Emma Tennant, 79

Emma Tennant, Who Wrote Beyond the Fringe of Realism, Dies at 79
by William Grimes, The New York Times, January 29, 2017

"Activate Equity": energy, fresh directions for equity in the arts

Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers,
Project Manager, Field Leadership Fund,
welcomes Activate Equity participants
at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
(photo: Eva Yaa Asantewaa) 

How are we? 
We are here! 
-- Goussy Célestin

Sarita Covington (above)
and members of B3W Performance Group (below)
 in Forgiveness Part 1: Forgiving the Personal
by Emily Berry
(photos: Kerville Jack)

This is New York City in 2017, and yet here we are still asking the question, How can we create a more equitable arts sector? And asking. And asking. And asking some more.

The latest inquiry was launched yesterday by The Field, a nonprofit organization that has served the performance and media arts for three decades.

The Field is committed to empowering artists and cultural workers of all identities to achieve their visions.  We provide strategic services to thousands of performing and media artists and companies in New York City and beyond. We foster creative exploration, steward innovative management strategies, and are delighted to help artists reach their fullest potential. Freedom of expression and the rights of all peoples will be honored and respected via our programs, services, staffing and policies.

-- from Mission & History, The Field

Activate Equity: Insights, Inspirations & Connections, hosted by Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, brought together artists, arts administrators, community-oriented arts activists, educators and many for whom those roles overlap. They gathered for a full day of activities addressing concerns that, while predating this time of white supremacist rule in our nation, have only grown in urgency.

Morning events offered inspiration from artists currently enrolled in the 16-month Field Leadership Fund Fellowship program--Haitian-American music and dance artist Goussy Célestin; B3W Performance Group with choreographer Emily Berry; and Eric Lockley, an actor, writer and producer with a strong focus on POC community health issues. A stirring keynote address was given by novelist Renée Watson (founder of I, Too, Arts Collective) who successfully campaigned to raise funds to lease Langston Hughes's Harlem brownstone for programs serving emerging writers. Watson reminded the audience of the risk of feeling isolated and hopeless at moments of crisis and struggle.

"We are not in this fight alone. Thinking you're alone in this work is self-destructive," she said and used the example of her #LangstonLegacy campaign which met its 30-day deadline, raising the necessary $150,000 to sign the lease. "Change," she told us, "is dirty, hard, grueling work. Still, we must plant. We must put in," and have the kind of faith in seeds that farmers have. She reminded us of Assata Shakur's charge:

It is our duty to fight. It is our duty to win. We must love and support one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

The morning continued with a choice of workshops:

JACK Be Nimble: Choosing Collaborative Governance for Organizational Agility and Radical Process, facilitated by DeeArah Wright and Alec Duffy, examined their process of moving their Brooklyn arts venue JACK "from an organization with a strong hierarchy to one that strongly values collaboration and accountability."

I participated in Art Power: Owning our Capacity to Disrupt Racism, facilitated by Rachel DeGuzman, president and CEO of 21st Century Arts. Inspired by DeGuzman's study of D.W. Griffith's racist feature film The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th (2016), this workshop mobilized participants to identify cultural artifacts that stereotype and endanger people of color and, conversely, identify art that highlights the real truths and strengths of people and communities of color.

DeGuzman's workshop, though brief, was remarkably effective. It left me feeling exhilarated. The walls of our meeting room, decorated by colorful Post-it® notes with each of our contributions, gave visual evidence of the abundance of positive, progressive artistry originating in and available to communities of color. In contrast, the negative Post-its seemed puny. Reflecting on this difference, we then each declared and committed to personal strategies for disrupting racism and fostering more equity through our work. These were also abundant in number, specific and actionable.

For my part, I committed to continuing the work I'm already doing but with renewed drive for using opportunities in writing, editing, teaching, coaching, mentoring and curating to create new space and resources for artists of color and people dedicated to anti-racism and equity. DeGuzman encouraged us to find check-in buddies to act as sounding boards and keep us on track with these commitments. I hope, as you read this, you will also keep me posted with your suggestions.

After lunch break, the group reconvened for interactive movement exercises facilitated by Wilfredo Hernandez, Program Manager for The Field. The group then collaborated on data and ideas to contribute to the city's CreateNYC cultural plan which examines issues of access and inclusion; social and economic impact of the arts; affordability of living, working and presentation space for artists; educational strategies and neighborhood development issues. The day ended with a networking reception.

Many, if not all, of the people who attended Activate Equity are already deep into the work of anti-racism, equity and social justice in the arts and society. Someday, I want to walk into one of these events and be blown away to see people from a much wider range of the dance and arts communities of my city, resourceful people who are curious, interested, ready to learn, ready to contribute whatever they can. If you're reading this, know that you're an essential part of our city and of the world we're trying to shape. Each of you have something special to share in this work. We all need one another.

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Chuck Stewart, 89

Chuck Stewart, Jazz Photographer, Dies at 89; You’ve Seen His Album Covers
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

Go to photo slide show.

Barbara Hale, 94

Barbara Hale, Who Played Perry Mason’s Loyal Secretary, Dies at 94
by Anita Gates, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

John Hurt, 77

John Hurt, British Actor Hailed for His Shape-Shifting Roles, Dies at 77
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

Kick those blues: Glatzer's "Alive & Kicking" helps brighten our dark time

When it previews next month at the 45th Annual Dance on Camera, a festival co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association, Susan Glatzer's Alive & Kicking (2016/USA) is sure to be a crowd-pleasing highlight. An expansive yet intimate look at contemporary swing dancing, the 84-minute documentary celebrates this practice and its community of freewheelers with their rollicking swing dance camps and competitions. Swing dancers depend on a network of international competitions to display their talents and build teaching careers, the only way they can monetize their artistry. The film depicts swing dance as a healing force in a society that has lost touch with touch itself--except where touch involves a fingertip and a screen. Glatzer eagerly argues for swing dance as a low-risk way to foster openness and trust between people of all kinds, a natural bridge across divides of race, ethnicity, gender, religion and politics.

The earliest moments of the film made me worry that Glatzer would confine her focus to young white people reclaiming a historic dance phenomenon that originated in Harlem's Black community, the product of Black genius and skill. But I'm glad I hung in with Alive & Kicking. Not only does this film respectfully address the Black roots of swing dance in Harlem's Lindy hop, but this history is often spoken for by Black dancers themselves, and the film lovingly includes clips of Frankie Manning, Lindy hop's great authority and ambassador, who passed in 2009. Glatzer's interviewees also note the scarcity of young Black swing dance students and performers today. They recognize the need to make their community an attractive, accessible source of opportunities for Black students and performers, an issue contemporary tap dance has also faced.

And, like tap, swing dance has a strong tradition of improv, of connecting with a new partner at one of those fun gatherings and the creative surprises those moments can hold. "You're sharing your imagination with someone else," says one of the dancers, and Glatzer shows us examples of first-time interplay between skilled dancers leading to mutual awe, gratitude and something quite a bit like love.

Alive & Kicking screens on Monday, February 6 (8:30pm) with Kristen Lauth Shaeffer's animated short, 349 (3 min). There will be a Q&A with Susan Glatzer. For tickets, click here.

For information about the complete Dance on Camera 2017 schedule of screenings and public events, click here.

Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (north side, upper level), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Complexions Contemporary Ballet rocks out at The Joyce

Complexions Contemporary Ballet
(photo: Rachel Neville)

Overflowing with virtuosity and technique, Complexions...is the future of contemporary ballet. Embracing diversity with 15 dancers of different ethnic and dance backgrounds and founded by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, two former stars with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this company is pure dance, pure excitement. 

--from the website of The Joyce Theater

As anticipated, a whole batch of David Bowie hits--from "Space Oddity" to "Lazarus"--have taken up residence in my brain, thanks to Complexions Contemporary Ballet, now presiding over The Joyce Theater through February 5. I saw Program A last night, a show that concluded with a New York premiere, Dwight Rhoden's STAR DUST, subtitled in program notes as A Ballet Tribute to David Bowie. Currently, my head's streaming "1984." The other piece on the bill, a world premiere, is called GUTTER GLITTER and has an epilogue duet inelegantly titled SO NOT A... (AN EPILOGUE TO GUTTER GLITTER). I'm not sure, but I think all these uppercase letters are intentional parts of the title, not just a graphic design element. Sometimes uppercase letters in titles can be a bit much, but with this company, they just make sense.

Yes, these dancers are certainly "overflowing with virtuosity and technique." I haven't seen Complexions in years, but I don't remember the virtuosity and technique being so convincing as standalone values that they would lure me back for more. What I remember is struggling to see past them. But now I would happily revisit the current troupe just to savor how remarkably good these dancers are at what they are asked to do, how hard they work at this, and how Rhoden pushes his abundant, maximalist aesthetic to the max, splashing that stage with a big corps and deploying it like an agile, formidable army. And, yes, if you like pure, abstract dance, if you crave pure sensation, if you want precision and performance that seizes space and never lets it go, then Complexions is your company, "the future of contemporary ballet."

Andrew Brader and Jillian Davis
in Dwight Rhoden's GUTTER GLITTER
(photo: Moira Geist)

Terk Lewis Waters,
in Dwight Rhoden's STAR DUST
(photo: Breeann Birr)

There's so much. Often, there's too much. The GUTTER GLITTER glittering glitters on too long. Seriously, dances that sprawl like that and seem to be resolving towards an end only to start up again work my nerves something fierce. It's something I just don't have a lot of patience for, I'll admit.  STAR DUST, organized around nine Bowie songs and their actual length, at least gives you a sense of where you are in the schedule. If you've read your program, when you get to "Young Americans," you know the end is nigh--although, I must say I was surprised by the thinness and lethargy of the ensemble work in "Young Americans," relative to everything that came before, as if Rhoden's movement ideas had run out. By contrast, Peter Gabriel's mournful version of "Heroes," set near the middle of this suite, gave Rhoden and dancers space to breathe without dragging them down. Don't mind me, though. At STAR DUST's end, the audience loved on this company, with good reason, for the gift of this entire evening. People leapt to their feet, sending the dancers off with cheers ringing in their ears.

The sensual STAR DUST has a readymade advantage--our Bowie nostalgia as well as the matchless Bowie songs, despite the visual silliness of lead dancers like Terk Lewis Waters or Andrew Brader, both standout performers in any moment, lip-syncing to them. Moves-wise, it draws upon the same rare physical elasticity, crystalline precision and brashness that makes GUTTER GLITTER a breathtaking eyeful. Take your dance-reluctant friends to a Complexions show and make newborn dance fans of them. I dare you. I double dare you.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet runs at The Joyce through February 5 with a gala this evening and two programs. For detailed programming and schedule information and tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater

175 Eighth Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan

(map/directions)

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Butch Trucks, 69

Butch Trucks, Drummer in the Allman Brothers Band, Dies at 69
The Associated Press, January 25, 2017

Mary Tyler Moore, 80

Mary Tyler Moore, Who Incarnated the Modern Woman on TV, Dies at 80
by Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times, January 25, 2017

Donmar Warehouse brings all-woman "Tempest" to St. Ann's

Harriet Walter, above,
and Jade Anouka, below,
in the Donmar Warehouse production of The Tempest
(photo: Teddy Wolff)

How seductive--and risky--to interfere in the natural course of things for one's own ends. In The Tempest, Shakespeare's magician Prospero does just that. An aggrieved man--stripped of his noble status, surviving banishment and near-death--he fully believes in the rightness of uncommon power to control everything from the forces of nature to the romantic life of his daughter. He can twist to his designs everything from the quicksilver spirits of the air to a more fleshy, animal-like Other. Here, on his island of exile, he has enslaved two of each--Ariel, a clever sprite, and Caliban, considered uncivilized and monstrous--yet will come, at last, to learn he is the least free being of all.

As re-imagined by director Phyllida Lloyd for London's Donmar Warehouse and presented now in its US premiere run at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, The Tempest unfolds the elaborate fantasy of an inmate doing hard time in a women's prison. Played with attentive, full-throttle investment by Harriet Walter, 66-year old Hannah has served thirty-five years of a 75-years-to-life sentence for her role as getaway driver in a robbery and murder that, she explains, had radical political motivations. We first glimpse her fellow inmates--most, women of color; she is white and Jewish--as they file through the lobby and into the theater ahead of us. When we enter, we ring their performance space on all sides as if it were a basketball court shrunk in size to give us close-up views of all the action. Characters climb or dash up and down the stairs or park themselves on the highest tiers and, at one point, we even get to play a role in the visual atmosphere of the play.

The first sensations we perceive are unyielding, mercilessly metallic--from the theater's own stark, technical features to the "cell doors" positioned at the top of the audience aisles to the grinding, rumbling, thunderous sounds that suggest the deadly, unnatural storm secretly conjured by Prospero/Hannah. That initial act of will sets the play's characters on a path that will expose and undermine a magician's desire to interfere with reality.

Like previous parts of Lloyd's Shakespearean trilogy--Julius Caesar (2012) and Henry IV (2014), which I have not seen--this Tempest's male roles are played by women actors, all representing women prisoner characters you can meet in a series of short video clips here. So, reality continuously intermingles with fantasy. Lloyd's characters are based on the stories of real women inmates who collaborated with her team on the development of this work. In fact, New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, recently commuted the sentence of Judith Clark, the model for Walter's Hannah, convicted for her role in the 1981 Brinks robbery.

Shakespeare's Miranda--a female role--is played with Black punk-dyke style and zest by young Leah Harvey. Sheila Atim, her nominally-male Ferdinand, the shipwrecked prince, arrives on their wedding day in a thrift shop outfit as whimsically girly/boy-ly as her own.

Overall, the understated suppleness and focused power of these performances should quiet any objection to the non-traditional casting. It's exhilarating to see how performers like Jackie Clune (Stefano), Karen Dunbar (Trinculo) and the especially vivid and vivacious Jade Anouka (Ariel) simply muscle their way past any gender-related expectations a viewer might have. They make their characters live, and you have no say in the matter.

Composer Joan Armatrading  and movement director Ann Yee throw their own charm into the mix, especially in the wonderful wedding celebration. But for Hannah, and her audience, it's soon time to let dreams and make-believe go and face what is.

The Tempest runs through February 19. Running time: 2 hours, no intermission. For information and tickets, click here.

St. Ann's Warehouse
45 Water Street, Brooklyn
(Google map/directions)

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Eddie Kamae, 89

Eddie Kamae, an Innovator and a Historian on Four Strings, Dies at 89
by Nate Chinen, The New York Times, January 24, 2017

Act now! Brittany Williams launches challenge to arts leaders

OPEN CALL AND RESPONSE

TO ART AND CULTURAL-ART ORGANIZATIONS

TO STEP UP AND PUSH BACK

by Brittany Williams (choreographer/dancer; movement organizer)

The urgency for artists, art organizations, art-cultural organizations, gatekeepers, and funders to come together to collectively activate, strategically plan, and organize is greater now more than ever. Arts, culture, and creativity, for the next four years, will play a vital role in the creation of self-sufficient governing infrastructures for black and brown communities that can boldly push back against President Trump.

The start of January marked a new year and a new beginning like no other. President Trump’s inauguration has kicked off Trump’s first 100 days mandate. Trump's mandates burst open a dark wound of state-sanctioned violence, creating a new era that digs up the dark ancestry of the birth of the American nation built on white privilege and terrorism against people of color. It is a wary time for Muslim, LGBTQI, and black and brown communities as well as women, immigrants and First Nation indigenous people. This new era of white male militant-patriotic, racist, hegemonic fascism is blended up and embedded in nearly every single person recruited to join Trump's cabinet, and it has many citizens in fear and scared for their very lives.

However, I would like to encourage us in the art field to take some time to reflect and then actively get involved in constructive action. The need for artists, cultural leaders and art and cultural organizations to deeply invest in a racial and economic justice model is critical because all communities including white America will depend upon it. White people and white cultural institutions and leaders, it's time that you get your hands dirty in the struggle. It is time to put aside fragility and dive into fugitivity. It's time to put your whiteness on the line and organize your people. We need maroonage. The requirement for white fugitivity and maroonage is self-examination and a full investment in black liberation.

Definitions:

Maroonage historically refers to those independent societies formed by African slaves who escaped from the plantations during slavery. Many of these communities rose to become independent city and state republics that had to be recognized by white colonial powers. Many partnered with indigenous Native American nations. There were dozens of successful Maroon settlements all over the New World throughout the 300 years of chattel slavery. In modern terms, maroonage refers to the creation of sovereign self-sustaining institutions independent of the state and the dominant powers that be. These institutions by necessity have a special relationship to the 'Indigenous' and the concept of the 'Local' whilst having a global sense of context and work. The idea of being disconnected and sovereign from the dominant culture is important as it leads to decisions of self- sustainability, integrity of vision, and larger ideas of communities of like minds.

White fugitivity refers to the conscious physical, mental, social or institutional abandonment of the dominant culture by a member of that same culture.

Maroonage and fugitivity as a commitment requires that cultural leaders, arts organizations, funders, gatekeepers internally invest in temporal reform with incremental steps to dismantle their own internalized white supremacy structures, hierarchies within their organizations to ensure racial equity, economic sustainability for black and brown people. In short – white artists, cultural and art organizations and funders have long benefited from black bodies, arts, creativity and communities and if you are really about change it is time that you pay in full your debt for the use of our property, bodies and brilliance. We need reparations in form of dismantling your own racist practices, sharing of wealth, and or funding organizations, allies in cultural leaders who have done this work for years, and also we need you not to be the leaders when making decisions for us (black and brown artists and communities).

This call is for you to do more than create space for us to heal, to do more than give us space to talk to other artists about the issues we are facing. This is a call to change and most importantly disrupt the power dynamics. This call is for cultural leaders, art-organizations, funders, and gatekeepers to do more!

Here are my following questions:

•    Do you, as people who hold power in the arts, have a clear analysis of what is at stake going forward?

•   What are your goals in ensuring the safety of the people made most vulnerable by the Trump election?

•    What are you willing to give up, share, and restructure within your organization that will make a positive impact in the lives of black and brown people, immigrants, Muslims, women (black and brown women), LGBTQI people--today, not tomorrow or next week?

We need this type of commitment to these communities and artists of color and immigrants.

REFORMING CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND DISMANTLING THE CULTURAL SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS THAT UPHOLD, SUPPORT, AND ENGAGE IN WHITE SYSTEMIC STRUCTURES THAT BENEFIT WHITE MEN AND WOMEN:

When we look at the boards and staff compositions of most cultural organizations, the majority are white men and women.

The local Arts Agencies 2016 Report on Staff:

Staff and volunteer demographics at the average LAA2:

•    83 percent of staff are non-Hispanic white,

•    6 percent are black/African-American,

•    4 percent Hispanic and other races constitute 7 percent.

Board:

•    Ninety-five percent of LAAs have a board of directors, commission, or another type of oversight group.

•    Of those, less than one in three have written diversity policies for their boards.

•    29 percent of LAAs have a written diversity policy for their board of directors.

•    46 percent consider diversity in their board operations but have no written policy.

•    25 percent do not take diversity into consideration when recruiting members.

Staff and board members are vital because they are the people making collective decisions. They are the gatekeepers. We need to hold them accountable for their expertise and how they are building relationships and challenging donors and foundations when it comes to how we collectively build power- and disturb power as well. They are hired to be "the experts." However, coming from a racial justice lens, I would like to challenge this "expertise," because I deeply believe if we want to make a collective change, we need people with power and resources who are most impacted by the targeted circumstances. We do not need white people's dreams of "reciprocity" or "benevolence" to be the "giving mechanism" married to a perception about black and brown people which label their communities and limits them to these labels. Labels such as “disenfranchised,” “poor,” “youth at risk,” “crime prevention targets,” “no culture,” and “illiterate.” Ya, feel me?

HOW CAN WE CHANGE THIS NARRATIVE?

How can we change this practice and these ways of culturing within the art field? Simple. Put those that are closest to the problem in the position to conjure solutions! They are the experts. In need of power and resources. This is an open challenge to all art institutions.

MOVING FORWARD I WOULD LIKE TO RAISE THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

•    How can we use this call and response to create a coalition of art and cultural organizations, funders, and gatekeepers to look at their own internalized/external system practices and make a commitment to change their practices and ways of culture to create leadership roles for more than one black and brown person in their organization?

•    How do organizations, funders, and gatekeepers collectively build collective power with black and brown people to create agency and access to authority roles and resources?

•    How can art and cultural organizations, funders, and gatekeepers create accountability structures--to the community and to each other-- to reform and or dismantle white supremacy within their organization?

SUGGESTION: SET A PLAN IN ACTION OVER Trumps Next 100 days with short-term goals and incremental markers for the next four years and 10+ years.

•    What can you do right now to re-imagine and implement racial equity and sensibilities that in turn liberates resources needed for and by artists and communities that will become most vulnerable under the Trump administration?

•    How can cultural organizations and funders find an equitable solution to address the needs of black, brown, LGBTQ, Muslim artists facing white supremacy hegemony, racism, xenophobia, and the haunting history of America?

•    What role do we all play in this change?

The Bessie Awards call for organizations to restate their mission and values publicly to the Trump administration was a great effort, but this is not the time to state your claim or disassociate from racism and hegemony. Patrons, this is the time to do some introspection and fix it! We do not need a public statement; we need short term, long-term plans/platforms to ensure safety! We you to stay in the frying pan! We need radical risk-taking, fierce gatherings, and collaborations to rehabilitate, protect, and empower communities. We need real spaces of marronage.

This is epecially timely, since the next report out will find art organizations more racist now than 10 years ago.

Please do take my words to heart because, at this point, I have everything to lose--including my chains, friends, loved one, job and community.

And if you made it to the end of this article and you are really about dismantling and standing as an ally for black liberation from a creative racial justice lens, please fill one of the forms below.

Black and brown individual or organization (Please note: you do not have to be located in New York city or the US to sign on) interested in signing on to the document, fill out this document:

https://goo.gl/forms/z7vwoQgsod6VYZjE2

Gatekeepers, funders, arts organizations, cultural leaders interested in shifting your power dynamic within your organization, please fill out this document:

https://goo.gl/forms/cDAeMuhI29t7PvXk1

Warm regards and with love,

Brittany Williams

Founder |Executive Director | Dancing for Justice

Founder |Obika Dance Projects

Core Supporting Team: 

Rubadiri Victor (Trinidad & Tobago)

Michelle Murray (Miami FL)

Preach R Sun  (Detroit)

Maggie Roche, 65

Maggie Roche, Who Led a Harmonic Trio of Singing Sisters, Dies at 65
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, January 21, 2017

Charles Bobo Shaw, 69

Charles Bobo Shaw, Avant-Garde Jazz Drummer, Dies at 69
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, January 20, 2017

William Onyeabor, 70

William Onyeabor, Reclusive African Electro-Funk Pioneer, Dies at 70
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, January 19, 2017

Roberta Peters, 86

Roberta Peters, Soprano With a Dramatic Entrance, Dies at 86
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, January 19, 2017

The Bessies and arts organizations assert core values

THE NY DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARDS, THE BESSIES JOIN OUR COLLEAGUES IN RECOMMITTING TO OUR CORE VALUES IN THIS TIME OF CHANGE IN NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

New York, NY
January 19, 2017

As the country enters a time of change in national leadership, the following dance and performing arts organizations have marked the occasion by posting, or reposting, statements expressing their core values. The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies has gathered the links to the statements in one document; the words they contain are written entirely independently by the organizations themselves. The Bessies salute and celebrate the values expressed by these cultural organizations, and remain committed to serving a wide diversity of dance and performing artists.

May we never lose sight of who we are and what we value. May we, as American art institutions continue to be beacons of the precious freedom of expression enshrined in the First Amendment of The US Constitution.

Click on each organization name

to read its statement.

NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies

The Alliance for Media, Arts, and Culture

Artichoke Dance

BAAD Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance

BAM

Brooklyn Ballet

The Chocolate Factory

Yoshiko Chuma/School of Hard Knocks

Dance/NYC

Danspace Project

The Field

Greene Space

Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center

Japan Society

La MaMa

Mount Tremper Arts

New York Live Arts

The Public Theater
(also here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOryvmGjtRI/)

The New 42nd Street/The New Victory Theater

Jody Sperling/ Time Lapse Dance

Spoke the Hub/Gowanus Arts

Coalition of tech companies

WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company 

About the Bessies:
The NY Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 31 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize outstanding 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. www.bessies.org

Follow the Bessies on Facebook / #theBessies / @bessieawards

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Exploring writing with Dancing While Black's 2016-17 fellows

Rear, at window:
Paloma McGregor, founder of Dancing While Black
Left to right: Kesha Cox Mckee, Melanie Greene, Eva Yaa Asantewaa,
Jaimé Dzandu, Katrina Reid and Brittany Williams

Every now and then, you have an experience that inspires faith in the future. I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with Paloma McGregor's current group of fellows in her Dancing While Black Fellowship program, teaching a master class in dance writing.

We met at BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) on a lightly snowy Saturday and shared some creative dance writing, thoughts on the state of the art and its documentation, social justice concerns, tears, warm laughter and some delish Thai food from Park Slope's Song. I could not have wished for better company.

So, thank you to DWB fellows Brittany Williams, Jaimé Dzandu, Katrina Reid, Kesha Cox Mckee and Melanie Greene! And thanks to Paloma and to Marýa Wethers for inviting me to teach, to hold this space and to meet such wonderful women.

DANCING WHILE BLACK is an artist-led initiative that supports the diverse work of Black dance artists by cultivating platforms for process, performance, dialogue and documentation. We bring the voices of black dance artists from the periphery to the center, providing opportunities to self-determine the languages and lenses that define their work.

Learn more about Dancing While Black, 

a project of Angela's Pulse, here.

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Process and Performance: a talk with dance artist Eiko Otake

Site dance artist Eiko Otake
Above: Kifune Shrine, 4 August 2016
Below: Yaburemachi 5 August 2016
(photos: William Johnston)

Lauren Grant
(photo: Amber Star Merkens)

For my Montclair State University course, Performance Perspectives, Dance MFA student Lauren Grant spoke with Eiko Otake about her site-specific residency at New York's Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.

Process and Performance:

A talk with dance artist
Eiko Otake

by guest contributor
Lauren Grant

Contemporary artist and choreographer Eiko Otake is in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan from October 2016-March 2017. Her collaborative work with historian-photographer William Johnston, A Body in Fukushima, is on display as part of the cathedral’s art exhibition, The Christa Project. During her residency, she will explore movement and space, welcome discussions with visitors, design a new video installation, expand her photo exhibit within the cathedral, offer solo performances and curate a culminating event on March 4 and 11, commemorating the sixth anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

I spoke with Ms. Otake about her residency at the cathedral, as well as her process and experiences as a site choreographer.


Lauren Grant: Although your research of movement and space at the cathedral is currently exploratory, it is conducted in front of others. So, in a sense, you are performing. When does the workshop phase become the performance?

Eiko Otake: Yesterday, I was workshopping, but at the same time I was also performing because I was aware there were people already starting to look. I was the same performer that I always am, but I did not know exactly what I was doing; I was more in the process. Although I am in professional performance mode, there is no ticketed audience, nor do I have material with a beginning, middle and end. If I look performative, the people who are watching are kind of happy, but there’s no more story than that; no big crescendo. I am merging process and product.

LG: Do you improvise in performance?

EO: Yes, but in a different way than how dancers go in the studio and improvise. My improvisatory research period gives me the material for a score I will use in the performance. Choreography in a space like this is very contextualized; I may crawl in the center of the cathedral, or become one of its gargoyles. These will be my prompts, and what I do between these prompts may be more improvised. I rehearse the prompts so as I improvise in performance I won’t have to question, “Where is my foot? Where am I standing? Is it dangerous?” I will have already explored that place. It allows me to be more improvisatory in performance because I don’t always have to figure out what’s going on. If I don’t know where I am going, I don’t know what I am doing. If I know I am going to a specific spot, I can decide in the moment how it is I will get there. Once I start going there, I may pretend I’m not, because if I’m too clear, there’s no sense of conflict. The score tells me where to start, maybe where to end, and three or four other things to do; but within those markers, I can do anything. I will never decide how many steps I take to go to a certain place. But I know I will go to that place. I will, however, also reserve the right not to go. My intention will be to go, but if there is something more interesting happening elsewhere, I may skip that part of the score. I own the score, but I am not a servant to it.

LG: What else is involved in this development stage of your residency in the cathedral?

EO: I have this empty space (which is not empty—it’s a very historical, amazing place) and I’m wondering, “What do I do? What do I want from here?” The residency gives me resources. Last week, a videographer or photographer was always with me as we tried to get five or six amazing pictures. My exploration in the space serves to get to those moments. Once I have that raw footage, I can then edit it, which is not too different from choreographing. I’m interested in learning how I can make more of the installation. I’m creating a media work. Perhaps the footage I shoot can end up somewhere on a monitor so people can see another part of me and the church as they move through the cathedral, recognizing that the woman they are seeing here is the woman they saw over there and that this is the front of a church, but they are now inside it. These additions will add layers to my installation.

Filming and photographing my explorations in the space also serve as tools to help me in my creative process. Alexis Moh, my videographer, helps capture what it is I’ve done here because, after a day of workshopping material, I forget what happened. Filmic ways also help me make sense of what I am doing. I find it quite strange that, as an immigrant, and a non-Christian, I have been given a chance to be an artist in residency at this cathedral. Watching the footage helps me materialize what all this means and also serves to point out when my explorations are just me fooling around. Since I am my own director, I need a tool to help me look and think. I don’t believe that video can accurately show me what I do, but it is a helpful little tool.

LG: Do you prefer working in a site versus a theater?

EO: I give up control when I perform in a space other than a theater—I can’t design the light and sound. But I’ve successfully done that kind of theater work for 40 years and am not interested in that anymore. I’m interested in conflict now; a kind of weirdness where people ask, “What is she doing here? Why?” and I don’t have an answer for them.

LG: What is the difference in how you connect with the audience in a site versus a theater?

EO: In a site performance I can see the audience. That’s a huge difference. And they can move around. In a theater they cannot move; they’re usually stuck. And I can’t see them.

LG: How do the different responses from people as they watch (or ignore) you affect you as a performer?

EO: It affects me if they watch; it doesn’t affect me so much if they don’t watch. They ignore me and I ignore them, it’s not really a big deal. I have other things to think about, like “How much did I move forward? Is this video working? Am I going in the right direction?”

LG: In your exploration, I saw a very interesting interaction at the doorway. You caught someone off guard. A woman held the door open for you (for a very long time). I don’t think she knew you were performing.

EO: She said, “Are you ok?” because I looked pretty broken. And I whispered, “Yes, thank you.”

LG: It was beautiful—a human-to-human connection. When you perform, do you seek out moments or opportunities like that with the audience?

EO: When it happens, I recognize it. I don’t seek it out. But when an opportunity arises, I acknowledge it, and may even linger on it. I like lingering on those moments.

LG: How would you feel if somebody was drawn to physically interact with you?

EO: It’s happened a few times. People have called an ambulance or have tried to help me. In a performance in Hong Kong, I started very far from the audience who were watching me from up high. I was eventually to go to them, but I began by lying by the highway. One man stopped and said, “Are you ok?” Since I was in the middle of a performance I only whispered, “I am ok,” but he couldn’t really hear me because I didn’t shout. So he started to call “Help!” That’s when the organizer ran in and told him, “she’s actually performing,” and he was like, “What? But there’s nobody around.” He looked up and saw tons of people watching and he was like, “sorry, sorry!” This is what happens. I kind of enjoyed it. I like that place where I’m really feeble as a performer.

Beauty is contextualized with something hurt. Real beauty is kind of dull because it doesn’t have a pain. I think we find it beautiful, even without that knowledge, but with that knowledge, we find it even more beautiful. If a little Buddha statue has some broken parts, you actually feel more empathic towards it. A little wound makes us feel more deeply.


Eiko at the Cathedral for video installation from Eiko and Koma on Vimeo.


EIKO OTAKE

Born and raised in Japan, and based in New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement based multidisciplinary performing artist. After working as Eiko & Koma for over forty years, Eiko began her solo project, A Body in Places, with A Body in a Station, a twelve-hour performance at Philadelphia’s Amtrak station in October 2014. In the spring of 2016, Eiko was the subject of Danspace Project’s Platform, a month-long curated program of daily solos, installations, workshops and exhibitions. In the fall of 2016, the Bessie Committee awarded a special citation to Eiko for her Platform for “making herself ‘radically available’ in public and private spaces.” Eiko is currently an artist in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where her photo exhibition in collaboration with William Johnston is on view, and Eiko shares her dance practice with visitors. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, the Dance Magazine Award, and an inaugural USA Fellowship, the Duke Performing Artist Award, and “Anonymous Was a Woman Award,” Eiko regularly teaches at Wesleyan University, NYU and Colorado College.

LAUREN GRANT

Lauren Grant has danced with the Mark Morris Dance Group since 1996, appearing in 60 of Morris’ works. She teaches technique around the globe, including classes for the company and The School at The Mark Morris Dance Center, sets Morris’ work at universities, and is currently Morris’ rehearsal assistant on his newest creation. Grant received a 2015 New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for her sustained achievement in performance with Mark Morris and in recognition of her "invigorating spontaneity, expansive phrasing, and robust musicality.” Grant has been featured in Time Out New York, Dance Magazine, the book Meet the Dancers, appeared in PBS's Great Performances, Live From Lincoln Center, and ITV's The South Bank Show, and was a subject for the photographer Annie Leibovitz. Before joining MMDG, Grant moved to New York City from her hometown of Highland Park, Illinois, and earned a B.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. at Montclair State University where she is also an adjunct professor.

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