twi-ny recommended events

MELT

Eight dancers attached to a large wall greet the audience in MELT (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Salt Pile
Pike Slip & South St.
September 9-12, $15-$40
718-302-5024
www.sensproduction.org

As the audience enters the fenced-in area on Pike Slip under the Manhattan Bridge, eight women are already strapped into seats along a wall, each performer at a slightly different level on rusted metal ladders hanging from the top. Meanwhile, to their left, a huge salt pile is roped off. The eight dancers — Elizabeth Wilkinson, Mare Hieronimus, Teresa Kochis, Celeste Hastings, Ori Lenkinski, Adi Kfir, Meghan Merril, and Marcy Schlissel — are wearing costumes crafted from sculptural beeswax and lanolin, their legs slathered in goop, the ends of their outfits dangling toward the ground at varying lengths. They slowly start moving, turning a head here, twisting their arms or legs there, as Erin McGonigle’s electronic sound score can barely be heard, competing with the noise from the FDR Drive and the trains passing by directly overhead. Soon the dancers are lashing out at the wall, grabbing at it as if trying to escape, rubbing their bodies against it lovingly, or leaning over seductively, peering out at the crowd gathered below, making deep, emotional eye contact. A site-specific dance installation choreographed by Noémie Lafrance, MELT is a mesmerizing experience, forty minutes of fascinating, fluid movement featuring dancers who make the most of their limited range of motion, their bodies fastened to the wall, forcing them to thrash about with their extremities to the point of both exhilaration and exhaustion. With the sun shining on them, it is like their skin is melting away, their thin costumes dripping off them as they try to hold on to their souls. MELT has been extended through September 12, with two performances a night Thursday through Sunday. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door; $20 get you a seat on the asphalt ground, while $40 gets you a comfy beach lounger right up front.

TWI-NY TICKET GIVEAWAY: THE NEW COLLISIONS

After taking the 2009 CMJ by storm, the New Collisions are back in New York, highlighting tunes from their upcoming debut album at the Mercury Lounge on September 13 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston St.
Monday, September 13, $8, 8:00
www.myspace.com/thenewcollisions
www.mercuryloungenyc.com

We’ve been singing the praises of the Cambridge-based New Collisions since we first heard the opening notes of their exciting 2009 debut EP, INVISIBLE EMBRACES, which features such fabulous forays into ’80s new wave as “Beautiful and Numb,” “No Free Ride,” the eminently groovy “Parachutes on the Dance Floor,” and the gorgeous ballad “Afterglow.” Then we saw them at last year’s CMJ Festival, where they blew us away with their infectious charm; we weren’t the only ones to name them one of the best of the fest. Formed in the spring of 2009 and already declared Best Boston Band twice, lead singer Sarah Guild, guitarist Scott Guild, bassist Alex Stern, and drummer Zak Kahn are now ready to release their next outing, THE OPTIMIST, on October 5. Produced by Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie and recorded live in less than ten days, the album is another nonstop collection of triumphant rave-ups, nine killer tunes that speed by in less than thirty minutes but will leave a lasting impression, your body still moving to the synth groove of “In a Shadow,” your head still buzzing with the “Wa-ah-ah wah-ah-ah-ha wo-oh-oh” of “Over,” which you’ll not want to end. On “Seven Generations,” Sarah asks, “Are we happy yet?” Oh yeah, we’re happy, especially with the band coming to the Mercury Lounge on September 13 for an industry showcase gig at 8:00. (Also on the bill are Pablo Sebastian at 7:00, Analog Fire at 9:00, and Pie Boys Flat at 10:00.)

The New Collisions are so excited about their return to New York City that Scott and Sarah have contacted us directly, generously offering to give away a pair of tickets to the event to twi-ny readers. To be eligible to win, send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com by Friday, September 10, at 12 noon. All entrants must be at least twenty-one years of age, and the winner will be chosen at random. See you there!

OVAL

Markus Popp will make a rare area appearance as Oval at ISSUE Project Room on September 9

ISSUE Project Room
The Old American Can Factory
232 Third St., third floor, Brooklyn
Thursday, September 9, $20, 8:00 & 10:00
718-330-0313
www.myspace.com/markuspopp
www.issueprojectroom.org

Berlin-based electronic music pioneer Markus Popp is back recording as Oval, the seminal noise band he formed in 1991 with Sebastian Oschatz and Frank Metzger, who have both long gone on to other projects. But Popp has returned to reinvent the electronic music genre yet again, first releasing a limited-edition EP, OH (Thrill Jockey, June 2010), consisting of fifteen tracks totaling twenty-five minutes that reveal Popp to be just as much a musician as a technician, incorporating guitars and drums into the sonic language he creates using a four-year-old stock PC with standard software and plug-ins. The glitch master has followed OH up with a double CD, simply titled O (Thrill Jockey, September 7, 2010), comprising another seventy songs, with twenty on disc one, fifty on disc two, ranging from thirty-two seconds (“Lonely”) to 4:42 (“Dolo”), mostly with one-word titles, such as “Ah!” “Shhh,” “Sky,” “Cry,” “Cinematic,” “Dyamo,” “Pomp,” “Blinky,” “Emocor,” “Voilà,” and “Goodbye.” Popp works inside and out of structure and melody, emitting engaging sounds that are as experimental as they are intoxicating. While O’s second disc has more going on sonically, both offer respite for music fans with ADD as well as those who are tired of the same old thing. Popp will be playing two sets at Brooklyn’s ISSUE Project Room on September 9, at 8:00 and 10:00, giving adventurous audiophiles a rare opportunity to see a legendary figure in the world of electronic music.

20 AT 20

Through September 19
Tickets: $20
www.20at20.com

It’s time for the annual 20at20, when more than two dozen theatrical productions will be selling tickets for twenty bucks twenty minutes before curtain for nearly two weeks, including THE ACCIDENTAL PERVERT at the Players Theatre, ZERO HOUR: THE ZERO MOSTEL SHOW and BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE at the Actors’ Temple Theatre, THE 39 STEPS and NAKED BOYS SINGING! at New World Stages, THE FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS at the Minetta Lane Theatre, and NOW CIRCA THEN at Ars Nova, among others. While they might not be exactly the hottest shows out there, you can still save some big bucks, and you know that you’ve been dying to check out AWESOME 80s PROM at Webster Hall. When you reach the box office — there might be lines, of course, so get there a little early — just say “20at20” to receive the discounted ticket, one per person, as long as there are any left. Some theaters will accept cash only, so have those Andrew Jacksons ready.

DanceNOW: FESTIVAL TWENTY TEN

small apple co / Makiko Tamura will perform at Festival Twenty Ten at DTW on September 10 (photo by Bill Herbert)

Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St.
September 8-11, $20-$25, 7:30
212-691-6500
www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
www.dancenownyc.org

The sixteenth annual DanceNOW Festival runs September 8-11, featuring short pieces by forty choreographers over four days, offering audiences a splendid opportunity to see a diverse group of up-and-coming, emerging, and established companies all in one program. Opening night will include works by such companies as Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.motion, Camille A. Brown, the DASH Ensemble / Gregory Dolbashian, and Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre; Thursday night’s lineup ranges from binbinFactory / Satoshi Haga and independentdancemaker / Kara Tatelbaum to Nicholas Leichter Dance and Inmixedcompany / Maura Nguyen Donohue. Among the participants on Friday are Jennifer Chin Dance, Stefanie Nelson dancegroup, Christopher Williams, and ZviDance, with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, PORTABLES / Claire Porter, Misnomer Dance Theater, and TAKE Dance / Takehiro Ueyama part of closing night.

ContemporAsian

Jia Zhang-ke’s CRY ME A RIVER is part of exciting MoMA ContemporAsian showing of four short films by extraordinary directors

MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
September 10-16
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days,
same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

MoMA’s ongoing ContemporAsian series offers a special treat September 10-16, screening short recent works by four of the world’s most intriguing filmmakers: China’s Jia Zhang-ke (THE WORLD, STILL LIFE), South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo (TALE OF CINEMA, LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL), Taiwan-by-way-of-Malaysia’s Tsai Ming-liang (REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, THE HOLE), and Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY). In Jia’s CRY ME A RIVER (2008), four friends rehash old times as they meet to celebrate a teacher’s birthday, poignantly looking at where their dreams got derailed; it’s a bittersweet tale that pays tribute to Fei Mu’s 1948 film SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN. Tsai’s MADAM BUTTERFLY (2008) reimagines the famous Puccini opera at a bus stop, Hong’s LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS (2009) brings together a writer and an old flame, and Weerasethakul’s A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE (2009) is a forerunner to the Palme d’Or winner UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES.

CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO

Chad Taylor and Rob Mazurek will go aboveground at ISSUE Project Room on September 8

ISSUE Project Room
The Old American Can Factory
232 Third St., third floor, Brooklyn
Wednesday, September 8, $10, 8:00
718-330-0313
www.myspace.com/chicagoundergroundmusic
www.issueprojectroom.org

On their fifth album, BOCA NEGRA (Thrill Jockey, August 2010), their first since 2006’s IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS, the Chicago Underground Duo prove that experimental jazz is still alive and well. Brazil-based Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra), who plays cornet, keyboards, and laptop, and Brooklyn’s Chad Taylor (Iron and Wine), on drums, mbira, guitar, and vibraphone, team up for ten sound structures that move in and out of melody and beat, playing with time and space like avant-garde sculpture. From the opening horn trills of “Green Ants” to the sweet, subtle melody of “Vergence,” the duo combines for thrilling sonic creations, both composed and improvised. Experimentalism abounds on “Left Hand of Darkness” and a seven-and-a-half-minute foray through Ornette Coleman’s “Broken Shadows,” on which Taylor plays drums and vibraphone simultaneously, while the duo holds down the rhythm on the energetic “Confliction,” which also features organ, and “Spy on the Floor,” which is centered around a noirish bass groove. And they get downright spacey on “Quantum Eye.” The duo will be playing songs from their new release, the first they recorded in Brazil instead of Chicago, and others from throughout their twelve-year career Wednesday night at the ISSUE Project Room in the Old American Can Factory in Brooklyn.