Wally Cardona collaborates with Mandalay-style dance master Saya Lei in latest Set Up (photo courtesy of the artist)
Who: Wally Cardona, Jennifer Lacey, and Jonathan Bepler
What: River to River Festival
Where: Cannon’s Walk, 206 Front St. between Beekman & Fulton Sts., South Street Seaport
When: Wednesday, June 24, 6:00, Thursday, June 25, 9:30, Friday, June 26, 8:30, free with advance RSVP
Why: Wally Cardona will be presenting the sixth installment of his eight-part series The Set Up, in which he collaborates with a specially selected dance artist as they explore the concept of mastery, along with choreographer Jennifer Lacey and composer Jonathan Bepler, this week at Cannon’s Walk. (This is not to be confused with his other series, in which he collaborates with an expert from outside the dance world.) Cardona first meets the artist, who teaches him about his or her specific discipline, followed by a response period as Cardona and Lacey work on the piece without the master. They then present the final, full-length dance to the public in a nontraditional space, which in the past has included an empty office space and empty storefront and the Board of Officers room at the Park Avenue Armory. For this LMCC commission for the River to River Festival, Cardona will be joined by seventy-three-year-old Burmese Mandalay-style dance master Saya Lei; Cardona recently studied with Saya Lei, whose name means “young teacher,” in Burma in preparation for the piece. Cardona has previously collaborated with Junko Fisher (traditional Okinawan), Proeung Chhieng (classical Cambodian), Jean-Christophe Paré (French baroque), Heni Winahyuningsih (Javanese refined), and Nyoman Catra (Balinese Topeng).