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THE MOOD ROOM

Big Dance Theater’s The Mood Room explores Reagan-era consumerism and more (photo by Maria Baranova)

THE MOOD ROOM
BAM Fisher, Fishman Space
321 Ashland Pl.
November 30 – December 7, $35–$55
www.bam.org
www.bigdancetheater.org

Tickets are going fast for Big Dance Theater’s The Mood Room, coming to BAM Fisher’s Fishman Space November 30 to December 7. The sixty-minute world premiere, presented in association with the Kitchen, combines music, dance, theater, opera, and text, adapted from Guy de Cointet’s 1982 play The Five Sisters and Anton Chekhov’s 1900 classic The Three Sisters. In a program note, BDT cofounder, choreographer, and director Annie-B Parson explains, “Sometimes you find an artistic soul mate in the simple act of opening a book. This is what happened to me when I read the late 20th c. ‘plays’ of visual artist Guy de Cointet. You see, they are not really plays, they are visual events with texts that bask in the hot mess of the non-narrative posing as narrative — a state I would call living! Here is where de Cointet and I intersect: he is devoted to detours, departures, tonal shifts, and the unconfirmed. An atmosphere of codes, exits, and non-results permeate the writing. He quotes without substantiation or reason, he is a-historic, is liberated from achieving even a glimmer of resolution, and his authorial voice is intentionally cracking. His theater is both textual and visually based, without any hierarchy for language, truth, or the answer — and the physical objects in the texts have no stable meaning throughout the play. No one changes; no one learns anything.”

The multimedia piece takes place in Los Angeles in the Reagan 1980s of rampant consumerism and trickle-down economics. Elizabeth DeMent, Theda Hammel, Kate Moran, Myssi Robinson, and Michelle Sui portray the five sisters, with an experimental score by Holly Herndon, sound and recomposition by Mark degli Antoni, set design by Lauren Machen, costumes by Baille Younkman and Samantha Mcelrath, lighting by Joe Levasseur, and video by Keith Skretch. You should always expect the unexpected with BDT, whose previous works include Comme Toujours Here I Stand, Antigonick, and Short Form, and it sounds like The Mood Room will be no different.

SONGS FOR ’DRELLA

SONGS FOR ’DRELLA (Ed Lachman, 1990)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
October 22-27
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

In December 1989, Velvet Underground cofounders John Cale and Lou Reed took the stage at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House and performed a song cycle in honor of Andy Warhol, who had played a pivotal role in the group’s success. The Pittsburgh-born Pop artist had died in February 1987 at the age of fifty-eight; although Cale and Reed had had a long falling-out, they reunited at Warhol’s funeral at the suggestion of artist Julian Schnabel. Commissioned by BAM and St. Ann’s, Songs for ’Drella — named after one of Warhol’s nicknames, a combination of Dracula and Cinderella — was released as a concert film and recorded for an album. The work is filled with factual details and anecdotes of Warhol’s life and career, from his relationship with his mother to his years at the Factory, from his 1967 shooting at the hands of Valerie Solanis to his dedication to his craft.

Directed, photographed, and produced by Ed Lachman, the two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer of such films as Desperately Seeking Susan, Mississippi Masala, Far from Heaven, and Carol, the concert movie has just undergone a 4K restoration supervised by Lachman that premiered at the New York Film Festival a few weeks ago and is now running October 22-27 at Film Forum, with Lachman participating in Q&As following the 5:45 screenings on October 22, 23, and 24. (Producer Carolyn Hepburn will introduce the 5:45 show on October 27.) Songs for ’Drella is an intimate portrait not only of Warhol but of Cale and Reed, who sit across from each other onstage, Cale on the left, playing keyboards and violin, Reed on the right on guitars. There is no between-song patter or introductions; they just play the music as Robert Wierzel’s lighting shifts from black-and-white to splashes of blue and red. Photos of Warhol and some of his works (Electric Chair, Mona Lisa, Gun) are occasionally projected onto a screen on the back wall.

“When you’re growing up in a small town / Bad skin, bad eyes — gay and fatty / People look at you funny / When you’re in a small town / My father worked in construction / It’s not something for which I’m suited / Oh — what is something for which you are suited? / Getting out of here,” Reed sings on the opener, “Smalltown.” Cale and Reed share an infectious smile before “Style It Takes,” in which Cale sings, “I’ve got a Brillo box and I say it’s art / It’s the same one you can buy at any supermarket / ’Cause I’ve got the style it takes / And you’ve got the people it takes / This is a rock group called the Velvet Underground / I show movies of them / Do you like their sound / ’Cause they have a style that grates and I have art to make.”

John Cale and Lou Reed reunited to honor Andy Warhol in Songs for ’Drella

Cale and Reed reflect more on their association with Warhol in “A Dream.” Cale sings as Warhol, “And seeing John made me think of the Velvets / And I had been thinking about them / when I was on St. Marks Place / going to that new gallery those sweet new kids have opened / But they thought I was old / And then I saw the old DOM / the old club where we did our first shows / It was so great / And I don’t understand about that Velvets first album / I mean, I did the cover / and I was the producer / and I always see it repackaged / and I’ve never gotten a penny from it / How could that be / I should call Henry / But it was good seeing John / I did a cover for him / but I did it in black and white and he changed it to color / It would have been worth more if he’d left it my way / But you can never tell anybody anything / I’ve learned that.”

The song later turns the focus on Reed, recalling, “And then I saw Lou / I’m so mad at him / Lou Reed got married and didn’t invite me / I mean, is it because he thought I’d bring too many people? / I don’t get it / He could have at least called / I mean, he’s doing so great / Why doesn’t he call me? / I saw him at the MTV show / and he was one row away and he didn’t even say hello / I don’t get it / You know I hate Lou / I really do / He won’t even hire us for his videos / And I was so proud of him.”

Reed does say hello — and goodbye — on the closer, “Hello It’s Me.” With Cale on violin, Reed stands up with his guitar and fondly sings, “Oh well, now, Andy — I guess we’ve got to go / I wish some way somehow you like this little show / I know it’s late in coming / But it’s the only way I know / Hello, it’s me / Goodnight, Andy / Goodbye, Andy.”

It’s a tender way to end a beautiful performance, but Lachman has added a special treat after the credits, with one final anecdote and the original trailer he made for Reed’s 1974 song cycle, Berlin. In addition, Songs for ’Drella is an excellent companion piece for the new Todd Haynes documentary, The Velvet Underground, which is also screening at Film Forum.

IN CONVERSATION WITH MERCE: LANDROVER

Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro perform excerpts from Merce Cunningham’s Landrover in online celebration (photo by Maria Baranova)

Who: Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro, Mariah Anton and Cemiyon Barber, Claude “CJ” Johnson and Donovan Reed, Patricia Lent, Kyle Abraham, Liz Gerring
What: Celebration of Merce Cunningham’s Landrover
Where: Baryshnikov Arts Center online
When: September 20-30, free
Why: In honor of the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s Landrover, which premiered at BAM on February 1, 1972, the Baryshnikov Arts Center is presenting the free online program “In Conversation with Merce,” available on demand through September 30 at 5:00. The work, described by Cunningham as “people moving in different landscapes. American perhaps in the sense that we move in our country — across varied spaces — with varied backgrounds,” featured an original score by John Cage, David Tudor, and Gordon Mumma, boasted costumes by Jasper Johns, and was performed by Carolyn Brown, Ulysses Dove, Douglas Dunn, Meg Harper, Nanette Hassall, Susana Hayman-Chaffey, Chris Komar, Sandra Neels, Chase Robinson, Valda Setterfield, and Cunningham.

Mariah Anton and Cemiyon Barber perform in Liz Gerring’s Dialogue as part of BAC’s Merce tribute (photo by Maria Baranova)

“This program is the latest realization of a concept we began experimenting with during Merce Cunningham’s centennial,” Merce Cunningham Trust trustee Patricia Lent says in an introduction. “At its core is the idea of exploring Merce’s work as a resource for generating new work by contemporary artists.” Beautifully filmed by Tatyana Tenenbaum at BAC’s John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio, “In Conversation with Merce” starts with a thirteen-minute excerpt of Landrover, a series of solos performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater members Chalvar Monteiro in green and Jacquelin Harris in brown, moving about the spare space dominated by large windows and a mirrored wall, as the music fades to silence. (The lovely costumes for all three pieces are by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung.)

That is followed by two specially commissioned works made in response to Landrover, each introduced by the choreographer, beginning with Liz Gerring’s nine-minute Dialogue, in which Mariah Anton in yellow and Cemiyon Barber in white display numerous geometric possibilities of the human body, set to minimalist music by Michael Schumacher. “In Conversation” concludes with Kyle Abraham’s fourteen-minute MotorRover, a slow, intimate duet performed by Claude “CJ” Johnson and Donovan Reed in loose-fitting two-color costumes, the only sound that of the air-conditioning. BAC has presented a bevy of terrific filmed programs during the pandemic, and this is yet another winner; coming up next are digital works by Mats Ek and Ana Laguna, River L. Ramirez, Sooraj Subramaniam, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Ella Rothschild, and Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith.

SUN & SEA (MARINA)

Sun & Sea brings the beach to BAM in thrilling production (photo by Barbara Pollack)

SUN & SEA (MARINA)
BAM Fisher, Fishman Space
321 Ashland Pl.
September 15-26, $25
www.bam.org

The summer beach season might unofficially come to a close on Labor Day weekend, but BAM has extended it through September 26 with the US premiere of Sun & Sea, a wonderfully engaging indoor presentation that brings fun in the sun to Fort Greene. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, the hour-long opera takes place on the 57×46-square-foot floor of BAM Fisher, where twenty-one tons of sand have been trucked in from South Jersey and spread out two inches deep. One hundred audience members at a time watch the show from the balcony that surrounds the stage on all four sides; you can walk around to see it from numerous angles as thirteen vocalists and about two dozen locals sing about the environment, bananas, colonialism, the threat of drowning, exhaustion, running out of water, tourism, littering, work, and vacation.

The unnamed characters do what people on the beach generally do: eat, drink, read books and magazines, apply suntan lotion, talk with one another, snooze, and catch rays. Kids play badminton, two men battle it out in a friendly game of ring toss, people check their cell phones, and a dog (Beans or Grimaldi) wanders about while certain characters break into song as the action continues around them. Wealthy Mommy (Kalliopi Petrou) confesses, “What a relief that the Great Barrier Reef has a restaurant and hotel!” Her husband, Workaholic (Vytautas Pastarnokas), surmises, “Suppressed negativity finds a way out unexpectedly.”

The Philosopher (Claudia Graziadei) asks, “Is this not a parody of the Silk Road?” Complaining Lady (Eglė Paškevičienė) declares, “What’s wrong with people?” And one of the young men from the Volcano Couple (Marco Cisco and Lucas Lopes Pereira) opines, “Not a single climatologist predicted a scenario like this / Maybe someone had a feeling.” Hope is embodied by Chanson of Admiration (Nabila Dandara Vieira Santos), who gently conveys, “O la vida.”

Among the others chiming in on income inequality, lava, shrimp, 3D printers, the extinction of the mammoth, and the end of the world are Bossanova Woman (Svetlana Bagdonaitė) and Bossanova Man (Jonas Statkevičius), Dreamer (Artūras Miknaitis), Siren (Ieva Skorubskaitė), 3D Sisters (Auksė Dovydėnaitė and Saulė Dovydėnaitė), and two Choir Singers (Aliona Alymova and Evaldas Alekna). The singing is all matter-of-fact, as if the characters’ thoughts are calmly emerging, one no more urgent than another, set to a shimmering score, mixed live by Salomėja Petronytė, that glistens like sunlight on the ocean. Each audience member is given a printout of the libretto; I got a kick out of peeking at who was next and guessing who the performer would be. (I batted about fifty percent.) Photos are allowed (but not video), and you can stay as long as you want, as the performance repeats for five hours.

Commissioned for the Lithuanian Pavilion at the fifty-eighth Venice Biennale and featuring an all-female creative team, the ingenious Sun & Sea is the second collaboration between director and set designer Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, librettist Vaiva Grainytė, and composer and musical director Lina Lapelytė, the Lithuanian trio’s follow-up to its 2013 show, Have a Good Day!, in which ten cashiers took on capitalism and consumption. It’s a seamless production, like a day at the beach; you can imagine yourself on the sand with the cast, hearing snippets of conversations here, admiring bathing suits there, wishing the kids wouldn’t run across your blanket, and turning over to get an even tan.

But as relaxed as you might feel, there is a rising tide of fear at the future of the planet if we remain on our current path. As the Vacationers’ Chorus intones, “Today they have raised the red and yellow flag up high / The whirlpools of the sea, / drop-offs / riptides / undertows. / You’re not allowed / to wade in / deeper than your knees!” If we don’t start doing something about our environment fast, there’ll be no more beaches or oceans for safe wading at all.

DanceAfrica Festival 2021

BAM, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Mark Morris Dance Center, and online
May 29 – June 14, free – $44
www.bam.org

“Ago!”

For many people, Memorial Day Weekend means beach, barbecue, and a day off work. For me, and those in the know, it signals BAM’s DanceAfrica, an annual celebration of the arts across the African diaspora. The forty-fourth annual event takes us to Haiti with a series of virtual and in-person live programs honoring the spirit of the Caribbean island nation that has persevered through colonialism, revolution, occupation, violent dictatorships, coups, and a devastating earthquake. The festival is already under way with the public installation “A Return: Liberation as Power,” featuring works by Delphine Desane, M. Florine Démosthène, Mark Fleuridor, Adler Guerrier, Kathia St. Hilare, and Didier William projected on the BAM sign at the corner of Lafayette and Flatbush Aves. through May 31. Also available now is “DanceAfrica 2021: Choreographers’ Conversation,” a free online talk with DanceAfrica artistic director and DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers founder Abdel R. Salaam, Dieufel Lamisere of HaitiDansco, Portsha T. Jefferson of Rara Tou Limen, Fritzlyn “Fritz” Hector of the Fritzation Experience, and Adia Tamar Whitaker of Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective, moderated by Collegium for African Diaspora Dance founding director Thomas F. DeFrantz. The fantastic DanceAfrica Bazaar, always a highlight of the festival, has gone digital as well, with clothing, accessories, food and drink, and home goods available online.

On May 28 at 6:00, teens grades 9-12 can take part in the free multidisciplinary presentation “Haiti in Full Scope,” a virtual exploration of Haitian history and culture. From May 28 to June 3, FilmAfrica, in conjunction with the African Film Festival, will present screenings of such features, documentaries, and shorts as Raoul Peck’s Meurtre à Pacot, Eve Blouin and Raynald Leconte’s In the Eye of the Spiral and Leconte’s Real Maravilloso, Guetty Felin’s Ayiti Mon Amour, and Philippe Niang’s Toussaint Louverture. The centerpiece of the festival is BAM’s first evening-length dance film, Vwa Zanset Yo: Y’ap Pale, N’ap Danse! (“Ancestral Voices: They Speak . . . We Dance!”), debuting May 29 at 7:00, with commissioned pieces from HaitiDansco in Cap Haitien, Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company in Oakland, Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective in Brooklyn, and the Fritzation Experience in Brooklyn in addition to a Libation ceremony and the Procession of the Council of Elders. “Out of the darkness of this pandemic we see a brilliant new digital platform that enables us to present our annual celebration through the magic of film! The future and spirit of DanceAfrica, in person or virtual, lives within audiences and communities of the world,” Baba Abdel R. Salaam said in a statement. That will be followed by a free live virtual dance party at 8:00 with DJ Hard Hittin Harry.

There will also be a free hands-on community workshop for caregivers and children of all ages on May 29 at 10:00 am at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 with Nadia Dieudonné; the inaugural Community Day Bantaba, consisting of virtual dance performances submitted by community members, along with a photo booth and introductions by DanceAfrica Senior Council of Elders Mamma Lynette White and Baba Bill Mathews; an adaptive workshop and a master class on May 31, held in person at the Mark Morris Dance Center and virtually, the former designed for persons with disabilities, led by Pat Hall, the latter for intermediate and advanced dancers, led by Dieudonné; and a DanceAfrica Timeline, taking us back through the archives of this unique and inclusive festival, founded in 1977 by the great Chuck Davis.

“Ame!”

LET FREEDOM RING VOL. 2

Jasmine Wahi’s On Visibility was part of first iteration of BAM’s “Let Freedom Ring” project (photo © Terrence Jennings 2020)

LET FREEDOM RING VOL. 2
BAM sign screen
Flatbush Ave. at Lafayette Ave.
February 12-15, free
www.bam.org/let-freedom-ring

Last month, as part of its thirty-fifth annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., BAM hosted “Let Freedom Ring,” a weeklong public art display on its sign screen at the corner of Flatbush and Lafayette Aves., featuring visual meditations on what freedom means by Derrick Adams, Alvin Armstrong, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Lizania Cruz, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Hank Willis Thomas, and Jasmine Wahi. Armstrong’s We Don’t Die We Multiply depicted two silhouetted bare-chested men bumping bodies. Adams offered MLK’s Tropic Interlude. Thomas asked, “Who Taught You to Love_?” Wahi’s On Visibility posits, “Do you see me for who I am or what you think I am” over an image of two large eyes. And Barrayn expllored beauty in Self-Portrait (Extension of a Woman) and Water Spirit (March on Washington 2020). The second iteration of “Let Freedom Ring” takes place February 12-15, with electronic billboard contributions from Jordan Casteel, Kevin Claiborne, Amy Sherald, Deborah Roberts, Cruz, Barrayn, and Wahi.

In a statement, BAM curator-at-large Larry Ossei-Mensah said, “After the first project’s success, I felt it necessary to continue the conversation and reflect on freedom as the nation observes Presidents Day and celebrates Black History Month. Working on ‘Let Freedom Ring’ has been a cathartic experience growing from a desire to ponder and imagine what freedom could look like in 2021 and beyond. It’s imperative that we share this thought-provoking work with the public and not relegate it to just a gallery exhibition. These are fundamental questions and concerns we all share as Americans, as human beings.” Commenting on the participants, he noted, “Naturally, as a curator, I look to artists who create work that inspires hope, proposes deep philosophical questions, and reminds us of our humanity for guidance on what is possible. I’m honored that these seven artists accepted my invitation and responded in a variety of ways. I was thrilled to see each artists’ perspective on freedom — from self-reflection, joy, and a reintroduction to Dr. King’s fight for economic justice with the Freedom Budget document.” BAM is one of the institutions I am missing the most during this pandemic lockdown, but this is a little taste of the kind of work it has been doing for decades.

MLK DAY 2021

Multiple venues
January 17-18, free – $15
www.mlkday.gov

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned ninety-two years old on January 15; he was only thirty-nine when he was assassinated. In 1983, the third Monday in January was officially recognized as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring the birthday of the civil rights leader who was shot and killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968. You can celebrate his legacy on Monday by participating in the twenty-sixth annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service or attending one of numerous special events taking place online, from concerts and film screenings to panel discussions and BAM’s annual tribute. Below are some of the highlights.

Sunday, January 17
Celebrating MLK Day: Reclaiming the Beloved Community, with Sweet Honey in the Rock and special guests, the Town Hall, $15 per concert, $50 for bundle including conversation with the group, 3:00 & 8:00

Soul to Soul: A Celebration in Honor of MLK Day, advance screening benefit, with Lisa Fishman, Magda Fishman, Elmore James, Zalmen Mlotek, Tony Perry, and Tatiana Wechsler, free – $250 (pay-what-you-can), 6:00

Monday, January 18
Cinematters: NY Social Justice Film Festival, “Pursuing Justice: Strategies for Families Committed to Racial Justice,” interactive workshop with Megan Pamela Ruth Madison and Adina Alpert, free with RSVP, 11:00 am

Hear Our Voices: Free MLK Day Celebration, Stop the Hate Essay Writing Workshop 11:00 am, March Toward Freedom, an Interactive Family Event 1:00, Race, Racism, and the Jim Crow Museum: A Discussion with Dr. David Pilgrim 3:00, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, free with RSVP

The Thirty-fifth Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., BAM, with Eric L. Adams, Sing Harlem!, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, Laurie A. Cumbo, Ashley August, Timothy DuWhite, Letitia James, Charles E. Schumer, Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, Kirsten Gillibrand, Corey Johnson, Eric Gonzalez, Scott Stringer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jumaane D Williams, PJ Morton, and keynote address by Alicia Garza, free with RSVP, 11:00 am

Cinematters: NY Social Justice Film Festival, Q&A about Shared Legacies (Shari Rogers, 2020), with Dr. Shari Rogers, Susannah Heschel, and Reverend Jacques Andre De Graff, moderated by Yolanda Savage-Narva, $13, 2:00

WNYC and Apollo Theater Present: MLK and the Fierce Urgency of Now!, with James Clyburn, Nikole Hanna-Jones, Letitia James, Queen Afua, Dr. Jeff Gardere, Dr. Reverend William Barber Jr., Leslé Honoré, and others, hosted by Brian Lehrer, Jami Floyd, and Tanzina Vega, free with RSVP, 3:00

Cinematters: NY Social Justice Film Festival, screening of Black Boys (Sonia Lowman, 2020) and Q&A with director Sonia Lowman, producer Jon-Thomas Royston, and others, $5, 4:00

Soul to Soul: African American and Jewish Music Meet in Celebration of Two Cultures, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, with Lisa Fishman, Magda Fishman, Elmore James, Zalmen Mlotek, Tony Perry, and Tatiana Wechsler, $12, 4:00

2021 Female + Forward Festival: Revolutionary New Works Featuring Female+ Artists, See Her, premiere of cinematic theatrical production with Iman Schuk, Kenita Miller, and Gabrielle Sprauve, Royal Family Productions YouTube, free, 5:00

Cinematters: NY Social Justice Film Festival, Q&A about John Lewis: Good Trouble (Dawn Porter, 2020), with Ben Arnon, Wanda Mosley, and Myrna Perez, moderated by Brittany Luse, $5, 6:00

Theater of War: The Drum Major Instinct, reading of MLK sermon and panel discussion with Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley, Nina Turner, Jumaane Williams, Moses Ingram, and soloists De-Rance Blaylock, Duane Foster, and John Leggette, free with RSVP, 7:00