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noviembre 2018
¡hola, difus@s!
october is, in a sense, the most wonderful time of the year. my expectations were admittedly high, but what i saw—and, i’m sure, much of what i missed—met or exceeded them, with a few minor exceptions. a bit telegraphically, since i’m behind in getting this out (pardon any subpar copy-editing)…
anne teresa de keersmaeker’s the six brandenberg concertos was astonishing, exhilarating, sublime. (apollinaire scherr nailed it while gia kourias, well, didn't.) tere o’connor’s long run reaffirmed his status as one of the most poetic choreographers working today. trisha brown dance company’s program at bam was, perhaps, not for the novice, but it was a gift for anyone with an interest in dance history. circa’s humans, if a bit less conceptually cohesive than their opus, beautifully showcased their physical virtuosity and contemporary dance sensibility.
lewiston / clarkston was an intimate, moving rumination on history, economy, and family, as was, though to a lesser extent, the things that were there. emma and max, especially in its first act, delivered the searing critique for which todd solondz is known. daniel lund holstein’s spare change was the kind of trenchant, urgent critique we need more of in our political discourse. ivo dimchev’s p project fell halfway between fest and 15 songs from my shows, which is to say it was fine…but his talents are much more better served by theater than song. (note to ivo and theater artists everywhere, audience participation has, after reality television and social media, lost much of its critical edge. use it wisely, and sparingly.) jack & had some wonderful moments and good ideas, but it tried to do much in too little time, making it disappointingly disjunctive (ms. schaal would do well to forget anything she picked up from working with sybil kempson).
tefaf’s fall edition was as elegant and exquisite (and its preview evening as fellini-esque) as one expects from the venerable fair. almost as historically expansive as tefaf, endless enigma: eight centuries of fantastic art was, in fact, fantastic. tony oursler’s tear of the cloud was just magic and, like mile-long opera (itself an impressive, absorbing production), left me so grateful for this city’s commitment to public art. classical period was a thought-provoking, promising film, border is a perfectly realized contemporary fairy tale, and the price of everything is, arguably, the best art market documentary i’ve seen so far.
november’s offerings may be slightly less performance-rich than october’s, but there’s still plenty to see on stage—and even more on screen:
film: november may well be the year’s peak in terms of cinema, with several cannes 2018 highlights and noteworthy series. wang bing’s latest, dead souls, plays as part of a mini-retrospective at lincoln center, wonderfully complemented by another mini-retrospective at metrograph. film society is also screening six of kore-eda’s films before the much-acclaimed shoplifters opens later in the month. also much talked-about at cannes and opening this month are happy as lazzaro (i’m excited) and the house that jack built (i have little interest in or patience for late lars van trier). infinite football (i love christan porumboiu) plays at the museum of the moving image just before “making waves: new romanian cinema” hits bam, and christian petzold’ much-deserved mid-career retrospective opens at film society and continues into next month. other series worth looking into are the quad’s “claude lanzmann’s cinema of remembrance” (which includes his monumental shoah, split into “first era” and “second era”), moma’s “the contenders 2018,” bam’s “women at work: the domestic is not free,” and museum of the moving image’s “the coen brothers go west.” other feature films i hope to catch include the owl’s legacy, if beale street could talk, postcards from london, and inquiring nuns (!!!).
music: a few of my favorites are playing this month, including the jack quartet at 92y, international contemporary ensemble at new york public library, olafur arnalds at town hall, and the tiger lillies at joe’s pub. the two performances i’m most looking forward, though, are peter sellars’ production of kaja saariaho’s only the sound remains (part of lincoln center’s white light festival) and jonathan moore’s production of douglas j. cuomo’s savage winter at bam. darius jones’ for the people, ice’s “100 for 100: musical decades for freedom” at roulette, and the latvian radio choir’s “distant light” are high on my list as pre- and post-election music therapy. other concerts that have my interest piqued are “music future vol. 5” at carnegie hall, “kim david smith sings kylie minogue” at joe’s pub, leila bordreuil at the kitchen, “music from handel’s rome” at the morgan, and “windstorm” at lincoln center.
dance: though my experience with sasha waltz has been mixed, i’m looking forward to kreatur at bam this weekend. both lincoln center and roulette are presenting programs focused on choreographer-composer collaborations, and barnard / colombia dances brings merce cunningham’s choreography to new york live arts. (merce cunningham is also on film at anthology film archives this month.) i haven’t seen wally cardona in ages, so his given in the black box at gibney is definitely on my list, as is the dance higginbotham / amy trompetter collaboration at skirball. the end of the month is already pretty crowded, but if possible, i’d like to fit in at least one of the following: movement research festival 2018 at danspance, sally silvers & dancers at roulette, and larissa velez-jackson at abrons.
performance + theater: hype man opens at the flea this month, and i’m looking forward to seeing what directors niegel smith (whose work i’ve very much enjoyed in the past) and kristan seemel do with it. i’m also looking forward to seeing lars jan’s interpretation of joan didion’s the white album at bam. dead are my people and slave play (directed by robert o’hara, whose work i quite like) open at new york theatre workshop. at dixon place, evelyn and patient lover friend play for only one night, but the histories they explore deserve much more attention. other shows that look promising are revolution and summoned at jack, detroit ’87 and waiting for godot at lincoln center, those who love me at fiaf, and interpassivities at bam.
art: i’m most excited to see legendary performance artist ron athey at performance space new york with acephalous monster, and there are a number of other shows i want to see, too. martha rosler: irrespective just opened at the jewish museum, as did kamrooz aram: an object, a gesture, a décor at the flag art foundation. bruce nauman: disappearing acts at moma and moma ps1 is a museum show i really want to see, and andy warhol—from a to b and back again is one that i’ll have to see (despite being a bit dubious about it). moma merits some serious time with a number of worthwhile exhibitions on now: charles white: a retrospective, bodys isek kingelez: city dreams, toward a concrete utopia: architecture in yugoslavia, 1948–1980, and the long run. black citizenship in the age of jim crow at new-york historical society and soul of a nation: art in the age of black power feel like required viewing in this electoral month. other shows on my short list are franz gertsch at the swiss institute, pòtoprens: the urban artists of port-au-prince at pioneer works, eileen quinlan at miguel abreu, richard pettibone at castelli, mary manning at canada, rubbish and dreams: the genderqueer performance art of stephen varable at the leslie-lohman museum, rico gaston at ronald feldman, swingers at greene naftali, and chrysanne stathacos at situations.
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abrazos,
p
noviembre / november
1-2: framing time (dance, music)
1-2: the washing society (film)
1-3: i hunger for you (dance)
1-3: terrific freight (dance)
1-3: songs of speculation (music, performance)
1-3: the things that were there (theater)
1-4: balanchine: the city center years (dance)
1-4: prettygirl264264 (performance)
1-4: satyagraha (performance)
1-4: what the constitution means to me (theater)
1-6: life and nothing more (film)
1-8: senso (film)
1-10: catalan cinema’s radical years, 1968–1978 (film)
1-10: ufos (unidentified filmic objects) (film)
1-11: marie losier: just a million dreams (film)
1-11: fireflies (theater)
1-16: the niceties (theater)
1-17: catch as catch can (theater)
1-18: thunderbodies (theater)
1-25: la mama puppet festival (theater)
1-25: thom pain (based on nothing) (theater)
2: sound of stone (art, music, performance)
2: american composers orchestra (music)
2: jessica xylina osborne, piano (music)
2: maría de buenos aires (music)
2: music from the studio ghibli films of hayao miyazaki (music)
2: the art of the quintet (music)
2-3: lime rickey international's unstoppable // leyya mona tawil (performance)
2-4: new york short film festival (film)
2-5: kreatur (dance)
2-5: tiger lillies: the devil's fairground (music)
2-7: distant constellation (film)
2-8: 9 fingers (film)
2-9: leos carax x 3 (film)
2-9: searching for ingmar bergman (film)
2-10: women at work: the domestic is not free (film)
2-13: zoned out: the films of f.j. ossang (film)
2-13: waiting for godot (theater)
2-14: marfa girl 2 (film)
2-18: the coen brothers go west (film)
3: the secret of nimh (film)
3: 14-century avant-garde (music)
3: eduardo fernández, guitar & david leisner, guitar (music)
3: marnie (music)
3: go down on me or die (theater)
3-17: spring dreams: the cinema of huang ji & yang lina (film)
4: fall further vii (dance)
4: the armenian genocide in drama and documentary: a double feature (film)
4-11: dead are my people (theater)
5: two irenes / as duas irenes (film)
5: darius jones: for the people (music)
6: under exposed (dance)
6: beyond cassavetes: lost legends of the new york film world (1945-70) (film)
6: brooklyn youth chorus album release – silent voices (music)
6: silesian string quartet (music)
6-11: james whiteside in the tenant (dance)
7: rude (film)
7: marnie (music)
7: nath ann carrera: the early southern gothicism of dolly parton (music)
7: the well-tempered clavier, paired – concert i (music)
7: vx bliss: audiovisual arrangements by ginny benson (performance)
7: those who love me (theater)
7-9: openice library festival (music)
7-10: savage winter (music)
7-10: falling out (theater)
7-11: detroit '67 (theater)
7-20: narcissister – organ player (art, film)
8: the well-tempered clavier, paired – concert ii (music)
8: west-eastern divan orchestra (music)
8: fear of revolution ii (performance)
8-9: revision suite (music)
8-10: emily coates & josiah mcelheny / emmanuéle phuon (dance)
8-10: wally cardona: given in the black box (dance)
8-11: revolution (theater)
8-11: summoned (theater)
8-15: doc nyc 2018 (film)
8-: the contenders 2018 (film)
9: 15 rising: sofia bohdanowicz (film)
9: american modern ensemble (music)
9: jack quartet (music)
9: evelyn (theater)
9-11: the owl's legacy (film)
9-15: arab cinema week (film)
9-15: the cinema of gender transgression: trans film (film)
9-18: infinite football (film)
9-22: postcards from london (film)
9-: the angel (film)
9-: all is calm: the christmas truce of 1914 (theater)
10: thy kingdom come (film)
10: marnie (music)
10: mount olympus: to glorify the cult of tragedy (performance)
10: the sound of science (music)
10-: hype man (theater)
11: english national ballet: akram khan’s giselle at the harris theater (dance)
11: rose lowder: bouquets 11-20 (film)
11: 100 for 100 (music)
11: amigos de la zarzuela (music)
11: joe hisaishi and david lang: music future vol. 5 (music)
12: little theatre (theater)
12-13: affordable solution for better living // théo mercier & steven michel (performance)
12-18: the international human rights art festival (performance)
13: the distant light (music)
13: the philadelphia orchestra (music)
13-14: severin von eckardstein (music)
13-: the hello girls (theater)
14: decoda (music)
14: the turn of the screw (music)
14: thibaut garcia (music)
14-17: circus: wandering city (music)
14-17: acephalous monster (performance)
14-17: touch update (performance)
15: du yun (music)
15-17: christine bonansea (dance)
15-17: interpassivities (performance)
15-18: marrugeku: cut the sky (dance)
15-18: cowboyscowgirls (sagittarius) (performance)
15-20: claude lanzmann’s cinema of remembrance (film)
15-21: the wild boys (film)
15-: of fathers and sons (film)
16: interpretations: bun ching lam // tana quartet (music)
16: patient lover friend (theater)
16-17: blak white gray (dance)
16-17: choreographers and composers (dance, music)
16-17: nippon america discovery film festival (film)
16-17: voyage of time (film, music)
16-18: wang bing: the weight of experience (film)
16-22: les rendez-vous d’anna (film)
16-: at eternity's gate (film)
17: danish string quartet (music)
17: olafur arnalds (music)
17-18: dance heginbotham / amy trompetter: fantasque (dance)
17-18: only the sound remains (music)
17-18: justin sayre: ravenswood manor – the box set (performance)
17-24: bill duke (film)
17-24: wang bing (film)
18: reckoning: music and motion (dance, music)
18: death and the maiden (music)
19: vögel (dance)
19: merce cunningham centennial: variations v (dance, film)
19: kim david smith sings kylie minogue (music)
19: music from handel’s rome (music)
19-22: six by kore-eda (film)
19-26: darius khondji (film)
19-: fabulation, or the re-education of undine (theater)
19-: slave play (theater)
20: fast forward (dance)
20-21: leila bordreuil (music)
21-25: handel's water music (music)
21-: the world before your feet (film)
23-25: wanda + barbara loden shorts (film)
23-: inquiring nuns (film)
23-: shoplifters (film)
23-: the brutes (theater)
24-: chasing the new white whale (theater)
24-: the prisoner (theater)
25: jean-michel blais (music)
25: reverend billy & the stop shopping choir: …and then they came for all of us… (performance)
26: glass handel (art, dance, music, performance)
26: francesca caccini’s alcina (music)
26-: making waves: new romanian cinema (film)
27: crossing boundaries (dance)
27: francesca caccini’s alcina (music)
27: webber / morris big band: reverses (music)
28: the house that jack built (director's cut) (film)
28: sara serpa (music)
28-: the house that jack built (film)
28-: the good swimmer (music)
28-: the white album (theater)
29: liederabend (music)
29-: barnard / columbia dances (dance)
29-: movement research festival fall 2018 (dance)
29-: sally silvers & dancers: along (dance)
29-: zapatografia / shoeography (dance)
29-: ism, ism, ism: experimental cinema in latin america (film)
30: windstorm (music)
30-: christian petzold: the state we are in (film)
30-: electro-pythagoras (a portrait of martin bartlett) (film)
30-: happy as lazzaro (film)
30-: highway patrolman (film)
30-: if beale street could talk (film)