this week in dance

WINTER 2018 PERFORMANCE FESTIVALS

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)

PROTOTYPE
Multiple venues
January 7-20
www.prototypefestival.org

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 is an intimate experience at American Realness

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 irish 1st

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

WINTER JAZZFEST NYC
Multiple venues
January 10-17
www.winterjazzfest.com

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

COIL
Performance Space 122
150 First Ave.
January 10 – February 4
www.ps122.org/coil-2018

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

DoublePlus: DR. MIQUE’L DANGELI & MIKE DANGELI + MARIA HUPFIELD

Photos: Dr. Mique’l Dangeli & Mike Dangeli by Thosh Collins

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.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: NEW YORK CITY WINTER SEASON 2017

Linda Celeste Sims in Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section . Photo by Paul Kolnik.

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.

THE PERFORATIONS FESTIVAL

Croatias Perforations Festival returns to New York City with unusual productions at Abrons Arts Center and La MaMa

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.

LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO: REBELS ON POINTE

Director Bobbi Jo Hart and members of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will be at the Quad for a Q&A on November 15

REBELS ON POINTE (Bobbi Jo Hart, 2016)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Opens Wednesday, November 15
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.rebelsonpointe.com

You don’t have to wait for their next season at the Joyce to catch the Trocks, aka Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, here in New York City. On November 15, Canadian director Bobbi Jo Hart’s ninety-minute documentary, Rebels on Pointe, opens at the Quad, an intimate look at the “the World’s Foremost All-Male Comic Ballet Company.” Founded in 1974, the Trocks specialize in parodying classical ballet and gender identity. “In the early years, the company was blackballed because of the gay element,” notes one troupe member, while another says, “I can be myself. I can wear tutus; why not? Little things change the world.” Named Best Documentary at several film festivals, Rebels on Pointe follows the troupe as it travels around the world, presenting its unique flair and talent, going behind the scenes and showing them perform onstage. “When that curtain goes up, it’s just electric,” another dancer declares. Hart (Rise, I Am Not a Rock Star) and members of the troupe will be at the Quad for a Q&A following the 7:00 screening on November 15.

AXIS DANCE COMPANY: THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

AXIS Dance marks its thirtieth anniversary with its first-ever New York season at Gibney Dance (photo by David DeSilva)

Gibney Dance Performing Arts Center, Studio H
280 Broadway between Chambers & Reade Sts.
November 16-18, $20-$25, 8:00
646-837-6809
gibneydance.org

California-based AXIS Dance Company is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary with its debut New York City season, November 16-18 at Gibney Dance. The company, founded in 1987 by Thais Mazur, brings together performers with and without physical disabilities through artistry, engagement, and advocacy. Under new artistic director Marc Brew, AXIS will present three works in Gibney’s Studio H, featuring company dancers James Bowen, Lani Dickinson, Scotty Hardwig, Carina Ho, Dwayne Schuneman, and Yuko Monden. Brew’s Radical Impact, a collaboration with composer and pianist JooWan Kim of Ensemble Mik Nawooj, explores identity politics and what it means to be human. Amy Seiwert is reworking her 2013 piece, The Reflective Surface, with an original score by Darren Johnston, seeking to surprise the audience and challenge its expectations. The evening will also include an excerpt from 2015’s In Defense of Regret, an examination of interior landscapes choreographed by Maurya Kerr, Alex Ketley, and Bobbi Jene Smith, with music by Emily Adams and Matan Dasaki. In addition, AXIS will be curating a series of integrated technique classes November 14-17 ($20, 10:00 am) with Brew (11/14), Mark Travis-Rivera (11/15), Heidi Latsky (11/16), and Alice Sheppard (11/17).

MOHAU MODISAKENG: ZION

Mohau Modisakeng will lead a procession through the city for ZION (photo courtesy of Whatiftheworld, Ron Mandos, and Performa)

PERFORMA 17
Multiple locations
Saturday, November 11, free, 11:00 am – 5:15 pm
17.performa-arts.org
www.mohaumodisakeng.com

For Performa 17, South African multidisciplinary artist Mohau Modisakeng has created ZION, a procession through Manhattan invoking his native country’s history of colonialism, apartheid, and violent displacement. Beginning at 11:00 on November 11, Modisakeng and twenty dancers, carrying personal possessions, will make their way from Mother Zion Church in Harlem, zigzagging down Malcolm X Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. and to Hotel Theresa. At 2:00 the march stops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and heads into Central Park, crossing the Great Lawn and Summit Rock. At 4:30, photographer, filmmaker, performance artist, and sculptor Modisakeng, whose previous work includes Passage, Metamorphosis, and Endabeni, will go from Anita’s Way public plaza to Times Square for a grand finale. The choreographed exodus equates what has happened in Cape Town’s District 6 and to Native Americans in Seneca Falls, New York, which was also the site of the first women’s rights convention, while also focusing on the current international refugee crisis.