this week in dance

LIZZI BOUGATSOS: THE LAST HOPE

Lizzie Bougatsos will present a site-specific performance at MAD on July 8 (photo by Brian DeGraw)

Lizzi Bougatsos will present a site-specific performance at MAD on July 8 (photo by Brian DeGraw)

MADactivates: PERFORMANCE AT MAD
Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Eighth Ave.
Friday, July 8, $20, 7:00
212-299-7777
madmuseum.org

Queens native Lizzi Bougatsos, leader of Gang Gang Dance, will be at the Museum of Arts and Design on July 8, giving a specially commissioned performance in conjunction with the exhibition “Atmosphere for Enjoyment: Harry Bertoia’s Environment for Sound.” Bertoia, who died in 1978, was a jewelry and chair designer who also created sounding sculptures that he housed in his Pennsylvania barn. For the exhibition, Bougatsos, who performed “ENERGY CHANCE” at MoMA in 2014 as part of “John Cage: There Will Never Be Silence,” created a sound and video recording at the Sonambient Barn with Brian DeGraw for the show, “We Echo Now His Love”; on Friday night, she will enact the site-specific performance “The Last Hope” at MAD, interacting with works in the exhibit. On July 15, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (aka Lichens), who made “Spell Casting” at the barn, will perform “Levitation Praxis Pt. 4” at MAD.

I WANT YOU TO WANT ME

Jack Ferver’s deviously delicious I WANT YOU TO WANT ME continues at the Kitchen through July 2 (photo by Paula Court)

The Kitchen
519 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.,
June 30 – July 2, $25
855-263-2623
www.americandance.org
thekitchen.org

Jack Ferver’s I Want You to Want Me is a devastatingly funny and clever send-up of the classic Hollywood tale of a young woman chasing dreams of stardom — as if made by an Italian giallo master. A dancer who spends most of her time waitressing, Ann Erica Rose (Carling Talcott-Steenstra) is excited when she gets offered a chance to work with a prominent company (companie) in Europe, but her boyfriend (Ferver) doesn’t want her to go, spouting clichéd heterosexual platitudes that are all the more hysterical because Ferver, a local gay icon, plays the tough straight man with delicious relish. Ann Erica (from America) heads off to Paris, where she is taken under the wing of witchy dance legend Madame M (Ferver), who is assisted by the mysterious Reid (Reid Bartelme). Madame M guides Ann Erica, Reid, and another wide-eyed new dancer, Barth (Barton Cowperthwaite), who hails from Colorado, through a series of solos, duets, and trios that are consistently outrageous as Ferver plays with conventions of modern dance and classical ballet while the devious plot thickens, leading to a finale that would make fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 shriek in delight.

Jack Ferver, Barton Cowperthwaite, Carling Talcott-Steenstra and Reid Bartelme perform solos, duets, and trios in Ferver’s latest piece of absurdist hilarity (photo by Paula Court)

I Want You to Want Me is set in a dance rehearsal studio, with two side mirrors in the corner and large mirrors against the back wall that reflect the audience. Both Madame M and Reid are able to magically turn the lights and fog machine on and off with the flick of a finger, lending an otherworldly nature to the proceedings. Talcott-Steenstra and Cowperthwaite are a riot as the Disney-esque couple from an alternate universe, and longtime Ferver collaborator Bartelme is a scream as Reid, who deadpans beautifully during extended dance sequences that feature some crazy-ass moves. Channeling such divas as Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Martha Graham, Ferver (Chambre; Mon, Ma Mes) feasts on his role as Madame M, gliding across the stage in an elegant dark costume, by Reid & Harriet Design (run by Bartelme and Harriet Jung), that can be rearranged for multiple purposes, from a devilish, hooded robe to a lovely off-the-shoulder gown to a sexy little frock. It’s no wonder Ferver spends much of the time looking at himself in one of the mirrors; he can’t take his eyes off himself, and we can’t either, especially as his thick makeup and ever-growing false eyelashes start to devolve. Part of the ADI/NYC Incubator residency program, I Want You to Want Me is another triumphant piece of thoroughly engaging dance theater as only Jack Ferver can create.

MARIA HASSABI: MOVEMENT #2

Maria Hassabi and Hristoula Harakas head back outdoors for three free performances on the High Line this week (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Maria Hassabi
What: High Line Performances
Where: The High Line, West 30th St. & Twelfth Ave.
When: June 28-30, free, 7:00
Why: We’d follow Cyprus-born, New York City–based dancer and choreographer Maria Hassabi just about anywhere to see her unique, intense performances. We’ve seen her crawl across cobblestones on Broad St., slither up and down stairs at MoMA, wrestle with a carpet at PS122, and wind her way through the audience on the floor of the Kitchen. On June 26, 27, and 28 at 7:00, Hassabi will be on the High Line at the Rail Yards at West Thirtieth St., presenting the site-specific Movement #2. The beautiful elevated park is in full bloom now, so it should provide a splendid backdrop for Hassabi’s thirty-minute show, an informal preview of her next full-length piece, Staged, which will have its world premiere at the Kitchen October 4-8 as part of FIAF’s annual Crossing the Line Festival. Movement #2 features Simon Courchel, Hristoula Harakas, Molly Lieber, and Oisín Monaghan in separate parts of the park; viewers must move around in order to see them all, which is of course part of the fun. (Admission is free; no advance RSVP is required.)

JACK FERVER: I WANT YOU TO WANT ME

Jack Ferver will present “horror play/goth ballet” at the Kitchen as part of ADI/NYC Incubator residency program

Who: Jack Ferver, Carling Talcott-Steenstra, Barton Cowperthwaite, Reid Bartelme
What: ADI/NYC Incubator residency program
Where: The Kitchen, 519 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 855-263-2623
When: June 30 – July 2, $25
Why: Wait, what! You still haven’t gotten tickets to see the inimitable Jack Ferver’s latest show, I Want You to Want Me? Are you out of your mind? We’ve been telling you for years about Ferver, a genuine New York City treasure who is a storytelling marvel, mixing humor and melodrama, pathos and bathos, fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and reality in works that examine the state of our fame-obsessed world through a wacky and wild pop-culture sense and sensibility. Part of the American Dance Institute’s NYC Incubator program, I Want You to Want Me runs June 30 through July 2 at the Kitchen and features, alongside writer, choreographer, and star Ferver, Carling Talcott-Steenstra as Ann Erica Rose, Barton Cowperthwaite as Bartholomew, and longtime Ferver collaborator and costume designer Reid Bartelme as Reid in what is being billed as a “horror play/goth ballet.” Ferver, whose previous works include Chambre, Rumble Ghost, and All of a Sudden, explains, “I thought I would try to make something for everyone. You know, like ballet or a good subscription audience kind of play. I consider myself a populist, but some people really hate my work. They even hate me they hate my work so much. So I thought: ‘Well, why don’t I make a really pretty ballet or a play about a straight couple and their issues?’ So that’s what I’m going to do. Oh, I also just wanted to say that not everyone is going to make it. I don’t mean make it to the show. I mean make it out of the show alive.” The Incubator program continues in September with Zvi Dance and Steven Reker / Open House and in October with Morgan Thorson and Kate Weare Company.

RIOULT DANCE NY: WOMEN ON THE EDGE . . . UNSUNG HEROINES OF THE TROJAN WAR

Queen Clytemnestra and King Agamemnon battle over Iphigenia’s fate as part of RIOULT DANCE NY’s (photo by Sofia Negron)

Queen Clytemnestra and King Agamemnon battle over Iphigenia’s fate as part of RIOULT Dance NY’s “Unsung Heroines of the Trojan War” (photo by Sofia Negron)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
June 21-26, $10-$56
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.rioult.org

RIOULT Dance NY kicked off its Joyce season on June 21 with a trio of works focusing on mythological women, as New York City–based French choreographer Pascal Rioult channels his mentor, Martha Graham. The evening began with 2013’s Iphigenia, based on Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis. Iphigenia (Catherine Cooch) is in love with Achilles (Jere Hunt), but her father, King Agamemnon (Brian Flynn), is considering sacrificing her to appease a goddess who has prevented the winds from carrying the Greek ships to do battle against Troy. Meanwhile, Iphigenia’s mother, Queen Clytemnestra (Charis Haines), wants to protect her daughter. Michael Torke’s score ranges from noirish jazz to elegant Baroque-style music as the characters, dressed in white (all the men are bare-chested except for Flynn, and their pants are loosely wrapped spirals of fabric; the costumes are by Karen Young), remain within a large white circle in front of a haphazard log structure. (The set is by Harry Feiner, with lighting by Jim French that turns the circle from white to blue to purple to red.) Cooch gives a highly expressive performance as the title character, from a balletic solo to pas de deux with each of her parents to an emotional quartet with Hunt, Haines, and Flynn. The story is narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Kathleen Turner, barefoot and wearing black, her legendary husky voice adding context to the lovely dances.

Charis Haines is Helen of Troy in Pascal Rioult’s emotional ON DISTANT SHORES (photo by Sofia Negron)

Following intermission, Haines is back, this time as Helen of Troy in On Distant Shores . . . a redemption fantasy, dancing among four Trojan War heroes (Flynn, Hunt, Michael Spencer Phillips, and Sabatino A. Verlezza) who at first appear to be dead until she raises them one at a time, she in a flowing white dress, the men in tight black shorts. (The costumes are by Pilar Limosner.) As projections on the back wall shift from heavenly clouds to ominous darkness, Haines moves swiftly in between and around the men to Aaron Jay Kernis’s cinematic score. At one point she kneels on the floor in desperation, as if resigned to her fate, but her warriors stand by her, determined to fight for her.

RIOULT Dance NY presents world premiere of CASSANDRA’S CURSE at the Joyce (photo by Eric Bandiero)

The splendid night of antiwar statements concludes with the world premiere of Cassandra’s Curse, inspired by Euripides’ The Trojan Women. Sara Elizabeth Seger is Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess who has been cursed so that no one will believe her prophecies. She is trying to warn everyone that the Greek army is hiding within a large Trojan horse, but they are not listening. “If she had used a thousand words, no one would have believed her,” Turner narrates. Feiner’s set features a series of movable screens that entrap Seger in a cage as Brian Clifford Beasley’s projections of the horse and Turks unspool behind her. Richard Danielpour’s dramatic score is performed live by the Uptown Philharmonic, conducted by Kyle Ritenauer and consisting of four violinists, two violists, and a cellist. The three pieces work together extremely well, a kind of clarion call, through movement, music, and text, for peace in these difficult times. Rioult is also presenting a second program that includes the New York City premiere of 2015’s Polymorphous, 2014’s Dream Suite, 2002’s Bolero, and a selection of duets from various other repertory works. (The June 23 show will be followed by a Curtain Chat with members of the company.)

RIOULT DANCE NY AT THE JOYCE

RIOULT Dance NY will present New York City premiere of POLYMORPHOUS and more at Joyce this week (photo by Richard Kirk Smith)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
June 21-26, $10-$56
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.rioult.org

New York City–based French choreographer Pascal Rioult brings his RIOULT Dance NY troupe to the Joyce this week for two programs of favorites and premieres. The decidedly antiwar Program A, “Women on the Edge . . . Unsung Heroines of the Trojan War,” consists of 2013’s Iphigenia, based on Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and set to music by Michael Torke; 2011’s On Distant Shores, a “Redemption Fantasy” about Helen of Troy, with music by Aaron Jay Kernis; and the world premiere of Cassandra’s Curse, inspired by Euripides’ The Trojan Women, with a commissioned score by Richard Danielpour that will be performed live by the Uptown Philharmonic, conducted by Kyle Ritenauer. The June 21, 23, and 25 shows will be narrated by Oscar- and Tony-nominated actress Kathleen Turner. (The June 23 show will also be followed by a Curtain Chat with members of the company.) Program B is highlighted by the New York City premiere of 2015’s Polymorphous, set to J. S. Bach’s “The Well Tempered Clavier,” and also includes 2014’s Dream Suite, set to Peter Iliych Tchaikovsky’s “Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C Major” and with a design inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall; 2002’s Bolero, set to the Ravel classic; and a selection of duets from various other pieces from throughout Rioult’s two-decades-plus career.

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL: A BODY ON GOVERNORS ISLAND / A BODY ON WALL STREET BY EIKO OTAKE

Eiko will present her ongoing solo project, A BODY IN PLACES, on Governors Island and Wall St. as part of River to River Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Eiko Otake
What: River to River Festival
Where: Governors Island, Wall Street
When: Sunday, June 19, Nolan Park, Governors Island, 4:30; Tuesday, June 21, 5:00, and Wednesday, June 22, 2:00, Wall St. at Broad St.
Why: Following an injury to her longtime partner, Takashi Koma — the pair have performed as Eiko & Koma since the mid-1970s — Eiko Otake set off on an ambitious solo project, A Body in Places, in which she performs both indoors and outdoors, moving slowly in white makeup and a sackcloth-and-ashes-style kimono, through public spaces around the world, including in and around the new Fulton Center and other locations in Lower Manhattan, at 30th St. Station in Philadelphia, in the Wesleyan University library, next to a highway by a government building in Hong Kong, in the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral in Santiago, Chile, and at Fukushima, which was witnessed only by a photographer. On June 19 at 4:30, as part of the River to River Festival, Eiko will perform “A Body on Governors Island” in Nolan Park, on the historic military island that was the former home of the Army and the Coast Guard. On June 21 and 22, she will be in the heart of the Financial District, on Wall St. at Broad St., for “A Body on Wall Street.” Her powerful, emotional performances comment on her specific surroundings while also engaging fans and passersby who don’t quite understand what is going on, which is always part of the enjoyment.