Calling All Choreographers & Those Who Know Choreographers  to submit works to be considered for ~ 
Dance @ Wassaic Festival 2014 

DEADLINE IS  TODAY -  
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30 @ 11:59PM

Apply here

The Wassaic Summer Festival runs the first weekend in August (this year August 1 – 3, 2014) and is open to the public.  As an artist-run program, The Wassaic Project is proud to have presented art, music, film and dance as part of its annual summer festival for five years. Dance performers have included Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Corey Hutchins, Jason E. Bernard, Ase Dance Theatre Collective, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Alexis Convento and Pauline Legras to name only a few. Our dance performances sometimes happen inside, among the art installations, but always outside on the deck of the wonderfully refurbished Maxon Mill built in 1950. The Maxon Mill now stands as the focal point of the town, and the deck is our main performance area.   Each year 8 artists are chosen to participate (6 early career artists and 2 select artists) by our panel for this very unique Festival.   

Frédéric Nauczyciel 
Julie Meneret Contemporary Art
May 3-5 
Frédéric Nauczyciel will present The Fire Flies [Baltimore / Paris], a solo show at Julie Meneret Contemporary Art inspired by voguers of Baltimore and Paris.  For Nauczyciel, “…voguing is a subculture that brings a radical understanding to performance and performativity,” according to the release.  This exhibition will include large and medium format Ilfochrome photography, video installations, and performances.  Find out more here  

Nauczyciel performs as part of the three-week series presented by The Cultural Services of the French Embassy titled DANSE, a multifaceted initiative centered on contemporary dance. This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more about the entire festival here 



The Limón Dance Company 
The Joyce Theater
April 29-May 4
Two masterworks by founder, Mexican choreographer Limón, Mazurkas (1958) and Psalm (1967), plus the world premieres of She Who Carries the Sky by dance icon Dianne McIntyre for Roxane D'Orleans Juste on the occasion of her 30th anniversary with the company as principal dancer and Associate Artistic Director, plus the full company work, Nocturnes for Ancestors by Sean Curran. The season will be dedicated to Alan Danielson, a colleague and School Director of the Limón Institute, who died earlier this year.  Find out more here 

Shen Wei Dance Arts
April 29-May 4
Judson Memorial Church
The Judson Memorial church is transformed with the return of Wei’s re-imagined 2005 work MAP, plus  a yet to be titled solo by Wei. Find out more here 

Miguel Gutierrez 
Whitney Museum of American Art
April 30-May 4
Gutierrez and Mickey Mahar performs Age & Beauty Part 1:Mid-Career Artist/Suicide Note or &:-/ as part of the 2014 Whitney Biennial “…the first of a new suite of queer pieces…” notes the press release.  Fine out more here 

Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy
Baryshnikov Arts Center
May 1-2
Exemplars of Odissi, one of India’s classical dance forms, Sen and Satpathy of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble will present the U.S. premiere of Songs of Love and Longing choreographed by Sen.  Find out more here 

Alain Buffard
New York Live Arts
May 1–3
Buffard’s Baron Samedi a “…carnival figure and voodoo master of ceremonies… plays a point of departure in this choreographic opera…” according to the release.  This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more here  

Annie Vigier and Franck Apertet 
The Chocolate Factory Theater
May 1–10
Vigier and Apertet “…question norms that govern public space in order to reveal interpretations,” according to the release, in the U.S. premiere of (les gens d'Uterpan) - Topologie.  This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more here 

Francesca Harper 
Susan Batson Studio Theater 
May 2-18
Harper celebrates the life of her mother Denise Jefferson (1944–2010) in The Look of Feeling true stories told through dance and song.   Find out more here  

Panel: “In Good Company” 
Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater
May 2
Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem moderates with guests Abdul Latif, Camille A. Brown and Sean Curran to talk about their training and how it shapes their work.  Find out more here 

JERSEY MOVES! Festival of Dance 
NJPAC
May 3
Jersey dance artists including Maurice Chestnut, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, Cleo Mack Dance Project, American Repertory Ballet, Clair Porter and Timothy Kochka round out the second evening of JERSEY MOVES! Festival of Dance.  Find out more here 

Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud
The Kitchen
May 3–5
In altered natives’ Say Yes to Another Excess – Twerk, Bengolea and Chaignaud “…skim the line between popular and concert dance, drawing on their immersion in club culture from London to New York,” notes the release.  This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more here  

Panel: Fridays at Noon
92nd Street Y
May 2
Liz Gerring curates a program of works by her friends Keely Garfield and Stephen Petronio, as well as a work-in-progress of her own.   This event will be streamed live.  Find out more here 


Christian Rizzo 
Florence Gould Hall / French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)
May 2-3
Turkish immigrant Kerem Gelebek joins Rizzo who investigates the notion of exile in his solo sakınan göze çöp batar (an overprotected eye always gets sand in it).  This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more here 

Edmond Russo and Shlomi Tuizer (Compagnie Affari Esteri)
The Club at La MaMa
May 2–4 
Presented as part of La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, Russon and Tuizer will premiere Embrace, a look at how “…two men face each other constrained in their search for different forms of identification, according to the release.  This production is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.  Find out more here

Kuniko Kato and Megumi Nakamura
Japan Society 
May 2-3
Japanese artists musician Kato, and dancer Nakamura, come together for Project IX – Pleiades, “…a multimedia work delivered through live performance and a state-of-the-art sound/projection installation,” according to the release.  Find out more here 

La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival 2014
The Club at La MaMa
May 2 – May 25
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, featuring over 50 emerging and seasoned choreographers will share works by Ashley Chen (France), Cedric Andrieux & Christophe Ives (France), Yoshiko Chuma, Emmanuelle Huynh (France), Chase Brock, Miki Orihara & Guests and many more.  Find out more here 

THE BOOGIE DOWN DANCE SERIES
The Bronx Academy of Art & Dance
May 3-31
This annual festival features “home grown” dances from the Bronx including works by Esteban Arana & Leticia Pliego, Renardo Domeico-Grays VISIONS Contemporary Ballet, Sage Rivera, Awilda Rodríguez-Lora, and many more.  Find out more here 

Randy James’ 10 Hairy Legs
Crossroads Theatre
May 4
James’ all male dance company, 10 Hairy Legs, will feature all ten of the company members in the premiere and reimagined version of Friends of Dorothy by David Parker originally created in 2003 for Jeff Kazin and himself for their company The Bang Group.  Find out more here 

Joyce Dance Talks
May 5
6pm
DANY Studios - 305 W. 38th St

From Athlete to Artist: The Multimedia Experiments of Pierre Rigal

Originally an athlete and videographer with degrees in math and economics, Pierre Rigal transitioned into dance when he was 23 and started choreographing a dozen years ago.  His 2011 Micro, a U.S. premiere that’s been called a “musical spectacle,” infuses the poetry of theater dance with the energy of a “pre-post-rock” concert; the dancers interfere with the musicians. Rigal, a former hurdler, will lead the Moon Pallas band. Elizabeth Zimmer presents a video illustrated discussion of his journey from the track to the theater.   Find out more here 

ChEckiT!Dance announces the Fourth Annual
ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival:
A Celebration of Female Choreographers 
APPLICATION NOW AVAILABLE

ChEckiT!Dance is now accepting applications to the Fourth Annual ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival: A Celebration of Female Choreographers, an eco-friendly evening of dance celebrating female choreographers,to be held in Central Park.  
The deadline to apply is Friday, May 9, 2014 
Apply here  

The Fourth Annual ChEck Us OuT Dance Festivalis an opportunity for choreographers to have their work seen in the beautiful surroundings of Summit Rock in Central Park. Last year's festival was a carefully-curated event featuring thirteen innovative female choreographers. Choreographers are encouraged to submit pieces from any genre of dance that can be adapted to an outdoor space. The festival seeks to showcase the talents of strong female choreographers in a welcoming, fun environment.

 Last year's featured artists included:
Stacy A. Donovan/ Improbable Stage Company
Brittany Grimm/ Brittany Grimm Dance 
Quincie Hydock
Melissa Jackson ("MJ")/ Innovate Dance Company
Lauren Lasorda
Lieneke Mous/ Lieneke Mous & Co.
Laura Neese/ Kitchen Sink Collective
Joya Powell/ Movement of the People Dance Company
Erin Pride/ EDP Dance Project
Ellenore Scott/ ELSCO
Jessica Sector
Olivia Wingerath/ Long and Short of It Movement Theatre
Allison Brzezinski/ChEckiT!Dance
Ashley Sleeth - work to be shown via video in e-program only
 
ChEckiT!Dance is an all female modern dance company based in New York City founded by Artistic Director, Allison Brzezinski in 2010. Through the creation and production of new works that seek to empower women and explore what it means to be a woman, we seek to create a crack in the stereotypical infrastructure of female archetypes and standards most commonly portrayed on stage. It is our goal to both promote awareness and gender equality through our own work and provide a platform for emerging female choreographers and dancers to share their talents.   

Nia Love and Marjani Fortè of Love | Fortè 
Premieres "Memory Withholdings"
Friday - Sunday, April 25-27
Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX)

Memory Witholdings "...examines memory residing in the bodies and practices of African descendant communities in North America.  [Love  and Fortè looks at what they call]...a sea of ambiguity around race and inequity, [where] what seems clear, is the value of culture as a humanizing element that informs conversations seeking to dismantle inequity.  With Memory Withholdings [they] intend to be participants and catalysts of these conversations," according to the release.  There will be concurrent installations, plus a film and media design to help create an interactive environment.    Find out more here

In  a conversation with Love  and Fortè, they jointly answered some questions about their collaborative history and share some poignant thoughts on the making of Memory Witholdings:  

What brings you two ladies together?  

History, time, spirit, revolution, craft.  In these ways and an infinite amount of others, I connect with Nia in a way I have never connected with anyone.  We share an understanding, sensitivity to, and commitment to these elements that propel our work and purpose.  

What keeps you together?

It changes every day, every week, every engagement.  Watching each other work, affirms "why" we work together.  Awe, Energy, Curiosity, Politics, Love. 

Your partnership is how old now?

 4-5 years

How did Memory Withholdings come about?  What are some seeds that help you to realize the importance of this work?

We'd applied to present work for the DanceNOW Festival at Joe's Pub and became super interested in the physical language and memory of the Black body.  Nia was looking at her work in Ghana under the Fulbright Fellowship, looking at slave holdings in Ghana, and what those architectural spaces held.  I had just watched the documentary "WattsStax"  that covered the music festival in Watt/LA Ca, in 1972, years after the Watts Riots.  We were noticing gesture, stance, gait- so colorful (pun intended), specific/distinctly Black, architecturally expressive, so thick!  The way we nodded to acknowledge, the way our husbands walk, the way we welcome, pass, ignore, plead, boast...  It's so hard, impossible in fact, to replicate without the personal experience, because, we claim that it is directly of our ancestry; our fore-fathers and fore-mothers mark on us as future generations, their legacy and omnipotence surfing through our bodies, living in our food, and announcing their presence in our spaces, i.e. the smell of grand-mommy's house, creaks in the floor, etc.  

This is one hell of a rabbit hole that we've been digging through for the past 2.5 years- gleefully.  

Our references over the years, are, but not limited to:

• Wattstax, the documentary film
  
• Ghana and the national dance- Adowa traditionally done funerals and public events
  
• "Beloved" the film and novel by Toni Morrison
  
• James Baldwin's The Artist Struggle for Integrity, part of talk given at the Community Church in 1963
  
• Billy Holiday
  
• Mama Nankuleku
  
• Our families, our travels, Kitchen Koversations with...

  
This is an inclusive event, correct?

In that it incorporates audience and non-traditional staging?  If so, yes.

There are installations, film and media that make up the whole project.  The collaborators are:

• Ebony Noelle Golden Artistic Director of Betty's Daugther Arts Collaborative
  
• Vincent Ballentine Media Designer and Videographer form Flux Innovations
  
• Veleda Roehl Artist and Audience Guide
  
• Coni Lopez Artist and Audience Guide
  

 What’s next?

Life. Hoping, praying, chanting for Commission!  Management!  Representation!  International Tour!

Don't Miss - Charles O. Anderson and Dianne McIntyre in 
Baldwin Through Dance

April 26 -27 at 
New York Live Arts (NYLA)

As part of the Live Ideas Festival: James Baldwin, This Time NYLA presents the New York City Premiere of  Anderson’s Restless Natives "Infused with a stunning sound score and original texts by poet Ursula Rucker...[and]... inspired by James Baldwin’s seminal work Another Country," according to the release.  Also on the bill is McIntyre’s new work Time is Time commissioned for the Live Ideas, and to be performed with fellow artists including a live score composed by legendary pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs.  Time is Time  "...explores the emotional soul of Baldwin’s poem “Song (for Skip)”, notes the release.   Find out more here 

Rightfully so, Joanne Robinson Hill, Director of Education at The Joyce was celebrated for her generous and unending dedication to dance education! 

The evening's honorees were David Herro and Jay Franke for their dedication to dance and arts education. Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke about Herro and Franke's work in support of the arts in Chicago.  
Performances by Jessica Lang Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, doug elkins choreography, etc., and Dancing Classrooms Youth Dance Company rounded out the evening's celebration.

See More photos

Calling All Choreographers & Those Who Know Choreographers  to submit works to be considered for ~ 
Dance @ Wassaic Festival 2014 

The Wassaic Summer Festival runs the first weekend in August (this year August 1 – 3, 2014) and is open to the public.  As an artist-run program, The Wassaic Project is proud to have presented art, music, film and dance as part of its annual summer festival for five years. Dance performers have included Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Corey Hutchins, Jason E. Bernard, Ase Dance Theatre Collective, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Alexis Convento and Pauline Legras to name only a few. Our dance performances sometimes happen inside, among the art installations, but always outside on the deck of the wonderfully refurbished Maxon Mill built in 1950. The Maxon Mill now stands as the focal point of the town, and the deck is our main performance area.   Each year 8 artists are chosen to participate (6 early career artists and 2 select artists) by our panel for this very unique Festival.   

Apply here
DEADLINE:  WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, AT 11:59PM

Some thoughts on Alonzo King's LINES Ballet for AmNews

See Myers Brown and Dixon Gottschild in conversation about Gottschild's book Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina with Walter Rutledge

Out & About - Q & A NYC Magazine