The Ronald S. Lauder Collection – Selections from the 3rd Century BC to the 20th Century, Germany, Austria, and France
Selections from one of the finest private art collections in the world are on view at Neue Galerie through April 2nd, to mark the tenth anniversary of this museum. The exhibition “The Ronald S. Lauder Collection – Selections from the 3rd Century BC to the 20th Century, Germany, Austria, and France” includes six areas of focus. They range from Medieval art, arms and armor, to fine and decorative arts from “Vienna 1900,” to Modern and contemporary art. Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of Joseph Roulin;” A Josef Hoffmann “Bonbonnière” acquired by Paul Wittgenstein; Pablo Picasso’s “Woman with a Raven;” “Mademoiselle Pogany II” by Constantin Brancusi; Gerhard Richter’s “Study for Serial Number 324;” Anselm Kiefer’s “Elizabeth of Austria”… are only some of the remarkable works selected for this anniversary show.

Bach and the Romantics
On February 2nd, Miller Theatre at Columbia University presents “Bach and the Romantics,” a concert that is part of Miller’s popular series “Bach and the Baroque.” This is pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s first recital at Miller Theatre. And it follows the recent release of her new Sony Classical album, “Something Almost Being Said: The Music of Bach and Schubert.” The album’s title “Something Almost Being Said” is a phrase drawn from the poem “The Trees” by English poet Philip Larkin. While working on this project, Ms. Dinnerstein was inspired by a shared quality in Bach and Schubert’s music. She described this as “wordless voices singing textless melodies.”

Charles Dickens at 200
“Charles Dickens at 200,” presented by The Morgan Library & Museum, remains on view through February 12th. The Morgan owns the largest collection of Dickens materials in the United States. And this exhibition celebrates the bicentennial of the great writer’s birth by showcasing a variety of artifacts, from manuscripts of his novels and stories, to letters, photographs, original illustrations and caricatures.

Canyengue — The Soul of Tango
On February 1st Le Poisson Rouge, the multimedia art cabaret just South of Washington Square Park, invites you to a concert inspired by the work of Astor Piazzolla. “Canyengue — The Soul of Tango” features musicians Maya Beiser and Pablo Ziegler. Beiser grew up on a kibbutz in Israel. Today she is a celebrated musician known for taking the cello beyond its classical boundaries. Ziegler, a pianist for Astor Piazzolla for a decade, was instrumental in creating the sound that elevated tango music from dance clubs to the concert hall. In their collaboration, Beiser and Ziegler explore the provocative and sensual nature of “canyengue” — the true soul of Buenos Aires tango.

Machiel Botman: One Tree
“Machiel Botman: One Tree,” an exhibition at Gitterman Gallery, on the Upper East Side, is based on a selection of rather mysterious and atmospheric photographs. On view through February 18th, the show’s black and white photos were taken during the past ten years. A key figure in Dutch photography, Botman seems unrestrained by photographic conventions. He utilizes a variety of exposures, depths of field and focal distances, creating a unique, personal vision.

The post SundayArts News 1/26/2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

The post SundayArts Primetime 1/26/2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

This Week at Lincoln Center American Songbook continues its 14^th season. Since 1998, the acclaimed concert series has explored the American song across all genres, past, present and future.

The post This Week at Lincoln Center: American Songbook appeared first on Sunday Arts.

SundayArts, the Tri-State Area’s Premier Arts Showcase, to Relaunch in Primetime as NYC-ARTS

Beginning Thursday, February 2 at 8 p.m. on THIRTEEN

Newly expanded Web site, mobile apps, and social media components to provide unprecedented arts coverage on multiple platforms.

SundayArts, THIRTEEN’s weekly arts and culture showcase for the tri-state area, will be relaunched as a primetime series—now with multiple digital platforms—called NYC-ARTS, airing Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on THIRTEEN, beginning February 2, 2012. Encore presentations will follow on Sundays in SundayArts’ former timeslot of 12 noon on THIRTEEN; Fridays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. on WLIW; and Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on NJTV. New episodes will also be available on NYC-ARTS.org every Thursday at 8:30 pm.

Since it premiered in 2008, SundayArts has provided arts lovers in the tri-state area with an all-access pass to the New York City area’s myriad cultural offerings: from music and dance concerts, to the theater, museums and galleries—from the classic to the contemporary.

New York Emmy winners Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn will continue to co-host the revamped series. The program will now originate from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center.

The popular Feature/Profiles and Curator’s Choice segments seen each week on SundayArts will continue on NYC-ARTS, along with the events around town reported by News Correspondent Christina Ha.

The NYC-ARTS digital platforms were developed by the Alliance for the Arts. This partnership between NYC-ARTS and WNET began in March 2011, when the SundayArts site began including the NYC ARTS Top Five events each week on its blog, and continued in the summer when the new ThirteenArts mobile app launched with event listings provided by NYC-ARTS.org. NYC-ARTS digital is now under the management of WNET.

“We’re tremendously excited about the opportunity to relaunch SundayArts as NYC-ARTS,” said Executive Producer David Horn. “Our commitment to bring viewers the best in the world of arts and culture from the tri-state area is stronger than ever, and with the move to primetime, the newly expanded Web site, we’re able to connect more New Yorkers to the arts in more ways while broadening our reach in the community.”

With this relaunch, NYC-ARTS will be the single most comprehensive resource about the arts in New York City. NYC-ARTS.org and its mobile apps include thousands of New York City arts and cultural organizations and their events, programs and services. NYCkidsARTS.org provides parents and teachers with the resources they need to connect kids with the arts. NYC-ARTS is also a daily communicator of arts news and discourse via its weekly emails and robust social media presence. (The present SundayArts Web site will continue to be active for the time being.)

“WNET understands that New York’s arts scene is one of the reasons people fall in love with this vibrant and exciting city of ours,” said Daniel Greenberg, General Manager of the Interactive Engagement Group. “The new NYC-ARTS offers New Yorkers and tourists alike an accessible way to engage with the arts whenever, and wherever they are.”

There are free NYC-ARTS Smartphone apps which can be found by searching NYC ARTS in the iTunes App store and Android marketplace. These will offer up-to-the-minute listings in your immediate area and video features about many of the city’s cultural gems. A podcast of NYC-ARTS is also available on iTunes.

On the NYC-ARTS premiere show on February 2nd, the Feature/Profile focuses on the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Prince Street in Soho. Here the art of photography merges with the world of pop/rock music, preserving remarkable moments in time.

The Curator’s Choice is part of an initiative by the National Endowment for the Humanities called Picturing America on Screen. It takes a look at the work of artist Romare Bearden, one of the most original American artists of the 20th century. Christina Ha reports on events around town from the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, including the current exhibition there: “Staging Fashion, 1880 – 1920: Jane Hading, Lily Elsie, Billie Burke.”

NYC-ARTS is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Executive Producer: David Horn. Editorial Director: Joan Hershey. Supervising Producer: Mitch Owgang. Senior Producer: Bob Morris. For the digital platforms, General Manager: Dan Greenberg. Director of Product Management: Joe Harrell.

NYC-ARTS is made possible in part by First Republic Bank. Funding for NYC-ARTS is also made possible by Rosalind P. Walter, The Paul and Irma Milstein Foundation, Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, Jody and John Arnhold, and The Lemberg Foundation. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional funding provided by members of THIRTEEN.

Visit the NYC-ARTS Web site at NYC-ARTS.org for additional information.

The post Announcement: SundayArts Becomes NYC-ARTS appeared first on Sunday Arts.

SundayArts, the Tri-State Area’s Premier Arts Showcase, to Relaunch in Primetime as NYC-ARTS

Beginning Thursday, February 2 at 8 p.m. on THIRTEEN

Newly expanded Web site, mobile apps, and social media components to provide unprecedented arts coverage on multiple platforms.

SundayArts, THIRTEEN’s weekly arts and culture showcase for the tri-state area, will be relaunched as a primetime series—now with multiple digital platforms—called NYC-ARTS, airing Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on THIRTEEN, beginning February 2, 2012. Encore presentations will follow on Sundays in SundayArts’ former timeslot of 12 noon on THIRTEEN; Fridays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. on WLIW; and Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on NJTV. New episodes will also be available on NYC-ARTS.org every Thursday at 8:30 pm.

Since it premiered in 2008, SundayArts has provided arts lovers in the tri-state area with an all-access pass to the New York City area’s myriad cultural offerings: from music and dance concerts, to the theater, museums and galleries—from the classic to the contemporary.

New York Emmy winners Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn will continue to co-host the revamped series. The program will now originate from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center.

The popular Feature/Profiles and Curator’s Choice segments seen each week on SundayArts will continue on NYC-ARTS, along with the events around town reported by News Correspondent Christina Ha.

The NYC-ARTS digital platforms were developed by the Alliance for the Arts. This partnership between NYC-ARTS and WNET began in March 2011, when the SundayArts site began including the NYC ARTS Top Five events each week on its blog, and continued in the summer when the new ThirteenArts mobile app launched with event listings provided by NYC-ARTS.org. NYC-ARTS digital is now under the management of WNET.

“We’re tremendously excited about the opportunity to relaunch SundayArts as NYC-ARTS,” said Executive Producer David Horn. “Our commitment to bring viewers the best in the world of arts and culture from the tri-state area is stronger than ever, and with the move to primetime, the newly expanded Web site, we’re able to connect more New Yorkers to the arts in more ways while broadening our reach in the community.”

With this relaunch, NYC-ARTS will be the single most comprehensive resource about the arts in New York City. NYC-ARTS.org and its mobile apps include thousands of New York City arts and cultural organizations and their events, programs and services. NYCkidsARTS.org provides parents and teachers with the resources they need to connect kids with the arts. NYC-ARTS is also a daily communicator of arts news and discourse via its weekly emails and robust social media presence. (The present SundayArts Web site will continue to be active for the time being.)

“WNET understands that New York’s arts scene is one of the reasons people fall in love with this vibrant and exciting city of ours,” said Daniel Greenberg, General Manager of the Interactive Engagement Group. “The new NYC-ARTS offers New Yorkers and tourists alike an accessible way to engage with the arts whenever, and wherever they are.”

There are free NYC-ARTS Smartphone apps which can be found by searching NYC ARTS in the iTunes App store and Android marketplace. These will offer up-to-the-minute listings in your immediate area and video features about many of the city’s cultural gems. A podcast of NYC-ARTS is also available on iTunes.

On the NYC-ARTS premiere show on February 2nd, the Feature/Profile focuses on the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Prince Street in Soho. Here the art of photography merges with the world of pop/rock music, preserving remarkable moments in time.

The Curator’s Choice is part of an initiative by the National Endowment for the Humanities called Picturing America on Screen. It takes a look at the work of artist Romare Bearden, one of the most original American artists of the 20th century. Christina Ha reports on events around town from the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, including the current exhibition there: “Staging Fashion, 1880 – 1920: Jane Hading, Lily Elsie, Billie Burke.”

NYC-ARTS is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Executive Producer: David Horn. Editorial Director: Joan Hershey. Supervising Producer: Mitch Owgang. Senior Producer: Bob Morris. For the digital platforms, General Manager: Dan Greenberg. Director of Product Management: Joe Harrell.

NYC-ARTS is made possible in part by First Republic Bank. Funding for NYC-ARTS is also made possible by Rosalind P. Walter, The Paul and Irma Milstein Foundation, Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, Jody and John Arnhold, and The Lemberg Foundation. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional funding provided by members of THIRTEEN.

Visit the NYC-ARTS Web site at NYC-ARTS.org for additional information.

The post Announcement: SundayArts Becomes NYC-ARTS appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Tonics and Tinctures
American Museum of Natural History
Tues, Jan 24

Millions of Americans resolve to lose a few pounds come every new year, but when did we start worrying about our waistlines anyway? Historic gastronomist Sarah Lohman talks about some methods used in the past to trim the fat. Come explore and taste some of the best (and worst) historic diet trends in America.

Hamburger Hill scene from Gonna See a Movie Called Gunga Din

Gonna See a Movie Called Gunga Din
Bushwick Starr
Tues, Jan 24 – Sat, Feb 11

Black-box venue Bushwick Starr presents Van Cougar and their new show about the depiction of American soldiers in cinema. Archetypal characters are juxtaposed against real-life veteran stories in a layered, visual journey. Selected as one of our Emerging Voices of 2011, Bushwick Starr continues to bring exciting theater to the stage in 2012.

CQ/CX
Atlantic Theater Company
Wed, Jan 25 – Sun, March 4

In this play about a New York Times plagiarism scandal involving an up-and-coming reporter, Gabe McKinley draws on his own experience at the paper to weave a revealing and complex story about the collateral damage of unchecked ambition and compounded lies. See it for $20 during the 20at20 Off Broadway promotion.

Jackson Heights 3am
Queens Theatre
Fri, Jan 27 – Sun, Feb 5

Car dispatchers, sex workers, drag queens, E.R. doctors, gamblers and insomniacs collide in the colorful world of Jackson Heights 3am, a new collaborative work by seven playwrights who explored the underbelly of the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the world—between the hours of 10 pm and 4 am.

My Hero
Elisa Contemporary Art
Fri, Jan 27 – Sat, March 31

From the days of ancient Greek and Roman gods through today’s X-Men, Dynamic Duos and Fantastic Four, humans have always been captivated by superheroes. The definition of hero, of course, is ever changing. This contemporary mixed-media exhibit brings modern heroes to life and examines their cultural spectrum.

The post NYC-ARTS.org Top Picks, Week of January 24, 2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Tonics and Tinctures
American Museum of Natural History
Tues, Jan 24

Millions of Americans resolve to lose a few pounds come every new year, but when did we start worrying about our waistlines anyway? Historic gastronomist Sarah Lohman talks about some methods used in the past to trim the fat. Come explore and taste some of the best (and worst) historic diet trends in America.

Hamburger Hill scene from Gonna See a Movie Called Gunga Din

Gonna See a Movie Called Gunga Din
Bushwick Starr
Tues, Jan 24 – Sat, Feb 11

Black-box venue Bushwick Starr presents Van Cougar and their new show about the depiction of American soldiers in cinema. Archetypal characters are juxtaposed against real-life veteran stories in a layered, visual journey. Selected as one of our Emerging Voices of 2011, Bushwick Starr continues to bring exciting theater to the stage in 2012.

CQ/CX
Atlantic Theater Company
Wed, Jan 25 – Sun, March 4

In this play about a New York Times plagiarism scandal involving an up-and-coming reporter, Gabe McKinley draws on his own experience at the paper to weave a revealing and complex story about the collateral damage of unchecked ambition and compounded lies. See it for $20 during the 20at20 Off Broadway promotion.

Jackson Heights 3am
Queens Theatre
Fri, Jan 27 – Sun, Feb 5

Car dispatchers, sex workers, drag queens, E.R. doctors, gamblers and insomniacs collide in the colorful world of Jackson Heights 3am, a new collaborative work by seven playwrights who explored the underbelly of the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the world—between the hours of 10 pm and 4 am.

My Hero
Elisa Contemporary Art
Fri, Jan 27 – Sat, March 31

From the days of ancient Greek and Roman gods through today’s X-Men, Dynamic Duos and Fantastic Four, humans have always been captivated by superheroes. The definition of hero, of course, is ever changing. This contemporary mixed-media exhibit brings modern heroes to life and examines their cultural spectrum.

The post NYC-ARTS.org Top Picks, Week of January 24, 2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Five years ago when Met Opera planned to do the “Ring” cycle they knew that the most difficult single role to cast was the role of Siegfried. When their first choice fell ill, Texas native Jay Hunter Morris stepped into a role with five weeks until curtain that only a handful of men in the world can pull off.

The post Jay Hunter Morris: A New Siegfried for the Ring appeared first on Sunday Arts.

This Week at Lincoln Center violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman continues his role as the New York Philharmonic’s 2011-2012 Artist-in-Residence.

The post This Week at Lincoln Center: Frank Peter Zimmerman appeared first on Sunday Arts.

In this edition of SundayArts: a profile of the Met’s new Siegfried: Jay Hunter Morris, a trip underground to view Faith Ringgold’s art in the subway, the latest news, and more.

The post SundayArts Primetime 1/19/2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

The Ronald S. Lauder Collection – Selections from the 3rd Century BC to the 20th Century, Germany, Austria, and France
Through April 2nd Neue Galerie celebrates its tenth anniversary by presenting a variety of works from one of the finest private art collections in the world. The exhibition is called “The Ronald S. Lauder Collection – Selections from the 3rd Century BC to the 20th Century, Germany, Austria, and France.” Together with the late Serge Sabarsky, Lauder is a co-founder of Neue Galerie. The show is organized along six main galleries, which include: medieval art, arms and armor; old master paintings; modern and contemporary art.

Latin Icons of the World
On its main stage, Carnegie Hall hosts a series of concerts titled “Latin Icons of the World.” As part of this series, which runs through March, you can see “Chucho Valdés & The Afro-Cuban Messengers” featuring special guest vocalist BUIKA. The concert on January 21 will include music from a recent CD on which Valdez — hailed as “one of the world’s great virtuosic pianists” — collaborated with Spanish jazz singer BUIKA. You can see Chucho Valdez in other tri-state area shows through February 4th.

Bruce Museum Centennial
This winter, the Bruce Museum, in Greenwich, CT, celebrates 100 years since its opening. Two of the exhibitions currently on view showcase works that were created during the early and mid-20th century. American Impressionist landscape represents one of the strengths of the Bruce Museum’s permanent collection. “Divided Light and Color: American Impressionist Landscapes” samples two dozen paintings from this popular 19th and early 20th-century movement. “The Prints of Martin Lewis: From the Collection of Dr. Dorrance Kelly” features etchings by this Australian-born master printmaker. They depict scenes of New York City and the Connecticut countryside dating from 1916 to the 1950s.

Dance on Camera
At the end of this month, The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association present the festival “Dance on Camera.” This 40th edition includes films focusing on historic dance presenters and companies, international artists, and innovative choreographers. The opening night celebration will launch with the World Premiere of “Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance”. The film documents the struggles and achievements of The Joffrey Ballet, from its newfound beginnings in 1956 to the company’s present international success. The centerpiece of the festival is “Musical Chairs”, a romantic tale of two New Yorkers. Armando, from the Bronx, and Mia, from the Upper East Side, come together through their love of ballroom dancing. “Balanchine in Paris” sheds fresh light on the French/American symbiosis that marked the career of George Balanchine, the father of neoclassical ballet. In this documentary directed by Dominique Delouche, a ballet, shaped decades ago by the Ballet Master himself, is taught to today’s young stars by one of Balanchine’s original muses. British choreographer Wayne McGregor is a movement explorer who has gained a following in the United States through his touring company Random Dance. A resident choreographer of The Royal Ballet, he has created a style noted for its elasticity and extreme physicality.

The post SundayArts News 1/19/2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

The post SundayArts Primetime Programming 1/26/2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Francisco Camacho. Photo by Ian Douglas.

BLESSED, choreographed by Meg Stuart (an ex-pat now living in Europe), was performed at New York Live Arts last week. Her work is somewhat enigmatic in part due to the rarity of her stateside performances. BLESSED has a particularly ambitious conceit and set (designed by ­­­­Doris Dziersk). A compact utopia—a small house, palm tree, and swan—is rendered in cardboard, inhabited by the guileless Francisco Camacho. Dressed in crisp whites and shower shoes, he exaggeratedly robo-marches around his domain, elbows and knees at perfect 90 degree angles. It begins to rain, and in alarmingly short order, the palm tree wilts, droops, and crumples to the ground. The sleigh-sized swan’s head sags sadly to one side, and the roof buckles in the center, but doesn’t give way entirely, at least for awhile.

Evoking Katrina’s aftermath (Stuart was born in New Orleans), Camacho spray paints neon pink words on the remaining hut wall, but as soon as he’s done, it caves further. He wriggles out of his whites and into garb more appropriate to survival, including a camouflage t-shirt and an elaborate wig/mask. As his environs continues to erode quickly, he attempts to salvage any useful cardboard to fashion makeshift shelter, using scraps as blankets until they, too, dissolve. It rains relentlessly—the weather inside now paralleling the cold, rainy winter night outside, evoking Beckett at his best. The lights (by Jan Maertens) dim to an inky murk, but it’s pierced by the sudden emergence of Katomi Nishiwaki, dressed like a Vegas showgal, who struts around the perimeter of the island where Camacho alone is trapped. Shiny and self-possessed, she’s oblivious to anything but preening for the audience. Abraham Hurtado also bursts the bubble, stepping right out of the audience and dressing Camacho in a variety of outfits before he settles on tighty-whities and a see-through raincoat, accessorized by a frightening brace used to spread one’s lips during dental work, presumably.

Set to Hahn Rowe’s ambient score, it could be a parable for many situations we now face, most obviously environmental (global warming and its presumably related chaotic events such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and flooding); economic; or political. But we empathize with Camacho’s sorry state—getting soaked to the bone literally and metaphorically, with nowhere to hide, watching his entire world dissolve into ephemera. And yet, like Beckett’s finest, he survives, for better or worse.

The post Meg Stuart’s BLESSED: Channelling Beckett appeared first on Sunday Arts.

One Step Beyond with Dirty Projectors
The Hayden Planetarium, Rose Center for Earth and Space, American Museum of Natural History
Fri, Jan 20, 2012, 9 pm

Launch your weekend with drinks and dancing at the most explosive party this side of the Milky Way. See and be seen under the stars as live bands, DJs, and VJs present the hottest music and project dynamic visuals at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Cocktails keep the party going.

Lunar New Year
Museum of Chinese in America
Wed, Jan 18 & Sat, Jan 21

Celebrate the Lunar New Year and find out what’s in store for the Year of the Dragon as the authors of the Pocket Chinese Almanac decode predictions for 2012. James Beard award-winning author Nina Simonds will also be at MOCA this week to introduce her new cookbook and talk about the Asian philosophy of foods.

"The Fantasticks"

20at20: Off-Broadway for $20
Various Venues
Wed, Jan 18 – Mon, Feb 6

Hindsight is 20/20—you probably should have bought those tickets sooner. But if the show’s not sold out, you’re in luck. Get $20 tickets to off-Broadway shows 20 minutes prior to show time. All you have to do is say the magic words…

Ghetto Klown
Repertorio Español
Thurs, Jan 19 – Sat, Jan 21

After a successful Broadway run and before his Colombian tour, John Leguizamo performs a special set of Ghetto Klown, entirely in Spanish. The New Yorker recounts his teenage years in Queens, the early days of his acting career, the outrageous downtown theater scene, and many uproarious anecdotes from Hollywood.

"Gob Squad's Kitchen"

Gob Squad’s Kitchen
Public Theater
Thurs, Jan 19 – Sun, Feb 5

It’s 1965 and the excitement is just about to start. Gob Squad’s Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good), takes the hand of Andy Warhol himself for a trip back to the underground cinemas of New York City. The German/British collective reconstructs Warhol’s films in the quest to illuminate the mod era for a new generation.

The post NYC-ARTS.org Top Picks, Week of January 17, 2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Salka Ardal Rosengren, Thibault Lac, and Daniel Linehan in Zombie Aporia. Photo by Ian Douglas.

I love me some ballet, but focusing away from traditional dance vocabularies, movement can be generated in many ways. Two shows I saw this past week demonstrated how artists use inventive methods as both a means and an end—Daniel Linehan’s Zombie Aporia and Michael Kliën’s Choreography for Blackboards. These were, respectively, part of the American Realness (tbspMGMT) and COIL (PS 122) festivals, timed to entice the multiple eyeballs of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference-goers (as well as Under the Radar).

Zombie Aporia, at the Abrons Art Center, was performed by Linehan (who studied at PARTS and is based in Brussels) with Salka Ardal Rosengren and Thibault Lac. Working with spoken and sung words as much as dance, at times they took directives from a laptop, or one another; recombining verses, moving in a naively appealing style. This childlike aura was amplified through sections that evoked games like Simon Says led by an orchestra conductor, and follow-the-bouncing-ball sing alongs. In an especially poignant section, verses scrolled on a laptop controlled by Rosengren, eyes closed. She held Lac’s hand as he acted as the human microphone, loudly speaking the words that Linehan, on tiptoe and reading from the laptop, whispered into his ear. This simple, interdependent poetry of this part contrasted with other more robust scenes, with Rosengren in particular forcefully reciting text as Lac created vibrato by squeezing her body, or whipping her forward and back. Sound and movement were inseparable, performative agents of a powerful curiosity and intelligence.

Choreography for Blackboards (which Kliën created with Steve Valk) took place at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn. The dogma specified six two-sided blackboards kitted out with chalk, a pail of water, a sponge, and a towel; diverse, pre-selected participants ranging from Occupy activists to scientists; set time periods within which each followed certain guidelines for their drawings; an open audience format that encouraged moving about; and a varied soundscore by Volkmar Kliën. The concept held far more potential than the experience, at least for the viewer. Observing that after everyone erased their boards at the one-hour point, it was easier to note that each artist then keyed off of another’s line as it reached the board’s edge, so if you created a mental array, they’d collectively create one big, interconnected work. The pseudo-salon/classroom atmosphere and audience-as-backdrop bogged down the performance in self-consciousness. And it was difficult not to think of Joseph Beuys’ blackboard lecture/performances, so deeply couched in his political/artistic theory that here could only be hinted at by the resumés of the participants.

It wasn’t until the very end when Eugenia Manwelyan (urban planner and OWS activist) seemed to transcend the confines, repeatedly smearing water down the blackboard with her hands, creating a sort of yearning, grasping, invisible crowd, then lying on her folded knees like a supplicant. She carefully cleaned her area and then sat down and bathed her chalk-muddy feet in a practical ritual that evoked alms (and, most likely coincidentally, the cleansing performances of Mierle Ukeles) before putting on her socks and boots, conflating the quotidien with the spiritual.

The post Zombies and Blackboards appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Alexis. A Greek Tragedy at La MaMa

Under the Radar Festival
Various venues
Wed, Jan 4—Sun, Jan 15

Organized by Public Theater, Under the Radar presents new works by international solo artists and ensemble groups. Subjects explored this year include Susan Sontag, Greek tragedy (a 15-year-old boy killed in a 2008 political protest), medical chimerism and Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

Dan Zanes. Photo by Gala Narezo

New York Guitar Festival
Various venues
Fri, Jan 6—Sun, Jan 29

The New York Guitar Festival gives renowned musicians a chance to explore every aspect of the guitar’s personality. Among those charged with scoring a soundtrack to the silent films of comic genius Buster Keaton are Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Dan Zanes, My Brightest Diamond (Shara Worden) and Kaki King. Other events include a marathon of Italian guitar music and a tribute to Jim Hall.

The Art & Music of Terezín
92nd Street Y
Wed, Jan 11—Mon, Feb 6

The former Terezín camp

This series examines the music, art and educational activity of Terezín, a ghetto-like concentration camp in Bohemia that the Nazis used for propaganda purposes. The program includes a panel discussion with survivors; a lecture series modeled after those given at the camp; and Terezín music performed by the Nash Ensemble of London, baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and pianists Shai Wosner and Russell Ryan.

Best Documentaries from the African Diaspora International Film Festival
Teachers College at Columbia
Fri, Jan 13—Sun, Jan 15

"Our Generation," a selection at ADIFFTeachers College at ColumbiaFri, Jan 13—Sun, Jan 15

The 2011 festival’s award-winning documentaries wowed both audiences and the press. If you missed them the first time around, here’s your second chance—or see them again. These films feature stories from Cameroon, Tanzania, 19th-century America and the Mexican Revolution.

Broadway Week
Various Venues
Tues, Jan 17–Sat, Feb 4

Here’s everyone’s big break into showbiz—two-for-one tickets to Broadway productions. Shows participating in Broadway Week for the first time include Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Road to Mecca, Porgy and Bess, Anything Goes, Stick Fly, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

The post NYC-ARTS.org Top Picks, Week of January 8, 2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Park Avenue Armory "Events." Photo by Anna Finke, courtesy Cunningham Dance Foundation.

Two recent end-of-2011 dance events at the Park Avenue Armory underscored the venue’s potential for artistic discourse on a grand scale—Elizabeth Streb’s Kiss the Air! and Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final Events leading up to New Year’s Eve. Both performances felt carnivalesque; Kiss the Air! truly like a three-ring circus, complete with a barking ringmaster. The dancers’ (or “action engineers”) entrances set the bar high, literally, as each, hanging from a t-bar strung from a descending cable, swooped down from a tower, slamming at high speed, full-force, into a padded pillar.

As the show unfolded, they worked through the installations of equipment scattered throughout the vast drill hall. Streb’s apparatus (credited to her and Hudson Scenic) are often sculptures in and of themselves, such as one that is essentially a rotating ladder from which the dancers hung, balanced, in pairs or groups, spinning faster and faster. Springboards propelled with compressed air made the dancers graceful projectiles before falling to earth. (Obviously landings are a key, but even done properly, you have to wonder about repeated impacts.) And in an overly long section, they dove off of a multi-tiered Hollywood Squares-like structure, splatting on mats in formation. The raucous finale involved bungee harnessed dancers, a shallow pool, and much juvenile splashing of the audience, but not before cannonballs were dropped onto concrete blocks (in plexiglass sleeves), shattering into shards and dust just inches from the audience, apparently for the shock value. Several live and recorded videos were projected onto huge screens, and swivelling lights enhanced the circus feel.

The Cunningham company’s farewell performances were Events, or medleys of sections from various dances, assembled by the company’s director of choreography, Robert Swinston. Musicians were placed around the hall, where Daniel Arsham’s white cluster set pieces hung high. Like Kiss the Air!, the performance was viscerally emotional, but it was artistically a far cry from Streb, whose achievements test human limits while going for shock and awe. Actually, I suppose that would apply as well to Merce’s choreography, which—in the waning moments of its zenith, as performed by dancers specializing in it, and watched through the rose-tinted lens of the impending true end—has never felt more virtuosic and heroic.

The Armory Event was an up-close view of the effortful ease of the style, of the underlying tension within the body that is essential to the great dynamism expressed in Cunningham’s work, giving it so much internal life. Each dancer was brilliant in unique ways. Never again this, final that—we’ve been hearing it for a long time now, so its fulmination was mercifully dissipated enough to be able to see the dance itself with clarity, particularly in the wake of BAM’s three dense programs (video clips here). Still, I’m very sad.

The post Streb and Merce Cunningham Dance Co. End Things with a Bang at The Armory appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia
Film Forum
Wed, Jan 4–Tues, Jan 17

Winner of the Grand Prix Ex-aequo award at the Cannes Film Festival, this thriller from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan follows a group of men—including a police commissioner, a prosecutor, a doctor and a murder suspect—as they drive through the countryside in search of a murder victim. Along the way, details about the brutal murder emerge and nothing is what it seems.

American Realness
Abrons Arts Center
Thurs, Jan 5–Sun, Jan 15

Now in its third year, the American Realness festival features contemporary artists in experimental performance. This is not pretty dancing on a stage. It is theater, dance, performance and song by artists who burn the box when it comes to their creative thinking, including Ann Liv Young, Big Art Group, Wally Cardona, Jennifer Lacey and more.

Word Becomes Flesh
Public Theater
Thurs, Jan 5–Sun, Jan 15

Staged as a series of letters to an unborn son, Word Becomes Flesh confronts fatherhood in urban communities and the mythology of the black male—from cotton field to athletic field and all the spaces in between. Marc Bamuthi Joseph re-invents his 2003 piece for a new generation with an ensemble cast using spoken word, music and dance. Presented by 651 Arts in association with the Under the Radar festival.

The Apollo Project
arts>World Financial Center
Fri, Jan 6

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, the New York Guitar Festival presents a live re-imagining of the sonic masterpiece, featuring the ambient ensemble itsnotyouitsme, guitar master Larry Campbell, and other special guests including Noveller and Tortoise’s Jeff Parker. The performance also features scenes from Craig Teper’s documentary, Man In The Right Seat, about Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

Jay Scheib: World of Wires
The Kitchen
Fri, Jan 6–Sat, Jan 21

World of Wires is Jay Scheib’s new adaptation of Welt am Draht, a 1973 sci-fi television series, which posed the reality that people live inside of machines. The play is an all-bets-are-off homage to the startling possibility that you too might be ones and zeroes in someone else’s immaculately programmed world.

The post NYC-ARTS.org Top Picks, Week of January 1, 2012 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

ABT's Marcelo Gomes & Isabella Boylston. Photo: Rosalie O'Connor.

ABT’s Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg
Both of these dancers gave incredible, shooting star performances of Albrecht in ABT’s Giselle. Gomes didn’t simply act, he was the prince, dancing convincingly as if his life depended on it, pushing himself further than my already sky-high expectations—as deep and rich as ballet can get. Hallberg too pushed his physical limits and transcended technique to give a sublime rendering. Both took the very ordinary entrechat six and made it heartrending artistry. Pure alchemy. See them both during ABT’s Nutcracker season at BAM. Also, keep an eye on the pure lines of Joseph Gorak.

De Kooning at MOMA
This MOMA show connected the numerous dots in De Kooning’s storied career. It is what MOMA does best as the torch bearer of modernism, showing how De Kooning’s work swerved close to Pollock’s and other peers before breaking his own fresh tracks.

Histoire du Soldat/Lar Lubovitch
I’ll say it once more: Lar Lubovitch is underrated for the pure craft of his gorgeous movement making. See: his inventive characterizations for Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat, at Galapagos with Le Train Bleu, and his two-program, star-studded run at Baryshnikov Arts Center.

Mark Morris at MMDG
Morris keeps making gorgeous, inventive dances. His studio show was phenomenal.

New York City Ballet’s Tyler Angle, Tiler Peck, and the ravishing Sara Mearns, leading this suddenly young company.

James Samson and Eran Bugge, Paul Taylor Dance Company
These two mid-tenure veterans have come into their own, or at least we can really see that they have as they’re getting big roles and work set on them. Samson is strong, steady, and has a wisdom that carries throughout his limbs. Bugge dances with a chocolaty richness and finesse. Catch them in March.

RSC’s travelling theater
The highlight of the RSC’s summer residency at the Park Avenue Armory was without a doubt the theater-within-a-theater, a gigantic tinkertoy construction that thrust us into the action.

Silas Riener, Merce Cunningham Dance Company
And capping off the list is Silas Riener’s solo in Split Sides at BAM, during the Cunningham Company’s Legacy Tour run. Crazy, daring, beyond human, like a kamikaze master yogi. The audience had no choice but to burst into applause.

What were your favorites?

And with that, happy holidays!

The post Stuff I liked in 2011 appeared first on Sunday Arts.

Courtesy Christie's.

With the auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry collection over and done with at Christie’s, an era has come to a close. Grossing nearly $116 million, and setting records left and right, the collection could have filled several jewelry stores with only the finest specimens in the world. And that’s without factoring in the Liz quotient, that aura of unofficial royalty that graced most everything she touched. (A portion of profits will be donated to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation).

The collection evoked Taylor’s earlier years, before she became tabloid fodder for the wrong reasons. Many of the baubles were artifacts of her countless marriages and affairs, each of which seemed to pack more passion and drama than the lifetimes of a dozen ordinary folk. (Which is not to say that the ordinary folk aren’t just as happy, or happier.) There’s never been a star quite like her, nor will there ever be again, most likely, during this time when visiting Occupy Wherever, or lobbying against land mines, rank as admirable acts. A far cry from jetting to the Côte d’Azur, 20 carats around one wrist, to celebrate yet another honeymoon. Or hanging out with pal Michael Jackson, who gave her several pieces, a number of them monkey-themed. For the most part, her taste was extravagant, but many of the key pieces are tastefully designed to showcase magnificent gemstones, including the Krupp diamond and “La Peregrina,” a teardrop-shaped pearl.

Yup, conspicuous consumption is just plain tacky nowadays. (A tangent: Kim Kardashian purchased three jade bangles worn often by Taylor, an idol of KK’s. At least Taylor came by her fame through her honest acting talent, and seemed to actually marry for love, even if it was eventually fickle.) In addition to jewelry, the auction, through December 16, includes clothing, ranging from tasteful evening suits to eye-popping Versace blouses and kaleidoscopic caftans. Her art collection included acquisitions blending personal relevance and a blue-chip index. Several display cases worth of what can only be called “tchotchkes” actually brought La Liz down to earth—keepsakes that must have been primarily gifts, crystal and glass things, accessories related to daily vices, stuff like what we all eventually accumulate and have to figure out how to get rid of. Most likely it won’t be at Christie’s.

The post Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewelry Auction: The End of an Era appeared first on Sunday Arts.