this week in dance

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

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

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.

LIC BLOCK PARTY

lic block party

SculptureCenter
Purves St. at Jackson & 43rd Aves.
Saturday, August 20, free, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
www.sculpture-center.org

SculptureCenter, one of the coolest places to see art in the five boroughs, is hosting the annual LIC Block Party on August 20 in Queens. The free afternoon, taking place inside and outside the gallery, will include live performances by Erin Markey, Daisy Press, OTIUM, Jessica Lang Dance, and Bianca Benson, DJ sets by Tygapaw, activity booths by Schuyler Tsuda, Jeannine Han & Eliza Fisher, Sam Stewart, Lauren Halsey, Jan Mun & Gil Lopez, Sydney Shen, Emma Banay & David Scanlon’s Quilt Music, Other Means, and Diamond Stingily, and an artists market with booths by American Chordata, Desert Island, Fastnet, Mixed Media, Packet Biweekly, the Perfect Nothing Catalog, Peradam, Sanguis Ornatus, and Workaday Handmade. There will also be food and drink available from such local restaurants as Bartleby & Sage, Doughnut Plant, Hibino LIC, Rockaway Brewing Co., and Stolle USA. Among the partners in the block party are the American Folk Art Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Noguchi Museum, Sculpture Space NYC, and Socrates Sculpture Park.

TICKET ALERT — CHITA: NOWADAYS

The legendary Chita Rivera will make her Carnegie Hall headlining debut on November 8 with special guests (photo by Laura Marie Duncan)

Who: Chita Rivera, Alan Cumming, Andy Karl, more
What: “Chita: Nowadays”
Where: Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
When: Monday, November 7, $40-$135, 8:00
Why: Tickets are on sale now to see Broadway legend Chita Rivera in her first-ever headlining show at Carnegie Hall. On November 7, Rivera, who has won two Tonys in addition to earning another eight nominations, will be joined by several leading men, including Tony winner Alan Cumming (Cabaret, Macbeth), two-time Tony nominee Andy Karl (Rocky, On the Twentieth Century), and others to be announced. The eighty-three-year-old Rivera will be celebrating a film, television, and stage career that began in the early 1950s and features such stage productions as West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Sweet Charity, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman as well as the film versions of Sweet Charity and Chicago. “Chita: Nowadays” will consists of old favorites, new songs, and special collaborations, directed by Graciela Daniele, with musical director Michael Croiter leading a fifteen-piece band. “I’m absolutely thrilled to play one of the most prestigious venues in the world, Carnegie Hall,” actress-singer-dancer Rivera, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, said in a statement. “We’re going to have a ball!”