this week in dance

CROSSING THE LINE FESTIVAL 2022

Fouad Boussouf’s Näss will be performed at the Joyce as part of FIAF fest (photo © Charlotte Audureau)

CROSSING THE LINE FESTIVAL
FIAF and other locations
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 9–October 28, free – $75
212-355-6100
fiaf.org

FIAF’s fifteenth annual Crossing the Line Festival is another journey into exciting, challenging, and experimental music, dance, and theater from the French-speaking world. Running September 9 through October 28, the programs take place at such venues as Abrons Arts Center, New York Live Arts, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, the Joyce, and BAM in addition to FIAF’s Gallery, Florence Gould Hall, and Skyroom.

“For our first year curating this festival, we wanted to honor its founding principles: presenting compelling multidisciplinary art forms throughout the city, bringing acclaimed cutting-edge French and Francophone productions to our shores, and nurturing dialogue between international and New York-based artists,” curators Mathilde Augé and Florent Masse write in a program note. “The fifteenth edition of the festival features a diverse group of audacious artists engaging with the most pressing issues of our time — including gender, sexuality, human connection, race, and climate change — and exploring new territories in performing arts.”

None of the nine live performances — there were supposed to be ten but Caroline Guiela Nguyen’s FRATERNITY, A Fantastic Tale had to be canceled because of visa problems — has ever been seen before in New York, including several North American, US, and world premieres. The mix of dance, theater, art, music, and literature hails from Senegal, France, South Africa, Rwanda, the United States, and Morocco, examining societal change, Vaslav Nijinsky, science, Cheikh Anta Diop, intergenerational culture, the political views of René Char and Frantz Fanon, and a Detroit rave.

In addition, FIAF is hosting the fall open house celebration Fête de la Rentrée, highlighted by an opening reception for Omar Ba’s “Clin d’oeil” art exhibition on September 9 at 6:00 (free with RSVP) and a Sunset Soirée at Le Bain on October 12 at the Standard Hotel (free with RSVP). Below is the full Crossing the Line schedule.

Helena de Laurens stars in Marion Siéfert’s _ jeanne_dark _ at FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival (photo © Matthieu Bareyre)

September 9 – October 28
Exhibition: “Clin d’oeil,” by Omar Ba, FIAF Gallery, free

Wednesday, September 14, and Thursday, September 15
Theater: _ jeanne_dark _, by Marion Siéfert, starring Helena de Laurens, North American premiere, FIAF Florence Gould Hall, $40, 7:30

Wednesday, September 21
Theater: Traces – Speech to African Nations, by Felwine Sarr and Étienne Minoungou, with Étienne Minoungou and Simon Winsé, New York premiere, Abrons Arts Center, $25, 8:30

Thursday, September 22, through Saturday, September 24
Dance: And so you see… our honourable blue sky and ever enduring sun… can only be consumed slice by slice…, by Robyn Orlin, performed by Albert Ibokwe Khoza, US premiere, New York Live Arts, $15-$35, 7:30

Saturday, September 24
Theater: Freedom, I’ll have lived your dream until the very last day, by Felwine Sarr and Dorcy Rugamba, featuring Marie-Laure Crochant, Majnun, Felwine Sarr, and T.I.E., North American premiere, Florence Gould Hall, $40, 7:30

Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït-Touati’s Terrestrial Trilogy closes out FIAF fest (photo © zonecritiquecie)

Thursday, September 29, and Friday, September 30
Performance: Fire in the Head, by Christopher Myers, world premiere, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, $20, 7:30

Thursday, October 6, through Saturday, October 8
Dance: The Encounter, by Kimberly Bartosik, performed by Kimberly Bartosik, Claude “CJ” Johnson, Burr Johnson, Joanna Kotze, Ryan Pliss, Kalub Thompson, Mac Twining, River Bartosik-Murray, Logan Farmer, and Ellington Hurd, world premiere, FIAF Skyroom, $30, 7:30

Thursday, October 13, through Saturday, October 15
Dance: CROWD, by Gisèle Vienne, US premiere, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, $35-$75, 7:30

Tuesday, October 18, through Sunday, October 23
Dance: Näss, by Fouad Boussouf, New York premiere, the Joyce Theater, $20-$55

Thursday, October 27, and Friday, October 28
Theater: The Terrestrial Trilogy, a Performance in Three Parts: Inside, Moving Earths, and Viral, by Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït-Touati, with special guest Bruno Latour, North American premiere, FIAF Florence Gould Hall, $40

JOHN JASPERSE PROJECTS: VISITATION

Tim Bendernagel and Doug LeCours will perform in John Jasperse’s Visitation at NYU Skriball (photo by Maria Baranova)

VISITATION
NYU Skirball
566 LaGuardia Pl.
September 9-10, $35, 7:30
nyuskirball.org
johnjasperse.org

In a May 2012 twi-ny talk, dance artist John Jasperse said, “I would like to see justice in general in the world. I’d like to think that the work that I make is participating in this greater collective effort. Since money is our primary mutually agreed system of valuation, I would like to see more ethics reflected in how money gets spent in the domain of culture.” For more than thirty years, the Manhattan-based Jasperse, who was born in Rockville, Maryland, and graduated from Sarah Lawrence, where he has been the director of dance since 2016, has been choreographing works that challenge the audience while taking on social issues and exploring personal intimacies. In works such as Misuse Liable to Prosecution, Canyon, Fort Blossom, Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful Thinking, and Flat Out Lies, and Becky, Jodi and John, he walks the fine line between fantasy and reality while delving into the human body and the psyche.

For its first evening-length piece in four years, John Jasperse Projects is making its NYU Skirball debut with the world premiere of Visitation, incorporating spiritualism, the occult, ghosts, and camp. Visitation was created in collaboration with performers Tim Bendernagel, Cynthia Koppe, and Doug LeCours, featuring an original score by Hahn Rowe along with fragments from Richard Wagner. The lighting is by Stan Pressner. Visitation was initially developed over Zoom before in-person rehearsals were deemed safe. In a late 2021 email to supporters, Jasperse explained, “I can’t recall a creative process that has gone through so many twists and turns.” Performances take place September 9 and 10 at 7:30; tickets are $35.

TICKET ALERT: FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL 2022

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will perform Aszure Barton’s BUSK at Fall for Dance (photo by Paul Kolnik)

FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL
New York City Center
131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tickets go on sale Sunday, August 28, 11:00 am
Festival runs September 21 – October 2, $20
212-581-1212
www.nycitycenter.org

And, they’re off! Sunday morning at 11:00, tickets go on sale for the always hotly anticipated Fall for Dance Festival at City Center. The nineteenth annual event consists of five programs performed twice each over the course of ten days, featuring an international collection of established and emerging companies and choreographers; among the highlights are several live premieres of digital commissions; the festival includes works choreographed by Marius Petipa, Pam Tanowitz, Aszure Barton, Jamar Roberts, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, and Hofesh Shechter, among others. With tickets a mere twenty bucks, the festival sells out extremely quickly, so don’t waste any time and set those alarm clocks. Good luck!

Wednesday, September 21, and Thursday, September 22, 8:00
Program 1
HERVE KOUBI, Boys Don’t Cry, New York premiere, choreography by Hervé Koubi
António Casalinho & Margarita Fernandes, Bavarian State Ballet, Pas de deux from Le Corsaire, choreography by Marius Petipa
Gibney Company, Bliss, North American premiere, choreography by Johan Inger

Friday, September 23, and Saturday, September 24, 8:00
Program 2
Music from the Sole, I Didn’t Come to Stay, choreography and music by Leonardo Sandoval and Gregory Richardson
Melissa Toogood & Herman Cornejo, No Nonsense, New York premiere, choreography by Pam Tanowitz
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, BUSK, choreography by Aszure Barton

Tuesday, September 27, and Wednesday, September 28, 8:00
Program 3
James Gilmer, Morani/Mungu (Black Warrior/Black God), live premiere, choreography by Jamar Roberts
San Francisco Ballet, In the Night, choreography by Jerome Robbins
María Moreno, Tangos & Alegrías, with guest singer María Terremoto, choreography by María Moreno

Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 8:00
Program 4
Sara Mearns & Robbie Fairchild, The Two of Us, live New York premiere, choreography by Christopher Wheeldon
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Indestructible, choreography by Abby Zbikowski
Kyiv City Ballet, Thoughts and Men of Kyiv, New York premiere, choreography by Vladyslav Dobshynskyi, Ivan Kozlov

Saturday, October 1, 8:00, and Sunday, October 2, 3:00
Program 5
Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, in collaboration with Chitrasena Dance Company, Poornāratī, New York premiere, choreography by Surupa Sen
Dutch National Ballet, Variations for Two Couples, choreography by Hans van Manen
Martha Graham Dance Company, CAVE, choreography by Hofesh Shechter

LIVE AT THE ARCHWAY: “iyouuswe III”

White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company will present the denouement of its “iyouuswe” trilogy August 25 at the DUMBO archway (photo courtesy White Wave Dance)

Who: White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company
What: Live at the Archway
Where: DUMBO Archway, 155 Water St. between Anchorage Pl. & Adams St.
When: Thursday, August 25, free (advance RSVP recommended), 6:00
Why: White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company, founders/curators of the DUMBO Dance Festival, Wave Rising Series, CoolNY Dance Festival, and SoloDuo Dance Festival, will perform the latest iteration of their longtime work-in-progress “iyouuswe” on August 25 at 6:00 as part of the summer program “Live at the Archway.” The show takes place in the archway under the Manhattan Bridge on Water St.; admission is free but advance RSVP is recommended.

The first section of the work, which as a whole “explores the body’s three dimensions in space” and “the weight of human emotions . . . as chaos propels us to the inevitable collapse of society,” premiered at La MaMa in 2017. The Brooklyn-based troupe presented a virtual version of iyouuswe II in November 2020, filmed on Jones Beach as the tide approaches three dancers. (You can watch it at the sixty-minute mark of this video.) The next iteration occurred this past February at Dixon Place for SoloDuo. For “Live at the Archway,” the denouement of the trilogy will feature Lacey Baroch, Michael Bishop, Sumire Ishige, Casey LaVres, Tess McCharen, Derick McKoy Jr., Jake Nahor, Alexander Sargent, Ellie Swainhart, and John Trunfio, with an original score by Marco Cappelli, additional music by Jim Perkins, Stephan Bodzin, and Angus MacRae, lighting by Yuriy Nayer, dramaturgy by James Leverett, and videography by Sargent.

HARLEM WEEK: A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM AND MORE

Who: Uptown Dance Academy, Unveiled Unlocked, IMPACT Repertory Theatre, Mama Foundation’s Sing Harlem! Choir, the Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! Choir, Lord Nelson, Shemar Levy, Lorenzo Laroc, the Bengsons, Kenny Lattimore, Ray Chew & the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band
What: Annual Harlem Week celebration
Where: U.S. Grant National Memorial Park, West 122nd St. at Riverside Dr.
When: Sunday, August 14, free, noon – 7:00 pm
Why: One of the centerpieces of Harlem Week is “A Great Day in Harlem,” which takes place Sunday, August 14, as part of the opening weekend of this ten-day summer festival. There will be an international village with booths selling food, clothing, jewelry, and more, as well as live music and dance divided into “Artz, Rootz & Rhythm,” “The Gospel Caravan,” and “the Concert Under the Stars.” Among the performers are the Uptown Dance Academy, Kenny Lattimore, Unveiled Unlocked, IMPACT Repertory Theatre, the Sing Harlem! Choir, the Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! Choir, and electric violinist and composer Lorenzo Laroc. In addition, the Bengsons will play songs from their show Where the Mountains Meet the Sea; there will be a tribute to Tobago-born calypsonian Lord Nelson, with Shemar Levy and Nelson himself; and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album will be honored by Ray Chew & the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band.

Harlem Week runs August 12-21 with such other events as the Percy Sutton 5K and 1.5-mile Harlem Health Walk (August 13, 8:00 am), Great Jazz on the Great Hill in Central Park with the Jimmy Heath Legacy Band, the Antonio Hart Quartet, and Tammy McCann (August 13, 4:00), the livestreamed Charles B Rangel Systemic Racism Summit (August 16, noon), the ImageNation Outdoor Film Festival (Marcus Garvey Park, August 17, 6:00; St. Nicholas Park, August 20, 6:00), the livestreamed talk “Ta-Nehisi Coates and Dr. Julius Garvey: A Harlem on My Mind Conversation” (August 17, 7:30), the livestreamed Arts & Culture/Broadway Summit (August 18, 3:00), Harlem SummerStage (August 18, 5:30), Summer in the City with the Jeff Foxx Band, Donnell Jones, EPMD, Freddie Jackson, and others (August 20, 1:00), and the grand Harlem Day with Dru Hill, Slick Rick, Doug E Fresh, Levell, Grandmaster Caz & Melle Mel, MJ the Musical, and more. All events are free.

BATTERY DANCE FESTIVAL 2022

Battery Dance Company hosts annual festival August 13-20 (photo by Steven Pisano)

BATTERY DANCE FESTIVAL
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, Battery Park City
20 Battery Pl.
August 13-19, free with advance RSVP, 7:00
August 20, Schimmel Center at Pace University, $10-$75, 6:00
batterydance.org

The forty-first annual Battery Dance Festival is back fully in person this summer, with live presentations from three dozen companies from around the globe, including several New York City and world premieres. Free performances take place August 13-19 at 7:00 at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park in Battery Park City and will be livestreamed as well; the festival concludes August 20 at 6:00 with a ticketed indoor closing celebration and VIP reception at the Schimmel Center at Pace University ($10 for performance, $75 for VIP with priority seating and preshow Prosecco toast). Dance enthusiasts will be able to check out multiple disciplines, from tap and classical ballet to circus and Afro-Brazilian, from the US, Canada, Romania, Singapore, Denmark, Spain, and elsewhere, with some programs featuring live music.

“Lady Liberty might be tempted to shimmy and shake as dance companies from near and far take the stage at Wagner Park once again this summer. Audiences will have a tough time deciding which performance to attend,” Battery Dance founder Jonathan Hollander said in a statement.

Below is the full schedule.

Saturday, August 13, 7:00
Sydney Burtis, The Difference
Zachary Seto, Nostalgic Beings of Synesthesia
Camryn & Courtney Spero, Distance
Kate Louissant, For Love
Lerato Ragontse, In Between Change
Anya Susan, In Conversation
Myles King, The Last Foundry
Shannon Harkins, Dreams and Nightmares of a Mutant People

Sunday, August 14, 7:00
The Dancing Wheels Company, Unconquered Warriors
Ballet Nepantla, Let Down & Huasteca Suite
Linotip, Diagonal and Cain
Gaudanse, Nanibu
Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Just Above the Surface
The Vanaver Caracan, Vanaver Caravan retrospective

Monday, August 15: India Independence Day, 7:00
Anjali Dance Company, Nagendra Haraya, Pranavakaram, and Tillana
Siddendra Kuchipudi Dance Company, Naumisatam, Sringaralahari, Chandra Sherkaram, and Keedaragoula

Tuesday, August 16, 7:00
Christina Carminucci, The Solidarity Series IV: Free Spirits Suite
Linotip, Diagonal and Cain
Fairul Zahid & LaSalle Dance Singapore, Allocentric
Buglisi Dance Theatre, The Threads Project #1: “Universal Dialogues”
Boca Tuya / Omar Roman de Jesus, Los Perros del Barrio Colosal

Wednesday, August 17, 7:00
Xing Dance Theater, Citizen
Julienne Doko, Lost Memories (Mémoires Perdues)
Tati Nuñez, Touch — Returned
Dos Proposiciones Dance Theatre, Pacto de Fuga
Ntrinsik Movement, Kindred Spirit
Ballet Inc., Touche
Alison Chase/Performance, Tsu-Ku-Tsu

Thursday, August 18, 7:00
Demi Remick & Dancers, That’s Entertainment!
Floyd McLean Jr., Cold
Battery Dance, A Certain Mood
TeaTime Company, Stick-Stok
Fairul Zahid & LaSalle Dance Singapore, Allocentric
Tina Croll + Company, Balkan Bacchanal

Friday, August 19, 7:00
Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Face What’s Facing You!
Lanecoarts, Swerve
Dos Proposiciones Dance Theatre, Pacto de Fuga
I Kada Contemporary Dance Company, Unfolding
Battery Dance, Wind in the Olive Grove
Compagnie Virginie Brunelle, Les Corps Avalés

Saturday, August 20, Schimmel Center at Pace University, 6:00
Boca Tuya / Omar Roman de Jesus, Los Perros del Barrio Colosal
Battery Dance, Above Deep Waters
Julienne Doko, Lost Memories (Mémoires Perdues)
TeaTime Company, Stick-Stok
Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Face What’s Facing You!
Compagnie Virginie Brunelle, Les Corps Avalés

SUMMER FOR THE CITY: BAAND TOGETHER DANCE FESTIVAL

Who: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem
What: Free dance festival
Where: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
When: August 9-13, free, 5:00 & 7:30
Why: Last summer, Lincoln Center presented the inaugural BAAND Together Dance Festival, consisting of five different programs by five of New York’s finest companies: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. In a joint statement for the second annual event, the five artistic directors explain, “Last year’s festival was a resounding success, proof that New York audiences are excited for their beloved dance companies to return to the stage. This year we will go beyond performing side by side and do so together, as a unified dance family, through an exciting new work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. This new work is a testament to our commitment for building new avenues of cultural innovation, dialogue, and accessibility for our incredible city.”

Banding together August 9-13, each troupe will host one daily workshop at 5:00 for all ages. Below is the complete schedule, with wide-ranging works by Alvin Ailey, Michelle Manzanales, George Balanchine, Ulysses Dove, Helen Pickett, Jessica Lang, Robert Battle, Pedro Ruiz, and Robert Garland.

Tuesday, August 9, 5:00
New York City Ballet Children’s Workshop

Tuesday, August 9, 7:30
One for All, world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dancers from each of the five companies, set to “Manteca” by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Cry, by Alvin Ailey, with music by Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, and Voices of East Harlem
Ballet Hispánico: Con Brazos Abiertos, by Michelle Manzanales, with music by Julio Iglesias and others
Dance Theatre of Harlem: When Love, by Helen Pickett
American Ballet Theatre: Children’s Songs Dance, by Jessica Lang, with music by Chick Corea

Ballet Hispánico’s Club Havana is part of free Lincoln Center festival (photo by Paula Lobo)

Wednesday, August 10, 5:00
Ballet Hispánico’s Latin Social Dance Workshop

Wednesday, August 10, 7:30
One for All, world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dancers from each of the five companies, set to “Manteca” by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie
Ballet Hispánico: Con Brazos Abiertos, by Michelle Manzanales, with music by Julio Iglesias and others
New York City Ballet: Red Angels, by Ulysses Dove, set to Richard Einhorn’s “Maxwell’s Demon”
American Ballet Theatre: Children’s Songs Dance, by Jessica Lang, set to music by Chick Corea
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Love Stories finale, by Robert Battle, with music by Stevie Wonder
Dance Theatre of Harlem: Return, by Robert Garland, with music by James Brown and Aretha Franklin

Thursday, August 11, 5:00
Dancing with Ailey on the Plaza!

Thursday, August 11, 7:30
One for All, world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dancers from each of the five companies, set to “Manteca” by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie
Ballet Hispánico: Club Havana, by Pedro Ruiz
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre: Pas de Duke, by Alvin Ailey, performed by Jacquelin Harris and Herman Cornejo, with music by Duke Ellington
New York City Ballet: Red Angels, by Ulysses Dove, set to Richard Einhorn’s “Maxwell’s Demon”
Dance Theatre of Harlem: When Love, by Helen Pickett
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Love Stories finale, by Robert Battle, with music by Stevie Wonder

Dance Theatre of Harlem will present Return at BAAND Together (photo by Rachel Neville)

Friday, August 12, 5:00
Dancing in the Street with Dance Theatre of Harlem

Friday, August 12, 7:30
One for All, world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dancers from each of the five companies, set to “Manteca” by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie
Dance Theatre of Harlem: Return, by Robert Garland, with music by James Brown and Aretha Franklin
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Cry, by Alvin Ailey, with music by Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, and Voices of East Harlem
New York City Ballet: Allegro Brillante, by George Balanchine, set to Tschaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre: Pas de Duke, by Alvin Ailey, performed by Jacquelin Harris and Herman Cornejo, with music by Duke Ellington
Ballet Hispánico: Club Havana, by Pedro Ruiz

Saturday, August 13, 5:00
American Ballet Theatre: ABTKids Story Ballet Workshop

Saturday, August 13, 7:30
American Ballet Theatre: Children’s Songs Dance, by Jessica Lang, set to music by Chick Corea
Ballet Hispánico: Club Havana, by Pedro Ruiz
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Cry, by Alvin Ailey, with music by Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, and Voices of East Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem: When Love, by Helen Pickett
New York City Ballet: Allegro Brillante, by George Balanchine, set to Tschaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3
One for All, world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, with dancers from each of the five companies, set to “Manteca” by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie