this week in dance

LUNGS HARVEST ARTS FESTIVAL

lungs-harvest-arts-festival

Multiple community gardens on the Lower East Side
Saturday, September 24, and Sunday, September 25, free
www.lungsnyc.org

More than fifty community gardens on the Lower East Side are participating in the fifth annual LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) Harvest Festival, a weekend of free special events, including music, dance, film screenings, walking tours, workshops, art, poetry, karaoke, meditation, and more. Below are only some of the recommended events for Saturday and Sunday; there are also activities at the M’Finda Kalunga Garden, Fireman’s Garden, Liz Christy Garden, Secret Garden, El Sol Brillante, Doroty Strelsin Suffolk St. Garden, East Side Outside Garden, Umbrella House Rooftop Garden, Creative Little Garden, Lower East Side People Care Garden, Kenkeleba House Garden, Children’s Magical Garden, Green Oasis, Elizabeth St. Garden, Toyota Children’s Garden, Sam & Sadie Koenig Garden, and many others. The festival is a great way to become familiar with and support these small gems that can be found all over the Lower East Side.

Saturday, September 24

Permaculture tour with Ross Martin and Marga Snyder, La Plaza Cultural, Ave. C at Ninth St., 12 noon

Live music with Elizabeth Ruf, Ben Cauley, Avon Faire, Tammy Faye Starlight, Witch Camp with Amber Martin & Nath-Ann Carrera, Salley May, and Val Kinzler, DeColores Garden, East Eighth St. between Aves. B & C, 1:00 – 5:00

Guided meditation, with Matthew Caban and Jaquay Saintil, the Lower East Side People Care Garden, Rutgers St. between Henry and Madison Sts., 2:00

Collaborative poetry workshop with Rhoma Mostel, La Guardia Corner Gardens, Bleecker & Houston Sts., 3:00

“The Bride” performance piece by Theresa Byrnes, La Plaza Cultural, Ave. C at Ninth St., 4:00

Dance performance with Heidi Henderson and students from Connecticut College, Kizuna Dance, John Gutierrez, Sheep Meadow Dance Theater, Rina Espiritu, Lauren Kravitz, and Shantel Prado, Cornfield Dance, Rod Rodgers Teen Dancers, El Jardín del Paraíso, Fourth St. between Aves. C & D, 4:00

Dimensions of Ecology panel discussion, with Stuart Losee, Felicia Young, Anna Fitzgerald, and Chloe Rosetti, La Plaza Cultural, Ave. C at Ninth St., 5:00

Sunday, September 25

Pysanky workshop: How to Make Ukrainian Easter Eggs, with Anna Sawaryn, 6B Garden, Ave. B at Sixth St., 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

“Garbagia Island” Creatures Performance and Fashion Show, El Jardín del Paraíso, Fourth St. between Aves. C & D, 1:00

Vangeline Theater’s “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” contemporary Butoh dance, El Jardín del Paraíso, Fourth St. between Aves. C & D, 2:00

“Garden to Table Nutrition,” with Vanessa Berenstein, La Guardia Corner Gardens, Bleecker & Houston Sts., 3:00

Fountain installation: “Jeux d’Eaux” by Nicholas Vargelis, Le Petit Versailles, Second St. between Aves. B & C, 4:00

Laughter Yoga, with Sara Jones, La Guardia Corner Gardens, Bleecker & Houston Sts., 5:00

Photography show: George Hirose’s “Midnight in the Garden,” Campos Garden, Twelfth St. between Aves. B & C, 6:30

Dance party with Ray Santiago Band, Campos Garden, Twelfth St. between Aves. B & C, 7:30-9:30

CROSSING THE LINE 2016

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Jérôme Bel’s THE SHOW MUST GO ON will go on at the Joyce as part of FIAF’s tenth annual Crossing the Line festival

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 22 – November 3, free – $55
212-355-6160
crossingthelinefestival.org
www.fiaf.org

We can’t help but get excited for FIAF’s annual multidisciplinary fall festival, Crossing the Line, now celebrating its tenth anniversary. Every summer, we eagerly await the advance announcement of what they’ll be presenting, then scour the lineup for the most unusual events to make sure we see them. This year is another stellar collection of cutting-edge international dance and theater, beginning September 22 and 24 with screenings of concluding episodes seven, eight, and nine of Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s epic Life and Times at Anthology Film Archives ($11), along with a Thursday night party in FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall ($10) that begins with a screening of the eighth chapter of Kristin Worrall’s rather ordinary life, with the artists themselves serving up PB&Js. The festival features a special focus on French choreographer Jérôme Bel, who will be involved in four programs, beginning October 17 (free with RSVP) with a screening of his short biographical film on Paris Opera dancer Véronique Doisneau, followed by a discussion with Bel and Ana Janevski. Bel’s award-winning The Show Must Go On will go on at the Joyce October 20-22 ($36-$46), with Bel hanging around for a Curtain Chat after the 2:00 show on October 22. Bel will present the New York premiere of his controversial eponymous 1995 signature work at the Kitchen October 27-29 ($20) while also moving over to the Museum of Modern Art October 27-31 (free with museum admission) for Artist’s Choice: MoMA Dance Company, a site-specific piece for MoMA’s Marron Atrium that will be performed by members of the MoMA staff.

Tenth annual Crossing the Line festival features special focus on breakdance world champion Anne Nguyen, including AUTARCIE (….): A SEARCH FOR SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Tenth annual Crossing the Line festival features special focus on breakdance world champion Anne Nguyen, including U.S. premiere of AUTARCIE (….): A SEARCH FOR SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Breakdance world champion Anne Nguyen is making her U.S. debut with a pair of works: the free Graphic Cyphers will take place September 23 at Roberto Clemente Plaza in the Bronx at 2:00 and in Times Square September 25 at 2:30 and 4:30, while Autarcie (….): a search for self-sufficiency has its American debut September 29 to October 1 ($20) at Gibney Dance. “I seek to reconcile the peculiarities of hip-hop with demanding theatrical performance to question the place of human beings in the modern-day world,” Nguyen says; you can hear more from her at the October 1 artist talk “Towards Cultural Equity: The Artist’s Perspective” (free with RSVP) with fellow panelists David Thomson, Mohamed El Khatib, and Rokafella, moderated by George Emilio Sanchez. The UK’s Forced Entertainment, which is “interested in confusion as well as laughter,” will likely dish out a healthy portion of both at the New York premiere of Tomorrow’s Parties in Florence Gould Hall September 28 and 30 and October 1 ($20). From September 30 to October 2 ($35-$55), Venice Biennale lifetime achievement award winner Romeo Castellucci will deliver the one-man show Julius Caesar. Spared Parts, making the most of Federal Hall’s marble columns. This past June, dancer-choreographer Maria Hassabi gave an informal preview of her latest work, Staged, on the High Line; she will now bring the final piece down to the Kitchen, below the High Line, where it will be performed by Simon Courchel, Jessie Gold, Hristoula Harakas, and Oisín Monaghan October 4-8 ($20).

Romeo Castellucci

Romeo Castellucci will make his New York City debut channeling Julius Caesar at Federal Hall

On October 6-8 and 13-15 ($35), drag fabulist Dickie Beau will conjure up Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, and Richard Meryman at Abrons Arts Center for Blackouts. [Ed. note: All performances of Blackouts have been canceled because of unexpected travel circumstances.] Also on October 13-15 ($20), Lora Juodkaite and Annie Hanaeur will perform the U.S. premiere of Rachid Ouramdane’s Tordre (Wrought) at Baryshnikov Arts Center; CTL veteran Ouramdane will take part in the October 15 artist talk “Towards Cultural Equity: The Institutional Perspective” (free with RSVP) with keynote speaker Patrick Weil, panelists Firoz Ladak and Zeyba Rahman, and moderator Thomas Lax. On October 25 (free with RSVP), Aaron Landsman will host Perfect City, in which a group of young people from the Lower East Side will gather at Abrons Arts Center and discuss what the future holds in store for them, particularly in their neighborhood. The festival ends on November 3 with My Barbarian’s Post-Party Dream State Caucus at the New Museum (free with RSVP), held in conjunction with the exhibition “The Audience Is Always Right.” Throughout the festival, you can check out Mathieu Bernard-Reymond’s “Transform” art exhibit in the FIAF Gallery, and Tim Etchells’s multichannel video installation “Eyes Looking” will be projected at 11:59 each night in Times Square as October’s Midnight Moment.

TICKET ALERT: FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL 2016

fall for dance 2016

New York City Center
131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 10, 11:00 am
Festival runs September 26 – October 8, $15
212-581-1212
www.nycitycenter.org

One of the hottest tickets of the season is always the annual Fall for Dance Festival at City Center, ten days of performances by twenty-one companies from around the world, each show a mere fifteen bucks. This year’s lineup includes some of our faves, with performances by STREB Extreme Action, Grupo Corpo, and Alvin Ailey along with works choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Frederick Ashton, and Wayne McGregor and a dance lesson led by recently retired Ailey stalwart Renee Robinson. Most evenings will be preceded by free dance lessons by members of one of that night’s performing companies, open to all ticket holders; more advanced dancers can sign up for master classes ($15) with Cie Accrorap on October 1 at 12 noon and with Wendy Whelan on October 8 at noon. Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 10, at 11:00 am, so don’t waste any time if you want to see any of the below programs, because these events sell out ridiculously fast.

Monday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 27, 8:00
STREB Extreme Action, world premiere of Airslice, choreographed by Elizabeth Streb (preshow dance lessons September 26 at 6:45)
Dada Masilo/The Dance Factory, world premiere of Spring, choreographed by Dada Masilo
American Ballet Theatre, Monotones II, choreographed by Frederick Ashton
Farruquito, New York premiere of Mi Soledad (Solea), choreographed by Farruquito (preshow dance lessons September 27 at 6:45)

Wednesday, September 28 and Thursday, September 29, 8:00
Richard Alston Dance Company with Montclair State University Vocal Accord, New York premiere of Rejoice in the Lamb, choreographed by Richard Alston
Aszure Barton & Artists, Awáa, choreographed by Aszure Barton (preshow dance lessons September 28-29 at 6:45)
Wendy Whelan and Edward Watson, U.S. premiere of The Ballad of Mack and Ginny, choreographed by Arthur Pita
Grupo Corpo, New York premiere of Suíte Branca, choreographed by Cassi Abranches

Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1, 8:00
CCN de la Rochelle / Cie Accrorap, U.S. premiere of Opus 14, choreographed by Kader Attou
Ayodele Casel, While I Have the Floor, choreographed by Ayodele Casel
Hong Kong Ballet, U.S. premiere of Shape of Glow, choreographed by Jorma Elo
Bangarra Dance Theatre, U.S. premiere of Spirit, choreographed by Stephen Page & Djakapurra Munyarryun (preshow dance lessons September 30 at 6:45)

Wednesday, October 5 and Thursday, October 6, 8:00
Jessica Lang Dance, New York premiere of Tesseracts of Time, choreographed by Jessica Lang
Royal Ballet Flanders, U.S premiere of Fall, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cry, choreographed by Alvin Ailey (preshow dance lessons by Renee Robinson October 5 at 6:45)
Alina Cojocaru, Friedemann Vogel, choreographed by Johan Kobborg
The Sarasota Ballet, Marguerite and Armand, choreographed by Frederick Ashton

Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8, 8:00
Shantala Shivalingappa, Shiva Tarangam, choreographed by Shantala Shivalingappa
Nederlands Dans Theater, U.S. premiere of Woke up Blind, choreographed by Marco Goecke
Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo, world premiere, choreographed by Wayne McGregor
Cloud Gate 2, U.S. premiere of Beckoning, choreographed by Cheng Tsung-Lung (preshow dance lessons October 7 at 6:45)

9/11 TRIBUTE: TABLE OF SILENCE PROJECT

(photo by Terri Gold)

Special “Table of Silence Project” performance ritual of peace returns for sixth year to Josie Robertson Plaza (photo by Terri Gold)

Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center
65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Sunday, September 11, free, 8:15 am
www.tableofsilence.org

Every September 11, there are many memorial programs held all over the city, paying tribute to those who were lost on that tragic day while also honoring New York’s endless resiliency. One of the most powerful is “The Table of Silence Project,” a public performance ritual for peace featuring one hundred dancers on Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center, now paying tribute to the fifteenth anniversary of the attacks. “The idea of a dance ritual came to me during my practice of meditation while drawing labyrinths. I realized that it could be beautiful to create a peace labyrinth, and Lincoln Center, where I often walk, was the obvious sacred space,” choreographer and artistic director Jacqulyn Buglisi explained on the event’s Kickstarter page. “It occurred to me that the architectural design of Josie Robertson Plaza would provide the environment to create concentric circles and, fused with the sacred geometry, manifest mandala energy for peace and harmony.” Beginning at 8:15 am, thirty-one minutes before the first plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001, dancers from Martha Graham, Juilliard, the Ailey School, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the National Dance Institute, STEPS on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and other companies, all dressed in white, will slowly begin gathering around the Revson Fountain to a rhythmic drumbeat, followed by silence and then a soft score. Buglisi Dance Theatre partnered with the September Concert and Dance/NYC for the meditative event, which lasts about a half hour and can also be livestreamed here. “The future of humanity depends on what we do in the present,” Buglisi said about the project, which she conceived for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Buglisi was inspired by Italian artist Rossella Vasta’s ever-evolving series of one hundred ceramic plates that help form the Table of Silence; as Vasta explained on her website, “One hundred is one times 100 and this refers to the original Latin meaning of religion that is derived from ‘religere.’ The dishes become the offering to humanity and represent transcendental values beyond any religion. Silence becomes a sacred space with no religious discrimination.”

DANCE NOW FESTIVAL 2016

LMNO3 is among the participants in annual competitive DANCE NOW Festival at Joes Pub (photo by Justin Skrakowski)

LMnO3 (Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis, and Donnell Oakley) is among the participants in annual competitive DANCE NOW Festival at Joe’s Pub (photo by Justin Skrakowski)

Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
September 7-10, 29, $20-$30, 7:00
212-967-7555
www.dancenownyc.org
publictheater.org

For its twenty-first annual season, the DANCE NOW Festival will consist of forty choreographers presenting short works of no more than five minutes on the small stage at Joe’s Pub. The competitive festival, which encourages experimentation and innovation, takes place September 7-10, hosted by TruDee (aka Deborah Lohse). September 7 will feature B.S. Movement / Bryan Strimpel and Shaina Branfman, binbinFactory / Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa, Katherine Helen Fisher, Mark Gindick, Jordan Isadore, Heidi Latsky Dance, PearsonWidrigDanceTheater, Amber Sloan, and Jaclyn Walsh. The September 8 lineup boasts the Bang Group, Adam Barruch / Anatomiae Occultii, Lawrence Goldhuber / BIGMANARTS, Jane Comfort and Company, Malcolm Low / Formal Structure, Kyle Marshall, Kate Watson Wallace | anonymous bodies, Jessy Smith, Nicole Wolcott, and Wallie Wolfgruber. September 9 brings together BOOMERANG, C.K.M. & Artists, Norbert de la Cruz III, the Dance Cartel, Raja Feather Kelly / the feath3r theory, Gina Gibney Dance, Paula Josa-Jones, Khaleah London / LAYERS, Gabrielle Revlock, and the one and only Gus Solomons jr. And September 10 is highlighted by LMnO3, Cori Marquis + the Nines [IX], Li-Chiao Ping, PORTABLES / Claire Porter, Take Dance, Makiko Tamura / small apple co., Megan Williams, the Wondertwins, Yin Yue Dance, and ZviDance. On September 24, ten of the choreographers will be invited back for an encore evening, with the overall challenge winner receiving a $1,500 development stipend and a one-week residency at DANCE NOW Silo on Kirkland Farm in Bucks County.

BEACH SESSIONS DANCE SERIES

beach sessions

Who: Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Netta Yerushalmy
What: Beach Sessions Dance Series
Where: On the sand at Beach 86, Rockaway Beach
When: Saturday, August 27, free, 6:30
Why: Now in its second year, Beach Sessions Dance Series, begun in 2015 by Sasha Okshteyn via a Kickstarter campaign, got under way last weekend with performances by Laurie Berg and BOOMERANG and concludes August 27 at 6:30 with a shared bill featuring Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener and Netta Yerushalmy. Former Cunningham dancers Mitchell and Riener will present the premiere of a new piece, while the Israel-trained, New York City-based Yerushalmy has scheduled “traces, residues, new old horizons; a byproduct of my current project ​Paramodernities.” Beach Sessions is a labor of love for Okshteyn, who is the digital marketing manager and tour coordinator for Stephen Petronio Company and a curator for Black & White Gallery/Project Space in Brooklyn. The performances, held on an outdoor stage on the sand with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, will be followed by a beach cleanup hosted by the Surfrider Foundation. If you participate in the cleanup, you’ll get a free drink ticket for the after-party at event sponsor Rockaway Brewery + Co. at 415 Beach 72nd St. and Amstel Blvd.

HARLEM WEEK 2016: SUMMER IN THE CITY / HARLEM DAY

Free outdoor screening of WHEN WE WERE KINGS is part of Harlem Week festival

Free outdoor screening of WHEN WE WERE KINGS is part of Harlem Week festival

West 135th St. between Malcolm X Blvd. & Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Saturday, August 20, and Sunday, August 21, free, 12 noon – 10:00 pm
Festival continues through August 27
harlemweek.com

The annual Harlem Week festival continues August 20 with “Summer in the City” and August 21 with “Harlem Day,” two afternoons of a wide range of free special events along West 135th St. Saturday’s festivities include the Higher Education Fair & Expo, New Yorkers Are “Dancing in the Street” (with Alvin Ailey instructor Robin Dunn teaching a hip-hop ballet and African dance class, with WBLS DJs), the Fabulous Fashion Flava Show, the first day of the NYC Children’s Festival (with a parade, sports clinics, health testing, arts & crafts, and more), Harlem Honeys & Bears swimming activities for seniors in the Hansborough Recreation Center, an International Vendors Village, the Uptown Saturday Concert paying tribute to Nina Simone, and the Imagenation Outdoor Film Festival screening in St. Nicholas Park of Leon Gast’s Oscar-winning 1996 documentary When We Were Kings, about Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s Rumble in the Jungle. Sunday’s Harlem Day celebration features the “Harlem and Havana Classics” Upper Manhattan Auto Show, tennis clinics, the “Village within Our Village” health village, the second day of the NYC Children’s Festival (with a Back to School theme), an “International Roots of Jazz” program, the Upper Manhattan Small Business Expo & Fair, live music, dance, and spoken-word performances, a kids fashion show, and musical tributes to Prince and Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White.