his writings on Native dance have appeared in Dance Magazine, Time Out New York Kids, Dance Spirit, and the Public Theater’s online Native Theater Journal.
CLASSCLASSCLASS action this Saturday!
Join CLASSCLASSCLASS this Saturday in Washington Square Park from 11am to 3pm for an Outdoor teach-a-thon!
Take class in the park with CCC teachers Jen Rosenblit, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Adrienne Westwood, Ana Isabel Keilson, Molly Poerstel and Hilary Clark!
Guest teachers include Third Rail Projects (Tom Pearson and Zach Morris), Nathalie Jonas, Diana Crum and more!
Sign up to teach a class in the park!
Listen to music!
Bring a picnic!
Write a manifesto!
Be part of the performance; sit back and watch the performance!
In the spirit of anti-war teach-ins, Allan Kaprow-esque happenings, and Judson Church era installations, participants of CLASSCLASSCLASS--teachers, students, mentors, and accompanists--will have the opportunity to publicly voice their opinions and experiences of dance education. Audience members will have the opportunity to participate in live manifesto readings, join in during simulated class exercises, and write down their hopes for the future of an emerging generation of students and teaching artists. The goal of this performance is to raise awareness of the importance of CLASSCLASSCLASS and its ensuing dialogues: how we can better understand who we are as dancers, performers and movement-based artists through a public, transparent, and mutual contemplation of how and what we teach and how and what we learn. The Great Community CLASS Manifesto is open and free to the public and they will be encouraged to participate in the event.
For moremoremore on CLASSCLASSCLASS, click here.
Take class in the park with CCC teachers Jen Rosenblit, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Adrienne Westwood, Ana Isabel Keilson, Molly Poerstel and Hilary Clark!
Guest teachers include Third Rail Projects (Tom Pearson and Zach Morris), Nathalie Jonas, Diana Crum and more!
Sign up to teach a class in the park!
Listen to music!
Bring a picnic!
Write a manifesto!
Be part of the performance; sit back and watch the performance!
In the spirit of anti-war teach-ins, Allan Kaprow-esque happenings, and Judson Church era installations, participants of CLASSCLASSCLASS--teachers, students, mentors, and accompanists--will have the opportunity to publicly voice their opinions and experiences of dance education. Audience members will have the opportunity to participate in live manifesto readings, join in during simulated class exercises, and write down their hopes for the future of an emerging generation of students and teaching artists. The goal of this performance is to raise awareness of the importance of CLASSCLASSCLASS and its ensuing dialogues: how we can better understand who we are as dancers, performers and movement-based artists through a public, transparent, and mutual contemplation of how and what we teach and how and what we learn. The Great Community CLASS Manifesto is open and free to the public and they will be encouraged to participate in the event.
For moremoremore on CLASSCLASSCLASS, click here.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Coming up at Asia Society
Gamelan Dharma Swara: Balinese Music and Dance
Friday, May 21, 8pm
Pre-performance lecture at 7pm
Led by Balinese master performers, New York City's Gamelan Dharma Swara presents a special preview of its 2010 Bali tour repertoire, including the dances Gabor and Kebyar Legong. Dharma Swara is the first non-Balinese ensemble invited to the annual Bali Arts Festival.
Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance
Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6
Concerts and Workshops co-presented with the Indo-American Arts Council
Performers: Shipra Mehrotra; Navtej Johar; Parul Shah Dance Company; Cynthia Lee; Wanted Ashiqz
Nine Lives - In Search of the Sacred in Modern South Asia
Friday and Saturday, June 18 and 10 at 7:30pm
Featuring: William Dalrymple, Paban Das Baul and the Bauls Of Bengal, Shah Jo Raag Fakir, Susheela Raman and Chandu Pannicker Theyyam Dance Group Followed by a reception.
For more information on these and other programs of Asia Society, click here.
For ticketing, click here.
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (between 70th & 71st Streets), Manhattan
Monday, May 17, 2010
William Kentridge at MOMA & the Met
Multimedia Master William Kentridge Animates the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Opera
by Deborah Feller, DeborahFeller.com, May 16, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Fun with Tony
Milton Glaser, Peter Som and Others Alter the Tony
by Erik Piepenburg, The New York Times, May 12, 2010
Revisiting Emily
My Hero, Emily Dickinson, Outlaw of Amherst
by Holland Cotter, The New York Times, May 11, 2010
The essential Holland Cotter. I bow to him.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Rebeca Tomás at Theater 80 St. Marks
(photo of Rebeca Tomás by Zita Bradley)
New York fans of the renowned Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca know Theater 80 St. Marks as an intimate, vest-pocket stage for a small audience. Performers can scale back and work with natural effects and subtlety. They need not strain to project.
This weekend, Rebeca Tomás—a masterful flamenco dancer who has appeared with Barrio in Noche Flamenca—is making her solo debut at Theater 80 with a 75-minute program called A Palo Seco. And, I guarantee you, it's a major debut because, for better or for worse, Tomás holds nothing back. Shreiks of joy from her opening-night audience argued that it's "for better."
I'm going to insist that you see Tomás, but this recommendation comes with a caveat.
Her choreography and performance—so exacting and clean, I'd choose her as my surgeon—both feel aggressively over-dramatized. Even her frequent smile looks tense and self-conscious. Much is made of her slight stature (5'1”), her low center of gravity, and she's truly a well-crafted explosive device. Power in a woman is beautiful, but the ability to share the variable intricacies of one's self with an audience should also be prized. By comparison, her A Palo Seco colleagues--Sol "La Argentinita" and Laura Castellano--dance like ordinary mortals, and bless them for that.
Flamenco artists have been messing with the traditional formula for some time now. Big props to Tomás for the unique, if perhaps not terribly risky, vision of Metamorphosis, the first half of which shows the diva seated at a piano, arrayed in a sweeping, midnight-black bata de cola, as she plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata—expertly, beautifully--accompanied by violinist Alí Bello and electric bass player Sean Kupisz. It's an unexpected, spellbinding prelude, a respite of serenity. And then she gets up and unleashes her particular brand of flamenco—to Regina Spektor's edgy “Apres Moi.”
Besides Bello and Kupisz, Tomás's musical ensemble includes musical director/guitarist Pedro Cortés, percussionist/singer Oscar Valero, and singers David Castellano and Bárbara Martínez. The ensemble's needless over-amplification and its initial New Agey approach felt alien. However, as the show proceeded, the musicians and singers displayed more supple skills and thrilling collaboration ranging from traditional flamenco to a graceful interpretation of “Over the Rainbow.” Valero's fiery percussion, throughout, was extraordinary.
A Palo Seco continues tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm.
Complete program information
Theater 80 St. Marks
80 Saint Marks Place, Manhattan (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
212-388-0388 Online ticketing
Courageously out and back in the biz
Ray Boltz Resumes Career, Relieved of a Secret
by Samuel G. Freedman, The New York Times, May 14, 2010
Ax falling on NYC arts groups
Arts Groups See Bloomberg’s Budget Plan and Shudder
by Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times, May 14, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Handa and the culture chameleons
Perhaps the list of cities and countries in which you've lived since childhood is as long as your arm. Cultures other than your own have touched your life, shaping your view of the world--and of yourself. You're a TCK. That's a Third (or Trans-) Culture Kid--a sociological term from the 1960s--with far more in common with other global nomads than with folks from your own native culture.
That's the premise of an interesting program curated and produced by Alaine Handa, running this week at University Settlement on Eldridge Street. The multi-talented Handa--dancer, choreographer, make-up artist, photographer, videographer and director of A. H. Dance Company--drew together numerous collaborators and guest performers to artistically explore what it means to be rooted in rootlessness, a mobile citizen of a larger, more complex world than most people experience. The two-hour evening--Chameleon--employs a collage of dramatic monologue, spoken word, video, dance and music. The music selections are lovely, and the performers are all technically secure, vivacious and handsome--even when serving up dance that looks a bit generic rather than capable of sharply articulating the program's unique theme. But Handa's video, I am a TCK, successfully conveys the core and heart of her story.
With its segments interspersed throughout Handa's ensemble dance, 4. Chameleon--a world premiere--the video is a fairly standard talking heads interview clip compilation and, on occasion, the sound quality is wanting. However, it does introduce us to a wonderful, diverse group of young people who share what it's like to adjust to and benefit from a succession of foreign homes.
Handa's project--which she describes as "living, breathing, evolving and growing"--strikes me as the kind of work intended more to generate cross-cultural engagement, discussion and support than for the kind of cutting edge aesthetic innovation critics tend to expect. I enjoyed the video, in particular, because it gently drew me close to the lives of these interesting young people--a valuable experience in empathy.
Chameleon continues tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 at University Settlement (184 Eldridge St, corner of Rivington Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side; map). Click here for information and ticketing.
That's the premise of an interesting program curated and produced by Alaine Handa, running this week at University Settlement on Eldridge Street. The multi-talented Handa--dancer, choreographer, make-up artist, photographer, videographer and director of A. H. Dance Company--drew together numerous collaborators and guest performers to artistically explore what it means to be rooted in rootlessness, a mobile citizen of a larger, more complex world than most people experience. The two-hour evening--Chameleon--employs a collage of dramatic monologue, spoken word, video, dance and music. The music selections are lovely, and the performers are all technically secure, vivacious and handsome--even when serving up dance that looks a bit generic rather than capable of sharply articulating the program's unique theme. But Handa's video, I am a TCK, successfully conveys the core and heart of her story.
With its segments interspersed throughout Handa's ensemble dance, 4. Chameleon--a world premiere--the video is a fairly standard talking heads interview clip compilation and, on occasion, the sound quality is wanting. However, it does introduce us to a wonderful, diverse group of young people who share what it's like to adjust to and benefit from a succession of foreign homes.
Handa's project--which she describes as "living, breathing, evolving and growing"--strikes me as the kind of work intended more to generate cross-cultural engagement, discussion and support than for the kind of cutting edge aesthetic innovation critics tend to expect. I enjoyed the video, in particular, because it gently drew me close to the lives of these interesting young people--a valuable experience in empathy.
Chameleon continues tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 at University Settlement (184 Eldridge St, corner of Rivington Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side; map). Click here for information and ticketing.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Take that, Facebook!
Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private
by Jim Dwyer, The New York Times, May 11, 2010
These guys are great! I hope they really make it!
Housing Works and...whatever!
The "And the Heart Says Whatever" Talent Show and Variety Hour
Wednesday, May 12, 7pm
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
126 Crosby Street, Manhattan
212-334-3324
Comedian/author Julie Klausner (I Don’t Care About Your Band), performance artist/author Mike Albo (The Underminer) and musician/playwright Dan Fishback (just back from Yaddo)—and other secret special guests!—will salute musicians like Stevie Nicks and Liz Phair in song, to celebrate the publication of Emily Gould’s heavily Nicks-inspired essay collection, And the Heart Says Whatever. Rest assured that the feeling will remain even after the glitter fades!
Since opening its doors in 1998, Housing Works’ Bookstore Café has been an unparalleled hotspot for New York’s literary community, hosting countless readings, panels, and parties for every major publisher, as well as magazines from Lucky to The New Yorker. Every dollar from every customer goes to support Housing Works’ mission to end homelessness and AIDS.
Musicians plan benefit for Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast Benefit Concert Will Feature Lenny Kravitz and Allen Toussaint
Mardi Gras World's River City Plaza, New Orleans
Tickets: $50, available exclusively at Elevate Tickets
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, May 11, 2010
Gulf Aid
Gulf Aid
Sunday, May 16, Noon to 10 pm (rain or shine)
Mardi Gras World's River City Plaza, New Orleans
Tickets: $50, available exclusively at Elevate Tickets
Ziegfeld's Doris Eaton Travis, 106
Doris Eaton Travis, Last of the Ziegfeld Girls, Dies at 106
by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, May 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
MADE HERE Project
MADE HERE Project
Launch event and public discussion with screening, refreshments and conversation about CREATIVE REAL ESTATE
A new documentary series and website devoted to the challenging and eclectic lives of performing artists in New York City
View the first episode--CREATIVE REAL ESTATE--by clicking here.
Special event:
Tuesday, May 25, 6:30-8:30pm
at LMCC Swing Space
View the first episode--CREATIVE REAL ESTATE--by clicking here.
Special event:
Tuesday, May 25, 6:30-8:30pm
at LMCC Swing Space
14 Wall Street (Penthouse), Manhattan
Event co-hosted by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
RSVP to madehere@here.org by Friday, May 14. Space is limited.
RSVP to madehere@here.org by Friday, May 14. Space is limited.
A project of HERE
Transfiguration
Transfiguration
Performance by French artist Olivier de Sagazan
A co-production of Maison de la Culture d'Arlon-Galerie La Louve (Belgique)
A co-production of Maison de la Culture d'Arlon-Galerie La Louve (Belgique)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Dan Safer at play in the gray area
Dance New Amsterdam presents
The Gray Area Between Dance and Theater
a composition workshop with director/choreographer Dan Safer and members of Witness Relocation, "geared towards bringing the idea of dance/choreography into direct collision with theater"
The Gray Area Between Dance and Theater
a composition workshop with director/choreographer Dan Safer and members of Witness Relocation, "geared towards bringing the idea of dance/choreography into direct collision with theater"
with a showing on Monday, June 21 at 2pm
See DNA site for complete schedule, registration and other details.
See DNA site for complete schedule, registration and other details.
Location:
Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance on Chambers Street)
212-625-8369
Witness Relocation
My review of WR's Five Days in March, running through May 23 at La MaMa E.T.C.
280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance on Chambers Street)
212-625-8369
Witness Relocation
My review of WR's Five Days in March, running through May 23 at La MaMa E.T.C.
Lena Horne, 92
Lena Horne, Sultry Singer and Actress, Dies at 92
by Aljean Harmetz, The New York Times, May 9, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
"Addiction and Art" published
Announcing the publication of Addiction and Art--edited by Patricia B. Santora, Margaret L. Dowell and Jack E. Henningfield, and including two works by artist/psychotherapist Deborah Feller.
For details, click here.
For details, click here.
Celebrate the great voice of Cuba
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portuondo
with flamenco dancer Nelida Tirado
at Celebrate Brooklyn!
Thursday, June 24, 7:30pm
Prospect Park Bandshell
9th Street and Prospect Park West, Brooklyn
Gates open at 6:30pm
Free/$3 donation suggested
Monet: a world in a garden
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Nashville: Music takes a big hit
After Flooding, Nashville Musicians Assess Losses
by William Harless, The New York Times, May 7, 2010
Where Does Music Journalism Go Next?
Where Does Music Journalism Go Next?
Soundcheck, WNYC
with veteran music critic Jim DeRogatis and Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times pop music critic and editor of the upcoming book Best Music Writing 2010.
with veteran music critic Jim DeRogatis and Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times pop music critic and editor of the upcoming book Best Music Writing 2010.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Fake it 'til you make it!
Fight Event Dread By Pretending You're Excited
by Erica Ho, Lifehacker, May 7, 2010
Hmmm... It seems to me that dancers should have some insight into the usefulness of this advice. Let's hear about it in the comments!
Witness this!
So, back in January of last year, when I gave you an assignment to see Dan Safer's Witness Relocation troupe, did you follow through?
I hope so, because now you have a fresh assignment: See Dan Safer's Witness Relocation.
Okay, that might not sound so fresh, but listen up: This time, they're at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theater, doing a very American take on Aya Ogawa's English translation of Toshiki Okada's wacky Five Days in March. I saw this 2004 piece performed in Japanese (with English subtitles) by Okada's chelfitsch Theater Company at Japan Society. I reviewed that show here in February 2009.
As good as chelfitsch's show was, in its way, Safer's spoken-English, American pop-culture version opens up, punches up and clarifies Five Days with a visually and aurally gorgeous production and with outrageously capacious, perversely genius performances by Mike Mikos, Sean Donovan, Wil Petre, Heather Christian, Kourtney Rutherford, Chris Giarmo and Laura Berlin Stinger. I think that's because Witness Relocation--a company devoted to seamless theater/dance mashup--was made for this meta-tale of young, self-absorbed party-people in Japan recounting a five-night "love hotel" tryst conducted while Dubya was getting ready to wreak havoc on Iraq. WR brings out both the callous, mindless excess and the poignancy in Okada's story. Safer's direction and choreography; Dave Malloy's music; Jay Ryan's sets and lights; and Deb O's costumes are all award-worthy.
Luckily, you've got a few more weeks to get there. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm through May 23. (No performance on Sun 5/16, Added 2:30pm performance on 5/22)
Information and ticketing
La MaMa E.T.C.
74A East 4th Street, Manhattan
212-475-7710
I hope so, because now you have a fresh assignment: See Dan Safer's Witness Relocation.
Okay, that might not sound so fresh, but listen up: This time, they're at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theater, doing a very American take on Aya Ogawa's English translation of Toshiki Okada's wacky Five Days in March. I saw this 2004 piece performed in Japanese (with English subtitles) by Okada's chelfitsch Theater Company at Japan Society. I reviewed that show here in February 2009.
As good as chelfitsch's show was, in its way, Safer's spoken-English, American pop-culture version opens up, punches up and clarifies Five Days with a visually and aurally gorgeous production and with outrageously capacious, perversely genius performances by Mike Mikos, Sean Donovan, Wil Petre, Heather Christian, Kourtney Rutherford, Chris Giarmo and Laura Berlin Stinger. I think that's because Witness Relocation--a company devoted to seamless theater/dance mashup--was made for this meta-tale of young, self-absorbed party-people in Japan recounting a five-night "love hotel" tryst conducted while Dubya was getting ready to wreak havoc on Iraq. WR brings out both the callous, mindless excess and the poignancy in Okada's story. Safer's direction and choreography; Dave Malloy's music; Jay Ryan's sets and lights; and Deb O's costumes are all award-worthy.
Luckily, you've got a few more weeks to get there. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm through May 23. (No performance on Sun 5/16, Added 2:30pm performance on 5/22)
Information and ticketing
La MaMa E.T.C.
74A East 4th Street, Manhattan
212-475-7710
Goodbye, my sweetie...
You didn't quite make it to your 16th birthday, but you'll forever be Sweet 16.
[Update: Oh, my! As we've searched through old photos, we've recalculated, and it turns out the kid was actually 17!!! No matter: She's still Sweet 16 to us!]
Sarabeth's light (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
[Update: Oh, my! As we've searched through old photos, we've recalculated, and it turns out the kid was actually 17!!! No matter: She's still Sweet 16 to us!]
Sarabeth's light (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wolf and Cohen at Dixon Place
A couple of quick notes on two artists showing work tonight at Dixon Place:
Miriam Wolf is presenting in our days of burning, a multimedia trio inspired by her parents' example in radical political consciousness. As a dancer and choreographer, she's ambitious, self-challenging and one tough cookie, straining herself and her colleagues--the admirable Stacy Grossfield and Eleanor Smith--almost to the breaking point. In film imagery (by Victoria Bradbury) and text, this piece references the infamous McCarthy Senate hearings of the 1950s and an ACLU-provided CIA document describing interrogation procedures. It is well served by a controlled intricacy of movement. Unfortunately, not nearly as much care was taken with spelling and attributions in Wolf's program notes.
Yve Laris Cohen: Apparently a replacement for a formerly scheduled work by Jillian Peña Dance Club, Cohen's Marzipan involves a ritualized scenario in which Aaron Blaise preps Cohen's naked back for piercing by numerous hyperdermic needles while Cohen hunches over and cooks something behind the lid of a piano bench. Later, Cohen offers Meghan Milam a forkful of what looks like scrambled eggs and they lock together in a tense, searing snippet of movement like someone's abstraction of tango. Something about this scenario feels small and limited--I can't say why--and unsurprising. But I think Cohen might just be harboring a surprise for us in the future. So, check him out now and see what you think.
Miriam Wolf is presenting in our days of burning, a multimedia trio inspired by her parents' example in radical political consciousness. As a dancer and choreographer, she's ambitious, self-challenging and one tough cookie, straining herself and her colleagues--the admirable Stacy Grossfield and Eleanor Smith--almost to the breaking point. In film imagery (by Victoria Bradbury) and text, this piece references the infamous McCarthy Senate hearings of the 1950s and an ACLU-provided CIA document describing interrogation procedures. It is well served by a controlled intricacy of movement. Unfortunately, not nearly as much care was taken with spelling and attributions in Wolf's program notes.
Yve Laris Cohen: Apparently a replacement for a formerly scheduled work by Jillian Peña Dance Club, Cohen's Marzipan involves a ritualized scenario in which Aaron Blaise preps Cohen's naked back for piercing by numerous hyperdermic needles while Cohen hunches over and cooks something behind the lid of a piano bench. Later, Cohen offers Meghan Milam a forkful of what looks like scrambled eggs and they lock together in a tense, searing snippet of movement like someone's abstraction of tango. Something about this scenario feels small and limited--I can't say why--and unsurprising. But I think Cohen might just be harboring a surprise for us in the future. So, check him out now and see what you think.
Final performance tonight at 8pm. Click here for information or call 212-219-0736.
161A Chrystie St (between Delancey and Rivington Sts), Manhattan
F to Delancey St; J, M, Z to Delancey/Essex Streets
F to Delancey St; J, M, Z to Delancey/Essex Streets
SITI: "Okay. That feels good to me."
In her Director's Note, Anne Bogart wonders how SITI Company's new DTW production of bobrauschenbergamerica--a work premiered in the innocent American spring of 2001--will resonate with today's audiences. Let me take a stab: We are now either too scarred and scared--and cynical--for this or we are greatly in need of its delirious good spirits. Actually, I can't decide which way to go on this question, but I can tell you that I, for one, love this show.
bobrauschenbergamerica works like one of Raushenberg's "combines" of homely things. It makes something magic(k)al of the mess. In its wild and basically good-natured juxtapositions, it keeps prodding you to reconcile what's artificial with what's natural or sincere. No, you don't get to choose.
It doesn't take diversity, of any kind, seriously in any dreary kind of way but rather turns the seriousness of social diversity into the exuberance of a neighborly smorgasbord, mercilessly dragging you to the table. If you're still kicking and screaming--you're overthinking, perhaps, why the whole cast is suddenly doing the Electric Slide or, at another moment, square dancing--this is a vaudevillian show that shoves pop music and fried chicken at you until you're helpless and giggling because, basically, it knows who you are. You're an American. This stuff--all of it--is your DNA.
And that's the way it should be--America, a delicious mess, a raucous work-in-progress. This visually-festive production and playwright Charles L. Mee spliced material argue that there's nothing we need to fix about that--and keep that in mind, Arizona. As the final words go, "Okay. That feels good to me."
Bogart's ensemble is, overall, great. But pay particular attention to performances by Ellen Lauren (Susan, a white woman in a racially-mixed couple rocked by fairly ordinary challenges) and Leon Ingulsrud (darkly sculpted by Brian H Scott's lighting and his own physical discipline, as he delivers his decreasingly funny chicken jokes).
bobrauschenbergamerica continues at Dance Theater Workshop through May 16. Click here for complete schedule information and ticketing.
bobrauschenbergamerica works like one of Raushenberg's "combines" of homely things. It makes something magic(k)al of the mess. In its wild and basically good-natured juxtapositions, it keeps prodding you to reconcile what's artificial with what's natural or sincere. No, you don't get to choose.
It doesn't take diversity, of any kind, seriously in any dreary kind of way but rather turns the seriousness of social diversity into the exuberance of a neighborly smorgasbord, mercilessly dragging you to the table. If you're still kicking and screaming--you're overthinking, perhaps, why the whole cast is suddenly doing the Electric Slide or, at another moment, square dancing--this is a vaudevillian show that shoves pop music and fried chicken at you until you're helpless and giggling because, basically, it knows who you are. You're an American. This stuff--all of it--is your DNA.
And that's the way it should be--America, a delicious mess, a raucous work-in-progress. This visually-festive production and playwright Charles L. Mee spliced material argue that there's nothing we need to fix about that--and keep that in mind, Arizona. As the final words go, "Okay. That feels good to me."
Bogart's ensemble is, overall, great. But pay particular attention to performances by Ellen Lauren (Susan, a white woman in a racially-mixed couple rocked by fairly ordinary challenges) and Leon Ingulsrud (darkly sculpted by Brian H Scott's lighting and his own physical discipline, as he delivers his decreasingly funny chicken jokes).
bobrauschenbergamerica continues at Dance Theater Workshop through May 16. Click here for complete schedule information and ticketing.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sankai Juku in Paris
My review of the extraordinary Butoh troupe Sankai Juku at Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) is here at Dance Magazine.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Superb event for Haiti, May 26
Another Chance to Dance
GIMP: gimp (gimp)
1. a ribbonlike, braided fabric
2. FIGHTING SPIRIT; VIGOR
3. a lame person
4. slang; a halting, lame walk
5. to turn, vacillate, tremble ecstatically
Wednesday, May 26 (7pm performance; 8pm reception)
at JCC in Manhattan
344 Amsterdam Avenue (at 76th Street)
General Seating: $100
Reserved Seating: $250
Gold Seating: $500
Platinum Seating: $1000
Minimum $100 per person is
required for admission to the event.
($25 per ticket is not tax-deductible)
Please RSVP to attend the event via the following web site address:
http://www.thegimpproject.com/gimp/another_chance_to_dance.html
Inspired by Fabienne Jean, ballerina, Haitian National Theatre
Read her story in the February 22, 2010, New York Times article, Countless Lost Limbs Alter Life in Haiti's Ruins.
All of the proceeds will benefit Handicap International Prostheses Workshop in Haiti.
Thank you for your support of Another Chance To Dance. The JCC in Manhattan is a wheelchair accessible venue. If you need further accommodation or want more information, please contact us at: GIMPDancesForHaiti@gmail.com
Sunday, May 2, 2010
My "Moment in Time"
(c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
At 11am EST today, I took this photo and submitted it to the New York Times's A Moment in Time project. It contains images of Mary of the wounded sacred heart; Yemaya, the Afro-Atlantic goddess of the sea; and endangered animals. Mindful of the oil spill tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, I call this assemblage The Wounded Heart of Mother Earth.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Margot Adler on the contemporary Pagan movement
The Moonfire series of public presentations will host a workshop facilitated by National Public Radio journalist Margot Adler:
The Pagan Movement: What's New, What's Different, What's Changed
Saturday, May 22 (5pm-7pm)
In the last 15 years, the Pagan Movement (Wicca, Goddess Spirituality, Druids, Norse Religionists, Reconstructionist Pagans, and more) has grown, so that now scholars are saying that there are at least a million contemporary Pagans worldwide, and perhaps three-quarters of that number are in the U.S.
In the last few years, Wiccans have fought and won a number of civil rights. There are now peer-reviewed academic Pagan journals, more than 100 Pagan Pride Festivals, and a strong Pagan and Wiccan presence at the Parliament of the World's Religions. What does this foretell? What is the promise and what are the pitfalls of modern Paganism becoming a World Religion?
Margot Adler is a writer, pagan priestess and broadcast journalist. She is the author of Drawing Down The Moon, the classic study of Paganism, Goddess Spirituality and Wicca. A lecturer and ritual leader, she has been a correspondent with National Public Radio for more than 30 years. Before NPR, she reported, produced and hosted live radio on Pacifica's WBAI-FM and was the creator of Hour of the Wolf and two other free-form radio shows there. She was also the hostess for eight years of Justice Talking, a show about the Constitution and how it affects our daily lives, that aired on a hundred radio stations until the summer of 2008.
Admission: $6
All are welcome!
Location:
LGBT Community Center
208 West 13th Street (near 7th Avenue), Manhattan
For further information, click here to email Moonfire's founder, Amethyst.
The Pagan Movement: What's New, What's Different, What's Changed
Saturday, May 22 (5pm-7pm)
In the last 15 years, the Pagan Movement (Wicca, Goddess Spirituality, Druids, Norse Religionists, Reconstructionist Pagans, and more) has grown, so that now scholars are saying that there are at least a million contemporary Pagans worldwide, and perhaps three-quarters of that number are in the U.S.
In the last few years, Wiccans have fought and won a number of civil rights. There are now peer-reviewed academic Pagan journals, more than 100 Pagan Pride Festivals, and a strong Pagan and Wiccan presence at the Parliament of the World's Religions. What does this foretell? What is the promise and what are the pitfalls of modern Paganism becoming a World Religion?
Margot Adler is a writer, pagan priestess and broadcast journalist. She is the author of Drawing Down The Moon, the classic study of Paganism, Goddess Spirituality and Wicca. A lecturer and ritual leader, she has been a correspondent with National Public Radio for more than 30 years. Before NPR, she reported, produced and hosted live radio on Pacifica's WBAI-FM and was the creator of Hour of the Wolf and two other free-form radio shows there. She was also the hostess for eight years of Justice Talking, a show about the Constitution and how it affects our daily lives, that aired on a hundred radio stations until the summer of 2008.
Admission: $6
All are welcome!
Location:
LGBT Community Center
208 West 13th Street (near 7th Avenue), Manhattan
For further information, click here to email Moonfire's founder, Amethyst.