Who is this body? Anabella Lenzu at La MaMa Moves!

Anabella Lenzu
(photos: Anabella Lenzu Dance)
"This is my body. The dance is coming from my body,
not the body of a 25-year-old."
--Lenzu in her post-show conversation with director Daniel Pettrow

What I most appreciate about Anabella Lenzu (Anabella Lenzu/Dance Drama), whom I have known since she took my dance writing course at New York Live Arts, is how fully she inhabits the moment. She's all there, a force of self-determination, and that serves her well in her vivid new solo, No more beautiful dances, a world premiere for La MaMa Moves!

It's a generous presence in which Lenzu--plunging headfirst into performance after a long time focused on making work for others--ramps up what it means to be a dancer. It means your body speaks for you; it is your art, one vulnerable to the judgment of others as well as your own, offered up for display and assessment. Lenzu aims to stay honest about all that. With the audience as witness, she desires to serve, too, as her own outside eye.

She marks thick lines in menstrual red around her feet and thighs, outlines she will then fill with the same color and with furious energy. She allows two live-streaming cameras--one from above, one from below--to snoop around every surface and crevice of her 42-year-old body. This reads a bit like feminism of the My Body, My Self kind, an effort to take look at herself, journal what she observes, understand and come to grips with the changes undergone with the years and after giving birth to her two kids.

With the help of director Daniel Pettrow and the mentors she will cite after the show, this "journal" has been distilled down to about 40 minutes. But it encompasses so much--all that can be seen and all that needs to be imagined upon reflection of the viewer's own history. It stretches across the walls of The Downstairs theater's waiting area where blown-up, drawing-enhanced selfies of the dancer have been hung. It includes Lenzu's sturdy, expressive movement, of course, and her husband Todd Carroll's video projections but also Lenzu's speaking and songs recalled from her Argentinian youth--all to recapture a grounding sense of a self almost lost here in a new land.

In her post-show chat with Pettrow and the audience, Lenzu answered the inevitable question about her title, No more beautiful dances, by calling it a warning: "This dog will bite you."

Oh, yeah, I get that. When I first read the title, I thought of it as: "No more beautiful dances...for YOU, MISSY!" I also could not help but hear a poignant question: "Am I no longer able to make beauty?"

But I think an audience member figured out something better, something true of Lenzu when he offered this:

"No more pretty dances. Ah, but beauty...!"

Costumes: Jennifer Johanos
Lighting design: Hao Bai

No more beautiful dances has a final performance tonight at 7pm. For information and tickets, click here.

La MaMa The Downstairs
66 East 4th Street (between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan

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June 8-10: La MaMa’s Squirts: Generations of Queer Performance

Madison Krekel, left, with musician Isaiah Singer (photo: Nina Fleck)
and (below) Bessie-winner Jasmine Hearn (photo: Scott Shaw)
will appear in this year's La MaMa's Squirts festival, June 8-10

I'm thrilled to announce that I've curated one of this year's La MaMa's Squirts shows, and I want you to come out, represent and support!

The annual festival of queer performance, created by Dan Fishback's Helix Queer Performance Network, will feature three evenings curated by Linda LaBeija, Shannon Matesky and myself, performed at La MaMa's The Downstairs theater, Friday-Sunday, June 8-10, all at 7pm.

I'm showing up for all three shows, because they're going to rock, and I hope to see you there!

Here are your details:

Friday, June 8, 7pm: Q(here)magiQUE

curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Q(here)magiQue is an evening of improvisation, manifesting multidimensional queer space for queer spirituality, casting spells through dance and the word.

Featuring:

Antonio Ramos
iele paloumpis
Jasmine Hearn
Madison Krekel (with Isaiah Singer)


Saturday, June 9, 7pm: The LaBeija Showcase

curated by Linda LaBeija

You can glimpse the House of LaBeija in great films like The Queen and Paris Is Burning but, in The LaBeija Showcase, peek into the life and history of the House and where it is today, with an evening of collaborative, devised theater. Through vogue and modern movement, original music, and lip sync performances, bear witness to the performative talents and fashions of this iconic collective. Learn who they are and learn what they stand for. Learn it and learn it well!

Commentator/Co-Director: Leggoh LaBeija
Choreographer and Dancer: Monster LaBeija
Sound Director: Skyshaker

Featuring:

Rozay LaBeija
NYC Father Legendary Freddie LaBeija
Krystal LaBeija
Egyptt LaBeija
and more!

Sunday, June 10, 7pm: Four Questions

curated by Shannon Matesky

Shannon Matesky, creator and curator of Queer Abstract, curates an evening of theatrical performances highlighting queer artists as they grapple with four pivotal questions in honor of Nina Simone's “Four Women."

Featuring:

Regie Cabico
Gary Champi
Aviva Jaye
Ni'Ja Whitson
Shannon Matesky

For information and tickets--including your 3-performance 50% discount pass!--click here.

La MaMa (The Downstairs)
66 East 4th Street (between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan

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My DanceAfrica wish list

Abdel R. Salaam, Artistic Director
of BAM's annual DanceAfrica fest,
presents Remembrance, Reconciliation, Renewal,
honoring the centennial of Nelson Mandela's birth
and the work of "freedom fighters past and present."
The season focuses on South Africa's
traditional and contemporary dance.
Below: Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, founded in 1995,
under the leadership of artistic director Jay Pather
and resident choreographer Simphiwe Magazi

He said it himself. Several times. It's hard to choose.

Why do we have to?

Abdel R. Salaam--Chuck Davis's successor as artistic director of DanceAfrica--went to South Africa and fell in love. He auditioned several dozen dance troupes, knowing he could select only one for his festival. One. At most, two. He watched and watched. And enjoyed. And agonized.

Then he chose one (Durban's Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre). And then he combined a large number of dancers from four different companies into a supergroup, what became Ingoma KwaZulu-Natal Dance Company, made up of performers from:

Champions Dance Crew, which specializes in isipantsula, an energetic street style of movement that first emerged during the apartheid era; Kangaroo, a traditional Zulu ensemble based in Durban; the all-female Tswana Group, trained in Setswana, Pedi, Venda, and Xhosa styles; and Amatsheketshe, another all-female troupe that specializes in the traditional Zulu styles of Ushiyameni, Umkhomaas, and Umzani. -- from DanceAfrica 2018 publicity

And with thoughts of Mandela's birth centennial and mindful of continued struggles both there and here in his own homeland, Salaam began to create a way to introduce a range of South African artistry to his loving and loyal DanceAfrica audience for the 2018 season.

The head swims to think of Salaam's responsibility. And to think the next thought--which is that, since Baba Chuck gave Salaam his wholehearted blessing, telling him to make DanceAfrica his own, it might be time to do exactly that. What's the next level for this annual tradition at BAM--one which, given Brooklyn's struggles around gentrification and cultural displacement--is more significant than ever?

While Salaam is meticulous about thanking DanceAfrica supporters like Bloomberg and ConEd from the stage, I'm going to throw out a challenge to BAM and to funders to help DanceAfrica do more than entertain. It's time to make it an institution that thoroughly illuminates and educates year-round, not just for a single holiday weekend.

DanceAfrica 2018, which continues today and tomorrow, is entertaining and rousing as all get out, designed to be so, with everything from thrilling movement and acrobatics to breathtaking stage design. You can't beat it for that. Salaam inherited a jewel and, wonderfully, brings his own broad interests to it.

I can say that I saw much--and it was quite a range, stylistically, all presented with painstaking skill and openhearted verve--but I can't say much about what it all meant. I can't distinguish between the styles noted in the above description of Ingoma's component groups. I have a woefully imperfect understanding of the theatrical narrative presented in Siwela Sonke's Umsuka (choreographed by Neli Rushualang), despite what's written in the program notes' one-sentence description. And--like Salaam in his way--I want more.

I'd like Salaam to have the opportunity and the wherewithal to break DanceAfrica out of its box and build it further. Why, after four decades, is it not yet an institution that can bring companies--from traditional to hip hop and beyond--throughout the year? Why can he not open a permanent DanceAfrica building of studios at the ready to nurture African and African-diasporan dancemakers and new generations of excellent performers? Why can't young Black artists making searching, powerful work here in New York City and the states not have venues to find common ground with colleagues from the continent? Why can we not have year-round DanceAfrica residencies and retreats and networking and commissions and awards?

Why can we not have as many and as much as we want and need? And why, in particular, can't we learn--through adequate opportunities to see and document work--what we most need to know to truly give Africa's artists their due?

I want this. For myself. But also for Salaam and all the artists and audiences DanceAfrica has touched.

Dance Africa continues with 3pm matinees today and tomorrow, Memorial Day. For information on the season and related events and ticketing, click here.

BAM Gilman Opera House
Peter Jay Sharp Building
30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
(map/directions)

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"Raising The Bar" at New York's Tap Family Reunion

Last night, Da Super Villainz (top) put on a show
to honor jazz, tap and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
Photo: Courtesy of Billy Rose Theatre Division,
The New York Public Library Digital Collections 

Up in Harlem last night, the tap fam turned out for the signature event of the first annual Tap Family Reunion. Raising The Bar--created by formidable tap stars Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant and Jason Samuels-Smith--celebrated National Tap Dance Day, birthday of ancestor Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Hosted Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the show was cookin' like the first barbecue of Memorial Day weekend. People, without exaggeration, this was one of the best and hottest shows of New York's jam-packed season. Following a brief introduction by the three co-conspirators--they do call themselves Da Super Villainz--and a blessing from renowned Debbie Allen, the evening took off with the warm, sumptuous jazz of Igmar Thomas's quartet.

Intergenerational by design, the show mixed solo turns by well-respected entertainers like tap guru Brenda Bufalino, Maurice Chestnut (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk) and Broadway's Karen Calloway-Williams with peppy ensemble numbers created for youngsters who brought refined training, charm and notable confidence. For this celebration of two American inventions--jazz and tap--the bar for rigorous thought and execution was raised especially high by Chicago's Star Dixon (M.A.D.D. Rhythms) and Nico Rubio (Tap Company 333). Bring us more from Chicago, please.

Grant, Sumbry-Edwards and Samuels-Smith never danced in the show. But I can tell you the two guys' resounding play-by-play and grunts of appreciation (and occasional disbelief) greatly enhanced my viewing experience. Presenters, take note: From now on, I always want to be seated directly in front of Grant and Samuels-Smith--and maybe not only for tap shows.

Featured performers: Antoinette Montague (vocals), Maurice Chestnut, Karen Calloway-Williams, Skip Cunningham, Nico Rubio, Star Dixon, Brenda Bufalino

Ensemble performers: Ciper Goings, Demi Remick, Destiny Delancy, Eric Decaminada, Jalen Saint Phifer, Jabu Graybeal, Maia Dumas, Naomi Funaki and Nakya Fenderson

Musicians: Igmar Thomas (Musical Director; trumpet); Jason Brown (drums); Zaccai Curtis (piano) and Luques Curtis (bass)

Upcoming Tap Family Reunion events include a day of classes today taught by tap greats at the Ailey Studios, a jam session at Swing 46 and much more. For the full schedule of events and ticketing details, click here.

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Geoffrey Hendricks, 86

Geoffrey Hendricks, 86, Attention-Getting Fluxus Artist, Dies
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, May 22, 2018

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New Sokoloff Arts venue for Tribeca: Town Stages

Town Stages (first-floor event space shown above) is proudly woman-led.
(photo: Austin Donohue)
Left to right: Chie Morita (Deputy Director),
Robin Sokoloff (Founder/Executive Director)
and Staci Jacobs (VP, Development)
Not pictured: Joanna Carpenter (Bar Director)

Robin Sokoloff (Sokoloff Arts) has long chased one dream: "To create an inspired home for my artistic family, and build a platform for the next generation." 

Enterprising Robin Sokoloff last brought Manhattan Loft227, a snazzy, hi-tech venue in Chelsea for art incubation. Now, in collaboration with Chie Morita, Staci Jacobs and Joanna Carpenter, the versatile dancer/activist/carpenter/counselor/entrepreneur has set up shop in Tribeca, taking over what was once Churrascaria, a popular Brazillian steakhouse, and then White Street Restaurant and Bar. At 221 West Broadway--now called Town Stages--Sokoloff serves up 9,000 square feet over two floors of multi-use event and performance space with resources for creatives with a vision and a hankering for community. Town Stages offers flexible spaces suitable for almost any size performance as well as rehearsals, auditions, weddings, film shoots, corporate events and you name it. And White Street's curvacious bar--with its speakeasy appeal--is still there.

Last November, Sokoloff received the keys to what--with imagination, ingenuity, daring and sweat equity--she and her all-woman team would transform into Town Stages. Among its unexpected charms: a tiny, glass-enclosed wine storage area that now might serve as a box office, or a quirky performance space, or a site for the sound installation that Morita has in mind. Another tucked-away treasure: a cozy, window-lit room lit filled with quaint antiques from the now-defunct Pearl Theatre that could offer a place for singers to warm up or might be turned into a pop-up bookstore.

This handsome, state-of-the art, ADA-accessible facility--with its new, "small but mighty" elevator--was the culmination of an exhaustive, eye-opening search around the city.

"There were 298 landlords saying NO to artists and women and people of color," Sokoloff tells me. "All those storefronts we checked out are still empty. This one said YES.

"We think the city is liberal-minded and diverse and accepting to all. What I learned as an artist traveling through multiple spaces and with multiple kinds of people–especially those who don’t look like me–is that not everyone’s welcome. In fact, most artists are not welcome. 

"Town Stages is different because we recognize that if you don’t have the space to have a platform and represent yourself in whatever form you come in, you don’t have a voice. We are specifically interested in the advancement of women and people of color, LGBT, the underrepresented having space to do their work here."

But how affordable is Town Stages?

"There's no specific price sheet," says Sokoloff who's ready to sit down with any and all to chat about their ideas and needs first. Events and projects coming in with big budgets subsidize smaller productions--Sokoloff calls it her "Robin Hood model." This model also allows Town Stages to offer residency fellowships to creatives with a wide range of fresh ideas.

Deputy Director Morita--former Managing Director for the New York Neo-Futurists troupe--oversees the fellowship program. She says her eye is less on the type or quality of the proposed project than who the applicant is as a human being, how they might interact with and support others in shared space.

“If you are making something–dance, music, theater, an experience for people to walk into, an empowerment event, an app, a piece of clothing, a cocktail, a sandwich–there’s something collaborative about that experience," Morita says. "Bringing those people into a room and offering them the opportunity to collaborate and ask for help in an environment that is easy and comfortable is what we’re looking to build.

"That comes with amenities. Bring your lunch, and put it in our fridge. Bring your yoga mat from this morning, and stick it here and leave it overnight. Have a private room for auditioning. Meet your other fellows here, and talk about projects.

"In the first year, we didn’t advertise the fellowship or put it on social media. It was all word of mouth. From that alone, we got 65 applications. I can only imagine what will happen when we ask for applications from the general public!"

Dance is, of course, especially dear to the hearts of the team. Bessie Award-winning choreographer Ephrat Asherie developed her latest ensemble piece, Odeon, at Town Stages in preparation for its world premiere at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this June. The all-women’s house dance crew Mawu, which affirms sisterhood and celebration over hypermasculine competition, offered creative dance workshops at Town Stages.

Sokoloff remains mindful of dancers' struggles, what she experienced and witnessed as a performer, choreographer and teacher in the field.

“Law of averages, very few dancers have a voice. They are bodies moving on stage. They’re in the background. I had a lot I wanted to say, a lot I wanted to change, a lot I wanted to do. I knew if I just kept dancing, there’d be no way to elevate all of this.

"I’m creating space for myself and my fellow dancers, but my vision and goals and activism are so much bigger than that. I’ve got to be louder than my body enables me to be and be on a bigger platform and a bigger stage.

“I’m still in shows, but going from dancing in studios eighteen hours a day to being on the front lines of real estate and construction is a shift. But it’s a necessary shift if this is all going to move in a better direction. I'm always asking, How can I change the paradigm?"

*****

To connect with the Town Stages team, set up a tour or get details on upcoming events, call 212-634-7690, or click here for their website. They are on Instagram (with daily check-ins) and Facebook as follows:

Instagram: Town Stages and Sokoloff Arts
Facebook: Town Stages and Sokoloff Arts

Town Stages
221 West Broadway, Tribeca, Manhattan
(between White and Franklin Streets)
A, C, E, N, Q, R, W to Canal Street; 1 to Franklin Street; or 2, 3 to Chambers Street

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Robert Indiana, 89

Robert Indiana, 89, Who Turned ‘Love’ Into Enduring Art, Is Dead
by Jori Finkel, The New York Times, May 21, 2018

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Reggie Lucas, 65

Reggie Lucas, Versatile Guitarist and Producer, Dies at 65
by Jon Caramanica, The New York Times, May 20, 2018

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Bobbie Louise Hawkins, 87

Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Beat Poet and Author, Dies at 87
by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, May 18, 2018

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These Full Circle Souljahs refuse to be “Boxed in”

Kwikstep (left) and Rokafella
of Full Circle Souljahs
(photo: Ian Douglas)

From start to finish--and even throughout its post-show Q&A--Full Circle Souljahs's Boxed In aims to smack down barriers between dance techniques and traditions as well as who can and should perform what. If you think you've got classical ballet over here in this corner and street dance way over there on that far end and maybe a few discrete modern and postmodern things floating between, this hour-long show will simply break up alla that.

Holding court at Danspace Project now through Saturday evening, the troupe is the winning handiwork of two famed Bronx street dance veterans--the married couple of Kwikstep and Rokafella. Diverse in race and ethnicity, Full Circle Souljahs collective is also remarkable for its performers' diverse training background. And that's the point of Boxed In. What all have in common is a passion to do their art, to perform, and most have eagerly soaked up experience from all sectors of their art. Watch stately Shaneekqua Woodham and gymnast-sleek Odylle "Mantis" Beder switch gears from ballet to b-girl moves, you realize that you're looking at the smart, multiple dimensions of today's youth and their can-do spirit.

The show includes sequences that suggest the two choreographers might have Broadway audiences in mind--for example, the cirque nouveau-style Cyr wheel hooping of Gabriel "Emphasis" Alvarez who eventually puts distance between himself and some vaguely menacing characters in commedia dell'arte masks. The piece deals with issues of ambition, the temptation to sell out and the wonder of freeing your creativity to work outside of set rules, categories and expectations.

It’s the sort of show that would be great for youngsters, and there were many in the smallish opening night audience with parents plus a contingent of college students. People I did not see: the typical “downtown” Danspace Project audience. The troupe has two more shows, and—who knows?—that might change. But maybe the message they’re bringing—step out of whatever box confines you—needs to reach more of us.

Performers: Raymond “Spex” Abbiw, Jennifer “Beasty” Acosta, Gabriel “Emphasis” Alvarez, Odylle “Mantis” Beder, Michael Bond (pianist), Gabriel "Kwikstep" Dionisio (aka DJ KS 360), Deana Richline,  Sharmaine Sheppard, Gene Shinozaki(beatbox), Janice Tomlinson, John “Flonetik” Vinuya, Shaneekqua Woodham

Lighting: Carol Mullins

Boxed In continues through Saturday, May 19 with 8pm performances at Danspace Project. For information and tickets, click here.

Danspace Project
131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Joseph Campanella, 93

Joseph Campanella, 93, Ubiquitous Character Actor, Dies
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, May 17, 2018

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We gon' dance now: Hank Smith's "Story of Tap" turns 20

Hank Smith, host of The Story of Tap,
remembered the late Sammy Davis, Jr.
patting his shins, before rising from his chair,
and telling them, "We gon' dance now."
(photo: Charles Dennis)

I felt myself smiling nearly all the way through dancer Hank Smith's program last night at Dixon Place--The Story of Tap: 20th Anniversary. Launched back in 1998 at the original Dixon Place with Marion Coles and James "Buster" Brown as Smith's first guests, the evening works a bit like a tv talk show...but better. Way better.

The better part is that it's all about tap and has the elfin Smith--dancer and so much more--as genial host. Better in that this edition had kickass tap stars Jason Samuels Smith and Derick Grant as guests along with Ayako Shirasaki, a jazz pianist whose playing is simply delicious. Better, too, because you're not home on your couch in front of a screen. You're just a few feet from the action, helplessly smiling.

The Story of Tap offers Smith a venue for humorously chatting up colleagues and idols about how they started and built their careers; who taught and mentored them; the grand inspirations--like Gregory Hines and Jimmy Slyde--they most miss; places where their skills were tested and honed; values that drive them to this day; issues that continue to intrigue them. Conversation, illustrated by archival photos and video clips, alternates with tap improvisations--astoundingly intricate or blistering solos with each dancer setting the bar higher and higher; playful face-offs; and, of course, the traditional shim sham ensemble with friends from the audience bringing it all to a close. Shirasaki was also granted her own solo at the keys during which every last one of us fell in love and awe.

I can't urge you to go to The Story of Tap: 20th Anniversary. That story has been told. But I hope Smith plans to bring tap's wonderful stories back to Dixon Place next year and the year after that and then some.

CLOSED. For information on upcoming Dixon Place events, click here.

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

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Harold Guskin, 76

Harold Guskin, Acting Coach Who Nurtured Stars, Is Dead at 76
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, May 16, 2018

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Leah Napolin, 83

Leah Napolin, Whose ‘Yentl’ Adaptation Made Broadway, Dies at 83
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, May 15, 2018

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Tom Murphy, 83

Tom Murphy, Acclaimed Irish Playwright, Is Dead at 83
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, May 15, 2018

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Matt Marks, 38

Matt Marks, Cutting-Edge Composer and Musician, Dies at 38
by Steve Smith, The New York Times, May 15, 2018

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Tom Wolfe, 88

Tom Wolfe, Innovative Nonfiction Writer and Novelist, Dies at 88
Deirdre Carmody and William Grimes, The New York Times, May 15, 2018

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Glenn Branca, 69

Glenn Branca: guitarist and composer dies at age 69
by Jake Nevins, The Guardian, May 14, 2018

Glenn Branca, Composer Who Blended Genres, Loudly, Dies at 69
by Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, May 15, 2018

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Rosie Herrera work featured in Limón season at The Joyce

Limón Dance Company performs The Unsung
(photo: Beatriz Schiller)

Amid the historic repertory of José Limón--Missa Brevis, premiered in 1958, and The Unsung, from 1971--Limón Dance Company has added an edgy splash of color and razzledazz to Program A of its new season at The Joyce Theater. It's the New York premiere of Querida Herida (2017), a women's trio by Rosie Herrera, a Miami-based, Cuban-American choreographer. Its clever title translates as dear (or beloved) wound, and its mischief stands out in a program that otherwise underscores the Mexico-born José Limón's earnest focus on the heroism embedded in our common humanity.

For instance, in The Unsung's signature opening ensemble, Limón envisioned a ceremony of beautiful men, each dancer named for an indigenous warrior chief--Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Tecumseh and so forth--something that might raise eyebrows if created today, say, by a white dancemaker. The gorgeousness of the group's work, though, is unquestionable. The patterns of their communal dancing are rich in rigorous geometric structure, and their well-ordered footfalls provide the only music, a bracing percussion reminiscent of Native American drumming.

Missa Brevis--set to Zoltán Kodály's Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli--salutes the endurance of survivors of war-torn Poland and what Limón called their "heroic serenity." He said, "I'm going to do a dance about it--in the ruins I found a dance." He forged a prayerful congregation who become their prayers, whose bodies transform into rung church bells. Made by artistic director and former Limón dancer Colin Connor, The Body is a House without Walls (2017), with its atmosphere of heroic grief and release, fits well with Limón modern dance aesthetics while lacking the boldface visual clarity that makes Limón's craft still affecting even as contemporary dance speaks to us in newer ways.

Which brings me around to Herrera and her beloved--artfully concealed, artfully revealed--wounds. How to take a work that careens between being barely there and over-the-top? Where two women cling to each other, dancing slow drags to Cuban music as if half-asleep, periodically unzipping parts of their skintight, midnight-black gowns as if slicing satiny, raspberry-red gashes into each other's flesh? Where, one minute, there's fake nudity (a dancer stripped down to a pale-colored leotard), and another, the women suddenly cavort in gleaming, gold-spangled party dresses? Where the lovers grapple and shove, leaving one vanquished and abandoned? Where an arterial ribbon of red spans the stage like a guide wire as a third dancer crosses that space in increasingly whimsical ways? How to take a work that makes some viewers chuckle at absurdity while others cringe at violence? And where some might very well do both at the same time? Where can we locate Herrera's fugitive tone and her intent?

Like the bright, picturesque wounds its dancers inflict upon each other, Querida Herida ruptures the sobriety and solemnity of Program A. Is this a good thing? Perhaps. Is it a different take on life and humanity from a Latinx artist of a new generation, new outlook? Something to ponder. Audiences who attend Program B and C--which, respectively, introduce New York premieres by Adam Barruch and Yin Yue--will get to ponder how these young choreographers affect the overall balance and alchemy of the Limón season.

Limón Dance Company: Jacqueline Buines, Terrence D. M. Diable, Angela Falk, Tanner Myles Huseman, David Glista, Logan Frances Kruger, Alex McBride, Brenna Monroe-Cook, Jesse Obremski, Frances Samson, Savannah Spratt, Mark Willis; apprentices Deepa Liegel and Malik Williams

Guest dancers: Carolina Avendano,Terry Springer, Kristen Foote and Julian Nichols

Limón Dance Company continues through Sunday, May 13 on the following schedule:

PROGRAM A:
Thursday at 8pm
The Unsung (José Limón)
The Body Is a House Without Walls (Colin Connor)
Querida Herida (Rosie Herrera)
Missa Brevis (José Limón)

PROGRAM B:

Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 2pm (family matinee)
The Unsung (José Limón)
The Body Is a House Without Walls (Colin Connor)
Conjurations (Adam Barruch)
Missa Brevis (José Limón)

PROGRAM C:

Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm
The Unsung (José Limón)
The Body Is a House Without Walls (Colin Connor)
No Room For Wandering (Yin Yue)
Missa Brevis (José Limón)

For information and tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater
175 Eight Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Lester James Peries, 99

Lester James Peries, 99, Visionary Sri Lankan Filmmaker, Dies
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, May 4, 2018

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At Harlem Stage, e-Moves celebrates contemporary dance artists of Africa and diaspora

Nubian Néné, one of the pop-up performers
for this season's e-moves festival of dance at Harlem Stage
(photo: Alain Wong)

Omari Mizrahi on the move for e-moves
at Harlem Stage
(photo: Robert Bader)

OMG! How to decide what shows to see this season? There's an abundance of worthwhile--indeed, downright exciting--dance productions around the city. I know the struggle well! So, please don't start throwing things when I urge you to get to yet another one: Monique Martin's e-Moves dance festival at Harlem Stage, running only through this weekend.

Martin's focus for this season is on Africa-based or Africa-diasporan artists exploring contemporary dance, as opposed to more-expected folkloric work from the continent. She has chosen Zimbabwe-born Nora Chipaumire, Lacina Coulibaly (Burkina Faso) and Ousmane Wiles/Omari Mizrahi (Senegal). Each evening also highlights dances by women choreographers in pop-up performances curated by Adesola Osakalumi. Viewers will see new, commissioned works as well as pieces re-imagined for the unique (and uniquely beautiful) space at Harlem Stage.

Chipaumire has reset her famous solo, Dark Swan (2007), on Shamar Watt, a man. Years ago, I saw the choreographer dance it; quite recently, I was fortunate to see Watt show it in a tiny corner of Chelsea's Rubin Museum where I sat perhaps not more than a foot away from him. Both artists are electrifying. But the visual intensity of this iteration for Harlem Stage is enhanced by the meeting of the brooding darkness of the space and the stark, handheld light trained on Watt and his white shirt. Dark Swan re-purposes a Russian ballet archetype as a symbol and expression of resistance, paying tribute to the determination of Africa's women.

Coulibaly adapted to the loss of his partner, Ibrahim Zongo--due to visa issues--for this world premiere of his duet, Sen Koro la (The Rite of Initiates). He adapted so beautifully, in fact, that when the audience was later informed that the "solo" we had watched was meant to be a duet, some of us gasped in surprise. I can't say that I saw much of Coulibaly's stated intention to promote "the humanity and culture of Africa, compelling the audience to appreciate its great diversity and immense cultural wealth," and I doubt this particular audience was in need of that sort of prompting. But we were treated to a solo of poetic sensitivity around timing (inhabiting the lush, flowing music but finding its own inquiry, thoughtfulness and response within it) and its own validity as a work of art. I do look forward to seeing Zongo some day, though--and, of course, much more of what Coulibaly has to offer.

A group of performers, billed as Les Ballet Afrik and led by Wiles (who dances as Omari Mizrahi), brought the house down with the celebratory Sila Djiguba (A Path to Hope). Here, music and moves of West Africa, AfroBeat, House and Vogue styles seamlessly and joyfully intersect. The young dancers making their unforgettable debut as a troupe alongside Wiles were Craig D Washington, Eva Moore, Milerka Rodriguez, Shireen Rahimi, Algin Ford, Yuhee Yang, Yuki Sukezane. I also enjoyed the masterful "pop-up" performance by Nubian Néné (of A Lady in the House Dance Company) in her solo, S T A N C E, another tribute to the self-determination and courage of women of the Black diaspora.

e-Moves continues tonight, Friday and Saturday with all performances at 7:30pm. For information and tickets, click here.

Harlem Stage
150 Convent Avenue, Manhattan
(map/directions)

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His A.I.M. is true: Kyle Abraham's Joyce season

Claude CJ Johnson, Connie Shiau and Catherine Ellis Kirk
of A.I.M. perform Kyle Abraham's Drive.
(photo: Ian Douglas)

No half-measures. No uncertainty. Kyle Abraham is at The Joyce Theater this week with his newly-renamed troupe, A.I.M., doing things to the max.

This season--which makes room for dances by Doug Varone and Bebe Miller, world premieres by Andrea Miller and Abraham as well as the Joyce commission of his first solo performance in nearly a decade--feels like a bold announcement of a new phase in the life and career of this award-winning artist. In an opening-night audience packed with New York's dance notables and media, it also felt like the place to be.

Program A opens with the Miller trio, state, where a knife-sharp trio of Black women--Kayla Farrish, Catherine Ellis Kirk and Marcella Lewis, with whom Miller collaborated--splash their stark images, live or via looming shadows, against the pale glow of a backdrop. They resemble stylish fashion models distorting their bodies out of mundane functionality into nifty abstractions for the eye of photographers and magazine readers; a fascination grows with the hypnotic observation of their physical capabilities and precision design, their aggressive flair. Reggie Wilkins's music underscores a certain sci-fi otherworldliness in this picture as does Nicole Pearce's lighting design--but she's got even more astonishing ideas for Abraham's solo, INDY.

Created with composer-pianist Jerome Begin, INDY is a work of emergence, search and breakthrough, as moving as it is beautiful to behold. It reveals itself slowly, literally coming out of mist. In its early moments, I see aspects of the dancer I remember from way back: part b-boy/part voguer, the latter's effortlessly slinky moves a form of catnip for this audience. (Let me pause, a minute, to throw a few !!!s behind the name of designer Karen Young whose black slacks/top costume, with its thick bands of fringe, throws more than a few !!!s around Abraham's gyrations: Karen Young!!!). But with the spreading of his arms and the parting of the black curtain behind him, Abraham moves on from this image of himself.

We find him shuddering, his arms locked behind his back as if his wrists are handcuffed. Pearce's lighting, here and throughout, arrives from the oddest places and in the strangest ways. She is a fount of surprises, stepping up to the challenge of choreographer ready to surprise himself and all who follow him. Begin's sound chamber suddenly erupts in an audio clip of a voice announcing Abraham's BFA graduation. The dancer strips down to briefs to move around like an awkward, broken marionnette.

The work's fully-revealed, eye-popping visual design suggests a well-ordered cosmos--external and containing the dancer or internal and generative of his evolution, perhaps both. The Abraham we see now has unshackled himself from our and, likely, his own expectations.

With Meditation: A Silent Prayer, another Abraham world premiere, made in collaboration with his performers, the choreographer returns to a concern that has informed his works in previous years--the precarious existence of Black lives in white supremacist society; specifically, the unrelenting roll call of deaths of Blacks at the hands of police. The ensemble gently performs moments of human connection before Titus Kaphar's backdrop-spanning mural of what, at first, might seem to be looming images of three distinct Black faces. Instead, you come to realize, the three are blurs made to look like multiple, overlapped and moving faces. We hear a litany of ages, family roles and names, written and read in voiceover by artist Carrie Mae Weems. In addition to Kaphar and Weems, the notable creative team for Meditation includes Craig Harris (music), Dan Scully (lighting) and Young (costumes).

This program--as well as Program B--ends with Drive, an Abraham collaboration with A.I.M. which was a hit of the 2017 Fall for Dance Festival at City Center. More tight work by the ensemble, more stunning lighting by Scully, and the asserted conviction that--when ready--you can just pick up and go wherever you choose to go. A.I.M. is ready.

Performers:

Kyle Abraham, Kayla Farrish, Catherine Ellis Kirk, Marcella Lewis, Tamisha Guy, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Jeremy "Jae" Neal, Matthew Baker and Claude "CJ" Johnson

****

A.I.M.'s Joyce season runs through Sunday, May 6 with two programs and varying start times as follows:

Program A (approx. 1hr 40 min)

Tuesday (7:30pm), Friday (8pm) and Saturday (2pm)

state (World Premiere) by Andrea Miller
INDY (World Premiere) by Kyle Abraham
Meditation: A Silent Prayer (World Premiere) by Kyle Abraham
Drive by Kyle Abraham

Program B (approx. 1 hr 20 min)

Wednesday (7:30pm), Thursday and Saturday (8pm) and Sunday (2pm)

Strict Love by Doug Varone
Habits of Attraction by Bebe Miller
Meditation: A Silent Prayer (World Premiere) by Kyle Abraham
Drive by Kyle Abraham

For information and tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Jabo Starks, 79

Jabo Starks, Drummer for James Brown, Dies at 79
by Daniel E. Slotnik, The New York Times, May 1, 2018

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Abbas Attar, 74

Abbas Attar, Who Photographed Iran’s Revolution, Dies at 74
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, April 30, 2018

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