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diciembre 2015
¡hola, difus@s!
seasons greetings! november left me grateful for so many things, especially the theater and film that filled the month.
i’m particularly thankful i caught the closing of barbecue, which was brilliant in form and content; the constantly shifting race, class, and power dynamics kept me thoroughly engrossed, and the incisive commentary on contemporary therapy and media culture was genuinely thought-provoking. the room was taut, uncanny, and baffling (in a good way), with the wooster group in fine form. wunderbaum’s looking for paul was exceptional, a wry take on theater-making and performance art; i hope we’ll be seeing much more of this terrific dutch troupe in the future. i finally saw the flick, which is phenomenal, spare in form and visceral in impact. lazarus was compelling and often cinematic, if still a little rough around the edges (i went the first night), and futurity was delightful steampunk; both were innovative takes on musical theater.
taylor mac’s hir was maddening and saddening, confirming my long-standing concerns about mac’s radical faerie fundamentalism. one could argue that the play pokes fun at that subculture, but the play’s humor comes not from a place of critical reflexivity (doubt) but from a place of smug self-satisfaction (certainty). young jean lee’s straight white men advanced a much more nuanced, sophisticated cultural critique; the absolute brightness of leonard pelkey told a much more moving story of non-normative adolescence; and anything by the living theatre embodies more radical integrity. mac would do well to consider the following before putting pen to paper—or gracing the stage—again: jacobin's critique of burning man, this guardian op-ed on atheism, and quartz on the connection between expertise and closed-mindedness.
the film highlight of the month—and, probably, the year—was the “todd haynes: rarities” program at his film society retrospective because it included superstar: the karen carpenter story, which is seldom screened. the portrayal of sexual politics in johnny guitar was every bit as complex as anything made recently (and joan crawford!), such as the fine new turkish film mustang. seeing heart of a dog was a wonderful corrective to laurie anderson’s abysmal october show at the park avenue armory. in the basement was a gripping, gorgeous (quasi-)documentary that has me wanting to see the rest of the director’s oeuvre. democrats was a devastating political documentary about zimbabwe’s constitutional process. peggy guggenheim was a thoroughly unconventional woman, but peggy guggenheim: art addict is a blandly conventional documentary. apropos documentaries, i finally watched zoo during a home viewing binge (that also included vendredi soir and winter’s sleep), and it’s a remarkable piece of film-making.
i managed to fit some music and dance into the calendar, too. the music for hagoromo was beautiful, but david neumann’s choreography utterly wasted the dancers’ formidable talent. circa’s opus, on the other hand, fully engaged the troupe’s talents, as well as those of a live string quartet, and pushed their physical theater / nouveau cirque more towards a refined modern dance aesthetic. the design was flawless, the incorporation of the string quartet was seamless, and the touches of humor and kink were deliciously subtle. also combining live music (with dirty three’s virtuoso drummer jim white) and dance (with choreographer claudia de serpa soares), visual artist eve sussman’s contribution to performa at bam was interesting but ultimately undermined by the choreography, which felt like a weak imitation of de keersmaeker. william kentridge’s contribution to the met’s current season, lulu, is sure to be the highlight; i hope they’ll do encore presentations of the cinecast they filmed when i attended, as i’d love to see it again from that perspective.
december’s full of many great things to see, and, mercifully, not all of it is holiday-specific (orthodox and not so):
performance + theater: daniel kitson has decided, somewhat last-minute, to bring his a show for christmas to new york. i cannot overstate how excited this news makes me. don’t miss this show, just don’t. i’m seeing it seven times. seriously. pasolini’s pylade at la mama, marjorie prime at playwrights horizons, and take care at the flea all look like good, serious theater. once upon a mattress at abrons and alas, the nymphs at bam, both a bit lighter in tone, are already on my calendar.
dance: if you’ve had all the traditional nutcrackers you care to see, mark morris’ the hard nut at bam and nutcracker rouge at minetta lane theater are two wonderfully twisted takes on the story. sasha waltz and guests bring continu to bam, and tere o’connor presents the good-bye studies at the kitchen; both should be high priorities for anyone interested in contemporary dance. other noteworthy performances include luciana achugar at the chocolate factory, pavel zuštiak and palissimo company at new york live arts, and the movement research festival at danspace project.
music: the tallis scholars’ christmas concert should be exceptional, especially with arvo pärt on the program. national sawdust’s winterreise festival features founders, anne-maria mcdermott, david adam moore, and theo blackman, and phill niblock gives a winter solstice concert at roulette. you can also enjoy some caroling at the morgan. loftopera’s production of britten’s the rape of lucretia looks much more interesting than the rest of the met’s season, and four pianos festival at jack could be fascinating.
film: miguel gomes’ arabian nights, in three volumes, comes to the film society at lincoln center. after seeing his tabu, i’m particularly eager to see this new, ambitious work. you can catch matthew barney’s (nothing if not ambitious) river of fundament at ifc. i’m curious about nathan silver’s stinking heaven, which premieres at anthology (where leni riefenstahl’s triumph of the will also has a screening). son of saul and 45 years have both generated considerable buzz.
art: if you skipped art basel miami beach (perhaps wisely), you shouldn’t feel like you missed anything (other than many obnoxious partygoers and a few hangovers) with all that’s on display in the city. i’m planning to check out these gallery shows: camille henrot at metro pictures, mary heilmann at 303 gallery, h. c. westerman at venus over manhattan, mindy rose schwartz and david rappeneau at queer thoughts, joseph kosuth at sean kelly, cynthia daignault at lisa cooley, and the group show at mitchell algus gallery. i’m also hoping to make it to all the museum shows i still haven’t seen.
the full calendar follows, and you can give your friends the gift of “pablo difuso” here. ¡felices fiestas!
abrazos,
p
diciembre / december
1-6: pilobolus: shadowland (dance)
1-8: sound and fury: the films of cy endfield (film)
1-10: mustang (film)
1-12: juliana francis kelly: the reenactors (theater)
1-20: neighborhood 3: the requisition of doom (theater)
1-: marjorie prime (theater)
1-: once upon a mattress (theater)
1-: take care (theater)
2-4: de noailles' bal masqué (music)
2-5: pavel zuštiak and palissimo company: custodians of beauty (dance)
2-12: rape of lucretia (music)
2-12: tere o'connor: the goodbye studies (dance)
2-15: hitchcock / truffaut (film)
2-: nutcracker rouge (dance)
3: lulu (music)
3-5: movement research festival (dance)
3-7: making waves: new romanian cinema (film)
3-18: pylade (theater)
3-20: arabian nights (film)
4-5: continu (dance)
4-5: live feed: you’ll still call me by name (working title) (dance)
4-5: swedish energies v: nordic edition (music)
4-10: river of fundament (art, film)
4-20: american international pictures, part 2: bikers, drugs, and rock & roll (film)
5: draftwork: bob eisen / alex romania (dance)
5: the tallis scholars: christmas across centuries (music)
7: fat pig (theater)
7-19: goldberg (art, music, performance)
8-19: daniel kitson: a show for christmas (theater)
9: pacifica quartet (music)
9: special twindrums project with yoshimio + ikue mori (music)
9-12: alas, the nymphs (theater)
9-12: daniel fish: who left this fork here (dance)
9-12: ymusic, bill t. jones & dianne mcintyre: come around part iv: marcos balter world premiere commission featuring two world premiere solo dance commissions by bill t. jones and dianne mcintyre + repert (dance), (music), (performance)
9-15: stinking heaven (film)
10-12: catherine galasso: get dancing (dance)
10-13: liz gerring dance company: horizon (dance)
10-19: luciana achugar: an epilogue for otro teatro: true love (dance)
11-20: caroling at the morgan (music)
12: triumph of the will (film)
12-20: the hard nut (dance)
12-22: lynch / rivette (film)
16: synth nights: champagne jerry, penis, and tami tamaki (music)
16: winterreise festival: david t. little (music)
16-17: bac salon: celebrating misia sert (music)
17: winterreise festival: theo bleckmann (music)
17-19: four pianos festival (music)
17-19: meredith monk & anne waldman (dance, music)
18-20: dancing korea (dance)
18-: son of saul (film)
19: the carnival of the animals (music)
20: the meeting hosted by justin sayre (performance)
21: phill niblock: winter solstice (music)
23-: 45 years (film)