Inside the mask: Narcissister releases documentary self-portrait

Performer Narcissister opens the world theatrical premiere and two-week run of her documentary, Narcissister Organ Player, at Film Forum next Wednesday, November 7. A former dancer, she's best known in the performance art world for the contradiction of concealing her identity with doll-like masks while revealing her flesh and wildly creative preoccupation with body organs, orifices and functions. Narcissister regularly propels audiences into forbidden dimensions of the familiar. With this new self-portrait, though, she guides us to the hidden source of that extreme courage--the familial.

Just over 90 minutes, this stunning, poignant film--expansive and mythic in imagery--centers the influence of the artist's relationship with her Morocco-born Jewish mother (and, to a far lesser extent, her Black American father) on the ideas that drive her work. Q&As with Narcissister will follow the 7pm screenings on these dates:

Wednesday, November 7, moderated by Jeffrey Deitch, Gallerist, Deitch Projects

Thursday, November 8, moderated by Lia Gangitano, Director, Participant Inc.

Saturday, November 10, moderated by writer Ren Weschler

Narcissister Organ Player will also be screened at Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, Washington), November 15-18.

Film Forum

209 West Houston Street, Manhattan
(map/directions)

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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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Ballroom with a difference: Freedman's "Hot to Trot"

Ernesto Palma and Nikolai Shpakov,
ballroom competition dancers,
appear in Gail Freedman's Hot to Trot.
(photo: Curt Worden)

Emily Coles and Kieren Jameson
(photo: Robert Cortlandt)

The international ballroom dance competition scene was largely unfamiliar to me when I sat down to watch Gail Freedman's documentary Hot to Trot. If you asked what I thought of same-sex competitive ballroom dancing, I would have cheered because hooray, I'm a lesbian! There was no way to anticipate that, by the end of nearly 90 minutes, I'd find tears pooling in my eyes and realize I cared deeply about the people Freedman had so gently, carefully introduced to me. A lesson in a niche of a niche of the dance world offers a space to think about what it means to be human.

The film follows the twists, turns, dips and changing partnerships in the lives of same-sex ballroom dancers--like the charismatic, creatively ambitious Ernesto Palma, raised in poverty in Costa Rica, a former meth addict for whom dancing is emotional self-care; the Russian Nikolais Shpakov who blossoms as a performer as he grows more confident in his gay identity; and Emily Coles, battling diabetes as she strives to create beauty. "It's Fred and Fred and Ginger and Ginger," quips a judge at California's annual April Follies competition. But it's more than that: It's people you might know. The personal is political, as we used to say, and the intimacy--enhanced by Freedman's team of cinematographers and her editor--makes for compelling viewing.

Cinematography: Joel Shapiro, Diana Wilmar, John Cummings, Vanessa Carr
Editing: Dina Potocki

Opens Friday, August 24 at Quad Cinema (New York) and Friday, September 14 at Laemmle Music Hall Theater (Los Angeles)

Quad Cinema
34 West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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46th Dance on Camera Festival, July 20-24, Lincoln Center

Between Yourself and Me--a documentary on the innovative immersive theater works of Third Rail Projects--will screen at the 46th Dance on Camera Festival this month at The Walter Reade Theater.

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For most of its 80 minutes, Lucinda Childs, Great Fugue by Beethoven (France, 2017) stays confined within the studio bubble, offering outsiders a dry, if rare, insider's view of the making of a contemporary ballet by one of the queens of New York postmodern dance. French filmmaker Marie-Hélène Rebois captures the choreographer at work with Lyon Opera Ballet to master the challenging surprises of a Beethoven piece. Dancers' sleek bodies skim across a tall, wide expanse of window panes in cool, fluid, friction-less partnering (which, with just a touch of daring, easily could have been rendered same-sex and gender-nonconforming). Happily, the final twenty-or-so minutes give us a handsome finished work--intricate for all its quiet lack of fuss; airy and shot through with light. World premiere Monday, July 23 (6pm) at the 46th Dance on Camera Festival, co-presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association.

Also, check out the festival's world premiere of Between Yourself and Me (USA, 2017; 28m), co-produced with Dance Films Association, a look at acclaimed immersive theater troupe Third Rail Projects (Then She Fell) and Gravity Hero (USA, 2018, 70m), Trey McIntyre's reflection on his decision to shut down his successful, ten-year-old Boise, Idaho dance troupe.

Dance on Camera runs from Friday, July 20 through Tuesday, July 24 with all films screening at The Walter Reade Theater. For schedule information and tickets, click here.

The Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), Manhattan

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Jack Doroshow, 78

Jack Doroshow, 78, Drag Pageant Impresario, Dies
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, November 30, 2017

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Films coming soon: Loïe and Isadora; the Afro-Andalusian influence in flamenco

French indie music star and actress Soko stars in The Dancer.
(above and below)

The biopic--which premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
and was first seen in New York at Lincoln Center Film Society's
Rendez-Vous with French Film Festival this past March--
receives its US theatrical release on December 1.

Lily-Rose Depp as a rivalous Isadora Duncan

The Dancer
directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto
(108 min/France/French with English subtitles)

With her first feature film, The Dancer, director Stéphanie Di Giusto helps us imagine what it must have felt like to see American fin-de-siècle phenom Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) mounting a stage, aswirl in billowing silk and saturating spotlights, a theatrical innovator of monumental spectacle. For her stubborn if put-upon Loïe, Di Giusto deploys the fascinating French indie singer/actress Soko--an early Malcolm MacDowell or Marc Bolan lookalike whose favored black bowler hat might also have you flashing back to Liza Minnelli (Cabaret) and Lena Olin (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) but just briefly. She's far more androgynous than that--one character euphemistically describes her to an ardent male admirer as "standoffish"--and her struggles around sexuality underlie what the director clearly sees as inability to cope with the heedless, cruel pace of a world about to race past her.

Our first sight of Soko shows her nearly smothered in yards of fabric. But, no, she's not performing her famous Serpentine Dance. Instead, she's being rushed by several running men from the stage to either a hotel room or a hospital room; I could not tell which. Although we later learn why, it's enough, in that first moment, to identify Loïe with calamity and vulnerability. The film rarely lets up from that initial impression of her.

Next, we flash back to her as a sturdily-built, gloomy Midwestern girl--a very emo Mary Louise Fuller--sharing rough beginnings with her French-born, alcoholic father. He quickly ends up dead, leaving her at the mercy of a religion-obsessed mother. The cinematography of these early scenes has a heavy, depressing murkiness that rarely lifts from the film even when it is actually better lit. A biopic about an artist who illuminated stages with eye-popping light and magic is taken up with an atmosphere of grim darkness. But, again, Di Giusto seems intent on showing Loïe in pain, insecurity and discouragement.

There's the brutal physical pain of maneuvering those yards and yards of fabric, a feat that leaves her gasping for breath. Despite diligent conditioning, Loïe's body breaks down, time and again, and performing at all becomes a risk. But there's also emotional pain throughout Di Giusto's story--from the loss of Fuller's father to the ultimate betrayal wrought by one Isadora Duncan (Lily-Rose Depp), a youngster more conventionally feminine, at once more graceful and choreographically adventurous in movement and more given to displaying her body before the male gaze.

Mélanie Thierry does fine, delicately nuanced work as Gabrielle Bloch, Fuller's compassionate champion at the Paris Opera. She gives their scenes life and reminds you of Fuller even when the dancer is elsewhere, because you feel how vividly present Fuller is in her thoughts.

Don't come looking for a documentary. As the film opens, we're told that it is "based on a true story." Bear that "based on" in mind, if you will, and grant Di Giusto a little running room with her creative narrative. I suppose an educational film about how the real-life Loïe Fuller first dreamt up the notion of turning silk costuming into both motile sculpture and extraordinary canvases for her unique lighting effects might satisfy some but not many. Actually, we don't get to learn a whole lot more about Isadora Duncan, significant pioneer in her own right, and Depp brings little of interest to her role.

I've long been drawn to both of these legendary artists. I really only perked up when Soko--well-trained by contemporary dance artist Jody Sperling, acclaimed Loïe Fuller specialist and choreographer for the film--dons her costumes and models the sort of transformational stagecraft for which Fuller became famous.

The Dancer opens in theaters Friday, December 1.

Also coming soon...

Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories
directed by Miguel Ángel Rosales
film screening and flamenco performance
Sunday, December 3, 7pm to 9:30pm

Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories, a feature-length documentary from anthropologist Miguel Ángel Rosales, explores the contribution of Afro-Andalusians to flamenco as the art form developed. Gurumbé (72 min, in Spanish with English subtitles) has won numerous awards in the festival circuit and it is currently premiering around the world.

Flamenco performance by dancer Yinka Ese Graves and live musicians

Roundtable with the performers and the director, moderated by
K. Meira Goldberg, author of Flamenco on the Global Stage and Sonidos Negros: On the Blackness of Flamenco (forthcoming, Oxford University Press)

TICKETS

La Nacional
239 West 14th Street, Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Debra Chasnoff, 60

Debra Chasnoff, Whose Films Redefined Gay Families, Dies at 60
by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, November 14, 2017

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Murray Lerner, 90

Murray Lerner, Who Filmed Music’s Biggest Stars, Dies at 90
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, September 5, 2017

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Danni Gee celebrates Ailey and ten years with SummerStage

Danni Gee performs her solo
in Judith Jamison's Riverside.
(photo: Roy Volkmann
for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)

On Wednesday, August 16, Dance Films Association and SummerStage will co-sponsor a screening of Great American Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield.

In addition to Revelations, the beloved Ailey signature piece, the documentary features Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, Robert Battle’s Takademe as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with members of the troupe. Doors open at 7pm, and the screening starts at 8pm.

The screening is free and will be preceded at 6pm by a special Revelations workshop, which is also free. To attend the workshop, you must pre-register with an RSVP to: RSVP@CityParksFoundation.org.

Danni Gee, formerly a principal dancer with Philadanco and Ailey, celebrates her tenth season this year as curator of dance for New York's SummerStage. Below, read her reflections on recovering from career-ending hip injury, pursuing her passion for music and the happy opportunity, now, to partner with Dance Films Association in presenting an evening devoted to the glories of Ailey.

Danni Gee and Leonard Meek in Ailey photo shoot
(photo: Andrew Eccles)

EYA: I'm curious about any support you might have called upon as you moved towards a new career following your dance injury. Who or what could you call upon--particularly as a woman and as a woman of color--for practical or psychological or moral support as you stepped into an important new role?

DG: When I initially stopped dancing, I went into a pretty deep depression. My family helped as best they could, especially my mother, but in hindsight, I should have gotten professional help. Getting therapy, unfortunately, was something that was frowned upon; too much stigma attached to it.

I believe what saved me was turning to music. I reconnected with Kathy Sledge, of Sister Sledge, whom I worked with as a backing dancer briefly before joining Alvin Ailey, and she hired me again, but this time as a singer. I toured with her for close to eight years as "the baby sister." Around this time, I also started my band Suga Bush. Writing and performing really helped me through that dark time.

I did seek help years later, as there was still lingering sadness. My therapist helped me properly mourn the loss of my dance career and fully embrace my new life.

EYA: What challenges did you face in the beginning? How did you learn to cope with them?

DG: In the beginning, the challenges were mostly dealing with the loss of my dance career and artist life. So much of my identity had become enmeshed with being an "Ailey dancer." Along with that, there were some financial challenges. I received compensation, as it was a work-related injury, but it is only a portion, as you know, of your salary and doesn't last forever. Thankfully, I naturally have a pretty buoyant personality. I refused to let myself get too down as I was truly grateful to have had at least the experience to dance for two such wonderful companies [Philadanco and Ailey].

I eventually landed in fitness and started teaching aerobics. I was also starting to make some money from singing which was great. I have been blessed to not only sing with Kathy Sledge but also Gloria Gaynor and Cher.

The position with SummerStage literally fell in my lap some ten years after I stopped dancing. I was recommended for the position by then-Theater Director, Freedome Bradley. Initially, the challenges came in the administrative side of the position: drafting contracts, artist payments, etc. I had never done that kind of work before. I had a great set of people around me and a fantastic mentor in Alexa Birdsong, who was the Director of Arts at the time. The other difficult part was having to say no to artists and companies who were looking to perform at the festival. Some of these people were friends I've known through my own dancing career. But, over time, I learned that not everyone is ready, and being truthful is best.

EYA: What has been some of the rewards of working as a curator for SummerStage?

DG: The biggest reward for me has been giving a platform to some truly talented artists who might not otherwise have been given such an opportunity in this city and definitely for companies of color. It's also rewarding for me to know that I am continuing Alvin Ailey's mission of "giving dance back to the people." I think concert dance can still feel very exclusionary to people, and I want our audiences to know that dance is for everyone. The other joy has been reconnecting with dancers and choreographers I've known for over 20 years, either through booking them to appear at the festival or having them attend a performance.

EYA: What lessons and values did you take away from your years with Philadanco and Ailey that you have found invaluable in your work in music and in curation?

DG: Discipline, discipline, discipline. You have to do the work to get results. Good time management is also key. And staying healthy, especially when we're in season. And being a team player. Knowing how to navigate through various personalities whether as a leader or part of the group is important. When you've toured with forty people for sometimes up to three months at a time, you learn this. And respect for others' time, space and individuality.

EYA: What's most exciting for you about the SummerStage screening of Great American Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater?

DG: I am excited to share a film about a company that has been such a HUGE part of who I am and who I STILL am. Also, with this being my 10th anniversary season, I wanted to celebrate my legacy with SummerStage which includes dancing on this very stage with Ailey in 1993!!! I also love these ballets that are going to be shown in the film. It really shows the breadth of the company's repertoire and talent.

EYA: Tell us about the pre-screening Ailey dance workshop at 6pm.

DG: The workshop will be led by the amazing Nasha Thomas, also a former Ailey dancer. We were in the company together at the same time. She is now the National Director of AileyCamp/Spokesperson & Master Teacher for Arts In Education. I believe another Ailey diva from my time will also be on hand to assist, Miss Renee Robinson! The attendees will get to learn sections of Alvin Ailey's masterpiece "Revelations," namely, "I Been Buked," "Wade in the Water," and Rocka My Soul." It's the first time we've ever done a dance workshop at our Central Park location. I have them typically before all of my CityWide dance programs. Also, the class will take place on stage!

EYA: Do you have ideas or plans for future collaborations with Dance Films Association?

DG: Yes, I would love to collaborate with DFA in future seasons. They have been amazing to work with, with a special nod to Galen Bremer. Just lovely. I am looking forward to discussing several ideas for next year.

EYA: New York City has put an enormous effort into delving into how its arts organizations can better reflect and serve its many communities. When you think about our city's needs--and the needs of artists--what's top of mind for you?

DG: Maintaining diversity. Making everyone feel included. The fact that we have so many free programs including music, dance, sports and so forth, is incredible. We are also doing a lot more surveying at our programs to see what the reactions are and to inquire what people would like to see in their communities. There needs to be an open dialogue so our participation in their neighborhoods is not a forced marriage.

For SummerStage, I think the increased dialogue with community leaders, residents and centers is key. Maintaining respect with the community is fundamental, and listening to feedback, good and bad, whether it's from our audiences or the artists themselves is necessary.

EYA: Is there anything else that readers should know or might like to know about you, about SummerStage 2017, about the DFA collaboration or this specific screening?

DG: About me? Well that I am still active in my music endeavors, that I am very passionate about the work that I do here at SummerStage and that if you see me out in the park, you can always come up and say hello!

We are about two thirds of the way through our season and we have some incredible shows coming up in August and some benefit concerts (ticketed events) going into October.

Specifically about the film? Just come and enjoy a nice night out in the park, watching a film about one of the most iconic dance companies in the world. There are some great on-camera interviews and rehearsal footage as well.  We may also have a special guest coming to introduce the film, but I can't give that away!

*****

SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
(map/directions)


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Invisible made visible: Okpokwasili, Rossi present "Bronx Gothic"

"Bronx Gothic is about inhabiting the body of a brown girl
in a world that privileges whiteness."

"I am asking you to see the brown body."

"Maybe Bronx Gothic creates visibility for the invisible."

--Okwui Okpokwasili,
from the film Bronx Gothic, directed by Andrew Rossi

Photos courtesy of Grasshopper Film

Now ask yourself: Are you awake?

--Okwui Okpokwasili, Bronx Gothic

Christians have a gospel story about Jesus, aware of his fate, praying in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. All around him, his disciples--whom he had asked to merely keep watch with him--sleep deeply, leaving him alone with his agony.

I thought of this scene as I watched Okwui Okpokwasili in the documentary Bronx Gothic (2017, 91 min.), a film with superb direction by Andrew Rossi and killer editing by Andrew Coffman of Bryan Sarkinen and Rossi's daring cinematography. Launching its world premiere theatrical engagement on July 12 at Film Forum, the film provides deep insight into the motivation and process that guided Okpokwasili's magnificent solo performance piece of the same name. It delves into her experiences, thoughts and feelings as she takes the show on its final tour and holds discussions with members of her audience.

As the film opens, Okpokwasili is in mid-performance, dressed in the color of congealed blood, tears pooling and dripping from her luminous eyes as the persona she inhabits recalls life-changing incidents from a Bronx childhood. I was reminded of the frequent, insistent sobbing in Kyle Abraham's ensemble dance, Dearest Home, and also how, like disciples at Gethsemane, not every viewer will necessarily have the will to stay awake--available, vulnerable, connected, "woke"--when Black artists ask for empathetic witness.

Both Dearest Home and Bronx Gothic--denying any demand for performance to stay within narrow, acceptable confines--make messy vulnerability and intense pain visible, in particular Black pain. Both works reach into as well as beyond their makers' personal history of being Black in America to suggest characters and narrative that should move anyone of heart and conscience.

Okpokwasili was raised within a large, middle-class Nigerian-immigrant family in the comfortable Parkchester section of the Bronx in the 1980s. (Her charming parents, whom we meet late in the film, make an indelible impression.) Describing her solo as "semi-autobiographical" allows it to partake of her extraordinary imagination and her empathy for the pre-teen girls she observed in her youth. She remembers them, remembers their pleasures and their struggles, channels them and serves them with intensely committed soul and physicality. The film's audience is spared little of how violently this haunted performance has wrenched its performer's psyche and body.

Having seen two iterations of Bronx Gothic live (Danspace Project, 2012 and 2014), I can tell you that the film, generously sampling the live performance, only slightly misses the electrifying force of Okpokwasili live. There's nothing quite like being in a close, tent-like enclosure with her as she quakes head to toe, shares sexual secrets, scrapes her bare feet and smacks her bones against a punishing floor.

"Black flesh has deep meaning in this culture," Okpokwasili remarks at one point as she discusses her intentions for Bronx Gothic. All the vivid imagery--the dark and the light, the glistening sweat, the luxurious undulations and seizure-like trembling--serves to underscore this uncomfortable, complicated truth.

As she thinks about how her performance confronts and nearly overwhelms her audience, the artist is also both overwhelmed and intrigued. Recalling her experiences in the role, she asks an imaginary watcher, "Is my Blackness getting on you? Am I getting on you? Can you take on the pain?"

Not for nothing is the genre-spanning Okpokwasili one of our most respected artists, a Bessie-winner to boot. I hope Rossi's portrait of her will be seen widely. I rank Bronx Gothic up there with Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro as another urgent, earthshaking documentary that must be seen and must be discussed.

Showings at 12:30, 2:30, 4:40, 7:00 and 9:10
Wednesday, July 12 through Tuesday, July 25

Q&As with Okpokwasili and Rossi at the 7pm shows
Wednesday, July 12, Friday, July 14 and Saturday, July 15

For information and tickets, click here.

Film Forum
209 West Houston Street (west of Sixth Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Eddie Kamae, 89

Eddie Kamae, an Innovator and a Historian on Four Strings, Dies at 89
by Nate Chinen, The New York Times, January 24, 2017

February US opening for film on Gaga's Naharin

Choreographer Ohad Naharin
(photo: Gadi Dagon)

Mr. Gaga, Tomer Heymann's 2015 documentary film, delves into the life and maverick work of Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Tel Aviv's Batsheva Dance Company. It will open in US theaters in February of next year.

Clips from an early film of young Naharin flipping and tumbling in the grass around his childhood home suggest the roots of his genius creation, Gaga dance. Son of a dancer, the youngster took obvious pleasure in physicality without fear or rules. The mature artist would come to offer students and dancers a pathway to the freedom he had always sought.

We see the contemporary Naharin in the studio urging dancers to "find a way to let go...just let it happen. The more you let go everywhere in your body at once, the softness of your flesh will protect you." Later, Heymann introduces archival footage of a callow-looking Naharin, serving in an army entertainment unit during the Yom Kippur War. We consider how being surrounded by danger and death might have influenced the intense, liberating aesthetic of Naharin's future work.

He began dance training late, at 22, he tells us as we glimpse clips of a sturdy young guy with confident presence and a sense of what was right or, more to the point, not right for him. Martha Graham was not. Maurice Béjart decidedly was not. At Juilliard, he got by, smartly imitating the technique he observed in ballet class. You clearly see his efforts did not go deep.

An injury led him to explore new strategies to heal his body and allow it more authentic expression. And it was something more, a connection to "feminine forces," as he describes them in the film, "delicacy and aggressiveness at once." Dance teacher Gina Buntz later speaks of Naharin's "Mediterranean spine...very womanly," and Heymann shows the dancer indeed working that glorious spine.

In one teaching moment, Naharin instructs a young man to dance "like you're going to save somebody's life and, if you don't, it's gone." In another scene, we watch a gorgeous, vigorous male duet as Naharin tells us, "Dance is the opposite of macho. Movement, in its purest source, is about gender." Regrettably, we do not hear more about this idea or really learn what makes Gaga work from the inside out. The movement often looks grotesque and mind-blowing. Heymann's sampling of it--lots of it--can make your heart race.

Filmmaker Tomer Heymann
(photo: Mari Laukkanen)

The filmmaker weaves in the story of Naharin's passionate life and partnership with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara, a beloved Alvin Ailey star who quit that company and followed him to Israel. He emphasizes that Kajiwara's grasp of Naharin's often elusive ideas and demanding methods was crucial to their effective transmission to dancers. Sadly, Kajiwara succumbed to cancer in Tel Aviv on Christmas 2001. The choreographer is now remarried and a father.

Celebrated worldwide, Naharin has not escaped controversy in his homeland. Ultra-religious parties took issue with the notion that his dancers, invited to perform in a gala celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary, would tear off their clothes to dance to a Passover Seder song in undershirts and shorts. Under pressure, the choreographer agreed to more modest costuming and then immediately resigned. When his dancers backed him up, refusing to perform at all, Naharin quickly resumed directorship of his company.

In a stunning moment in the film, he chides his nation as "a country infected by racism, hooliganism, widespread ignorance, abuse of power and fanaticism." He continues, "This influences the government we elect. This government has put at risk not only my work, but the actual survival of us all in this country, which I love so much.”

That's tough love, as his dancers would surely recognize it. As Heymann reveals, the choreographer thinks nothing of barking disapproval from the wings--and that's after reportedly sending performers onstage with this tender blessing:

Don't fuck with me. My life depends upon you.

Mr. Gaga (100 min./English/Hebrew) opens in US theaters on February 1, 2017. For further information on international theatrical release and festival screenings, click here.

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Looking at Lucinda, then and now

Scenes from Dance (2009) by Lucinda Childs
(photos: Sally Cohn)

I regret missing Barnard College Dance Department's recent evening with Lucinda Childs and French filmmaker Patrick Bensard, director of the 2005 documentary, Lucinda Childs. Just short of an hour, the film traces notable influences and milestones in the dance artist's career--her exposure to the aesthetics of Cunningham and Cage, explorations with her fellow Judson iconoclasts such as Yvonne Rainer, magisterial flights through the Philip Glass/Robert Wilson universe.

It is Wilson, interviewed by Bensard, who best sums up the multitude within Childs, the mixed feelings she and her elegant, minimalist aesthetic can stir in a viewer. He describes a being at once soft and severe, hot and cold, and he appears to love her every polarized contradiction. The film includes wonderful excerpts of Childs, Mikhail Baryshnikov and other dancers performing her choreography--skimming the floor and slicing through air like figure skaters, earth and its gravity mere playthings to these mercurial figures.

Worth any price of admission are the brief glimpses of her solo Carnation, made in 1964 when I was 12 and a decade away from starting to write about dance. Maybe only a woman as frosty-looking as Childs could be this wickedly clever, surreal and funny in her ritualistic precision, crowning herself with a flexible strainer basket, carefully stuffing kitchen sponges into her mouth and fanning the stack open like a duck's bill.  How I wish I could see it performed live now.

* * *

See the fall season of The Lucinda Childs Dance Company at The Joyce Theater, November 29-December 11. The first week's program includes the New York premiere of a Joyce commission, The Sun Roars Into View (2016), and the second week features Childs's signature work, Dance (1979) with a commissioned score by Philip Glass and the original film decor by Sol LeWitt.

For information and tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Haskell Wexler, 93

Haskell Wexler, Oscar-Winning Cinematographer, Dies at 93
by John Anderson, The New York Times, December 27, 2015

Gary Keys, 81

Gary Keys, Filmmaker Who Documented Duke Ellington, Dies at 81
by William Grimes, The New York Times, August 30 , 2015

Sierra Leone-born ballerina Michaela DePrince featured in Glamour

Michaela DePrince
(photo: Alique for GLAMOUR)

BALLERINA MICHAELA DEPRINCE 

ON ACHIEVING HER DREAMS

GLAMOUR, August 2015

I Was Orphan Number 27:
Ballerina Michaela DePrince's Inspiring Story

by Erika Hayasaki

Michaela DePrince lost her family as a girl in Sierra Leone during the brutal civil war; now she’s a world-class ballerina, her triumph soon to be a Hollywood movie, Taking Flight. But her biggest goal? To inspire young girls through working with the Girl Scouts and War Child, a group that helps children in conflict zones. DePrince shares her journey in Glamour’s August issue, on national newsstands now and available digitally at glamour.com/app.

Dance for everybody: See "PS DANCE!"

Ana Nery Fragoso and students in PS DANCE!
(photo: Christopher Duggan)

Movement unlocks the body and heightens the spirit. -- Paula Zahn

Documentary filmmaker Nel Shelby has crafted a love letter to the power of dance and the power of learning with her new film, PS DANCE!

Narrated by veteran TV journalist Paula Zahn, the hour-long film takes viewers inside several New York City public schools (K-12) that incorporate dance programs into their educational vision--still a rarity in US schools.

We meet a host of lucky students and their gifted teachers--among them, Patricia Dye of Brooklyn's Science Skills High School for Science, Technology and the Creative Arts and Catherine Gallant of Lower Manhattan's PS 89--who make a persuasive case for the value of dance in the curriculum, with clear benefits far beyond the boosting of academic performance. Yes, teachers can use creative movement to reinforce class material students need to learn, but dance also enhances imagination, body awareness and wellness, confidence, the ability to give and take respectful feedback and to collaborate with others as dance artists do. Students need not aim for professional careers in dance to acquire habits and skills that will serve them well in all aspects of life.

Watch PS DANCE! 

THIRTEEN -- May 15, 10:30pm

WLIW21 -- May 17, 3:30pm and 10pm

NJTV -- May 26, 10pm

Click here
for more information about PS DANCE!

And join the movement to bring quality dance education
to every student nationwide:
Click here.

Despina Stamos: Dancing the immigrant experience

passTRESpass (2011)

directed by Jill Woodward

filmed in Athens, Greece 2009

20 minutes -- in English, French and Greek with English subtitles

Tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees make their way across the porous borders of Greece every year. Despina Stamos, a Greek American dancer, connects with a diverse group of immigrants in Athens and proposes a community dance performance. Their collaboration bridges communities from four continents and culminates in an experience that will touch their lives profoundly.

Support the work of Despina Stamos and the modern dance awareness society at their 2015 Benefit Gala (Monday, May 11, 6pm), including a "transcontinental live-stream dance performance" with Athen collaborators and silent auction.

Proceeds make possible a three-week movement workshop, performance and film project with refugees in Greece.

For complete information and tickets, click here.

Women Make Movies hosts NYC premiere of "I AM A GIRL"

  

Exclusive NYC Premiere of I AM A GIRL

Women Make Movies, Girl Be Heard, Gathr Films, and Duggal Visual Solutions invite you to the exclusive screening of the Women Make Movies award-winning documentary, I AM A GIRL

Thursday, February 5

Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas

260 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

(map/directions)

6pm Cocktail Reception

6:45pm Film Premiere

8pm Girl Be Heard Performance

8:15pm Talkback

Buy Tickets!

Filmmaker Rebecca Berry will be in attendance for Q&A! Rapper and I AM A GIRL film subject Breani Michele will perform her original and empowering raps after the screening.

All proceeds will go to support Girl Be Heard's social justice theatre company that puts global issues affecting girls center stage by empowering young women to tell their stories.  The film will have a huge impact across the nation through cutting-edge education curriculum created by Girl Be Heard, which allows teachers to engage students on critical human rights issues raised in the film. To watch the trailer click here, and to buy a DVD please visit the Women Make Movies website. For all other inquiries, please send us an email at orders@wmm.com.

About the Film:

A compelling, insightful, and inspiring exploration of what it means to grow up as a young woman in the 21st century, I AM A GIRL follows the first-person stories of six young women in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Afghanistan, the USA, and Australia. The documentary, which was nominated for several Australian Academy Awards, explores obstacles that so many young women face around the world such as poverty, teen pregnancy, mental illness, sex trafficking, and access to education.

About Women Make Movies:

For over 40 years, WMM has transformed the landscape of filmmaking for women directors and producers, bringing the issues facing women around the world to screens everywhere. Now, with more than 550 films in our catalog, including Academy®, Emmy®, Peabody and Sundance nominees and award winners, WMM is the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world. Women Make Movies. By Women. About Women. For Everyone. Please visit the WMM website for more information.

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