this week in dance

WALLY CARDONA: INTERVENTION #6: ARUP, ACOUSTICIANS AND THEATER CONSULTANTS

Wally Cardona will hold INTERVENTION #6 on March 26 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (photo by Peggy Kaplan / artwork by Adam Shecter)

Baryshnikov Arts Center, Studio 4A
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Saturday, March 26, $15, 8:30
646-731-3200
www.bacnyc.org
www.wcvismorphing.org
www.arup.com

Since last fall, Brooklyn-based dancer and choreographer Wally Cardona has been staging “Interventions” in which he goes to various cities and is introduced to a local stranger who is an expert in a field other than dance, and the two collaborate for five days, then present their one-night-only work to the public. On March 26, Cardona will offer Intervention #6, the third of three Interventions at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Following his fruitful collaboration with activist and sound artist Robert Sember in January — the two developed a complex piece involving verbal and nonverbal communication and movement over the course of a series of repeated scenes, each with unique and challenging variations — and his not-quite-as-successful pairing with performance-space architect Martin Kapell, which included literary quotations and lots of time and space to kill, Cardona (Really Real, A Light Conversation) has teamed with Raj Patel, Rachid Abu-Hassan, and Terence Caulkins of Arup Acoustics and Theatre Consulting, the company behind part of the refurbishment of the Jerome Robbins Theatre at BAC. “For me,” Cardona explained in our February twi-ny talk “a powerful thing in each Intervention is not just the fact that I’m meeting a person from a very different discipline or field of inquiry but that I’m meeting a complete stranger. And with the agreement that we’ll spend a week together. The first thing that happens is I perform my ‘empty solo’ for them, and I have to confess that with each Intervention, I begin the second day wondering if the person will show up again.” The Interventions are part of a collaboration with Paris-based choreographer Jennifer Lacey, whose My First Time with a Dramaturge series will come together with Cardona’s Interventions for the larger project Tool Is Loot, with music by Berlin-based composer Jonathan Bepler. The seventh and final Intervention takes place April 23 at Dance Place in Washington, DC, with public servant Silas Grant.

VATIC

Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
248 West 60th St. between Amsterdam & West End Ave.
March 23-25, $35, 8:00
212-787-1178
www.facebook.com
www.manhattanmovement.com

An audiovisual spectacle that melds commercial hip-hop with contemporary dance, VATIC promises to get people out of their seat — especially during the first act, which has very limited seating. Artistic director and choreographer Dana Foglia, with guest choreographer Joanna Numata, has followed up Apollonia Productions’ Cy.clo.thy.mi.a. with another wild show that seeks to take audiences to the next level, featuring unique costumes, eye-popping acrobatics, and other cutting-edge elements. From the Latin, “Vatic” means “prophetic” or “oracular,” giving the program a futuristic bent. Vatic opened last night and continues Thursday and Friday at 8:00 at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center with dancers Justin Conte, Ryan Davis, Apolla Echino, Courtney Goerge, Nekai Johnson, Meeka Kameoka, Rie Komine, Natsuki Miya, Nadine Olmo, Philip John Orsano, Moncef Outiche, Mishay Petronelli, Alan Robert, Yvonne-Marie Sain, and Ai Shimatsu.

HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT

Galapagos Art Space
16 Main St., DUMBO
Wednesday, March 23, $10-$40, 7:30 & 9:00
718-222-8500
www.galapagosartspace.com

An all-star lineup has teamed up for a one-night-only presentation of a new English-language production of Igor Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) on March 23 at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO. The 1918 work, based on a parable about a Russian soldier who makes a deal with the devil, will be conducted by flutist Ransom Wilson for his Le Train Bleu ensemble, which will be making its highly anticipated debut. The choreography is by Lars Lubovitch and lighting by Jennifer Tipton, with New York City Opera stage director A. Scott Parry serving as dramaturge. Le Train Bleu consists of Brian Ellingsen on double bass, Alexey Gorokholinsky on clarinet, Shelley Monroe on bassoon, Hugo Moreno on trumpet, Jennifer Griggs on trombone, Ian Rosenbaum on percussion, and Tim Fain on violin. The world-premiere production features Lars Lubovitch Dance Company members Reid Bartelme as the soldier, Nicole Corea as the princess, and Attila Csiki as the devil, with Reed Armstrong acting the part of the devil and John Arnold the soldier; William Ferguson will serve as narrator. Histoire du Soldat will be performed at 7:30 and 9:30, with tickets ranging from $10 for students to $40 for reserved Island Seating that comes with an open bar. In addition, Friend tickets ($140/$100 tax deductible) include a preshow reception, while Patron tickets ($500/$460 tax deductible) include a postperformance reception with the artists as well, benefiting the Lars Lubovitch Dance Company.

MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY: LEGACY TOUR

“Antic Meet” will be one of three pieces presented during the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final Joyce season (photo by Richard Rutledge)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
March 22-27, $10-$59
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.merce.org

When legendary dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham died in July 2009 at the age of ninety, he left behind a Legacy Plan for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, centered around a two-year international Legacy Tour that would end with the troupe disbanding at the end of 2011, culminating with a New Year’s Eve farewell performance in New York City. But first the Legacy Tour brings the company, which was formed in 1953, to the Joyce, where they initially appeared in 1984, and will consist of three works. Antic Meet (1958), which has not bee seen in more than forty years, showcases Cunningham’s extensive collaboration with artist Robert Rauschenberg, who designed the décor and costumes; the ten-part piece is set to “Concert for Piano and Orchestra” by John Cage, Cunningham’s longtime partner onstage and off. Quartet (1982) is a dance for five people — four of whom interact with and ignore a single male dancer, originally portrayed by Cunningham — set to David Tudor’s “Sextet for Seven.” And 1993’s CRWDSPCR, created with Cunningham’s DanceForms software, features a score by John King (“blues 99”) and décor, costumes, and lighting by Mark Lancaster, all developed individually of one another. The Legacy Tour will return to the city July 16 for the daylong Merce Fair at the Lincoln Center Festival, which will include 1980’s Duets and 1976’s Squaregame in addition to workshops, video installations, and more.

KDNY: GOING

KDNY will present three world premieres at annual New York City season this weekend

The Ailey Citigroup Theater
The Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th St. at Ninth Ave.
March 18-19 at 8:00, March 20 at 3:00, $20
866-811-4111
www.kdnydance.com

Since 1997, Kathleen Dyer and her KDNY Dancers have been staging productions “dedicated to the passions and intricacies of the female spirit” in such works as Sheridan in Limbo, Attending Kinneely, Moerae, and East Whistwaddle Ladies and as members of the Women in Motion (WIM) Project. For the company’s thirteenth annual New York City season, they’ll be at the Ailey Citigroup Theater March 18-20, presenting three premieres, Vinegar Hill, Going, and Formula, set to original music by composer Cristina Spinei and avant cellist Zoë Keating, along with 2009’s Evergreen. Together the works explore nature and the human condition, featuring dancers Carly Berrett, Heather Kemp, Lindsey McGill, Melissa Peraldo, Katlyn Baskin Waldo, and Leslie Ziff, with lighting by Dans Maree Sheehan and video projection by Kemp.

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY

The Trisha Brown Dance Company will be making their Dance Theater Workshop debut this month (photo by Mark Hanauer)

Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St.
March 16-26, $25
212-924-0077
www.dtw.org
www.trishabrowncompany.org

Over the course of its more-than-forty-year history, the Trisha Brown Dance Company has performed in big and small houses all over the world, including last year in France, Tunisia, England, and Brazil in addition to the Guggenheim and already this year in Sweden, France, Spain, and MoMA. So it’s hard to believe that the New York-based troupe has never before appeared at Dance Theater Workshop, where they will at last be making their debut March 16-26. The program includes two works from Brown’s Back to Zero Cycle, the slow, subtle For MG: The Movie , with live music played by score composer Alvin Curran, and Foray Forêt, featuring visual design and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg and a live traditional marching band. “I make order out of chaos, Bob makes chaos out of order, and where we meet is chaos,” Brown has said of working with Rauschenberg. The evening will also premiere Neal Beasley dancing the 1978 solo piece Watermotor, which only Brown has previously performed. The opening-night performance will be preceded by a Coffee and Conversation gathering, and Brown will participate in a postshow talk on March 25.

DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS: CHAPTERS FROM A BROKEN NOVEL

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
March 15-20, $10-$59
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.dougvaroneanddancers.org

Long Island native Doug Varone is celebrating his company’s twenty-fifth anniversary with the New York premiere of Chapters from a Broken Novel, running at the Joyce March 15-20. The evening-length piece consists of twenty vignettes inspired by quotes from books, movies, and overheard conversations, resulting in dramatic portraits that delve into human nature, the body, and private and public intercommunication. Composer and percussionist David Van Tieghem will perform his original score live; the crew also includes lighting designer Jane Cox, scenic designer Andrew Lieberman, and costume designer Liz Prince. Doug Varone and Dancers, the resident company of the 92nd St. Y’s Harkness Dance Center, features Julia Burrer, Ryan Corriston, Natalie Desch, Erin Owen, Alex Springer, Eddite Taketa, and Netta Yerushalmy, who will be following up such relatively recent projects as Alchemy, Dense Terrain, Lux, and Orpheus and Euridice.

Update: Like a great book that you can’t put down, Doug Varone & Dancers’ Chapters from a Broken Novel — performed without intermission — contains compelling characters, unexpected plot twists, complex relationships, and emotional depth. Consisting of twenty vignettes ranging from barely sixty seconds to several minutes, the evening-length piece begins with “Spilling the Contents,” in which the full company presents a dazzling overview of what is to come, a sort-of précis filled with anticipation, followed by individual chapters whose titles are projected onto an arched white sheet hanging from the ceiling. With percussionist David Van Tieghem providing live accompaniment to his prerecorded score, the seven dancers flawlessly turn the pages of an abstract cinematic narrative that offers aggressive conflict, introspective moments of loneliness and desperation, scenes of chaos and confusion, depictions of love and desire, and forays into death and forgiveness. The outstanding company is highlighted by Eddie Taketa’s somber “Funeral,” Erin Owen’s playful “Tile Riot,” Netta Yerushalmy’s breathless “Twelve Dreams for Rent,” and Ryan Corriston and Yerushalmy’s poignant “Ruby Throated Sparrows,” with subtle but superb lighting by Jane Cox, often casting haunting, illuminating shadows against the backdrop. Chapters from a Broken Novel is a thrilling night of moving literature at its very best.