this week in dance

DANCEAFRICA 2013

The Bronx-based Harambee Dance Company is part of 2013 DanceAfrica festival at BAM (photo by Derrek Garret)

Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 24-27, free – $50
718-636-4100
www.bam.org

Last week, the incomparable Baba Chuck Davis, the founder and artistic director of BAM’s annual DanceAfrica festival, was one of the grand marshals of the seventh New York Dance Parade, the theme of which was “Unity Through Dance.” That same theme can apply to Davis and DanceAfrica, which this year brings three international companies to the Howard Gilman Opera House stage. Zimbabwe’s Umkhathi Theatre Works will perform the tribal dance Isitshikitsha, the hunting-and-gathering dance Chinyambera, the Shangani tribal dance Muchongoyo, and the social gathering Setapa, joined by the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble. Atlanta’s Giwayen Mata’s program will include Perseverance: In My House, set to DJ Fresca’s “Amaphoyisa,” and the Lamban Dansa. Harambee Dance Company, which hails from the Bronx, will present the historical and spiritual journey Reflections, the partying Midnight in the City, and the musical piece “You Goin’ Get This Work.” As a special treat, Washington, DC’s Sweet Honey in the Rock will sing “Sabumoya,” “I Remember I Believe,” “Wholly Wholly,” and “Let There Be Peace.” As always, Davis will provide his welcoming address (“Ago!” “Amée!!”), introduce the Council of Elders, and honor those who are no longer with us. Meanwhile, BAMcinématek’s FilmAfrica will screen such movies as Taghreed Elsanhouri’s Our Beloved Sudan, Clemente Bococchi’s Black Africa White Marble, Charlie Vundla’s How to Steal 2 Million, and Rémi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe Lie’s animated Zarafa. BAMcafé Live continues the African celebration with a pair of free concerts: Abdou Mboup and Waakaw on May 24 and a Late Night Dance Party with Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box on May 25. And the always fun DanceAfrica Bazaar will set up shop along Lafayette Ave. and Ashland Pl. Saturday through Monday, a global marketplace with great food, clothing, fashion, arts & crafts, and much more.

CANCELED: PHÈDRE LES OISEAUX

French theater director Jean-Baptiste Sastre rehearses Haitian-American chorus for New York premiere of PHÈDRE LES OISEAUX (photo © Ayodele Casel)

PHÈDRE LES OISEAUX (PHAEDRA THE BIRDS)
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Howard Gilman Performance Space
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
May 21-24, 28-29, $20, 7:30
866-811-4111
www.bacnyc.org

French director Jean-Baptiste Sastre describes his production of Phèdre les oiseaux (Phaedra the birds), which makes its New York premiere May 21-29 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, as “a poem,” while Palestinian star Hiam Abbass calls it a “moment of pleasure, and of poetry, and of theater.” The seventy-five-minute show, which relates the Greek myth of Phaedra, a tale of forbidden love, betrayal, rejection, and revenge, will be performed by Abbass (Paradise Now, Lemon Tree) as Phaedra and American-Ugandan actor Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Heroes, Treme) as Hippolytus, joined by approximately thirty members of the Brooklyn-based organization Haïtian-Americans in Action serving as the chorus. The text is by Frédéric Boyer, with English translation by Cole Swensen and dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer. The international project, which features a local chorus at every stop on its tour, has been reconfigured for the Howard Gilman Performance Space, will be told in English, French, and Haitian Creole at BAC. [ed. note: This event has now been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

DANCE PARADE: UNITY THROUGH DANCE

Myriad forms of dance are celebrated at annual parade (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Parade: Broadway & 21st St. to Tompkins Square Park, 1:00
DanceFest: Tompkins Square Park, 3:00 – 7:00
Saturday, May 18, free
www.danceparade.org
dance parade 2011 slideshow

The seventh annual New York Dance Parade, a celebration of all kinds of movement, will groove through the city on May 18, 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 two hundred groups representing eighty different styles will be a trio of grand marshals: DJ Louie Vega, masterful DanceAfrica founder Baba Chuck Davis, and choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi. 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, “Unity Through Dance.”

DANCE IQUAIL

LIU Brooklyn, Kumble Theater
Long Island University
Flatbush Ave. between DeKalb Ave. & Willoughby St.
May 10-12, $30
718-488-1624
www.kumbletheater.org
www.danceiquail.org

Dancer, choreographer, and teacher Iquail Shaheed formed Dance Iquail (DIQ) five years ago as a way to use movement-based performance “to create and present programs that confront the destructive and divisive nature of racism, sexism, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, unmet needs of the poor, and the importance of family support and unity.” Inspired by his own childhood in which he experienced many of those elements, including LGBT bullying, Shaheed, who was born and raised in Philadelphia and currently lives in Harlem, has staged such original pieces as Together We Stand, Commonalities That Bind Us, and Equality for Us 2 as well as Melvin Purnell’s Someday We’ll All Be Free and Christopher Ralph’s Night Falls. DIQ is opening its fifth anniversary season this weekend at the Kumble Theater at LIU Brooklyn with a quartet of works, including two world premieres. Shaheed’s The Order (2011) features circular motion set to an original score by Dylan Ezzie, with the dancers (Shaheed, Allison Sale, Morgan Anderson, Winston D. Brown, Adrianne Chu, Harumi Elders, Ryan Houston, Randall Riley, and Elizabeth Washington) wearing Jessie Durham’s long, flowing costumes; Shaheed was inspired by a 1970 quote from Pablo Feirer’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed: “For the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression, not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform.” DIQ will also present the company premiere of Thread by choreographer and TCU associate professor of ballet Elizabeth Gillaspy, which examines the unraveling quality of life, set to Texas minimalist ensemble Balmorhea’s “The Winter.” The two world premieres are Ralph’s Inward Flux, which enters a dreamlike state, and Shaheed’s Sweet Surrender, in which three couples take part in an intimate battle of the sexes. DIQ will be back July 20, when they will present works by Ralph, Shaheed, and Amber Perkins at Queensbridge Park as part of SummerStage, preceded by an Open Dance Master Class led by Karisma Jay.

CEDAR LAKE: JOYCE 2013 SEASON

Cedar Lake will present world premiere of Andonis Foniadakis’s HORIZONS as part of Joyce season (photo by Paula Lobo)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
May 7-12, $10-$59
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.cedarlakedance.com

The supremely talented Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet is celebrating its tenth anniversary with three wide-ranging works at the Joyce from May 7 to 12. The strong, highly physical company, led by artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, ballet master Alexandra Damiani, and spectacular dancer Jason Kittelberger, will present the New York premiere of Jiří Kylián’s Indigo Rose, which the Dutch choreographer originally created for the twentieth anniversary of Nederlands Dans Theater 2 in 1998; the piece includes a long sheet that casts shadows and silhouettes as the dancers move to music by J. S. Bach, John Cage, Robert Ashley, and others. The evening also includes the world premiere of Horizons by Greek dancer and choreographer Andonis Foniadakis, which examines the personal and the public, action and reaction, with a score by composer and visual artist Julien Tarride. And the company looks back at its past with Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue, a 2008 piece in which five dancers rotate into ten duets that examine the theme of rescue through movement, visuals, music, and narrative. There will be a Dance Chat with members of the company after the May 8 show, a Joyce Pre-Show discussion led by Susan Thomasson prior to the May 9 performance, and Joris Jan Bos will lead a DANY Master Class (open level, $15) on May 10 at 10:00 am. Cedar Lake, which is based in a warehouse-like space on Twenty-Sixth St. in Chelsea, rarely fails to thrill, combining inventive staging with amazingly athletic dancers, highlighted by Kittelberger along with Jon Bond, Acacia Schachte, and Nickemil Concepcion.

WORLD NOMADS TUNISIA

Jonah Bokaer’s THE ULYSSES SYNDROME is part of FIAF festival focusing on the past, present, and future of Tunisia

French Institute Alliance Française (and other venues)
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St.
Le Skyroom, 22 East 60th St.
Tinker Auditorium, 55 East 59th St.
May 1 – June 1, free – $40
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org

After having explored the art and culture of Africa, Haiti, Lebanon, and Morocco in past years, FIAF’s 2013 World Nomads festival heads to Tunisia this spring for a month of multidisciplinary programs that look at the history of the small North African nation, particularly within the context of the recent revolution that led to the downfall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The now-biennial festival begins on May 3 ($35, 8:00) with a concert in Florence Gould Hall featuring singer Sonia M’Barek and the Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture ensemble, followed by a reception with Tunisian delicacies. Also on Friday night (free, 7:00), brother-and-sister choreographers Selma and Sofiane Ouissi will debut a twelve-minute video in Tinker Auditorium about Tunisian women potters. On May 4 (free), visitors are encouraged to add their own message of peace to a canvas supplied by Tunisian graffiti artists eL Seed and Jaye at the New Museum’s Ideas City street festival on Rivington St. On May 6 ($40, 12:30), Syhem Belkhodja, Dora Bouchoucha, Kenza Fourati, Lina Lazaar Jameel, and Leila Souissi will gather at FIAF for the English-language panel discussion “The Role of Women in Tunisian Society,” which includes lunch and wine. The next afternoon (free, 1:00), Belkhodja, Bouchoucha, Lazaar Jameel, and Amna Guellali will be joined via Skype by Hélé Béji and El Iza Mohamedou for the “Women in Tunisia” talk “Art, Women & Politics” at White Box, which is also hosting a free Tunisian photography exhibition highlighting work by Héla Ammar, Amine Boussoffara, Wassim Ghozlani, Amine Landoulsi, Zied Ben Romdhane, Rim Temimi, and Patricia Triki that is part of the World Nomads visual arts program “The After Revolution.” Tuesday in May ($10), FIAF will screen Tunisian movies curated by Bouchoucha as part of its weekly CinémaTuesdays series, including such films as Moufida Tlatli’s The Silences of the Palace and Hinde Boujemaa’s It Was Better Tomorrow. Tinker Auditorium will be turned into a traditional Souk, or Tunisian craft market, May 8-10 (free, 5:30 – 8:00), with food and crafts available for purchase. On May 9-10 ($25, 8:00), choreographer Jonah Bokaer delves into his relationship with his Tunisian-born father in the meditative The Ulysses Syndrome, set to a Mediterranean soundscape. On May 12 (free, reception at 6:00), eL Seed and Jaye will be at 5Pointz in Long Island City to create a mural with Meres One and others and screen a film about them. On May 14 ($25, 8:00), Radhouane El Meddeb will perform the solo piece Sous leurs pieds, le paradis, which honors the role of women in Tunisian society, set to music by Oum Kaithoum. Singer Ghalia Benali will take the stage at FIAF on May 15 ($25, 8:00), Tunisian DJs will spin at CATCH Roof on May 15 (free, 10:30), and Emel Mathlouthi will perform previously banned songs on May 22 ($25, 8:00) at FIAF. In addition, throughout the festival the FIAF Gallery will host a multimedia exhibition with works by Héla Ammar, Amel Ben Attia, Nicène Kossentini, Mouna Jemal Siala, and Mohamed Ben Slama that focuses on women artists and the aftermath of the revolution.

JACK FERVER: ALL OF A SUDDEN

Jack Ferver delves into Tennessee Williamsʼs SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER in new multidisciplinary piece (photo by Al Hall)

Abrons Arts Center Playhouse
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
May 2-4, $20, 8:00
212-598-0400
www.abronsartscenter.org
www.jackferver.org

In our May 2012 interview with the great Jack Ferver, he tantalizingly described what he was working on next, a piece entitled All of a Sudden. “It is loosely inspired by Tennessee Williamsʼs Suddenly, Last Summer and explores the similarities between the artist/dramaturg and the patient/therapist relationship,” he said. “ Of course, it was a play before the film, but having played Cleopatra this past year [in Me, Michelle], I feel I am being haunted by Liz in some way.” Ferver has previously brought his unique interpretation, melding dance, theater, confessional, psychoanalysis, and multimedia elements, to such disparate films as Notes on a Scandal, Poltergeist, Black Swan, and Return to Oz. This time he has set his sights on the steamy story about an institutionalized woman and her sordid southern family, which debuted on Broadway in 1958 and was made into a film the next year by Joseph L. Mankiewicz with an all-star cast that included Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn, Albert Dekker, and Mercedes McCambridge. Ferver collaborated with Joshua Lubin-Levy on the new show, which will be performed by the two men along with Jacob Slominski; music and sound design is by regular Ferver composer Roarke Menzies, with set design by Marc Swanson (Ferver’s Two Alike) and costumes by Reid Bartelme (Mon Ma Mes). Ferver has an endlessly inventive imagination that is thrilling to watch onstage; he’s never afraid to take chances as he opens up his heart and soul — and injects ample amounts of his wicked sense of humor — in fabulously entertaining and deeply personal ways. All of a Sudden runs May 2-4 at Abrons Arts Center, and you’d be doing yourself a great disservice if you missed it.

Update: Jack Ferver blurs the lines between audience and performer, creation and execution, and straight and gay in All of a Sudden, his latest multimedia work to use film as a way to tell a more personal story. This time Ferver focuses in on Tennessee Williams’s 1959 melodrama Suddenly, Last Summer, in which Catherine, a southern woman played by Elizabeth Taylor, is in a mental institution, being treated by a doctor (Montgomery Clift) who is trying to get her to remember a tragic event before her aunt (Katharine Hepburn) forces her to get a lobotomy. The show opens with Ferver, as Catherine, overemoting and Jacob Slominski, as the doctor, underemoting, as Joshua Lubin-Levy sits in a chair across the stage, carefully watching and taking notes. It soon becomes apparent that the three men are in the midst of creating the piece, which is far from done, discussing various elements and possible changes. At one point Slominski goes off to call his wife while Ferver and Lubin-Levy look at clips from Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film on an old television set that mimics a theatrical dressing-room mirror, and later Ferver and Slominski break off into duets that include lots of kissing. They also at times directly address the audience, acknowledging that they are being viewed while still, in essence, rehearsing. It’s all great fun, but with more than a touch of seriousness to go with the humor. The set, designed by Marc Swanson, features a group of ropes dangling from above in one corner, evoking death and suicide, while Reid Bartelme’s costumes for Ferver are spectacularly beautiful, from ridiculously tight and tiny green body-hugging shorts to an elegant, sparkling red sequined dress. As always, Ferver adds an occasional level of discomfort to the fanciful proceedings, keeping the audience on edge, never knowing quite what is going to happen next as fantasy morphs into reality and back again, art and life becoming one and the same.