On New Year’s Day, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club marched into the Atlantic Ocean, braving outside temperatures in the teens. On Sunday, January 7, for the seventeenth annual No Pants Subway Ride, participants will be removing their slacks in a similar climate as they enjoy the freedom of revealing their gams to the delight, consternation, and confusion of fellow passengers. Between 3:00 and 5:00, thousands of men and women will head underground and strip down to their boxers, panties, and tighty-whities (leaving shirts, shoes, and jackets on). Started as a prank by seven guys in 2002, the ride — staged by Improv Everywhere, the prank collective behind such other unusual stunts as Reverse Times Square, Car Alarm Symphony in Staten Island, and Carousel Horse Race in Bryant Park — hit a small bump in 2006, when 150 people participated and 8 were arrested and handcuffed, but the charges were shortly dismissed. As it turns out, it’s technically not illegal as long as the exposure doesn’t get too indecent. (Of course, it is also not against the law for men and women to be topless in Times Square.) Participants should gather, with their clothes on, at one of seven meeting points around the city (Hoyt Playground in Astoria, the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, Foley Square in Downtown Manhattan, Hudson Yards Park on West 34th St. in Midtown Manhattan, the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park, the Great Hill in Central Park, and Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick) and will be assigned a train to ride on; the main rule is that you must be willing to take your pants off on the subway while keeping a straight face — and hopefully having someone around to document it for social media.
You should not document it yourself, and you need to act like you merely forgot to put your pants on or that you were feeling uncomfortable, pretending that it is a coincidence so many others did as well. Be natural about it, as if it’s no big deal; it’s important not to flaunt it or to wear undergarments that are too flashy or call attention to yourself. When it’s over at about five o’clock, there is a pants-less after-party at Bar 13 at 35 East 13th St., with a $15 cover (pants check is available); the festivities include music spun by DJs Dirtyfinger, Shakey, and Hamstaskin, live performances by the Flying Pants Brigade, art installations by Samantha Statin and others, performance art by Krauss Dañielle and Operative Slamdance, and more. And it should be comforting to know that the No Pants Subway Ride has spread to dozens of cities across the globe, including Adelaide, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dallas, Jerusalem, Lisbon, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Prague, Stockholm, Vancouver, Warsaw, and Zurich.
Brooklyn Museum screening of I Am Not Your Negro will be followed by discussion of activism with James Baldwin’s niece
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, January 6, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400 www.brooklynmuseum.org
The Brooklyn Museum looks to 2018 with its January First Saturday program, “New Year, New Futures.” There will be live music by Sinkane, BEARCAT, Zaven of Resonator Collective (an in-gallery soundscape for the terrific exhibition “Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo”), and New Kingston; a curator tour of “Rodin at the Brooklyn Museum: The Body in Bronze” with Lisa Small; a hands-on art workshop in which participants can make zines inspired by “Proof”; a community talk with Murad Awawdeh, the vice president of advocacy at the New York Immigration Coalition; a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary about James Baldwin, I Am Not your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2017), followed by a discussion with activists Jessica Green and Aisha Karefa-Smart (Baldwin’s niece); a Feminist Book Club event focusing on the 1970 book Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement, edited by Robin Morgan, hosted by Glory Edim of Well-Read Black Girl based on selections by Judy Chicago; pop-up gallery talks on “Roots of ‘The Dinner Party’: History in the Making”; a Brooklyn Dance Festival movement workshop and live performances; pop-up poetry with DéLana R. A. Dameron (Weary Kingdom) and Rickey Laurentiis (Boy with Thorn), followed by a signing; and a NYLaughs comedy showcase with Negin Farsad, Nimesh Patel, and Jordan Carlos, hosted by Ophira Eisenberg and followed by a discussion on humor, activism, and crisis. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can check out “Roots of ‘The Dinner Party’: History in the Making,” “Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt,” “Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo,” “Arts of Asia and the Middle East,” “Infinite Blue,” “Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys,” “Rodin at the Brooklyn Museum: The Body in Bronze,” “A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt,” and more.
Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its NYC debut with Soaring Wings at Lincoln Center
David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
January 5-7, $22-$167
212-496-0600 davidhkochtheater.com
Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its New York debut January 5-7 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center with Soaring Wings, an evening-length celebration of harmony about the “bird of good fortune,” the Japanese crested ibis. Set to traditional Chinese music, the environmentally conscious work celebrates the interdependence between nature and humanity, building the theme around the rediscovery of ibises in Shaanxi Province in 1981, thought to be in extinct in China and Japan as the result of twentieth-century modernization. Presented by China Arts and Entertainment Group as part of its Image China program, which began in 2009 “as a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and other countries,” Soaring Wings features more than two dozen dancers, including principals Zhu Jiejing and Wang Jiajun. Zhong Jiani’s lush, elegant costumes bring the endangered species to beautiful life; the show is written by Luo Huaizhen, with music by Guo Sida, direction and choreography by Tong Ruirui, lighting by Xing Xin, makeup by Xu Bin, and props by Li Hongchao. The award-winning Shanghai Dance Theatre, which was founded in 1979 and melds Chinese classical dance with ballet and folk traditions, has been traveling the world with Soaring Wings and such other productions as Fragrance, so its New York debut is greatly anticipated.
The Hendrix Project kicks out the jams at the BRIC House as part of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar festival (photo by Nicolas Savignano)
Once upon a time, January was considered a relative artistic wasteland, as people suffered from a post-holidays letdown with a dearth of high-quality movies and Broadway shows opening up. But this century continues to fill that void with more and more cutting-edge, experimental, and offbeat music, dance, and theater with a growing list of performance festivals around the city. You can catch cabaret at Pangea, opera at Prototype, dance at American Realness, the 92nd St. Y, and New York Live Arts, jazz at JazzFest, Irish theater at Origin’s 1st, and a little of everything at Under the Radar and COIL, the latter back where it belongs at the renovated PS122. Below are only some of the highlights of this exciting time to try something that might be outside your comfort zone and take a chance on something new and different to kick off your 2018, especially with the majority of tickets going for about twenty-five bucks.
UNDER THE RADAR
Public Theater and other venues
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
January 4-15 www.publictheater.org
After by Andrew Schneider, performed by Alicia ayo Ohs and Andrew Schneider, with Kedian Keohan and Peter Musante, January 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, Public Theater, Martinson Hall, $25
Parallel Lives: Billie Holiday & Edith Piaf, created and directed by Nona Hendryx, performed by Joey Arias, Tamar Kali, Liza Jesse Peterson, and Etienne Stadwjck, January 5-6, Joe’s Pub, $45
The Gates: An Evening of Stories with Adam Gopnik, January 5, 10, 12, 13, 14, Public Theater, Newman Theater, $25
The Hendrix Project, by Roger Guenveur Smith & CalArts Center for New Performance, performed by Samantha Barrow, Morgan Camper, Hannah Cruz, Jasmine Gatewood, Heaven Gonzalez, Ariyan Kassam, Liam O’Donnell, Dante Rossi, Henita Telo, Max Udell, Ieva Vizgirdaite, and Christopher Wentworth, January 11-14, BRIC House, $25
Pursuit of Happiness, Nature Theater of Oklahoma & EnKnapGroup, NYU Skirball, January 12-14, $25
Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers goes back to the Lavender Scare of the 1950s (photo by Philip Groshong)
Acquanetta, by composer Michael Gordon, librettist Deborah Artman, director Daniel Fish, and conductor Daniela Candillari, with Mikaela Bennett, Amelia Watkins, Eliza Bagg, Timur, and Matt Boehler, Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, January 9-13, $30-$75
Out of Bounds — Breaking Ice: The Battle of the Carmens, by Alicia Hall Moran, new vocal work for an ice-skating audience, January 11, Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park, free, 1:40; January 14, location TBD, free, 2:30
Fellow Travelers, by composer Gregory Spears, librettist Greg Pierce, director Kevin Newbury, and conductor George Manahan, with Aaron Blake, Joseph Lattanzi, Devon Guthrie, Vernon Hartman, Marcus DeLoach, Christian Pursell, Paul Scholten, Alexandra Schoeny, and Violetta Lopez, January 12-14, Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, $30-$55
Out of Bounds: The Future Is Open, by Tori Wrånes, newly commissioned site-specific work, Washington Square Park, Northwest Corner, January 18-19, free, 5:30
Michelle Ellsworth’s The Rehearsal Artist promises an intimate experience at American Realness
AMERICAN REALNESS
Abrons Arts Center and other venues
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
January 9-16 americanrealness.com
The Rehearsal Artist, by Michelle Ellsworth, January 9-11, the Invisible Dog Art Center, $25, 1:15 – 8:45
Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd, by Ishmael Houston-Jones and Miguel Gutierrez, with Nick Hallett and Jennifer Monson, Danspace Project, January 9, 11, 12, 13, $22-$25
#PUNK, by nora chipaumire, Abrons Arts Center Playhouse, January 11-13, $25
I <3 PINA, by Neal Medlyn, Abrons Arts Center Experimental Theater, January 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, $25
This, by Adrienne Truscott, Abrons Arts Center Playhouse, January 14-16, $25
ORIGIN’S 1st IRISH FESTIVAL
Multiple venues
January 9-29 www.1stirish.org
Dyin’ for It, by Derek Murphy, with Maria Deasy, Adam Petherbridge, Sarah Street, and Aoife Williamson, the Cell, January 17-28, $30
Guy Walks into a Bar, by Don Creedon, New York Irish Center, January 18, 25, $20-$25, 7:15
ShakesBEER with an Irish Twist, pub crawl, Stone St., January 27, February 3, $49 (includes four drinks), 3:00
Dear Mr. Beckett: Letters from the Publisher, with Billy Carter and Olwen Fouéré, the Irish Consulate, January 29, free with advance RSVP, 1:00
WINTER ALT-FEST
Pangea NYC
178 Second Ave.
January 10-16 www.pangeanyc.com
Salty Brine: How Strange It Is, January 10, 17, 24, 31, February 7, $20, 7:30
Penny Arcade: Longing Lasts Longer, January 11, 14, $20, 7:00
Sven Ratzke: From Amsterdam to Mars, January 14, $20, 9:00
Tammy Faye Starlite: An Evening of Light, Tammy Faye channels Nico, accompanied by Keith Hartel, January 16, $20, 7:00
Gilles Peterson hosts British Jazz Showcase, with the Comet Is Coming, Nubya Garcia, Yazz Ahmed, and Oscar Jerome, Le Poisson Rouge, January 10, $20-$25, 7:00
Winter JazzFest Marathon, more than fifty artists at eleven venues, January 12-13, $50-$60 one day, $85-$95 both days
Ravi Coltrane Presents Universal Consciousness: Melodic Meditations of Alice Coltrane, Le Poisson Rouge, January 14, $35-$45, 7:00
A Tribute to Geri Allen, with Angela Davis, Esperanza Spalding, Craig Taborn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Ingrid Jensen, Jack DeJohnette, Jaimeo Brown, Jeff Tain Watts, Kassa Overall, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Maurice Chestnut, Mino Cinelu, Ravi Coltrane, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tia Fuller, Vijay Iyer, and others, benefit for the Geri Allen Estate, the New School Tishman Auditorium, January 15, $35-$100
Deerhoof Meet Wadada Leo Smith and Nicole Mitchell: Maroon Cloud, Le Poisson Rouge, January 17, $25-$35, 8:00
Body of Work, by Atlanta Eke, PS122, January 10-11, $25
visions of beauty, by Heather Kravas, PS122, January 10-13, $25
Jupiter’s Lifeless Moons, by Dane Terry, PS122, January 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, $25
he his own mythical beast, by David Thomson, PS122, January 31, February 1, 2, 4, $25
Our of Israel returns to the 92nd St. Y for its eighth season
OUT OF ISRAEL: 70 YEARS OF ISRAEL, 70 YEARS OF DANCE / OPEN DOORS: 92Y HARKNESS DANCE CENTER ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE SHOWCASE
92nd St. Y www.92y.org
Out of Israel: works by choreographers Itzik Galili and Roi Assaf performed by Troy Ogilvie, a solo by Roni Chadash, a new composition by DANAKA collective, and films by Joseph Bach and Shamel Pitts, guest curated by Dana Katz, January 12 at 12 noon and January 13 at 8:00, $10 in advance, $20 at the door
Open Doors: works by choreographers Joanna Kotze, Kensaku Shinohara, Pam Tanowitz, and Larissa Velez-Jackson with Jillian Peña, January 12 at 8:00 and January 13 at 4:00, $25-$29
Jack Ferver will present his work-in-progress Everything Is Imaginable as part of Live Artery at New York Live Arts
LIVE ARTERY
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th St.
January 13-15 newyorklivearts.org
Saturday, January 13, $10 each
Abby Zbikowski, abandoned playground (excerpt), 12 noon; Kimberly Bartosik, I hunger for you (work-in-progress), 2:00; RoseAnne Spradlin, “X,” 3:00; Netta Yerushalmy, Paramodernities (work-in-progress), 5:00; Susan Marshall, Construction (collaboration with So Percussion) and Closed System (work-in-progress), 6:00; Walter Dundervill, Skybox (excerpt), 7:00
Sunday, January 14, $10 each
Joanna Kotze, What will we be like when we get there (work-in-progress), 1:00; Kota Yamazaki, Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination (excerpt), 4:00; Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, The Deep Blue Sea, 5:00; Deborah Hay/Eric Geiger, Jess Humphrey & Leslie Seiters, Pause, 6:00; RoseAnne Spradlin, “X,” 8:00; Jack Ferver, Everything Is Imaginable (work-in-progress), 8:30
Monday, January 15, $10 each
Netta Yerushalmy, Paramodernities (work-in-progress), 11:00 am; Jennifer Nugent & Paul Matteson with Ted Coffey, Visual Proof, 1:00; Jack Ferver, Everything Is Imaginable (work-in-progress); 3:30; Joanna Kotze, What will we be like when we get there (work-in-progress), 5:00; Kimberly Bartosik, I hunger for you (work-in-progress), 6:30
Dr. Mique’l Dangeli & Mike Dangeli will present new work curated by Emily Johnson for Gibney Dance DoublePlus series (photo by Thosh Collins)
Gibney Dance Performing Arts Center, Studio H
280 Broadway between Chambers & Reade Sts.
December 7-9, $15, 8:00
Series continues through December 16 gibneydance.org
Gibney Dance’s annual DoublePlus program, in which established artists mentor pairs of emerging choreographers, continues this week with one of New York City’s most original and innovative creators, Emily Johnson, curating pieces by Dr. Mique’l Dangeli & Mike Dangeli and Maria Hupfield. “I am thrilled to present three artists working a futurity embedded within relationships of language, land, and present action,” Johnson (Niicugni,Shore,The Thank-You Bar) explains in a statement. “Maria Hupfield is Anishinaabe and a member of Wasauksing First Nation, Ontario. Hupfield works with performance and sculpture. Her hand-sewn creations function as tools carried on the body—tracking rhythms, identifying areas (within body, within culture, within life) that warrant open communication, protection, or both. She works the reflection of sight, sound, and object to generate the unexpected — to shift meaning. Dr. Mique’l Dangeli is of the Tsimshian Nation of Metlakatla, Alaska. Mike Dangeli is of the Nisga’a, Tlingit, Tsetsaut, and Tsimshian Nations. Since 1999, Mique’l Dangeli and Mike Dangeli have led Git Hayetsk, an internationally renowned dance group specializing in ancient and newly created songs and mask dances. Through their work they have focused on Northwest Coast First Nations and Alaska Native visual and performing arts, protocol, politics, sovereignty, language revitalization, and decolonization.” Dr. Mique’l Dangeli & Mike Dangeli will present Where do you speak from? Locating languages in the body, land, and waterways, while Hupfield will present Electric Prop and Hum Freestyle Variations. This past summer, Johnson, who always pushes the limits of performance and interactivity, curated Then a Cunning Voice and a Night We Spent Gazing at Stars, a unique, wide-ranging, participatory overnight program on Randall’s Island, so it should be fascinating to see what she has come up with for this DoublePlus show. DoublePlus concludes December 14-16 with Dean Moss curating works by Wesley Chavis + Cori Olinghouse.
The exquisite Linda Celeste Sims will perform in a new production of Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section in annual Ailey winter season at City Center (photo by Paul Kolnik)
New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
November 29 – December 31, $25-$200
212-581-1212 www.alvinailey.org www.nycitycenter.org
“When I think about why people should come to see the company right now, this is a moment in time where it is important to take a stand, and sometimes taking a stand means taking a seat to see something that represents the best of humanity,” Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director Robert Battle says in a video about the troupe’s upcoming season at City Center. “When Alvin Ailey says that dance comes from the people, and should always be delivered back to the people . . . he wanted this company to be a mirror to society so that people could ultimately see how beautiful they are.” The season kicks off November 29 with a special opening-night “Modern American Songbook” gala program consisting of George Faison’s Suite Otis, two parts of Judith Jamison’s Love Stories, the Ray Charles section of Camille A. Brown’s The Groove to Nobody’s Business, the central duet in David Parsons’s Shining Star, and Revelations with live music. This year’s world premieres are Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s Victoria and longtime Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts’s Members Don’t Get Weary, with company premieres of Battle’s Mass and Johan Inger’s Walking Mad, while there are new productions of Talley Beatty’s Stack-Up, Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Shelter. Other highlights include Battle’s Ella and In/Side, Billy Wilson’s The Winter in Lisbon, Ailey’s Night Creature, Mauro Bigonzetti’s Deep, Ulysses Dove’s Episodes, Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners, and Ailey dancer Hope Boykin’s r-Evolution, Dream. On December 17 at 7:30, “Celebrating the Men of Ailey” features Clifton Brown, Vernard Gilmore, Yannick Lebrun, Glenn Allen Sims, and Roberts performing works by Ailey, Battle, and Gilmore. In addition, the Saturday family matinees will be followed by Q&As with Ailey dancers. The season comes to a close with a New Year’s Eve party boasting a one-night-only, to-be-announced program that concludes with Revelations.
Croatia’s Perforations Festival returns to New York City with unusual and innovative productions at Abrons Arts Center and La MaMa
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East Fourth St., second floor
November 17-26, $25 lamama.org/perforations
Croatia’s Perforations Festival, featuring ten days of cutting-edge performances from Central and Eastern Europe, returns to the city with seven productions running November 17 to 26. Founder and curator Zvonimir Dobrović notes, “It is always a privilege to present such an exciting roster of energetic and creative artists to new audiences. These artists have been the driving forces behind the current wave of resistance to neo-conservatism in Eastern Europe and their work has been an oasis of hope for a whole generation.” The festival kicks off November 17-18 at Abrons Arts Center with Jasna L. Vinovrški’s interactive Staying Alive, then moves to La MaMa with the Great Jones Repertory Company’s adaptation of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Pylade, directed by Ivica Buljan; Marta Ziółek’s Make Yourself, with the Polish Ziółek serving as moderator and guide; Via Negative’s One Hundred Toasts, with music by Glenn Miller, Michael Nyman, Alfred Schnittke, and the Stooges; Bruno Isaković and Mia Zalukar’s multimedia, multidisciplinary Suddenly Everywhere; TukaWach/Magda Stawman-Tuka and Anita Wach’s double bill, How the Hares Are Dying and Private Inventor, exploring ontological insecurity and transformation; and Ina Sladić’s two-part Penny/Audience, in which Sladić receives live instructions from Penny Arcade in the former and the audience in the latter. Tickets to all performances are a mere twenty-five bucks to check out some innovative and unusual theater.
