Behind blue eyes: "Lucy" and Hollywood's racism

Lucy: Why I'm Tired of Seeing White People on the Big Screen
by Olivia Cole, The Huffington Post, July 28, 2014

Robert Drew, 90

Robert Drew, Cinema Verite Documentarian, Dies at 90
by The Associated Press, The New York Times, July 30, 2014

James Shigeta, 85

James Shigeta, 85, Leading Man in ‘Flower Drum Song,’ Dies
by William Yardley, The New York Times, July 29, 2014

Kristy Edmunds: an ICPP keynote address on performance curation

Keynote Address by Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance faculty member Kristy Edmunds, Director, Center for the Art of Performance, UCLA.

Progressive ideas in artist-centered curation: an ICPP discussion

Curating as a verb: 

What is artist-centered curatorial practice?

Panel discussion with Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance faculty Philip Bither, Curator of Performing Arts, Walker Art Center; Thomas Lax, Associate Curator, Department of Media & Performance Art, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); and Judy Hussie-Taylor, Executive Director, Danspace Project; moderated by Pamela Tatge, Director, Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University

Augie Rodriguez, 86

Augie Rodriguez, 86, Half of a Mambo Team, Dies
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, July 26, 2014

What is rock and roll? Asked and answered at Lincoln Center Out of Doors

Two fantabulous singers: Nona Hendryx (above)
and Corey Glover (below)
All photos (c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Clearly, that's a question best suited to a multiple choice quiz where the correct answer is "All of the above." And, most of all, it is Black. Race music--from blues to gospel and beyond--is the mother source of rock and roll. Or, to put it another way, as writer Carl Hancock Rux did, rock "is one big family with a whole lotta children running around, and some of them don't know who their daddy is."

To Toshi Reagon (music director of Deep Roots of Rock and Roll), the Black Rock Coalition and all of the artists involved in yesterday afternoon's sensational Lincoln Center Out of Doors show, I will quote Rux quoting gospel singer Sallie Martin (1895-1988) in his narration: "Sing what you need to sing. Just keep singing it 'til it takes you where you need to go."

We all want to go there with you!

Here are a few of my photos from the day. Click for more.

Above: Toshi Reagon
Below: Nona Hendryx
among numerous musical artists performing at Lincoln Center Out of Doors
in Deep Roots of Rock and Roll
All photos (c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Above: a dance by Adaku Utah
Below: Narrator Carl Hancock Rux
taking us deep into Black American music history
All photos (c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues through August 10. Click here for schedule of these free events.

Bel Kaufman, 103

Bel Kaufman, Who Told What School Was Really Like, Dies at 103
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, July 25, 2014

Brazil's passinho dancers in US debut at LC Out of Doors

A Batalha do Passinho dancers
Below: Batalha host Zuzuka Poderosa
(c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

When New York's summer weather cooperates, as it certainly did last evening, Lincoln Center Out of Doors can be a great way to soak up and savor the positive energy of arts from nearly everywhere in our world. Last night's show brought an organized group of performers of passinho, the Rio de Janeiro party dance, in their US debut together with Rennie Harris Puremovement, the celebrated Philly troupe that revolutionized a sophisticated blending of hip-hop moves with more conventional dance theater techniques and aesthetics.

Three luminaries of New York's urban and contemporary dance scene
served as the passinho battle's judges.
Left to right: Rokafella, Akim Funk Buddha and Doug Elkins
(c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

A Batalha do Passinho dancers (c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
The showcase was created in 2011 by co-artistic director Julio Ludemir
after this Rio favela dance trend went viral on YouTube.

Opening the two-hour show, the Brazilians burst on the stage with a rawness and sense of adventure and fun that would be hard to top. Rapidfire twisting of their feet made their bent legs look like massive, lethal grinders. The daunting contortions of flexing and bone breaking, the smooth illusions of moonwalking, b-boying acrobatics, Cossack folkdance and even voguing all flow through passinho, offered in a spirit of good-natured competitiveness. The batalha (battle) format of the Brazilian presentation, facilitated by the merry host, Zuzuka Poderosa, gave the Lincoln Center audience an active investment in the proceedings as we watched closely to make distinctions between the competitors' styles and specialties.

Marcelly Miss Passista,
champion of the Lincoln Center batalha
(c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

The Brazilian dancers trained our eyes for a kind of reckless derring-do that seem combed out of the silky, glamorously sexy Puremovement with Harris's oddly safe, placid approach to arranging dancers across a stage--line them up, slide the frontal lines side to side. It's funny to come away feeling that I would have preferred to see Puremovement "where they belong now"--in formal, and well-managed, indoor staging. Put a frame around them.

The interesting encounter and dialogue of troupes that could have been did not pan out. Maybe next time both crews could be tossed together in a residency to experiment and cook up something surprising.

New York knows and loves Rennie Harris's endless seductions, the way his dancers' bodies bounce like rubber against air as if it were a hard surface; the way they float inside and around the edges of music's rhythms, each body addressing multiple, discrete segments of time in individual ways even when everyone's working the same moves. Puremovement demonstrates the basic silliness of trying to make dance where everyone looks exactly like everyone else, where visual homogeneity is privileged. Everything offered up is going to be a little different, according to who gives it, and that's a fine, instructive thing.

*****

There's much more to come from the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, running through through August 10--all programs absolutely free. Click here for a schedule of events including tomorrow's 1pm Family Day dance class with dancers from A Batalha do Passinho!

Lincoln Center Out of Doors
Damrosch Park Bandshell, Lincoln Center
West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Write It! with me in the Gibney Greenroom!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa (photo by D. Feller)

I'm pleased to offer another round of free, 30-minute writing consultations for dance artists at Gibney Dance Center's Greenroom (Union Square location) on Tuesday, August 19 (from 11am to 2pm).

Check out the details below, and set up your appointment by clicking here. There are only six slots available. So, hurry!

Guess Who’s in the Greenroom offers members of the dance community free one-on-one sessions with artistic and administrative innovators and leading artist service organizations. Sessions are 30 minutes each. Participants sign up in advance on a first-come, first-served basis.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Write It!

Bring a written draft (250 words maximum) about your artistic mission or an upcoming project. I'll suggest ways to turn this raw material into a clear, energetic and appealing tool that represents you at your best!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa blogs on the arts for InfiniteBody. Her writing on dance has appeared in Dance Magazine, The Village Voice, SoHo Weekly News, Gay City News and other publications since 1976. Ms. Yaa Asantewaa has interviewed dance artists as host of Body and Soul podcast and Editor-in-Chief of the blog Dancer's Turn. She served on the New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies) Committee for three years and has been a panelist and consultant to various arts funding and award programs.

Gibney Dance Center
890 Broadway, 5th floor, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Annual Between the Seas festival explores dance

Between the Seas Festival 2014 offered a "preview performance" of a solo by Nejla Yatkin (Turkey) who has forged a broad international career in dance and choreography. What dreams may come, its title sampled from Hamlet's meditation on death, bears Yatkin's stylish stamp. Even at its most mystifying and overextended, it is inhabited by an expressive performer who grasps the visual power of the stage even when she chooses to leave it for a curious walkabout in audience space.

When she first appears, backed by a cavernous soundscape of amplified exhalations, Yatkin can barely be recognized for the low lighting and the stretchy, jet-black cloth that wraps her upperbody. (We're left to ponder the contradiction of this piece of fabric that evokes an anonymizing chador while its bearer goes barelegged.) She pulls against the fabric, which is attached just beyond a doorway onto the stage, and its shadow and hers expand and loom across the back wall. Sometimes star-like flecks skitter across these inky masses. She writhes, twists, folds to the floor, lunges, bends her spine like a bow, makes wings and snakes of her arms to a gentle flow of Near Eastern-sounding melody. Eventually, she frees herself from the restrictive length of cloth, which snaps back into the doorway. The dervish spins, which soon come, seem pat, but if making a lovely impression is what the incredibly striking Yatkin is after, she succeeds.

Does "preview performance" mean that this solo is a work-in-progress or planned as part of a larger work, or that its premiere will happen elsewhere? That's not clear, but brevity would heighten its impact. The segment where where Yatkin appears to test out some potential dancing partners before twining herself around a few unfortunately seems tacked on, coming late in the piece. These interactions--tentative at first, then more comfortable, and finally generously flowing in a duet with a female dancer obviously planted in the audience--convey feeling and a growing desire to connect and be known.

Italy's ASMED-Balletto Teatro di Sardegna presented the world premiere of ARAGOSTA (Lobster), a trio by the Sardinian-born, London-based choreographer Moreno Salinas. Danced in the nude from start to almost finish by Francesca Assiero Brà, Anna Paola Della Chiesa and Rachele Montis, it's a fashion show, of sorts, introduced as such--which creates a bit of a shock when the first "model" strides out completely bare. The models stroll towards and away from the audience, drawing even more attention to their nakedness with nearly continuous (and increasingly monotonous) polyrhythmic body percussion. Variations include poses, gestural and facial expressions and occasional speech in Italian. Like Yatkin's solo, the piece feels overlong but benefits from its performers' focused strength. Salinas' inspiration, designer Elsa Schiaparelli--she who collaborated with Salvador Dalí on her famous Lobster Dress--would be tickled by their moxie and audacity.

Between the Seas, New York's summer festival of performing arts based in the diverse cultures of the Mediterranean, continues through Sunday at The Wild Project. For a schedule and ticketing information, click here.

The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street (between Avenues A and B), Manhattan
(map/direction)

Tyler Ashley premieres "KIDNAP ME" at Dixon Place

Spaciousness and freedom are at the core of dancer Tyler Ashley's artistic and genderqueer quest. His new ensemble work KIDNAP ME cries out for escape from regulation that might come only from being "rescued" in the suggested way. When I looked at this piece, danced last night at Dixon Place's 23rd annual HOT! Festival with extraordinary stamina, I flashed back to medieval diagrams of the cosmos, every single object and being set in its place and its pace within concentric circles in eternal whirl according to the direction of some offstage, unseen force. (In this case, the Great Offstage Director is visible, operating a mic and a Mac, and her name is Gillian Walsh.)

Ashley and his collaborating performers--Aranzazu Araujo, McSherry, Diego Montoya, Shane Shane, Rakia Seaborn and Walsh--could not be more different from one another in appearance. But each occupies a place and fulfills a function within KIDNAP ME's well-regulated system. What unfolds over ninety minutes is repetitive, driven and most frequently circular--sweeping, prancing or backpedaling in front of our eyes in a way that, in the viewer's experience, can go from acceptable to interesting to head-swimming to mind-numbing to skin-crawling.

At times, one or another part of this grand pattern splits off into a central space or its own time frame as if to give us zoomed-in views of particular specimens. In another moment, though, the surge of bodies might bunch up, the stream of movement becoming a little raggedy and collision-prone as the carousel-like music momentarily stammers.

As it proceeds, KIDNAP ME can come off as giddy and a little childish, but it builds. Follow it and, before you know it, you're in the holy, manic presence of the Maid of Orléans (via Julius Eastman's stark, declamatory vocal music) or watching Ashley draw black-marker portraits of his dancers' genitals on plywood boards or having his naked flesh whacked by the boards as, under Walsh's direction, he carefully works his delicate, willowy limbs into various ballet positions. "You can hit him harder," Walsh instructs, and sometimes the dancers do just that.

Influenced not only by Eastman's music but also Bela Tarr's acclaimed film, The Turin Horse, KIDNAP ME is a big, ambitious project in a little frame--and a reminder that most contemporary dance gets short shrift in terms of opportunities to be seen and carefully absorbed. It's good that Dixon Place found a night to include this work in its slate of queer programs, but let's hope Ashley will secure more venues and more time.

For more HOT! Festival shows--now through August 2--click here.

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Thomas Berger, 89

Thomas Berger, ‘Little Big Man’ Author, Is Dead at 89
by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt and William McDonald, The New York Times, July 21, 2014

James Garner, 86

James Garner of ‘Maverick,’ ‘Rockford Files’ Dies at 86
by Richard Natale, Variety, July 20, 2014

In the "ARENA" with Walter Dundervill

Walter Dundervill (photo by Ian Douglas)

Drop into Walter Dundervill's ARENA, a performance installation at the small arts space JACK tonight, anytime between 6pm and 9pm, and you'll feel close enough to nearly everything to feel the inexorable pull of gravity dragging everyone and everything down. If tonight is anything like the last, and there's no guarantee of that, maybe this showplace of the deep interior will feel a lot like the external world itself, and Dundervill--going about his business of dressing his seven dancer/models in a workmanly manner--will seem like the crafter of that world in his messy workshop full of mylar, aluminum foil, dropcloths, drapery, ribbons, cardboard and plexiglass, piling idea onto idea of costuming and decor details with more industry than clear sense. It might pull at your spirit to watch Omagbitse Omagbemi submit to having Dundervill tie padding to her hips and a length of ribbon around her gray, matted wig and eyes--a tiny flicker of apprehension and reluctance crosses her face each time he approaches--and to watch Rebecca Brooks, with her customary princess-like bearing, peaceably acquiesce to similar treatment. But then it's all going south, all of it, into a mess of forms mashing into one another, Brooks and Omagbemi collapsing into surrounding fabric like half-melted icing; Omagbemi encasing herself in a plastic box listlessly pushed by Brooks; their fellow performers forming a sprawl of bodies along a kind of horizontal, earthbound and joyless maypole. When I left last evening (you can come and go as you please), the intensified and briefly exciting dynamics had started devolving into clutter. Nowhere to go. But, then again, who knows what happened next? Or what will happen tonight?

Installation, costumes and sound by Walter Dundervill

Performed by Dundervill, Omagbemi, Brooks, Benjamin Asriel, Nicole Daunic, Jessie Gold, Jennifer Kjos and Kevin Lovelady

Curated by Stacy Grossfield

ARENA concludes tonight, open to viewing between 6pm and 9pm. Ticketing is by cash at the door. For further information, click here.

JACK
505 1/2 Waverly Avenue (between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue), Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Otto Piene, 85

Otto Piene, German Artist of New Modes, Dies at 85
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 18, 2014

Johnny Winter, 70

Johnny Winter, Blues Legend, Dies at 70
by The Associated Press, The New York Times, July 17, 2014

Elaine Stritch, 89

Elaine Stritch, Tart-Tongued Broadway Actress and Singer, Is Dead at 89
by Robert Berkvist and Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 17, 2014

Bessie nominations announced; dance awards 30th anniversary toasted

I greatly regret not being able to attend this year's Bessie Awards press conference. But here's all the info you'll need to know. See you on Monday, October 20 at the great Apollo!

*****

The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC’s premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, celebrates a milestone 30th anniversary this year. Today, the 36 nominees for the 2013-14 season were announced at a press conference by members of The Bessies Selection Committee. The nominations (listed below) were selected by an independent committee of 40 dance industry professionals. Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, Bessie Award categories include Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Production, Outstanding Visual Design, Outstanding Music Composition or Sound Design and Outstanding Revival.

The 30th Annual Bessie Awards, termed by The New York Times as “the dance world’s version of the Academy Awards,” will take place on Monday, October 20, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York City. The 2014 ceremony will mark The Bessie Awards’ fourth year at the Apollo Theater.

One 2014 award was also presented at the press conference: The fourth annual Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Award. Previous recipients include Beth Gill (2011), Rashaun Mitchell (2012) and Joanna Kotze (2013). This year, the committee’s vote was tied and selected two of the nominees to receive the Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Award.  The first recipient, Jessica Lang, was recognized for the elegant works created for her newly formed company of dancers at the Joyce Theater in her transition from freelance choreographer to artistic director. Additionally, Jen Rosenblit was recognized for a Natural dance, performed at The Kitchen, for a confident voice investigating the fluidity of identity, the pulse of time, and the nature of what it is to dance.

The Juried Bessie Award Committee, a jury of three acclaimed choreographers responsible for deciding on a single work or choreographer that exhibits interesting and exciting ideas in dance in New York City, was also announced.  This award will provide the honored dance maker to theaters outside of the city for future touring and residencies, providing the tools to move forward in their creation. The 2014 Bessie Jury is Tere O’Connor, Annie-B Parson and Eduardo Vilaro.

The 2014 Bessie Awards Steering Committee, responsible for setting policy and providing oversight of the Bessie Awards throughout the year, is comprised of Arthur Aviles, Cora Cahan, Beverly D’Anne, Lane Harwell, Judy Hussie-Taylor, Carla Peterson, Laurie Uprichard, Martin Wechsler and Wendy Whelan.

The 2013-2014 Bessie Award Nominating Committee consists of Nolini Barretto, Barbara Bryan, Kim Chan, H.T. Chen, Blondell Cummings, Nancy Dalva, Simon Dove, Maura Donohue, Joan Finkelstein, Laurel George, Zhenesse Heinemann, Virginia Johnson, Robert LaFosse, Matthew Lyons, Nicole Macotsis, Caridad Martinez, Sarah Maxfield, Salley May, Harold Norris, Nicky Paraiso, Morgan von prelle Pecelli, PhD., Susan Reiter, Rokafella, Walter Rutledge, Philip Sandstrom, Sally Silvers, Sue Samuels, Elka Samuels Smith, Gus Solomons Jr., Muna Tseng, Kay Turner, Marya Warshaw, Edisa Weeks, Ryan Wenzel, Jay Wegman, Adrienne Westwood, Marya Wethers and Elizabeth Zimmer.

Outstanding Performer

Maggie Cloud
in Passagen by Pam Tanowitz

Sean Donovan
in the work of Witness Relocation, Jane Comfort, Faye Driscoll, and others

Julia Hausermann
in Disabled Theater by Jerome Bel and Theater HORA

Sean Jackson
in Rhythm in Motion by Lisa LaTouche

Mickey Mahar
in the work of Miguel Gutierrez, Adrienne Truscott, Ryan McNamara, and Gillian Walsh

Angela "Angel" McNeal
For her hip hop battle improvisations at Harlem Stage E-Moves 15 Battle

Sara Mearns
New York City Ballet

Aakash Odedra
in Get on the Good Foot, organized and shaped by Otis Rasheed as part of A Celebration in Dance at the Apollo Theater

Tiler Peck
New York City Ballet

Rebecca Serrell-Cyr
in Fire Underground by Donna Uchizono

Linda Celeste Sims
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Stuart Singer
in Within Between by John Jasperse

Outstanding Music Composition/Sound Design

Complete, with guitarist Giuliano Modarelli
for Exit/Exist choreographed by Gregory Maqoma

G. Lucas Crane
for This Was the End created by Mallory Catlett

Steven Taylor
for Aubade choreographed by Douglas Dunn

Nicholas Young
for his inventive tap 'percussion platforms' in Rhythm in Motion

Outstanding Revival

Dark Swan
by Nora Chipaumire
The Joyce

Myth or Meth (or Maybe Moscow?)
by Radiohole
Tom Murrin Full Moon Performance Festival at La MaMa

State of Heads
by Donna Uchizono
New York Live Arts

Bach Partita
by Twyla Tharp
American Ballet Theatre

Outstanding Production

Asase Yaa African American Dance Theatre
Djembe in the New Millenium
Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts

Camille A. Brown
MR. TOL E. RAncE
Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts

Mallory Catlett
This Was the End
The Chocolate Factory

Liz Gerring
Glacier
Montclair State University

Maria Hassabi
Premiere
The Kitchen

John Jasperse
Within Between
New York Live Arts

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker
En Atendant/Cesena
Brooklyn Academy of Music

Akram Khan
Desh
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Sarah Michelson
4
Whitney Museum of American Art

MIMULUS Cia de Danca
Dolores
The Joyce

Okwui Okpokwasili
Bronx Gothic
Danspace

Aki Sasamoto
Sunny in the Furnace
The Kitchen

Outstanding Visual Design

Thomas Dunn
for New Work for the Desert by Beth Gill

Patricia Forelle with Jenny Mui, Avram Finkelstein, and Kathy Morganroth of YMX by Yellowman; and Nicholas Vermeer, Olivia Barr, and William Ward of NYC Resistor
for Vectors, Mary, and Snow by Brooklyn Ballet

Peter Ksander, Olivera Gajic, Ryan Holsopple, Chris Kuhl, and Keith Skretch
for This Was the End by Mallory Catlett

Tim Yip
for Desh by Akram Khan

Outstanding Emerging Choreographer

Rashida Bumbray
for The Little Red Rooster in a Red House
Harlem Stages E-Moves 15

Jessica Lang
For the formation of her own company and its inaugural season
The Joyce

Jen Rosenblit
for a Natural dance
The Kitchen

Gillian Walsh
for Grinding and Equations: Two Duets at Abrons
Abrons Arts Center

ABOUT THE BESSIES

Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, the NY Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work by independent dance artists in NYC for 30 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schoenberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize exceptional work in choreography, performance, music composition and visual design. Nominees are chosen by a 40-member selection committee, comprised of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the NY Dance and Performance League, as members participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. This year’s 30th Anniversary Bessie Awards will be held at The Apollo on Monday October 20, 2014.

Nadine Gordimer, 90

Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took on Apartheid, Dies at 90
by Helen T. Verongos, The New York Times, July 14, 2014

Lorin Maazel, 84

Lorin Maazel, Intense and Enigmatic Conductor, Dies at 84
by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, July 13, 2014

Lincoln Center Festival presents Rosas revival

Right before the evening's performance of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Rosas Danst Rosas, I find myself seated behind a tall, big-headed man accompanied by his tall, big-headed friend--they tend to go about in pairs--and our section of rows facing the Gerald W. Lynch Theater's stage at a less-than-ideal angle anyway. I have never seen a Rosas dance live--only on video...theirs and Beyoncé's--but I'd hoped to see De Keersmaeker's stage in full. I longed to see De Keersmaeker's stage in full and to track the play of energies between bodies. I'd not expected to have to tilt way over in my chair at times, the way her dancers sometimes tilt in theirs, in order to follow some of the action. The first man's head, as things develop, will be precisely stationed in some crucial gaps between dancers--De Keersmaeker, Tale Dolven, Cynthia Loemij and Sue-Yeon Youn--bifurcating the choreographer's enigmatic arrangements at certain times. In a mood of revenge, I wildly fantasize going all Harlem Church Lady on this Lincoln Center Festival audience, leaving and coming back with a big ol' feathered hat and refusing to remove it. But you can't go out and come back--hat or no hat. De Keersmaeker won't let you.

My seat is way back in the packed theater, and the distance and frequently dimmish lighting (Remon Fromont) make it hard to read facial expressions, the kind that, on video, make a particularly striking segment of Rosas Danst Rosas look like a growing conspiracy among a clique of bored teenagers. Dolven's open, eager presentation and coltish energy carry most clearly, but I often glance at De Keersmaeker, who made this signature piece as an NYU undergrad and performs it now three decades later. I'm excited to see her dance, to see what this piece, born of her body and spirit, can tell me about this woman.

I find a solemn, closed face, what I can see of it, and a dutiful body. It does its work in the ensemble but does not show too much of itself amid the younger women. She tells me nothing. But when De Keersmaeker performs that repeated turning movement that looks like a flamenco dancer whipping a dress front and back, gripping it at her pelvis and tailbone--if you've seen the dance, I think you'll know what I mean--she shows an intensity that underlies everything. Underlies abstraction, repetition, synchronicity, motionlessness. Underlies melting and dissolution. Underlies uncertainty and self-consciousness. A dashing style, a passion and a power that turns the stage and all four physically, mentally vibrant women on it into an engine that, with Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch's aggressive music, opens your head like nobody's business.

Lincoln Center Festival presents Rosas through July 16 with a schedule of performances of Rosas Danst Rosas (1983), Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich (1982), Elena's Aria (1984) and Bartók/Mikrokosmos (1987) as well as several free public events. For further information, click here.

Gerald W. Lynch Theater
John Jay College
524 West 59th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

P. N. Furbank, 94

P. N. Furbank, Biographer of E. M. Forster, Dies at 94
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 11, 2014

Zohra Sehgal, 102

Zohra Sehgal, 102, Beloved and Prolific Indian Actress, Dies
by Haresh Pandya, The New York Times, July 11, 2014

Charlie Haden, 76

Charlie Haden, Influential Jazz Bassist, Is Dead at 76
by Nate Chinen, The New York Times, July 11, 2014

Tommy Ramone, 65 [UPDATE]

Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies
The Associated Press, July 12, 2014

Tommy Ramone Dies at 65; He Gave Punk Rock Its Pulse
by Ben Sisario, The New York Times, July 12, 2014

What I learned: Cuba's Danay Suárez, "Yo Aprendí"

Danay Suárez Web site

Danay Suárez Facebook page

Latin Alternative Music Conference

(New York City, July 8-12)

Upholding Estonia's revolution in song

Estonia’s Revolutionary Spirit, Embodied in Music
by Rebecca Schmid, The New York Times, July 10, 2014

Take part in NYSCA's online survey of cultural activity participation

Surveying New Yorkers’ Cultural Landscape
by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, July 8, 2014

Paul Horn, 84

Paul Horn, a Founding Father of New Age Music, Dies at 84
by Peter Keepnews, The New York Times, July 10, 2014

Anne Hollander, 83

Anne Hollander, Scholar of Style, Dies at 83
by William Yardley, The New York Times, July 8, 2014

Katie Couric is catching up with Lil Buck!

Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric talks with Bessie Award-winning dancer Lil Buck about jookin (his "crazy obsession") and his success at bringing this Memphis-born dance form to mainstream audiences.

To watch Couric's World 3.0 interview on Yahoo! News (video 4:52), click here.

New Brooklyn Theater partners with its diverse audience

New Brooklyn Theater Casts Audience in Crucial Role
Four Plays by African-American Playwrights
by Richard Morgan, The New York Times, July 4, 2014

Frank M. Robinson, 87

Frank M. Robinson, Dies at 87; Author and Adviser to Harvey Milk
by Paul Vitello, The New York Times, July 4, 2014

de Blasio announces aid and hires for NYC school arts programs

Mayor de Blasio, Comptroller Stringer and Chancellor Fariña Announce New Arts Programs for Thousands of Students
NYC.gov, July 1, 2014

Dancing Through the Bronx series launches in August

Dancing Through the Bronx is a Bronx-positive traveling festival of free, public site-specific dance performances by Larry Keigwin, James “Cricket” Colter and Bronx-based choreographers Arthur Aviles, Toni Renee Johnson, and Ni’Ja Whitson Adebanjo.

Venues include:

Wave Hill

Hayden Lord Park 

Owen Dolen Park

Dancing Through the Bronx

Wednesday, August 13 through Saturday August 16

For a complete schedule of shows

and additional information, click here.

Mandela Day commemorative concert at Riverside Church and streamed live, July 18

A New York Concert to Honor Mandela, and Stream Online
by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, July 2, 2014

Footsteps of Mandela Web site

In her own voice: Black women's spoken words

Poet Patricia Smith

What a treasure trove!

Learn about and listen to the spoken word poetry of:

Patricia Smith

Sonya Renee Taylor

Mahogany L. Browne

Falu

Jaha Zainabu

Dominique Christina

Aja Monet

Angel Nafis

Safia Elhillo

Alysia Harris

Tonya Ingram

Aziza Barnes

12 Black Woman Spoken Word Poets Everyone Should Know

by Michelle Denise Jackson, For Harriet, July 2, 2014

Public memorial for Ruby Dee at Riverside Church, September

Memorial for Ruby Dee Set for September in NYC
NBCNewYork.com/Associated Press, July 2, 2014

Paul Mazursky, 84

Paul Mazursky, Director Who Captured a Changing America, Dies at 84
by Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, July 1, 2014

Ana María Matute, 88

Ana María Matute, Spanish Novelist Marked by Civil War, Dies at 88
by William Yardley, The New York Times, June 30, 2014

Nancy Garden, 76

Nancy Garden Dies at 76; Wrote Young Adult Novel of Lesbians
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, June 30, 2014