Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Gibney Dance takes action

Gibney Dance to lead community action

for Domestic Violence Awareness Month 

All through October, Gibney Dance will host events designed to provide information and increase awareness around the issue of domestic violence. These events, held at Gibney Dance Center will be free and open to the public. This initiative includes:

-- "I Am Against Violence" photo campaign, in which members of the public can volunteer to be featured.

--  Community Action (CA), a first-of-its-kind program centered on dancer-led workshops using the power of movement and creativity to empower domestic violence survivors living in shelters in New York City and beyond.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month is a time not only to recognize the significant efforts that have been made to reduce domestic violence but also to recommit ourselves to serving the critical needs of survivors and their families. Through our Community Action work, we have learned that there is a powerful synergy between domestic violence and dance that helps survivors take their whole self forward—both body and mind. We look forward to sharing with the broader community the knowledge and expertise we have gained through 12 years of work around the issue of domestic violence.

--Gina Gibney, Artistic and Executive Director of Gibney Dance

--  a discussion with Beth Silverman-Yam, Clinical Director of Sanctuary for Families

--  free yoga classes

--  coaching opportunities on work/life balance

--  a CA Open Studio featuring Gibney Dance Company

All activities will take place at Gibney Dance Center, 890 Broadway, Fifth Floor.

Participants can register for and learn more about October’s events by emailing community@gibneydance.org.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month Schedule of Events

Domestic Violence Informational Session
Wednesday, October 3, 2:30–3:30pm (Studio 3)

Dr. Beth Silverman-Yam, Clinical Director of Sanctuary for Families, will lead a discussion on domestic violence and healthy versus unhealthy relationships.


Community Action Open Studio
Wednesday, October 10, 6:30–8:30pm (Studio 5–2)

Artistic and Executive Director Gina Gibney presents an overview of the Community Action model while the Company demonstrates workshop content and performs an excerpt from its repertory.


Body and Wellness Week
October 15–19, 8-10am (Studio 2)

A week of free wellness events

    Monday/Wednesday: Mind Body Dancer
    Led by Liz Montgomery

    90-minute Yoga class followed by 30 minutes of optional guided meditation


    Tuesday/Thursday: Tools for Managing Stress
    Led by Jennifer Edwards, jened.com

    The coaching sessions will guide participants through practical approaches to (1) creating a holistic model for how to manage life, work and their personal brands; and (2) using tools for sleeping better, reducing anxiety and managing stress symptoms.


    Friday: Chi Kung/Qi Gong
    Led by Laura Shapiro

    Chi Kung/Qi Gong is often translated as “life force energy practice.” With roots in Chinese medicine, martial arts, and philosophy, its gentle movements over time restore balance and harmony to body, mind, and spirit.


“I am Against Violence” Campaign Open Photo Shoot
Tuesday, October 23, 12:00 – 4:00 pm / Studio 5

Members of the public are invited to join the Gibney Dance community in taking a stand against domestic violence by having their photos taken for our online and Center-wide advocacy campaign.

Falling for dance again....

For many of us, it takes very little to fall for concert dance. In fact, we've been goners for some time now. For everyone else--and, in America, that's a sizable number--the kind of rah-rah action on hand at New York City Center's annual Fall for Dance festival might be just the ticket. And a relatively cheap ticket at that ($15), if they can manage to get their hands on one, even with the newly-expanded--12 nights now!--Fall for Dance evenings. Really, all you sharpies who already love dance should step aside, at least for one year, and let some newbies get in the door.

Once in the door, they will discover a tossed salad of troupes and styles--everything from ballet to hula to contemporary dance out of Indonesia--designed to open their eyes to dance's fabulous diversity, its connection to their values, and the rock-star appeal of skilled, hard-working performers from celebrated troupes. They will thrill to an environment where they're free to applaud between sections of a dance and raise the roof with lusty, arena-ready cheering when it's all over. A fun night out, maybe even an enlightening one. That can be good for business at City Center and, ideally, elsewhere.

Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle (Photo © 2011 Erin Baiano)

Jared Grimes (Photo by Ernest Gregory)

For the most part, I had a good time with Program A, which featured choreography by Jared Grimes (Transformation in Tap); Christopher Wheeldon (Fang-Yi Sheu & Artists in Five Movements, Three Repeats); Sol León and Paul Lightfoot (Nederlands Dans Theater in Shutters Shut); and Jarek Cemerek (BalletBoyz in Void).

In Grimes' voice-over, he remembered himself, newly arrived in New York, as "a mad scientist" in the lab of the tap world. His world-premiered ensemble piece, Transformation in Tap, isn't nearly as "mad" as it might be--especially since one of the most delectable parts of it, a Grimes solo to "The Lady is A Tramp," reaches way back to pay homage to world-class, charismatic Sammy Davis, Jr. But younger viewers will find in Grimes' intense, muscular style some of the clean snap and acrobatic flourish of hip hop, keeping tap in the moment and ready for whatever's ahead.

To my eye, Wheeldon gave modern dancer Fang-Yi Sheu an elegant, lyrical backdrop--New York City Ballet dancers Tyler Angle, Craig Hall and Wendy Whelan. She is, to quote a superstar of baseball, "the straw that stirs the drink" in Five Movements, Three Repeats (2012), a being of almost inhuman ability to mold and re-mold her body, shape-shifting into new forms. Whelan and Angle--faithful, if less dazzling, in a somber, increasingly ethereal pas de deux--have the good fortune to have been paired not only with each other but with composer Max Richter's affecting remix of Dinah Washington singing "This Bitter Earth." (Listen to it here). What good is love.... What good am I.... But while a voice within me cries/I'm sure someone may answer my call...." It was hard to not feel a pang, even a foreboding chill, whenever Angle lifted Whelan just high enough for her toes to clear and skim the floor, just high enough to free her of the earth for a brief respite.

Shutters Shut (2003) is a sparkling duet performed by NDT's Astrid Boons and Quentin Roger with Gertrude Stein's "If I told him: A completed portrait of Picasso" as score. Clad in costumes that seem to flash a succession of now white, now black signals--a secret language--these two jutting, wind-up dolls rapidly work through Stein's ear-tickling repetitions and variations.

In Void (2011), Britain's hunky BalletBoyz kick butt and will smack down anyone who hears "Dance is..." and thinks "...for sissies." I was reminded less of West Side Story (see the Macaulay review) than Fight Club, right down to the suggestion of a secluded, urban warehouse setting where bare-chested guys get into it, but a Fight Club choreographed to be sleek, slick and picturesque, where no blow lands with impact and people fly at one another but all you get is the idea of men fighting, over and over and over and over.... Cemerek carefully crafted every detail of this idea but quickly exhausts it, even if he never exhausts those ten amazing dancers.

Fall for Dance continues through October 13. If any tickets remain, you can find out here or by calling the City Center box office at 212-581-1212 (Monday-Saturday, Noon-8pm; Sunday, Noon-7:30pm).

New York City Center
55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, Manhattan
(map/directions)

A view of New York City's dance...from the inside

 

New York City has a new way to explore its vibrant and diverse dance scene: Inside New York City Dance with Ashani Mfuko, airing Fridays, 10:30pm EST on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's Culture Channel (Time Warner Cable 67 | RCN 85 | FiOS 36).

Ashani Mfuko (r) with ballet dancer and blogger Taylor Gordon

Mfuko's program will feature in-depth interviews, health and wellness tips and the latest dance industry news. In addition, Inside New York City Dance will soon launch an iPhone/iPad app, and the show will be available for streaming live online at http://mnn.org. (Simply click on the “Culture Channel” link.)

The first season will spotlight the Bessie Awards, the Joffrey Ballet School, Ailey II, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Full Circle Soul Productions at Lincoln Center (Lincoln Center Out Of Doors), The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory, The Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival, Taylor Gordon (professional ballet dancer and member of Exit 12 Dance Company), The Young Choreographer’s Festival, Dr. Linda Hamilton (Dance Magazine columnist and clinical psychologist specializing in wellness for performers) and more.

To find a channel in your local area, click here.

Click here for more about Mfuko and Inside New York City Dance.

Dan Safer's "Body and Soul: Listen." audio...redux!

A Facebook friend, downloading an episode of Body and Soul podcast, noticed that the Dan Safer Listen. segment had been switched with the Katy Pyle segment. I don't know how this happened, but I have uploaded Dan's podcast again.

You'll find the original InfiniteBody post about Dan's segment here.

So check for the new (9/28/12) Dan Safer segment, and ignore the old (8/23/12) one--that is, unless you enjoy Katy Pyle so much you'd like to hear her twice, and I can understand how you might!

As far as I know, this should be the final glitch in the Hipcast/iTunes saga, but if it isn't let me know right away, and I'll see what I can do about it!

Thanks!

Just keep listening...!

If you've had any trouble subscribing to Body and Soul podcast to hear my new Listen. segments--with fab people like Doug Varone, Deborah Hay, Maria Bauman and Imani Uzuri--try again here http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. It is my great pleasure to bring you these fantastic voices from the arts, and there will be many more to come. So...listen.

It's almost Bessies' time! See you there!

The New York Dance and Performance Awards

 produced in partnership with Dance/NYC

Monday, October 15

at The Apollo Theater

 

2012 Host: Elizabeth Streb

Presenters include Marina Abramovic, luciana achugar, Ron Brown, Brenda Bufalino, Archie Burnett, Bebe Neuwirth, Charles Reinhart, David Thomson, and Wendy Whelan, among others.

Paul Taylor will receive the 2012 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, and Alice Teirstein will be honored with 2012 Bessie Award for Service to the Field of Dance.

The ceremony will also feature live performances by the Trisha Brown Company, recipient of last year’s Bessie for Lifetime Achievement, and Souleymane Badolo, the 2012 recipient of the Juried Bessie Award, known for his contemporary interpretations of traditional African dance. 

Doors open: 7pm
Award ceremony: 8pm

Food and drink available in the theater

Tickets $10 
Available at the Apollo box office and at www.apollotheater.org

Click here for more information on the 2012 Bessies and the pre-show benefit cocktail reception and after-party. 

The Apollo Theater  253 West 125th Street, Manhattan (directions)

Seeking more interns for Collective for Dance Writing and New Media

Collective for Dance Writing and New Media

We're growing, 

and we invite you to grow along with us!

New Intern Positions Available

Intern for the new advocacy organization, Collective for Dance Writing and New Media as part of our talented Leadership Circle.

We’re looking for a few more smart, creative, community-minded interns to help us build this dynamic initiative in the dance and dance-writer communities. (See our Vision and Mission Statements).

ADMINISTRATIVE PROJECTS

Interns will work in support of a variety of essential projects in the following areas:

    Communications: community outreach, publicity, website management, e-newsletter editing and production, social media management, blog editing, podcast hosting/production, speakers bureau management

    Events: collaboration with community organizations, planning, coordination, facilitation and support

    Finance: financial administration and development

    Membership Services: outreach/recruitment, benefits, members-only trainings and other members-only events

We’ll be happy to arrange a weekly schedule and selection of tasks (plus assistance at occasional events) that will be comfortable and useful for you. You need not have a background in journalism or dance writing to qualify for this internship, but this opportunity will be ideal for candidates with interest in dance or other arts.

TIME COMMITMENT AND BENEFITS

In exchange for a six-month commitment, you will receive a one-year membership in CollectiveDWNM entitling you to free or discounted admission to all of our events and workshops, including members-only events and trainings, and our members-only bi-weekly newsletter (coming soon).

APPLICATION PROCESS AND REQUIREMENTS


To apply for a CollectiveDWNM internship, please send an email to:

Eva Yaa Asantewaa at collectiveDWNM@gmail.com with SUBJECT: Internship Application.

In the body of the email, please include your:

●    Name
●    Street address
●    Phone number(s)
●    Email address
●    Areas of competence and/or interest (including any tech/new media skills)
●    Days/hours available
●    Optional: links to samples of your writing online, if available

Please attach a pdf of your resume or include a detailed bio in the body of your email.

[Special Note: Our Executive Committee and Leadership Circle will be meeting on Thursday, October 11, 2pm to 4pm, at Gibney Dance Center, 890 Broadway, 5th Floor, Studio 1. If you're available, grab your application, come meet us and we'll consider your application on the spot!]

If you have any questions, please write to us at collectiveDWNM@gmail.com.

Thanks very much for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Founder
Member, Executive Committee
Collective for Dance Writing and New Media
PO Box 210 Cooper Station
New York, NY 10276
collectiveDWNM@gmail.com