Emma Tennant, 79

Emma Tennant, Who Wrote Beyond the Fringe of Realism, Dies at 79
by William Grimes, The New York Times, January 29, 2017

"Activate Equity": energy, fresh directions for equity in the arts

Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers,
Project Manager, Field Leadership Fund,
welcomes Activate Equity participants
at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
(photo: Eva Yaa Asantewaa) 

How are we? 
We are here! 
-- Goussy Célestin

Sarita Covington (above)
and members of B3W Performance Group (below)
 in Forgiveness Part 1: Forgiving the Personal
by Emily Berry
(photos: Kerville Jack)

This is New York City in 2017, and yet here we are still asking the question, How can we create a more equitable arts sector? And asking. And asking. And asking some more.

The latest inquiry was launched yesterday by The Field, a nonprofit organization that has served the performance and media arts for three decades.

The Field is committed to empowering artists and cultural workers of all identities to achieve their visions.  We provide strategic services to thousands of performing and media artists and companies in New York City and beyond. We foster creative exploration, steward innovative management strategies, and are delighted to help artists reach their fullest potential. Freedom of expression and the rights of all peoples will be honored and respected via our programs, services, staffing and policies.

-- from Mission & History, The Field

Activate Equity: Insights, Inspirations & Connections, hosted by Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, brought together artists, arts administrators, community-oriented arts activists, educators and many for whom those roles overlap. They gathered for a full day of activities addressing concerns that, while predating this time of white supremacist rule in our nation, have only grown in urgency.

Morning events offered inspiration from artists currently enrolled in the 16-month Field Leadership Fund Fellowship program--Haitian-American music and dance artist Goussy Célestin; B3W Performance Group with choreographer Emily Berry; and Eric Lockley, an actor, writer and producer with a strong focus on POC community health issues. A stirring keynote address was given by novelist Renée Watson (founder of I, Too, Arts Collective) who successfully campaigned to raise funds to lease Langston Hughes's Harlem brownstone for programs serving emerging writers. Watson reminded the audience of the risk of feeling isolated and hopeless at moments of crisis and struggle.

"We are not in this fight alone. Thinking you're alone in this work is self-destructive," she said and used the example of her #LangstonLegacy campaign which met its 30-day deadline, raising the necessary $150,000 to sign the lease. "Change," she told us, "is dirty, hard, grueling work. Still, we must plant. We must put in," and have the kind of faith in seeds that farmers have. She reminded us of Assata Shakur's charge:

It is our duty to fight. It is our duty to win. We must love and support one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

The morning continued with a choice of workshops:

JACK Be Nimble: Choosing Collaborative Governance for Organizational Agility and Radical Process, facilitated by DeeArah Wright and Alec Duffy, examined their process of moving their Brooklyn arts venue JACK "from an organization with a strong hierarchy to one that strongly values collaboration and accountability."

I participated in Art Power: Owning our Capacity to Disrupt Racism, facilitated by Rachel DeGuzman, president and CEO of 21st Century Arts. Inspired by DeGuzman's study of D.W. Griffith's racist feature film The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th (2016), this workshop mobilized participants to identify cultural artifacts that stereotype and endanger people of color and, conversely, identify art that highlights the real truths and strengths of people and communities of color.

DeGuzman's workshop, though brief, was remarkably effective. It left me feeling exhilarated. The walls of our meeting room, decorated by colorful Post-it® notes with each of our contributions, gave visual evidence of the abundance of positive, progressive artistry originating in and available to communities of color. In contrast, the negative Post-its seemed puny. Reflecting on this difference, we then each declared and committed to personal strategies for disrupting racism and fostering more equity through our work. These were also abundant in number, specific and actionable.

For my part, I committed to continuing the work I'm already doing but with renewed drive for using opportunities in writing, editing, teaching, coaching, mentoring and curating to create new space and resources for artists of color and people dedicated to anti-racism and equity. DeGuzman encouraged us to find check-in buddies to act as sounding boards and keep us on track with these commitments. I hope, as you read this, you will also keep me posted with your suggestions.

After lunch break, the group reconvened for interactive movement exercises facilitated by Wilfredo Hernandez, Program Manager for The Field. The group then collaborated on data and ideas to contribute to the city's CreateNYC cultural plan which examines issues of access and inclusion; social and economic impact of the arts; affordability of living, working and presentation space for artists; educational strategies and neighborhood development issues. The day ended with a networking reception.

Many, if not all, of the people who attended Activate Equity are already deep into the work of anti-racism, equity and social justice in the arts and society. Someday, I want to walk into one of these events and be blown away to see people from a much wider range of the dance and arts communities of my city, resourceful people who are curious, interested, ready to learn, ready to contribute whatever they can. If you're reading this, know that you're an essential part of our city and of the world we're trying to shape. Each of you have something special to share in this work. We all need one another.

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Chuck Stewart, 89

Chuck Stewart, Jazz Photographer, Dies at 89; You’ve Seen His Album Covers
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

Go to photo slide show.

Barbara Hale, 94

Barbara Hale, Who Played Perry Mason’s Loyal Secretary, Dies at 94
by Anita Gates, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

John Hurt, 77

John Hurt, British Actor Hailed for His Shape-Shifting Roles, Dies at 77
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, January 27, 2017

Kick those blues: Glatzer's "Alive & Kicking" helps brighten our dark time

When it previews next month at the 45th Annual Dance on Camera, a festival co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association, Susan Glatzer's Alive & Kicking (2016/USA) is sure to be a crowd-pleasing highlight. An expansive yet intimate look at contemporary swing dancing, the 84-minute documentary celebrates this practice and its community of freewheelers with their rollicking swing dance camps and competitions. Swing dancers depend on a network of international competitions to display their talents and build teaching careers, the only way they can monetize their artistry. The film depicts swing dance as a healing force in a society that has lost touch with touch itself--except where touch involves a fingertip and a screen. Glatzer eagerly argues for swing dance as a low-risk way to foster openness and trust between people of all kinds, a natural bridge across divides of race, ethnicity, gender, religion and politics.

The earliest moments of the film made me worry that Glatzer would confine her focus to young white people reclaiming a historic dance phenomenon that originated in Harlem's Black community, the product of Black genius and skill. But I'm glad I hung in with Alive & Kicking. Not only does this film respectfully address the Black roots of swing dance in Harlem's Lindy hop, but this history is often spoken for by Black dancers themselves, and the film lovingly includes clips of Frankie Manning, Lindy hop's great authority and ambassador, who passed in 2009. Glatzer's interviewees also note the scarcity of young Black swing dance students and performers today. They recognize the need to make their community an attractive, accessible source of opportunities for Black students and performers, an issue contemporary tap dance has also faced.

And, like tap, swing dance has a strong tradition of improv, of connecting with a new partner at one of those fun gatherings and the creative surprises those moments can hold. "You're sharing your imagination with someone else," says one of the dancers, and Glatzer shows us examples of first-time interplay between skilled dancers leading to mutual awe, gratitude and something quite a bit like love.

Alive & Kicking screens on Monday, February 6 (8:30pm) with Kristen Lauth Shaeffer's animated short, 349 (3 min). There will be a Q&A with Susan Glatzer. For tickets, click here.

For information about the complete Dance on Camera 2017 schedule of screenings and public events, click here.

Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (north side, upper level), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Complexions Contemporary Ballet rocks out at The Joyce

Complexions Contemporary Ballet
(photo: Rachel Neville)

Overflowing with virtuosity and technique, Complexions...is the future of contemporary ballet. Embracing diversity with 15 dancers of different ethnic and dance backgrounds and founded by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, two former stars with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this company is pure dance, pure excitement. 

--from the website of The Joyce Theater

As anticipated, a whole batch of David Bowie hits--from "Space Oddity" to "Lazarus"--have taken up residence in my brain, thanks to Complexions Contemporary Ballet, now presiding over The Joyce Theater through February 5. I saw Program A last night, a show that concluded with a New York premiere, Dwight Rhoden's STAR DUST, subtitled in program notes as A Ballet Tribute to David Bowie. Currently, my head's streaming "1984." The other piece on the bill, a world premiere, is called GUTTER GLITTER and has an epilogue duet inelegantly titled SO NOT A... (AN EPILOGUE TO GUTTER GLITTER). I'm not sure, but I think all these uppercase letters are intentional parts of the title, not just a graphic design element. Sometimes uppercase letters in titles can be a bit much, but with this company, they just make sense.

Yes, these dancers are certainly "overflowing with virtuosity and technique." I haven't seen Complexions in years, but I don't remember the virtuosity and technique being so convincing as standalone values that they would lure me back for more. What I remember is struggling to see past them. But now I would happily revisit the current troupe just to savor how remarkably good these dancers are at what they are asked to do, how hard they work at this, and how Rhoden pushes his abundant, maximalist aesthetic to the max, splashing that stage with a big corps and deploying it like an agile, formidable army. And, yes, if you like pure, abstract dance, if you crave pure sensation, if you want precision and performance that seizes space and never lets it go, then Complexions is your company, "the future of contemporary ballet."

Andrew Brader and Jillian Davis
in Dwight Rhoden's GUTTER GLITTER
(photo: Moira Geist)

Terk Lewis Waters,
in Dwight Rhoden's STAR DUST
(photo: Breeann Birr)

There's so much. Often, there's too much. The GUTTER GLITTER glittering glitters on too long. Seriously, dances that sprawl like that and seem to be resolving towards an end only to start up again work my nerves something fierce. It's something I just don't have a lot of patience for, I'll admit.  STAR DUST, organized around nine Bowie songs and their actual length, at least gives you a sense of where you are in the schedule. If you've read your program, when you get to "Young Americans," you know the end is nigh--although, I must say I was surprised by the thinness and lethargy of the ensemble work in "Young Americans," relative to everything that came before, as if Rhoden's movement ideas had run out. By contrast, Peter Gabriel's mournful version of "Heroes," set near the middle of this suite, gave Rhoden and dancers space to breathe without dragging them down. Don't mind me, though. At STAR DUST's end, the audience loved on this company, with good reason, for the gift of this entire evening. People leapt to their feet, sending the dancers off with cheers ringing in their ears.

The sensual STAR DUST has a readymade advantage--our Bowie nostalgia as well as the matchless Bowie songs, despite the visual silliness of lead dancers like Terk Lewis Waters or Andrew Brader, both standout performers in any moment, lip-syncing to them. Moves-wise, it draws upon the same rare physical elasticity, crystalline precision and brashness that makes GUTTER GLITTER a breathtaking eyeful. Take your dance-reluctant friends to a Complexions show and make newborn dance fans of them. I dare you. I double dare you.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet runs at The Joyce through February 5 with a gala this evening and two programs. For detailed programming and schedule information and tickets, click here.

The Joyce Theater

175 Eighth Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan

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