[note: many, if not most, of these links may no longer be working, but such is the nature of the digital. hopefully, the url and context are enough to help you find any further information you want. if not, feel free to contact me, and i’ll try to help.]
abril 2014
¡hola, difus@s!
spring may not yet have arrived to new york, but spring fever certainly has…at least, that would be the freudian line connecting the dots on my march calendar. having evaded all the art world (or, more aptly, market—because, really, what do we understand by “world” these days if not “market”?) frenzy, my eye seem consistently drawn to bodies on both stage and screen.
dance dominated the month, and most of it was good, if not great. wayne mcgregor and lance gries were both concerned with blurring physics and physicality, with mixed results. mcgregor was by far the most interesting to watch, but the performance didn’t really leave one with much to ponder. gries, on the other hand, was painfully ponderous despite employing a trio of revered female dancers. wally cardona and jennifer lacey’s work at the park avenue armory was genuinely interesting, especially as a sample of their larger project in dialogue with masters of traditional dance forms. granted, cardona and lacey’s work benefitted considerably from the venue (the park avenue armory is easily one of my favorite spaces in new york), much as kyle abraham’s work at the 92y benefitted from the “stripped / dressed” format, in which the choreographer and dancers illustrate their creative process before performing the resulting work. abraham is as gifted as he is gracious, so i’m looking forward to seeing more of him this fall at new york live arts.
while abraham probably represents some of the best in young american dance (john jasperse is another favorite in that regard), i’m most drawn to the european dance theater pioneered by pina bausch, of which i’d hoped the ballet du grand theatre de geneve would bring to the joyce. sadly, their “glory” was a kinetic, well-costumed mess, which made my late arrival an unintended mercy (i don’t think i could have taken another 15 minutes of that show). fortunately, this month brings ballet preljocaj back to the city, and this summer’s lincoln center festival brings not one but FOUR works of anne teresa de keersmaeker (bartok/mikrokosmos, elena’s aria, fase, and rosas danst rosas).
[NOTE: the lincoln center festival is also bringing isabelle huppert and cate blanchett to the stage in jean genet’s the maids. if you want to see this, you should probably buy now…and i mean NOW, like, before you continue reading.]
in film, as in dance, my affinities lean european, and robin campillo’s eastern boys, part of the “rendezvous with french film” series, was everything i love about continental film: visually sumptuous, narratively oblique, and politically ambiguous. the robbery scene early in the film was quietly devastating, a heart-wrenching portrayal of powerlessness (as harrowing as one particular scene in j. m. coetzee’s disgrace, which i read a decade ago and still can’t forget), and the culminating constitution of a non-traditional family brilliantly refused so much conventional wisdom about marriage equality. even more provocative was the film’s take on intergenerational romance / eroticism, deftly subverting their assumed power dynamics.
provocation was certainly the aim (and the appeal) of james franco and travis mathews interior. leather bar., and the result was far smarter and well executed than i’d expected (i have little faith in mr. franco), for which mr. mathews probably deserves most of the credit. his short film (later a feature), “i want your love,” was revelatory. i’ve never seen sex, as a constitutive part of a relationship more than a subject unto itself, explored with such unflinching candor and compassion on film. (abdellatif kechiche would have done well to study mathews’ work prior to making blue is the warmest color, in which the much-discussed sex scenes were a disservice to the narrative and an offense to the actors). just as candid was “beauty and the beast” at the abrons arts center, in which julie atlas muz and mat fraser literally bared all in a burlesque fairy tale that was surprisingly tender and touching.
contrary to the adage “april showers bring may flowers,” the cultural calendar is in full bloom this month, with much to see and enjoy:
music: the JACK quartet is in residency at the stone this week, which promises many nights of adventurous music and impassioned playing (yes, i’m an ardent fan), and the unsound festival at issue project room should delight those with an ear for the avant-garde. the MATA festival and “synth nights, curated by nico muhly” offer even more new music later in the month. for more traditional fare, the tallis scholars are performing at the church of st. mary, the virgin, and the santa fe opera performs selections from mozart and beethoven at the morgan library and museum.
theater: here lies love returns to the public theater this month, and i couldn’t be more excited. i saw this twice during its first run, and i’m looking forward to seeing it again this month (especially since they’ve moved it to a slightly larger space). don’t miss it. robert maxwell’s directorial style may strike some as off-putting (he’s REALLY into the text), but the new york city players’ isolde is high on my list. two other shows i’m hoping to catch are the junket (full disclosure: i met mike albo at mattachine recently, so i’m curious to see his work) and the mysteries (i was raised on bible stories, literally).
dance: the main event this month is ballet preljocaj’s snow white; last fall’s and then, one thousand years of peace was fantastic (if, perhaps, somewhat uneven), so i’m quite eager to see how they interpret this story…and the costumes are gaultier! on smaller stages but with equally compelling programs, trisha brown and stephen petronio will be performing at new york live arts and the joyce, respectively. i’ve seen both brown (once) and petronio (three times) before and am looking forward to seeing them again.
film: film forum continues another astonishingly comprehensive series with “tout truffaut” running through april 17. on thursday, april 10, anthology film archives presents a tribute to nancy holt as part of its “white cube / black box” series; her sun tunnels were a highlight of the road trip i took last summer, and her work merits much more attention than it has received. jim jarmusch’s latest, only lovers left alive, debuts this month (SWINTON!), so the film society at lincoln center is showing all his work under the title “permanent vacation: the films of jim jarmusch.”
art: as the weather warms up, the public art season kicks into gear, e.g., the “archeo” show on the high line and alice aycock’s park avenue paper chase. (artnet has a nice round-up of upcoming public art.) among this month’s additions to my ever-growing list of shows i need to get out and see are rudolf stingel (i’m a huge fan) at gagosian, the group show at marian goodman, brian o’doherty at p!, sarah lucas at gladstone, luther price at participant, inc., jordan wolfson at zwirner, and the gaugin show at MoMA. i’m also really excited for brendan fernandes (full disclosure: he’s a dear friend) at the abrons arts center.
if those highlights aren’t enough to keep you busy, check out the full list below…
abrazos,
p
april / abril
1-6: JACK quartet (music)
1-20: the junket (theater)
2-5: luciana achuga: OTRO TEATRO (dance)
2-10: permanent vacation: the films of jim jarmusch (film)
2-17: tout truffaut (film)
2-6: unsound festival (music)
3-30: the mysteries (theater)
4-5: studio series: saúl ulerio (dance)
4-5: synth nights, curated by nico muhly (music)
5: tallis scholars: 40 years of renaissance polyphony (music)
8: gabrielle herbst: bodiless (music)
8-13: stephen petronio (dance)
8-12: trisha brown dance company (dance)
9-26: ubu sings ubu (performance)
10: white cube / black box: a tribute to nancy holt (film)
10-13: cryptic: orlando (theater)
10-26: new york city players: isolde (theater)
11: quartet for the end of time (music)
12: brentano string quartet & hsin-yun huang, viola (music)
13-14: new york city ballet: choreography by justin peck with music by sufjan stevens (dance)
14- : here lies love (theater)
16-21: mata: 16th annual festival of new music (music)
17: the santa fe opera with harry bicket (music)
20: dirty ho (film)
23-27: ballet preljocaj: snow white (dance)
23: deborah voigt in conversation with francesca zambello (opera)
25-26: new york boylesque festival (performance)
26: amir nojan & the nava ensemble: classical persian music (music)
26-27: dancing the gods (dance)
28: the glimmerglass festival: an american tragedy with tobias picker (opera)