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febrero 2016
¡hola, difus@s!
january went by quickly but, mercifully (thanks to a string of weekends in asbury park), not quite as quickly as i’d anticipated. i was a bit more ecumenical in my festival attendance this year and generally satisfied with what i saw. nothing quite reached the heights of, say, ivo dimchev’s fest from the previous edition of abrons’ american realness festival, but nothing was terribly disappointing either. the best of the festivals was work i’d already seen elsewhere, and the best of month fell outside the festival circuit.
600 highwaymen’s employee of the year, which i’d seen a year and a half ago at fiaf, was still wonderfully strange and deeply affecting, and i hope their inclusion in the under the radar festival garners them invitations to travel the show more broadly. lars jan / early morning opera’s the institute of memory (time) also centered on a child’s search for a parent (autobiographically, unlike employee of the year) with detours through cold war politics and surveillance. the set design was gorgeous, and, although the dramaturgy was uneven, jan is certainly a director to watch. (his holoscenes was easily one of the best—albeit most underrated—things in miami during last december’s art basel miami beach.) dog days, part of the prototype festival, was also well produced, acted, and sung…but left me wondering why contemporary opera lacks any narrative nuance (c.f., comments on written on skin in the september issue). heather kravas and keyon gaskin both delivered memorable performances as part of abrons’ american realness festival, hers for its physical and conceptual rigor (and occasional inscrutability) and his for its flashes of incisiveness amid a truly hot mess.
falling during the festival frenzy but not in it, sarah jones’ sell / buy / date was a tour de force, a work of such acute observation, sharp humor, trenchant insight, and political conviction. “formidable” is woefully inadequate for describing ms. jones’ talent, even if the performance was “just” a workshop. i can’t wait to see the next iteration of the show, workshop or not. trisha brown dance company’s (final) performance at bam was the kind of event that makes me grateful to live in new york; the work was, as always, gorgeous (i’d seen two of the pieces at bam just three years earlier), but the atmosphere was rather special, a palpable mix of joy (celebrating ms. brown’s art) and nostalgia (knowing these works will soon disappear from the stage). robert ashley and steve paxton’s (another pioneering choreographer) “opera-novel” quicksand, was far more nuanced—in every possible sense—than any opera i’ve seen. at the center of the work is ashley’s recorded reading of his novel of the same name (in a very pleasant, if barely modulated voice) over a minimal, moody score. most of the movement accompanying the text and music came from the lighting design, which was sublime (i’ll be looking for david moodey’s work henceforth), with occasional dance vignettes featuring jurij konjar (mr. paxton’s heir apparent and a phenomenally talented dancer) and maura gahan. the overall effect was absolutely mesmerizing.
the concerts that bookended the month were also excellent, which was, admittedly, to be expected from such accomplished musicians. the bad plus played three nights at the village vanguard right after new year’s, and i managed to catch the penultimate show (thanks to a friend’s generosity). each member of the group is a consummate soloist, and the way they relate to and communicate with each other as an ensemble is truly exceptional. similarly, the members of ice (international contemporary ensemble) exude such genuine esprit de corps when playing together that i find myself wishing i could take my office to see them (for an object lesson in organizational dynamics)…and maybe i will for the next open ice event at abrons. the three concerts they performed during the last week of january featured pairs of members playing their own selections of new (and some old) work, and all were fantastic.
(the month’s one real disappointment—but no real surprise because it was a charles mees’ play—was glory of the world at bam, which was long on—admittedly, rather fetching—men and short on merton. mees’ formula is basically one part stilted dialogue, one part too-trendy-by-half lip-syching / singing, and one part omg!-explosion-of-nonsensical-violence-slash-dance-party…and there’s just nothing interesting about it. a few, very brief passages of this play did hold my interest, but more for the cast than for anything else. the best i can say is that this play didn’t infuriate me the way big love did. mees’ gender politics are thoroughly retrograde, if somehow less offensive when he doesn’t have women on stage. the wasted opportunity to explore merton´s life and work with the depth and sensitivity it deserves, though, is appalling.
even without the festivals, february’s got a lot of great stuff on offer, welcome refuge from the primary (rat) races…
dance: kvs, les ballets c de la b & a.m. qattan foundation at new york live arts is top of my list this month. other notable performances include katryn posin dance company with meredith monk at danspace project, the new movement series at roulette, pam tanowitz at the joyce (full disclosure: i didn’t care for her the first time i saw her but feel like i should revisit her work), and, for a bit of history, josé limón dance company at the 92y. balletboyz at the joyce is probably the dance equivalent of, say, well strung or il divo…but watching the crowd should be wildly entertaining. you can also take in some terrific dance on film at the film society’s annual series.
film: in fact, the film society (which, remember, is *the* worst run cinema in all of new york) continues to deliver some of the city’s best programming, such as the “friends with benefits” showcase of emerging directors, manoel oliveira's tetralogy of frustrated love (appropriately timed for after valentine’s day), and “film comment selects”. anthology hosts its annual “valentine’s day massacre”, bam offers a retrospective of michael mann, and the museum of the moving image has a terrific line-up of documentaries on the big screen. the dirty looks series brings grace jones (on film) to the kitchen for one night only, anthology shows the timely silent classic greed, and film forum presents chris marker’s a.k.
music: nadia sirota’s residency at symphony space brings a few nights of good music there, the folks from ice join dan tepfer at le poisson rouge, and so percussion comes to carnegie hall. i’ve been craving some early music, so the orlando consort’s “this scepter’d isle” and vox luminis’ “the bach dynasty” both look really good. having not yet made it to national sawdust, i may try and go for kaoru watanabe.
performance + theater: burnished by grief – a romantic comedy has gotten some good reviews, so i’d love to see it before it closes. the foundry theatre’s o, earth is also a priority because i’m a huge fan of theirs (both living here and good person of szechwan were incredible). now that we’re men sounds like a great antidote to last month’s mees’ mess, drunken with what looks interesting, and two plays by philip ridley could be good. other experimental offerings include maybe i’m not reading this map correctly, slut, and they, themselves, and schmerm.
art: last chance to see martin wong: human instamatic at the bronx museum! the show closes on february 14 (and missing it would be heart-breaking). my list of gallery shows for the month, gleaned from art market monitor and artforum, is as follows (roughly from north to south manhattan and then brooklyn): henrik olesen at galerie buchholz (and downtown at reena spaulings), chris burden at gagosian, tony conrad at greene naftali, catherine opie at lehman maupin, judith bernstein at mary boone, jonathan lasker at cheim & read, lari pittman at gladstone, tauba auerbach at paula cooper, francisco upritchard and martino gamper at anton kern, language of birds: art and occult at 80wse, betty woodman at salon 94, patrick brennan at essex flowers, and charles harlan at pioneer works.
as usual, below is a full listing of all that’s on my radar, and you can share the love here.
abrazos,
p
febrero / february
1-20: o, earth (theater)
1-7: tonight/jungle - two plays by philip ridley (theater)
1-4: the coen brothers (film)
2-6: a ride on the irish cream (theater)
2-6: robert ashley & steve paxton: quicksand (dance, music, performance)
2-7: burnished by grief – a romantic comedy (theater)
2-7: imagining the imaginary invalid (theater)
4: heart and breath: nadia sirota & richard reed parry (music)
4-6: gemma bond dance: harvest (dance)
4-7: the grand parade (of the 20th century) (theater)
5: donnacha dennehy's tessellatum (music)
5: nadia sirota, liam byrne, valgeir sigurðsson, & friends (music)
5-6: une éducation manquée (music)
5-11: friends with benefits (film)
5-13: atlantic terminus (art, performance)
5-16: heat & vice: the films of michael mann (film)
5-21: see it big! documentary (film)
6-7: deep in a dream of you (theater)
6-9: now that we’re men (theater)
7-28: drunken with what (theater)
8: dan tepfer's acoustic informatics featuring ice (music)
8: dirty looks: one man show (film, music)
8: orlando consort, "this scepter'd isle: a musical guide to early english history, 1199–1485” (music)
9-10: arkadi zaides: archive (performance)
9-12: danceroulette: new movement series (dance)
10: maybe i'm not reading this map correctly (theater)
11-12: kathryn posin dance company with meredith monk (dance)
11-13: kvs, les ballets c de la b & a.m. qattan foundation: badke (dance, theater)
11-14: tarzana (performance, theater)
11-14: valentine’s day massacre 2016 (film)
11-28: jupiter (a play about power) (theater)
12: acronym + les canards chantants (music)
12: so percussion (music)
12-16: dance on camera (dance, film)
12-18: greed (film)
13: vox luminis: the bach dynasty (music)
17-20: valda setterfield & john scott: lear (dance, theater)
17-27: the cherry orchard (theater)
17-28: film comment selects (film)
17-: the embrace of the serpent (film)
18: australian chamber orchestra: "the reef” (music)
18-21: oresteia: agamnenon (theater)
18-21: pam tanowitz dance (dance)
18-21: sarah skaggs, the new ecstatic 2.0 (dance)
19-21: josé limón dance company (dance)
19-25: chris marker's a.k. (film)
20: me’shell ndegeocello (music)
21: stravinsky’s 'l'histoire du soldat’ (music)
23: an evening with paul chan & claudia la rocco (art, dance)
23-24: the glenn branca ensemble: the third ascension (music)
23-28: balletboyz (dance)
25-28: manoel olivera's tetralogy of frustrated love (film)
25-28: they, themself and schmerm (theater)
26-28: keely garfield dance: pow (dance)
26-28: the sixth annual american human beatbox festival (performance)
27: vienna philharmonic orchestra (music)
28-27: slut (theater)
29: kaoru watanabe (music)