Some thoughts on Edisa Weeks' Delirious Dance @ Gibney Dance for AmNews

​The 38 nominees were selected by the Bessie Awards Selection Committee, an independent committee of 40 dance industry professionals. Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, Bessie Award categories include Outstanding Production, Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Music Composition or Sound Design, and Outstanding Visual Design. The list of nominations follows. 
 
The 32nd annual Bessie Awards, presented in association with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, will take place on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 7:30pm, at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. “After five glorious years at the Apollo, we are thrilled to be bringing the awards to BAM’s historic opera house,” says Lucy Sexton, Executive Director of the Bessies. “It is in some sense a homecoming—BAM hosted the awards from 1985 to 1990—and it is especially meaningful as Brooklyn is home to so many artists.”

Three 2016 awards were presented at the Bessies press conference: The Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Award was presented to Joya Powell; The award for Outstanding Revival was given to Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, choreographed by Donald McKayle - performed by the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, produced by Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance as part of its 2016 season,and this year’s Bessie Jury—Yoshiko Chuma, Liz Gerring, and Bill T. Jones—named Pam Tanowitz the recipient of the 2016 Juried Bessie Award.

The 2016 Bessie Awards Steering Committee, responsible for setting policy and providing oversight of the Bessie Awards throughout the year, is comprised of Cora Cahan, Beverly D’Anne, Lane Harwell, Jeanne Linnes, Stanford Makishi, Nicky Paraiso, Carla Peterson, Tamia B. Santana, Laurie Uprichard, and Martin Wechsler.
 
The 2015−16 Bessie Awards Selection Committee consists of Diana Byer, Kim Chan, Leah Cox, Nancy Dalva, Maura Donohue, Simon Dove, Angel Feliciano, Boo Froebel, Angela Fatou Gittens, Caleb Hammons, Zhenesse Heinemann, Jerron Herman, Iréne Hultman, Robert LaFosse, Melissa Levin, Matthew Lyons, Harold Norris, Craig Peterson, Mathew Pokoik, Rajika Puri, Susan Reiter, Walter Rutledge, Sue Samuels, Philip Sandstrom, Risa Shoup, Sally Sommer, Risa Steinberg, Carrie Stern, Kay Takeda, Catherine Tharin, David Thomson, Muna Tseng, Kay Turner, Tony Waag, Eleanor K. Wallace, Edisa Weeks, Ryan Wenzel, Adrienne Westwood, William Whitener, and Elizabeth Zimmer.


The following are the 2016 Bessie Nominations:
 
Outstanding Production:
 
luciana achugar
An Epilogue for OTRO TEATRO: True Love
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
 
Souleymane Badolo
Yimbégré: Replanting roots in the name of freedom
BAM Fishman Space
 
Camille A. Brown
Black Girl: Linguistic Play
The Joyce Theater
 
Jack Ferver and Marc Swanson
Chambre
The New Museum co-presented by FIAF
 
Pat Graney
Girl Gods
Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University
 
Maria Hassabi
PLASTIC
MoMA
 
Heather Kravas
dead, disappears
American Realness at Abrons Arts Center
 
Ralph Lemon
Scaffold Room
The Kitchen
 
Dada Masilo
Swan Lake
The Joyce Theater
 
Justin Peck
Heatscape
Miami City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
 
Liz Santoro & Pierre Godard
For Claude Shannon 
The Kitchen
 
Safi A. Thomas with H+ | The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory
Sleeping Beauty
Flamboyán Theater


Outstanding Performer:
 
Ephrat Asherie
Sustained Achievement with Dorrance Dance, Doug Elkins, Bill Irwin, Gus Solomon jr., Rennie Harris, Cori Olinghouse, and many others
 
Nicolas Bruder
In Custodians of Beauty by Pavel Zuštiak
New York Live Arts
 
Omar Edwards
In FLY 
New Victory Theater
 
Paul Hamilton
For his body of work including Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room and the work of Jane Comfort, Keeley Garfield, and others
 
Parisa Khobdeh
For her body of work with Paul Taylor Dance Company
 
Kazunori Kumagai
For his body of work including Live at the Blue Note Late Night Groove Series
 
Jennifer Lafferty
In Catacomb by Beth Gill
The Chocolate Factory
 
Molly Lieber
For her body of work with several artists including luciana achugar, Maria Hassabi, and Donna Uchizono
 
Aaron Mattocks
In Big Dance: Short Form by Big Dance Theater
The Kitchen
 
Gillian Murphy 
Sustained Achievement with American Ballet Theatre
 
Aakash Odedra
In Rising  
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
 
Jamar Roberts 
Sustained Achievement with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
 
Outstanding Music Composition/Sound Design:
 
Admanda Kobilka
For Clap Hands by Jen Rosenblit
Invisible Dog Art Center / New York Live Arts
 
Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
For #negrophobia by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko | anonymous bodies
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
 
Dan Trueman, Sō Percussion, and Mobius Percussion
For There Might Be Others by Rebecca Lazier
New York Live Arts
 
Ustatshakirt Plus
For Dream'd in a Dream by Seán Curran
BAM Harvey Theater

Outstanding Visual Design:
 
Holly Batt
For the visual and set design of Girl Gods by Pat Graney
Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University
 
Design Team: F. Randy deCelle, Ralph Lemon, Roderick Murray, Naoko Nagata, R. Eric Stone, Mike Taylor, andPhilip White
For the visual design of Scaffold Room by Ralph Lemon
The Kitchen
 
DD Dorvillier and Thomas Dunn
For the lighting and visual design of Extra Shapes by DD Dorvillier
The Kitchen
 
Eamonn Farrell
For the new media scenography of Forgiveness by Emily Berry | B3W Performance Group
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center

​Kevin Williamson, Amanda Hunt & Autumn Kioti
Dixon Place
July 14
Los Angeles-based Williams will present Trophy “…a multi-media dance experience … that follows the pursuits of three millennial dance artists…with a beat-driven score from experimental composer Jeepneys…[plus] filmmaker Cari Ann Shim Sham's projections.” Also on the program is Hunt’s and/or, "...the act of looking, forays into repetition, time based corporeality, and switching between the pedestrian and the grotesque/hyper ‘‘feminine,’’ plus the work-in-progress solo RUN:RABBIT by Kioti which “…immerses the audience in the…world of a person navigating the extreme challenges of a stigmatized mental disorder… and the pressure to hide one’s sexual identity," notes the release. Find out more here
 
Monstah Black
Dixon Place
July 8 – 23
Choreographer, performer, educator and club performer, Black will premiere HYPERBOLIC! (The Last Spectacle) at Dixon Place as part of their HOT! Festival and the 25th Annual celebration of LGBTQ culture. Find out more here 
 
American Tap Dance Foundation
Various Venues
July 9 – 16
The final week of the American Tap Dance Foundation’s week-long tap dance festival includes “Tap Dance Treasures” (July 14) directed by artistic/executive director Tony Waag, will feature works by Brenda Bufalino, Felipe Galganni, Kwikstep, Ted Levy, Tapman Myers, Max Pollak, Rokafella, Lynn Schwab, Caleb Teicher, Tony Waag & Karen Callaway Williams, and more. Find out more here 
 
Twyla Tharp Dance
The Joyce Theater
July 11 – 23
Tharp’s engagement will include Country Dances (1976), which “…features four dancers who do-si-do through square dance adaptations…the New York City premiere of Beethoven Opus 130, featuring longtime Tharp dancer Matthew Dibble with the company, and Brahms Paganini from 1980.  Find out more here 
 
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Sheen Center
July 13 – 16
Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, artistic directors of Bridgman|Packer features two works, Voyeur (2012) and Remembering​ What Never Happened (2015), as part of their “Video Partnering”—the integration of live performance and video technology.  Find out more here

Infinity Dance Theater
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
July 14 – 16
“As We Are,” the company’s 20th Anniversary Season will feature works by dancers with disabilities. The program will include solo performances by artistic director Kitty Lunn and Alice Sheppard, plus other works by Lunn. Find out more here 
 
Various Artists
New Victory Dance Series
July 14, 21 & 28
For three Wednesdays in a row, and in three different programs at the New Victory Theater, the Victory Dance series will feature: Doug Elkins Choreography, Etc., Big Dance Theater, and David Neumann / Advanced Beginner Group (July 14), Limón Dance Company, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and Jiva Dance (July 21), then American Tap Dance Foundation, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and Nadine Bommer Dance Company (July 28). Find out more here 
 
Biba Bell
JACK
July 14 - 16
Curated by Stacy Grossfield, Detroit-based writer, dancer, and choreographer Bell will present together, “…a combination of, and a departure from, the past few years of Bell's research and performance engaging dance through an affective, archi-historic lens of modernism and domesticity,” notes the release.  Find out more here
 
Full Circle Souljahs + Master Class
SummerStage
July 16
As part of the SummerStage dance series, Full Circle Souljahs bring their brand of dance “From The Streets to The Stage” and will showcase emerging choreographers, dancers and locals from NYC neighborhoods and beyond. A hip-hop master class taught by Kwikstep, Rokafella, and the Full Circle Souljahs (July 16 - St. Mary’s Park) This event is FREE! Find out more here 

FROM MIGUEL:

​​Dearests near and far - 
I am thrilled to tell you that I have been cooking up a new initiative in partnership with Gibney Dance Center and today we are announcing it.

Welcome to LANDING. 

LANDING is an experiment in transition, pedagogy, research, mentorship, and possibility.Over the course of six intensive sessions over six months, a selected group of dance artists will meet with each other and a variety of extraordinary guest artists in the context of workshops, artist talks, studio visits, studio time, performances, and public presentation. The goal is to create a network of experiences that address and support the interests and challenges that face dance artists newly arrived to New York. 

The various emphases of LANDING are creating community; valuing experimentation in the creative process; making a space for critical inquiry; listening to how other people in the dance and performance community are making it work; generating practical and administrative skills in order to survive financially; and activating a conversation about the cultural, social, and political value of dance and performance work in today’s world.

How did this come about?

I was approached a few months ago by Gibney about developing a new pedagogical format. Immediately I started thinking about all of the incredible young artists who I've met over the last few years in New York and about how challenging it is for them to survive and thrive in today's economic climate and how tricky it can be to identify and navigate the breadth of choices available to them.

I started wondering if there was a way to create an ongoing context where the learning is horizontal rather than hierarchical, while at the same time drawing on the extraordinary community of performing artists who live and work in New York. One of my greatest joys is to connect people with each other and to the artists whose work inspire them. My hope is that LANDING will serve as both an anchor and a launching pad for dance and performance artists in NYC, to clarify what the value of living here is now, to rely on each other and to invent the world they want. I will attempt to moderate, mediate, instigate and get the fuck out of the way. 

Confirmed guest artists and speakers include luciana achugar, Justin Vivian Bond, Michelle Boulé, Camille Brown, Ralph Lemon, Juliana May, Ben Pryor, and Colin Self! 

The call for applications is now open and the deadline to apply is July 31st. The program is designed for folks who are in their first 3 to 5 years in NYC or those who feel that they could benefit from this kind of community education model at this point in their practice. 

Please spread the word far and wide to whomever you think would be interested. More info is here.

I am excited about this experiment. Thanks so much!

xo
Miguel

Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director, announced that effective as of August 1, 2016 Lopez is Ballet Master of ABT.

Carlos Lopez is currently a Ballet Master for the ABT Studio Company and a Company teacher at ABT. He began his professional career at the Victor Ullate Ballet in his native country, Spain and performed as a principal dancer for six years. Some of his repertory included leading roles in Don Quixote, Giselle, Theme and Variations, Allegro Brillante, Paquita, Les Sylphides and ballets by Maurice Bejart, Rudi Van Dantzig and Hans Van Manen. With this company he toured to Argentina, Belgium, Cuba, England, Germany, Italy and the United States.

Lopez joined American Ballet Theatre in 2001 and was promoted to Soloist in 2003. His repertory with the Company included Iago in Othello, The Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, Mercutio and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker-Prince in The Nutcracker, Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Puck in The Dream, Benno in Swan Lake, the second sailor in Fancy Free, Alain in La 
Fille mal gardée,Eros in Sylvia, the Lead Pontevedrian dancer in The Merry Widow, peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty and The Joker in Jeu de Cartes. He also performed roles in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table, Paul Taylor’s Company B and George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. In 1996, Lopez won the Silver Medal at the Paris International Ballet Competition and in 2004, he was awarded the Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000 Prize in Cannes.

Lopez is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher in the ABT National Training Curriculum. He joined the faculty of the ABT Studio Company in 2013. He has taught on the faculty of the ABT Summer Intensives and participated in ABT’s Royal Ballet School exchanges in London, Ibstage Barcelona and YoungArts in Miami. Lopez was a member of the jury at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix.

From the folks at the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage: We are pleased to announce our 2016 grants in support of the Philadelphia region’s cultural organizations and artists. 53 grants totaling more than $10 million will provide funding for 12 new Pew Fellowships for individual artists working in a variety of disciplines; 36 Project grants for the presentation of exceptional cultural programs offered to a wide range of audiences; and 5 Advancement grants to support bold organizational initiatives led by exemplary arts and culture organizations. Browse the full list of grantees and use the sorting menu below to view by grant type.

​Read more here

dance-mobile Summer 2016
Brooklyn Bridge
July 9 – 30
dance-mobile, the summer outdoor performance series presented by Gibney Dance Center includes performances at Foley Square and Brooklyn Bridge Park! See works by Amy Miller alongside the Yakar Roots and Rhythms Ensemble from Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Gibney Dance Company and David Thomson. Find out more here
 
Tap The Yard Festival
The Yard
July 7 – 9
TapTheYard Week2 brings the rhythm-based NYC based group The Bang Group with Turing Tests and Variations (Excerpt), the new work by Caleb Teicher.  Find out more here
 
Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre
New York Live Arts
July 7-9
Czech- born choreographer, Týnek’s New York season features the NYC premiere of Logbook (2013), Romanesco Suite, and Tethered Light.  Find out more here
 
Dance Visions
Sands Point Preserve
July 10
Under the direction of Beth Jucovy, Dance Visions honors the works of legendary choreographer Isadora Duncan as well as works inspired by the Duncan aesthetic. Find out more here
 
CATCH TAKES BASILICA Festival
Basilica Hudson
July 10
Curators Jeff Larson, Andrew Dinwiddie and Caleb Hammons offers up a lineup that includes: Banana, Bag & Bodice, Chelsea & Magda, Heather Christian, Faye Driscoll, James Harrison, Saúl Ulerio and more.  Find out more here
 
Twyla Tharp Dance
The Joyce Theater
July 11 – 23
Tharp’s engagement will include Country Dances (1976), which “…features four dancers who do-si-do through square dance adaptations…The New York City Premiere of Beethoven Opus 130, featuring longtime Tharp dancer Matthew Dibble with the company, and Brahms Paganini from 1980.  Find out more here 
 
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Sheen Center
July 13 – 16
Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, artistic directors of Bridgman|Packer features two works, Voyeur (2012) and Remembering​ What Never Happened (2015), as part of their “Video Partnering”—the integration of live performance and video technology.  Find out more here

​My AmNews July 2016 Dance Calendar: 

Featured:
Ronald K. Brown, Evidence A Dance Company (June 28 - July 3) @ The Joyce Theater

Some thoughts on Ailey @ Lincoln Center for AmNews