InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2022

 

InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2022

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

 

Beyoncé's Renaissance

Jenna Ortega in Wednesday (photo: Netflix)

 The inimitable Lizzo

 

 Well, hi, again! It's about damn time!

 

This post almost didn't happen because this blog almost stayed dormant. But now it's back--sort of. (Still sorting that out.) I've been quietly accumulating these items since the beginning of 2022--not for any kind of Best Of  list but, instead, just a record of my journey this year through arts and entertainment. You're mileage is bound to vary, but here's some of what I found interesting and enjoyed and only in the order, more or less, of my experience. Some, because it's likely I've forgotten to jot down a few things here or there. And, yes, there are a few items here that represent me doing serious catching up--like  ending the year binge-watching HBO's Treme--finally! So glad to connect with that great storytelling--and music!

What's on your list?

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in The Tragedy of Macbeth (Photo: Alison Rosa)

Naomi Ekperigin, The Standups, Netflix

Naomi Ekperigin, The Standups, Season 3 (Netflix), streaming from December 2021

The Art of Asking, audiobook written, read, and sung by Amanda Palmer, Hachette Audio, 2014

 

The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by Joel Coen (Apple TV+), streaming from January 14

 

The Power of The Dog, directed by Jane Campion (Netflix), 2021

 

 

 

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, 2020

As We See It, created by Jason Katims (Amazon Prime), streaming from January 21

 

Season 4 of Ozark, created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams (Netflix), streaming from January 21

 

Brown Girls, by Daphne Palasi Andreades, Random House, 2022

Philippe Petit: Open Practice, Baryshnikov Arts Center, streaming February 7-21

 

14 Peaks, directed by Torquil Jones (Netflix), 2021

Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis (Netflix), 2020

Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You (Netflix), 2022

Martyr's Fiction (rough cut), by Kayla Farris, 2022

Starstruck, by Rose Matafeo (HBO Max), streaming from 2021

 

 

Rothaniel, by Jerrod Carmichael (HBO Max), streaming from 2022

 

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca, at The Joyce Theater, April 5-10

Women of the White Buffalo, directed by Deborah Anderson, various streaming services from April 12

 

"About Damn Time," (Special), by Lizzo

 

Keeley Hawes as Louisa Durrell in The Durrells in Corfu

Josh O'Connor as Larry Durrell in The Durrells in Corfu

The Durrells in Corfu (Amazon Prime) 

This is Us (Hulu)

Civil: Ben Crump, directed by Nadia Hallgren (Netflix)

Season One of Abbott Elementary, created by Quinta Brunson (Hulu), streaming from 2021

 

Summer of Soul, directed by Questlove (Hulu), from 2021

Heartstopper, created by Alice Oseman  (Netflix)

Season One of The White Lotus, directed by Mike White  (HBO Max)

Renaissance, by Beyoncé

 

 

 

The Sandman (Netflix), from 2022

Citizen Ashe, directed by Rex Miller (HBO Max), 2021

Belfast, directed by Kenneth Branagh (HBO Max), 2022

 

 

Vocalist Samara Joy

 

Viola Davis in The Woman King

 

 E. H. Duckworth, Moshood Olúṣọmọ Bámigbóyè Holding a Portrait Bust. Ìlọfà, Kwara State, Nigeria, ca. 1940. Danford Collection of West African Art and Artefacts, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, BIRRC-D432-1. © Research and Cultural Collections, University of Birmingham

 

 

Linger Awhile by Samara Joy

The Woman King, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2022

Joseph Anton, by Salman Rushdie (Penguin Random House, 2012)                     

Didn't Nobody Give A Shit About What Happened to Carlotta, by James Hannaham (Little, Brown and Company, 2022)

Elvis, directed by Baz Luhrmann (HBO Max), 2022

 

Bámigbóyè: A Master Sculptor of the Yorùbá Tradition, Yale Art Gallery

 

 

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Amazon Prime Video), 2022

Homegrown, (HBO Max), streaming from 2022

Descendant, directed by Margaret Browne (Netflix), streaming from 2022

 

The History of Empires, Witness Relocation/Dan Safer, La MaMa, October 27-November 6 

 

The American Manifest: Moving Chains by Charles Gaines, Governors Island (Click here to view my video clip of this astonishing installation.)

 

Xaviera Simmons: Crisis Makes a Book Club, Queens Museum

Wendell & Wild, directed by Henry Selick (Netflix), streaming from 2022

Spencer, directed by Pablo Larrain, 2021

The Crown, Season 5 (Netflix), streaming from 2022

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler (Netflix)

Wednesday, (Netflix), streaming from November 23

 

Emily The Criminal, directed by John Patton Ford, (Netflix), streaming from December 7 

She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 B.C., The Morgan Library & Museum

 

 

Sabrina Imbler (photo: Marion Aguas)

How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler (Little, Brown and Company, 2022)

The Deep: Exploring Earth's Last Frontier, World Science Festival, streaming from December 22. And yes, I've hyperlinked this title for you because you absolutely have got to see it! Here's info:

For centuries, humans believed the deep sea was lifeless, but new technologies have revealed that this previously hidden realm is home to rich ecosystems, mineral treasures, and an astounding kaleidoscope of life. Oceanographer Dr. Vicki Ferrini, marine biologist Dr. Helen Scales, and explorer Victor Vescovo join Brian Greene for a journey to Earth’s final frontier where for the first time we are discovering what lies beneath the oceans.

 

Janelle Monae in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, directed by Rian Johnson (Netflix), streaming from December 23

 

Edward Hopper's New York, The Whitney Museum 

The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh (HBO Max), streaming from December 13

Juan Francisco Elso: Por América, El Museo del Barrio

Treme, created by David GlaSimon and Eric Overmyer (HBO), streaming from 2010

Performer Kayla Farrish receives a 2022 Bessie!

Kayla Farrish

  

Big, big congrats to Kayla Farrish, Bessie recipient for Outstanding Performer!

Kayla Farrish in December 8th by Kayla Farrish in collaboration with Belinda McGuire, the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Solo for Solo Showing at Gibney

"For a tumble and waterfall of physicality and phrasing that at times takes one’s breath away, and at times quickens the blood. Farrish is in full control from start to finish, and is also able to offer vulnerability and heart through her performance."

The Bessies! 2022 New York Dance and Performance Awards

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Soledad Barrio with Antonio Granjero (photo: Jesse Rodkin)

Nai-Ni Chen in Truth Bound (photo: Sylvia Chiang)

 

New York, NY (December 16, 2022) – The NY Dance and Performance Awards, the Bessies, New York City’s premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced tonight the 2022 award recipients at the 38th annual Bessie Awards. Porshia A. Derival, Executive Director of H+ | TOTEM Productions, hosted this year’s event, which was held at Chelsea Factory. A complete list of the 2022 awards follows below.

Derival welcomed artists and supporters of the New York dance community who gathered to celebrate the nominees and awardees. Bessie Awards were presented to artists for outstanding choreographer/creator, performer, sound design/music composition, visual design, outstanding revival, and breakout choreographer—an award that honors an artist who has made an exceptional leap in their career this past year. All of the awardees and nominated artists in these categories received a $500 honorarium, courtesy of a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Tatiana Desardouin was honored with the 2022 Juried Bessie Award, which recognizes a choreographer who exhibits some of the most interesting and exciting ideas in dance in New York City today, and whose work deserves to be seen more outside the city. The award comes with touring support and other engagement opportunities from New York State DanceForce. The 2022 Bessies Jury of three acclaimed choreographers, LaTasha Barnes, Molissa Fenley, and Abby Zbikowski, selected Desardouin.

Emily L. Waters, a senior program associate in the Arts and Culture program at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, was honored with the 2022 Bessies Angel Award for her leadership and advocacy on behalf of dance.

Two previously announced awards were also presented. Choreographer and dancer Nai-Ni Chen was posthumously honored with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement in Dance Award. Christine Jowers, founding editor of The Dance Enthusiast, received the 2022 Award for Service to the Field of Dance.

The ceremony featured a performance of Nai-Ni Chen’s stunning Crosscurrent, performed by Rio Kikuchi and Esteban Santamaria. The evening also included an exhilarating pop-up performance by Passion Fruit Dance Company’s Tatiana Desardouin, with Mai Lê Hô, Lauriane Ogay, and Gyeun "Lobel" Jeong.

The Bessies also honored members of the dance community who passed away since the last Bessies ceremony. The In Memoriam section was presented by Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley and Paz Tanjuaquio.

Other presenters included Abdiel, Marija Abney, Michele Byrd-McPhee, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Natsha Diggs, maura nguyen donohue, Brinda Guha, Anabella Lenzu, Kyle Marshall, Nicky Paraiso, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, Lucy Sexton, Philip Treviño, and André M. Zachery.

The 38th annual Bessie Awards was produced by H+ | TOTEM Productions.

THE 2022 NY DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARD RECIPIENTS AND CITATIONS: 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE AWARD

 

Nai-Ni Chen

Nai-Ni Chen was a force in the dance community with her unique choreographic body of work that fuses Eastern cultural forms of Chinese dance and the Western world of modern dance. Her vision of the immigrant’s journey of crossing cultures and adapting to a new home provided endless inspirations and opportunities for creative expressions that enrich the human experience.

 

SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE AWARD

 

Christine Jowers

Jowers is an example of generosity, dedication, and commitment in service to the dance field. After her career as a dancer performing in England and the U.S., Jowers devoted herself to supporting dance artists, to writing about them with respect, truth, and love. In times when dance reviews and writers are almost extinct, when publications and dance journalists are disappearing, Jowers and The Dance Enthusiast value and care about dance criticism and documenting performances. She has and continues to ignite the dance community with passion, curiosity, and conversation.

BESSIES ANGEL AWARD

 

Emily L. Waters

Waters is being recognized for her advocacy of dance in times when artists need it the most; for ensuring dance is brought to the table as a former professional dancer; for being a trailblazer for dance in the philanthropic setting. 

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER/CREATOR

 

Leslie Cuyjet

Blur at Open Call at The Shed

Intimate, vulnerable, bold, and enigmatic, this visceral piece is a quiet merging of Cuyjet’s inner worlds. With sequences of highly orchestrated, improvised structures that are exacting, charged, and in the present, Cuyjet creates a vast, living landscape.

 

Bill T. Jones, Janet Wong, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company

Deep Blue Sea at Park Avenue Armory

For a visionary, large-scale work incorporating around 100 dancers and a nontraditional use of space and production elements, culminating in a creation both universal and deeply personal.

 

Anna Sperber

Bow Echo, presented by XØ Projects Inc and The Old American Can Factory

With keen attention to detail in choreographic structures that relate to the environment, Sperber creates a visual, exciting rooftop ritual with movement invention and materials that break the conventional expectations of an audience.

 

Raúl Tamez

Migrant Mother for Limón Dance Company at The Joyce Theater

For creating a tributary piece to the immense grief and emotional pain that migrant mothers endure. From technically complex choreography, using space and bodies to sculpt eye-catching negative and positive space, to the blended use of modern-day sound bites with music, this is a deeply somatic experience.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER

 

Soledad Barrio

in Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca at The Joyce Theater

For stamping the fire and passion of flamenco into the heart of the observer, making everyone want to be from Spain. Barrio’s blended precision, rhythm, and expressiveness do not just move with the music, but sing back to it.

Kayla Farrish

 

Kayla Farrish

in December 8th by Kayla Farrish in collaboration with Belinda McGuire, the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Solo for Solo Showing at Gibney

For a tumble and waterfall of physicality and phrasing that at times takes one’s breath away, and at times quickens the blood. Farrish is in full control from start to finish, and is also able to offer vulnerability and heart through her performance.

 

Nikolai McKenzie Ben Rema

in A Jamaican Battyboy in America by Arthur Avilés at Hemispheric Institute at NYU and  BAAD!

For interpreting and adding to a revival with precision, poise, and evident generosity of spirit. McKenzie Ben Rema becomes at once a channel and a generating vessel with bold and mesmerizing dancing.

 

Antonio Ramos

in Puro Teatro by luciana achugar at The Chocolate Factory Theater

Ramos embraces achugar’s choreographic vision to create a living landscape where bodies are in the present, joyful, courageous, vulnerable, funny, connecting, and intersecting with one another. Ramos’s movements of improvised structures are exacting, highly-skilled, charged, and playful.

 

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL 

 

Set and Reset/Reset (2021)

Choreographed and co-directed by Abigail Yager, co-directed by Jamie Scott with assistance from Diane Madden, performed by Candoco Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music 

For a dynamic, fully embodied vision/revision of Trisha Brown’s Set and Reset (1983). Candoco dancers fully speak Brown’s vocabulary while also creating new ways to speak. With the fabric Brown laid out for them, the dancers create a vibrant tapestry that shimmers and moves with fluidity and grace. Beautiful and moving, the dancers leave the audience with much to rethink.

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN / MUSIC COMPOSITION

 

Marc Álvarez (arrangement)

For Carmen by Johan Inger, performed by Compañía Nacional de Danza at The Joyce Theater

For remixing music using Bizet’s original composition with a contemporary twist. There is a seamless transition from classical to contemporary that makes the music one.

 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN

 

New Affiliates (Set and Costume Design) – Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb, and Rashaad Newsome Studio with Truman T. Brown Jr., Howie B., Kimberly Jones, and Randy Rosenthal

For Assembly by Rashaad Newsome at Park Avenue Armory

For an exciting multi-arts spectacle, a true celebration of African culture disseminated into current society supporting dance, music, and poetry through textiles and visual art. An impressive amalgamation of unsuspecting elements making a unified whole.

 

Princess Lockerooo (photo: Ben Hider)

  OUTSTANDING BREAKOUT CHOREOGRAPHER

 

Princess Lockerooo

For artistry that moves the audience from spectator to fellow performer quite seamlessly, teaching about dance culture in the process. Princess Lockeroo is a multifaceted artist who has always been fully dedicated to her craft and does not miss any details in creating a full, immersive experience for her audience.

 

2022 JURIED BESSIE AWARD

 

Tatiana Desardouin

Desardouin’s “groove,” embraces the relationship of time with an individual’s true nature. Each moment becomes fully realized and progresses forward to reveal the dancer's authentic self. Just as her “Passion Fruit Seeds” provide a sourceable root for individuals to create and sustain, she and her works are a galvanized source of inspiration and dopeness for the Street and Club dance community and everyone she encounters.

 

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 38 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of the late 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, sound design/music composition, and visual design. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership as members and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate individuals to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.         

The 2021–2022 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Ronald K. Alexander, Maria Baranova Suzuki, Maria Bauman, Charles Vincent Burwell, Yvonne H. Chow, Yoshiko Chuma, Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley, Valerie Green, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Elgie Gaynell Sherrod, Ivan Talijančić, and Philip Treviño.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyen donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Carla Peterson, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Laurie Uprichard, and Charmaine Warren.

BODY AND SOUL: Ziiomi Law is not playing small!

 

Performer Ziiomi Law

(photo: Cathey Ann Lynette Woodard Law)

Ziiomi, a Black nonbinary femme, is laughing & smiling while giving a profile shot of their not quite bald head. They are wearing a teal one piece that looks like it feels soft to the touch. There's a v- neck cut in the center of the one piece and Ziiomi's hands are clasped at their belly. They have multiple facial adornments, a gold decorative septum, two double piercings in their right nostril, and a silver labret piercing. They are showing all 52 as they smile and laugh! The joy is present.

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Hello, again, everyone! It certainly has been a long, long time!

I'm reviving my long-abandoned podcast Body and Soul and, in the course of doing so, reviving InfiniteBody blog as well!

I hope you'll inspired by this first new episode featuring interdisciplinary artist Ziiomi Law, US born and raised, now a resident of Panama City, Panama. I asked Ziiomi to talk about what helps them--as a person and artist--reach beyond restrictions to be all they can be.

Listen to the podcast episode here. Subscribe to Body and Soul for more!

Now, read on below for more about my special guest, Ziiomi Law!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

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Ziiomi Law, Firedancing in Puerto Viejo, 2021
(photo: Brian Wimer)

 

Ziiomi is semi-silhouetted on a dark night on the beach. There is sand beneath their feet. The are holding two fans aflame with fire. They have on a sparkling bra top and some flowy black pants. Half of their head is shaved and the other half is cut into a loc bob that rests at their shoulders.

Bio: Ziiomi Louise Law is a professional dancer & performer, death doula, arts organizer, and acrobat nomadically based nowhere & working everywhere. They are an ever evolving Blackity Black, loudly queer artist, who sweats glitter & smells like sweet cocomango shea. An embodied Et Cetera, period!

As a non-binary multi-hyphenate, they give big GLIT energy on their best day/s. When dueting with liberation Zii comes out to play as D R I P, the freest version of themmeselves who does not know a world without pleasure & hopes you never do either. Swimming in the erotic, slithering up poles, & dancing as a fireworker & flow arts aerialist brings themme joy.

Raised in the South, grown across the East Coast, & seasoned with a generous dash of international spice; Zii carries home in their pockets.

You can find them luxuriating at the intersections of both/and. They believe if it ain’t a full body YES, it’s a no!

Website:  https://ziiomilaw.com

GUEST REVIEW: Choreographer Alexandra Beller Directs DE-CRUIT’s Macbeth Adaptation

GUEST REVIEW:

Choreographer Alexandra Beller Directs DE-CRUIT’s Macbeth Adaptation

by Kate Foster Vishniakova

The struggle is real. In 55 minutes, Make Thick My Blood at Theatre Row reveals what most productions of Macbeth ignore: the physical and psychological trauma a couple faces after the loss of a child.

The story usually told of Macbeth is one soldier ascending to the throne as king by killing its predecessor. Make Thick My Blood presents that story differently. There are two soldiers, not one. There are two crowns, not one. There are two struggles, not one. This is the story of two soldiers, a couple, carrying the dead weight of loss, fighting to fill the void that grief created, and reflecting back at each other the trauma they share.

Dawn Stern as Lady Macbeth (photo: Ashley Garrett)

The audience enters into a small, intimate space. The stage is covered with a burlap tarp reminiscent of a bunker, but the calm music suggests the war is already over. Lady Macbeth (Dawn Stern) is center stage on the ground bowing down, shrouded in a dress of mourning. Macbeth (Stephan Wolfert) enters, and the two fall into a dance of simple, sharp movements. Shoulders drop into a slumber, he carries her as she tries to hold on, he crawls away, fighting the air, fighting the mind, fighting to the top, to only collapse, and repeat. What weighs them down is the bright red stain revealed on Lady Macbeth's white undergarment.

The light splashes the entire stage red, and we are at the top of the play. We see the Macbeths grapple with the loss of their child. 

Her body becomes the dagger he sees. When Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to murder the King, it is not only with her words, but with her body as the weapon. Maybe if he does this, they can finally move on and forget their loss.

When they ascend to the throne, they wear identical crowns. They turn to face each other; a haunting reflection where they see the dark damned spots of their past. They walk slowly hand-in-hand, bearing equal weight of the glory and consequences of their actions. Loss of a second life does not replace the first.

A baby's cry is knocking. Their inevitable deaths are soon to come.

Stephan Wolfert as Macbeth with Dawn Stern (photo: Ashley Garrett)

DE-CRUIT, founded by Wolfert and Stern, adapts Shakespeare's texts through the lens of trauma survivors. Make Thick My Blood is no exception. After their loss, Lady Macbeth is present in everything that Macbeth hears, sees, and does. It is in her body that they lose their baby, and it is from that point on that her presence and this traumatic memory never escape Macbeth's mind. 

What is refreshing is that this production could have focused only on the nightmare. But it focuses on the effort to wake up; the effort to move on from what no human can fully move on from: the loss of a loved one. The movement in this production, under the helm of Alexandra Beller, an award-winning choreographer in her directorial debut, successfully brings the full range of emotion felt by the couple to the surface. The adaptation and direction carved out space for empathy and relatability in a story that other productions typically leave out. The story of one couple's trauma reminds us that, in our bodies, we all carry the presence of past trauma and that it can manifest itself in unpredictable ways.

[CLOSED AUGUST 6, 2022]

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Kate Foster Vishniakova (photo courtesy of the writer)

Kate Foster Vishniakova is a dramaturg working in international and intercultural theater. She trained with artists at the Moscow Art Theatre School, in Germany as a DAAD grant recipient, and with IUGTE–International University Global Theatre Experience. She is a research dramaturg with the Verbatim Performance Lab at NYU and an HR consultant at Orr Group. MA German, Wayne State University. MFA Dramaturgy, Columbia University.

From Poet Laureate Joy Harjo

 

Joy Harjo (photo: Karen Kuehn, courtesy Blue Flower Arts)

I like to think of a new year being possible at any moment,

as every moment is a kind of doorway.

 

Joy Harjo (Muscogee/Creek)

23rd Poet Laureate of the United States of America

quoted in The New York Times