this week in dance

OPEN AIR: LONI LANDON AND MARY LATTIMORE AT GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY

Mary Lattimore and Loni Landon team up for site-specific performance in Green-Wood Cemetery

OPEN AIR
Green-Wood Cemetery
Fifth Ave. and 25th St., Brooklyn
Wednesday, July 14, and Thursday, July 15, $25, 7:00
www.green-wood.com
www.fourfourpresents.com

Developed during the pandemic, the curatorial platform four/four presents continues its monthly site-specific “Open Air” performance series with a new piece about mourning, healing, rebirth, and renewal, taking place July 14-15 in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Founded by dancer and choreographer Loni Landon and producer Rachael Pazdan, four/four has brought us “Tethered,” a ten-part multidisciplinary video project featuring collaborations with Kassa Overall, slowdanger, Gus Solomons, Zoey Anderson, Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang, Jacqueline Green, Jon Batiste, Lloyd Knight, and many others, which can be watched here.

For Green-Wood, Landon has choreographed a work for seven dancers, with live music by experimental harpist Mary Lattimore, performed in Cedar Dell, the one-acre bowl-shaped natural amphitheater with graves dating back to the eighteenth century. The evening will conclude with a participatory meditative sound bath. “Open Air” began June 9 with Madison McFerrin, Samantha Figgins, and Jessica Pinkett teaming up at the Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell; up next are Melanie Charles and Kayla Farrish at the Bushwick Playground Basketball Court on August 8, followed by Moor Mother and Rena Butler at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 on September 21.

LUCKY STAR (0.3)

Pioneers Go East Collective’s Lucky Star (0.3) takes place at Judson Memorial Church July 13-30

LUCKY STAR (0.3)
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South between Thompson & Sullivan Sts.
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, July 13-30, free with RSVP, 8:00
www.judson.org
pioneersgoeast.org

Pioneers Go East Collective honors the history of DIY queer artmaking at such famed New York City venues as La MaMa, Judson Memorial Church, and the Pyramid Club in Lucky Star (0.3), a free multidisciplinary performance installation taking place Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8:00 at Judson from July 13 to 30. Inspired by Club 57, which was recently highlighted in the documentary Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, the in-person work consists of five episodes featuring dance/performance artists Shaina and Bryan Baira, Bree Breeden, Daniel Diaz, Beth Graczyk, and Joey Kipp and nightlife icon Agosto Machado. Lucky Star (0.3) was written by creative director Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte and production designer Philip Treviño, with choreography by Ori Flomin, film by Jon Burklund and video designer Kathleen Kelley, set design and fabrication by Mark Tambella, and sound by Marielle Iljazoski and Ryan William Downey.

“Lucky Star was born by a desire to make art in a new time,” the collective said in a statement. “We pay homage to creators and legends whose trailblazing work has solidified ways for us to survive as artists reimagining our approach to sharing our work in the age of social media and instant gratification. We term the project a meta-creative journey inviting viewers to engage in an emergent process of collective liberation.” Inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem “Pioneers, O Pioneers!” (“O you youths, Western youths, / So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, / Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, / Pioneers! O pioneers!”), Pioneers Go East Collective was founded in 2010 to “empower a collective of thought-provoking, adventurous, and proud LGBTQ artists . . . dedicated to Latinx, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and teaching artists and their communities in all five boroughs, [exploring] stories of vulnerability and courage for social change.” Admission to Lucky Star (0.3) is free with advance RSVP.

TICKET ALERT: YOU ARE HERE

You Are Here takes place across the Lincoln Center campus July 14-30 (photo by Justin Chao)

YOU ARE HERE
The Isabel and Peter Malkin Stage, Josie Robertson Plaza, Hearst Plaza, Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace, Lincoln Center campus
Installation: July 14-23, free
Live performances: July 24-30, free two weeks in advance through TodayTix lottery, 7:00
www.lincolncenter.org

Lincoln Center continues its free Restart Stages program with You Are Here, a multidisciplinary audio and performance installation on Josie Robertson Plaza and Hearst Plaza. From July 13 to 23, the work, conceived by Andrea Miller, the founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn-based Gallim dance company, will be open to the public, who can make their way through a series of sculptures featuring audio portraits of twenty-five New Yorkers affiliated with Lincoln Center and its arts and education community partners. Sharing their experiences over the last sixteen months is a diverse group of individuals, including Bruce Adolphe of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kiri Avelar of Ballet Hispánico, Anthony Roth Costanzo of the Metropolitan Opera, Alphonso Horne of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Egyptt LaBeija of BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Cassie Mey of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Muriel Miguel of Spiderwoman Theater, Hahn Dae Soo of Korean Cultural Center New York, Taylor Stanley of the New York City Ballet, Gabriela Torres of Juilliard, and Valarie Wong of NewYork-Presbyterian. Other participants are Dietrice Bolden, Jessica Chen, Ryan Dobrin, Jermaine Greaves, Milosz Grzywacz, Lila Lomax, Ryan Opalanietet, Elijah Schreiner, Alexandra Siladi, Paul Smithyman, Jen Suragiat, KJ Takahashi, Fatou Thiam, and Susan Thomasson of Lincoln Center Security, Film at Lincoln Center, the Asian American Arts Alliance, the School of American Ballet, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and other institutions and organizations. The sound sculptures are by Tony-winning scenic designer Mimi Lien, spread across an aural garden created by composer Justin Hicks; costumes are by Oana Botezan, with choreography by Miller and direction by Miller and Lynsey Peisinger.

From July 24 to 30 at 7:00, the audio portraits will be replaced by live performances in and around the Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace that are free through a TodayTix lottery available two weeks in advance; activating the space will be Gallim dancers Lauryn Hayes, Christopher Kinsey, Nouhoum Koita, Misa Lucyshyn, Gary Reagan, Connor Speetjens, Taylor Stanley, Haley Sung, Georgia Usborne, and Amadi Washington. (The audio sculptures will be open to ticket holders at 6:00.) In addition, on July 22 at 6:00, Miller will host the latest edition of the virtual Gallim Happy Hour, a livestreamed discussion with Stanley and Mey about You Are Here, taking place over Zoom and Facebook Live.

AN EVENING WITH GIBNEY COMPANY: GIBNEY’S 2021 VIRTUAL GALA

Who: Gibney Company
What: Thirtieth anniversary benefit gala
Where: Gibney online
When: Tuesday, June 30, free – $30, 7:30
Why: Founded in 1991 by choreographer Gina Gibney, Gibney Dance will be celebrating its thirtieth anniversary as a socially active company with a virtual gala on June 30 at 7:30. The evening will feature the world premiere of the dance film Dream Scenarium, by choreographic associate Rena Butler and performed by the newly expanded troupe, along with a look at both the history and future of Gibney Dance. Admission is free, although donations of $30 (or any amount) will gladly be accepted.

DANIEL GWIRTZMAN DANCE COMPANY: DANCE WITH US

Who: Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company with special guests Seán Curran, Michael Novak, Dante Puleio, and Tiffany Rea-Fisher
What: New dance films and launch of dance platform
Where: Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company Zoom
When: June 25-27, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: “Contemporary dance has been seeping more and more into the mainstream culture for decades, enhanced with the advent of shows such as So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars,” dancer, choreographer, and educator Daniel Gwirtzman said in a statement. “With the proliferation of dance online, increased exponentially during the pandemic, more people are arguably seeing contemporary dance than ever. And an appetite for innovative choreography is a byproduct of this exposure. The development of Dance with Us was in place years before the pandemic, with resources that have been created over the past two decades, an extension of programming we have offered as a company since our inception in 1998. We have long been committed to conversing about dance, empowering audiences to trust their opinions, and gain more knowledge of dance in pursuit of expanding one’s dance literacy. The ubiquity of dance on film, finding more currency in popular culture, is not going to change. This platform gives everyone, regardless of their exposure to dance, tools to use to speak about dance, encouraging them to understand their viewpoint is as valid as that of an ‘expert.’ At this moment when there is so much dance to see, this platform seeks to serve as a how-to primer.”

The New York-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company is launching the educational digital platform Dance with Us with a series of special events June 25-27, all free with RSVP. Gwirtzman will host each evening, joined by Paul Taylor Dance Company artistic director Michael Novak, accompanied by Limón Dance Company artistic director Dante Puleio the first night, Elisa Monte Dance artistic director Tiffany Rea-Fisher the second, and Seán Curran Company artistic director Curran the third. The presentation will begin at 6:45 with an online slideshow, followed at 7:00 with Amuse-Bouche: Parade; screenings of two short dance films recorded last August in Newfield, New York, Willow, set to Scott Joplin’s “Weeping Willow,” and Dollhouse, set to George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” played by pianist Jonny May; a virtual tour of the new website and the Library, which holds DGDC’s archives; a look at the Fantasyland Project; and a sneak peek at such upcoming works as Castillo, Adrift, and Dandelion. There will be an interactive live discussion at 8:00, and the program will conclude at 8:30 with an after-party that includes learning how to do the Bus Stop. “I don’t want to see any more dances of dancers in their living rooms,” Gwirtzman wrote to troupe members last summer about the Fantasyland Project, which also relates to Dance with Us. “I think this moment in time is one in which we all are fantasizing: about life before, and after, the pandemic. To the extent that this project can reflect the urgent events shaping all of our lives — how this theme of utopia and harmony fits against the current climate — is something the company is interested in investigating.”

HARLEM AIR SHAFT

The collaborative Harlem Air Shaft features art, dance, music, spoken word, and activism

Who: James Brandon Lewis, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Kwami Coleman, Todd Bryant Weeks, Bianca Cosentino, Dolores Sanchez, Emily Tellier, Omari Wiles
What: Experimental multidisciplinary street performance ritual exploring links between jazz and memory in Harlem
Where: 126th & 125th Sts. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
When: Thursday, June 24, free, 5:00
Why: Conceived by new media artist Justin Randolph Thompson, choreographer Stefanie Nelson, and visual artist Bradly Dever Treadaway, Harlem Air Shaft takes place on June 24 at 5:00, a forty-minute live performance that recalls the rent parties of the 1930s and 1940s. Melding jazz and memory through ritual, the improvisatory, immersive piece features dancers Bianca Cosentino, Dolores Sanchez, Emily Tellier, and Omari Wiles, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, musicologist Kwami Coleman, and jazz union representative Todd Bryant Weeks, paying tribute to the community and local jazz history, including Duke Ellington (whose 1940 composition lends its name to the work), in the neighborhood where Art Kane took his famous “A Great Day in Harlem” photo.

“With Harlem Air Shaft, I continue the work that started with Friskin’ the Whiskers – a performance project I initiated in 2014 which focuses on bringing together people connected to the jazz community to highlight the economic realities in which jazz musicians have to function,” Thompson said in a statement. “Jazz and economy have a long and complicated history where strategies for developing new systems of community support have always been prevalent. The pandemic made evident to all what many of us already knew. To me, the various forms of cultural production as represented by practitioners from different fields in this piece speaks to the constant need for reminding ourselves about art’s inherent social dimension.” Nelson added, “I have a longstanding interest in the fleeting nature of memory, which I have been exploring in numerous projects with my dance ensemble. Justin, who has been my collaborator over the years, gave me an idea of presenting this concept in the context of jazz and the history of this unique neighborhood. We would like for this piece to inspire the memory of Harlem’s resilient past for a more hopeful, community-driven, creative future.” Admission is free, with no RSVP required.

AILEY VIRTUAL SPRING GALA: HOPE, PROMISE, AND THE FUTURE

Kanji Segawa’s Future is part of Alvin Ailey virtual spring gala (photo by Cherylynn Tsushima)

Who: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lonnie G. Bunch III, James E. Clyburn, Michelle Obama, DJ M.O.S., DJ Kiss
What: Virtual gala
Where: Alvin Ailey online
When: Thursday, June 24, free with RSVP, 7:30 (available for forty-eight hours)
Why: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s virtual spring gala looks ahead with a public celebration of “Hope, Promise and the Future.” On June 24 at 7:30, the company, founded in 1958 and dedicated “to further the pioneering vision of the choreographer, dancer, and cultural leader Alvin Ailey by building an extended cultural community which provides dance performances, training and education, and community programs for all people,” will present a special program of dance and recognizing honorees. The evening features works by Ghrai DeVore-Stokes (Hope), Chalvar Monteiro (Promise), and Kanji Segawa (Future), filmed in such locations as Hudson Yards, St. Nicholas Park, and the Unisphere, in addition to artistic director Robert Battle’s For Four, set to Wynton Marsalis’s “Delfeayo’s Dilemma,” and Bird Lives!, a Charlie Parker tribute with Clifton Brown and students from the Ailey School. AAADT will also honor Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie G. Bunch III and the late congressman John L. Lewis, the latter with reflections from Congressman James E. Clyburn, excerpts from Jamar Roberts’s March on Washington Film Festival commission In Memory, and an appearance by former first lady Michelle Obama. “Over the past year, we’ve learned to focus on the opportunity of this moment, not the challenges, and the privilege of carrying on the legacy of Alvin Ailey that speaks to all of us,” Battle said in a statement. “Instilled in movement is a message of hope that helps us look towards the bright promise of our future together. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to share Ailey’s inspiring artistry in new dance films and honor a legend of the civil rights movement as we join in a virtual celebration with our community around the world.” The gala will be followed by a dance party with DJ M.O.S. and DJ Kiss. Admission is free with RSVP although donations will be accepted, and the presentation will be available on demand for forty-eight hours.