Ros Warby

Ros Warby, Monumental @ Dance Theatre Workshop
NYC -April 30
Briefing by: Deborah Black

Running Time:  just under one hour
Recommended for: People who love going to the ballet but can’t focus on more than one swan or wish the swan started jabbering on in their own language about this and that.  Others might find the video, music, dance, and lighting a theatrical feat.  And speaking of feet, these body parts become “monumental”.
Personal:  I went with a couple of actors and they loved it!
PS: She’s from Australia and was last seen in New York four years ago….

Blessed Unrest and NYU’s Experimental Percussion Ensemble

Blessed Unrest and NYU’s Experimental Percussion Ensemble @CoMotion Frederick Lowe Theatre
NYC – April 24, 2009
Briefing by: Deborah Black

Running Time: about one hour
Recommended for: Experimental music and theatre lovers.
Personal: I went to a seder with two of the performers and they cook as well as they act, sing, dance, choreograph, bang on drums…. Two high points: A piece called Let’s Eat with four percussionist interrupting a marriage proposal with incessant (although, perfectly in sync) banging on a table with wooden spoons. A deliciously physical trio of percussionists scratching and tapping miked wood in unison and canon while intently reading deliberately flipping the music.
Future: Blessed Unrest hopes to take it off-broadway.

Aki Sasamoto & Arturo Vidich

Aki Sasamoto & Arturo Vidich @ The Chocolate Factory
Domestic Partner
NYC – April 10, 2009

Meaty metaphor: In the equation XxY=1, as X decreases, Y increases. This continues until Y approaches infinity. However X will never, ever touch the Y axis. Ever.
Recommended for: Adventurous audience members young and old.
Reminded me of: An installation art version of SNL.
Personal: At one point, Arturo moved towards me in the dark aiming a pellet rifle at my face while prancing like a leprechaun. I learned that life can be scary and funny at the same time.

Jungsu Han

Jungsu Han @ Artgate Gallery
Meniscus Series
NYC – Reception – April 9, 2009

Paint me a picture: Two large, black, stone square basins filled with water (3′ x 3′). A dark abyss. A viscous surface rippling grid lines from the motion of our footprints vibrating the sculpture’s walls. Art people quaffing wine and ignoring said stone-encased rippling abysses.
Recommended for: Water bugs, people who think black is the new black.
Reminded me of: The monolith in 2001:  A Space Oddyssey. Hal? What’s wrong Hal?
Personal: I scoffed at the press release on the way over, which philosophized that the desire to touch the sculpture reflected man’s conflicting desire to preserve and destroy. They were right. I wanted to break the liquid surface, yet protect it’s purity. Oh the torment. Mind you, mild torment.

Family Matters

Family Matters: Telling Twisted Tales @ Dance Theater Workshop
Deborah Black, Matthew Brookshire & Friends, Steve Elm, Baba Israel feat. Mike Supreme, Zach Morris with Donna Ahmadi, Shasta! (aka Glen Rumsey).
NYC – April 4, 2009

Running Time: about 1.5 hours
Recommended for: Urban toddlers, adults looking for theatre that is [gasp] entertaining, and hip parents.
Reminded me of: The circus. No, wait. Vegas for toddlers. Yes, definitely Vegas for toddlers.
Personal: M.I.A. – backed Drag Winter Guard AND Deborah Hay on the same program? AND as family entertainment? Absolutely.
Oversaw: An audience member [5 yo] drawing flowers on her shoe with a pen.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Maya Lin
Washington, DC – March 14, 2009

Running Time: As long as you would like
Recommended for: My fellow Americans
Reminded me of: The New England Holocaust Memorial, only more interactive
Personal: While searching for James Earl Cronin (a young soldier from Chicago) my eyes blurred with tears, so I had to recount the rows from the top down three times until I arrived at row 116 on panel 19E. Each name was not simply an engraving, but a person.
Overheard: Older Veteran to young boy “If you spray your crayon rubbing with Aqua Net, it will last forever”.

Emma Fitzgerald and Aine Stapleton

Emma Fitzgerald and Aine Stapleton @ MR Judson Series
NYC – March 9, 2009

Running Time: 12 minutes
Recommended for: Deborah Hay alum, experimental dance fans, Irish ex-pats (Emma and Aine are two of Ireland’s finest exports), shoe sales people (the footwear was well featured – oh wait, that’s because it was all they were wearing).
Reminded me of: When I chirped and contorted with these gals in Findhorn, Scotland
Personal: At one point, while Emma was telling a story from deep within her esophagus, I spontaneously copied what she was doing, surprising both myself and the woman next to me

Bridge Art Fair

Bridge Art Fair
NYC – March 8, 2009

Running Time: 30 minutes if you’re anti-social. 60 minutes if you’re chatty.
Recommended for: First time buyers and artists.
Reminded me of: Glammed up craft fair
Personal: Was told my work with trees reminded someone of something their Grandma would like. Sweet.

Batsheva Dance Company

Batsheva Dance Company @ Brooklyn Academy of Music
NYC – March 7, 2009

Running Time: about an hour
Recommended for:
Those who like fluid, virtuosic movement diced up with stylized body
spasms, gesture run-on sentences, and passages of standing still and
staring down the audience.
Reminded me of: Daniel Léveillé
Personal: Met dance critic Alastair Macaulay before the show and talked about the Great American West. Did my best to not sound like a moron.

Sasa Asentic

Sasa Asentic @ Dance Theater Workshop
NYC – March 6, 2009

Running Time: about an hour
Recommended for: Dance artists, dramaturges, and directors interested in determining their geo-positioning in the dance world. A general audience that likes briefly half-naked, Eastern European, talking dancers.
Reminded me of: Xavier Le Roy’s Product of Circumstance
Personal: Made me LOL