[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.]
mayo 2019
¡hola, difus@s!
happy may day! april was, on the whole, a particularly satisfying month, with a lot of worthwhile works and no real disappointments. kyle abraham and his company are always a joy to see, and their show at skirball had them at their critical best when they engaged in humor rather than drama. abraham was one of the phenomenal dancers performing in “night of 100 solos,” an extraordinary merce cunningham centennial event (though i understand the logic behind the music, i enjoyed the passages of silence much, much more), closely followed by another excellent cunningham celebration at the joyce (where i appreciated the music much more). us (less focused than get out but still good) and high life (very claire denis, which, for me is a very good thing) made for a thought-provoking diptych about mass incarceration, just as dogman and sauvage / wild proved illuminating, complementary explorations of social class, male intimacy, and their interplay. much less narratively driven than the work-in-progress version i saw at the armory, 600 highway men’s the fever was an ultimately affecting inquiry into the nature of community (or public and the differences between them), even if its politics were sometimes less nuanced than the work wanted to believe. hot brown honey’s politics managed (sometimes miraculously) to avoid ted-talk basic-ness, making their show, which would have benefitted from a bit more nouveau cirque flair, riotous fun (the dnc could learn a lot from them).
before we head into the summer’s more relaxed cultural programming, we’ve got quite a bit on offer:
art: this week brings the second wave of spring art fairs, anchored by frieze and complemented by tefaf, 1:54 contemporary african art fair, the new object & thing art and design fair, and a host of other events (artnews has a handy cheat sheet). the fair frenzy also brings out a lot of big names and strong work (categories that don’t always overlap) in the galleries, such as de kooning at mnuchin, chris ofili at zwirner, jeff wall at gagosian, john baldessari at marian goodman, robert longo at metro pictures, ross bleckner at petzel gallery, lorna simpson at hauser & wirth, alex israel at greene naftali, damián ortega at gladstone, peter nadin at james fuentes, todd gray at david lewis, diamond stingily at queer forms, and idris khan at sean kelly. among the museum shows i’m adding to my list of post-semester must-sees are nobody promised you tomorrow: art 50 years after stonewall and gary winogrand: color at the brooklyn museum and alicja kwade’s parapivot and camp: notes on fashion at the met. two films of note for art lovers are the christo and jeanne-claude documentary walking on water at film forum and the proposal, which features artist jill magid, at ifc.
film: abel ferrara’s pasolini arrives at metrograph this month, accompanied by a full retrospective at moma. pasolini (the decameron, the canterbury tales, and arabian nights) also features in film forum’s "trilogies" series, ending this month; among the directors also being featured are lucrecia martel (my vote for must-see), antonioni, fassbinder, wenders, wajda, lang, and hou hsiao-hsien. other series of note include the workers unite! film festival at cinema village, "not sorry: feminist experimental film from the 1970s to today" at anthology, and "black 90s: a turning point in american cinema" at bam. having loved his contributions to “friends with benefits: an anthology of four new american filmmakers,” i’m quite eager to see gabriel abrantes’ diamantino, as well as ask dr. ruth, meeting gorbachev, non-fiction, and last year at marienbad.
dance: may’s a terrific time to see new choreography across a number of more intimate venues. the la mama moves! dance festival is on, both danspace project and roulette feature evenings of shared work, julliard has its senior dance showcase, and dixon place continues its monthly programs (underexposed, fast forward, and crossing boundaries) and hosts the soloduo festival. for more established choreographers and companies, check out mark morris’ beatles tribute at bam, australian dance theatre at the joyce, and legends simone forti, steven paxton, and yvonne rainer at danspace project.
music: this month’s musical performances really run the gamut. for more classical fare, iestyn davies and thomas dunford at carnegie hall, julliard415 and yale schola cantorum at lincoln center, orpheus chamber orchestra & mahan esfahani at the 92y, and the new amsterdam symphony orchestra at symphony space are at the top of my list. for new music, eric wubbel’s voided cross (for michael heizer) at the dimenna center, as one at new york city opera, and john corigliano’s symphony no. 1 at the new york philharmonic are high priorities for me. other shows that i have my eye on are xiu xiu at le poisson rouge, tigue at roulette, balún & salt cathedral at national sawdust, and tessa lark & michael thurber at joe’s pub.
performance / theater: dave malloy’s octet and romeo castellucci’s democracy in america are the two shows i’m most looking forward to seeing this month. chilean theater artist manuela infante has what looks like a fascinating one-woman show at the baryshnikov art center this week, too. other shows i’m hoping to catch include the secret life of bees at the atlantic theater, cabin at bushwick starr, #yourmemorial at here, and bucolic at judson memorial church.
the full calendar below has even more to see, and you can share this letter with anyone you'd like by signing them up here.
abrazos,
p
mayo / may
1: brendon randall-myers / marateck / miki sawada: machines and mirrors (music)
1: unitard - badassy (performance)
1-5: every brilliant thing (theater)
1-5: roberto gavaldón: night falls in mexico (film)
1-10: the battle of richmond hill (theater)
1-11: downtown urban arts festival (performance, theater)
1-12: 17 border crossings (theater)
1-12: all our children (theater)
1-16: triologies (film)
1-18: numbness: chapter 2 (theater)
1-19: lockdown (theater)
1-19: made in america (performance)
1-19: norma jeane baker of troy (music, theater)
1-19: the cradle will rock (theater)
1-20: grief is the thing with feathers (theater)
1-26: blks (theater)
1-26: curse of the starving class (theater)
1-26: la mama moves! dance festival (dance)
1-26: passage (theater)
1-31: abel ferrara: unrated (film)
1-: knock down the house (film)
1-: octet (theater)
1-: reich richter pärt (music)
2: interpretations: annie gosfield | edmund campion (music)
2: lavender menace (performance)
2: minguet quartet (music)
2: stephen malkmus (music)
2: the orchestra now (music)
2-3: manuela infante: estado vegetal (performance)
2-4: a shared evening of work by jasmine hearn & tatyana tenenbaum (dance)
2-4: concerto for two pianos and strauss (music)
2-4: lucifer landing ii (performance)
2-5: the rape of lucretia (music)
3: liquid light lab & ricardo romaneiro (performance)
3: raphael xavier : live feed in-progress - sassafrazz: roots to mastery (dance)
3: the joshua tree (performance)
3: variation on a theme of andante — pianist xiying zou solo concert (music)
3-4: cunningham centennial: conversations with merce (dance)
3-4: houston person quartet (music)
3-4: unfinished…a way out (dance)
3-6: australian dance theatre (dance)
3-10: look + listen festival (music)
3-22: black 90s: a turning point in american cinema (film)
3-: ask dr. ruth (film)
3-: meeting gorbachev (film)
3-: non-fiction (film)
3-: quartet (film)
3-: shadow (film)
4: bucolic (theater)
4: jeff witscher (rene hell) & jack callahan (die reihe): what happens on earth stays on earth (music)
4: juilliard415 and yale schola cantorum (music)
4: may the 4th be with you: jaimie branch’s anteloper and fly or die (music)
4: song hee lee, cello (music)
4: yell-low 黃黃／惶惶 (performance)
5: ma*jid (music)
5: monica huggett & byron schenkman (music)
5-6: akiko/hamilton/dechter (music)
6: argus quartet (music)
6: merce cunningham centennial, pgm 4: cage/cunningham (dance, film)
6: three shared evenings of work: hilary clark/oren barnoy (dance)
7: eric wubbels’ voided cross (for michael heizer) (music)
7: nordic noir: my beautiful decay 1973, ejnar kanding (music)
7: three shared evenings of work: leslie cuyjet/hilary clark (dance)
7: under exposed (dance)
7-: proof of love (theater)
8: orpheus chamber orchestra & mahan esfahani, harpsichord (music)
8: saicobab / i.u.d. (lizzi bougatsos & sadie laska) (music)
8: the heart (theater)
8: three shared evenings of work: oren barnoy/leslie cuyjet (dance)
8-11: pepperland (dance)
8-12: justin vivian bond: a star is borned (music, performance)
8-13: the silence of others (film)
8-19: films for the fair: the world’s fair & the cinema (film)
8-25: since i can remember (theater)
9: arbor music series vi- program three (music)
9: arto lindsay, ikue mori, yoshimio (music)
9: sunshine for the poor + that old dream that moves (film)
9-11: new york greek film expo 2019 (film)
9-11: unfinished…a way out (dance)
9-12: democracy in america (theater)
9-19: the floor is lava (theater)
9-26: #yourmemorial (theater)
9-: jean-claude carrière (film)
10: gene shinozaki (music)
10-12: not sorry: feminist experimental film from the 1970s to today (film)
10-17: ryūsuke hamaguchi (film)
10-22: workers unite! film festival (film)
10-: loving vincent: the impossible dream (film)
10-: pasolini (film)
10-: the biggest little farm (film)
10-: the secret life of bees (theater)
10-: the serengeti rules (film)
11: blóðhófnir (music)
11: bucolic (theater)
11: gavin rayna russom (music)
11: mishael eusebio, tenor (music)
11: rebirth brass band (music)
12: xiu xiu (music)
13: bridget everett & the tender moments (music, performance)
13: charles ives concert series (music)
13: illuminations (music)
13: merce cunningham centennial, pgm 5 (dance, film)
13: tigue: this new forest (music)
14: diaries, notes & sketches (walden) (film)
14: shayna dulberger: active projects (music)
14: yarn/wire/currents: olivia block, sarah hennies (music)
16: evgeny kissin (music)
16: iestyn davies, countertenor, and thomas dunford, lute (music)
16: linda may han oh (music)
16: new music (6:30pm) (music)
16: new music (9:00pm) (music)
16: satori and the band from space (music)
16: tessa lark & michael thurber (music)
16-17: forti, paxton, rainer read their writings (dance)
16-18: hype man (theater)
16-18: more than memory (dance)
16-19: between the seas: mediterranean platform (dance, music, performance, theater)
17: abby z and the new utility : live feed in-process - radioactive practice (dance)
17: american classical orchestra presents "eroica" (music)
17: balún & salt cathedral (music)
17: never sleep alone (performance)
17: new york city master chorale: celestial journey (music)
17: satori and the band from space (music)
17: time for three (music)
17-19: fame notions (dance)
17-23: the wandering soap opera (film)
17-25: last year at marienbad (film)
17-: aniara (film)
17-: walking on water (art, film)
18: bucolic (theater)
18: image haze: a tribute to gretchen bender’s “so much deathless” with black rain & kaitlyn aurelia smith(performance)
18: odalisque // peter clough (performance)
18-19: welcome to my world (theater)
19: ballets russes (music)
19: beethoven, nechustan, and schumann (music)
19: guy mintus trio (music)
19: soul mechanisms: a concert celebrating the music of migrations (music)
19-20: 2019 soloduo dance festival (dance)
19-21: bridget everett & the tender moments (music, performance)
20: an all-colored vitaphone show (film)
20: kelly moran: ultraviolet (music)
20: quarry (film, music)
20: senior dance showcase (dance)
21: fast forward (dance)
21: reminiscences of a journey to lithuania (film)
21: the very young composers of new york (music)
21: travis laplante & yarn/wire: inner garden (music)
21-22: minor matter (dance)
22: joel ross: revelation (performance)
22-: cabin (performance)
22-: nomad motel (theater)
23: kevin drumm, hoffman estates: connors, licht, vandermark, abrams, taylor (music)
23: kit fitzgerald & peter gordon: frozen moments of passion (performance)
23: no holds barred (performance)
23-25: lucretia (music)
23-25: you black + bluised [exercise 5 in getting well soon] (performance)
23-27: filmafrica (film)
23-: messiah (performance)
24: bucolic (theater)
24: guy (theater)
24: nath ann carrera: the early southern gothicism of dolly parton (music, performance)
24: pam ann: hi-jack (performance)
24: paradise not yet lost (aka oona’s third year) (film)
24-25: joey arias: no smoking (music, performance)
24-27: danceafrica 2019 performances (dance)
24-29: ester krumbachová: unknown master of the czechoslovak new wave (film)
24-: barbara rubin and the exploding new york underground (film)
24-: diamantino (film)
24-: fighting mad: german genre films from the margins (film)
24-: the films of dominik graf (film)
24-: the proposal (art, film)
25: he stands in a desert counting the seconds of his life (film)
26: as i was moving ahead occasionally i saw brief glimpses of beauty (film)
26: new york philharmonic ensembles (music)
26-: madame lynch (theater)
27: merce cunningham centennial, pgm 6: walkaround time (dance, film)
28: crossing boundaries (dance)
28: kim david smith sings kylie minogue, part 2 (music, performance)
28: maría grand: sextet work for ghost ensemble (music)
28-29: water will (in melody) (dance)
29: new york philharmonic ensembles (music)
29-30: nicole henry: where love is (music)
29-: leaving home, coming home: a portrait of robert frank (art, film)
30: alexei lubimov + calidore string quartet (music)
30: doe paoro & little kruta (music)
30: meah pace (music)
30-: as one (music)
30-: hadar ahuvia: the dances are for us (dance)
30-: john corigliano’s symphony no. 1 (music)
30-: julia reichert: 50 years in film (film)
30-: stonewall 50 at la mama (performance)
30-: underground railroad game (theater)
31: new amsterdam symphony orchestra: noteworthy (music)
31-: for the birds (film)
31-: georgia horns (music)
31-: punk lust: raw provocation (film)
31-: too late to die young (film)
31-: youssou ndour (music)