See my interview with Jones, Robert Battle (Artistic Director) and Ailey company member, Michael McBride for The Amsterdam News -
http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2013/dec/05/bill-t-jones-alvin-ailey-together-again-after-30-y/
Go see Bill T. Jones' "D-Man in the Waters" by The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater - premieres Wednesday, December 11 and runs the entire New York City Center Season - (ends 1/5/14). See my interview with Jones, Robert Battle (Artistic Director) and Ailey company member, Michael McBride for The Amsterdam News - http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2013/dec/05/bill-t-jones-alvin-ailey-together-again-after-30-y/
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binbinFactory / Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa Eva Dean Dance December 13 If you have not experienced the work of these two incredible collaborators, here's a chance to get in on their rehearsal process. See Haga and Fukuzawa in a yet to be titled work as part of the Open Rehearsal at Eva Dean Dance. Find out more ~ www.binbinfactory.org + www.evadeandance.org & RSVP:edd@evadeandance.org Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca The Joyce Theater December 3 – 15 See Sombras Sagradas (Sacred Dreams), boasting solos, duets and group works including the world premiere of El Cazador, plus more. Find out more ~ www.joyce.org Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre New York City Center December 4 – January 5 Ailey returns for a five-week season of premieres, classics and more. The premieres are Aszure Barton’s LIFT, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners, and the 1989 work by Bill T. Jones D-Man in the Waters (Part I). Find out more ~ www.alvinailey.org George Faison’s new musical The Faison Firehouse Theater December 5 – 15 BAH HUMBUG - A Hip Hop Musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, looking at the rise of the Notorious E.B. Scrooge and his spiraling decent into the evils of the 21st Century. For more information ~ email - mail@faisonfirehouse.org URBAN DANCE COLLECTIVE Dixon Place December 6 – 21 See works by Niles Ford, Carli Zackery-Rogers and Nathan Trice. Find out more ~ www.dixonplace.org Tere O’Connor Dance BAM Fisher December 11 - 14 O’Connor collapses three of his dance works--Secret Mary, poem, and Sister, into BLEED. Find out more ~ www.bam.org Ellington at Christmas The Apollo Theater – December 7 & NJPAC- December 8 The Apollo Theater’s Ellington at Christmas, a special re-fashioning of the holiday favorite—The Nutcracker– is a salute to Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite! This not-to-be-missed salute to Duke Ellington features Savion Glover, Keith David, Lizz Wright, Priscilla Baskerville, David Berger Jazz Orchestra, the Abyssinian Baptist Choir and Students from Dance Theatre of Harlem School. Find out more ~ www.apollotheater.org & www.njpac.org New York City Ballet - George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts November 29 - January 4, 2014 New York City Ballet’s (NYCB) acclaimed production of Balanchine’s masterpiece, which premiered on February 2, 1954, helped to establish The Nutcracker around the country. Find our more ~ www.nycballet.com Dances Patrell’s - The Yorkville Nutcracker Kaye Playhouse @ Hunter College December 5 – 8 Set in 1895, The Yorkville Nutcracker takes the audience on a tour of Olde New York's landmarks, Gracie Mansion, the New York Botanical Garden, and skating in Central Park. Find out more ~ www.dancespatrelle.org. Dance Theatre in Westchester’s - The Colonial Nutcracker Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College December 15 Created especially for families with children ages four to ten, The Colonial Nutcracker is set colonial Yorktown during the Revolutionary War. Find out more ~ www.BrooklynCenterOnline.org. Valentina Kozlova's Dance Conservatory Company The Nutcracker Symphony Space December 7 Kozlova's Dance Conservatory Company returns to Symphony Space for two performances only. Find out more ~ www.symphonyspace.org New York City Ballet with Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Dec 13—Dec 22 American Ballet Theatre and Artist in Residence/choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky presents this signature version. Find out more ~ abt.org. Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center - The Knickerbocker Suite Manhattan Movement & Arts Center December 13 - 22 New York City landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and NY sports teams are part of Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center’s The Nutcracker. Find out more ~ www.manhattanyouthballet.org The Moscow Classical Ballet’s The Nutcracker Lehman Center for the Performing Arts December 15 Moscow’s Classical Ballet returns for a one-night-only production of this holiday favorite. Find out more ~ www.LehmanCenter.org New York Theatre Ballet – Keith Michael’s The Nutcracker Florence Gould Hall December 15 - 22 This version is set in Art Nouveau style circa 1907 with choreography by Keith Michael. Find out more ~ www.nytb.org URBAN DANCE COLLECTIVE Dixon Place December 6 – 21 Celebrating the life of Niles Ford and the memory of Carli Zackery-Rogers Rejoice, an evening of dance features Royce Zackery and guest choreographer Nathan Trice’s Give Thanks a work that “…explores the complexities of family (biological or chosen), and other sacraments that we hold dear.” Also on the program is Ford’s We Are People which pays “…tribute to what has happened in the world in the past 10 years including issues around 911, the Iraq War, homosexuality and racism,” according to the press release. Find out more ~ www.dixonplace.org Movement Research Festival, Fall 2013 December 2 – 7 Danspace Project This mixed bag of workshop and performance titled LE SONG, YA?! is curated by Adrienne Truscott and Jibz Cameron (Dynasty Handbag) and includes performances by Nao Bustamante + Martha Wilson, Zoe Coombs-Maar + Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sacha Yanow, Cole Escola and more. Find out more ~ www.movementresearch.org Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca The Joyce Theater December 3 – 15 See Sombras Sagradas (Sacred Dreams), boasting solos, duets and group works including the world premiere of El Cazador, plus more. Find out more ~ www.joyce.org Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre New York City Center December 4 – January 5 Ailey returns for a five-week season of premieres, classics and more. The premieres are Aszure Barton’s LIFT, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, Ronald K. Brown’s Four Corners, and the 1989 work by Bill T. Jones D-Man in the Waters (Part I). Find out more ~ www.alvinailey.org Reggie Wilson’s Fist & Heel Performance Group BAM December 4 – 7 As part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival Wilson premieres Moses(es) an evening-length for his Fist & Heel Performance Group which examines versions of the Moses narrative. The work is drawn from Wilson’s travels to Egypt, Turkey, Mali, Israel, his study of folklore, religion and vernacular in the American South and Africa, plus is recent reading of Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain. Find out more ~ www.bam.org. SOKOLOW THEATRE/DANCE ENSEMBLE & FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH Theater at the 14th Street Y December 4-8 See rare video, live performance and narrative script covering Anna Sokolow’s personal struggles and the creation of Theater Dance in Anna Sokolow’s Way. Find out more ~ http://sokolowtheatredance.org/wordpress/ Donna Uchizono Company NEW YORK LIVE ARTS December 4 – 7 Donna Uchizono Company presents the world premiere of Fire Underground and the Replay Series of State of Heads. Find out more ~ www.newyorklivearts.org George Faison The Faison Firehouse Theater December 5 – 15 BAH HUMBUG - A Hip Hop Musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, looking at the rise of the Notorious E.B. Scrooge and his spiraling decent into the evils of the 21st Century. For more information ~ email - mail@faisonfirehouse.org Camille A. Brown & Dancers Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts December 6-7 Go see Mr. TOL E. RAncE an evening-length dance/theatre work inspired by Spike Lee’s film “Bamboozled,” Mel Watkins’ book On The Real Side, and more. Find out more ~ visit www.651arts.org The Apollo Theater’s Ellington at Christmas NJPAC December 8 Celebrate the holiday with Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite with tap dancer, Savion Glover plus students of Dance Theatre of Harlem and more. Find out more ~ visit – www.njpac.org Yes, absolutely, there are sleek bodies moving in and out of fantastic shapes that will give you pause, but there are some special moments amongst all that during the two-week run for Complexions Contemporary Ballet at The Joyce (November 19 – December 1). One of the two nuggets is watching the long-limbed Ashley Mayeux in Alejandro Cerrudo’s Never Was where, partnered by Mark Caserta, she glides in and out of his arms then finishes in statuesque poses. The other is singing and bopping in our seats during Innervisions (world premiere) a delightful ode to singer/songwriter Stevie Wonder by co-founder and artistic director, Dwight Rhoden. Rhoden’s signature entrance and exits are magnified when in tight white pants, shorts and variations of red tops, the company moved to Wonder’s music via Rhoden-style – lots of leg, taught fingers, quick steps, daring lifts, funky hips, sassy stares, off-centered balances and fun. So much to see/hear/think about – Hoffbauer’s "Para-Dice (Stage 2) there’s no real 'paradice'”12/1/2013 Patricia Hoffbauer takes this thing we call dance into other realms; she pushes the limits on how we see performance. Para-Dice (Stage 2), at Danspace Project (November 21-23) created and directed by Hoffbauer, was made in collaboration with an unconventional cast of individuals: George Emilio Sanchez, Peter Richards, Peggy Gould, Elisa Osborne, Tom Rawe, Alyssa Alpine and Laura Gilbert. Video designer Peter Richards also helps to connect the many dots. Each held their own, gave light to the overarching themes (racism, colonialism, perception, etc.), and pulled the many parts together. This mixed-media, mixed-format journey, guided by the very funny narrator/”interlocutor” Hoffbauer, layers popular culture, the body esthetic, politics and a host of other questionable concepts with what is or isn’t “paradise.” There is call-and-response between Hoffbauer and the audience; show-and-tell between Hoffbauer and the cast; lessons on cultural appropriation, and projections from films covering decades, genres and obscure places. The serious melds with the humorous when for instance, on the screen we see and hear Brazilian singer Wilson Simonal and learn that he connects America to Brazil for Hoffbauer. At the same time, on stage, the brazen Sanchez takes a model’s walk, dressed in high heels and a flimsy see-through dress. There is so much to see and not enough time to set your laurels on all that Hoffbauer throws at us, so, we can take what we want. It’s been too long since Susan Marshall & Company has been home (New York), so it was a welcome treat to see >II Play/Pause (November 20 – 22) as part of the BAM Fisher season. This was a good one. The scene is established from the beginning, David Lang’s live music fills the space from the balcony (musicians Taylor Levine, Michael McCurdy and James Moore) and the space is immediately energize by Andreea Mincic’s set (a large, moving sound board where company member Ching-I Chang tapes and scrapes a microphone over duct tape, or lighted squares on mic stands are dance partners dazzling in the dark). The hour comes at us fast and beautifully furious. The dancing is big, matching technique with ease as performer consumes the space: Play=leading with limb-initiated movement and a cool follow through; Pause=the two-finger dance framed by the lighted square, and so much more. Particularly cool is the gesture-driven duet between Kristin Clotfelter and Chang. Lots of other great partnering and dancing come from the rest of the cast: Christopher Adams, Luke Miller, Pete Simpson and Darrin M. Wright. See a music video version onYouTube clip of the duet here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ-et3y4o5Y |
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AuthorI am a performer, historian, consultant and dance writer. I am a Empire State College's online program Center for Distance Learning. I am also a former faculty member at The Ailey School and the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University dance major program, Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College (Guest), Kean University and The Joffrey Ballet School's Jazz and Contemporary Trainee Program. I write on dance for The Amsterdam News, Dance Magazine and various publications. Click below to read more about me at my home page - "About Me." |