Pat DiNizio, 62

Pat DiNizio, Singer and Songwriter for the Smithereens, Dies at 62
by Daniel E. Slotnik, The New York Times, December 13, 2017

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Rutgers seeks applicants for new Dance MFA program

 Choreography by LeeSaar The Company, Blood (2015)
(photo: Jaqlin Medlock)

Applications are now being accepted for the new MFA in Dance at Rutgers University--a program full of vision, goals and flexible scheduling, including off-campus thesis research. First required audition will take place in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 25, 2015.

For more information, click here.
Email: admissions@masongross.rutgers.edu
Call: 848-932-5269

Caleb Teicher: Watch those feet!

Bessie Award-winning tap performer Caleb Teicher
introduces a showing of excerpts from his work, Variations,
at American Tap Dance Center
(c)2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Perhaps you've found yourself cursing the fact that you had to watch a tap show in a theater with bad sightlines, unable to see the dancers' feet. When that has happened to me, I've consoled myself with the thought that tap is music. At least, I can listen. However, I prefer to be able to see how each dancer works those musical instruments.

Left-to-right: Elizabeth Burke, Gabe Winns and Teicher
(c)2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Watching the crisp, incisive choreography of Caleb Teicher, you will want to see entire bodies, from head to toe. Lots going on there. But the feet, in particular...the feet! You must observe how the feet--scrupulous, sensitive, clear--reveal every impulse and inflection and variation of the music--in this case, the singularity of Glenn Gould playing Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations.’

Winns at work
(c)2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Burke at work
(c)2015, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

So, I wish you excellent seating this weekend for Tap 'N Time, the Saturday night program at Jersey Tap Fest (Bloomfield College's Westminster Arts Center), featuring excerpts from Teicher's Variations as well as works by Heather Cornell and Jason Samuels Smith.

For complete Jersey Tap Fest information and tickets, click here.

Emerging New Jersey dancemakers wanted for Montclair concert

Christopher Taylor in Gone but Never Forgotten by emerging choreographer LaQua L. Hall
Dance on the Lawn 2014

Participate in 

Dance on the Lawn 2015!

One emerging commissioned choreographer will be selected and awarded $1,000 to create a new work for final presentation at Dance on the Lawn 2015.
 
Application deadline: Wednesday, January 14, 2015*
Choreographer announced: February 16, 2015*
 
Panelists:

Randy James (10 Hairy Legs)

Paul McRae (New Jersey Ballet)

Donna Scro (Free Space Dance)

Marlies Yearby (Director/choreographer)

 
 
RESPONSIBILITIES:
 
1) Open Rehearsal - Saturday, May 9 @ St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Assembly Hall) 6-9pm.  Present a work-in-progress in an informal setting. A question and answer (Q & A) will follow the presentation for an invited audience.
 
2) Present the final work during "Dance on the Lawn 2015" -Saturday, September 12 on the lawn of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church  4:30-6:30pm.

To apply for the Dance on the Lawn 2015 commission, click here.

Heidi Latsky in new Montclair State U. dance film project

Choreographer Named to Montclair State Project
by Adam W. Kepler, The New York Times, April 13, 2014

Montclair's Peak Performances: Scottish troupe adapts Woolf's "Orlando"

Judith Williams as Orlando
(photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Scottish experimental theater troupe Cryptic, founded and directed by Cathie Boyd, will make its U.S. debut with Darryl Pinckney's music theater adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, April 10-13, for Montclair State University's Peak Performances series.

Described as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature,” Woolf dedicated Orlando to her friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, whose fictionalized family history, as well as Sackville-West’s own flexible approach to sexuality and marriage provide the subject matter.

In Cryptic’s magical production, the show’s compression of 400 years of packed events, Orlando’s transformation from man to woman, his multiple costume changes without leaving stage, is courtesy of Living Canvas, an interactive real-time tracking and projection technology. The Cryptic version of the play marks the first time the alchemy of Living Canvas has been applied to theater. Orlando’s escape to Constantinople is made vividly real through the use of Point Cloud Data Imaging that generates 3D depictions of buildings.

Original score composed by Craig Armstrong and Antye Greie aka AGF

The Alexander Kasser Theater
Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey
(Click here for Google Map.)

For complete schedule, ticket and transportation information (including shuttle buses from Manhattan), click here.

Amiri Baraka, 79

Amiri Baraka, former N.J. poet laureate and prolific author, dead at 79
by David Giambusso, Newark Star-Ledger, January 9, 2014

Amiri Baraka, Polarizing Poet and Playwright, Dies at 79
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, January 9, 2014

Race barriers in classical ballet: A conversation at NJPAC

Ballerina Ashley Murphy
(photo by Matthew Murphy)

Black Ballerinas: 

Breaking the Boundaries of Classical Ballet

Thursday, January 16, 7-8:30pm

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

1 Centre Street, Newark, New Jersey

Free admission

In 2007, The New York Times asked, Where are all the Black Swans? An urgent dialogue sparked by that question has caused leading dance institutions nationwide to examine the rarity of African-American women among their ranks.

A conversation about raising the profile of the black ballerina, and the economic opportunities for diversifying and expanding audiences, will be held on January 16, the evening prior to a performance by Dance Theatre of Harlem at NJPACs annual tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Moderator:

Charmaine Warren, dance journalist

Announced panelists (as of January 8):

Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director and a founding principal dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem

Michelle Gadson-Williams, Head of Global Diversity at Credit Suisse

Map/Directions

Moving with ancestral spirits: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega at NJPAC

Meet

Dr. Marta Moreno Vega

Saturday, May 4 (3-5pm)

Chase Room, New Jersey Performing Arts Center

screening of 

Let the Spirit Move You!  Espiritismo in Puerto Rico

Advance screening of Dr. Marta Moreno Vega's new film and research regarding ancestral Kongo-based sacred tradition of Espiritismo in Puerto Rico. Dr. Vega explores the divine knowledge of traditional elders and practitioners and expresses the concern that the tradition will not be passed on / transferred to younger generations because traditional practices are in danger of not continuing.

Also, learn more about Dr. Vega's life-long legacy and work in the following clips, including an excerpt from the HBO documentary: Latino List.

Baraka Sele

guest curator / moderator

information and tickets

NJPAC directions

    Latino List - Marta Moreno Vega Interview on Vimeo

    Latina Spotlight: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega on New Latina

Quilts tell stories of survival

Survivors’ Stories of Abuse, Sewn Tight
by Tammy La Gorce, The New York Times, February 8, 2013

Post-Sandy: Emergency resources for artists and others

Grantmakers in the Arts's Web site offers a good list of emergency resources for artists and others affected by Hurricane Sandy. Click this link:

Emergency Readiness, Response & Recovery
HURRICANE SANDY RECOVERY RESOURCES

Contemporary visual art from India

Indian Images Reflect the Present
A Review of ‘Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest,’ in Ewing
by Tammy La Gorce, The New York Times, November 2, 2012

Help New Jersey recover

Want to help out New Jerseyans impacted by Hurricane Sandy? Here's a good Facebook link to find out how:

NewJerseyNeeds

Newark's got 'America's Got Talent'

'America's Got Talent' Provides Boon to Newark Arts Center
by Holly Hall, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 12, 2012

k.d. lang summers in New Jersey!

Swoon!!!

Be advised: Tickets go on sale at 11am tomorrow, March 16, for k.d. lang's August gig at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. From what I can tell, that's the closest she's coming to New York City.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
Tuesday, August 21 (8pm)

Get info

Hawaii's Living Waters

Montclair State University's dazzling Peak Performances series will present the U.S. mainland premiere of Kūlanihāko‘i: Living Waters, a new hula drama created by the hula masters of Nā Kinimakalehua.

October 20-21, 7:30pm
October 22, 8pm
October 23, 3pm

Situated high in the heavens, beyond the influence of even the gods themselves, is the mystical Kūlanihāko‘i, an elemental lake from which all life flows. Through dance, chant, storytelling and dramatic interpretation, Living Waters draws from an array of enchanting Hawaiian myths tracing back over 2,000 years, highlighting the need for an equilibrium in the connection between mankind and nature.

For further information and ticketing, click here or call 973-655-5112. For directions, parking and weekend shuttle buses from Manhattan, click here.

NJ high school bans Murakami novel

Murakami off reading lists in New Jersey
by Alison Flood, guardian.co.uk, August 25, 2011

Jersey on tap

It's almost time for Hillary-Marie Michael's 2nd Annual JERSEY TAP FEST, from classes with Karen Callaway Williams, Hank Smith, Yvette Glover and more to a Saturday night main stage event at Bloomfield College's Westminster Arts Center (tickets). The fest runs from Thursday, August 25 through Sunday, August 28. Get all the program and registration details here.

NJPAC's Out, Loud and Proud V

New Jersey Performing Arts Center
presents Out, Loud and Proud V

curated and hosted by Pandora Scooter
with Brave Soul Collective and Alix Olson

Saturday, May 7 (7:30pm)

Gay, straight, queer, lesbian, bisexual, transgender—how do you identify? As part of this season’s Alternate Routes GLBT Festival, New Jersey’s own Pandora Scooter returns to riff, rhyme, rant and act as host to some of the spoken word scene’s most provocative new artists—a daring collective of wordsmiths who collectively represent all orientations. Be there when these cutting-edge voices convene to express their personal views on one of life’s hottest topics: sexuality. This year's performers include the three-person Brave Soul Collective and spoken word artist Alix Olson.

Details
Ticketing
Directions

New date for Bill T. Jones at NJPAC

UPDATE from NJPAC:

The following event has been rescheduled from December to February 19. Bill T. Jones has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors (The Kennedy Center Honors). He will receive his award with other luminaries, such as Oprah Winfrey and Sir Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The presentation will be televised nationally and President and Mrs. Obama will be in attendance. Tickets already purchased will be valid for the February 19th discussion. Patrons with questions should contact NJPAC Ticket Services at 1-888-GO-NJPAC  (466-5722).

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, welcomes award-winning choreographer-director Bill T. Jones to its Alternate Routes "tell-all" discussion series Legacies and Legends.

Saturday, February 19, 7:30PM in The Chase Room (event description)

Legacies and Legends is a series of intimate conversations with artists, authors, scholars, entrepreneurs, filmmakers and others who have contributed to the cultural, educational, social, political and spiritual contexts and landscapes of society. All discussions are led by Baraka Sele, Producer/Curator of NJPAC’s Alternate Routes. In its inaugural season, the series hosted discussions with Susan L. Taylor and Judith Jamison.

For ticketing, directions to NJPAC and more information, call 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722) or click here.