this week in dance

WARM UP 2012

HWKN’s “Wendy” will provide necessary cooling for MoMA PS1’s summer Warm Up series (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Saturdays from 3:00 to 9:00, July 7 – September 8, $15
718-784-2084
www.ps1.org
wendy slideshow

MoMA PS1’s exhilarating hot and sweaty weekly summer Warm Up dance party turns fifteen this year, with another wide-ranging lineup of live performances and DJ sets that are sure to get your booty shaking. And this year you can move and groove a rotating series of site-specific stage installations by such artists and collectives as CONFETTISYSTEM, Fort Makers, the Principals, and others. Warm Up begins July 7 with Todd Terry, Light Asylum, Nguzunguzu, Trust, and Arca ft. HBA. The July 14 show consists of Terrence Parker, D3, Ron Morelli, Jeremie Delon, Steve Summers, and Professor Genius, while July 21 brings together DJing Matthew Dear, Sepalcure, Le1f, MikeQ, and JDH and Dave P. On July 28, MJ Cole, Sinkane, DJ Spoko, Slava, and Van Rivers will lead the way, followed August 4 by Jamie xx, Pearson Sound, Lemonade, Sinjin Hawke, Zora Hones, and Miguel. On August 11, Photek, Evian Christ, Shlohmo, Autre Ne Veut, and Howse will man the boards and mics, while Floating Points, Jacques Greene, Secret Circuit, and Hieroglyphic Being will take care of things on August 18. August 25’s lineup features Just Blaze, Nick Catchdubs, Danny Brown, the Stallions, and BAIO, while September 1 boasts James Holden, Kassem Mosse, Om Unit, and Silent Diane. The season comes to an awesome close on September 8 with a DJ set by Atoms for Peace, Rustie, Holy Other, Maria Minerva, and Justin Strauss. Food will be provided by Long Island City favorites M. Wells, while much necessary cooling will come courtesy of “Wendy,” HWKN’s giant courtyard installation that won this year’s Young Architects Program. A giant ecologically friendly multifaceted blue star made of titania-nanoparticle-treated nylon that neutralizes air pollution, “Wendy” also has water cannons, big fans, pools of fresh water, and metal steps that lead into its epicenter. As always, the museum will be open as well, so be sure to check out “Jack Smith: Normal Love,” “Zackary Drucker: At Least You Know You Exist,” “Esther Kläs – Better Energy,” “Lara Favaretto: Just Knocked Out,” “Max Brand: no solid footing – (trained) duck fighting a crow,” Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty Part Motet,” and solo projects by Rey Akdogan, Edgardo Aragón, Ilja Karilampi, and Caitlin Keogh.

FIRST SATURDAYS: KEITH HARING’S NEW YORK

Keith Haring, still from PAINTING MYSELF INTO A CORNER, video, 1979 (© Keith Haring Foundation)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, July 7, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum sends off its “Keith Haring: 1978-1982” exhibit with a late-night celebration this weekend as part of its monthly First Saturdays program. (The show officially closes on Sunday.) The free evening will feature live performances by Mon Khmer, Mickey Factz, the Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory, City Kids, and Plastiq Passion, an art battle, a hands-on workshop inspired by Haring’s “Art is for everyone” motto, clips from Jim Hubbard’s documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, a signing and talk with Maripol about her book Little Red Riding Hood, a participatory sidewalk chalk mural, gallery talks, Q&As, and a dance party hosted by DJ Justin Strauss. The galleries will remain open until eleven, so be sure to check out such exhibits as “Raw Cooked: Ulrike Müller,” “Aesthetic Ambitions: Edward Lycett and Brooklyn’s Faience Manufacturing Company,” “Playing House,” “Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin,” “Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913–1919,” and “Question Bridge: Black Males.”

YANIRA CASTRO | A CANARY TORSI: PARADIS

Yanira Castro’s beautiful PARADIS returns to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden July 8-10 (photo by Kevin Kwan)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Desert House in the Steinhardt Conservatory and the Cherry Esplanade
1000 Washington Ave.
July 8-10, $30, 8:00
www.newyorklivearts.org
www.acanarytorsi.org

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is already one of New York City’s paradises, but on July 8-10, choreographer Yanira Castro will make it even more so. The Puerto Rican-born, Brooklyn-based Castro, who specializes in site-adaptable dance installations, is bringing her a canary torsi “organism” back for Paradis, the first site-specific dance project to ever be held at the century-old botanic garden. If you missed its debut last summer, get your tickets now for this beautiful piece of paradise. Presented by New York Live Arts, Paradis is the follow-up to 2010’s Wilderness, a performance and audio installation that took place at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn. For Paradis, the audience of approximately sixty people first meets in the visitor center (be sure to go to the 1000 Washington St. entrance), then is led to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Steinhardt Conservatory, where they surround the outside of the Desert House. Inside, Peter Schmitz, dressed all in white with white face paint, stands still before slowly making his way around the cactus plants and trees, using herky-jerky motion, then moving faster, stopping to mime eating an apple, then erupting in off-key song, dancing and singing to tinny, lo-fi, scratchy piano music that pipes out of security guards’ walkie-talkies.

Expanding his work with Castro on Wilderness, Schmitz evokes Adam in the Garden of Eden as well as Frankenstein’s monster and the Supreme Being as he learns to walk, talk, and eat. At the end of the solo, the audience is led in the dark to the wide expanse of the resplendently green Cherry Esplanade, where they come upon Michael Dauphinais on the piano (sounding much better in person than over the walkie-talkies), playing an evolving score that is impacted by the presence of the crowd. Four huge spotlights illuminate the lawn as Peggy Cheng, Simon Courchel, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Luke Miller, Daniel Clifton, Darrin Wright, Pamela Vail, and Kimberly Young emerge in the distance, frolicking across the grass and eventually weaving through the crowd, who can sit or stand wherever they want. After being selected to follow a particular dancer, the audience segments into groups that end up watching a deeply intimate, thrillingly erotic duet. Inspired very directly by the “Paradis” section of Jean-Luc Godard’s Notre Musique, Castro’s Paradis feels like it grew organically out of the ground (or descended from the heavens), like the lovely trees and flowers that cover the garden’s fifty-two lush acres. No mere spectacle, the piece invites the viewer to become part of a magical experience, a fitting tribute to the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the endless imagination of Castro and her company.

HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL 2012

Queen Esther will close the 2012 Harlem Arts Festival with dancer-choreographer Francesca Harper tonight

Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park
Madison Ave. between 120th & 124th Sts.
Saturday, June 30, free, 1:00 – 8:00
www.harlemartsfestival.com

The second day of the free Harlem Art Festival, held in Marcus Garvey Park, features another fine lineup of live music, dance, and theater, emceed by DJ Stormin’ Norman. The party gets started at 1:00 with Gary Samuels & the Prayz’N Hymn Ensemble on the main stage and Isaac Katalay on the second stage at 1:30. Other performers include the Mighty Third Rail, Gwen Laster, Illstyle & Peace Productions, James Browning Kepple, Benjamin Barson, Guerilla Dance Collective, Shelah Marie, and Vernard J. Gilmore / La Verdad, with Queen Esther & the Francesca Harper Project closing the show at 7:00. There is also a kids’ corner with children’s activities in addition to local food vendors, a market, special programs in the Harlem Library, and a gallery walk with work by such artists as Leon Barber, Laura Gadson, Judy Levy, Bryce R. Zackery, and Maxine DeSeta.

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL: SHOW

Maria Hassabi and Hristoula Harakas have taken SHOW outside for the River to River Festival (photo by Francis Coy)

Broad & Wall St.
Saturday, June 30, and Sunday, July 1, free, 5:00
rivertorivernyc.com
www.mariahassabi.com
show slideshow

Back in November, Maria Hassabi presented SHOW at the Kitchen, where she and longtime collaborator Hristoula Harakas slowly weaved, wiggled, and wound their way across the floor amid the audience, which was allowed to go wherever they wanted, whether standing in the back or sitting right next to the performers. Hassabi and Harakas are now taking the fab gathering outdoors as part of the free River to River Festival, where they will be interacting not only with an audience specifically there to see them but by passersby who are bound to wonder just what is going on. Featuring sound design by Alex Waterman that incorporates freshly recorded noise and voices, the performance is an intimate experience that is sure to have renewed life from being out in the sun, compared to the more cramped and dark black-box room at the Kitchen. Hassabi and Harakas can do amazing things with their bodies, displaying elegance and strength, in what we called back in November “a brilliant, often erotically charged evening-length piece performed by two dynamic, brave dancers unafraid to take risks, involving the audience in unique and, at times, demanding ways.”

Maria Hassabi and Hristoula Harakas put on quite a SHOW at River to River Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Update: As it turns out, SHOW does indeed offer a very different kind of experience in its new incarnation outdoors as part of the River to River Festival. On a cobblestone path on Broad St., Maria Hassabi and Hristoula Harakas move incredibly slowly, staring deep into each other’s eyes, crawling over each other’s bodies, and lifting their legs high into the air in breathtaking positions. Depending on which angle you are watching from ― you can sit on sidewalk benches, move around the area, or spread out on the street itself, where you might have to get out of the dancers’ way as they approach you ― you can see the large American flag on the Stock Exchange building or the George Washington statue in front of Federal Hall in the background. Alex Waterman’s score mixes in noises recorded earlier around Wall St., including construction work and sirens, layered with live sound. Despite the intense heat, Hassabi and Harakas soldier on as tourists gawk, shutterbugs surround them, food deliverers speed by on their bicycles, and dogs on leashes amble past them. Yet the two extraordinary dancers manage to maintain the piece’s inherent intimacy, especially when they make extended eye contact with people in the crowd.

FREE SUMMER DANCE 2012

Friday, June 22
through
Sunday, June 24 River to River Festival: Le Grand Continental by Sylvain Émard Danse, Pier 16 & 17, South Street Seaport, 7:00

Friday, June 29 SummerStage Dance: Master Class by Limón Dance Company, St. Mary’s Park, 7:00

Saturday, June 30 Washington Square Dances: Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances for a Variable Population, Garibaldi Plaza, Washington Square Park, 4:00 & 7:00

Saturday, June 30
and
Sunday, July 1 SummerStage Dance: Limón Dance Company with special musical guest Paquito D’Rivera, Central Park, 8:00

Saturday, June 30
through
Tuesday, July 3 River to River Festival: FEELingpleasuresatisfactioncelebrationholyFORM by Luciana Achugar, Staten Island Ferry Terminal, 1:00 or 6:00

Sunday, July 1 River to River Festival: Commentary = Not Thing (In Process) by Juliana F. May, Building 110, Governors Island, advance RSVP recommended, 2:00

Friday, July 6 Passport Fridays: Haiti, with dance by ASE Dance Theatre Collective, music by DJA-Rara, and screening of When the Drum Is Beating (Whitney Dow, 2011), Queens Museum, 6:30

Monday, July 9
through
Thursday, July 12 River to River Festival: Tere O’Connor Dance, untitled new project, Mannahatta Park, Wall St. between Front & South Sts., 2:00

Tuesday, July 10
through
Thursday, July 12 SummerStage Dance: Ill Style & Peace Productions, multiple locations, 10:30 am

Thursday, July 12
through
Saturday, July 14 River to River Festival: The Set Up: Junko Fisher, choreographed by Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey, with music by Pete Drungle and danced by Dylan Crossman, 80 Broad St., 4:00

Sunday, July 15 MoonDance: George Gee Swing Orchestra, Hudson River Park Pier 84, dance lessons 6:30, concert 7:00

Friday, July 20 Passport Fridays: Cuba, with dance and music by Oyu Oro and screening of Suite Habana (Fernando Pérez, 2003), Queens Museum, 6:30

Friday, July 20 SummerStage Dance: Liberation Dance Theater and Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Queensbridge Park, 7:00

Saturday, July 21 SummerStage Dance: Malcolm Low Formal Structure and Von Ussar Danceworks, Master Class by Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, Queensbridge Park, 7:00

Sunday, July 22 MoonDance: Los Hermanos Colón, Hudson River Park Pier 84, dance lessons 6:30, concert 7:00

Tuesday, July 24 SummerStage Dance: Uptown Dance Academy, Maria Hernandez Park, 10:30 am

Thursday, July 26 SummerStage Dance: Uptown Dance Academy, Morningside Park, 10:30 am

Friday, July 27 Passport Fridays: Egypt, with dance and music by Egyptian Celebration Company and screening of Microphone (Ahmad Abdalla, 2010), Queens Museum, 6:30

Sunday, July 29 MoonDance: Nu D’Lux, Hudson River Park Pier 84, dance lessons 6:30, concert 7:00

Friday, August 3 Passport Fridays: West Indies, with dance by Something Positive, music by Village Drums of Freedom, and screening of Fire in Babylon (Stevan Riley, 2011), Queens Museum, 6:30

Friday, August 3 Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Phil Kline: “dreamcitynine,” performed by Talujon and friends, Josie Robertson Plaza, Hearst Plaza, Damrrosch Park, 6:30

Friday, August 3 Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Chio-Tian Folk Drums and Arts Group, Hearst Plaza, 7:30

Saturday, August 4 Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Heidi Latsky Dance: GIMP, Hearst Plaza, 7:30

Sunday, August 5 Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Heritage Sunday: Ayiti Rasanble! Featuring Feet of Rhythm, Kongo featuring Peniel Guerrier, La Troupe Makandal, and Raram, Hearst Plaza, 1:00–6:00

Sunday, August 5 MoonDance: Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango, Hudson River Park Pier 84, dance lessons 6:30, concert 7:00

Tuesday, August 7 SummerStage Dance: Abada Capoeira NYC and Edna Limia, Columbus Park, 10:30 am

Thursday, August 9 SummerStage Dance: Abada Capoeira NYC and Edna Limia, Van Cortland Park, 10:30 am

Thursday, August 9 Celebrate Brooklyn! Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Prospect Park Bandshell, 8:00

Friday, August 10 SummerStage Dance: Uptown Dance Academy, Poe Park, 10:30 am

Friday, August 10 Passport Fridays: Taiwan, with dance by Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, music by Taiwanese Music Ensemble of New York, and screening of Fishing Luck (Wen-chen Tseng, 2005), Queens Museum, 6:30

Friday, August 10 SummerStage Dance: Camille A. Brown & Dancers and MoralesDance, Master Class by Camille A. Brown, Marcus Garvey Park, 7:00

Saturday, August 11 SummerStage Dance: Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble and MBDance, Master Class by Kùlú Mèlé African Dance & Drum Ensemble, Marcus Garvey Park, 7:00

Saturday, August 11
through
Saturday, August 18 Downtown Dance Festival, multiple locations

Sunday, August 12 MoonDance: David Berger Jazz Orchestra, Hudson River Park Pier 84, dance lessons 6:30, concert 7:00

Wednesday, August 15 SummerStage Dance: Koresh Dance Company, BalletX, and Dancin’ Downtown at the Joyce, Central Park, 8:00

Friday, August 17 Passport Fridays: Dominican Republic, with music by Irka & the Women of Fire and Los Calientes and screening of Louis Vargas: Santo Domingo Blues (Alex Wolfe, 2004), Queens Museum, 6:30

Friday, August 17 SummerStage Dance: White Wave Yuong Soon Kim Dance Company, DoubleTake Dance, Master Class by Desmond Richardson from Complexions Contemporary Ballet, East River Park, 7:00

Saturday, August 18 SummerStage Dance: Eleone Dance Theatre, Niles Ford, Urban Dance Collective, Master Class by Calvin Wiley, East River Park, 7:00

Tuesday, August 21 SummerStage Dance: Something Positive, Underwood Park, 10:30 am

Thursday, August 23 SummerStage Dance: Something Positive, Faber Park, 10:30 am

Friday, August 24 Passport Fridays: Puerto Rico, with dance by Bombazo Dance Company, music by Orquesta Rovira, and screening of Cayo (Vicente Juarbe, 2005), Queens Museum, 6:30

THE MONKEY CHANNEL

Fred Torres Collaborations
527 West 29th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Saturday, June 16, 7:00, and Sunday, June 17, 4:00
Tickets: $15
212-244-5074
www.johnbyrneproductions.com
www.fredtorres.com

Last summer, dancer and choreographer John Byrne presented “Facility of Movement,” an engaging site-specific lunchtime dance made in conjunction with David LaChapelle’s “From Darkness to Light” installation at Lever House, which was designed by Fred Torres Collaborations. Byrne and LaChapelle also worked together on Byrne’s evening-length Transcending Form at Theatre 80. This weekend Byrne will be premiering The Monkey Channel, a play with dance inspired by the writings of John Krakauer (Into Thin Air), running June 16-17 at Fred Torres in Chelsea. In 1990, midwestern single mom Cindy suddenly decides to climb Mt. Eiger, the more-than-thirteen-thousand-foot-high mountain in the Bernese Alps made famous by the Trevanian book and Clint Eastwood movie The Eiger Sanction, leaving her teenage daughter at home with an exchange student from the Dominican Republic. The play is written and directed by Byrne, who also appears in the production along with Debra Zalkind and Natasha Murray. Tickets are available with advance RSVP to john@johnbyrneproductions.com.