this week in dance

CEDAR LAKE CONTEMPORARY BALLET AT THE JOYCE

Cedar Lake will present two programs of three works apiece during two-week season at the Joyce

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
October 26 – November 7, $10-$59 (October 27 performance reviewed)
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.cedarlakedance.com

The immensely talented and creative Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will be heading slightly southeast for its two-week fall season at the Joyce. The company, which has its own home on West 26th St., will be presenting a pair of international programs, beginning with Norwegian Jo Strømgren’s SUNDAY, AGAIN, Italian dancer-choreographer Jacopo Godani’s UNIT IN REACTION, and Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s HUBBUB, running October 26-31, followed by SUNDAY, AGAIN, the London-based, Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter’s THE FOOLS, and Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman’s breathtaking FRAME OF VIEW, which we caught during its New York premiere back in January 2009. (UNIT IN REACTION, HUBBUB, and THE FOOLS are city premieres.) Last year, Cedar Lake blew away dance fans with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s spectacular ORBO NOVO, so it’s a treat to have them back again.

In SUNDAY, AGAIN, Strømgren depicts man-woman dynamics among the wealthy leisure class on their day of rest. Carrying around badminton equipment, costumed in white, vaguely reminiscent of sporting clothes, with white ankle-high socks, the dancers play another game, treating each other roughly, then affectionately, then everywhere in between. Only Acacia Schachte, a central figure, wears a gray dress as she battles it out with Jason Kittelberger. Set to delightful harpsichord music by Bach, SUNDAY, AGAIN is a playful, if not particularly deep, work propped with a broken racket, a net, and a shuttlecock that emerges from unusual places. UNIT IN REACTION tests the limits of three male and three female dancers in body-tugging outfits as they move to Ülrich Müller and Siegfried Rössert’s electronic soundscapes in sharp geometric patterns, individually and together. Choreographer, costumer, and lighting designer Godani works with abrupt breaks and reconfigurations, punctuated by silences and darkness. In a series of solos and duets, the well-muscled dancers get to show off their chops, even if the narrative is too vague for some tastes. The evening concludes with HUBBUB, Ekman’s narrative-laden boot camp as each member of the company, dressed only in tight underwear, stands at their own table, listening closely as an unseen voice, reading along with a typewriter dangling in midair, takes them through a careful series of procedures, with music by Chopin and Xavier Cugat playing in the background. The dance-theater piece features a silly but engaging duet by Nickemil Concepcion and Harumi Terayama (or Oscar Ramos and Schachte, depending on the night), whose supposed internal commentary is read aloud as they move. It’s self-referential, self-indulgent, and self-deprecating all at the same time, but it’s also a fun crowd pleaser. The second program starts November 2 and repeats SUNDAY, AGAIN and adds THE FOOLS and FRAME OF VIEW; we saw the latter back in January 2009, using such words as “breathtaking” and “thrilling” in our review, available here.

ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE: THINK PUNK!

Armitage Gone! Dance will revisit two pieces from the '80s at Abrons Arts Center on Sunday and Monday (photo © Paula Court)

Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
Sunday, October 17, free, 3:00
Monday, October 18, $10, 8:00
212-352-3101
www.abronsartscenter.org
www.armitagegonedance.org

Last year New York City choreographer Karole Armitage revisited two of her groundbreaking works, 1981’s “Drastic-Classicism,” featuring an original score by Rhys Chatham, and 1985’s “The Watteau Duets,” set to a score by David Linton. Armitage’s Gone! Dance company will be performing excerpts from the two pieces as part of “Think Punk!” at the Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side on Sunday and Monday, with live music by Steve Gunn and TALIBAM! Get ready for a powerful experience, as the combination of Armitage’s aggressive, very physical choreography and the very loud live music should be exhilarating. The Sunday afternoon program is free; on Monday night, the excerpts will be accompanied by a a salon-style panel discussion involving the audience and special guests, including Armitage, composer Chatham, and artist James Nares, talking about the punk and art scene that took off in the 1970s ($10).

LAR LUBOVITCH DANCE COMPANY

Lar Lubovitch will present repertory works this weekend in Queens (photo by Chris Roesing)

Queens Theatre in the Park
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Saturday, October 16, 2:00, and 17, $40-$42
718-760-0064
www.queenstheatre.org
www.lubovitch.org

The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, founded in 1968 by the Chicago-born, New York City-based Lubovitch, will be at the recently renovated Queens Theatre in the Park this weekend, performing three shows featuring works from their extensive repertory. Earlier this year the company staged the world premiere of “Coltrane’s Favorite Things” at the Joyce, completing the jazz trilogy that began with “Elemental Brubeck” and “Kurt Elling: Nature Boy,” as well as the New York premiere of “Cryptoglyph.” Lubovitch will participate in a discussion following the Saturday performance. The company will also be at the Baryshnikov Arts Center November 18-21, presenting the world premiere of “Legend” in addition to “North Star” and “Coltrane’s Favorite Things.”

HILARY EASTON + COMPANY: LIGHT AND SHADE

Hilary Easton presents the world premiere of LIGHT AND SHADE at BAC this week

Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
October 14-17, $20
www.hilaryeaston.com
www.bacnyc.org

“I love dancing,” choreographer, dancer, teacher, and native New Yorker Hilary Easton explains in her artist’s statement. “I love inventing movement, watching it, doing it.” That joy comes through in her work, which has been presented since 1992 at such venues as PS122, Danspace Project, SummerStage, the American Dance Festival, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. New York-based Hilary Easton + Company will be holding the world premiere of their latest work, LIGHT AND SHADE, this week at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The forty-five-minute duet will be performed by Michael Ingle and Emily Pope-Blackman, set to a sound score by Mike Rugnetta, with lighting design by Kathy Kaufmann and costumes by Madeleine Walach. The piece explores the many ways of experiencing intimacy, between the dancers onstage as well as between the performers and the audience.

SANKAI JUKU: TOBARI

Sankai Juku makes its Joyce debut with TOBARI (photo © Sankai Juku)

AS IF IN AN INEXHAUSTIBLE FLUX
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Through Sunday, October 17, $10-$59
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.sankaijuku.com

One of the foremost practitioners of Butoh in the world, Tokyo-based Sankai Juku is back in New York City, making its Joyce debut with the 2008 evening-length piece TOBARI — AS IF IN AN INEXHAUSTIBLE FLUX. In November 2002, Sankai Juku, led by founder, director, choreographer, designer, and dancer Ushio Amagatsu, performed the miraculous HIBIKI (RESONANCE FROM FAR AWAY) at BAM, filling the stage with sand and pools of water, then returned in October 2006 with KAGEMI: BEYOND THE METAPHORS OF MIRRORS, which explored reflections both inward and outward. In TOBARI, Amagatsu, now in his early sixties, is joined by seven other male dancers, including company cofounder Semimaru, in a hypnotic eighty-minute production that follows life, death, and rebirth as day evolves into night. In the center of the stage, again covered in white sand, rests a slightly raised circular platform that occasionally sparkles with dots of light representing stars, which can also be seen on a black screen at the back of the stage. The white-powdered dancers, dressed like classical Greek statues, go through seven poetic movements, concentrating primarily on their hands, using their wrists and fingers as they stay in place, creating a unique, if sometimes off-putting, visual language. Beginning with “From unlimited nothingness” and ending with “Into unlimited nothingness” — other sections include “A shadow in a dream,” “Reflecting on each other,” and “A vertical dream of the future” — the dancers move agonizingly slowly, sometimes forming a circle around one man, other times writhing on the platform, highlighted by a powerful, expressive solo performed by Amagatsu. “Night blue” actually shocks the audience as four dancers appear in blue outfits and wearing dangling earrings, but it also turns out to be the weakest of the seven parts, the movement uninspiring and bland. The music, by Takashi Kako, YAS-KAZ, and Yoichiro Yoshikawa, ranges from crashing thunder to melancholia.

NEW YORK COMIC CON & ANIME FESTIVAL

Comic Con will team up with the New York Anime Festival this weekend at the Javits Center (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
11th Ave. between 34th & 39th Sts.
October 8-10
Weekend Pass: $50 (Friday Pass $30, Saturday Pass $40, Sunday Pass $30)
www.newyorkcomiccon.com
www.newyorkcomiccon.com/en/NYAF

This year New York Comic Con teams up with the New York Anime Festival for a three-day party of the best in comic books, graphic novels, superheroes and villains, animated shorts and features, artists, writers, filmmakers, video games, collectibles, live music, and so much more. A lot of the fun comes from just watching your fellow attendees, many of whom show up in elaborate costumes. Among the many guest on hand to sign autographs (some free, some ticketed, some paid) and/or participate in panel discussions, concerts, and sneak-peek screenings are Adrien Brody, Michelle Forbes, Bruce Campbell, Joyce DeWitt, Cary Elwes, Lou Ferrigno, Maggie Q, Morgan Spurlock, Boom Boom Satellites, J. Michael Straczynski, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Seth Green, VAMPS, Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Puffy AmiYumi, M. Knight Shymalan, Tricia Helfer, Eric Bana, Priscilla Barnes, William Katt, Tara McPherson, Noah Wyle, Echostream, and James Marsters. (Sorry, folks, but Gil Gerard canceled.) Below are just a handful of recommended events by day.

You never know what or who you’ll enounter at the annual New York Comic Con and Anime Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Friday, October 8: Oyama X Nitta Shamisen Concert, Room 1E09, 2:00

Friday, October 8: Remembering Harvey Pekar, with Jeff Newelt, Dean Haspiel, Peter Kuper, Rick Parker, Joseph Remnant, and Danny Fingeroth, Room 1A22, 4:30

Friday, October 8: Robot Chicken, screening and panel with Seth Green and Matt Senreich, IGN Theater, 6:45

Friday, October 8: MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, Room 1E02, 7:45

Friday, October 8: Dash Shaw and Chip Kidd in Conversation, Room 1A14, 8:15

Saturday, October 9: MTV Geek with Stan Lee and Bill Plympton, Room 1A08, 11:00 am

Saturday, October 9: Mort Walker and Beetle Bailey, with Mort Walker and Tom Spurgeon, Room 1A15, 1:00

Saturday, October 9: Spotlight on Dean Haspiel, with Dean Haspiel, Walter Simonson, Nick Bertozzi, Joan Hilty, and Jonathan Ames, moderated by Christopher Irving, Room 1A23, 2:45

Saturday, October 9: Minori Chihara Concert, IGN Theater, 7:30

Saturday, October 9: Roddenberry Is Back! with Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr. and Trevor Roth, Room 1A23, 9:00

Sunday, October 10: Castles, Forests, and Bath Houses: The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki, Room 1E13, 11:00 am

Sunday, October 10: Welcome to the Space Show, Room 1E03, 1:00

Sunday, October 10: The Walking Dead on AMC, with Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Frank Darabont, Robert Kirkman, and Gale Anne Hurd, IGN Theater, 2:15

Sunday, October 10: Voice and Art — Veronica Taylor and Misako Rocks!, Room 1E12, 3:00

Sunday, October 10: Bruce Campbell Spotlight, with Bruce Campbell, Room 1A08, 4:00

INTERROGATIONS: WORDS OF THE ZEN MASTERS

Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
October 8-9, $23-$28, 7:30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
www.yoshioida.com

Paris-based Japanese actor, director, and writer Yoshi Oida, who has worked with Peter Brook over the course of five decades, makes his first appearance in New York City in twelve years with his widely acclaimed one-man show, INTERROGATIONS, at Japan Society for two very special performances October 8-9. Accompanied by German experimental musician Dieter Trüstedt, Oida, mixing dance and comedy, plays a Zen master teaching a student (the audience) by asking Rinzai Zen koans that have no specific answers but are part of the continual journey toward enlightenment and, in Oida’s words, “a moment of shared delight [and] a living theatre.” As Oida explains on his website, “In this case, there is no spiritual or philosophical objective, only an entertainment based on the gap between word and thought. Obviously, there is no need for anyone to find the ‘right’ answer, but the questions act as a thread linking the audience with the two performers.”