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| David Oyelowo with Selma director Ava DuVernay |
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| Nona Hendryx in Deep Roots of Rock & Roll (photo: Eva Yaa Asantewaa) |
Eva Yaa Asantewaa's List:
Most Memorable Arts and Cultural Experiences of 2014
Unlike the numerous "10-or-so-Best" lists you've seen in recent weeks, this list is not about sifting out a handful of elite art products. Rather, it's my chance to pay tribute to a bounty of special experiences from my year with the arts. It's personal; your experiences may vary. In fact, I encourage you to make note of your own treasured memories in the comments section below and on InfiniteBody's Facebook page.
One more thing: Very soon, InfiniteBody will reach its 5,000th post! Whew! And March 29, 2015 will make its eighth anniversary! Wow!
I wish you all an artful, heartful and fabulous 2015. Thanks for your support of InfiniteBody!
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| Ramya Ramana (photo courtesy of Ramya Ramana) |
@Ramya Ramana, New York City Youth Poet Laureate, at inauguration of Bill de Blasio, 109th Mayor of the City of New York, January 1
@Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey, Brooklyn Museum, October 11, 2013-March 9, 2014
@Tyson vs. Ali by Reid Farrington, 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center (commissioned by Performance Space 122, co-presented by 3-Legged Dog and Performance Space 122), January 3-26. Entire creative team, in particular, choreography by Laura K. Nicoll, script by Frank Boudreaux; performances by Dennis A. Allen II, Roger Casey, Femi Olagoke, Jonathan Swain and Dave Shelley; video and set design by Simon Harding; sound design by Juan Aboites; special effects makeup by Shenna Vaughn
@Christine McMillan performing in works by Cherylyn Lavagnino (Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance) at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, January 5
@Muazzez by Mac Wellman, performed by Steve Mellor at The Chocolate Factory, January 7-17
@13 Love Songs:dot dot dot by and featuring Ishmael Houston-Jones and Emily Wexler, American Realness 2014, Abrons Arts Center, January 9-18
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| Okwui Okpokwasili in Bronx Gothic (photo: Ian Douglas) |
@Bronx Gothic by Okwui Okpokwasili, COIL festival, Danspace Project, January 14-February 1
@Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, Guggenheim Museum, January 24-May 14
@The Little Prince: A New York Story, The Morgan Library & Museum, January 24-April 27
@Rennie Harris Puremovement at The Joyce Theater, January 28-February 2
@King Lear by Chichester Festival Theatre, BAM Harvey Theater, January 7-February 9. Directed by Angus Jackson; performances by Frank Langella, Max Bennett, Catherine McCormack and Harry Melling; set by Robert Innes Hopkins
@Black Male Revisited: experimental representations through the ephemeral form, curated by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Danspace Project, February 6-8
@Charmaine Warren (performance) and Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya (costumes) in Benon by Souleymane Badolo at Danspace Project, February 13-15
@Fiasco Theater in Measure for Measure at New Victory Theater, February 28-March 16
@The Blues Project: Dorrance Dance and Toshi Reagon/BIGLovely at Women's Jazz Festival, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Also with Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, March 10
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| A very different Beauty and the Beast starred Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser (photo: Sin Bozkurt) |
@Beauty and the Beast by and starring Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser at Abrons Arts Center, March 13-30
@DNA Comedy's Affirmative Reaction at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, March 31. Written, choreographed and directed by Denae Hannah; additional writing by Kathleen Battista; music editing by Ebonie Smith. Starring Denae Hannah, Jason Aguirre, Michael Alexander, Richard Armstead, Atika Greene, Nancy Millien, Sydnie Mosley, Marisa Renee, Nicole Roerick, Daiquan Smith, Autumn Scoggan, Tsige Tafesse, Milly Tamarez, Kirya Traber, Iman Ward and Nehemoyia Young
@OTRO TEATRO by luciana achugar at New York Live Arts, April 2-5
@Program A of Rhythm in Motion by American Tap Dance Foundation, directed and curated by Tony Waag at The Theater at 14th Street Y, April 8-12. Works by Nicholas Young, Michelle Dorrance, Chloe Arnold, Jason Samuels Smith, Lisa La Touche and Derick K. Grant. Special mention: dancing by Michelle Dorrance and Jason Samuels Smith
@The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Twyla Tharp (with dancing by Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild) at BAM Gilman Opera House, April 10.
@Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 14-July 27
@Ubu Sings Ubu, co-directed by Tony Torn and Dan Safer; adapted by Tony Torn; choreographed by Dan Safer at Abrons Arts Center, April 9-26. Starring Tony Torn and Julie Atlas Muz.
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| Tia Powell Harris, director Weeksville Heritage Center |
@Weeksville Heritage Center tour, LaShaya Howie (Education Programs Curator), ongoing
@The Craft of The Father by Levi Gonzalez at The Chocolate Factory. Performed by Gonzalez, Kayvon Pourazar and Eleanor Smith. Sound design by Tatyana Tenenbaum and lighting design by Natalie Robin.
@Memory Withholdings by Love|Forté, A Collective at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, April 24-27. Choreography and performances by Nia Love and Marjani Forté
@Performances by Miguel Gutierrez and Mickey Mahar in Gutierrez's Age & Beauty Part 1: Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/ at 2014 Whitney Biennial, April 23-May 4
@David Thomson in Baron Samedi by Alain Buffard at New York Live Arts, May 1-3
@Kuniko Kato (music direction and performance) in Project IX-Pleiades by Luca Veggetti at Japan Society, May 2-3
@One Day Pina Asked..., a film by Chantal Akerman, screened by Dance Films Association at Gibney Dance Center's Sorry I Missed Your Show program, May 7
@Martin Barnes of ISH performing in HyperISH at New Victory Theater, May 9-18
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| Dancer Albert David of Australia's Black Cockatoo Dance Company |
@Black Cockatoo Dance Company: Indigenous Australian Song and Dance at Asia Society, May 16
@a Natural dance by Jen Rosenblit at The Kitchen, May 29-31
@Dancing While Black at BAAD!, May 30-31, featuring panel discussion with Greg Tate, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Aimee Cox (moderated by Shani Jamil) and works choreographed by Adia Tamar Whitaker and Brian Polite; Ebony Noelle Golden; and Rashida Bumbray
@Annique Roberts, dancing in Torch (2013) by Ronald K. Brown in Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company Spring 2014 season at The Joyce Theater
@David Gaulein-Stef, dancing in Ghazals by Asha Thomas in Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company Spring 2014 season at The Joyce Theater
@Rosas in Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Rosas Danst Rosas at Lincoln Center Festival, July 11-12
@Toshi Reagon, musical director and performer, with entire cast of performers (including Corey Glover, Nona Hendryx, Tamar-kali, Karma Mayet Johnson, Carl Hancock Rux) for Deep Roots of Rock & Roll at Lincoln Center Out of Doors.
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| Cassandra Wilson at Lincoln Center Out of Doors (photo: Eva Yaa Asantewaa) |
@Cassandra Wilson and The Campbell Brothers, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, August.
@Forgetting the Details, written and performed by Nicole Maxali, New York International Fringe Festival, August
@Noah Diamond for his adaptation of I'll Say She Is, the lost Marx Brothers musical, New York International Fringe Festival, August. Also, performances by Diamond, Melody Jane, Seth Shelden and Kathy Biehl
@La Donna Improvvisata improvised and performed by Lisa Flanagan with pianist Frank Spitznagel, New York International Fringe Festival, August.
@Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects at The Kingsland Ward@St. John's, now extended through March 29, 2015. Entire creative and performance team
@The Great Nature Theater of Oklahoma is Calling You! (film) at Crossing the Line Festival, FIAF, directed by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper; New York premiere, September 8-October 20.
@Garry Winogrand, Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 27-September 21
@Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age, Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 22-January 4, 2015
@Ai Weiwei: According to What?, Brooklyn Museum, April 18-August 10
@The Watershed by Kyle Abraham, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion at New York Live Arts, September 23-October 3. Set by Glenn Ligon, lighting by Dan Scully, sound by Sam Crawford and costumes by Karen Young
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| Justin Vivian Bond |
@Love is Crazy by Justin Vivian Bond with Miguel Gutierrez at FIAF: Crossing the Line Festival, September 25
@Little Dot by Suzanne Bocanegra at Danspace Project, performance by New York Theatre Ballet, September 27
@g-h-o-s-t c-r-o-w-n (working title) by RoseAnne Spradlin at New York Live Arts, performed by devynn emory, Natalie Green, Athena Malloy, Saul Ulerio, Rebecca Warner and Asli Bulbul; music by Jeffrey Young; sculpture and video by Glen Fogel; film by Bu Wancang, re-edited by Spradlin, October 8-11
@Court/Garden by Yanira Castro and a canary torsi creative team at Danspace Project; special mention costumes by Miodrag Guberinic; music by Stephan Moore; performances by Luke Miller and Simon Courchel, October 9-11
@Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 20-February 16, 2015
@Triple Consciousness: Body Rock: The Politics of Black Female Identity on "Stage," presented at Brooklyn Museum in co-sponsorship with 651 Arts and MAPP International Productions. Moderator: Toni Blackman. Panelists: Rev. Desiree Allen, Charlotte Braithwaite, Karma Mayet Johnson, Shannon Washington. Curator: Ebony Noelle Golden. October 18
@The Bessies 30th Anniversary at The Apollo Theater, October 20
@What Tammy Needs to Know About Getting Old and Having Sex, The Concert Tour by and starring Lois Weaver and a terrific cast of seniors at La MaMa, November 6-23
@Daria Fain in is as if alone, curated by RoseAnne Spradlin at DoublePlus, Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, November 12-15
@Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Group)
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| Rakiya A. Orange in Aziza (photo: Alex Escalante) |
@Rakiya A. Orange in Aziza, curated by Miguel Gutierrez at DoublePlus, Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, November 19-22
@Black Violin at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, Brooklyn College, November 22
@October 7, 1944 by Jonah Bokaer at American Jewish Historical Society, Jewish Historical Center, October 7-December 30
@Rodney King by Roger Guenveur Smith with sound by Marc Anthony Thompson at BRIC House, December 3-7
@El gato con botas (Puss in Boots) by Gotham Chamber Opera and Tectonic Theater Project with puppetry by Blind Summit Theatre at El Museo del Barrio, December 6-14
@WOW by Keely Garfield Dance at Danspace Project, December 11-13
@destabilizer by Abby Zbikowski, curated by Bebe Miller, performed by Fiona Lundie and Jennifer Meckley at DoublePlus, Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, December 10-13
@Matisse: The Cut-Outs at Museum of Modern Art, October 12-February 10, 2015
@Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay, lead actors: David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo, writer: Paul Webb, cinematographer: Bradford Young, opened New York City, December 25
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| Eva Yaa Asantewaa (photo: D. Feller) |
Okay, that's mine! What's yours?
--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody
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