
651ARTS
Jan. 16-19
Zachery will present the world premiere of his solo memoir,
Against Gravity: Flying Afrikans + Other Urban Legends, a "journey of self-exploration and Black masculinity, weaving together history, memory, poetry, and music. Co-written by producing director Ayinde Jean-Baptiste. It also features Chicago"s Poet Laureate Avery R. Young and the and sound artist Sadah Espii Proctor. Against Gravity... is set against the backdrop of 1980s and 90s Chicago, while André’s story is informed by three main figures: Fred Hampton, Benji Wilson, and Harold Washington. "Guided by the prophetic voice of Gwendolyn Brooks, the performance grapples with their legacies and the weight of mythologies they left behind—unraveling how they shaped a generation of Black men." Find out more here
Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri
Playwrights Horizon
January 9-18
Barnes and Saenz de Viteri’s Many Happy Returns, "is a memory play in the form of a playful and unpredictable (even for performers) dance. This hybrid scripted and improvised work of movement and language sees Barnes playing the body and Saenz de Viteri assuming the voice of a woman, in the middle of her life, who moves with total clarity but can’t stop revealing the doubt she’s desperate to cover by dancing. Find out more here
Miguel Gutierrez
New York Live Arts
Jan. 12-18
A Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist, Gutierrez will premiere, Super Nothing a quartet for performers (Justin Faircloth, Wendell Gray II, Jay Carlon, and Evelyn Sanchez Narvaez), "...whose actions and choreographic relationships are analogues for how people support each other to survive," notes the release. Find out more here
Urban Bush Women
The Apollo
Jan. 13 – Mar. 12
The Apollo will present Lineage Legacy and Liberation: An Examination of Urban Bush Women’s Art-Making and Community Organizing Praxis a visual exhibition in the Laura and Frank Baker Gallery with pop-up performances on select dates. Find out more here
Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
The Joyce
Jan. 14-19
Brown will offer a restaging of Serving Nia (2001) and the 25th anniversary performance of Grace (1999). Find out more here
Jawole WIlla Jo Zollar
The Whitney Museum of American Art
Jan. 17 - 19
Presented as part of Edges of Ailey, LifeDance IV The Emperor…The Old Woman Persists is a new work in development that experiments with the form and structure of monologues, characters, scenes, and imaginings from the past forty years of Zollar’s work with Urban Bush Women. It is directed by Niegel Smith and performed by Zollar and Tendayi Kuumba. Find out more here
Various Artists
Jan. 18 - 19
Arts On Site
Dahyun Kim (1/18), Enya Kalia Creations/MONÉT Movement Productions: The Collective and 7Midnights Physical Research (1/19) will present solo or shared evenings. Find out more here