Leonard Nimoy, 83

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83
by Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times, February 27, 2015

Mariangela López opens new season at Gibney Dance

Mariangela López in El Regreso
(photo: Oskar Landi)

In her new solo, El Regreso--commissioned by and presented at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center--Mariangela López starts out lying prone on the floor, head and upper back obscured in a tangle of brightly-colored costumes recognizable from two of her earlier works. She's wearing her history, encased in it, perhaps worn down by it, with only the small of her back and legs in fuschia tights visible. She remains still for a very long time until music rouses her. As she gradual stretches and unfolds limbs and fabrics, she displays gnarly textures and layers. Most dramatically, she wraps her head in these cloths of many colors, starting to evoke, for me, sculptor (and flamboyant self-sculptor) Chakaia Booker who I remember seeing walking city streets adorned in one or another mammoth headdress constructed of disparate cloths.

López sculpts herself like Booker and like a Kabuki artist, taking her time. For a while, you cannot see her eyes for the headwrap, and then you do. Through shifts in energy behind her gaze--glazed at first, then alert, sparkling--she lets the audience detect the minute changes that transform a pile of discards into a container of intelligence, even imperious nobility, before slipping into other states of being and tokens of sensory experience. Having divested herself of her costumes, she might lash the floor with them, striking quite close to our feet, or attack the bunched up fabric with canine ferocity. Or she might create a broad circle with the costumes, calmly fussing over that circle's curvature. For some reason, it must be perfect. She pinches it here and there, smooths it out.

In El Regreso (The Return), I see an artist at work on herself and her materials, never at rest, pulled by past and by future.

ACCIDENTAL MOVEMENT/Mariangela López continues through Saturday, February 28 with performances at 7:30pm. On Friday, February 27, stay for a post-show talk with López facilitated by Marya Warshaw. For information and tickets, click here.

The inaugural Making Space spring season continues at Gibney through June 27. Click here for the complete schedule.

Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis
Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway (enter at 53A Chambers Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Sydnie Mosley reflects on "Power, Privilege, & Perception"

If you read my post discussing the Power, Privilege, & Perception: Voices on Race and Dance session of the 2015 Dance/NYC Symposium, you will remember that I made reference to panelist Sydnie Mosley (Artistic Director, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances and co-chair of Dance/NYC's Junior Committee). Mosley has written a series of three blog posts that detail her experience of preparing for and sitting on the final panel of that session, Making Change, Artist Voices. With cogent analysis, Mosley shows how an opportunity for open discussion of race and non-equity in dance got lost along with any chance of meaningful networking and follow-up action.

Read More to Say: Reflections on the 2015 Dance/NYC Symposium:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Nice on the ice: Ice Theatre of New York

Ice Theatre of New York

presents

A Tribute to Alyssa Joy Stith

Rohene Ward 
in his solo Journey to Solace
©2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Wednesday, February 25

The Rink at Rockefeller Center

all photographs 

by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

©2015

***

Read my InfiniteBody post 

about ITNY's presentation here.

Kim Navarro (center) leads members of Ice Theatre of New York
in her ensemble work, The Promise. 

The Promise

Anna Cobb in Last Dance
by Adam Blake and Anna Cobb

Anna Cobb
(above and below)

Tyrrell Gene and Elisa Angeli
begin Heather Harrington's Once Again.

Gene and Angeli
(above and below)

Gene and Angeli
(above and below)

Rohene Ward
in his solo Journey to Solace

Jonathon Hunt and Ale Izquierdo Pons
in Hunt's Fly (above and below)

Remembering
Alyssa Joy Stith
(1974-2014)

All photos ©2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

***

Ice Theatre of New York, founded and directed by Moira North, returns to The Rink on Wednesdays, March 18 and April 1 at 1pm. In the event of rain, the scheduled performance will be held the following day at 1pm.

The Rink at Rockefeller Center
Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Alan Howard, 77

Alan Howard, Actor With Royal Shakespeare Company, Dies at 77
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, February 23, 2015

We who believe in freedom: UBW invites you

2015 Urban Bush Women

Summer Leadership Institute

We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest: 

Organizing for Racial Equity

July 24 - August 2

New Orleans, LA

Michelle Alexander’s thought-provoking bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is the research touchstone that will inform Urban Bush Women’s 2015 Summer Leadership Institute -- We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest: Organizing for Racial Equity.

Click here for more details.

Click here to apply.

More on bias and privilege in the arts sector

The Hypocrisy of the Artistic and Critical Left
by Beca Rothfeld, Hyperallergic, February 23, 2015

"We have life because water is bent."

As a writer, I’m interested in the intersection between poetry and storytelling. How and when does an act of human speech become like a poem? How do poetry and storytelling come together and diverge?

--Devi Lockwood, One Bike, One Year

Read more at:

Release (and Dreams of a Performance)
by Devi Lockwood, One Bike, One Year, January 16, 2015

A few thoughts on the 2015 Dance/NYC Symposium

I attended just one complete session at the Dance/NYC Symposium held yesterday at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center. No surprise--given what is surely my explicit/implicit bias--it was the three-panel Power, Privilege, & Perception: Voices on Race and Dance session curated by Dance/USA Executive Director Amy Fitterer and former Dance/NYC Director Michelle Ramos-Burkhart.

Before attending those panels, I did manage to catch maybe the final ten minutes of Department of Cultural Affairs commissioner Tom Finkelpearl's presentation on Diversity & NYC Cultural Leadership, just enough to note that there's a serious disconnect between what neighborhoods, small, homegrown institutions and independent artists need and what city government can imagine and support. Under repeated questioning by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega (founder, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute) and other audience members, Finkelpearl--former Queens Museum ED and president, well regarded in that post--sounded lightweight and defensive. I thought back to Bill de Blasio's lackluster performance at a 2013 mayoral candidates forum on the arts when, as a potential mayor, he clearly had one thing on his mind: the looming contract battles with city unions. De Blasio seemed reluctant to engage with the arts community, even under the constrained and very safe arts-are-wholesome-for-schoolkids premise that governed that forum. I also thought back to the recent New York Times item announcing that children and families of the South Bronx would soon benefit from "films, music, dance, opera and more from Lincoln Center’s resident organizations’ great and talented artists." As if the South Bronx has not long nurtured its own artists and initiatives worthy of much more exposure, funding and other resources that make creativity and survival possible.

As introduced by Fitterer, Power, Privilege, & Perception sounded far more promising. Panelists would examine how racist power and privilege within the arts ecology cannot be dealt with while ignoring systemic, societal racism. Moreover, panelists would be encouraged--as they were, repeatedly--to offer practical solutions.

In her opening section, My Lens, My Dance, Ramos-Burkhart argued that everyone harbors implicit bias which may be detected through a cognitive test. Earlier in the day, she had administered this test to two dance artists--a white woman and a Black man, both of whom joined Ramos-Burkhart at her presentation. The white dancer-choreographer confessed that the test had made her deeply uncomfortable; the Black artist recalled tensing up as he grappled with the test. We were left to imagine the test's content as Ramos-Burkhart reported that the white artist's test results were inconclusive while the Black artist's results showed a slight bias in favor of Black people. The white artist interpreted her results as a sign of ambivalence due to her wanting to not be, as she called it, "a bad white person." Ramos-Burkhart issued no judgement of the results, which was fine, but her silence around the Black artist's results troubled me.

This idea that everyone has bias might have merit (especially dear to a self-serving racist) but is merely part of the story. After all, why shouldn't this Black artist have, at the very least, some small bias in favor of Black people given what we have experienced under white supremacy? All things are not equal until they are. The white artist's possible bias (even as she struggled to not be a bad white person) would not be equivalent to the Black artist's bias.  I would expect the Black artist to embrace and struggle for his people. Racism, naturally, has created in people of color a spectrum of resistance from mild to militant. It has also shaped a people who, when truly healthy of mind and heart, love themselves fiercely and seek to uplift their own whenever possible.

BTW, I'd be delighted to see the typical New York dance critic or culture desk editor take Ramos-Burkhart's test. That could prove revealing--and useful--but that's a matter, perhaps, for another day.

Ramos-Burkhart also directed several people in a demonstration showing the limits of how we think about diversity and privilege, how we fail to take into account how possession of privilege shifts as the social context changes. Like, say, when a white actress, wielding her new Oscar, declares that it's time for gay people and people of color (all presumed to be men, I guess) to fight for women's rights as hard as women (white?) have surely fought for theirs.

Tammy Boormann, chair of Urban Bush Women's board, is a white ally to a venerable dance troupe founded by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, a Black choreographer and educator grounded in commitment to social justice. In Boorman's panel--National Voices--Fitterer and Ramos-Burkhart were joined by Denise Saunders Thompson (chair and ED of International Association of Blacks in Dance) and Carlton Turner (ED of Atlanta-based Alternate ROOTS). Boormann made repeated efforts to solicit solutions but, in this, the panel came up short. Instead, we learned how difficult it is to revise the Dance/USA mission statement in a meaningful, progressive way without alienating the organization's board.

I appreciated Turner's stark, contextual perspective: Why would we expect a society that does not value our lives to value our art? For Turner and Alternate ROOTS, the bottom line is transformation, and the choice is clear: You either contribute to societal transformation, or you do not. Not every artist is going to make explicitly political work or participate in overtly political actions, and yet, as artists make and share their work, they can consciously choose to strive to serve progress towards equity and justice.

Turner moderated the session's concluding panel, Making Change: Artist Voices, which included representatives from three major troupes--Dance Theater of Harlem (Virginia Johnson), Ballet Hispanico (Eduardo Vilaro) and American Ballet Theater (Richard Toda). In addition, Sydnie Mosley (Artistic Director, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances) and Alice Sheppard (independent dancer and choreographer) brought more of an urgent, activist, community-invested experience of resisting silence and invisibility. Mosley's work as a performer, choreographer and educator deals provocatively with issues of race and gender; Sheppard's work affirms the capacity and rich language of dancers with disabilities. Much more could have been learned, especially from these last two artists, had we had time to examine details of their ideas and projects. I would argue that Dance/NYC would do well to offer an expanded version of Turner's panel with indepth presentations by artists like Mosley and Sheppard on how to innovate around the challenges and opportunities of difference.

For the purpose of this afternoon's program, the Gibney theater proved to be fatally formal with the audience seated in rising rows opposite panelists lined up behind a long table. Off in the far distance, sheets of paper covered the theater's wall of mirrors, but few people accepted the many invitations to take markers and share their evolving thoughts and feelings. It seemed a little awkward to get up from your seat and cross in front of the panel to reach the paper. Maybe, for future events, each participant can be issued a sheet of paper or a few index cards or grab a few sticky notes to capture words or sketches while listening. We can then hand them in or tack them up when the event is finished--a better way to draw out spontaneous responses and feedback.

******

For information about Dance/NYC Symposium's full day of programming, click here.

Clark Terry, 94

Trumpeter Clark Terry, Who Played in ‘Tonight Show’ Band, Dies at 94
by Christopher Morris, Variety, February 21, 2015

[CANCELLED] "Words the Move" returns to BAX, April 11!

Hi, everyone! I'm very sorry to announce that the April 11, 2015 edition of Words on the Move has been cancelled. The good folks at BAX and I hope to be able to offer this workshop sometime in the fall. So, keep watch. Thanks for your interest!

Eva

******

Words on the Move--my workshop on promotional writing for dance and performance artists--proved to be a great success at BAX's recent Artist Services Day (February 15). So, BAX will host it again in a longer format. Enrollment is limited. RSVP soon! I'm looking forward to seeing you!

(photo by D. Feller)

Words on the Move

facilitated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Saturday, April 11 (1-4pm)

BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange

What challenges and opportunities do you face when you write about yourself? Your artistic mission? Your body of work or new projects? We will share a free-writing exercise and explore some of your promotional writing samples, building strategies for effective, satisfying expression.

Required: Bring one brief sample (~250-300 words) of your promotional writing. 

Sliding Scale ($15, $25, $45)

Limited enrollment, first come first served. To reserve your space, call 718-832-0018 or email info@bax.org.

BAX / Brooklyn Arts Exchange
421 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn
(map/directions)

What that darkness may contain: Photographing Black skin

A True Picture of Black Skin
by Teju Cole, The New York Times Magazine, February 18, 2015

Carmen de Lavallade: Remembering it her way

Carmen de Lavallade in As I Remember It (photo: Stephanie Berger)

Carmen de Lavallade's solo, As I Remember It, seems to rip by in a flash, faster than its by-the-clock hour length. Premiered last June at Jacob's Pillow, now presented by Baryshnikov Arts Center, it's less a comprehensive tale of a life unfolding at the epicenter of American entertainment than a gesture towards that history and its dazzling characters--Lester Horton, Pearl Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Alvin Ailey, Jack Cole, Duke Ellington and de Lavallade's late husband, the multi-talented Geoffrey Holder, among so many more. And, of course, as a de Lavallade gesture--direct, shaped with elegance and efficiency--it doesn't need much embellishment. Everything in this production, from set to video to text, works by light touch.

The title tells us two things. First, these are de Lavallade's remembrances of her six-decade-plus career in dance, theater and film; others, she knows, might recall people and events differently. Second, we can expect a little tongue twisting and a few--very few--memory slips along the way. At 83, though, de Lavallade commands better alignment and lively, playful dexterity of body and mind than a lot of folks many years younger.

The memories, brief as snapshots, come with sensory sharpness: a hardworking father's hands, one rough, one smooth; a mother often sitting and staring; the sinuous coils of smoke from ballet teacher Carmelita Maracci's cigarette. Maracci, impatient, would upbraid de Lavallade: "Carmen, talk to your feet! What are they saying to you?" Carmen: "Help!"

In her dance of story, de Lavallade lights but never lingers. She keeps it moving, even when she speaks of racism. Particularly when she speaks of racism. Of being selected to study with LA dance master and choreographer Lester Horton, she says, "In those days, there were only some people who would take you if you were colored. And the white girls would walk out of class." If Hollywood is Hollyweird (as a sign says), we're not privy to a lot of the gritty details of what makes it so. I suspect de Lavallade is one of those sisters--I see them all around me today--who survive and thrive by keeping positive-mind phasers set to stun. I must study this.

Go see As I Remember It and marvel at how good the young de Lavallade looked in any setting, how thoroughly self-possessed. Time has diminished absolutely nothing of that.

Collaborators:

Joe Grifasi (director)
Talvin Wilks (co-writer/dramaturg)
James F. Ingalls (lighting design)
Maya Ciarrocchi (video design)
Mimi Lien (set design)
Christopher J. Bailey (sound design)
Esther Arroyo (costume design)
Jane Ira Bloom (music)

As I Remember It continues: February 20-21 and 24 at 8pm as well as a February 25 at 1pm (with a moderated conversation with de Lavallade).

When advance tickets are no longer available, a wait list will begin at the Box Office one hour prior to show time on the day of the performance. In the event of last minute cancellations, seats may be released and sold to those on the wait list on a first-come, first-served basis.

Jerome Robbins Theater
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Harris Wittels, 30

Harris Wittels, Television Comedy Writer, Is Dead at 30
by Nelson D. Schwartz, The New York Times, February 19, 2015

Memorial celebration for dance journalist Valerie Gladstone, March 15

Meet New York's dance and arts publicists!

Gibney Dance Center 

invites you to 

Meet the Publicists

a panel discussion moderated by

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Tuesday, March 3, 6-8pm

Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center

280 Broadway

L-r: Fatima Kafele, John Wyszniewski and Amber Henrie

Meet Amber Henrie, Fatima Kafele, Chris Schimpf, and John Wyszniewski—four publicists representing some of New York's most celebrated dance and performance artists and institutions. How do they help clients address the challenge of decreased arts funding and the decline of mainstream media coverage in the world's most competitive market for the arts? How can artists work effectively with publicists to take advantage of new opportunities in marketing and social media.

Bring your questions for this event which is FREE and open to the public with required RSVP.

To reserve your space, click here.

Panelist Bios

John Wyszniewski is the Managing Director of Blake Zidell & Associates, a New York-based public relations firm that represents artists and arts organizations spanning a variety of disciplines. He specializes in dance, theater and visual art, plus the tricky stuff in between. John has handled press campaigns for Abrons Arts Center, Karole Armitage, BRIC House, The Kitchen, Performance Space 122, Soho Rep, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wendy Whelan, and the 2012–14 tour of Einstein on the Beach, among others. Previously, John worked in press & marketing at the School of Visual Arts, BAM, Dance Theater Workshop and Galapagos. http://wyszniewski.tumblr.com/

Fatima Kafele is a creative strategist, public relations consultant and dance enthusiast. She currently serves as the Media Relations Manager for the Brooklyn Museum. Prior to BKM she spent almost a decade at BAM. Her consultancy experience includes work with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, and Cumbe Dance Center. She is a former member of the Bessies. Fatima is currently a NYSCA Performing Arts Panelist. Fatima has studied Afro-Cuban folkloric technique for most of her adult life and has a profound love for house music and dance culture. Connect with Fatima on Twitter: @Empress718 or Instagram: @LovejonesPR

Amber Henrie is a seasoned PR veteran and arts professional and leads In The Lights with strategic diligence and empowerment for its clients. She has coordinated and developed marketing, branding, social media and media outreach initiatives with large corporations, emerging start-ups, non-profits and artists. Bringing principles learned in dance training – discipline, tenacity and attention to details – she successfully publicized the technology, consumer and entertainment sectors for 6 years before starting In The Lights in 2010. She now brings technology understanding into her press campaigns for arts organizations; specifically encouraging companies explore simple ways to effectively utilize technology and new media to gain the spotlight. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Brigham Young University.

Chris Schimpf is Senior Director, Sacks & Co. Before joining the team at Sacks & Co., Chris served as Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the French Institute Alliance Franciase (FIAF). He has conceived and led communications campaigns across a broad spectrum of media and artistic disciplines including contemporary and classical music, dance, the visual arts, the commercial recording industry and education. Over the years he has partnered on campaigns with cultural institutions as diverse as the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the River To River Festival, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the American Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Space, JazzReach, Pace University, the Schimmel Center and many more.

Agnes Varis Performance Lab
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway (entrance: 53A Chambers Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Remembering Gregory Hines with Tony Waag

Gregory Hines
(photo: Greg Gorman)

American Tap Dance Foundation's Tony Waag will speak about the life and multifaceted work of master tap dancer Gregory Hines at the next Tap Talks evening, Friday, February 27, 7:30pm.

Join the tap community in remembrance of the beloved Tap Dance "Ambassador" through personal stories and video footage. Refreshments will be served.

RSVP to 646-230-9564.

Admission: $5 for the general public with FREE admission for ATDF members.

American Tap Dance Center (ATDF)
154 Christopher Street #2B (off Greenwich Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Wanda Sykes interviewed by Judy Gold at 92Y

Wanda Sykes
(photo: Malcolm Jason Low)

If the delightful, Emmy-winning Wanda Sykes were to be offered Jon Stewart's Daily Show, would she take it?

After all, wouldn't it be great to have a woman--and, way better still, an out, activist lesbian of color--running with the late-night wolves?

Wanda Sykes
(photo: Eva Yaa Asantewaa)

With Judy Gold at right, Wanda Sykes greets fans at 92Y.
(photo: Malcolm Jason Low)

The Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams, touted all over social media as a top choice, has recently asserted that she does not want this challenge. A nation--well, a nation of women of color--might well turn their lonely eyes to Sykes who, for a short time, did host her own late-night talk show on Fox.

She's not saying yes. But she's not exactly saying no. At least, during her 92Y conversation last night with Emmy-winning colleague Judy Gold, she seemed to keep a fan's hope alive.

"How can you follow Jon Stewart? He was so good," Sykes first responded to the question. "Who knows?"

After citing family priorities, though, she added, "But if they asked me, how could you not?"

Pay attention to that last sentence. "But If they asked me" is far from a casual line with this particular talent. As Sykes outlined her pathway in the entertainment business--as multifaceted comedy writer and performer--it became clear that she's consistently approached and invited by folks like Chris Rock and Larry David who know she's right for their projects. Listening carefully to Sykes's history, Gold noted, with a flicker of envy and shade, that Sykes seems to never have had to audition for a part. The industry knows her worth. Even the Obamas know her worth, tapping her in 2009 to be the featured entertainer at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner--a first for a Black woman or anyone queer.

Gratitude is a big operating principle for Sykes, as it should be, given the blossoming of her career, love life and family life as wife to Alex and co-mom to their twins. If truth be told here, Sykes has got to be one of the luckiest people in showbiz.

Although it might be inscribed "in the US Constitution," as the two comics joked, that late-night talk shows have to hosted by white men, surely it's time for a new amendment to that constitution.

Visit Wanda Sykes's Web site here, and Gold's site here.

Keep up with happenings at 92Y by clicking here.

Sam Andrew, 73

Sam Andrew, Guitarist for Big Brother and the Holding Company, Dies at 73
by Peter Keepnews, The New York Times, February 16, 2015

Lesley Gore, 68

Lesley Gore, ‘It’s My Party’ Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 68
The Associated Press, February 16, 2015

Carole Johnson: Journeys in dance and culture

Carole Johnson: Dance: A Legend's Journey

Published on Dec 22, 2014 by Dr. Tracie O'Keefe, DCH

Carole Johnson is a legend in the Australian Contemporary Dance history. The African-American Juilliard graduate is the founding director of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Council (NAISDA) Dance College and founder of the world-famous Bangarra Dance Theatre.

In this interview with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, Carole Johnson, choreographer, dancer and dance administrator takes us on a journey from her beginnings in the 1950s where black dancers were not allowed to attend white ballet schools, through to her groundbreaking work in black dance history.

Carole was inducted into the Australian Dance Awards Hall of Fame in 1999 and in 2003 was awarded the Australian Government Centenary medal in recognition of the contribution she has made to the Australian Indigenous community.

Marvin David Levy, 82

Marvin David Levy, Opera Composer Who Became a Felon, Is Dead at 82
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, February 15, 2015

Ice Theatre of New York to honor the late Alyssa Stith

Alyssa Joy Stith
February 21, 1974-November 30, 2014
(photo courtesy of Ice Theatre of New York)

In Chelsea-based Ice Theatre of New York's repertory for ice dancers, you can expect to find the unexpected. Well-known dance choreographers as diverse in vision as Ann Carlson, Twyla Tharp, David Dorfman and Laura Dean have crafted work for that thrilling space where blades meet ice, making ITNY one of New York's most innovative organizations.

As part of its 2015 City Skate Concert Series at The Rink at Rockefeller Center, ITNY will pay tribute to Alyssa Stith--a much-loved figure skater who passed away, at age 40, last November. Once Again, a 2001 duet created by ITNY choreographer Heather Harrington for Stith and Tyrell Cockrum, will be performed at the Wednesday, February 25 show (1pm), a free event.

Harrington remembers Stith, one of very few Black ice dancers, with fondness and respect.

"I have to say this is an odd process for me re-staging this piece on another skater, because it was made on Alyssa, and she could move differently than a "skater" and embodied the mindset of a dancer," Harrington says.

"She was such a role model for figure skating in Harlem, where we both taught, a fearless artist who put every cell of her being into a performance and was so authentic. I don't think there was a false bone in her body. Sometimes I think was this is what was so hard for her."

Watch Stith and Cockrum in Harrington's Once Again.

"Alyssa was fearless and so committed when we were in the rehearsal process," Harrington remembers. "She dug in. Every part of her mind and body was open. She was able to live in the piece and fully inhabit the nuances in the plays of power, control, love, submission, and release. She did not simplify; she saw all facets, and this came through in every gesture."

Click here to watch In memory of Alyssa Joy Stith, 

a video by Deirdre Towers.

Ice dancer Alyssa Joy Stith alternately responds to and conducts 
cellist Chris Lancaster in an improvisation one afternoon in NYC in 2008.

Stith started out with ITNY as an office intern, says founder/artistic director Moira North, but an administrative position wasn't her aim.

"She confessed to me that she actually wanted to perform with the company! I vowed to myself that I would find her this opportunity and, before long, she became involved with the ensemble and our outreach programming.

"Alyssa went on to distinguished herself as a great performer in Once Again and, later, in David Liu's, 2:1 and works by Susan Marshall, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Elisa Monte. Alyssa took to our challenge of taking dance choreography--made for a floor--and figuring out how to translate it to ice. That was my theory and strategy of how to expand our vocabulary, and she embraced and enjoyed this process. The audience easily forgot whether her dancing was on ice or on a floor. We just lost ourselves in her expressive movement."

"Alyssa was funny as all hell," says Harrington, "She could cut through any b.s. She saw in people their worth and beauty and respected everyone. I look to her as my role model on how to treat others. I hope she sees what love there is for her and always will be."

The free Rockefeller Center event will include appearances by Rohene Ward, a four-time US Championships competitor, Jessica Huot, a six-time Finnish National Ice Dance Champion, and Anna Cobb, winner of the 2014 Young Artists Showcase.

ITNY returns to The Rink on Wednesdays, March 18 and April 1 at 1pm. In the event of rain, the scheduled performance will be held the following day at 1pm.

The Rink at Rockefeller Center
Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, Manhattan
(map/directions)

UNCSA graduating dancers show Pluck

University of North Carolina School of the Arts
dance students perform a work by Kimberly Bartosik.
All photos by Peter Mueller

Students of the 2015 graduating contemporary dance class of University of North Carolina School of the Arts are excitedly preparing to perform next month at New York's Ailey Citigroup Theater-The Joan Weill Center for Dance. UNCSA's annual Pluck Project opens opportunities for students to jump-start careers by forging connections to established choreographers and other professionals in the field. This year, in addition to student-created solos, the culminating presentation features an ensemble piece by noted New York dance artist Kimberly Bartosik.

"The students financed the entire trip themselves through grassroots fundraising to pay for theater rental, transportation and more," Bartosik says, marveling at their ingenuity and commitment. "They're even responsible for rehearsing my piece in my absence--without any faculty oversight. And many of them haven't ever been to New York!"

Developing The Palpable Space in Between with UNCSA students stretched her practice.

"I created the piece when I spent a semester at UNCSA--my alma mater--in fall 2013," she says. "It totally changed my perception about what was possible with young dancers and led to a much deeper exploration of form than I had ever experienced. I experimented with ideas I normally censor from my professional work but which, I felt, had a place here--unison movement, uncomplicated beauty. It was really invigorating, and I'm still learning from it."

The Palpable Space in Between, Bartosik says, connects to her concerns about the violence in our culture.

"These kids were so young that I couldn't ask them to take the same emotional risks that I ask of my professional performers. However, they went far and deep and totally got it."

See The Palpable Space in Between at a free presentation on Monday, March 9, 7pm at Ailey Citigroup Theater-The Joan Weill Center for Dance. Reservations are recommended and can be made by email to mountj@uncsa.edu. Show your support with a tax-deductible donations here.

The Pluck Project Class of 2015

Graham Cole

Javier Colon

David Ferguson

William Fowler

Margaret Jones

Shyanne Ramsey

Bailey Reese

Shelby Ring

Nick Rodriques

Casey Sauls

Kellyn Thornburg

Ailey Citigroup Theater-The Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Remembering house dance pioneer Marjory Smarth

Remembering House Dance Pioneer Marjory Smarth
by Czarina Mirani, 5 Magazine, February 13, 2015

Louis Jourdan, 93

Louis Jourdan, Dashing Star of ‘Gigi,’ Is Dead at 93
by Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times, February 15, 2015

Philip Levine, 87

Philip Levine, Former U.S. Poet Laureate Who Won Pulitzer, Dies at 87
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, February 15, 2015

A happy 40th anniversary to Maida Withers and company!

Maida Withers (above)
and
Maida Withers Dance Construction Company
(photos: Shaun Schroth; virtual art: Tania Fraga)

 

For its celebratory 40th anniversary season, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company premieres MindFluctuations, an interactive spectacle of dance, 3D projected virtual artworks, Emotiv neuro headsets, and live electronic music. The piece represents Withers's third collaboration with renowned Brazilian 3D computer artist/architect Tania Fraga, and continues the troupe's investigation of how the human body and mind can connect with innovative technology.

Read more here about this creative intersection of movement, technology and neuroscience, and see the work on Thursday, March 19, 8pm, at DC's George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium.

Lisner Auditorium
730 21st Street NW, Washington, DC (Metro GW Foggy Bottom)
(map/directions)

See (and learn) dances of Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia)

Asia Society

presents

Tari Aceh: Dance from Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

Tari Aceh

Saturday, February 28

7pm -- pre-performance lecture

8pm -- performance

info/tickets

Sunday, March 1

11am-1pm -- workshop with dancers of Tari Aceh, 

exploring traditions and hallmarks of Acehnese dance

info/tickets

Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia) is renowned for its exuberant performances combining text, poetry, dance, and movement with a distinct flavor that reflects local culture as well as a strong Islamic influence. It has been ten years since the devastating tsunami killed over 200,000 people in Aceh. This performance celebrates the resilience of the people and a new generation of young women whose traditions have provided an important part of the healing process.

One of the hallmarks of Acehnese dance is a form of body percussion in which various rhythms are created by slapping the body or clapping. One form — saman — is done in a tight line, shoulder-to-shoulder, becoming almost a singular-being moving at split-second speed. The form is not only entertaining, but also has an educational side which reflects the morals and teachings of the community.

This is a rare opportunity to see an all-female group from Syiah Kuala University, located in Banda Aceh, the capital of the Aceh province on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra.

This program is part of Asia Society's ongoing initiative Creative Voices of Muslim Asia.

Can't make it to this program? Tune in to AsiaSociety.org/Live at 7pm EST for a free live video webcast.

Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Assia Djebar, 78

Assia Djebar, Novelist Who Wrote About Oppression of Arab Women, Dies at 78
by Maïa de La Baume, The New York Times, February 13, 2015

Gary Owens, 80

Gary Owens, Announcer on ‘Laugh-In,’ Dies at 80
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, February 13, 2015

Black lives matter: Moving Spirits RESPOND

Moving Spirits to Enlightenment

a dance performance by Moving Spirits, Inc., 

Tamara Williams, choreographer, 

along with Jonathan Lassiter, Sydnie Mosley, André M. Zachery, 

A. Nia Austin-Edwards and other creative artists

Saturday, February 21, 3pm

at Smack Mellon

Moving Spirits to Enlightenment is a dance event event paying homage to Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Ayana Jones, Rumain Brisbon and countless other black lives. Dance solos, quartets and trios will be divided between moments of audience participation and interaction as well as spoken word and poetry. Singing, chanting and additional vocals from the 1960s civil rights movement and the current civil rights movement will accompany the event. Moving Spirits to Enlightenment will also educate through the distribution of cards listing citizens’ rights and statistics about the militarization of police departments to keep the focus on police brutality and the betterment of black lives.

Smack Mellon
92 Plymouth Street (at Washington), Brooklyn
(directions)

Tonya Pinkins and Dianne Wiest open in "Rasheeda Speaking"

Tonya Pinkins (Jaclyn) and Dianne Wiest (Ileen) in Rasheeda Speaking
(photo: Monique Carboni)

Yeah, friendship and all that but, as Nina Simone taught us, "You've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served."

In Rasheeda Speaking, Jaclyn Spaulding (Tonya Pinkins) has taken several sick days and returns to her administrative job in a Chicago surgeon's front office to discover that her buddy Ileen (Dianne Wiest) has been promoted to Office Manager. Well, hooray for Ileen. Except, what is she managing, really? It's a cramped, two-person reception area and, from the look of things, Ileen can barely manage her half of it. Neat-freak, plant-loving, toxin-phobic Jaclyn quickly figures it out: Ileen will be managing her.

And why is that? Well, it turns out that their boss, smooth operator Dr. Williams (Darren Goldstein) is more than a little put off by Jaclyn's supposed attitude and rudeness. Let me point out, now, that Jaclyn is Black. Everyone else in Joel Drake Johnson's four-person play is white. You see where we're headed?

Darren Goldstein (Dr. Williams) with Wiest
(photo: Monique Carboni)

And we're headed there rapidly. Johnson wastes no time. The surgeon's opening gambit with sensitive, clearly fragile Ileen goes by in a flash. He leans in, verbally, and works her. Yes, she agrees to monitor and secretly document Jaclyn's behavior for irrefutable evidence. Because, you know, it's so hard to get people fired these days. Despite Ileen's initial reluctance to betray Jaclyn, she knows how to take orders, especially from a boss she reveres and who constantly reminds her how essential she is to him.

Presented by The New Group, with multiple award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon in her debut as a director, Rasheeda Speaking is a humorous and lacerating slice of reality in "post-racial" urban America. Tony-winner Pinkins calibrates and channels numerous expressions of insight, cunning and everyday fury as a mature Black woman who understands all too well what's going on with both clueless white people and white people who know exactly what they're doing. Her rich, indelible performance is this play's through-line.

Johnson and Nixon are also blessed to have Wiest, Oscar- and Emmy-winner, at her best when breaking her distress into vivid fractions and seconds. In the small, if pivotal, role of an elderly patient, Patricia Conolly is both irritating and hilarious with perfect timing and inflection. Goldstein embodies the arrogant Williams with such ease, you have to restrain yourself from storming the stage.

Or, at least, I did. But I saw it with a largely white, largely female audience drawn, undoubtedly, by the starry trio of Pinkins, Wiest and Nixon. Rasheeda Speaking, though often devilishly funny, provokes a necessary discomfort, and perhaps white viewers will absorb some useful things.

Johnson--a white playwright, and one who did well to heed recommendations from Pinkins--knows how the divide-and-conquer game is played and how that game usually ends for the played. He's also onto racial aggression of both the macro and micro kind. One of my favorite examples has to do with Jaclyn's name and the good doctor's claiming of entitlement to reduce it to "Jackie." The back-and-forth around Jaclyn's name is priceless. Also priceless and sly if deliberate, which it must be, is the fact that "Ileen" is also an unusual spelling of a common name yet never draws ridicule and manhandling.

Well, of course, it doesn't. Of course.

Rasheeda Speaking runs through March 22. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission. For schedule and ticket information, click here.

The New Group at
The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

"Boyhood" disappears Latino/as from Texas!

Racism in BOYHOOD Is the Worst Kind
by Grisel Y. Acosta, Latino Rebels, February 9, 2015

U Cal Berkeley gets a new kind of radical

Cal Performances Takes On a New Mission
by Michael Cooper, The New York Times, February 9, 2015

William Forsythe takes post at Paris Opera Ballet

William Forsythe joining Paris Opera Ballet as associate choreographer
by David Ng, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2015

André Brink, 79

André Brink, South African Literary Lion, Dies at 79
by Alan Cowell, The New York Times, February 7, 2015

Lizabeth Scott, 92

Lizabeth Scott, Film Noir Siren, Dies at 92
by Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, February 6, 2015

Fire & Ink IV conference requests your witness

Fire & Ink IV: Witness (October 8-11, 2015) will address the urgent question of what it means to bear witness as LGBTQ and SGL writers of African descent and heritage in the 21st century.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS (deadline for abstracts: February 15)

If you're interested in being part of the conversation at Fire & Ink IV: Witness, submit an abstract not exceeding 1,000 words by Sunday, February 15 to let us know what you're thinking and ensure priority consideration.

For complete information, click here to download the Call for Proposals.

ABOUT FIRE & INK

Fire & Ink, Incorporated is devoted to increasing the understanding, visibility and awareness of works of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and same gender loving writers of African descent and heritage. As part of our mission, Fire & Ink sponsors a writers' conference and we invite proposals for workshops and panel discussions from our communities' writers, teachers, thinkers and critics.

Ike Schambelan, 75

Ike Schambelan, Director Who Brought Disabled Artists to the Stage, Dies at 75
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, February 5, 2015

Dream project for George Takei will come to Broadway

George Takei to Star in Broadway Musical About Interned Japanese-Americans
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, February 5, 2015

Mary Healy, 96

Mary Healy, Actress and Singer, Dies at 96
by Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, February 4, 2015

Walter Liedtke, 69

Walter Liedtke, Curator at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dies at 69
by Randy Kennedy, The New York Times, February 4, 2015

Women Make Movies hosts NYC premiere of "I AM A GIRL"

  

Exclusive NYC Premiere of I AM A GIRL

Women Make Movies, Girl Be Heard, Gathr Films, and Duggal Visual Solutions invite you to the exclusive screening of the Women Make Movies award-winning documentary, I AM A GIRL

Thursday, February 5

Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas

260 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

(map/directions)

6pm Cocktail Reception

6:45pm Film Premiere

8pm Girl Be Heard Performance

8:15pm Talkback

Buy Tickets!

Filmmaker Rebecca Berry will be in attendance for Q&A! Rapper and I AM A GIRL film subject Breani Michele will perform her original and empowering raps after the screening.

All proceeds will go to support Girl Be Heard's social justice theatre company that puts global issues affecting girls center stage by empowering young women to tell their stories.  The film will have a huge impact across the nation through cutting-edge education curriculum created by Girl Be Heard, which allows teachers to engage students on critical human rights issues raised in the film. To watch the trailer click here, and to buy a DVD please visit the Women Make Movies website. For all other inquiries, please send us an email at orders@wmm.com.

About the Film:

A compelling, insightful, and inspiring exploration of what it means to grow up as a young woman in the 21st century, I AM A GIRL follows the first-person stories of six young women in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Afghanistan, the USA, and Australia. The documentary, which was nominated for several Australian Academy Awards, explores obstacles that so many young women face around the world such as poverty, teen pregnancy, mental illness, sex trafficking, and access to education.

About Women Make Movies:

For over 40 years, WMM has transformed the landscape of filmmaking for women directors and producers, bringing the issues facing women around the world to screens everywhere. Now, with more than 550 films in our catalog, including Academy®, Emmy®, Peabody and Sundance nominees and award winners, WMM is the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world. Women Make Movies. By Women. About Women. For Everyone. Please visit the WMM website for more information.

Movement Research memorial planned for Elaine Summers

Memorial Gathering for Elaine Summers

Saturday, February 28 (6-10pm)

Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Visit elainesummersdance.com for more information about Elaine's life and work.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

Help is particularly needed with catering staff, clean-up and set-up, and greeting attendees. Please contact info@movementresearch.org with your availability.

De Blasio announces housing, workspace plans for artists

De Blasio to Unveil New Artist Housing, Workspace
by Brigid Bergin, WNYC News, February 02, 2015

February is Black Artstory Month in Brooklyn!

Brooklyn's Hammerstep dance troupe
will perform and offer a lecture-demo
as part of the 3rd Annual Black Artstory Month.

It's time again for Black Artstory Month, presented by Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership and featuring a lineup of free programming!

Here are two of the many events offered now through the end of February:

Hammerstep on Myrtle
presented by Irish Arts Center
Saturday, February 7 (3-5pm)
Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn

In the late nineteenth century, Fort Greene—home to over half of Brooklyn's African American population— also became widely known as ''Young Dublin'' for the large Irish population that settled on what is now Myrtle Avenue. Black Artstory Month explores the intersecting histories of Irish and African American communities in Fort Greene with an unforgettable performance and lecture demonstration by Hammerstep, a Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company whose cutting-edge choreography melds traditional Irish dance, tap, step and hip hop to address contemporary social and political issues.

Click here for complete information and directions.

Remembering Rodeo Caldonia | Lisa Jones + Alva Rogers in conversation with Greg Tate
Pillow Cafe Lounge, 505 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn
Friday, February 20 (6-8pm)

Take an insightful look at women artists of the black Brooklyn renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, as profiled in Brooklyn Boheme, the recent HBO documentary by Nelson George. Writer Lisa Jones and writer/composer/performer Alva Rogers discuss the black women’s Fort Greene arts collective Rodeo Caldonia in a conversation facilitated by cultural critic Greg Tate.

Click here for complete information and directions.