Congratulations to the Bessies organization and this year's winners!

 

j. bouey in A Message from Mx. Black Cooper (photo: Rachel Keane)

 

The New York Dance and Performance Awards, the Bessies, tonight announced the 2023 award recipients at the 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony. The Illustrious Blacks hosted this year’s celebratory event, which was held at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City. A complete list of the 2023 awards follows below.

 

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.

 

Renowned dancer, singer, and actor Dionne Figgins presented Virginia Johnson with the 2023 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. Artists and dance advocates Porshia A. Derival and Ms Vee presented Michele Byrd-McPhee with the 2023 Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. Other presenters included Tyler Ashley, Clifton Brown, George Faison, Erin Fogerty, Dyane Harvey Salaam, Karisma Jay, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Abdel Salaam, and Paz Tanjuaquio.

 

Barkha Patel was honored with the 2023 Juried Bessie Award, selected by the 2023 Bessie Jury luciana achugar, Ayodele Casel, and Kyle Marshall. The Juried Award 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 ceremony also included special remarks from Vicky Capote of Dance/NYC, Alton Murray, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Lucy Sexton, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, and Bessies Executive Director Heather Robles.

 

The ceremony included an audience participation dance tribute to O’Shae Sibley. Dance Theatre of Harlem performed Orange, a duet by Stanton Welch, in honor of Virginia Johnson. Fredrick Earl Mosley’s Unbroken, performed by his company Diversity of Dance was also presented, along with an excerpt from Princess Lockeroo’s The Fabulous Waack Dancers Big Show, and Afro-Acro, performed by AbunDancers Youth Ensemble.

 

The Bessies also honored members of the dance community who died this past year. The moving In Memoriam was presented by dancers Mireicy Aquino and Jhailyn Farcon.

 

The celebration continued at the Bessies Silent Disco After-Party with DJ Sabine Blaizin on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza.

 

The 2023 Bessie Awards Ceremony was produced by Torya Beard and Heather Robles.

 

THE 2023 NEW YORK DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARD RECIPIENTS AND CITATIONS:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE AWARD

 

Virginia Johnson

 

For inspiring audiences for 28 years with dynamic performances as a founding member and principal dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem. For her tenure as Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, continuing the company’s legacy of innovation and excellence, while expanding its reach and impact through collaborations with other organizations. For founding Pointe Magazine, and serving as editor-in-chief for nearly a decade. For editorial vision, bringing diverse voices and perspectives to the forefront of the dance community. For a lifelong commitment to the arts, and a career of significant contributions to the world of dance as a celebrated dancer, editor, and artistic director.

 

OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE AWARD

 

Michele Byrd-McPhee

 

For being an incredible force in the global dance community, especially as an advocate for young girls and women in hip-hop. As the Founder and Executive Director of Ladies of Hip-Hop, Byrd-McPhee has worked for decades to recontextualize spaces and conversations about hip-hop along gender, cultural, socio-historical, and racial lines. Her vision for women of all generations in hip-hop has created opportunities for them to perform on concert dance stages, teach in the most prestigious dance institutions, and create incredible opportunities for themselves within hip-hop’s legacy.

 

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER/CREATOR

 

LaTasha Barnes

LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum at The Joyce Theater

 

A joyous celebration of jazz dance throughout history, Barnes flexes the imposed proscenium setting to engage a communal experience, demonstrating community as the center of this form. An offering of (re)embodiment to the audience, this work showcases seamless transitions between styles, demonstrating technical mastery from the cast and deep creativity and thoughtfulness from its creator.

 

Dormeshia

Dormeshia Tap Collective: Rhythm Is Life at The Joyce Theater

 

For crafting stellar interplay between movement, sound, performer, and improvisation. Deeply human, rooted in tradition and joy, Dormeshia shows us where tap dance has been, where it is, and where it is going.

 

Benjamin Akio Kimitch

Tiger Hands at The Shed

 

For a beautiful work with an extraordinarily sensitive exploration of personal and cultural identity. The work creates an entirely new movement vocabulary that holds resonant memories of traditional Peking opera dance forms, and is embedded with shimmering novelty in tribute to a beloved mother.

 

Omari Wiles

New York Is Burning at Works & Process at The Guggenheim

 

For a beautiful representation of intergenerational Black experiences that pays homage to the dancers and artists from the classic documentary Paris Is Burning. This work is a gorgeously joyous, queer collection of dance and music stories. As a timeless tribute, it highlights the Afro Dance, House, Vogue, and Ballroom communities, their current cultural relevance, and prioritizes the diversity of dancers’ bodies, bringing out the power within Black dance and music.

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER

 

j. bouey

 

In A Message from Mx. Black Copper by j. bouey at Movement Research at the Judson Church

For an exhilarating performance embodying Black joy. This work is an exploration of emotion and movement that evokes love, trauma, honesty, and progression. The performance was thoughtful, unapologetic, and celebratory of life, self, and ancestry.

 

Amanda Castro

In Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel at The Joyce Theater

 

Castro’s performance capacity and arresting stage presence offer playfulness, dynamism, and mastery, particularly in the connection between percussionist and dancer. Her clear delineation in performance teaches the audience about Afro-Latin influences and intrinsic tap rhythms, with a demonstrated fluency in many styles.

 

Joyce Edwards

In Grace, The Equality of Night and Day and Open Door by Ronald K. Brown at The Joyce Theater

 

For bringing presence and identity into an exquisite embodiment of Ronald K. Brown’s work. Edwards exudes irrefutable strength, depth, warmth, reverence, conviction, and connection.

 

Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza

In And so you see… our honorable blue sky and ever enduring sun… can only be consumed slice by slice… by Robyn Orlin at New York Live Arts

 

A uniquely bombastic, outrageous, and gorgeous performance that transcends genres, this is an unforgettably commanding performance that reveals deeper truths.

 

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL

 

In The Upper Room (1986/2022)

By Twyla Tharp at New York City Center

 

For a masterfully crafted and timeless work of dance art. In the Upper Room synthesizes choreography, costumes, music, and lighting into a transcendent experience for both audience and performers. The compelling score intersects with the bold choreography, creating an experience of raw power and grace.

 

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN/ MUSIC COMPOSITION

 

Charles Turner and Sean Mason

 

For LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum by LaTasha Barnes at The Joyce Theater

For a New York City sonic dream of musical arrangement that pays tribute to the eras of Black music from authentic jazz to hip-hop classics. The audience is brilliantly taken on a rollercoaster of musical nostalgia that makes one want to cry, dance, and move with joy! From the piano keys to the DJ turntables, and from the jazz clubs of Harlem to the playgrounds of Brooklyn, the arrangement is a true delight showing the magic of The Jazz Continuum.

 

OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN

 

Tina Tzoka & Loukas Bakas (Set Design), Stephanos Droussiotis (Lighting Design), Nektarios Dionysatos (Sculptures and Special Constructions), Dimitris Korres (Mechanical Inventions)

For Transverse Orientation by Dimitris Papaioannou at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

 

For a team of designers who create scenes beyond what people might think is possible, and leave them gasping in awe. The team is the ‘David Copperfield’ of the field, possessing wide imaginative abilities that create the magic and make-believe of the theater.

 

OUTSTANDING BREAKOUT CHOREOGRAPHER

 

Symara Johnson

 

For deeply personal and profoundly joyful movement research with a choreographic practice based in American and West Indian heritage. For merging movement practices with rigorous archival research which calls for being in the present moment. For a creation of space within this practice for engagement of many ideas generated on the spot, and the ability to move between them with abandonment.

 

2023 JURIED BESSIE AWARD

 

Barkha Patel

 

For elegantly and magnificently creating, educating, and sharing work that elevates classical Indian and Kathak dance. Patel is deeply rooted in her art form’s spiritual and cultural history and is a contemporary voice who will contribute to the evolution of Kathak dance and its place in the dance world at large. 

 

ABOUT THE BESSIES

 

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 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 choreography, performance, music composition, visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. 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 and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

 

The 2022–2023 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Tyler Ashley, Elizabeth Burke, Tymberly Canale, Yoshiko Chuma, Donna Costello, Porshia A. Derival, Tiffany Geigel, Valerie Green, Satsu Holmes, William Isaac, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Shalewa Mackall, Yoko Murakami, Ivan Talijančić, and Kate Thomas.

 

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

Rare and free: Dance from Kazakhstan returns to Lincoln Center

(photo courtesy of The Astana Ballet Theater)

Kazakhstan's renowned Astana Ballet Theater, directed by Valery Kuzembav, will offer a free program at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday, January 17. Three works will be presented, including Ricardo Amarante's Love Fear Loss, set to the songs of Edith Piaf and inspired by her passionate life. The appearance marks the troupe's second appearance at Alice Tully Hall, following its US debut there in November 2015.

Free tickets will be available at the box office starting at 6pm.

Alice Tully Hall
Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway (between 65th and 66th Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Arnold sisters tap, make dreams at Lincoln Center OOD

Chloe Arnold (left) and Maud Arnold
(photo: Vaughn Dabney)

In the field of tap, dancer-choreographers Chloe Arnold and Maud Arnold stake out territory in a place of contemporary sound and attack, aiming to take the art of tap to folks whose tastes run to music styles like R'n'B, rock, funk, rap and Latin pop. Did you make it to last evening's Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors performance of Where Dreams Are Made in Hearst Plaza, featuring the Arnold sisters and their Apt. 33 troupe? If so, you heard, among other things, Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You," Sean Paul's "So Fine," John Legend's "Ordinary People" and "Glory," Beyoncé's "Run the World," Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk," Andra Day's "I Rise Up," Eminem's "Not Afraid," Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" and a trio of Prince bestsellers. You also heard, from one song to the next, the troupe layering on a fairly uniform staccato, hard-heeled, hard-charging tap in their rangy, loose-limbed style. Power tap for the people!

Apt. 33 re-envisions Eminem's "Not Afraid" in Charles Renato's 2016 video, featuring is That Asha.

Where Dreams Are Made seemed overly segmented, each bit limited by the length of its popular song and encouraged to lock itself within a certain forceful register (even if, as in "Ordinary People," the song seemed to call for a more vulnerable approach). The sisters' in-between patter advocated more love and unity and sisterhood/brotherhood and exhortations to affirm ourselves as "amazing." I can appreciate that; the Arnolds absolutely do physical and psychic upbeat like nobody's business. Their entire project is the dance equivalent of an energy drink. But as a fan of tap (and, maybe, because I'm an introvert), I also have a longing for some of the other things tap has always done well--softness, juicy lyricism and fine, adroit detail, soulful reflection and nuance, sound that goes on walkabout, winding us through diverse terrains where new, unprecedented things await discovery. I love, sometimes, to hear "I love you" whispered, not always a shout.

Where Dreams Are Made has concluded, but you will find a world of interesting, free events at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, now through August 13, by clicking here.

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Tribute to Bollywood premieres at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park

Scene from Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey through Hindi Cinema
with Proma Khosla (left), Manav Gulati (center) and Pranav Patel (right)
(photo: Kevin Yatarola)

Bollywood came into my life after an injury left me unable to do much more than prop up my wrenched body in a somewhat less painful way and watch Netflix. I started mainlining as much Shah Rukh Khan as I could find, first intrigued by a news story about the Indian superstar's repeated detentions by immigration authorities at U.S. airports. (“Yes, it always happens. Whenever I start feeling arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America,” he joked.) And I stuck with Bollywood not only for its charming, multi-talented "King Khan" but also out of helpless fascination with a form of entertainment that gave everything you could possibly ask for...and gave some more...and then some.

A storyline long enough--often up to three hours with an announced intermission!--and twisty enough you get lost in it and forget your troubles. Everything from slapstick and farce to tragedy, rollercoaster romance to action/adventure. Insight into social realities of family, friendship, class and religious conflicts, traditional values vs. modern desires, women's empowerment--check out the great Chak De! in which Khan coaches a women's national field-hockey team--and more. And big, fanciful music and dance production numbers to rival Hollywood, Broadway, MTV and YouTube combined. Most if not all of this often in a single film! I learned early to not fight the thing, just kick back and let Bollywood work its magic. I am grateful to Netflix and Bollywood for my healing.

To a lesser degree, I'm grateful to Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors for last night's celebration of Bollywood history, tradition and personalities--Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey Through Hindi Cinema--a world premiere presentation at Damrosch Park Bandshell. It was a lovely night with, thankfully, just a half-hearted sprinkling of New York summer rain. Produced by Heena Patel and Rushi Vakil and choreographed by Rohit Gijare, the 90-minute show briskly surveyed Bollywood music hits, dance styles and iconic performers through several decades of development. It was exuberantly performed, colorful and entertaining-- wonderfully nostalgic too, I'm sure, for audience members of the Indian diaspora.

For non-Indian and relative newbie fans like myself, though, too much breezed by (for example, the names of individual songs and films briefly posted in the upper left corner of the video screen, referring to--I could not tell--either the previous song or the one just starting). The tribute to identified "game-changers" like A. R. Rahman, Bappi Lahiri and the trio of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy sent me right to Google this morning to find out more about these gentlemen whose images appeared behind the stage as their songs, varying in style, were played and sung. Aside from feeling a bit swept away by all of this stimuli and its pace--not an uncommon thing with Bollywood--I enjoyed the dancers, musicians and vocalists and surrendered to the condition of just not having enough information at hand. I think LCOOD is often like that, and we all have fun with it anyway.

On Tuesday, regrettably, I had missed India’s Identities through Bollywood Cinema: How Bollywood Sees Us, the festival's panel tracing Bollywood's role in "uniting people from different religious, ethnic, linguistic, economic, and class backgrounds," its "multitude of voices." But I will try to make up for it on my own, in coming weeks, with a dedicated new round of Netflix research.

Dancers:

Aliyaa Islam, Aria Dandawate, Avinash Gabbeta, Barkha Patel, Bindi Patel, Geatali Tampy, Heena Patel, Manav Gulati, Minal Mehta, Payal Kadakia, Poonam Desai, Pranav Patel, Proma Khosla, Rhea Ghosh, Rohit Gijare, Rohit Thakre, Sean Kulsum

Musicians:

Achal Murthy (bass), Varun Das (drumkit), Niranjan Nayar (guitar), Rohan Prabhudesai (keyboard), Sanjoy Karmakar (percussion), Harini (Rini) Raghavan (violin)

Vocalists:

Harini (Rini) Raghavan, Harshitha Krishnan, Krishna Sridharan, Neel Nadkarni

Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey Through Hindi Cinema has concluded, but you will find a world of interesting, free events at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, now through August 13 (OMG, Bonnie Raitt!!!), by clicking here.

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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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Patti Smith, Mariachi Flor de Toloache at LC Out of Doors

Patti Smith and band
rocked the 2016 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival.
photo ©2016, Deborah Feller

A perfect evening for Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Rain-free skies. July heat and humidity simmering at a comfortably mellow pitch. A pleasant crowd. Even the festival's security detail--with its new entrance gates and bag-checking procedures--kept things moving with cheerful efficiency.

Patti Smith, as I knew she would, had brought us good fortune.

More good luck arrived with Smith's opening act, Mariachi Flor de Toloache, New York's first and only all-women mariachi troupe. (Their eponymous debut album received a 2016 Latin Grammy nomination for Best Ranchero.) They offered original songs, traditional tunes, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin covers and Coltrane's "Afro-Blue," all with superb musicianship and mariachi flavor and warmth--trumpet, guitarrón, vihuela and violin blending peppy rhythms as gorgeously flutey voices ascended.  They took Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" at a frisky pace, voices now a bit reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters. It was a little offbeat, spine-tingling and irresistible. The audience fell in love.

A taste of Mariachi Flor de Toloache performing on NPR:

Following a surprisingly quick break, Smith--mindful of LC's strict runtime policy--fondly admonishing her audience to not "mill around like a herd of turtles." Then she offered a passage from Just Kids, her beautiful remembrance of life with Robert Mapplethorpe. But her incantations (Ginsberg's "Howl") and rocking out with Lenny Kaye to "Dancing Barefoot" and "Summer Cannibals" brought the turtles rushing to the edge of the stage, phones aloft, as "Ghost Dance" rang into the night.

It was a night for calling up our holy dead--from Mapplethorpe to Ginsberg, yes, but also Amy Winehouse (a tribute to her called "This is The Girl"), Prince (a decidedly sultry "When Doves Cry"), Jim Morrison ("Break It Up") and her beloved late husband Fred "Sonic" Smith ("Because the Night"). If I recall, I might have heard a little George Harrison snaking through "Beneath the Southern Cross."

Aside from the sorry state of our politics--Smith, of course, took a few moments to excoriate Trump and the GOP and insist we use our People Power to do better--Smith very much had death and the passage of time on her mind. She startled me with the choice of "The Last Time" by The Rolling Stones, because she made me hear its refrain as a song of uncertainty about what time remains. It recalled that moody standard from way back in the '30s, you know, that goes, "For all we know, we may never meet again...."

We won't say goodnight/Until the last minute/I'll hold out my hand/And my heart will be in it

For all we know/This may only be a dream/We come and we go/Like the ripples of a stream

My heart clenched a little as I listened to the band lace into The Last Time. Smith was having fun with it but also making me imagine saying goodbye to this extraordinary being whose wit, spirituality and life force has always brought her audiences renewed belief and just the right jolt of energy in the nick of time.

I don't think the sensible and fiery Patti Smith is going anywhere anytime soon, though, and she later told us as much:

"I'm getting old," she roared, as we pumped fists into the air. "And I'm going to get fuckin' older!"

Words to live by.

* * * * *

Lincoln Center Out of Doors runs through August 7. All events are free. For schedule information, click here.

Damrosch Park and other Lincoln Center venues, Manhattan

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Let's go see some dance...at the movies!

Maria Kochetkova dances as Juliet
in San Francisco Ballet's Romeo & Juliet
Photo ©Erik Tomasson

Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance (GAD) series launches September 24 with San Francisco Ballet's production of Romeo & Juliet by the company's artistic director and principal choreographer, Helgi Tomasson.
 

Cast:

Maria Kochetkova (Juliet)

Davit Karapetyan (Romeo)

Pascal Molat (Mercutio)

Joseph Walsh (Benvolio)

Luke Ingham (Tybalt)

"LIVE with Kelly and Michael" stars Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan are the hosts of the new cinema series, Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance, which brings spectacular dance performances by four of America’s leading dance companies to more than 600 movie theaters throughout the US--including 22 in the New York metro area--in fall and winter of 2015.

Upcoming screenings include works by Alvin Ailey, Wayne McGregor and Ronald K. Brown.

Tickets for Romeo & Juliet and all Lincoln Center at the Movies screenings are available at FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participating box offices are subject to change).

For more information visit LincolnCenterattheMovies.org.

Pop-up pas de deux

Metropolitan Diary: Free Ballet at Columbus Circle
by Jules Cohn, The New York Times, December 14, 2014

Jookin' Lil Buck to jam with Yo-Yo Ma at (le) poisson rouge

Memphis jookin' star Lil Buck

jams with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and other musical guests

(le) poisson rouge

Tuesday, April 2 (10pm)

Lil Buck, dance
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Marcus Printup, trumpet
Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipe
John Hadfield, percussion
Brooklyn Rider

featuring a world premiere for solo cello by Philip Glass, composed for Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck, especially for this engagement


Director’s Statement:

“It is an honor to present Lil Buck in his first New York one-man show — an exclusive chance to see the virtuoso jookin’ sensation up close at (Le) Poisson Rouge, where he is joined by a stellar musical cast including Yo-Yo Ma, who first performed with the dancer in the original “Swan” video that went viral online. The one-hour jam session will feature that “Swan” duet come to life onstage, and a world premiere composed by Philip Glass for Ma and Lil Buck, in addition to new music from Brooklyn Rider, and appearances by Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato, jazz trumpeter Marcus Printup, and percussionist John Hadfield.” – Damian Woetzel, Director and Producer

 For complete information and ticketing, click here.

 As one commenter wrote: "the hood meets ballet and owns it."

(But if they ever want to come back, they've gotta get a permit....)

Citywide arts tribute to the late Sekou Sundiata

A Citywide Retrospective for the Poet and Playwright Sekou Sundiata
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, February 18, 2013

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Heroes, Villains and the Invisible 
Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Lincoln Center
by Stephen Holden, The New York Times, June 14, 2012

Denzel Washington endows Fordham professorship

Denzel Washington Endows a Theater Professorship at Fordham
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, October 4, 2011

City Opera move threatens endowment, say unions

Unions Attack New York City Opera Over Use of Endowment
by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, July 18, 2011

Paul Taylor moves season to Lincoln Center

Paul Taylor Moving Shows From City Center to Koch Theater
by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, July 14, 2011

Vaneese Thomas: She's on target

The David Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center 

presents

Vaneese Thomas: A Tribute to Women of Soul

Thursday, July 21 (8:30pm)

Target Free Thursdays

    

Vaneese Thomas (photo by John Halpern)

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of legendary Stax Records singer Rufus Thomas, sister of soul sensation Carla Thomas, Vaneese Thomas has built a stellar musical career of her own with her distinctive brand of sultry vocals, tasteful arrangements and great song repertory. Her virtuoso vocal stylings can be heard on hundreds of recordings. She has worked with producer Phil Ramone and collaborated with artists as wide ranging as Sting, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Luciano Pavarotti.

She is an accomplished performer, producer and songwriter and combines her knowledge of the birth of soul music with her background in R&B, gospel, blues and jazz to present a multimedia show that honors several extraordinary artists and women of soul, including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Etta James and their pioneering musical careers.

For more information about the artist visit her site.

Free!

David Rubinstein Atrium
61 West 62nd Street (at Broadway), Manhattan
(map and directions)

May it RESONATE! with you

RESONATE! African America in Sound and Story launches its after-school arts programming today at 4pm with song/spoken word artists Chandra Rule and Somi at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.

Co-presented by Lincoln Center's Meet the Artist and New York University's Institute of African American Affairs, this series of four free events for high school and college students will also welcome the acclaimed singer/musician Toshi Reagon (April 13), dancer-choreographer Nora Chipaumire (April 20) and the And Lay Duo--two members of the Ethiopian funk/groove collective Debo Band (April 27).

Each performance, celebrating the rich cultural diversity and innovative artistry of the African diaspora, will be followed by a discussion and Q & A moderated by Ethiopian singer Meklit Hadero, Artist-in-Residence of NYU's Institute of African American Affairs.

Free! Reservations not required.

Wednesdays, 4pm-5pm
David Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets, Manhattan
(directions)

What a difference...

...a dancer makes.

I'm thinking of Katherine Crockett, that tall drink of water, brightening my evening as she defined the prophetic Chorus in Martha Graham's Cave of the Heart. She works that broad-striped fabric of her costume, unfolds it like a condor's wings and radiantly projects over what seems a vast distance in space and time with dire, desperate gestures that, for all their silence, "sound" to me like trumpets. I saw her, I heard her. There was no one and nothing like her on stage, then or later. Everything else seemed carefully managed and remote--even Bulareyaung Pagarlava's brand-new Chasing, a work that sets out to prove that Graham standard bearers can cut loose and frisk around. (Martha Graham Dance Company at The Rose Theater, now through Sunday. Click here for information and tickets.)

Souleymane Badolo (photo: Julie Lemberger for 92Y)

Speaking of difference, curating is something new and different for the great Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women fame. With her lineup for 92Y, running this weekend, she's offering a chance to watch distinctive performers like Souleymane Badolo, Lacina Coulibaly (his Burkina Faso compatriot), Maria Bauman, Samantha Speis and surprise guest Christal Brown bring ideas and space to gleaming life. The program includes works by Badolo and Bauman and two works inspired by Zollar's "Blind Date" invitation in which she matches pairs of dance artists for a last-minute creative relationship, just hours before the actual performance. If you, as a dance fan, look for the cohesion and depth that long-term creative process allows, this sort of thing is certainly a gamble, but the intelligence and power of these select artists reward Zollar's risk and your time. Having a chance to see a program with so much Badolo and Badolo choreography in it made me notice his uncanny relationship to performance space, the way he habitually dwells in or treads its periphery, rarely occupying its center or sending his dancers there. If memory serves me, I've seen this sort of thing in much of his work. Now I'm eager to find out why. (Jawole Willa Jo Zollar Curates, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, now through Sunday. Click here for information and tickets.)

Visa issues delay White Light fest

Lincoln Center Scrambles After Visa Problems

by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, November 15, 2010

Antony sings light into being

Fluid Voice With a Fluid Persona Firmly Attached

by Steve Smith, The New York Times, October 31, 2010

Symposium on diasporic literatures in the US

Turning Tides
A Symposium on Diasporic Literatures

Saturday, November 6 (1-6pm)
McNally Auditorium, Fordham University, Lincoln Center
140 West 62nd Street, Law School Entrance
(between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues)
directions

Free and open to the public

Poets & Writers is pleased to co-sponsor Turning Tides: A Symposium on Diasporic Literatures at Fordham University.

This creative and scholarly symposium will highlight three different legacies of diaspora in the United States: Haiti, The Philippines and Puerto Rico. Each panel will feature a short scholarly talk and a reading by two writers, followed by a moderated conversation. What do Filipino American writers take for granted, in terms of artistic freedom? In what political and aesthetic ways are Puerto Rican writers employing creative disobedience? Until January 2010, descendants of the Haitian diaspora could call Haiti their home; now, that geography has been rent. What kind of scattering will result? And, how will it be told by writers?

The principle aim of Turning Tides is to involve prominent artists and scholars in an exchange of ideas for the purpose of proactively responding to the growing phenomena of American diaspora as it is in the making and to ground and contextualize this conversation within a critical understanding of a larger global history. 

For detailed program and speakers information, click here.