this week in dance

DANCEAFRICA 2020

danceafrica

Who: Mikki Shepard, DJ YB, Mamma Normadien, Baba N’goma Woolbright, Charmaine Warren, Abdel R. Salaam, Karen Thornton Daniels, Sabine LaFortune, Coco Killingsworth, Farai Malianga, more
What: BAM’s DanceAfrica
Where: BAM online
When: Through May 29 (and beyond), free (some film screenings require small payment)
Why: One of our favorite ways of ushering in the summer season is by going to BAM’s annual DanceAfrica festival, a weekend of dance, films, a street bazaar, and more celebrating African culture. The forty-second annual event is taking place online, with livestreamed performances, film screenings, archival videos, interviews, classes, and a virtual bazaar. “The spirit of DanceAfrica has no boundaries, and will always find its way to the people,” Baba Abdel R. Salaam said in a statement. Below is the full schedule. And be prepared to shout “Ago!” “Amée!!” from the comfort of wherever you are sheltering in place.

Through May 27
FilmAfrica: Aya of Yop City (Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrerie, 2012), Mother of George (Andrew Dosunmu, 2012), Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu, 2018), Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love (Chai Vasarhelyi, 2008), pay-what-you-wish to $4.99

Through May 29
“DanceAfrica Visual Art: Omar Victor Diop”

Through June 14
DanceAfrica Virtual Bazaar, with clothing, jewelry, home goods, food, and accessories

Monday, May 25
“DanceAfrica: The Early Years,” with Mikki Shepard, 11:00 am

DanceAfrica Dance Party, with DJ YB, 7:00

Tuesday, May 26
“DanceAfrica: Behind the Scenes,” with Abdel R. Salaam, Charmaine Warren, and Council of Elder members Mamma Normadien and Baba N’goma Woolbright, 6:00

Wednesday, May 27
“DanceAfrica: The Council of Elders,” with Stefanie Hughley and Council of Elder leaders Mamma Lynette White-Mathews and Baba Bill (William) Mathews, 6:00

Thursday, May 28
“Education and DanceAfrica,” with Karen Thornton Daniels, Sabine LaFortune, Coco Killingsworth, and Abdel R. Salaam, 6:00

Opens Thursday, May 28
FilmAfrica: A Screaming Man (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2010), Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam, 2018), I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni, 2017), National Diploma (Dieudo Hamadi, 2014), prices TBD

Friday, May 29
“Bantaba West African Dance Class,” with Karen Thornton Daniels and Farai Malianga, RSVP required, 2:00

“DanceAfrica: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” with Coco Killingsworth, Charmaine Warren, and Abdel R. Salaam, 6:00

LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS: THE MT. OLYMPUS OF LES LOVE! and more

festival of the arts

Who: Charles Busch, Phoebe Legere, Penny Arcade, Austin Pendleton, David Amram, F. Murray Abraham, William Electric Black, more
What: Live concert and summit (and many other events)
Where: Theater for the New City
When: Saturday, May 23, free, 8:00 (festival runs May 22-24)
Why: Since 1996, Theater for the New City’s annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts has been a harbinger of summer, three days of multidisciplinary performances taking place in and around the organization’s East First St. home. But the twenty-fifth anniversary of the popular weekend event goes virtual because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean it’s slowed down in the least. From May 22 to 24, the festival, whose theme is “Renaissance: Arts Alive 25,” will feature 250 participants providing music, dance, theater, discussion, and more, all for free. The centerpiece occurs on May 23 at 8:00 with “The Mt. Olympus of LES Love!,” a concert with an amazing lineup consisting of Charles Busch, Phoebe Legere, Penny Arcade, Austin Pendleton, David Amram, F. Murray Abraham, and William Electric Black, followed by a summit that attempts to answer the question “Where do we go from here?”

The three-day celebration will feature such speakers as Nii Gaani Aki, Michael Musto, Brad Hoylman, Carlina Rivera, and Candice Burridge; theater excerpts with Barbara Kahn, Anne Lucas, Eve Packer, Greg Mullavey, the Drilling Company, Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, and others; comedy from Reno, Stan Baker, Trav S.D., Wise Guise, Izzy Church, Epstein and Hassan, and Ana-Maria Bandean with Gemma Forbes; dance with Ashley Liang Dance Company, Constellation Moving Co., Dixon Place, H.T. Chen & Dancers, Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, and Zullo/RawMovement; music by Donald Arrington, Allesandra Belloni, Michael David Gordon and the Pocket Band, Art Lillard, and Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe; cabaret with KT Sullivan, Marissa Mulder, Eric Yves Garcia, Aziza, and Peter Zachari; and poetry readings by Coni Koepfinger, Tsaurah Litzky, Lola Rodriguez, Bob Rosenthal, Lissa Moira, and Brianna Bartenieff; along with puppetry, film screenings, children’s events, and visual art, all for free, although donations are gladly accepted.

STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY: #LoveSpreadsFaster and more

Petronio-JoyceStream-e1589303054173

Stephen Petronio Company
May 13 – June 14, free
petron.io

Manhattan-based Stephen Petronio Company’s New York season at the Joyce was supposed to run May 12-17 but was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. So SPC is reaching back to its past and jumping into the future with a monthlong series of online events during the Covid-19 shutdown, some of which were scheduled to take place at the Joyce. Beginning May 15 at 8:00 pm and continuing through May 22 at 10:00 am, the Joyce will show the troupe’s April 11, 2019, Skirball performance of American Landscapes in its JoyceStream program and Bring Dance Home initiative; the twenty-five-minute piece features visual design by Robert Longo and an original score by Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch and will be followed by a talkback with Petronio and Joyce director of programming Aaron Mattocks.

petronio

From May 18 to June 14, the Merce Cunningham Trust Centennial Repertory Festival will stream Tread, which SPC performed at Skirball as part of its Bloodlines homage on July 27, 2018; Cunningham’s original, with set design by Bruce Nauman, debuted in 1970. Also available will be a conversation between Patricia Lent, Jennifer Goggans, and Petronio about the work. And on May 29 at 6:00, Petronio will introduce #LoveSpreadsFaster, anchored by the world premiere of #GimmeShelter, a new Zoom collaboration with his dancers from wherever they are sheltering in place, along with Jaqlin Medlock performing the “Danse Sacrale” solo from Petronio’s 1992 Full Half Wrong. On May 30 at 6:00, #LoveSpreadsFaster features _AShadowPrince, a video solo by dancer and choreographer Johnnie Cruise Mercer that is the first commissioned work of Petronio’s “Bloodlines(future)” project, paying homage to those who came before while looking ahead at what comes next.

LOVE FROM BAM: BAM Virtual Gala 2020

bam virtual gala

Who: Cate Blanchett, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Zadie Smith, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Julie Anne Stanzak, Hope Boykin, St. Vincent, DJ Eli Escobar
What: BAM Virtual Gala
Where: BAM website
When: Wednesday, May 13, free (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: BAM’s annual gala cannot be held in person this year in Brooklyn, so it will instead take place virtually, and everyone is invited; it’s free to watch live, although donations are accepted, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Brooklyn Hospital Center. The 2020 honorees are two-time Oscar winner and Tony nominee Cate Blanchett, producer, investor, and philanthropist Jeanne Donovan Fisher, and award-winning novelist Zadie Smith. Paying tribute to the trio are Grammy winners Brooklyn Youth Chorus (who will sing a Philip Glass composition dedicated to Fisher), Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s Julie Anne Stanzak (who will dance a solo that will be filmed by Nathalie Larquet in tribute to Blanchett), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Hope Boykin (who will present a short film for Smith), St. Vincent (whose appearance can only be seen live; it will not be rebroadcast), and DJ Eli Escobar (who will host a living room dance party), all of whom have previously performed at BAM. “Moving to an online, virtual format gives BAM an exciting opportunity to open its gala experience to a wider audience, pay tribute to our amazing honorees in new ways, and gather the arts community in a challenging time. We are excited to share this unique experience as part of our current digital Love from BAM programming,” BAM president Katy Clark said in a statement. The gala also marks the beginning of BAM’s annual online art auction.

OVID-19: THE INTERSECTION OF RACE, ART, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND MEDICINE

nyla

Who: Bill T. Jones, Khary Lazarre-White, Carrie Mae Weems, Dr. Aletha Maybank, Jamilah Lemieux
What: Panel discussion sponsored by NewsOne and the Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis)
Where: NewsOne Facebook page
When: Wednesday, May 13, free, 3:00
Why: NewsOne, which focuses on “current events and their impact on black lives,” will be hosting a live discussion on May 13 at 3:00 titled “Covid-19: The Intersection of Race, Art, Social Justice, and Medicine.” The free event features legendary dancer-choreographer and New York Live Arts artistic director Bill T. Jones, social entrepreneur, writer, activist, and attorney Khary Lazarre-White, visual artist Carrie Mae Weems, and American Medical Association chief health equity officer Dr. Aletha Maybank discussing Covid-19 and its effect on black life in America; the conversation will be moderated by writer, speaker, and communications consultant Jamilah Lemieux.

PERFORMANCE MIX FESTIVAL #34: REMOTELY YOURS

Who: New Dance Alliance
What: Online performance festival
Where: Facebook and Instagram
When: May 4-31, free
Why: New Dance Alliance’s thirty-fourth annual Performance Mix Festival is being called “Remotely Yours,” as the participating artists will be presenting live experimental programs consisting of archival videos, text, photos, and new work from wherever they are sheltering in place. Every day from May 4 to 31, an individual artist or company takes over NDA’s Facebook and Instagram pages at noon (although some will happen at other pre-announced times). The first week features NOT for reTALE | Emily Smith on May 4 at 8:30, Maya Orchin on May 5, Marion Spencer on May 6 at noon, 4:00, and 8:00, Juli Brandano on May 7, Julia Antinozzi on May 8, Nami Yamamoto on May 9, and Karen Bernard on May 10 at 3:00. The lineup for the second week is Birgit Larson, Racoco, Emily LaRochelle & Sarazina Joy Stein, Kameron Chatman, Annie Heath, MOLLY&NOLA, and Remi Harris + Mark Schmidt, the third week roster is Degenerate Art Ensemble, MAYDAY, Diana Crum, Bob Eisen, Cynthia McLaughlin and Company, Hanna Satterlee, and Camilo Godoy, and anchoring the fourth week are Anh Vo, Nate Yaffe, Tanja London alias qualia-c, Liberty Styles, Sarah Toumani Dance Co, Krista DeNio and Debra Disbrow, and Kyla Kegler. NDA describes itself as “an arts service organization whose mission is to actively promote emerging forms of innovative dance, music, video, and interdisciplinary performance. NDA’s initial aims were to support an artistic community which has limited institutional resources, and to provide that community with increased opportunities to share experimental works with the public.” That goal is even more critical during the coronavirus pandemic, so feel free to donate if you can, as the money helps provide artists with studio space, residencies, and workshops.

PARAMODERNITIES LIVE (with Q&As)

Who: Netta Yerushalmy
What: Dance series with performance and live discussion
Where: Netta Yerushalmy website
When: May 4-9, free, 3:00 (videos with Q&As will remain online through May 24)
Why: Last year, New York City-based choreographer and dancer Netta Yerushalmy presented her full six-part, four-hour series, Paramodernities, at New York Live Arts. Each work, which had been previously individually staged at such locations as Judson Church, the National Museum of the American Indian, Live Artery at New York Live Arts, the 92nd St. Y, and Madison Square Park, deconstructs and re-creates a classic dance piece through performance, text, and discussion, with dancers and scholars participating. I was fortunate to catch several iterations (#s 2&3, rehearsals for #5), which all proved to be captivating and involving; the choreographers who get the Yerushalmy treatment are Vaslav Nijinsky, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse, and George Balanchine. Every day from May 4 to 9 at 3:00, Yerushalmy will stream one work, followed by a live discussion and Q&A with special guests.

The wide-ranging, diverse cast consists of dancers Michael Blake, Gerald Casel, Marc Crousillat, Brittany Engel-Adams, Joyce Edwards, Stanley Gambucci, Taryn Griggs, Magdalena Jarkowiec, Nicholas Leichter, Jeremy Jae Neal, Hsiao-Jou Tang, Megan Williams, and Yerushalmy, with scholars and writers Thomas F. DeFrantz, Julia Foulkes, Georgina Kleege, David Kishik, Carol Ockman, Mara Mills, and Claudia La Rocco. “This project requires people to really care about different kinds of knowledge and to want to implicate their bodies in this very different kind of space and to be vulnerable,” Yerushalmy says about Paramodernities, which will be a new experience when viewed from our homes, where we are sheltering in place, unable to be physically together. I can’t recommend Paramodernities Live highly enough; it is an innovative platform that explores the past, present, and future of dance through a sophisticated and experimental historical context that will leave you in awe.

Monday, May 4
Paramodernities #1: The Work of Dance in the Age of Sacred Lives
A response to Vaslav Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (1913)
with special guest Jack Halberstam

Tuesday, May 5
Paramodernities #2: Trauma, Interdiction, and Agency in “The House of Pelvic Truth”
A response to Martha Graham’s Night Journey (1947)
with special guest Pam Tanowitz

Wednesday, May 6
Paramodernities #3: Revelations: The Afterlives of Slavery
A response to Alvin Ailey’s Revelations (1960)
with special guest Tracy K. Smith

Thursday, May 7
Paramodernities #4: An Inter-Body Event
with material from Merce Cunningham’s Rainforest, Sounddance, Points in Space, Beach Birds, and Ocean (1968-90)
with special guest Fred Moten

Friday, May 8
Paramodernities #5: All That Spectacle: Dance on Stage and Screens
A response to Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity (1969 film)
with special guest Jeremy O. Harris

Saturday, May 9
Paramodernities #6: The Choreography of Rehabilitation: Disability and Race in Balanchine’s Agon
A response to George Balanchine’s Agon (1957)
with special guest Peter N. Miller