twi-ny recommended events

CONTEMPORARY DANCE SHOWCASE: JAPAN + EAST ASIA

Ku & Dancers (©You-Wei Chen), Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company (©LG Arts Center), and Maki Morishita (© Satoshi Watanabe) will all be part of annual Japan Society showcase

Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Friday, January 7, and Saturday, January 8, $23, 7:30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

All year long, Japan Society presents outstanding dance programs, primarily by Japanese and Japanese-American companies. But every January, they kick off the calendar with its highly anticipated Contemporay Dance Showcase, bringing together groups from throughout the Far East. The fourteenth annual two-day festival is scheduled for January 7-8, with another impressive roster of participants. Tokyo-based choreographer Ryohei Kondo, who leads the Condors, will be joined by J-pop star Miu Sakamoto, the progeny of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano, and a group of dancers for GOATS BLOCK THE ROAD, PART III: GOAT STAMPEDE. Japanese choreographer Maki Morishita specializes in solo dances, having toured with such works as DEBUTANTE, KOSHITSU (PRIVATE ROOM), and KOMA-INU-ILLUTSKY. For the Japan Society showcase, she will present the U.S. premiere of her latest solo piece, TOKYO FLAT. Seoul-based Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company brings a multitude of styles and forms to BUL-SSANG (PITY), which investigates Korea’s cultural identity through Buddhist imagery, incorporating Indian kathak, Korean Jindo drum dancing, Chinese martial arts, and Mongolian and Japanese traditional movement, along with contributions from DJ Soulscape and Pop artist Choi Jeongohwa. Taiwanese dancer, teacher, and choreographer Yu Yen-Fang will conclude the program with FROM HERE . . . TO THE END OF THE RAINBOW, described as an “endearingly oddball and intimate male-female duet.” (While at Japan Society, don’t miss Lewis Hyde and Max Gimblett’s “oxherding,” on view in the downstairs lobby gallery.)

THREE KINGS DAY PARADE 2011

El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Thursday, January 6, free, 10:30 am
212-831-7272
www.elmuseo.org

El Museo del Barrio’s celebration of the Epiphany will make its way through East Harlem today, paying tribute to the three kings who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrth to the manger. The thirty-fourth annual event will feature music, dancing, large-size puppets, parrandas, floats, and live camels and other animals beginning at 10:30 at 106th St. near Park Ave., winding down Third and Lexington, then heading for the museum at 106th and Fifth, where preregistered students will participate in a series of related workshops.

MILESTONE FILMS: 20 FOR 20 — THE EXILES

THE EXILES is screening as part of continuing Milestone celebration at the IFC Center

THE EXILES (Kent Mackenzie, 1961)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
January 7-9
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.coms
www.exilesfilm.com


Founded in 1990 by Dennis Doros and Amy Heller as a way to preserve great orphaned works, Milestone Films is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a series of Weekend Classics screenings at the IFC Center. The festival began in November with Luchino Visconti’s ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS and Michael Powell’s THE EDGE OF THE WORLD and continues this weekend with Kent Mackenzie’s 1961 film THE EXILES. Having restored Charles Burnett’s wonderful KILLER OF SHEEP and MY BROTHER’S WEDDING, Milestone, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and preservationist Ross Lipman teamed up again to bring back Mackenzie’s black-and-white slice-of-life tale, which debuted at the 1961 Venice Film Festival and screened at the inaugural 1964 New York Film Festival before disappearing until its restoration, upon which it was selected for the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. THE EXILES follows a group of American Indians as they hang out on a long Friday night of partying and soul searching in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles, centering on Homer (Homer Nish) and Yvonne (Yvonne Williams), who are going to have a baby. After Yvonne makes dinner for Homer and his friends, the men drop her off at the movies by herself while they go out drinking and gambling and, in Tommy’s (Tommy Reynolds) case, looking for some female accompaniment. As the night goes on, Homer, Yvonne, and Tommy share their thoughts and dreams in voice-over monologues that came out of interviews Mackenzie conducted with them. In fact, the cast worked with the director in shaping the story and getting the details right, ensuring its authenticity and realism, giving THE EXILES a cinéma vérité feel. Although the film suffers from a poorly synced soundtrack — it is too often too clear that the dialogue was dubbed in later and doesn’t match the movement of the actors’ mouths — it is still an engaging, important independent work (the initial budget was $539) about a subject rarely depicted onscreen with such honesty. Mackenzie, who followed up THE EXILES with the documentaries THE TEENAGE REVOLUTION (1965) and SATURDAY MORNING (1971) before his death in 1980 at the age of fifty, avoids sociopolitical remonstrations in favor of a sweet innocence behind which lies the difficulties of the plight of American Indians assimilating into U.S. society. THE EXILES is being screened at IFC with Mackenzie’s rarely seen 1956 short, BUNKER HILL.

VOYAGER: THE FILMS OF PETER WEIR

Peter Weir will be at Lincoln Center to talk about his latest work, THE WAY BACK, as well as his vaunted, varied career

Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
January 6-9, $12 per film, three-film pass $27
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

Australian New Wave auteur Peter Weir has compiled quite a diverse resume since his 1974 debut, THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS, directing such well-regarded films as the creepy PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975), the mysterious THE LAST WAVE (1977), the heartbreaking GALLIPOLI (1981), the action-packed THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1982), and the thrilling WITNESS (1985). He’s been a little more hit and miss since then, having helmed such fare as THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986), DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989), GREEN CARD (1990), FEARLESS (1993), THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998), and MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (2003). But after seven years, he has found his way back with THE WAY BACK, a WWII prison escape drama starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris. In celebration of his latest work, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is honoring Weir with a ten-film salute January 6-9 that includes most of the above pictures (as well as his 1979 made-for-television academic-class satire THE PLUMBER). Rosie Perez will be on hand for the January 9 (8:30) screening of FEARLESS, while Weir himself will be at the Walter Reade Theater for a Q&A following the January 7 (6:00) sneak peek of THE WAY BACK. In addition, Weir, who has been nominated for one Best Picture, one Best Writing, and four Best Director Oscars (with no wins), will sit down with Scott Foundas on January 8 at 6:00 for An Evening with Peter Weir, talking about his life and career in Australia, Hollywood, and many of the far-off locations he’s used in his work.

THE BUDDHA IMAGE: OUT OF UDDIYANA

“Large Seated Bodhisattva in Meditation,” Gandhara culture in Pakistan or Afghanistan, grey schist stone, circa ninth century (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Tibet House US
22 West 15th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Extended through January 7, free, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
212-807-0563
www.tibethouse.us

Originally scheduled to end October 20 and then November 16, Tibet House’s revelatory five-part exhibition, “The Buddha Image: Out of Uddiyana,” has been extended yet again through January 7, and you should do whatever it takes to make sure you see it before it closes. Investigating the origin of the Buddha image, which some believe began in the Uddiyana (“royal garden”) kingdom of Northern Pakistan, the show includes dozens of remarkable artifacts divided into five sections: Gandharan Stone Sculptures, Stupas and Reliquaries, Gandharan and Swat Metal Buddhas, Pilgrimage, and Silk Road. Accumulated by Nik Douglas for the Buckingham Collection over the course of some forty-four years, the objects date back back more than nineteen centuries. Walking through the many treasures, you’ll wonder why they’re not part of a permanent museum collection. Among the most unusual of the sculptures are bronze and stone depictions of bodhisattvas with mustaches, in addition to fasting, emaciated buddhas, nearly skeletal as they continue to meditate. Glass cases display rock crystal stupas with gold/electrum alloy from the first and second century, while others contain Chinese gilt bronze buddhas from the sixth century. You can almost feel the electricity emanating from several works that depict a buddha and his consort staring deep into each other’s eyes, including the many-armed “Large Chakrasamvara Yabyum (‘Wheel of Becoming’)” and “Large Amitayus Yabyum (‘Buddha of Boundless Life’).” The early-nineteenth-century Sino-Tibetan “Huge Figure of the Kurukulla Dakini” features a central figure surrounded by fire, wearing a necklace of shrunken heads, standing on a woman. One of the most spectacular pieces can be found just to the left of the entrance, nearly hidden away in its own alcove: “Large and Complete Yamantara (‘Remover of the Fear of Death’),” a bull-headed, multi-armed, many-faced bodhisattva surrounded by mysterious, exciting iconography. In his foreword to the exhibition catalog, Tibet House president Robert Thurman writes, “We hope that the manifestations gathered in the exhibition will find their way here and there to continue to inspire individuals to use their precious human lives in the evolutionarily most meaningful way to create real human values in themselves and others.” We feel exactly the same way.

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE 2011

The walls of the CRG Gallery in Chelsea will be filled with affordable postcard art this weekend to benefit Visual AIDS

A BENEFIT FOR VISUAL AIDS
CRG Gallery
548 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
January 7 preview party: $85 (includes one raffle ticket), 6:00 – 8:00
January 8-9, suggested admission $5
www.thebody.com

The annual Postcards from the Edge benefit for Visual AIDS, the nonprofit organization that uses the arts to continue to fight the disease, is like finding one more present under the tree after the holidays have seemingly come and gone. Now in its thirteenth year, Postcards from the Edge features original postcard-size works of art from more than fifteen hundred established and emerging artists, each one available for only eighty-five dollars. However, you initially will have no idea whether you’ve acquired a one-of-a-kind piece from a famous international art star or an up-and-coming newbie, since attendees can only see the front of the postcard, not the back (until you buy it), where it is signed by the artist. It’s really the purest way to purchase art, selecting something you like instead of just looking for a famous name who might be worth much more than you paid. But the famous names are plenty: Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Wil Barnet, Ross Bleckner, Lesley Dill, Alfredo Jaar, Jeff Koons, Christian Marclay, Marilyn Minter, Yoko Ono, Tom Otterness, Mickalene Thomas, Bill Viola, John Waters, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, and so many more. Of course, at a mere eighty-five bucks, you can’t go wrong no matter whose work you pick out. And as a bonus, if you buy four on Saturday (10:00 am- 6:00 pm), you get a fifth free, while on Sunday (12 noon – 4:00), with the choices dwindling down, you get a third free with the purchase of two. On Friday night there is a two-hour preview cocktail party at which you get an advance look at what’s on the wall but cannot actually buy anything yet; each attendee gets a raffle ticket to see who will select the first postcard, and the top ten bidders at the silent auction of small pieces by Larissa Bates, Nicole Eisenman, Harmony Hammond, David Humphrey, and Marc Swanson will get the next ten spots. In addition, you’ll get to mingle with other collectors, gallerists, many of the artists, and such celebrity guests as Alan Cumming, Trisha Brown, Tony Feher, John Kelly, Burt Barr, Slava Mogutin, Brian Kenny, and Richard Renaldi.

CULTUREMART ’11

Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya's FLOATING POINT WAVES is part of HERE's annual Culturemart festival

HERE Arts Center
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
January 7-23, $15
212-647-0202
www.here.org

Culturemart, the annual festival of workshop productions by HERE’s resident artists, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year with another slate of diverse experimental shows incorporating theater, dance, film, music, and audience interaction. Things get under way January 7-8 with Laura Peterson’s GROUND, the second part of her Wooden trilogy, in which a dance quartet performs within living grass and trees. Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya, artistic directors of the New York Butoh Festival, will present the immersive, multimedia FLOATING POINT WAVES. Betty Shamieh makes the murdered Arab from Albert Camus’s THE STRANGER the main character in the mysterious THE STRANGEST. A community of artists — as well as the audience — are all part of the interactive LUSH VALLEY, which seeks to reclaim the American dream. THE VENUS RIFF riffs on the Venus Hottentot. Democracy takes center stage in Aaron Landsman’s participatory CITY COUNCIL MEETING. Deborah Stein and Suli Holum investigate a woman who is her own twin in CHIMERA. Kamala Sankaram’s chamber opera MIRANDA mixes reality television with hip-hop and Hindustani classical music. And Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith uses puppetry to look at the sacred in EPYLLION, among other shows running through January 23, with all tickets a mere $15.