this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

AMERICAN REALNESS

After delighting audiences at BAM, John Jasperse’s CANYON will celebrate the thrill of the dance at Abrons Arts Center (photo by Tony Orrico)

Abrons Arts Center, Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
January 5-15, Show & Tell free, other performances $15
212-352-3101
www.abronsartscenter.org

No, it’s not yet another reality show. “American Realness” is an eleven-day live performance festival that offers fans of contemporary dance, music, and theater an opportunity to catch productions they might have missed as well as the chance to see works in progress scheduled to debut later this year. Held at Abrons Arts Center in conjunction with the Association of Performing Arts Presenter’s Conference, “American Realness” features second looks at such 2011 works as John Jasperse’s Canyon, which celebrates the thrill of the dance while ostensibly being about nothing; Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey’s Tool Is Loot, the result of a yearlong investigation into collaboration; Jack Ferver and Michelle Mola’s Me, Michelle, about ego and power in the form of Cleopatra; and Eleanor Bauer’s (Big Girls Do Big Things), a solo in which Bauer goes through a series of metamorphoses. The festival also includes the New York premiere of Laura Arrington’s Hot Wings, which examines feminine identity; the U.S. premiere of Daniel Linehan’s Montage for Three, in which two dancers re-create images from found photographs; Trajal Harrell’s Antigone Jr., the next stage of his “Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church”; and the pairing of Ishmael Houston-Jones’s mean Cait: a fairytale in progress and Yvonne Meier’s Mad Heidi. The free “Show & Tell” section (advance RSVP required) includes such conversations as “Why a dramaturge?” with Reggie Wilson and Susan Manning and “Surfacing & Song-Based Performance” with Holcombe Waller, Cynthia Hopkins, and Miguel Gutierrez in addition to sneak peeks at such works in progress as Big Dance Theater’s Ich, KürbisGeist, Luciana Achugar’s FEELingpleasuresatisfactioncelebrationholyFORM, and Keith Hennessy’s Turbulence (a dance about the economy).

COIL 2012

Performance Space 122 and other venues
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
January 5-29, $20-$30 per performance, $75 passport for five shows, $100 for ten
www.ps122.org

“Fully realized, but on the bleeding front edge” is how P.S. 122 artistic director Vallejo Gartner describes the seventh annual Coil festival of experimental theater and dance, taking place January 5-29 at such venues as the Public Theater, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Connelly Theater, the Invisible Dog Art Center, the Old School, and Performance Space 122. Lin Hixson and Matthew Goulish of Every House Has a Door combine Dusan Makavejev, Stanley Cavell, and Ingmar Bergman in Let us think of these things always. Let us speak of them never. Lebanese actor, writer, and director Rabih Mroué will present a pair of politically charged multimedia solo narratives, Looking for a Missing Employee and The Pixelated Revolution. Heather Kravas examines idealized feminine beauty in The Green Surround. Mariano Pensotti’s tragicomic El pasado es un animal grotesco (The past is a grotesque animal), which is also part of the Under the Radar festival, uses a revolving stage and a song by Of Montreal to look at the lives of four Argentinians. Audience members do not have to sit quietly in their seats as Michael Kliën with Steve Valk delves into “the absence of certainty” and other philosophies in Choreography for Blackboards. David Levine expresses his Anger at the Movies, complete with audience involvement, in a theatrical seminar based on YouTube clips sent to him. Temporary Distortion re-creates scenes from television and movie cop dramas and real-life situations in Newyorkland. Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company brings together people from theater, cabaret, dance, and burlesque for a provocative examination of identity in Untitled Feminist Show. And on January 8, Bobby Hernreich will host the annual Red & White Party, featuring Jack Ferver, DJ Spooky, Ping-Pong (Thing Thong), prizes, and more at SPiN New York.

UNDER THE RADAR

Judith Malina of the Living Theatre and Silvia Calderoni of Motus collaborate on THE PLOT IS THE REVOLUTION, a special Under the Radar presentation on January 9 at La MaMa (photo by End & Dna)

The Public Theater and other venues
425 Lafayette St. between East Fourth St. & Astor Pl.
January 4-15, free-$25
212-967-7555
www.undertheradarfestival.com

The eighth annual Under the Radar: A Festival Tracking New Theater from Around the World offers another diverse collection of live performances that provide a welcome alternative to conventional theater. Running January 4-15, this year’s fest includes such promising productions as Hideki Noda’s The Bee, an English-language drama at Japan Society about a horrible surprise waiting for a businessman upon returning home from the office; Bambï & Waterwell’s Goodbar, a live concept album reimagining of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, at the Public Theater; Suli Holum & Deborah Stein’s Chimera, about a woman who is her own twin, at HERE; and Stefan Zeromski Theatre’s unique musical take on Bernard-Marie Koltès’s In the Solitude of Cotton Fields, set to live Polish punk rock, at La MaMa. The Public will also be home to the LuEsther Lounge, presenting free live music throughout the festival. Among the other free events are the installation Gob Squad Resource Room at the Goethe-Institut’s Wyoming Building (the Gob Squad Arts Collective will also be presenting the interactive Super Night Shot at the Public); Camille O’Sullivan’s Feel, in which the Irish singer will play a different character for songs by Jacquel Brel, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, David Bowie, and others, at the Public; and the panel discussion “Performance and Context: The Black Box and the White Cube,” January 8 at 1:00 at the Public. In addition, a post-show discussion will follow the January 7 performance of Motus’s Alexis. A Greek Tragedy at La MaMa, a preshow talk will precede the January 8 performance of the Living Word Project’s Word Becomes Flesh at the Public, a panel will follow the January 11 performance of biriken & Ayça Damgaci’s Lick But Don’t Swallow! at La MaMa, chelfitsch’s Toshiki Okada (Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech) will lead a workshop for theater and dance professionals on January 14 at 1:00 at Japan Society, and “Everyone’s a Critic! Exploring the Changing Landscape of Arts Writing” will take place January 15 at 1:00 at the LuEsther Lounge. As always, Under the Radar offers adventurous theatergoers a chance to see a bunch of very different works, from an excellent selection of international companies.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: EPITAPH

The Acorn Theater at Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday, December 20, $51.25 – $71.25, 7:00
www.hdcny.com

The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Repertory Company is presenting a very different take on the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” on December 20 with Epitaph. Artistic director Safi A. Thomas has created a brutal, violent version of Charles Perrault’s story of the girl in red who meets the big bad wolf, incorporating elements from tales by such other masters as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen (“The Little Match Girl”). The thirty-minute piece, which explores issues of gender, sexuality, patriarchy, and female empowerment, will be followed by a thirty-minute Q&A with the cast and creative team and a forty-five-minute reception. Premium tickets include a commemorative booklet, with part of the proceeds benefiting the Crime Victims Treatment Center of St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.

SUPER SABADO: SUPER HOLIDAYS!

Three Kings Day will be the focus of free Saturday programs at El Museo del Barrio (photo by Gary Santana)

FREE THIRD SATURDAYS
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Saturday, December 17, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-831-7272
www.elmuseo.org

El Museo del Barrio’s free Super Sabado program for December celebrates Christmas on December 17 with a full slate of holiday fun, beginning at 11:00 as members of the musical groups Balún and Tepeu will lead a holiday sing-along in El Teatro. From 12 noon to 3:00, kids can take part in an art workshop inspired by the Three Kings puppets and costumes in El Café and El Taller or make maracas in the Black Box Theater in preparation for the annual Three Kings Day Parade. At 3:00 in El Café, this year’s madrinas and padrinos in the parade will be on hands to talk about the festivities. And at 4:00 in the Black Box, the Peace Poets will get teens to speak their mind in the monthly spoken-word workshop “Oh Snap!” In addition, there will be tours of the museum’s two current exhibits, “Voces y Visiones: Signs, Systems & the City” and “El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 2011.” And as always, be sure to come hungry, because there’s always something interesting cooking in El Café.

STREB: KISS THE AIR!

ASCENSION is part of STREB Extreme Action’s special presentation at the Park Avenue Armory (photo by Tom Caravaglia)

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
December 14-22, $35, 7:30
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org
www.streb.org

There’s good reason New York-based choreographer Elizabeth Streb calls her company Extreme Action: The diversely talented troupe is known for performing daring acrobatic feats that push the boundaries of contemporary dance. From December 14 to 22, STREB Extreme Action will be at the Park Avenue Armory displaying their vast skills in Kiss the Air!, a program that includes two dazzling pieces that were previewed this summer in special free outdoor presentations. In “Ascension,” nine dancers take individual turns and team up on a twenty-one-foot moving ladder, risking life and limb as it circles around and around to a score by master percussionist David Van Tieghem. The breathtaking piece debuted this summer in Gansevoort Plaza as part of Whitney on Site: New Commissions Downtown; for the indoor version, Robert Wierzel’s lighting design will add another aspect to the work. This summer Streb, a MacArthur Genius, also premiered the eye-popping “Human Fountain” as part of the River to River Festival’s Extraordinary Moves program at the World Financial Center, in which sixteen daredevils — er, dancers — took swan dives off a thirty-foot, three-story structural installation. Inspired by the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas, they fly through the air (with the greatest of ease?) in tandems, sometimes crossing one another’s path, landing on an inflatable mat that cushions their fall. “Human Fountain is another thrilling example of how STREB Extreme Action goes for, well, the extreme in its challenging repertoire. Streb and several of her dancers will participate in an artist talk following the December 15 performance, moderated by Kristy Edmunds. Kiss the Air! is the second of three dance presentations at the Park Avenue Armory, following Shen Wei Dance Arts and concluding with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s farewell December 29-31.

KISS THE AIR! is a one-of-a-kind experience at Park Avenue Armory (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Update: The STREB Extreme Action Heroes announce their arrival in the Park Avenue Armory in typically extreme fashion, individually riding an overhead wire and slamming face-first into a vertical mat, letting the audience know right from the start that they are in for a very different kind of performance, one filled with impressive feats of daring and plenty of good humor. A unique melding of modern dance, ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading, aerial arts, and stunt work, Kiss the Air! is a five-ring circus that tests the limits of the human body over the course of seventy thrilling minutes, supplemented by large screens displaying live close-up footage and action architect and choreographer Elizabeth Streb’s original layouts. As the dancers make their way across five architectural set-ups, the crowd is encouraged to scream out with enthusiasm, take photographs and video, and tweet away, knocking down the barrier between viewer and performer. Action engineers Jackie Carlson, John Kasten, Sarah Callan, Zaire Baptiste, Samantha Jakas, Leonardo Giron Torres, Cassandre Joseph, Felix Hess, Daniel Rysak, and associate artistic director Fabio Tavares da Silva, along with seven additional performers, manipulate one another in swinging harnesses, climb over a moving ladder, bounce their bodies up and down on mats, dive off a thirty-foot structure, and splash about in a shallow pool, getting some audience members wet (ponchos are provided) as they run nonstop through eleven numbers, including “Swing,” “Popaction,” “Falling Sideways,” “Drop,” “Catch,” “Wave,” and “Kiss the Water.” The abovementioned showpieces, “Ascension” and “Human Fountain,” turn out to be not quite as dazzling in the armory as they were outside last summer, as the dancers (understandably) take longer pauses to catch their breath and the audience is seated farther away, but they still are impressive, enhanced by Robert Wierzel’s lighting and David Van Tieghem´s sound design and music. A one-of-a-kind experience for children and adults of all ages, Kiss the Air! continues through December 22.

MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL

Maurizio Cattelan says farewell to the art world in spectacular retrospective (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St.
Friday – Wednesday through January 22, $18 (pay-what-you-wish Saturday 5:45-7:45)
Book signing Monday, January 9, 6:00
212-423-3587
www.guggenheim.org
maurizio cattelan: all slideshow

Throughout his career, Italian visual artist and provocateur Maurizio Cattelan has been giving the middle finger to anyone and everyone he can, both literally and figuratively. He regularly stands convention — and policemen — on its head in conceptual works that range from putting a sign on a gallery door that says “Be back soon” (“Torno subito”) to placing a thirty-six-foot-high middle finger, titled “L.O.V.E.,” in front of the Milan Stock Exchange, courting controversy wherever he goes. For a career retrospective that also supposedly represents his retirement from the art world, the fifty-one-year-old Cattelan vetoed a chronological arrangement of his oeuvre situated in the Guggenheim’s bays and instead opted to have 128 of his pieces hung from the museum’s ceiling to create a brand-new, 129th work, a kind of mass execution in the form of a child’s deranged mobile (or should that be “a deranged child’s mobile”?) that offers a fond farewell, one final middle finger saying goodbye. And what a goodbye it is.

Maurizio Cattelan hangs himself in effigy in Guggenheim retrospective (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

As visitors make their way up the Guggenheim’s winding path, they are greeted by a vast collection of taxidermied animals (including a squirrel that has committed suicide, various sleeping dogs, and a horse with a wooden sign reading “INRI” above it), children hanging from their necks, Nazi salutes, the pope crushed by a meteorite, a woman clutching her breasts, a miniature man sitting atop a safe, a kneeling Adolf Hitler, an elephant draped in a KKK hood, a shopping cart, a barefoot JFK in his coffin, a chessboard composed of heroes and villains, a boy sitting at a desk with pencils pierced through his hands, an elderly woman in a refrigerator, a giant foosball table, and, yes, the enormous hand in which all fingers but the raised middle one have been cut off. Cattelan is also physically present in the installation, hanging in effigy wearing a Joseph Beuys suit on a Marcel Breuer clothing rack and with his last name shining in white neon script. Each turn offers museumgoers a fresh perspective on Cattelan’s work, with revolving juxtapositions placing the seemingly chaotic arrangement into continually changing contexts, resulting in an endless array of new comparisons that dazzle and delight. Even the interactive app associated with the show is unusual and offbeat, hosted by John Waters and featuring interviews with artists, critics, gallerists, and curators. Although “All” is filled with so many references to death, at its heart it is really a celebration of the oddity of life, an exciting and dare we say, fun retrospective that only a character like Cattelan could have put together. The exhibition closes on January 22 with the pay-what-you-wish panel discussion “The Last Word,” in which approximately twenty artists from a multitude of disciplines, including writers, comedians, philosophers, filmmakers, and many others, will gather together to talk about Cattelan’s impending career shift from 6:00 pm through 1:00 am. In addition, Cattelan will be at the Guggenheim on January 9 at 6:00 to sign copies of the exhibition catalog and celebrate the release of the new issue of Toilet Paper, with the museum remaining open until 7:45 and the store until 8:15 that night.