HyperISH: Taking it from street to stage

Who's afraid?

These two words are the first uttered in HyperISH, an hour of power presented by the Amsterdam-based troupe ISH at The New Victory Theater, now through May 18. Dancers begin by creeping out under hazy light, wobbling atop a row of drab, ungainly platforms to woozy music--the first and last time you'll believe that any of these seven rambunctious men and women have ever suffered a moment of fear.

Founded in 1999 by Marco Gerris, ISH draws from diverse sources--hip hop, club dancing, acrobatics, ballet, Kathak, capoeira and other martial arts. A choreographic collision for sure, but you'll be happy to know that it works, thanks to Gerris's imagination and the outlandish talent and charisma of dancers like Micka Karlsson, Shailesh Bahoran and especially the unbelievable Martin Barnes. What does not work so well is Gerris's well-intentioned concept, a mess of dramaturgidity obviously aimed at young audiences.

When it is not just about fantastic dancing, HyperISH is sort of about alienation, about finding one's True Self despite the distractions and pressures of conformist, consumerist society, about our obsession with cyber-connectedness and being liked and...Liked. And so forth. The Catcher in the Rye has been cited as an inspiration. It tries way too hard.

But let the dancing help you forget all that. Don't overthink this show. Just go and watch what happens.

HyperISH runs through May 18. For program and ticket information, click here.

New Victory Theater
209 West 42nd Street (Times Square), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Dance it out at BAAD!

BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), in its brand new home at Westchester Square, invites you to dance your hearts out this month with two new class series:

CAPOEIRA: Moses "Bronx" McCarter

Moses "Bronx" McCarter leads a class for dancers of all levels in capoeira, an amazing and energetic folk dance from Brazil that ritualizes movement from martial arts, African dance and acrobatics.

Fridays, February 7, 14, 21 and 28 (6-7pm)
$5 (special rate)

BOMBA: Milteri Tucker

Milteri Tucker, director of the Bronx-based Bombazo Dance Company, leads the all level class through the basics of Bomba, a joyous Afro-Puerto Rican dance and music style that is a communal activity celebrating the relationship between the dancer and the drummer. Class includes her skirt technique open to women and men. Bring your practice skirt and practice skirts will also be provided.

Sundays, February 9, 16, 23 (4-5pm)
$5 (special rate)

Get information on all BAAD! programming here.

BAAD! 
2474 Westchester Avenue, Bronx
(map/directions)

BlakTina: All good at BAAD!

Fall has come to BAAD, that multiverse of the arts up in the Bronx. The BlakTina Performance Series kicks off on October 14 and has many temptations. Check out, for instance:

Black in Latin America, a four-part documentary on the influence of people of African descent on Latin America and the Caribbean, featuring noted scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  Saturday, October 15, 6pm. Free.

Captured! Dance on Film. Choreographers Arthur Aviles, Gabri Christa and Joey Tomocik share their dance film projects and talk about inspiration and process. Thursday, October 20, 8pm. Free.

There's more dance, poetry, storytelling, bomba and capoeira classes, even a closing night Monster Mash party in the spirit of Halloween.

You can't go wrong when it's all good at BAAD!

Get more BlakTina details here and tickets here.

And check out this video celebrating Charles Rice-Gonzalez's first novel, CHULITO.

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD)
841 Barreto Street, Bronx
(directions)

Capoeira in Bushwick

Moses (Bronx) and Sasha (Parafina) McCarter of Capoeira Concepts are offering a series of six introductory capoeira classes at Chez Bushwick! The classes are held every Monday at 7pm, now through 12/27.

$10/class and $45 for the workshop (6 classes)

Learn the fundamentals of capoeira including ginga (basic swinging step), esquivas (ducks) and kicks. We will then move on to floor movements, sequences and working in pairs. Basic acrobatics, handstands and bridges will also be introduced. As music is an integral part of capoeira, we will be learning songs in Portuguese and getting familiar with the instruments, including berimbau (single stringed instrument), atabaque (drum), pandeiro (tambourine) and agogo (cow-bells). 

Classes will begin with a warm up followed by stretching, strengthening and conditioning exercices specific to capoeira. Next we will familiarize you with movements and terminology through repetition sequences and partner work. Classes will culminate with a roda, which is the circle in which the experience of capoeira is shared. This is where we take all that we have learned and put it into practice along with instruments, singing and clapping. It is recommended to wear comfortable clothing, preferably white and be prepare to train barefoot.

For more information and directions to Chez Bushwick, click here or contact bronxcapoeira@gmail.com.

Chez Bushwick

304 Boerum Street, #23, Brooklyn
718-418-4405

info@chezbushwick.net

Brenda Neville: Body and Soul podcast

This season, Brenda Neville's Neville Dance Theatre brings a contemporary Nutcracker with a world of difference to Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts (Long Island University). With a Brooklyn-based setting that features techie toys for kids of all ages and a party mix of capoeira, tango, Irish dancing and more, this production puts a fresh spin on the beloved winter classic.

(c)2008,Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

This season, Brenda Neville's Neville Dance Theatre brings a contemporary Nutcracker with a world of difference to Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts (Long Island University). With a Brooklyn-based setting that features techie toys for kids of all ages and a party mix of capoeira, tango, Irish dancing and more, this production puts a fresh spin on the beloved winter classic.

Thursday, December 18th, 2008 (Gala) at 8pm
Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 3:00pm (Family Performance) and 7:30pm

Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts
1 University Plaza, Brooklyn
Information and ticketing: 718.488.1624 or Web site

Brenda R. Neville (Director/Choreographer), has spent the last two decades performing and choreographing ballet, modern, Argentine Tango, Flamenco and other ethnic dances in over 18 different countries with companies such as the Milwaukee Ballet, Indianapolis Dance Company, AllNations Dance Company, Marc DeGarmo & Dancers, Covenant Dance Theatre and in numerous musical theatre productions. Her expertise covers a vast array of dance styles giving her choreography exceptional diversity and color. She has trained and performed with some of the top talents in dance today, including Juan Carlos Copes, Soledad Barrio, Sean Curran, Elizabeth Parkinson, Marjorie Mussman and Graciela Kozak.

An active dance teacher in the New York City area, she is a current faculty dance instructor at The Ailey School and Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn. Her students have been accepted by some of the most reputable dance programs and schools in the country, including American Ballet Theatre, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and LaGuardia Performing Arts High School. An expert ballet pointe shoe fitter, she has assisted in the development of the Gaynor Minden pointe shoe and currently works with Freed of London. She is a cum laude graduate of Butler University, receiving a B.A. in Dance Pedagogy, and is a co-founder of World Dance Theatre.

BAAD! capoeira

BAAD! (The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) will offer a series of three capoeira classes for dancers of all levels, instructed by Bronx (Moses McCarter) of Ginga Mundo on Wednesdays, October 15, 22 and 29 at 6:30pm. The fee is $5 per class or $12 for all three dates. Capoeira ritualizes movement from the martial arts, African dance and acrobatics. For more information, contact BAAD! at 718-842-5223 or click here.

Sizzlin' at SummerStage

On my way home from last night's SummerStage performance in Central Park, I looked up to the stars and thought, "You guys up there must really miss those dancers!" The latest incarnation of Jelon Vieira's Dance Brazil is a gathering of stars from the highest realm. The performance they set before an overflowing crowd--so overflowing and so headstrong, in fact, that one burly security guard quickly gave up on trying to shoo people out of the center aisle--might be the finest I've seen Vieira command, and I've been a fan of his from the early days when he partnered with the late, great Loremil Machado to popularize capoeira, Brazil's martial art dance, in New York.

Ritmos ("rhythms"), premiered this year, is an extended celebration of capoeira with Riverdance-like breadth and accessibility, grounded in modern dance and reminiscent, in the boldness of its composition and stagecraft, of the work of Alvin Ailey. Indeed, Ailey was one of Vieira's mentors and the man who, back in the '70s, encouraged him to found DanceBrazil.

Featuring an extraordinary live performance by music director Tote Gira's band, the work unfolds seductively, introducing hints and snippets of capoeira sparring into long, sometimes langourous passages of choral movement abstracted from capoeira's acrobatic warrior moves. It is like a dream of capoeira, one that teases, gradually taking on speed and intensity until we are finally given what we're longing for...and then, with Brazilian generosity, given a whole lot more than we could ever expect. Vieira's dancers--ten men and one woman, all handsome and magnificent--bring the rhythm to life with bodies that stretch, hurtle, spin, flip, and tumble in endless, inventive variations. But, to be truly suitable for the increasing sophistication of Vieira's choreography--they have to be more than just excellent athletes and capoeiristas; they also have to be fine contemporary dancers and have stage presence to burn. It's all there.

IMPORTANT: If you get a chance today--and if the weather holds--race out to East River Park (Montgomery Street to East 12th Street, FDR Drive), and you can see DanceBrazil on a bill with Kids Dance at 3pm. Take the F to East Broadway and head east to the Ampitheater. But try to get there early! It's free!

Max Pollak and Rumba Tap--with his RumbaTap musicians and the guesting, powerful Paul Carlon Octet--opened last night's SummerStage show on a charming note. Pollak, the Austrian-born tap dance/body percussion wiz, assembled a suite of numbers representing his cross-cultural blending--like Gankino Afrokan, Pollak's new tap, Bulgarian, Mozambican stew. That piece might sound complicated but it's a simple joy, a happy folk dance for a whole United Nations of folks.

The production featured longtime collaborators and new additions, like the wonderful Carson Murphy and Warren Craft. All of the dancers were in good form, but it was especially fun to see longtime Pollak partner Chikako Iwahori let loose and rock out to Tito Puente in Pa' Los Rumberos in a way that I've never seen her do, and to see her smile from the soul. Kudos to Iwahori, too, for this production's splendid and flattering designs for the women's elegant costumes.

Pollak is a jazzy Damballah with a scorching intensity, especially in his Afro-Cuban solos. (Have a little taste, but for a better experience, see him live.) But it would have been wonderful to hear more of what his feet had to say, which is, after all, the point of tap dancing. But at SummerStage, the music, although righteous in its own right, covered over a lot of the foot sound. Nevertheless, Pollak's show put us all in a chipper mood for the long (and rewarding) evening ahead with DanceBrazil. Let's look forward to where he'll take us next.

Catskill Mountain Womyn's World Drum and Percussion Happen’n

11th Annual Catskill Mountain Womyn’s World Drum & Percussion Happen’n
August 21–August 24
Circle Lodge, Hopewell Junction, New York

For registration and scholarship application, click here.

The Circle Lodge is a private lakefront adult retreat center with comfortable indoor accommodations, vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals, multiple indoor workshop and jamming areas, performing arts center, cell phone reception, heated pool and access to Sylvan Lake. The Happen’n is just 1-½ hours from NYC or two hours from Albany, four hours from Boston.

The Happen’n is an annual multicultural drum, percussion and dance gathering for women and girls of all levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

We have assembled some of the most diverse, dynamic, inspiring, and skilled women musicians/ teachers in the drumming world today. Learn rhythms, songs, techniques and musical styles of the Conga, Djembe, Dundun, Taiko, Dumbek, Frame Drum, Tablas, Bodhran, Sakara, Gyil, Shekere, Berimbau, Drum Kit, Bells, Gourds and various world hand percussion.

Expand your knowledge and skills of traditional music of West Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Japan, Cuba, the Middle East, North Africa, India, Ireland, Native America, and original music of North America.

Explore methods of music for healing, teaching, facilitation and performance. Move with West African Dance, Capoeira, Maculele, Movement Meditation and circle dancing. Learn to tune and repair your drum. Sing, drum and dance around the fire!

The Happen’n provides many opportunities for networking and music exchange while in a supportive atmosphere of women’s drumming community. Experience the Blessing of the Drums, Saturday Night Showcase, Vibrational Healing Circle, Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Circle with others to sustain the Heartbeat Drum throughout the gathering.

Expand your awareness of global women’s drumming at the Happen’n Gallery of books, instruments, photos and videos. Explore instruments and handcrafts by the teachers and craftswomen at the Marketplace.

Bring your drums, percussion instruments, voice, and musical styles to the various music and dance jams.

2008 HAPPEN’N TEACHING STAFF:

Edwina Lee Tyler--West African Drum Traditions


Emilia Biancardi--Music & Percussion of Brazil


Nurudafina Pili Abena--Djembe, Afro-Cuban Drum


Peace Elewonu--Women’s Music of Ghana, Dance


Sejal Kukadia--Tabla Drums of India


Phyllis Bethel--Afro-Cuban Conga


Valerie Naranjo--West African Gyil, Native American Music


Ubaka Hill--Art & Spirit of Drumming


Bonnie Devlin--Haitian Folkloric Music, Bodhran


Elaine N. Fong--Taiko Drums of Japan


Leaf Miller--World Drum


Caru Thompson--Shekere, Bells, Vocal Gourds


Raquy Danziger--Dumbek & Frame Drum


Fre Atlast--Teaching & Drum Circle Facilitation


Joy San Agustin and Molly Lee--Capoeira, Maculele


Nana Akosua Baakan Agyiriwah--Sakara, Dundun


Nancy Asch--Stick/ Kit Drumming


Victoria Christgau--Vocal Improvisation

White Feather--Movement Meditation

Beverly Nadelman--Drum Care and Repair

Drum Central Vision Statement:

Drum Central is dedicated to the advancement of women's knowledge and participation in the ancient and sacred traditions of women's drumming locally and globally.

This vision is expressed through our annual gathering: the Catskill Mountain Womyn’s World Drum & Percussion Happen’n. Drum Central was founded in 1998 by Leaf Miller, Fre Atlast, and Ubaka Hill.

Come for the Entire Time or Come For the Day!
Registration & Lodging Options

Your Registration Fee includes Workshops, Meals, Accommodations and Featured Programs.

Per-woman Accommodation Fees are listed as Before July 1st / After July 1st Rates. Early Registration saves $!

Double w/ Shared Bath $485.00/ $505.00


Double w/ Private Bath $495.00/ $515.00


Single w/ Shared Bath $595.00/ $615.00


Single w/ Private Bath $675.00/ $695.00


4 Day Commuter $365.00/ $385.00


Single Day Commuter $165.00/ $185.00


Children 8-12 years old $ ½ the price of the adult fee


Registration begins at 3pm on Thursday. The Happen’n ends at 2pm on Sunday.

All Registration Rates are per woman registrant. Housing for groups of three

or more can be arranged with advance notice. Linens and towels are provided.

Accommodations do not apply to Commuter Rates.

* Confirmation Packets with directions and other information will be sent to you upon receipt of your Registration form. Cancellations will be charged $75.00 before July 1st. After July 1st, fees are non-refundable unless we can fill your space.

Please make Checks or Money Orders Payable to: The Arts Community

After July 1st, Money Orders ONLY will be accepted. Mail Registration Form with Payment to:

DRUM CENTRAL - PO Box 231, Saugerties, NY 12477. For more information and questions:

Call (845) 706-1176 Email: info@drumcentral.net

Visit our website www.drumcentral.net for details, updates and the FAQs.


*** PLEASE DONATE TO OUR SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Every tax-deductible contribution, whatever the amount, supports the participation of Elder women and women with financial need. A limited number of participant assistance grants are available.

To apply for a Scholarship, send in a Registration Form with your letter of request for a scholarship application. All Applications are due by July 1st, 2008.