this week in dance

9/11 TABLE OF SILENCE

Special “Table of Silence Project” performance ritual of peace returns for fifth year to Josie Robertson Plaza (photo by Terri Gold)

Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center
65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Friday, September 11, free, 8:15 am
www.tableofsilence.org

Every September 11, there are many memorial programs held all over the city, paying tribute to those who were lost on that tragic day while also honoring New York’s endless resiliency. One of the most beautiful is “The Table of Silence Project,” a public performance ritual for peace featuring one hundred dancers on Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center. “The ‘Table of Silence Project’ represents the common threads of humanity which unite all mankind into a single force with common goals and aspirations regardless of race, culture, or religion,” choreographer and artistic director Jacqulyn Buglisi said in a statement. “Through this event, we wish to achieve the dual purpose of celebrating and honoring peace and freedom for all people suffering oppression, through listening, a united moment of silence — a call for Peace in our world.” Beginning at 8:15 am, thirty-one minutes before the first plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001, the dancers, all dressed in white, will slowly begin gathering around the Revson Fountain to a rhythmic drumbeat, followed by silence and then a soft score. Buglisi Dance Theatre partnered with the September Concert and Dance/NYC for the meditative event, which lasts about a half hour and can also be livestreamed here. “The future of humanity depends on what we do in the present,” Buglisi added about the project, which she conceived for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Buglisi was inspired by Italian artist Rossella Vasta’s ever-evolving series of one hundred ceramic plates that help form the Table of Silence; as Vasta explained on her website, “One hundred is one times 100 and this refers to the original Latin meaning of religion that is derived from ‘religere.’ The dishes become the offering to humanity and represent transcendental values beyond any religion. Silence becomes a sacred space with no religious discrimination.”

DANCENOW JOE’S PUB FESTIVAL 2015

Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Millan (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Millan will host the DANCENOW Challenge at Joe’s Pub on September 12 (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
September 9-12, 24, $20-$30, 7:00
212-539-8778
www.dancenownyc.org

For its twentieth annual season, the DANCENOW Joe’s Pub Festival looks to the past, present, and future of the artistic discipline, as fifty choreographers return to the small Lafayette St. stage to present works of no more than five minutes. The festival, which encourages experimentation and innovation, takes place September 9-12, with each night hosted by different dance makers and DANCENOW veterans. “This celebration is about honoring the amazing artists, many of whom got their start through DANCENOW and now have very successful careers, who took a leap of faith to create work for our unconventional programs over the past two decades,” DANCENOWNYC founder and producer Robin Staff said in a statement. “After twenty years, DANCENOW remains steadfast in its ‘less is more’ vision, embracing limitation as a powerful inspiration for creativity.” On September 9, Raja Feather Kelly/feath3r theory and B.S. MOVEMENT: Bryan Strimpel and Shaina Branfman oversee a program with such choreographers and companies as the Bang Group, Aszure Barton & Artists, Jane Comfort & Company, and PearsonWidrig DanceTheater. On September 10, Deborah Lohse/a.k.a. TruDee and Mark Gindick host binbinFACTORY/Satoshi Haga & Rei Fukuzawa, Li Chiao-Ping Dance, Heidi Latsky, and others. September 11 includes Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Gus Solomons Jr., TAKE Dance, and ZviDance, with hosts Larry Keigwin and Nicole Wolcott. And September 12 is led by Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Millan (Chelsea & Magda), with Doug Elkins Choreography, Claire Porter/PORTABLES, Amber Sloan, and more. On September 24, there will be a dozen encore performances, along with special guests Brian Brooks and Nicholas Leichter.

CARNIVAL 2015: ONE CARIBBEAN ONE PEOPLE ONE VOICE

Spectacular costumes are all part of the fun of annual West Indian American Day Carnival on Labor Day in Brooklyn (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

WEST INDIAN AMERICAN DAY CARNIVAL AND PARADE
Eastern Pkwy. from Schenectady Ave. to Grand Army Plaza
Monday, September 7, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
718-467-1797
wiadcacarnival.org

Every Labor Day, millions of people line Eastern Parkway, celebrating the city’s best annual parade, the West Indian American Day Carnival, waving flags from such nations as Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Antigua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Aruba, Curaçao, and many more. The festivities actually begin on September 3, with special events (listed below) every day leading up to the parade. The Labor Day partying commences at 2:00 am with the traditional J’Ouvert Morning, a precarnival procession featuring steel drums and percussion and fabulous, inexpensive masquerade costumes, marching from Grand Army Plaza to Flatbush Ave. and on to Empire Blvd., then to Nostrand Ave. and Linden Blvd. The Parade of Bands begins around 11:00 am, as truckloads of blasting Caribbean music and groups of ornately dressed dancers, costume bands, masqueraders, moko jumbies, and thousands of others bump and grind their way down Eastern Parkway to Grand Army Plaza, participating in one last farewell to the flesh prior to Lent. There will also be local politicians galore, with Sen. Charles Schumer and his ever-present bullhorn doing lots of meeting and greeting. Don’t eat before you go; the great homemade food includes ackee and saltfish, oxtail stew, breadfruit, macaroni pie, curried goat, jerk chicken, fishcakes, rice and peas, and red velvet cake. The farther east you venture, the more closed in it gets; by the time you get near Crown Heights, it could take you half an hour just to cross the street, so take it easy and settle in for a fun, colorful day where you need not hurry. This year’s marshals are Facebook global head of diversity Maxine Williams, U.S. Virgin Islands governor Keith E Mapp, and, TWU Local 100 secretary-treasurer Earl Phillips. Oh, and be prepared to see a whole lotta twerkin’ going on that would make even Miley Cyrus blush; we particularly like when the twerkers get the police involved.

Thursday, September 3
Caribbean Freedom Festival, with KES the Band, RemBunction, Scorpion, Young Devyn, Da Big Show, Mr. Pearly, and more, hosted by Riggo Suave, Barrie Hype, Herbert Holler & the Freedom Party NYC, Milo Miles, Biggie and DJ One Plus, and an Ole MAS carnival characters competition, Brooklyn Museum, $25, 7:00 pm – 1:00 am

Friday, September 4
The Official Stay in School Concert and College Fair, with live music by Mr. Pearly, DJ Super Soca Bass, martial arts demonstrations, a fashion show, spoken word, and more, Brooklyn Museum, free, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Brass Fest, with Ricardo Drue, Lyrikal, Skinny Fabulous, Pressure Busspipe, Preedy, Hypasounds, Ravi B & Karma, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons & the Asylum Vikings, DJ Sounds 4 Life, DJ Back 2 Basics, Foreign Bass, DJ Spice, DJ Renee, Boodoosingh Tassa Drummers, and Kutters Rhythm Section, hosted by Vybezman Redman and MC Wassy, Brooklyn Museum, $55, 8:00 pm – 3:00 am

Saturday, September 5
Junior Carnival Parade, St. John’s Place between Kingston & Brooklyn Aves. to Brooklyn Museum at Washington Ave., 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Steelband Panorama 2015, championship showdown with Pan Sonatas, CASYM, Pantonic, Steel Xplosion, ADLIB, METRO, “D” Radoes, Crossfire Steel Orchestra, Harmony Steel Orchestra, Despers USA, Bench Warmers Rhythm Section, and Brooklyn Steel Orchestra, with music by DJ One Plus, hosted by MC Godfrey Jack and Jemma Jordan, Brooklyn Museum, $45, 8:00 pm – 3:00 am

Sunday, September 6
Diamanche Gras: A Tribute to Yesteryear, with the Mighty Sparrow, King David Rudder, Swallow, Edwin Yearwood, Something Positive Inc., the Sunshine Band, Boodoosingh Tassa Drummers, Sumkinabakanaal Rhythm Section, the Kings and Queens of the MAS Bands, DJ One Plus, and the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill National Jamaican Patty Eating Contest, hosted by MC Wassy, MC Godfrey Jack, and Jemma Jordan, Brooklyn Museum, $35, 7:00 pm – 1:00 am

BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL 2015

Juliette Binoche stars in new adaptation of ANTIGONE as part of BAM Next Wave Festival (photo by Jan Versweyveld)

Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave.
BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St.
BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Pl.
September 16 – December 20, $20-$135
718-636-4100
www.bam.org

Every fall, we practically move into BAM for its annual Next Wave Festival, three months of exciting, challenging, and cutting-edge dance, music, theater, and other arts. And this year is no exception, with a roster of events that has us salivating. The star attraction is Ivo van Hove’s Antigone, a multimedia adaptation of Sophokles’s classic Greek tragedy in a new colloquial translation by Anne Carson and featuring Oscar winner Juliette Binoche in the title role. Other theater highlights are Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock’s multimedia stage noir, Helen Lawrence; Carl Hancock Rux’s The Exalted, about German-Jewish writer and art historian Carl Einstein, genocide, and genealogy, directed by Anne Bogart and with live music by Theo Bleckman; Royal Shakespeare Company actor Paterson Joseph portraying Charles “Sancho” Ignatius in the one-man show Sancho: An Act of Remembrance; and John Jahnke and Hotel Savant’s Alas, the Nymphs, a modern reimagination of the story of Greek mythological figure Hylas.

Sankai Juku returns to BAM for the first time in ten years with UMUSUNA (photo courtesy of Sankai Juku)

Sankai Juku returns to BAM for the first time since 2006 with UMUSUNA (photo courtesy of Sankai Juku)

The dance lineup at the 2015 Next Wave Festival is extraordinary as always, led by the return of German choreographer Sasha Waltz with Continu, a wild piece of dance theater set to Edgard Varèse’s “Arcana,” and Japanese Butoh troupe Sankai Juku’s Umusuna: Memories Before History, Ushio Amagatsu’s meditative exploration of history through fire, water, air, and earth. The season also includes Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström’s experimental Tape, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s Rice, U-Theatre’s Beyond Time, Souleymane Badolo’s Yimbégré, Urban Bush Women’s Walking with ’Trane, Mark Morris’s annual holiday favorite The Hard Nut, and Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto in David Michalek’s Hagoromo, with choreography by David Neumann, puppetry by Chris M. Green, and Nathan Davis’s score performed live by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

William Kentridge stars in his multimedia opera REFUSE THE HOUR (photo by John Hodgkiss)

The music program features one of the most unusual works, Kid Koala’s adaptation of his graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall, about a robot in love with an office mate, for which Kid Koala will be joined by the Afiara Quartet. In All Vows, cellist Maya Beiser teams up with bassist Jherek Bischoff, drummer Zachary Alford, and filmmaker Bill Morrison. Timur and the Dime Museum say a glam farewell to the environment in Collapse. In Real Enemies, Darcy James Argue and his Secret Society big band join forces with filmmaker Peter Nigrini, writer-director Isaac Butler, and designer Maruti Evans to delve into American conspiracy theories. South African genius William Kentridge is back at BAM with the multimedia opera Refuse the Hour, a companion piece to his immersive “Refusal of Time” installation recently acquired by the Met. Drummer Jim White and Sasha Waltz & Guests dancer Claudia de Serpa Soares perform on one side of a two-way mirror in More up a tree. And Steppenwolf cofounder Terry Kinney turns Portland indie group Other Lives’ stage show into a multimedia experience. Tickets are going fast — Miranda July’s participatory New Society is already sold out, as is Théâtre de l’Atelier’s Savannah Bay, both of which take place at the small BAM Fisher, where all tickets are always a mere $25 — so don’t hesitate if you want to catch some of these fab presentations.

CROSSING THE LINE 2015

Jack Ferver and Marc Swanson will present CHAMBRE as part of FIAFs annual Crossing the Line festival (photo by Julieta Cervantes)

Jack Ferver and Marc Swanson will present the glittering CHAMBRE as part of FIAF’s annual Crossing the Line festival (photo by Julieta Cervantes)

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 10 – October 4, free – $35
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org

Tickets are now available for FIAF’s ninth annual late summer/early fall multidisciplinary arts festival, and you better act fast if you want to see some of this year’s most intriguing programs. For us, the highlight is Jack Ferver and Marc Swanson’s Chambre, an installation and performance piece at the New Museum inspired by Jean Genet’s The Maids and pop-culture elements, with extravagant costumes by Reid Bartelme and experimental sound and music by twi-ny fave Roarke Menzies. British artist Ant Hampton’s Autoteatro series continues with The Extra People, in which participants will go on an individual adventure through FIAF’s Florence Gould Theater. The U.S. premiere of Brazilian artist Gustavo Ciriaco and Austrian artist Andrea Sonnberger’s Here whilst we walk will take small groups, bound by a giant rubber band, on a silent trip through Red Hook. Elana Langer’s free What I Live By will pop up at three locations, examining brand identification and personal values. Iranian artist Ali Moini searches for freedom in the multimedia dance work Lives at New York Live Arts (NYLA). Miguel Gutierrez will present the New York City premiere of all three parts of his Age & Beauty series, Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/; Asian Beauty @ the Werq Meeting or The Choreographer & Her Muse or &:@&; and Dancer or You can make whatever the fuck you want but you’ll only tour solos or The Powerful People or We are strong/We are powerful/We are beautiful/We are divine or &:’////, at NYLA, featuring such collaborators as Mickey Mahar, Michelle Boulé, Jen Rosenblit, Ishmael Houston-Jones, and Alex Rodabaugh. Italian artist Alessandro Sciarroni asks Folk-s, will you still love me tomorrow? in his unique interpretation of Bavarian folk dance at NYLA. French director Joris Lacoste investigates multiple languages and human spoken expression in Suite n°2 in Florence Gould Hall. Also on the bill are Shezad Dawood’s “It was a time that was a time” exhibition at Pioneer Works, a photography show by Mazaccio & Drowilal in the FIAF Gallery, Olivia Bransbourg’s ICONOfly magazine, and Adrian Heathfield and André Lepecki’s three-day symposium, “Afterlives: The Persistence of Performance,” at FIAF and MoMA.

CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL

Dr. Lonnie Smith is one of the headliners at this years Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

Marcus Garvey Park and Tompkins Square Park
August 21-23, free
www.cityparksfoundation.org

The annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is always a bittersweet affair. The sweet part is three days of free music this year, up from the usual two. The bitter part is that it always comes near the end of the summer season, with Labor Day and school right around the corner. But let’s not worry about that now and instead concentrate on the free concerts at the twenty-second edition, which is part of the CityParks Foundation SummerStage program and begins August 21 at 6:00 in Marcus Garvey Park with Oliver Lake Big Band performing a special commission, the King Solomon Hicks Trio, and Michela Taps: Bird Lives! (“[Parker] was such an innovator and a driving force in this music, as well as an important influence on tap,” tap-dance star Michela Marino Lerman said in a statement. “We hope to contribute, in some way, to his tremendous legacy.”) On Saturday starting at 3:00, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Andy Bey, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Camille Thurman, and Norma Miller will be in Marcus Garvey Park (preceded at 2:00 by a master class taught by Samuel Coleman). And on Sunday at 3:00, Charlie Parker’s lasting influence will be honored in Tompkins Square Park with Rudresh Mahanthappa: Bird Calls, Joe Lovano, Myra Melford: Snowy Egret, and Michael Mwenso.

HARLEM WEEK: SUMMER IN THE CITY / HARLEM DAY

Kenny Lattimore will be performing at Harlem Week Summer in the City festivities

West 135th St. between Malcolm X Blvd. & Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Saturday, August 15, and Sunday, August 16, free, 12 noon – 6:00 pm
harlemweek.com

The annual Harlem Week festival continues August 15 with Summer in the City and August 16 with Harlem Day, two afternoons of special events along West 135th St. that honor the theme “Celebrating the Journey: Embracing the Future.” Saturday’s festivities include the Historic Black College Fair & Expo, the Peace in Our Community Conference, New Yorkers Are “Dancing in the Street” (with Alvin Ailey instructors and dancers), the Fabulous Fashion Flava Show, the first day of the NYC Children’s Festival (with a parade, sports clinics, health testing, arts & crafts, and more), Harlem Honeys & Bears swimming activities in the Hansborough Recreation Center, an International Vendors Village, the Uptown Saturday Concert with Kenny Lattimore, the Jeff Foxx Band, and Deborah Cox, an Our Lives Matter program, and a screening in St. Nicholas Park of Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s 2010 documentary, Still Bill, about newly inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bill Withers. Sunday’s Harlem Day celebration features the Upper Manhattan Auto Show, tennis clinics, a health village, the second day of the NYC Children’s Festival (with a Back to School theme), the Upper Manhattan Small Business Expo & Fair, live music, dance, and spoken-word performances, another fashion show, and a musical tribute to Malcolm X with Doug E. Fresh, Vivian Green, and others.