this week in dance

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL

“Sushi” is performed in the windows of the BoConcept furniture store at 79 Front St. hourly between 2:00 & 5:00 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations
September 24-26
www.dumboartsfestival.com

The 2010 DUMBO Arts Festival will feature hundreds of events Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, three days of open studios, juried exhibitions and installations, concerts, dance, a digital summit, book signings, walking tours, performance art, a visual poetry marathon, children’s activities, and more, much of it free. The New York Photo Festival is premiering “Capture Brooklyn” at the powerHouse Arena, No Longer Empty will take over a suite in 111 Front St. as well as scaffolding outside 25 Washington St., Tom Verlaine will be playing at Galapagos with Billy Ficca and Patrick Derivaz, and Jonathan Lethem will be celebrating the launch of the paperback version of CHRONIC CITY. Among the other myriad participants and special events are the Brooklyn Ballet, Jane’s Carousel, storyteller LuAnn Adams, E. J. Antonio, the Strung Out String Band, Daniel Fishkin, Crystal Gregory, Mighty Tanaka, Bubby’s seventh annual Pie Social, a Steampunk Salon Saloon, and a bug-eating discussion with chef and artists Marc Dennis.

Anyone can be a star in Nelson Hancock’s two-part “That’s (not) Me” at DUMBO Arts Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

We particularly recommend Nelson Hancock’s “That’s (not) Me” outside on Main St. and inside at 55 Washington St., an August Sander-inspired project in which you can take a photograph of a friend or stranger, then switch places, then take a self-portrait, and you get to take home each photo of yourself; “Sushi,” in which Felisia Tandiono, Kashimi Asai, and Nung-Hsin Hu perform as three pieces of sushi in the windows of BoConcept at 79 Front St.; Andrea Cote and Michael Drisgula’s “Clay,” in which Cote will sculpt your head in clay while Drisgula documents it on video, with the same piece of clay used for all sitters; Fountain Art Fair favorite Allison Berkoy’s creepy projection “Asleep #3,” hidden away in a loading dock at 30 Washington St.; eteam’s “Gallery Cruise” at Smack Mellon on 92 Plymouth St., where you can relax at a table in the Tea Room, which offers a view of the Atlantic Ocean through a pair of windows; and Demetria Mazria’s “Take-Less” at 30 Washington St., composed of plastic take-out containers that form the number 2629, representing the number of such containers used (and then thrown out) every second in the United States. (We were looking forward to Janet Biggs’s “Wet Exit,” but it was canceled at the last minute.)

BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY: PROJECT 5

Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company will alternate between an all-female and all-male cast for PROJECT 5 at the Joyce (photo by Gadi Dagon)

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
September 21 – October 3, $10-$69
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org
www.batsheva.co.il

The dazzling PROJECT 5, an hour-long four-piece show that features either an all-male or all-female cast depending on the night, marks the return of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company to the Joyce after more than a quarter-century and the first time longtime artistic director Ohad Naharin has presented work at the dance mecca. The two-week run began with the women on Sept. 21, with Iyar Elezera, Shani Garfinkel, Bosmat Nossan, Michal Sayfan, and Bobbi Smith taking the stage in “George & Zalman,” a 2006 work that combines text by Charles Bukowski and Arvo Pärt’s sparse tintinnabuli piano solo “Für Alina.” As a recording of Smith’s voice intones the lyrics — “Ignore / Ignore all / Ignore all possible concepts and possibilities” — which build in repetitive, cumulative phrases, the five dancers express their own movement phrases to accompany the words, only at certain times coming together in the same movement. Wearing black knee-length dresses, they each perform a solo at the end, temporarily breaking them away from the group dynamic. Naharin’s offbeat choice to use a Bukowski text, which as expected includes language not generally found in contemporary dance, threatens to be shocking but ends up being rather poetic. (It also led to the older couple next to us asking, “What is the difference between fucking and copulating?” while the woman behind us wondered aloud who Bukowski was.) “George & Zalman” is followed by the gorgeous pas de deux “Bolero,” with Elezra and Nossan building in intensity to Isao Tomita’s electronic version of the Maurice Ravel standard. Sayfan, Smith, and Garfinkel form a kind of avant-garde girl group in “Park,” a short excerpt from the longer 1999 work “Moshe.” The trio, behind microphones, sing in Hebrew, incorporating sharp, angular movements between verses. Following a five-minute video pause, all five women perform the breathtaking “Black Milk.” Now wearing off-white two-piece costumes with flowing skirts that recall Middle Eastern dress, the dancers wipe mud on their faces and bodies and form into pairs, depicting a more physical language of romance and violence, featuring holds, pushes, and embraces, the first time they have actually touched one another all night. PROJECT 5 is another superior display from one of the world’s most inventive and talented companies. (PROJECT 5 continues through Oct. 3, with the women performing Sept. 22-23, 25, and 26 and the men Sept. 24-25, 28-30, and Oct. 2-3.)

FAYE DRISCOLL: THERE IS SO MUCH MAD IN ME

Dancers search for connections in extraordinary production (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Dancers search for connections in extraordinary new production from Brooklyn-based choreographer Faye Driscoll (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St.
September 22-25, $20, 7:30
212-924-0077
www.dtw.org
www.fayedriscoll.com

In her brilliant evening-length piece, rising star Faye Driscoll sets the bar high, daring both cast and audience to reach it — and they do, with spectacular results. Brooklyn-based choreographer wunderkind Driscoll, who has gained raves for such productions as 837 VENICE BLVD. and WOW, MOM, WOW, premiered her Dance Theater Workshop commission There is so much mad in me at DTW in April and is bringing it back for a special return engagement. Driscoll’s latest is a challenging, exhilarating show that never lets up, making full use of the DTW space as characters march up and down the aisles, take seats in the house, climb side poles, and run between the light stanchions. Filled with uncomfortable humor, raw aggression, and an innate charm, There is so much mad in me examines Americans’ need to see and be seen in today’s overstimulated world, desperate to make emotional and physical connections amid heart-wrenching loneliness.

Supremely talented cast works out its issues in public in Faye Driscoll’s exhilarating DTW commission (photo by Yi-Chun Wu)

Driscoll demands much from her supremely talented cast, creating unusual, often spastic movements and long patches of dramatic dialogue that include scenes that place them on in-your-face talk shows and reality programs (think Oprah meets Jerry meets Tyra meets AMERICAN IDOL). An early duet between Nikki Zialcita and Michael Helland, two of the stars of 837 VENICE BLVD., announces that There is so much mad in me is going to be a very different kind of dance theater, and that continues with a gorgeous section in which Jesse Zaritt and Tony Orrico battle it out over Lindsay Clark, representing the private individual not sure how much she is willing to reveal in this ever-more-public society. When Adaku Utah grabs the microphone, she offers material gifts, and Jennie MaryTai Lau serves up lurid voyeurism, but Jacob Slominski deals out rage and fear. Making sophisticated sociocultural observations that comment on sexuality and violence, Driscoll never takes the easy way out, resulting in a fresh, original, touching, and powerfully direct experience. It is back by popular demand for four nights at DTW, so be sure not to miss it this time around. Driscoll, who was selected for last year’s New Museum triennial show, “The Generational,” celebrating the work of artists under the age of thirty-three, will participate in a postshow talk with Amy Jones following the September 24 performance.

JCC OPEN HOUSE: THE LOTTERY AND MORE

Screening of THE LOTTERY is part of all-day open house at the JCC

THE LOTTERY (Madeleine Sackler, 2010)
JCC in Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St.
Sunday, September 19, free, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (film screens at 3:30)
646-505-4444
www.jccmanhattan.org
www.thelotteryfilm.com

After celebrating the Jewish New Year, the JCC in Manhattan is holding its annual open house, a free day to get to know the very busy Upper West Side institution. The myriad activities include a Kidzapalooza concert, a children’s sports expo, a postnatal Pilates boot camp, a video contest, skin cancer screenings, and workouts, demonstrations, and lessons in yoga, meditation, self-defense, Gypsy dance, indoor cycling, life coaching, Hebrew, low-flying trapeze, sand art, time management, cooking, dating, salsa, and much more, with special classes for kids, new mothers, and seniors, along with prizes and membership discounts. The afternoon ends with a screening of the eye-opening film THE LOTTERY.

The debate over charter schools reaches a fever pitch in Madeleine Sackler’s heart-wrenching documentary, THE LOTTERY. Sackler follows the hopes and dreams of four families who have entered their children in the annual lottery for placement in Harlem Success Academy, a free public elementary school founded by former city councilmember Eva Moskowitz. Some three thousand kids are vying for 475 coveted spots at the institution, which has an outstanding track record while doing things its own way, including not playing by the complex rules of the powerful teachers union. Sackler speaks with Moskowitz, Newark mayor Cory Booker, Harlem Children’s Zone president and CEO Geoffrey Canada, New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein, and several Harlem Success Academy parents, principals, and teachers, who have only glowing things to say about the charter school, especially as it fights to open another location inside PS 194, leading to an angry battle with the community that is simply mind-blowing. Also mind-blowing are many of the statistics Sackler shares about the sorry state of public education in New York City and across the country, specifically in regard to blacks and Latinos. The final scene, in which the families sit inside the Fort Washington Armory, praying that their child’s name will be called as if their entire future is dependent upon it, is not only heartbreaking but also beyond frustrating, revealing how difficult it can be for parents to find quality schooling in certain parts of the city and offer their children opportunities that they never had.

BRYANT PARK FALL FESTIVAL

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s is one of the companies giving free performances as part of this week’s Bryant Park Fall Festival

Bryant Park Fountain Terrace and lawn
40th to 42nd Sts. at Sixth Ave.
Setpember 13-20, free
www.bryantpark.org

Fashion Week festivities might have moved from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center, but that doesn’t mean that the former is just going to hide its head in the sand. Beginning today at lunchtime, Bryant Park will be hosting its own Fall Festival, eight days of live music and dance featuring performances by the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Parsons Dance, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Black Rock Coalition, Ricky Ian Gordon, and, ironically enough, Jazz at Lincoln Center. Shows take place daily at 12:30 and 6:00, and everything is free.

FALL FOR DANCE

Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence Dance Company will perform GRACE at this year’s Fall for Dance Festival at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnick)

NY City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
September 28 – October 10
Tickets: $10
212-581-1212
www.nycitycenter.org

The annual Fall for Dance Festival at City Center runs September 28 through October 9, but you better not wait to get tickets, because they go extremely fast — not only because they offer a chance to see some great dance companies but also because they cost only ten bucks apiece. This year’s lineup includes performances by Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Gallim Dance, Madhavi Mudgal, and the Miami City Ballet, and that’s only the first two nights. Other programs feature Company Rafaela Carrasco, the New York City Ballet, Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Companhia Urbana de Dança (9/30 and 10/1), Shu-Yi & (Dancers) Company, the San Francisco Ballet, Emanuel Gat Dance, and Paul Taylor Dance Company (10/2-3), Keigwin + Company with Juilliard Dance, Corella Ballet Castilla y León, Russell Maliphant Company, and Jason Samuels Smith & Friends (10/6-7), and Tero Saarinen Company, Dresden Semperoper Ballett, American Ballet Theatre, and Ronald K. Brown / Evidence, A Dance Company (10/8-9).

HOWL! FESTIVAL 2010

Live painting surrounds Tompkins Square Park during Howl! Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Tompkins Square Park
Ave. A between Seventh & Tenth Sts.
September 10-12
Admission: free
www.howlfestival.com

The on-and-off Howl! Festival, celebrating the seminal work by Allen Ginsberg, is back in Tompkins Square Park this weekend, with free events September 10-12 on two stages, beginning with the group reading of “Howl” on Friday at 5:00, featuring Anne Waldman, John Giorno, Jennifer Blowdryer, Steve Dalachinsky, Mariposa, and many more, emceed by Bob Holman. Saturday and Sunday will include live art installations, yoga, a circus, Butoh dance, performance art, a musical tribute to Arthur Russell, poetry readings, and other very cool events, culminating with the “House of Howl!” variety show and “Low Life 4: Beat Girl.”