this week in dance

“ONE DAY PINA ASKED…”

Rarely screened 1983 documentary delves into Pina Bausch’s creative process (photo courtesy Icarus Films)

“ONE DAY PINA ASKED…” (UN JOUR PINA A DEMANDÉ) (Chantal Akerman, 1983)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
144 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
June 6-12
212-875-5050
www.filmlinc.com

In 1982, Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman followed Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal on a five-week tour of Europe as the cutting-edge troupe traveled to Milan, Venice, and Avignon. “I was deeply touched by her lengthy performances that mingle in your head,” Akerman says at the beginning of the resulting documentary, “One Day Pina Asked…,” continuing, “I have the feeling that the images we brought back do not convey this very much and often betray it.” Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles; Je tu il elle) needn’t have worried; her fifty-seven-minute film, made for the Repères sur la Modern Dance French television series, is filled with memorable moments that more than do justice to Bausch’s unique form of dance theater. From 1973 up to her death in 2009 at the age of sixty-eight, Bausch created compelling works that examined the male-female dynamic and the concepts of love and connection with revolutionary stagings that included spoken word, unusual costuming, an unpredictable movement vocabulary, and performers of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Akerman captures the troupe, consisting of twenty-six dancers from thirteen countries, in run-throughs, rehearsals, and live presentations of Komm Tanz Mit Mir (Come Dance with Me), Nelken (Carnations), 1980, Kontakthof, and Walzer, often focusing in on individual dancers in extreme close-ups that reveal their relationship with their performance. Although Bausch, forty at the time, is seen only at the beginning and end of the documentary, her creative process is always at center stage. At one point, dancer Lutz Förster tells a story of performing Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” in sign language in response to Bausch’s asking the troupe to name something they’re proud of. Förster, who took over as artistic director in April 2013, first performs the song for Akerman, then later is shown performing it in Nelken. (Bausch fans will also recognize such longtime company members as Héléna Pikon, Nazareth Panadero, and Dominique Mercy.)

Documentary includes inside look at such Tanztheater Wuppertal productions as CARNATIONS (photo courtesy Icarus Films)

Documentary includes inside look at such Tanztheater Wuppertal productions as NELKEN (photo courtesy Icarus Films)

Akerman often leaves her camera static, letting the action unfold on its own, which is particularly beautiful when she films a dance through a faraway door as shadowy figures circle around the other side. It’s all surprisingly intimate, not showy, rewarding viewers with the feeling that they are just next to the dancers, backstage or in the wings, unnoticed, as the process unfolds, the camera serving as their surrogate. And it works whether you’re a longtime fan of Bausch, only discovered her by seeing Wim Wenders’s Oscar-nominated 3D film Pina, or never heard of her. “This film is more than a documentary on Pina Bausch’s work,” a narrator says introducing the film. “It is a journey through her world, through her unwavering quest for love.” As a bonus, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting free 7:30 screenings of Gustavo Beck and Leonardo Luiz Ferreira’s 2010 documentary, Chantal Akerman, from Here, in conjunction with the June 6-12 theatrical run of ”One Day Pina Asked…”

FREE SUMMER DANCE 2014

Trisha Brown’s “I’m going to toss my arms — if you catch them they’re yours” will be performed June 25-26 as part of the River to River tribute to the legendary company (© Laurent Phillipe)

Trisha Brown’s “I’m going to toss my arms — if you catch them they’re yours” will be performed June 25-26 as part of summer-long River to River tribute to the celebrated choreography (© Laurent Phillipe)

The highlight of this summer’s free dance programs is River to River’s tribute to Trisha Brown, including an exhibition, a conversation and Q&A, an open rehearsal, and live performances, taking place on Governors Island and other locations. Among the other festivals featuring dance are Lincoln Center Out of Doors, SummerStage, Hudson River Park’s Moondance, and Celebrate Brooklyn! Keep watching this space for updates as more events are announced.

Saturday, May 24
River to River Festival: Open Studio with Tere O’Connor, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, 2:00

Sunday, May 25
River to River Festival: Open Studio with Joanna Kotze, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, 3:00

Saturday, June 7
Red Hook Fest, with the Dance Cartel, Dendê and Band, Gallim Dance, Godsell Dance Collective, and Underground System, Louis J. Valentino Jr. Park & Pier, 12 noon – 7:00

Friday, June 13
Bryant Park Presents Modern Dance: Elisa Monte Dance, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Bryant Park Stage, 6:00

Friday, June 20
Bryant Park Presents Modern Dance: Stephen Petronio Dance, NØA Dance, UnderOneDances, the Dash Ensemble, Bryant Park Stage, 6:00

SummerStage Presents Jason Samuels Smith, All Levels Open Dance Master Class with Jamal Jackson at 7:00, performance by tap-dancer Jason Samuels Smith and composer Owen “Fiidla” Brown at 8:00, Herbert Von King Park

Friday, June 20
through
Sunday, June 29
River to River Festival — Trisha Brown Dance Company: “Embodied Practice and Site Specifity,” exhibition, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island

Friday, June 20
and
Sunday, June 22
River to River Festival — Eiko: Two Women, duet with Tomoe Aihara, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, 2:00

Friday, June 20, 3:00
and
Saturday, June 21, 1:00 & 3:00
River to River Festival — Vanessa Anspaugh: What Was Wasn’t Here, performed by Vanessa Anspaugh, Addys Gonzalez, and Bessie McDonough-Thayer, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island

Saturday, June 21
SummerStage Presents ChoreoQuest: All Levels Open Dance Master Class with Jamel Gaines at 7:00, performance by ChoreoQuest at 8:00, Herbert Von King Park

Saturday, June 21
River to River Festival Living Room — Ephrat Asherie & Hector Arce-Espasas: Everyday I’m Hustlin’, VBar, South Street Seaport, 9:00

Sunday, June 22
River to River Festival — In Conversation: Susan Rosenberg on Trisha Brown, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, 4:30

Sunday, June 22, 7:00 & 8:00
and
Tuesday, June 24, 7:30
River to River Festival — enrico d wey: where we are right now, Pier 15, South Street Seaport

Monday, June 23
through
Wednesday, June 25
River to River Festival — untitled site-specific duet choreographed by Tere O’Connor, performed by Michael Ingle and Silas Riener, Elevated Acre, 1:00

Tuesday, June 24, 3:00
and
Wednesday, June 25, 3:00 & 5:00
River to River Festival — Souleymane Badolo: , of history (Virgule de l’histoire), John Street Church Courtyard

Wednesday, June 25
River to River Festival — Trisha Brown Dance Company: I’m going to toss my arms — if you catch them they’re yours, open rehearsal, Pier 15, South Street Seaport, 7:00

Wednesday, June 25, 2:45
and
Thursday, June 26, 1:45 & 3:45
River to River Festival — Reggie Wilson: …Moses(es), St. Cornelius Chapel, Governors Island

Thursday, June 26
River to River Festival — Trisha Brown Dance Company: I’m going to toss my arms — if you catch them they’re yours, performance, Pier 15, South Street Seaport, 4:00

Thursday, June 26, 5:00
Saturday, June 27, 1:00
and
Sunday, June 28, 1:00
River to River Festival — The Set Up: I Nyoman Catra by Wally Cardona & Jennifer Lacey, 120 Wall St.

Maria Hassabis PREMIERE will move outside to Bowling Green

Maria Hassabi’s mesmerizing PREMIERE will move outside to Bowling Green

Friday, June 27
Bryant Park Presents Modern Dance: Take Dance, Steps Ensemble, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, Bryant Park Stage, 6:00

River to River Festival — In Conversation: Maria Hassabi, Paolo Javier & Kaneza Schall, Poets House, 7:00

Friday, June 27, 3:00
and
Saturday, June 28, 3:00 & 5:00
River to River Festival — Maria Hassabi: Premiere, Bowling Green

Saturday, June 28
and
Sunday, June 29
River to River Festival — Bronx Gothic: The Oval, Open Studios with LMCC artist in residence Okwui Okpokwasili, LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, 3:00

Friday, July 4
Bryant Park Presents Modern Dance: Booking Dance Festival Edinburgh, with Art of Motion, Antara Bhardwaj, Barkin/Selissen Project, Buggé Ballet, Dzul Dance, Michael Mao Dance, Rebecca Stenn, Reed Dance, Synthesis Dance, and Compagnie Christiane Emmanuel, Bryant Park Stage, 6:00

Wednesday, July 2
SummerStage Presents Urban Bush Women, Laurie M. Taylor, and Soul Movement, Central Park, 8:00

Friday, July 11
SummerStage Presents Ballet Hispanico’s BHdos, All Levels Open Dance Master Class at 7:00, performance at 8:00, St. Mary’s Park

Saturday, July 12
SummerStage Presents Urban Bush Women, All Levels Open Dance Master Class at 7:00, performance at 8:00, St. Mary’s Park

Sunday, July 13
Moondance: Swing with David Berger Jazz Orchestra, Pier 84, Hudson River Park, lessons at 6:30, live music at 7:00

Wednesday, July 15
SummerStage Presents Ballet Hispanico and A Palo Seco, Central Park, 8:00

Thursday, July 17
Celebrate Brooklyn! Shen Wei Dance, Prospect Park Bandshell, 8:00

Friday, July 18
SummerStage Presents Harambee Dance Company, All Levels Open Dance Master Class at 7:00, performance at 8:00, Queensbridge Park

Sunday, July 20
Moondance: Salsa with Los Hermanos Colon, Pier 84, Hudson River Park, lessons at 6:30, live music at 7:00

Tuesday, July 22
Lincoln Center Out of Doors Brasil Summerfest — screening of Passinho Dance Off: The Movie, David Rubenstein Atrium, 6:30

Tuesday, July 22
Lincoln Center Out of Doors Brasil Summerfest — Behind the Groove: Welcome Party for A Batalha do Passinho, with DJ KS*360, David Rubenstein Atrium, 8:00

Thursday, July 24
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Rennie Harris Puremovement (Get it, Church, Spirit Migrations, Students of the Asphalt Jungle) and A Batalha do Passinho, Damrosch Park Bandshell, 7:30

Pam Tanowitz’s PASSAGEN is part of Lincoln Center dance program (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Pam Tanowitz’s PASSAGEN is part of Lincoln Center dance program on June 25 (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Friday, July 25
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Pam Tanowitz Dance (PASSAGEN featuring violinist Pauline Kim Harris, excerpt from The Spectators featuring FLUX Quartet) and eighth blackbird (Erase by Andy Akiho, Murder Ballades by Bryce Dessner, Counting Duets by Tom Johnson/“Études” by György Ligeti, these broken wings 3 by David Lang), Damrosch Park Bandshell, 7:30

Saturday, July 26
Lincoln Center Out of Doors — Family Day: Baby Loves Disco — A Family Dance Party, Roslyn and Elliot Jaffe Dr., 11:00 am and 2:00 pm; A Batalha do Passinho Dance Class, Hearst Plaza, 1:00; National Dance Day, Josie Robertson Plaza, 4:00

Sunday, July 27
Moondance: Swing with Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, Pier 84, Hudson River Park, lessons at 6:30, live music at 7:00

Thursday, July 31
Celebrate Brooklyn! Dance Theatre of Harlem and Leyla McCalla, Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30

Friday, August 1
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Paul Taylor Dance Company (Fibers, Aureole, Piazzolla Caldera) and Pablo Ziegler’s New Tango Ensemble, Damrosch Park Bandshell, 7:30

Saturday, August 2
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Camille A. Brown and Dancers (Mr. TOL E. RAncE) and Stew & the Negro Problem, Damrosch Park Bandshell, 7:00

Germaul Barnes of Viewsic Expressions Dance will lead a master class at SummerStage program in East River Park on August 8

Sunday, August 3
Moondance: Salsa with Nu D’Lux, Pier 84, Hudson River Park, lessons at 6:30, live music at 7:00

Wednesday, August 6
Uptown Bounce: Summer Nights at 104th & Fifth — Throwback, with DJ D’Marquesina, DJ Grand Master Caz, breakdancers the NBS Crew, video projections and sidewalk art by the Murcielagos Fumando Collective, and discussion with Perla de Leon, 6:00

SummerStage Presents Spectrum Dance Theater and Sidra Bell Dance NY, Central Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 7
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Ragamala Dance with Rudresh Mahanthappa (Song of the Jasmine), Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (Be/Longing 2), and Chinese American Arts Council Dancers (From Chinatown with Love), Damrosch Park Bandshell, 7:30

Friday, August 8
SummerStage Presents Spectrum Dance Theater, All Levels Open Dance Master Class with Germaul Barnes at 7:00, performance at 8:00, East River Park

Saturday, August 9
SummerStage and Valerie Gladstone present Dance Off the Grid, Master Class with Evidence at 7:00, performance at 8:00, East River Park

Sunday, August 10
Moondance: Swing with George Gee Swing Orchestra, Pier 84, Hudson River Park, lessons at 6:30, live music at 7:00

Sunday, August 10
through
Saturday, August 16
Downtown Dance Festival, Battery Park

August 13
Uptown Bounce: Summer Nights at 104th & Fifth — Remix, with DJ D’Marquesina, DJ Grand Master Caz, Kelly Peters and his Generation X Hip Hop Dancers, video projections and sidewalk art by the Murcielagos Fumando Collective, and El Museo founder Raphael Montañez Ortiz in conversation with Chon Noriega, 6:00

Friday, August 15
SummerStage and the Firehouse Present: The Harlem Dance Caravan: Erasing the Boundaries, All Levels Open Dance Master Class with Theresa Lavington at 7:00, performance at 8:00, Marcus Garvey Park

Saturday, August 16
SummerStage and the Firehouse Present: The Harlem Dance Caravan: Erasing the Boundaries, All Levels Open Dance Master Class with Calvin Wiley at 7:00, performance at 8:00, Marcus Garvey Park

UPTOWN NIGHTS: COUNTERCULTURE

KYLE ABRAHAM:AN LGBTQ NIGHT OF LIVE MUSIC & A DANCE PARTY
Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Ave. at West 135th St.
Friday, May 23, $20, 7:00
212-281-9240 ext 19/20
www.harlemstage.org

It’s been quite a few years for Kyle Abraham. Abraham, who formed his dance company, Abraham.In.Motion, in Pittsburgh in 2006, won the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2012, an honor bestowed in previous years on Merce Cunningham and Bill T. Jones. Later that year he was named the 2012–14 New York Live Arts resident commissioned artist, and his Alvin Ailey commission, Another Night, had its world premiere at City Center. In 2013 he was selected as a MacArthur Fellow and choreographed the pas de deux The Serpent and the Smoke for himself and New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan. Now Abraham is curating the May 23 edition of Harlem Stage’s “Uptown Nights” series, celebrating LGBTQ culture with Pittsburgh-based DJ Edgar Um, gay New York rapper Le1f, who runs the hip-hop Camp & Street label; gay rapper Will Sheridan (G.I.A.N.T., Ngoma), who came out several years after playing basketball at Villanova; Brooklyn choreographer, dancer, video artist, and Crystal Consciousness practitioner Wendell Cooper, who runs Complex Stability; and vogue dance champion Javier Ninja of the House of Ninja. The evening begins at 7:00 with a mixer, followed by live performances and a dance battle at 7:30, and a dance party at 9:30.

DANCE PARADE: BE THE MOMENTUM

Parade: Broadway & 21st St. to Tompkins Square Park, 1:00
DanceFest: Tompkins Square Park, 3:00 – 7:00
Saturday, May 17, free
www.danceparade.org

The eighth annual New York Dance Parade, a celebration of all kinds of movement, will shake and bake through the city on May 17, beginning at 1:00 at 21st St. & Broadway and making its way southeast until it reaches Tompkins Square Park, where DanceFest takes place from 3:00 to 7:00 with live performances, workshops, demonstrations, information booths, special presentations, and other activities. Leading the parade of ten thousand dancers from 142 representing 77 different styles will be a trio of grand marshals: remixer Hex Hector, tap dancer extraordinaire Savion Glover, and Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The parade started as a response to New York’s antiquated Cabaret Law, which in 1926 held that dance was not a form of artistic expression and was not protected by the Second Amendment. The event’s mission is “to promote dance as an expressive and unifying art form by showcasing all forms of dance, educating the general public about the opportunities to experience dance, and celebrating diversity of dance in New York City.” Dance Parade is always a hot, sweaty, sexy, and fun event, whether you’re participating or just checking out the scene, which brings everyone together in the spirit of this year’s theme, “Be the Momentum.”

ZÜRICH MEETS NEW YORK: A FESTIVAL OF SWISS INGENUITY

Zürich Meets New York festival honors upcoming centennial of the Dada movement

Multiple locations
May 16-23, free – $20
www.zurichmeetsnewyork.org

In The Third Man, one of the greatest movies ever made, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) tells his childhood friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), “You know what the fellow said — in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace — and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Of course, Switzerland has contributed a whole lot more to international culture and history than the cuckoo clock — and by the way, who doesn’t love the cuckoo clock? — as evidenced by this month’s Zürich Meets New York: A Festival of Swiss Ingenuity. From May 16 to 23, more than two dozen events will be taking place around the city, from concerts and dance to panel discussions and film screenings, from art exhibits and seminars to theater and scientific conversations, with a particular focus on the one hundredth anniversary of the Dada movement, which was born at the Cabaret Voltaire. Aside from “How Black Holes Shape Our Universe,” a multimedia presentation at the Explorers Club that requires a $20 ticket, everything else is absolutely free, although most events require advance RSVP. Below are only some of the highlights; other participants and programs include Dieter Meier of Yello, game developer Tim Schafer, Jungian analyst Christopher Hauke, complexity scientist Dirk Helbing, financial economist Didier Sornette, IBM director of research John E. Kelly, novelists Renata Adler and Ben Marcus discussing the work of Max Frisch, and a pair of documentaries about artist Urs Fischer.

Friday, May 16
“Collegium Novum Zurich: Live Music & Silent Films,” David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., featuring screenings of shorts by Hans Richter, James Sibley Watson Jr. and Melville Webber, René Clair, and Joris Ivens with live musical accompaniment, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Saturday, May 17
“Giants Are Small: Dada Bomb,” Dada performance art journey, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Sunday, May 18
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada on Tour,” art exhibition in a “nomadic” tent, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Monday, May 19
“What Can Robots and Economics Teach Us About Humanity?,” with Rolf Pfeifer and Ernst Fehr, moderated by Maria Konnikova, New York Academy of Sciences, 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St., 40th Floor, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Monday, May 19
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada Pop-Up: The Absurdities of Our Times,” opening will include spontaneous performances and exchanges, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Tuesday, May 20
and
Wednesday, May 21
“Simone Aughterlony/Antonija Livingstone/Hahn Rowe: In Disguise,” dance performance with choreographer Simone Aughterlony, performer Antonija Livingstone, and composer Hahn Rowe, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th St. between Tenth and Eleventh Aves., free with advance RSVP, 8:30

KEEP YOUR ELECTRIC EYE ON ME

KEEP YOUR ELECTRIC EYE ON ME is a mind-numbing conceptual multimedia work running at HERE May 7-10 (photo by Paula Court)

HERE
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
May 7-10, $20, 8:30
212-647-0202
www.here.org

Originally presented at CultureMart 2013 as part of HARP (the Here Artist Residency Program), Keep Your Electric Eye on Me is a mind-numbingly dull multimedia foray into the making of a tuna melt (or something like that). Conceived, created, and directed by Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty, the seventy-minute, two-character show features Madeline Best as a woman who can’t keep her top on and Carlton Ward as a bald voyeur who assists her, collecting the meth-like green candies her body creates after drinking something like absinthe and cleaning up her white throw-up (or something like that). Brad Kisicki’s interesting set includes three large screens in the back, numerous monitors, and a table covered with Amy Mascena’s unusual props, a grouping of glass elements that evoke a lab. To the right of the audience, Irons and Petty mix live and prerecorded sounds and images, ranging from the beautiful (shots of the sea) to the confounding (just about everything else). The music is by the Chocolate Factory’s Brian Rogers, featuring such songs as “Moon (Sitting in the Room Every Day Like a Mustard)” and “I’m Sorry My Face.” According to an Artists’ Note in the program, Keep Your Electric Eye on Me is meant to “conjure notions of transformation, liminality, hysteria, and the desire for the unattainable.” Maybe the cast and crew can explain how in a talkback following the May 7 show, although we won’t be there to find out.

CINCY IN NYC: CINCINNATI BALLET

HUMMINGBIRD is one of three pieces to be presented by Cincinnati Ballet in the company’s Joyce debut (photo by Peter Mueller)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
May 6-11, $10-$59
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.cballet.org

Usually when you talk about Cincinnati being in New York, it means that the Reds are taking on the Mets at CitiField or the Bengals are in town taking on the Jets or the Giants at the Meadowlands. But this week it refers to Cincy in NYC, seven days of art, music, dance, theater, and food celebrating the Queen of the West. The centerpiece is the Cincinnati Ballet, returning to New York City for the first time in thirty-five years as part of its fiftieth anniversary season. The company, which features six Cuban dancers, will be presenting three recent works at its Joyce debut from May 6 to 11. Resident choreographer Adam Hougland’s 2013 Hummingbird in a Box is a piece for eight dancers, set to seven specially commissioned songs by guitar god Peter Frampton and Gordon Kennedy; Frampton, who performed the music live at the Cincinnati premiere, will be on hand to introduce the work on opening night at the Joyce. Trey McIntyre’s 2004 Chasing Squirrel is a wildly energetic and fanciful piece for ten dancers in dazzling costumes by Sandra Woodall, with raucous Latino-infused music recorded by the Kronos Quartet. And Val Caniparoli’s 2013 Caprice is an elegant piece that brings together live musicians and ten dancers to Paganini’s “Violin Caprices.” Cincinnati Ballet artistic director Victoria Morgan will participate in a Joyce Dance Chat following the May 7 show.

Cincy in NYC also includes University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music jazz alums performing at Lincoln Center, “Music and Words with Ricky Ian Gordon” at the National Opera House, a Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park staged reading of Cincinnati native Theresa Rebeck’s new play, Fool, at Pearl Studios, the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, seven Cincy chefs preparing a special meal at the James Beard House, the CCM Ariel Quartet playing Haydn, Berg, and Beethoven at the 92nd St. Y’s downtown SubCulture, and, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the reunion of Rembrandt’s separate portraits of a husband and wife, the Taft Museum’s “Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair” and the Met’s “Portrait of a Young Woman with a Fan.”