LCOOD: Summer fun with Liza, Teicher and talented teens

Ella Fitzgerald

Poster for Bob Fosse's Cabaret with Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles

Here's a note about my one foray out, this season, to Lincoln Center Out of Doors, a free arts festival that, for many years, I used to haunt. Why only once this time? Well, I am now far less weather-tolerant than ever and quite over Gotham's punishing version of summer. This summer, I happen to be stuck in New York and not without whining. Considering that my notion of staycation definitely includes a ton of outdoor activities, I've been miserable.

But it turned out to be reasonably pleasant last evening as the sun vanished and students from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts--the Fame school--brought the Fosse in an all-out presentation of the jazz dance master's Sing, Sing, Sing number from DANCIN' (1978). Sanctioned by The Verdon Fosse Legacy, this ensemble performed as if sanctioned by God Herself. Which drew cheers and a standing-O from an army of buddies and family. Which brought unexpected tears to my eyes because young artists with supportive families.

The inspiring Caleb Teicher (Caleb Teicher & Company) followed with a trio of his dance pieces. This snappy size matters duet Small & Tall--Christine Flores and Lindsey Jones, respectively--showed off Teicher's penchant for goofy physical comedy. He's gifted at this himself with a studied finesse to the timing of movements and unique, offbeat detail--all of that making him the unmatched standout in his charming swing piece, Meet Ella. Originally a long, flowing duet with Nathan Bugh, it was presented last night as a quartet incorporating two women dancers, Macy Sullivan and Evita Arce. Sullivan and Arce have carefree gusto and were employed well throughout, but I was a little sorry to see them granted the tender, whirling, orbiting same-sex duet I had originally seen where Teicher partnered co-choreographer Bugh to Ella Fitzgerald's recording of "Midnight Sun." (I'm going to link to that song once again, as I've done before, because if you youngsters don't know it, you're missing something pretty great.) It's not that I don't want to ever see two women tackle this duet. It's that I specifically want Teicher + Bugh + Fitzgerald to dazzle me again.

If you get a chance to see this troupe, may it be in a closer, smaller setting. The Damrosch Park Bandshell isn't the best place for these dancers, though the Bzzz ensemble number--particularly a rousing duet between beatboxer Chris Celiz and tap improviser Jabu Graybeal--overrode the distance.

It was a long night, and I stayed only a few songs into the screening of Bob Fosse's television special for Liza Minnelli, Liza With A "Z" (1972). I ducked out while Liza took on "Son of A Preacher Man," a hit for English pop singer Dusty Springfield four years prior. But that and the first few numbers were enough to remind me of beloved Liza's big heart and underscore just how much freedom of expression white artists gained from studying Black people.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors concludes on August 11 and, in the meantime, wants to bring you several more cool performances for FREE. Click here for schedule details.

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DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve as Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

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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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Good medicine from Reagon and Dorrance at Lincoln Center

Toshi Reagon (standing) and some members of BIGLovely
at Lincoln Center Out of Doors at Damrosch Park
(c)2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

All of your friends were at The Blues Project last night at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, right?

I know that's right.

And they all tweeted and posted to Facebook and text messaged and Instagrammed. And maybe you were there, too. Most likely, you were. Maybe crowding that space between the seats and the stage, for the first part of the show, and dancing your ass off. So you already know what a celebration that was.

And that's how it goes these days. You don't need me to tell you. You probably don't need any critic.

And why would you need us anyway, since we're talking Toshi Reagon and Michelle Dorrance? And Derick K. Grant and The Empress Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards? And Juliette Jones? And Allison Miller? If the collaboration between musician Reagon (with her band BIGLovely) and tap dance wiz Dorrance (with her Dorrance Dance troupe) hasn't become a sure bet by now, I don't know what has.

Opening the show with her crew, Reagon first called the audience to attention. Basically, she said everything boils down to the environment. Mess that up, and it doesn't matter who you are or where you are: We're all royally screwed. Don't vote for anyone who doesn't get that, who doesn't have environmental concerns top of mind.

"Taking care of the planet will unite all of us past our differences," she said before launching into a clap-along environmental anthem with folk and gospel gleaming through, silver and gold. "No tears will fall, no battle will call/You will miss the world you know...." The set moved on to propulsive, open-throated rock, irresistibly sinuous reggae, and much more--all the confident, stylistic interweaving for which Reagon is noted.

She got folks, young and old, up on their feet. "Don't you need to jump up and down? This is the medicine you need for the hard week we've been through," she said, as we thought about Sandra Bland, about Lafayette. "It's been a horrible week."

For medicine, she and her band brought "sunshine, still shining in the pouring rain," an optimism practiced in music without borders. In the second part of the evening, Dorrance teamed up with, and matched, Reagon and BIGLovely with her own cool blend of old and new across styles, races and genders.

The Blues Project--a suite of ensemble and solo pieces created by Dorrance, Reagon, Grant and Sumbry-Edwards--might be one of the most efficient ways to introduce your newbie friends to concert dance of any kind or to teach them, through subliminal means, what tap's all about. For sure, this is smooth, stress-free education at its finest, right in the middle of pure, nonstop entertainment by dancers giving their best. You see and hear the roots of tap in the African-Irish encounter; the virtues of both polished choreography and expressive improvisation; the comfort of the familiar paired with the kick of new angles and accents and timing; the pleasures of both refined, minimal details and expansive, rip-roaring energy. No filler, and not a bit of cornball to muck it up.

If you are one of the two or three people who did not make it to Damrosch Park last evening, make sure that you find your next chance to see the Reagon-Dorrance collaboration in action. Take your medicine.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues through August 9. For all the details and a schedule of events--from Joe Bataan's boogaloo to Afro-punk and Judy Collins--click here.

Rubén Blades at Lincoln Center Out of Doors

Rubén Blades
(photos above and below by Darial Sneed)

After four decades in music, just how big a superstar is Panama-born salsero (and actor, activist, lawyer, politician) Rubén Blades? Well, if you already know his work, you know the answer. But, if you don't, check out this note I received from the Lincoln Center press office the day following Blades' Wednesday night appearance at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park Bandshell:

By the way, we just got the official head count from LC Security and it's 10,000+ -- -- that includes people in the official seating area, plus crowds in the back section of the park going all the way to the Koch Theater and spilling over a bit on to Josie Robertson Plaza.  There were also folks standing and listening from the sidewalk of West 62nd street, but these were not included in the count. 

Yes. Sure enough, despite threat of rain--a threat never made good on--there were people stretched back from the park's entrance barriers as far as my eyes could see. Many had been waiting there for hours. They were let in, a handful at a time, and then the trickle stopped--no more admitted. I had never seen anything like that at a Lincoln Center Out of Doors show.

Similarly, the line for the women's restroom was ridiculous, made bearable only by the way a spirit of solidarity and wicked humor tends to break out in these situations. After my more than half-hour wait, I just barely made it back to my seat to hear Blades well into his first number, "Plástico," with Roberto Delgado Orchestra, Panamanian musicians making their US debut.

Blades with Panama's Roberto Delgado Orchestra
(photo by Darial Sneed)

Getting their shots
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Dancing had already broken out in the aisles with salsa dancers of different ethnicities exchanging partners and displaying intricacies of personal style--a delightful visual accompaniment to the stage show. With few moments of lilting effervescence, Blades' set hewed to a sober, steady roll--his vocals sliding over the disciplined brass, percussion and keyboards of the orchestra. No eye-candy or sonic flash whatsoever, just a baseline for a reliable Everyman storyteller and his tales of social and political realities--in songs like "Decisiones," "Caína," and "Amor," the last, written as his mother was succumbing to cancer--and his sharing of comfort and wisdom.

I want to share with you one of my earlier and most fervent Rubén Blades obsessions--"Cuentas del Alma," a Latin jazz piece from Escenas (1985). So much do I love this song--a curiously soaring reflection on abandonment and bitter loneliness--that I'm going to share two versions of Blades singing it with different bands. Here's the first.

For the second, you'll have to go here.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues through this Sunday, August 11. Click here to enjoy more wonderful--and free-shows.

Lincoln Center Plaza fountain
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Good times. These. Are. The. Good. Times.

To read the news from across the states and abroad, you wouldn’t think so. These are certainly not good times for everybody.

But Nile Rodgers–that giant of popular music--knows that every day that you draw breath is a precious day, as he deals with nerve damage from an aggressive cancer now in remission. And every day that this gifted artist brings joy to an audience lost in his music is a good day for him and for us.

Nile Rodgers at Lincoln Center Out of Doors (Photo by Darial Sneed)

Case in point: last evening at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (Damrosch Park Bandshell), where DJ KS*360 (aka Kwikstep of the Full Circle hip-hop empire) primed the party pump before Rodgers and his Chic Organization took the stage. As the head-spinners and Hustle dancers cleared out, I expected a lengthy wait for the main act. But Rodgers quickly took over. Everybody dance! Clap your hands, clap your hands!

The first several rows of folks immediately lurched up, of course, and would not sit down. So, I ditched my press seat and headed for the dance pit--backpack, water bottle, notebook, pen and all. I found a good spot to see, to write, to dance myself into a sweat, and soon wondered why anyone would bother hanging out back in those seats.

(Photo by Kevin Yatarola)

The weather graciously smiled on Rodgers and us. No blistering heat, no rain. Yowsah, yowsah.

Before long, we felt the old tug of that spare yet funky, insistent, intoxicating chugging (Rodgers on guitar, Jerry Barnes on bass, Ralph Rolle on drums, Rich Hilton and Selan Lerner on keyboards), that swirling, flute-y tenor sax (Bill Holloman) and rip-roaring trumpet (Steve Jankowski). I need your love. Please don't make me beg.

Rodgers and The Chic Organization, including vocalists Folami Ankoanda-Thompson (at right) and Kimberly Davis-Jones (Photo by Darial Sneed)

[See more of Darial Sneed's concert photo set here.]

"See that round building?" Rodgers said, pointing at a spot high behind our heads. We all looked around at an imposing tower with curved (if not quite entirely round) details in its design.

"28B." He gave the building's street address, too, which I'm not sure I got right. "We and David Bowie were up in that tower"--the other person in "we" being his great musical partner, Bernard Edwards, who died in 1996. "Chic is not a cover band. All these songs you hear us do, we did for everyone in the first place."

He was talking about little items like "Let's Dance" (for Bowie), "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down" (Diana Ross), "Like A Virgin" (Madonna), "We Are Family" and "He's The Greatest Dancer" (Sister Sledge) and an unbelievably massive number of worldwide hits. Throw in the entire slate of music written, arranged, produced and/or played in by the creative partners or each one alone for artists like Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, Luther Vandross, INXS, Steve Winwood, Debbie Harry, Grace Jones and so many more, and it's easy to come to the conclusion that without these guys, popular music--spanning and fusing a number of genres--would be unrecognizable.

When me and Bernard were sitting around the studio for hours on end, we always said we were lost in music....

And I remember being lost in that tune--caught in a trap, no turning back--playing and dancing to that particular Sister Sledge song as if I were in an endurance contest with the vinyl LP. We both survived.

It was a great show at Damrosch Park and a great party. I treasure Nile Rodgers and wish him good health and many more years of happiness in his work.

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The always handsomely diverse Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, now in its 42nd season, runs through August 12. For a calendar of events, click here.

Ndegeocello comes to LC OOD 8/7

Meshell Ndegeocello and Raul Midón Co-headline Lincoln Center OUT OF DOORS Concert 8/7

...and I can't wait!

Also look for Lizz Wright and Allen Toussaint on Saturday, August 22, 7-10pm at Damrosch Park Bandshell, as well as a whole host of fun programming from August 5-23. Details here
or through LCOOD's Twitter feed.

Evidence and the United Colors of Armitage

Every year, dance events at Lincoln Center Out of Doors bridge the gap between dance artists and New Yorkers who aren't necessarily dance aficionados but who like that certain sexy combination of summer + free + outdoor + entertainment. It's one of the perks of having the endurance to stay in (or visit) New York during the heat stroke season, and this year's lineup shimmers with great opportunities. You can catch up with Fraulein Maria, Doug Elkins's deliciously bite-sized and lovingly-wacky version of The Sound of Music (August 16). And, if you were elsewhere last night, perhaps devastated by John Edwards's revelation, you could instead have witnessed a West African musical phenom--electronica band Burkina Electric, fronted by the dynamic, Angelique Kidjo-reminiscent Maï Lingani--that features some pretty hot dancing of their own.

I haven't yet mentioned Armitage Gone! Dance, with its own stellar and fierce performers, who collaborated with Burkina Electric on Karole Armitage's Summer of Love, previewed last evening at LC's Damrosch Park. This dancemaker is on a natural high, having recently made her Broadway choreography debut with Passing Strange and choreographed the Public Theater's critically-acclaimed revival of Hair. Teaming up with the Burkina Faso troupe is a very smart move. Not only do Lingani and her comrades provide irresistible beats, they also provide the glue that Armitage's loosey-goosey hour requires. Not enough though. In bits and pieces, Summer of Love can be fun--with its aura of a kind of upscale, deliberately multiculti '60s dance party--but its patched-together, song-related sections don't congeal and keep teasing us with potential endings that aren't. It feels shallow and as self-indulgent as neo-cons accuse the '60s counterculture of being. Despite the dancers' technical perfection and their obvious sense of play, AGD in Summer of Love comes off like the United Colors of Armitage. On the other hand, Burkina Electric is the real deal, and I'm glad to have made their acquaintance.

As for Evidence, A Dance Company, second on the Damrosch bill, Ronald K. Brown's troupe lit up the stage just as we knew it would. Brown presented a couple of works from repertory: Upside Down (excerpted from Destiny, a 1998 collaboration with Jeune Ballet d'Afrique Noire) and High Life (2002). Upside Down? Call the FDNY! These people are on fire! Top marks to Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins and Tiffany Quinn, dancers who go from strength to strength. But it was especially wonderful to see Brown himself dancing with renewed vigor, openness and acuity--evidence of what inspires all his dancers to give their all.

Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu returns to LC Out-of-Doors fest

What a delight to welcome back San Francisco's Patrick Makuakane and his grand Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu for another summer of Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors at Damrosch Park Bandshell! A freakish cold snap kept Friday evening’s attendance unusually low, but Saturday night’s warm weather encouraged a huge turnout of old and soon-to-be fans, including a fair number of Hawaiian New Yorkers.

The evening’s treats included traditional tunes by the musical duo Kūpaoa (Lihau Hannahs and Kellen Paik) as well as Makuakane’s surprising and wonderful hula interpretations of recordings by the likes of Annie Lennox and Peggy Lee. The company’s suite of authentic and contemporary hula works ranged from the romantic to the satirical, honoring deities and great leaders, celebrating the erotic and poking fun at the mindless, cheesy kind of hotel hula Hollywood and tourists have often confused for the real thing.

It takes fine, flowing coordination--of articulate hands and arms, of smooth turning, dipping and rising--to tell hula’s stories and express its heart. Hula teaches us that stories have physical logic, that the truest language is spoken by the flesh. The dances--short, dreamy narratives--convey a sense of the dense network of nature and spirit, interconnected worlds of stories.

The visual charms of Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu’s presentation reflected Makuakane’s meticulous taste and craft. I loved the women’s sleek velvet gowns that turned them into a uniform chorus of gentle vamps and the bunchy, scrunchy skirts that looked like watercolored, upside-down camellias. The male dancers’ moxie and joy lit up the stage.

“Always leave them wanting more!” Isn’t that what the old entertainers used to say? Indeed, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu once again leaves me eager for this company’s next return to New York.

© 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa