Johnnie Cruise Mercer presents "process-memoir" at NYU Tisch

Dancer-choreographer Johnnie Cruise Mercer
and his troupe present a "process-memoir"
from their NYU Tisch arts residency,
this week at Tisch's Jack Crystal Theater.
(photo: Marisol Diaz)

Is there a possible way to ascend past what is expected from me, and to return to what I truly know? -- Johnnie Cruise Mercer

This is not really a formal review of the "process-memoir" offered, last evening, by Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC at NYU Tisch School of the Arts's Jack Crystal Theater. I write merely to ask you to consider going tonight for its final showing.

And, yes, I know this has been the season from hell with multiple dance events stacked atop each calendar date like acrobats forming a circus pyramid. But still, go see Mercer's to ascend past numbness and witness birth. You'll have fun, you'll see some amazing performers, and you'll experience surprises I'm not going to reveal. Mercer treats his audience like frogs in that pot of water that starts off nice-and-comfy then gets progressively warmer and warmer.

I had just one problem: this evening--reportedly the third part of a multi-part "process-memoir" moving towards a two-part work...well, maybe you get the picture--feels very long, stuffed with stuff in need of judicious pruning. Excess, though, does seem to be a necessary Mercer ingredient. You'll see what I mean.

Take your buddy who thinks they/she/he can't get into dance or simply get it. Take your mate who only makes time for pop culture. Take your woke co-worker who will surely appreciate how art can simultaneously entertain and question that entertainment. Take anyone capable of having their mind blown.

And then, let's all wait and see what TheREDprojectNYC will make of all of this.

Mercer calls his performers "company partners" and "a community of artistic dare-devils," and so they are: Shanice Mason, Thomas Tyger Moore, Nicholas Rodrigues, Erica Saucedo and collaborating artist Adrianne Ansley.

Visual design/creative consultant: Torian Ugworji

to ascend past numbness and witness birth. concludes this evening with a performance at 7:30pm. For information and tickets, email theredproj.company@gmail.com or click for the Facebook event page.

Jack Crystal Theater
NYU Tisch School of the Arts
5th Floor, 111 2nd Avenue (between 6th and 7th Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Subscribe in a reader

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.

Hip Hop showing and workshop with David Sincere Aiken

TOPAZ ARTS is thrilled to present Queenz Finest David Sincere Aiken for an informal showing of his latest choreography and Hip Hop workshop. As one of TOPAZ ARTS’ early dance video projects back in 2001, we are proud to present this rising star, David Sincere who is back from Los Angeles, originally from South Jamaica Queens, to bring a taste of his new moves. David Sincere’s style is a fusion of NY Hip Hop, African and Reggae style dance topped off with a technical approach. Come for an informal showing and take a workshop as Sincere and Friends prepare for upcoming shows in April 2015.

Hip Hop with David Sincere Aiken

Sunday, March 22, 4pm

Free, suggested $10 donation encouraged

RSVP by email: rsvp@topazarts.org or on Facebook

For complete details, click here.

TOPAZ ARTS
55-03 39th Avenue, Woodside, Queens
(map and directions)

Kaneza Schaal and the feather of the goddess Maat

Meet PS 122 RAMP resident theater artist Kaneza Schaal.

Kaneza Schaal is a New York City based theater artist. Best known for her work as an actor with The Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service, and Richard Maxwell, Kaneza will use RAMP to begin work on her first evening length piece using the Egyptian Book of the Dead as inspiration–seeking to cultivate performance that uses text as a jumping off point and equally values visual, physical, sonic and abstract expression.

“Drawing inspiration from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a text originally intended to provide the living with a blueprint to the afterlife, we will explore light and shadow as a physical and metaphorical architecture. Using analogue projection, sound, text, and dance to animate a series of burial vignettes we will excavate this ancient text to create a new translation. Our inquiry will focus on the scroll’s central metaphor: the weighing of the heart against a feather of the goddess Maat on her divine scale of truth to test its moral worth. The performance proposes burial not as erasure but as offering restitution, performing rites, and creating space for the presence of the absent, the imagined and the longed-for.”

– Kaneza Schaal

Public Showings: April 11 and 12, 8pm

The Chain Theatre
21-28 45th Road, Long Island City, Queens
(map/directions)

For complete information and ticketing, click here.