Haiti Still Needs Help
January 16, 2010
By now, we’ve heard about the success of texting to raise money for Haiti and the emergency funds created by many organizations to rapidly get aid to Port-au-Prince. The speed with which individuals, communities, and organizations mobilized is remarkable. Still, much more needs to be done. Although donating money while reading the headlines and trying not to wince at heartbreaking photographs all over the media might feel like an insignificant effort, the generosity of millions truly adds up. The NY Times has a useful blog post on how to contribute, which is a good starting point for making a donation.
Over the next few weeks and months, I’m sure the arts community in NYC and elsewhere will mobilize to create Haiti benefit concerts and other initiatives to help send emergency aid to Haiti. Artists for Peace and Justice has started Project Haiti, and through its Dance for Haiti initiative, Broadway Dance Center is donating registration fees from certain open classes to The Red Cross’s Haiti Relief Fund. Hopefully other open dance studios will start similar programs. On a larger scale, Lady Gaga announced that January 24th is “Gaga for Helping Haiti Day”. Proceeds from all merchandise purchased at LadyGaga.com on the 24th will go to Haiti earthquake relief, as well as tickets sales and merchandise purchased at her NYC concert that evening.
When a tragedy strikes, it’s inspiring to see artists and arts communities thinking more broadly about their work and how they can help. If you know of other arts initiatives to support Haiti, leave a comment below or email me about it.
Cedar Lake Installation Photos
January 14, 2010
Here are a few more photos from Cedar Lake’s installation. You can also view some of Kokyat’s photographs on Oberon’s Grove.
Ana-Maria Lucaciu
Matthew Rich and Jon Bond
Acacia Schachte and Jason Kittelberger at the heads of the table
Nickemil Concepcion
Jubal Battisti
Ana-Maria Lucaciu
All photos by Evan Namerow
Cedar Lake’s Installation: More Than Meets the Eye
January 11, 2010
Cedar Lake dancers in Benoit Swan-Pouffer’s installation, photo by Evan Namerow
The delicate voice of a woman whispered, “There is more than you know”. Her words, which were part of Stefano Zazzera’s music compilation for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s installation this past weekend, rang true throughout the work. The audience was encouraged (as they are with all of the company’s interactive installations) to move around Cedar Lake’s spacious theater, and as the dancers and environment also shifted – there were many costume, music, and lighting changes, along with atmospheric haze – it became impossible to view everything at once, creating the sensation of being in a constantly shifting gallery space. The result was a fragmented experience. This is not a criticism of artistic director Benoit Swan-Pouffer’s choreography (perhaps the work is coherent for him and the dancers when rehearsed without an audience), but rather a reality of the installation format. It is both thrilling and frustrating, forcing the audience to yearn to see more yet also find satisfaction in what they are able to absorb in the shifting space.
Jason Kittelberger
The fourteen dancers walked a fine line between civility and rage. In one instance, set to opera music, they stood motionless around a large table, and in the next their spines curled and limbs thrashed as they scurried below or onto the table. They grabbed at each other’s necks, climbed brick walls, and flashed maniacal grins with the help of a piece of plastic that looked like it only belonged in a dentist’s office. Male aggression pulsed throughout the work: the men had a menacing presence, while the women often appeared vulnerable and manipulated in male-female partnering (this seems to be increasingly common in contemporary ballet partnering), and only powerful or combative when facing other women. While the movement showed off the dancers’ athleticism, fluidity, and flexibility – Harumi Terayama, Jubal Battisti, Nickemil Concepcion, and Acacia Schachte stood out – it didn’t seem as important as the special effects that bring a sensational quality to Cedar Lake’s installations. Watching dancers dangle from the ceiling, crawl along the walls, and mysteriously emerge or disappear amidst strobe lights and haze is a treat for new audiences, but if not accompanied by any substantive movement or themes, it loses its effect. Nevertheless, the dancers effortlessly navigated their way around the crowds, and Jim French’s lighting design and Adam Larsen’s projections were commendable.
Harumi Terayama and Soojin Choi
Acacia Schachte
Since the installation format demands the audience to become interactive participants rather than passive, stationary viewers, there is an opportunity to engage with the dancers – not only with eye contact, but also with movement and touch. To intentionally or fearfully move away from the dancers as they approach is to diminish one of the most unique parts of the installation experience. Sadly, at least on Saturday evening, it seemed to be the rule and not the exception, which suggests that there still exists an invisible barrier between the dancers and audience. This is a pity, because the brief interaction I shared with Oscar Ramos was poignant and memorable; it was also calming after the rush of movement that had occurred moments before. And it was a reminder that the dancers are not zoo animals on display or gods and goddesses at which to marvel, but rather human beings. One can only hope that the dancers, too, appreciate the chance to interact with audience members because it adds unpredictability to their performances.
It was strangely satisfying yet bewildering to experience the myriad atmospheric transformations that occurred throughout the installation. Moreover, not fully grasping the world that I encountered, nor knowing when and where its creatures would emerge (or sneak up behind me), set the installation apart from a traditional, seated performance. Indeed, not knowing what to expect, along with those rare interactive moments, are what make Cedar Lake’s installations enticing. There is always more than you know.
Ana-Maria Lucaciu
Matthew Rich and Jubal Battisti
All photos by Evan Namerow
APAP Attack
January 8, 2010
Yanira Castro’s Dark Horse/Black Forest, photo by Julieta Cervantes
The annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference has kicked off, and with that comes an abundance of dance performances around town. Here are some of the offerings:
Danspace Project presents danspace unplugged, a special showcase of emerging artists commissioned by Danspace Project and members of the Artists Advisory Board. Nine choreographers present short pieces or excerpts of evening-length works. The evenings will be low-tech presentations performed in the beautiful sanctuary of St. Mark’s Church. $10 tickets are available online.
COIL at PS122: Fourteen companies perform over twelve days at PS122 and other participating venues. Temporary Distortion’s Americana Kamikaze sounds particularly chilling and dark, while Morgan Thorson’s work is literally Heaven. $20 tickets are available online.
Morgan Thorson’s Heaven, photo by Justin Bernhaut
Gotham Arts Exchange, in association with the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU presents Dance Gotham – thirty companies over three nights in works that range from post-modern athleticism to seasoned theatricality. Among the three site-specific works is Yanira Castro’s Dark Horse/Black Forest, which will be performed in the women’s bathroom at the Skirball Center (Mary of Dance Response included it in her “best of 2009” list). $10 tickets are available online.
Dance New Amsterdam has a different program each evening between tonight and Monday, with more than twenty-five companies showing their work. The schedule has all the details, and performances are free.
AMERICAN REALNESS at Abrons Arts Center presents eight contemporary choreographers and promises to be “loud, queer, disturbing, hilarious, critically engaged, beyond post-modern and undeniably present”.
Pam Tanowitz’s Be in the Gray with Me, photo by Yi-Chun Wu
Dance Theater Workshop will present Tere O’Connor Dance’s Wrought Iron Fog, Pam Tanowitz’s Be in the Gray with Me (a nuanced, elegant work that premiered at DTW last June), and Faye Driscoll’s There is so much mad in me.
Anna Deavere Smith: Let Me Down Easy
January 5, 2010
Anna Deavere Smith, photo by Sara Krulwich
My first performance of 2010 was the last performance of Let Me Down Easy, a riveting work conceived, written, and performed by the fiercely talented Anna Deavere Smith. After interviewing many people over the past eight years regarding their thoughts on death, dying, the power of the body, health, and health care, Smith portrayed twenty individuals and their exact words on stage with great nuance and sensitivity. She revealed the humor, distress, pessimism, optimism, anger, and energy within each person, and allowed the audience to become more aware of their own humanness and vulnerability. Several of the individuals portrayed are well-known – Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, writer and activist Eve Ensler, former Texas governor Ann Richards, and heavyweight champion boxer Michael Bentt – while others included patients, physicians, a minister, a Buddhist Monk, and Smith’s aunt.
Smith’s portrayal of choreographer Elizabeth Streb (who was in the audience) was hilarious. Wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a striped jacket, she whirled through a story about how she (Streb) caught on fire at a party, capturing Streb’s animated way of moving, speaking, and gesturing. Apparently, it was “one of the most profound experiences” of her life. In other portrayals, Smith revealed the growing disillusionment of Dr. Kiersta Kurtz-Burke, who was working at a public hospital in New Orleans – without electricity – shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck; the conviction of Eve Ensler regarding society’s effect on young girls’ self-esteem; the fear of failure that motivated Lance Armstrong to win the Tour de France, because failure as a cancer patient would have meant death.
Considering how devoid of emotion the topics of health, health care, and the body can be these days, it was refreshing to watch Smith infuse her portrayals with warmth, honesty, and real emotions that the individuals expressed in their interviews with her. Let Me Down Easy was a poignant and powerful production that will hopefully return to the stage again in the future.
y first performance of 2010 was the last performance of Let Me Down Easy, a riveting theater production conceived, written, and performed by the fiercely talented Anna Deavere Smith. After interviewing many people over the past eight years regarding their thoughts on death, dying, the power of the body, and health (and in some cases, health care), Smith portrayed twenty individuals and their exact words on stage with great nuance and sensitivity. She revealed the humor, distress, pessimism, optimism, anger, and energy within each person, and allowed the audience to become more aware of their own humanness and vulnerability. Several of the individuals portrayed are well-known – Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, writer and activist Eve Ensler, former Texas governor Ann Richards, and heavyweight champion boxer Michael Bentt – while others included patients, physicians, a minister, a Buddhist Monk, and Smith’s aunt.
Smith’s portrayal of choreographer Elizabeth Streb (who was in the audience) was hilarious. Wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a striped jacket, she whirled through a story about how she (Streb) caught on fire at a party, capturing Streb’s animated way of moving, speaking, and gesturing. Apparently, it was “one of the most profound experiences” of her life. In other portrayals, Smith revealed the growing disillusionment of Dr. Kierstra Kurtz-Burke, who was working at a public hospital in New Orleans – without electricity – shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck; the conviction of Eve Ensler regarding society’s effect on young girls’ self-esteem; the fear of failure that motivated Lance Armstrong to win the Tour de France, because failure as a cancer patient would have meant death.
Considering how devoid of emotion the topics of health, health care, and the body can be these days, it was refreshing to watch Smith infuse her portrayals with warmth, honesty, and real emotions that the individuals expressed in their interviews with her.
