The world is a
fracking mess...
...and then, there's dance. And the people who make it. And
so. much. more. But let's stay with dance for the moment.
On Monday night, New York's dance world celebrated a sample of its best. I say "sample" because, of course, there's still a lot of excellent territory out there that even the new and improved
Bessie Awards have yet to cover. However, it was exhilarating to sit in Harlem's world-famous
Apollo Theater (thank you,
Mikki Shepard) with its grand history of Black American entertainment, and watch so many people of color presenting or receiving awards. It was a good visual, which made its point just by being there with no particular political fanfare.
Just do it!
What grown-up glamor and fun, too--from the big opening by talented kids from
Harlem School of the Arts (choreography by
Aubrey Lynch) to MC
Bebe Neuwirth channeling the crush everyone has on
Marcelo Gomes to
David White--who started it all, way back in 1984--reminding us that his muse, dance educator
Bessie Schonberg advised us to
"get wild." Good advice to this day.
Photos aren't posted yet, but
The Bessies Web page, hosted by
Dance/NYC (thank you,
Lane Harwell), now lists all the presenters, nominees and recipients (among whom, I'm particularly thrilled to note, were the team of
Ishmael Houston-Jones,
Chris Cochrane and
Dennis Cooper for the revival of
Them;
Walter Dundervill for Outstanding Visual Design in
Aesthetic Destiny 1: Candy Mountain; young tap dancer
Caleb Teicher; choreographer
Beth Gill;
Raushan Mitchell;
Wendy Whalen;
Violeta Galagarza; and
Trisha Brown). But, really, I was happy for everyone and was having such a rollicking good time, that I feared I might just pitch out of my box seat.
Look out below!
You'll find contact information for the Bessies' dynamic new producer
Lucy Sexton, assistant
Heather Robles and the entire current selection committee at
this link. Get in touch and get involved with what Sexton is calling the
New York Dance and Performance League.
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| Brahms "Bravo" LaFortune visits with Queensborough Community College students (c)2011, Eva Yaa Asantewaa |
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| QCC students entertained by Bravo (c)2011, Eva Yaa Asantewaa |
The next day, I had the joy of welcoming
Brahms "Bravo" LaFortune to each of my two classes in Introduction to the Art of Dance at Queensborough Community College. Bravo visited us to introduce and screen a new documentary on house dancing--
Check Your Body At The Door--produced by my longtime colleague
Sally Sommer, dance historian and critic, and directed by
Charles Atlas and the late
Michael Schwartz.
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| Bravo on the move (c)2011, Eva Yaa Asantewaa |
Among many other spectacularly talented dancers like
Archie Burnett and
Brian "Footwork" Green, Bravo can be found in the doc, dancing his fool head off in underground clubs, dancing solo in empty elevators, mimicking and slyly do-si-do-ing with people on the street, and generally being the graceful, energetic, highly-opinionated charmer he proved to be in his almost non-stop interactions with my students and choreographer
Emily Berry's dance majors. We all love Bravo and are grateful to Sommer for acknowledging the house dancing community and documenting this important cultural phenomenon.
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| L to r: Eva Yaa Asantewaa; Emily Berry (QCC Dance instructor/Dance Coordinator); Brahms "Bravo" LaFortune |
Check it all out at
Check Your Body At The Door where you can view photos and video clips, learn more about the dancers and certainly get yourself a copy of the DVD.
