Tag Archives: joyce theater

STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY: 2021 JOYCE THEATER DIGITAL SEASON

Who: Stephen Petronio Company
What: Digital Joyce season
Where: Joyce Theater online
When: May 13, 8:00 – May 26, 11:59 pm, $25
Why: When Manhattan-based Stephen Petronio Company had to cancel its May 2020 season at the Joyce because of the pandemic lockdown and went virtual instead, few anticipated that the May 2021 season would have to be online as well. But SPC is back with a new JoyceStream program, available on demand May 13-26, highlighting how busy Petronio has been in the last year, creating works at the Petronio Residency Center and Hudson Hall in upstate New York during the coronavirus crisis. Petronio, who hosted his intimate sixty-fifth birthday party over Zoom in March, will be presenting five works conceived or reimagined over the last year in bubble residencies. Two versions of the new duet Are You Lonesome Tonight, with Ryan Pliss and Mac Twining, will be shown, part of a new suite of dances set to the music of Elvis Presley; one was filmed onstage by Petronio and John Fitzgerald, the other outdoors by Petronio and Blake Martin. Petronio’s 1993 solo to another Presley tune, Love Me Tender, has been updated for online viewing, performed by Nicholas Sciscione and filmed by Fitzgerald.

Petronio’s seven-year Bloodlines series, in which he reinterprets classic works by major choreographers, continues with an adaptation of Trisha Brown’s 1973 autobiographical Group Primary Accumulation; for the first time, one of the four dancers is male. And the troupe will debut the full-company piece New Prayer for Now Part 1, with music by Monstah Black that was inspired by Harry Thacker Burleigh’s spiritual “Balm in Gilead” and Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Two versions of Are You Lonesome Tonight are part of Stephen Petronio Company online Joyce season

The evening will also include Dancing Camera’s short film Pandemic Portraits, which delves into company members’ individual responses to the health crisis and lockdown, and a look at Petronio’s In Absentia, a limited-edition illustrated book, made in collaboration with Sarah Silver and Rafael Weil, that explores Petronio’s thoughts since March 2020. You can watch a Joyce talkback with Petronio, Carolyn Lucas of Trisha Brown Dance Company, and Dante Puleio of Limón Dance Company here as the three artistic directors discuss their online Joyce seasons with moderator Aaron Mattocks; Trisha Brown continues through May 12 and Limón through May 19.

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY AT THE JOYCE

Who: Trisha Brown Dance Company
What: Digital program
Where: Joyce Theater online
When: April 29 – May 12, $25
Why: The pandemic lockdown might have shuttered theaters, but it has also stirred the creative instinct, particularly among dance companies, which quickly turned to streaming not only older productions but exciting new works developed over Zoom and other online platforms. This week it’s Trisha Brown’s turn, with an online spring season at the Joyce. Now in its sixth decade, the company looks back with 2002’s Geometry of Quiet, recorded at the Joyce in 2017; the intimate twenty-minute piece features music by Salvatore Sciarrino, white costumes by Christophe de Menil, and four dancers. The troupe then looks back and forward at the same time with new iterations of 1980’s semiautobiographical Locus Trio, set on a cubelike grid to an improvised score, and the 1978 short solo Watermotor, inspired by childhood memory and originally performed by Brown at the Public Theater, now danced by Marc Crousillat. The program concludes with “The Decoy Project,” a reimagining for video of 1979’s Glacial Decoy, an eleven-minute work for four dancers that Brown adapted for WNET and the company now approaches as a way to bring dancers back together again in the same physical space while reaching out to the local community. Tickets are $25 for the stream, which runs April 29 to May 12. The Joyce’s spring season continues with Limón Dance Company May 6-19, Stephen Petronio Company May 13-26, and Batsheva Dance Company May 27 – June 2.

THE JOYCE THEATER: DANCING DIALOGUES

dancing dialogues

Who: Joyce Theater
What: Online discussions about dance during the coronavirus crisis
Where: Joyce online
When: Monday, July 20 & 27 and August 10, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: On July 20, the Joyce Theater is kicking off an exciting live panel series, “Dancing Dialogues,” which gathers together dance makers and artists in interactive online discussions about dance and the state of the world during the pandemic lockdown. On July 20 at 6:00, “Realized Cultural Resonance” features Ronald K. Brown, Rosie Herrera, Emily Johnson, Virginia Johnson, and Michael Sakamoto with moderator Phil Chan. On July 27, “Reinvention: The Art of Pivot” consists of Patricia Delgado, Francesca Harper, and Vernon Scott with moderator Adrian Danchig-Waring. And on August 10, “Rebuilding Dance Audiences: Virtual to Actual” will delve into how performing arts organization are handling the crisis. Admission is free with advance RSVP, but donations are encouraged. In addition, you should check out JoyceStream, where you can see A.I.M’s Meditation: A Silent Prayer and Olivier Tarpaga’s Declassified Memory Fragment for a limited time, with Shantala Shivalingappa’s Bhairava and Urban Bush Women’s Women’s Resistance up next.

NAHARIN’S VIRUS: BATSHEVA — THE YOUNG ENSEMBLE

Batsheva’s Young Ensemble will perform Naharin’s Virus at the Joyce July 10-22 (photo Photo © Ascaf)

Batsheva’s Young Ensemble performs Naharin’s Virus at the Joyce through July 22 (photo © Ascaf)

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
July 10-22, $10-$86
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
batsheva.co.il/en

“Language! It’s a virus!” multidisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson declares in her 1986 song “Language Is a Virus.” Batsheva Dance Company artistic director Ohad Naharin uses his trademark Gaga movement language to infectious triumph in his 2001 piece Naharin’s Virus, which has now been adapted for Batsheva – The Young Ensemble, trimmed down to a relatively lean sixty minutes and continuing at the Joyce through July 22. Don’t be scared off by the term “Youth Ensemble”; the large troupe of seventeen dancers and two apprentices are enthusiastic and energetic, well-trained performers — with many very likely to soon graduate to the senior company. As the crowd enters the theater, an inflatable white sky dancer swirls above its fan, a sly introduction to what is to follow: A female dancer traces parts of her body with chalk as she moves awkwardly along a blackboard at the back of the stage; Evyatar Omessy stands on a platform in a rigid suit, reciting text inspired by Peter Handke’s confrontational 1966 play, Offending the Audience, which places the viewer in uncomfortable contrast to the performer; dancers in unflattering, tight beige and black costumes form a row up front and break out into improvised, aggressive solos; performers share brief, intimate tales about their life and jump onto and hang from the blackboard, on which they have written words and phrases that evoke what is happening in the world today.

The show changes slightly from performance to performance, as dancers improvise in certain sections and can write and draw whatever they want on the blackboard, but one large word must be included, running the length of the board: “Plastelina,” the Hebrew word for “playdough” as well as a purposeful misspelling of Palestine, a reference to Naharin’s politics, which have been critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinian people. In addition, the work features Arab folk music by Shama Khader, Habib Allah Jamal, and Karni Postel, along with snippets of Samuel Barber, Carlos D’Alessio, P. Stokes, and P. Parsons. However, Naharin’s Virus is not meant to be controversial but instead a celebration of, among other things, ambiguity. “In the spirit of collaboration, Naharin’s Virus brings together the work of an Israeli-American choreographer, an Austrian writer, Arab and Israeli musicians, and dancers from around the world,” Naharin explains in a program note. “Even and especially in these divided times, the work reminds us that dance can act on universal ethics to create sublime moments that we could not have created alone.” In “Language Is a Virus,” Anderson explains, “Paradise / is exactly like / where you are right now / only much much / better”; with this new, updated version of Naharin’s Virus, Naharin has created another unique kind of paradise.

BATSHEVA — THE YOUNG ENSEMBLE: NAHARIN’S VIRUS

Batsheva’s Young Ensemble will perform Naharin’s Virus at the Joyce July 10-22 (photo by Gadi Dagon)

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
July 10-22, $10-$86
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
batsheva.co.il/en

In 1990, choreographer, teacher, and Gaga movement-language developer Ohad Naharin was named artistic director of the Tel Aviv–based Batsheva Dance Company. Later that same year, he started Batsheva – The Young Ensemble as a training ground for emerging dancers. This weekend, Batsheva – The Young Ensemble is performing one of Naharin’s signature works, Naharin’s Virus, at Jacob’s Pillow, followed by a two-week run at the Joyce in Chelsea, from July 10 to 22. The sixty-minute heavily political piece is partly adapted from Peter Handke’s 1966 play, Offending the Audience, about which the Austrian writer has explained, “I first intended to write an essay, a pamphlet, against the theatre, but then I realized that a paperback isn’t an effective way to publish an anti-theatre statement. And so the outcome was, paradoxically, doing something onstage against the stage, using the theatre to protest against the theatre of the moment — I don’t mean theatre as such, the Absolute, I mean theatre as a historical phenomenon, as it is to this day.” Naharin’s Virus, which debuted in 2001 and made its US premiere at BAM in the spring of 2002, features a percussive score of Arabic music by Shama Khader, Habib Allah Jamal, and Karni Postel, along with snippets of Barber, D’Alessio, Stokes, and Parsons.

The Young Ensemble consists of Chen Agron, Mourad Bouayad, Thibaut Eiferman, Ariel Gelbart, Londiwe Khoza, Kornelia Maria Tamara Lech, Ohad Mazor, Robin Lesley Nimanong, Evyatar Omessy, Igor Ptashenchuk, Roni Rahamim, Tamar Rosenzweig, Hani Sirkis, Xanthe van Opstal, Nicolas Ventura, and Paul Vickers. “Handke’s play is about the negation of the theater,” Naharin said in a BAM program note. “The direct, continuous appeal to the public turns the spectator’s mere presence, his self-awareness and his act of listening — into the main issue of the play. He glorifies the public — but means no praise, he scorns them — but means no offense. He contradicts himself. The play empties the stage of all expectations, of all theatrical conventions. A space, a void is created: It is there where my creation takes place!” There will be a Curtain Chat following the July 11 performance, and Young Ensemble rehearsal director Michal Sayfan will be teaching a two-hour master class at Gibney on July 20 ($20, 10:00 am).

NYC PRIDE 2018

Pride Island packs them in on the pier every year as part of Pride Month

Multiple locations
June 18-24, free – $300 and more
www.nycpride.org

This year’s pride festivities honor the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which set the Gay Pride movement in motion in full force. There are some new parties, while the March itself has changed its route, so pay close attention to the locations listed below. As always, the ticketed events and VIP treatment are selling out fast, so you better act quickly if you want to shake it up at some pretty crazy gatherings.

Monday, June 18
OutCinema, screening of Ideal Home (Andrew Fleming, 2018), followed by a Q&A and open-bar after-party, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $35, 7:30

LGBT Community Center Garden Party: A Taste of Pride, with seasonal bites from North Square, Underwest Donuts, Boqueria, the Standard Grill, Rice & Gold, Quality Eats, Ample Hills Creamery, Ice & Vice, Javelina TexMex, Dinosaur BBQ, Sweet Chili, Café Patoro, Eataly, Breads Bakery, Enlightened Ice Cream, the Wayfarer, Island Oyster, and Hill Country Barbecue Market, Hudson River Park, Pier 84, West Side Highway at Forty-Fourth St., $99-$300, 6:00 – 10:00

Tuesday, June 19
OutCinema, screening of Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco (James Crump, 2017), followed by a Q&A and open-bar reception, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $25, 7:30

Family Movie Night: screening of Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991), preceded by family-friendly games and activities, hosted by Miss Richfield 1981, Pier 45, Christopher St. Pier, Hudson River Park at Christopher St., free (reserved seating and other amenities $50), film at 8:30

Participants make their voices heard at the Rally and other Gay Pride events

Tuesday, June 19
through
Saturday, June 23
Pride Week at the Joyce, with a mixed program by MADBOOTS DANCE and The Missing Generation by Sean Dorsey Dance, Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave. at Nineteenth St., $10-$46

Wednesday, June 20
OutCinema, screening of From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? (Marilyn Bennett, 2016), followed by a special panel conversation moderated by Tiq Milan, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $25, 8:00

Thursday, June 21
Savor Pride, immersive food-driven fundraiser, with barbecue dishes by Amanda Freitag, Michael Anthony, Zac Young, Lazarus Lynch, and Jake Cohen, God’s Love We Deliver, 166 Sixth Ave. at Spring St., $80-$100, 6:00

Friday, June 22
The Rally, with performances by the Resistance Revival Chorus, Taina Asili, Ms. White, and others and speakers Dr. Herukhuti, Jodie Patterson, and more, hosted by Danity Diamond, Stonewall National Monument, Sheridan Square, free, 5:00 – 7:00

CosPlay & Pride, sunset cruise with Phi Phi O’Hara & DJ Cameron Cole, Pier 40, Hudson River Park, West Houston & Clarkson Sts., $35-$50, 6:00

Fantasy, with DJ Eddie Elias, DJ Jared Conner, and special secret performances, Slate, 54 West Twenty-First St., $60-$230, 10:00 pm – 4:00 am

The March brings people together — and will do so on a new route in 2018

Saturday, June 23
Youth Pride, for LGBTQIA+ and ally teens, with DJs Amira & Kayla and a live performance by Bea Miller, 14th Street Park, Fourteenth St. between Tenth Ave. & West Side Highway, free, noon – 6:00 pm

VIP Rooftop Party, with DJs Boris, Dani Toro, J Warren and secret acts all day long, Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th St., $75-$120, 2:00 – 10:00 pm

Teaze HER, with lap dance classes, a silent disco DJ battle, aphrodisiac oyster-tainment tastes, a spanking booth, electrified viola, curated tastings, specialty drink sipping, intimate burlesque, sexpert educational tips, and more, the DL, 95 Delancey St., $40-$80, 5:00 – midnight

Masterbeat Masterbuilt, construction-site party with casino, game show, university, and more, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th St., $120-$140, 10:00 pm – 6:00 am

PrideFest street fair immediately follows the March

PrideFest street fair moves to University Pl. this year

Saturday, June 23
and
Sunday, June 24
Pride Island, with Tove Lo, Lizzo, DJ Simon Dunmore, Big Freedia, Sasha Velour, and DJ Dawson on Saturday, Kylie Minogue, DJ Grind, DJ Ralphi Rosario, and DJ Corey Craig on Sunday, Pier 97, Hudson River Park at Fifty-Seventh St. & West Side Highway, $60-$95

Sunday, June 24
PrideFest, twenty-fifth annual street fair with music, food, merchandise, and more, featuring live performances by Alex Newell, Parson James, and others, hosted by Ross Mathews, University Pl. between Thirteenth St. & Waverly Pl., free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

The March, with grand marshals Billie Jean King, Lambda Legal, Tyler Ford, and Kenita Placide, Lavender Line from 16th St. & Seventh Ave. to Eight St. & Fifth Ave. to Twenty-Ninth St. & Fifth Ave., free, 12 noon

Femme Fatale, women’s rooftop party with DJs RosyQ, Mary Mac, and Tatiana, hosted by Madison Paige, Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th St., $30-$60, 4:00 – 10:00 pm

RONALD K. BROWN, EVIDENCE AT THE JOYCE

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
February 6-11, $10-$46
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.evidencedance.com

In a program note for his troupe’s winter season at the Joyce, Brooklyn-based choreographer Ronald K. Brown quotes Judith Jamison, the former longtime artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: “Dance is bigger than your physical body. When you extend your arm, it does not stop at the end of your fingers, because you’re dancing bigger than that; you’re dancing spirit.” Brown and Evidence, a Dance Company display that and more at their thrilling presentation at the Joyce, as arms reach out and reach up, searching for and finding spiritual fulfillment while energizing the rapt audience. The evening begins with Come Ye, a nearly half-hour piece with music by Nina Simone, including the title song, and Fela Anikulapo Kuti, performed by four men and four women in front of a screen that shifts in emotional colors from blue to red to orange before switching to archival footage of Simone, Fela, Muhammad Ali, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and scenes from the civil rights movement. Occasionally, seven of the dancers will stand still, watching one dancer take over, while at other times one dancer will slowly move through the other seven, in full motion, as if all are bearing witness in their own way. As part of Carnegie Hall’s wide-ranging festival “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America,” the company is performing March, a duet excerpted from 1995’s Lessons and set to a speech by Dr. King, being performed as a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination, with additional music by Bobby McFerrin. On opening night, Annique Roberts and Courtney Paige Ross teamed up in front of a dark background, moving determinedly, raising a hand when King speaks of “breaking down the barriers of segregation and discrimination,” later performing a breathtaking horizontal lift and carry. (On other nights, the duet will be danced by Keon Thoulouis with either Shayla Caldwell or Demetrius Burns.)

Evidence associate artistic director Arcell Cabuag will be honored with new duet by Ronald K. Brown at the Joyce (photo © Ayodele Casel)

After a pause, Brown debuted Den of Dreams, a short piece celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Evidence dancer and associate artistic director Arcell Cabuag. It’s a dynamic piece about collaboration and trust, friendship and tribute, as Brown, who is fifty-one, publicly thanks Cabuag, who is forty-three, and Cabuag bows at the feet of his mentor. Brown, wearing an intoxicating smile through it all, also looks above, thanking the heavens for bringing them together. Opening night concluded with the rousing, nonstop Upside Down, an exhilarating excerpt from Brown’s 1998 Destiny, as the company, including Brown, cut loose to music by Wunmi, their arms pushing to the ground, then rising into the air in one of Brown’s trademark moves. The other nights will end instead with the company premiere of Dancing Spirit, which Brown created for Alvin Ailey in honor of Jamison’s twentieth anniversary as AAADT artistic director, as individual dancers perform slightly different routines to music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead, and War. If you’ve never seen Brown and Evidence before, this is a terrific introduction to a company that has been thrilling New York audiences for more than thirty years while also playing a key role in the Brooklyn community.