My year in the arts: 2015

Eva Yaa Asantewaa's List:

Most Memorable 
Arts and Cultural Experiences of 2015

Meredith Monk with Allison Sniffin (left) and Katie Geissinger (right)
Monk shared an inspiring Danspace Project program with poet Anne Waldman.
(photo: Ian Douglas)

Here are "a few" of my favorite things....of 2015. And, as I wrote last year:

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.

I'm especially grateful this year to artists who sacrifice so much as they contribute so much, particularly those who commit themselves to justice.

May you all enjoy an artful, heartful and fabulous 2016. Thanks for your support of InfiniteBody!

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Yes. I meant every word I wrote for Time Out New York.
Camille A. Brown and Dancers blew the roof off The Joyce Theater
with Black Girl: Linguistic Play.

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Hilarious Ronnie Burkett and his rotating cast of marionette characters
at Baryshnikov Arts Center for the New York premiere of The Daisy Theatre
(photo: Hiroyuki Ito)

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Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in "Carol," directed by Todd Haynes
and adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt
(photo: The Weinstein Company) 

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Some members of The Ballez, Katy Pyle's innovative troupe
(photo: Hedia Maron)

@Variations On Virtuosity: A Gala Performance With The Stars Of The Ballez by Katy Pyle and The Ballez, American Realness Festival 2015, Abrons Arts Center, January 1-11

@Michael Ingle and Silas Riener performing Undersweet by Tere O'Connor, American Realness Festival 2015, Abrons Arts Center, January 12-14

@Night Light Bright Light by Jack Ferver; performed by Ferver and Reid Bartelme, American Realness Festival 2015, Abrons Arts Center, January 14-18

@Represent: 200 Years of African American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 10-April 5

@Peter Blume: Nature and Metamorphosis, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, November 14, 2014-April 5, 2015

@works by Laura Owens and Mark Grotjahn in The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World at Museum of Modern Art, December 14, 2014-April 5, 2015

@Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949 at Museum of Modern Art, December 13, 2014–April 19, 2015

@Raja Feather Kelly and Tzveta Kassabova in Super WE at Danspace Project. With live musical performance by Aleksei Stevens and lighting design by Tuce Yasak, January 29-31

@Black Lake (video) at Museum of Modern Art's Björk exhibition, March 8-June 7

@Malpaso Dance Company performing Trey McIntyre's Under Fire at The Joyce Theater, March 3-8

@The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky at Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 11 to May 10

@Assemblage by Rebecca Serrell Cyr at JACK, March 19-21

@Glacier by Liz Gerring at The Joyce Theater. Michael J. Schumacher (composer), Robert Wierzel (design), performances by Benjamin Asriel, Brandon Collwes, Tony Neidenbach, Adele Nickel, Brandin Steffensen, Jake Szczypek, Jessica Weiss, Claire Westby. March 31-April 2

I'm conflicted about Park Avenue Armory's production of FLEXN,
but there's no way I can argue with the skill and power of its performers.
(photo: Stephanie Berger)

@ Performers of FLEXN at the Park Avenue Armory (co-direction by Reggie (Regg Croc) Gray and Peter Sellars) including Ace (Franklin Dawes), Android (Martina Lauture), Banks (James Davis), Brixx (Sean Douglas), Cal (Calvin Hunt), Deidra (Deidra Braz), Dre Don (Andre Redman), Droid (Rafael Burgos), Droopz (Jerrod Ulysse), Karnage (Quamaine Daniels), Klassic (Joseph Carella), Nicc Fatal (Nicholas Barbot), Nyte (Ayinde Hart), Pumpkin (Sabrina Rivera), Sam I Am (Sam Estavien), Scorp (Dwight Waugh), Shellz (Shelby Felton), Slicc (Derick Murreld), Tyme (Glendon Charles) Vypa (Khio Duncan), YG (Richard Hudson); lighting sculpture and lighting design: Ben Zamora, March 25-April 4

@leaves from a loose-leaf war diary by Shayla-Vie Jenkins at Movement Research at the Judson Church, April 6

@SHORE in Lenapehoking (NYC) by Emily Johnson, Emily Johnson/Catalyst at various venues (April 19-26), dance installation at New York Live Arts (April 23-25)

@Rhythm in Motion (Program B) by Tony Waag/American Tap Dance Foundation at The Theater at 14th Street Y, works by Chloe Arnold, Felipe Galganni, Susan Hebach, Kazu Kumagai, Michela Marino Lerman, Caleb Teicher and Nicholas Young, April 25-26

@God Help the Child by Toni Morrison (Knopf Doubleday)

Tendayi Kuumba performs in being Here.../this time by Marjani Forté
at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
(photo: Alex Escalante)

@being Here.../this time by Marjani Forté & Works at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, entire collaborative team, May 6-9

@9/11 Memorial Museum, architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker

@Building A Better Fishtrap/Part 1 by Paloma McGregor at BAAD!, May 22-24

@HYPERACTIVE by John Scott-Irish Modern Dance Theatre at La MaMa Moves Dance Festival, La MaMa, dancing by Kevin Coquelard, Ryan O'Neill, Marcus Bellamy, Stuart Singer, May 28-31

@Daniel Libeskind, architect, Jüdisches Museum Berlin, opened 2001 (visited June 2015)

@Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends at Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 30-October 4

@POUND by Marga Gomez at HOT! Festival 2015, Dixon Place, July 10-25

Tap star Jason Samuels Smith (left) and the late Kathak guru Pandit Chitresh Das
in Dean Hargrove's documentary film, Tap World.
(photo courtesy of tapworldfilm.com)

@Tap World, directed by Dean Hargrove, screened at Village East Cinema, July 12

@The Blues Project, by Michelle Dorrance, Toshi Reagon, Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, July 24

@André M. Zachery's Renegade Performance Group (Brian Henry, Andre Cole, Johnnie Mercer, Malcolm McMichael, TJ Jamez and Stephen Galbert) performing in Dapline! at Five on the Black Hand Side/Dapline! at The Performance Project, University Settlement, July 30

@Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)

@Molly Poerstel in Jeanine Durning's To Being at The Chocolate Factory, September 9-12

@Mmakosi Kgabi in Shades of a Queen, part of Queer New York International Arts Festival at Abrons Arts Center, September 21

@BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, at The Joyce Theater, September 22-27

@Adrienne Truscott's Asking For It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy and Little Else, written by and starring Adrienne Truscott at The Creek and The Cave, September 23-October 3

@The Daisy Theatre by Ronnie Burkett, Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes at Baryshnikov Arts Center, September 30-October 10

@Dances for Intimate Spaces and Friendly People by Patricia Hoffbauer, Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, September 30-October 3

@Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 12-January 24, 2016

@Anybody Waitin' by ponydance at Abrons Arts Center, October 7-10

@DraftWork: Maria Bauman and André Zachery at Danspace Project, October 10

@Bethlehem in The Well (work-in-progress by Maria Bauman), DraftWork: Maria Bauman and André Zachery at Danspace Project, October 10

@Kongo: Power and Majesty at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 18-January 3, 2016

@William Kentridge in Conversation with Andrew Hoyem at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 13

@Social Dance 9-12: Encounter by Moriah Evans at Danspace Project, October 15-17

@COWHAND CON MAN by Jon Kinzel at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, October 21-24, 28-31

@Her(e) Repetitive Blueprint by Colleen Thomas Dance at 92Y Harkness Dance Center, October 23-25

@Refuse the Hour by William Kentridge at Brooklyn Academy of Music, October 22-25

@The Minstrel Show Revisited by Donald Byrd at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, October 28-30

@Inês by Volmir Cordeiro at Danspace Project, November 6-7

@ Tamisha Guy, dancing in Abraham.In.Motion season at The Joyce Theater, November 10-15

@BodyBusiness by SLMDances at University Settlement, November 12-14

@Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company at BRIC House, November 12-22

@this is an Irish Dance by Jean Butler with Neil Martin at Danspace Project, November 17-21; set design by Frank Conway

Marlis Petersen as Lulu
in the William Kentridge production of Lulu for The Metropolitan Opera
 (Photo: Kristian Schuller/ Metropolitan Opera)

@Lulu, Metropolitan Opera, production by William Kentridge; Lothar Koenigs, conductor, November 5-December 3

@Marlis Petersen in the William Kentridge production of Lulu, Metropolitan Opera, November 5-December 3

@double nickels on the dime, choreography by Abby Zbikowski, performances by Fiona Lundie and Jennifer Meckley at Vanishing Points, Movement Research Festival 2015, Danspace Project, December 4

@Samantha Speis in Walking with 'Trane by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Samantha Speis for Urban Bush Women at BAM Next Wave Festival, BAM Harvey Theater, December 9-12

@Non-Sequitur by Khadijah Queen, direction by Fiona Templeton, performances by Lenora Champagne, Danielle Davenport, Helga Davis, Dawn Saito, Yon Tande, Zselyke Tarnai and David Thomson at TheaterLab, December 10-20

@Meredith Monk & Anne Waldman, with images by Pat Steir, at Danspace Project, December 17-19

@Macbeth (film), directed by Justin Kurzel, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard

@Carol (film), directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara

@TV and Comedy via Netflix: This was the year I got into Netflix binge-watching, including catching up on and falling in love with so much that, believe it or not, I'd missed over many years of not watching tv (The Sopranos, 30 Rock) and new discoveries (Luther, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jane the Virgin, Master of None, Grace and Frankie, assorted Margaret Cho stand-up videos). Let me add Netflix's original production, Beasts of No Nation, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba and Abraham Attah.

Okay, that's my list! What's on yours?

(photo: D. Feller)

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody