On the AstroTurf, somewhat elevated

L to r: Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener perform "r e v e a l" at Elevated Acre
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

At 1:30pm, all looked serene. Three dancer-collaborators--Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener--wandered onto the AstroTurf at Elevated Acre, a windswept park up an escalator and 'round the back of an office building not far from Wall Street and a noisy heliport on the Hudson.

Kresge and Riener (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

At first, r e v e a l slowly, even shyly disclosed its eccentric self with the trio repeatedly drawing together and spreading apart, a triangle breathing, stretching, morphing and, for a moment, vanishing. 

Rashaun Mitchell (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Then Riener buried himself beneath some waxy-looking yellow throw, while Mitchell became a human pretzel propelling and stumbling his way across the fake grass, and Kresge reappeared adorned in black plastic that she worked like some Loie Fuller finery, elegant and dramatic.

Four views of Cori Kresge (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Silas Riener rising from the "grass" (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

And then the rain came (c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Wind blew, the sky opened up--at first, taunting, then with increasing vehemence--and most of the audience fled, either back to their offices or to shallow overhangs at the back of 55 Water Street. In heavy downpour, the unperturbed, determined dancers--now dressed in skimpy nude-colored costumes draped in rippling, flame-orange fabric--darted all over the wet AstroTurf. Risky business.

Let's hope the weather r e v e a l s a kinder face on Friday and Saturday (July 5-6), when the trio offer their performance again at 1:30pm, part of this summer's diverse and imaginative River to River Festival. 

But, just in case, pack your brolly.

Free, as always. 

Elevated Acre
55 Water Street, Manhattan
Look for the hot pink River to River flag, and  ride the elevator up.
(map/directions)

From the artists

r e v e a l is a site-specific dance work. It includes transformation, nature, magic, latex, flaying, ecstasy, skin, hair, creatures, monsters, fantasy, aggression, impulses, the future, peristalsis, masks, perception, articulation, control, freedom, exertion, underwater trees, silk, minotaurs, semiotics, aliens, animals, sorcery, urgency, agency, fluency, and the translational acts of communicating through space and movement.

Part of the conceptual and choreographic material for r e v e a l must be attributed to initial explorations that were part of Harrison Atelier’s large-scale installation VEAL, with choreography by Silas Riener in collaboration with Rashaun Mitchell and Cori Kresge.

"Interface" -- Rashaun Mitchell puts a face to that emotion

The cast of Interface: l-r, Silas Riener, Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell and Melissa Toogood (Photo by Stephanie Berger)

I was pretty sure I didn't need to see dancers behaving like artists' posable mannequins--even fabulous, razor-sharp ones like choreographer Rashaun Mitchell and his colleagues, Silas Riener, Melissa Toogood and Cori Kresge. I was fairly sure I'd seen this idea played out any number of times in dance. Thomas Arsenault (Mas Ysa)'s music for Mitchell's quartet Interface--given its world premiere last night at Baryshnikov Arts Center--sounded like the protracted, labored breathing of an android. Then, suddenly, dancers' tongues began to press hard against the inside of their cheeks. Later, crude expressions would bulge out the skin of formerly placid faces from Cunningham-land, distorting the message of their bodies' clean assertions. Interesting.

Interface at Baryshnikov Arts Center (Photo by Stephanie Berger)

This happened within and around a large, white square of empty space and within the Howard Gilman Performance Space that, famously, looks out on the the lights and architecture of Hudson Yards, the theater's generous windows now interspersed with striking visual designs in black and white. (Of the four performers, only Riener--his usually lush, dark hair here tamed into a tight topknot--breaks the monochrome by wearing a childish-looking yellow romper.) Some of those windows come alive by video, so that movement may happen by chance--say, a passing jet streaking across the sky--or by design.

For me, this integration of handsome urban vista with an innerscape arranged by Mitchell and his collaborators proved more enchanting than the dance alone might have been.

Black/white, inside/outside, mechanical/animal, constrained and not so constrained, functional and (perhaps) not so functional, apart and together: Interface exists in a dynamic state of between, of flux, of uncomfortable becoming. Which is Mitchell's condition as a burgeoning dancemaker suddenly set loose in the world, is it not?

With visual design by Fraser Taylor, Davison Scandrett and Mitchell; video by Nicholas O'Brien; lighting design by Scandrett; textiles and prints by Taylor; and costumes by Mary Jo Mecca

Rashaun Mitchell's Interface concludes with two performances tonight: 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Click here for details and tickets.

Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/direction)

"From There to Here" event postponed

Collective for Dance Writing and New Media's "From There to Here" event with Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener and Nancy Dalva, scheduled for Monday, November 5 at Dance New Amsterdam, has been postponed due to post-Sandy conditions.

We wish the very best to all people affected by this devastating storm.

Who won Bessies?

2012 New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies)

presented at The Apollo Theater

and hosted by Elizabeth Streb

October 15, 2012

Outstanding Production ("in large capacity venues--over 400 seats")

Event by Merce Cunningham
Park Avenue Armory

Outstanding Performer ("in large capacity venues--over 400 seats")

Silas Riener in Split Sides by Merce Cunningham
Brooklyn Academy of Music

Outstanding Production ("stretching the boundaries of a culturally specific form")

La Edad de Oro by Israel Galván
The Joyce Theater

Outstanding Performer ("stretching the boundaries of a culturally specific form")

Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards "for sustained achievement in performance and her work with Jason Samuels Smith at The Joyce Theater"

Outstanding Production ("performed in a small capacity theater--under 400 seats")

Antigone Sr./Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at the Judson Church by Trajal Harrell
New York Live Arts

Outstanding Performer ("performed in a small capacity theater--under 400 seats")

Omagbitse Omagbemi "for sustained achievement in the woks of Keely Garfield, Ralph Lemon, David Gordon, Urban Bush Women, and many others"

Outstanding Production ("in the context of the expanding field of contemporary arts, dance, and performance practice")

The Thank-you Bar by Emily Johnson
New York Live Arts

Outstanding Performer ("in the context of the expanding field of contemporary arts, dance, and performance practice")

Nicolle Mannarino in Devotion Study #1 by Sarah Michelson
The Whitney Museum

Outstanding Revived Work

The Shining by Yvonne Meier, presented by New York Live Arts
The Invisible Dog Art Center

Outstanding Visual Design

Doris Dziersk, set design for Blessed by Meg Stuart
New York Live Arts

Outstanding Sound Design or Composition

Flamme Kapaya and band for more more more...future by Faustin Linkyekula, The French Institute's Crossing the Line Festival
The Kitchen

Outstanding Emerging Choreographer

Rashaun Mitchell for NOX
Danspace Project

2012 Juried Bessie Award recipient

Souleymane Badolo
Awarded by 2012 Jury: Lar Lubovitch, Yvonne Rainer and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

2012 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance

Paul Taylor

2012 Bessie Award for Service to the Field of Dance

Alice Tierstein

***

Become a member of the New York Dance and Performance League. Email the bessies@gmail.com to find out how.

CollectiveDWNM to welcome Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener and Nancy Dalva

Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener

Monday, November 5 (7pm)

Collective for Dance Writing and New Media

presents its next special evening

FROM THERE TO HERE:

A conversation with

dance artists Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener 

moderated by dance writer Nancy Dalva

Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway (entrance at 53 Chambers Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Admission:
Non-members: $10
Paid members: Free

Please RSVP here.

Become a member of Collective for Dance Writing and New Media ($20 annual fee) and receive free or discounted admission to our events. For an application, inquire here.

Become an intern in CollectiveDWNM's Leadership Circle and enjoy membership benefits. For an application, inquire here.

Rashaun Mitchell brings "NOX" to Danspace Project

Anne Carson

Rashaun Mitchell

When my brother died I made an epitaph for him in the form of a book. This is a replica of it, as close as we could get. -- Anne Carson

Rashaun Mitchell, by and large, is a quiet presence in NOX, his lovely, site-adjustable collaboration with poet Anne Carson, running now at Danspace Project, based on a book Carson wrote about the elusive brother she lost twice--the second time to death. My strongest memories of Mitchell find him striding the perimeter of the performance space, his entire body an icon of clarity and cool, or resting on the floor with his legs tucked around like a cat's tail or standing at a distance with a calm gaze fixed on Silas Riener.

Reiner carries the oddness, the frenzy, the passion of NOX--hurtling from one doorway to another, writhing and melting around columns, crawling down steps on his elbows and creating arresting sculpture out of his human body.

This night veers from cool to electric, from absence to presence, from safety to emergency, always with the possibility that these things will intermingle. Everything is painted in light and shadows (breathtaking painterly effects by Davison Scandrett), especially the doors and stained-glass windows of St. Mark's Church's balcony. Scandrett's lighting can imitate time's subtle passage, build anticipation of an arrive, make the immaterial visible and exalted. It is an extraordinary gift to these beautiful master dancers and exquisite poet.

With live performances by Carson (text), Benjamin Miller (music) and Robert Currie.

Rashaun Mitchell's Nox at Danspace Project now through Saturday, 8pm. Seating is limited, specially arranged for this production and, as you might expect, tickets are pfffttt! gone! Try the waiting list, though. For information, click here.

Danspace Project
East 10th Street at Second Avenue, Manhattan
(directions)

Cunningham lives...in his dances

A spokeswoman said they would not be paid, and that no performances are scheduled, although they have not been ruled out. "It’s sort of like an educational experience," said the spokeswoman, Leah Sandals.-- Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times

You know, after a while, you might have to say--Cunningham's wishes aside--maybe they should have just kept the company going. Could this be a subtle sign of regret?

Read more: Former Merce Cunningham Dancers to Teach Choreographer's Works by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, March 20, 2012

Sometimes you do need a weatherman

Former Merce Cunningham dancers Silas Riener and Rashaun Mitchell on developing a new piece, post-Cunningham, on Fortnight Journal.

Beautiful dancers. Beautiful.

weathervane (4:31)

dancer bios (6:46)

Wonder remains: Kraus at Merce Fair

A Fair for Merce
by Lisa Kraus, Writing My Dancing Life, August 30, 2011

In search of mavericks

John McClain might say he never claimed to be one. Sarah Palin might give it a bad name. But La MaMa still loves mavericks. This week, you can visit the La MaMa Moves Festival and see who--among a bevy of choreographers across four shared Mavericks in Motion programs--deserves to wear the label with pride.

I'm going to cast an early vote for a couple of handsome Cunningham dancers, Rashaun Mitchell and his collaborator/dance partner Silas Riener, who showed Nocturnal Excerpts, a work-in-progress. Telfar Clemens's costumes turn them into a couple of vaguely disheveled, modern-day Pierrots, and Mitchell's movement ideas disturb and contort any conventional notion of what human bodies can do. Riener, in particular, is a compelling presence and mover, and it will be interesting to see where these guys take this duet.

If you missed Mitchell and Riener last night, try for Saturday's show (8pm), which also includes offerings by Benjamin Asriel, Myra Bazell w/ SCRAP, David Capps, Luke Gutgsell (partnering the fascinating Elise Knudson), and Lionel Popkin & Robert Een.

Mavericks in Motion programming concludes this Sunday evening. The festival continues through June 20.

Complete La MaMa Moves festival schedule

Tickets

La MaMa E.T.C.
First Floor Theatre
74a East 4th Street (near 2nd Avenue), Manhattan