Filmmaker and visual artist Brian Johnson was commissioned by Knowledge Network in 2009 to create 19 short pieces in collaboration with as many British Columbia-based artists, who are both inspired and challenged by their geographic surroundings. These “cArtographies” were assembled into a kind of cultural survey of the province, mapping the diversity of the artists who live and create there.

This beautiful clip features choreographer Crystal Pite, who will bring The Tempest Replica to the Joyce stage November 28 through December 2.

See more of Johnson’s “cArtographies” here.

This December, Russell Maliphant brings The Rodin Project to The Joyce. The Sadler’s Wells/Russell Maliphant production is inspired by the works of the great French sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Maliphant draws on the high energy talents of extraordinary performers and a commissioned score by Russian composer Alexander Zekke to create a movement vocabulary influenced by popping, breaking, and contemporary dance, which he integrates with his own language of flow, form, and dynamics.

In this video clip with an introduction by Sadler’s Wells CEO Alistair Spalding, Maliphant discusses the project.

Once again, the city’s many dance communities gather to honor outstanding work in the field of dance, and to advocate on the national and international stage for the extraordinary range of dance being performed in New York.  Join us on Monday, October 15 at The Apollo Theater to celebrate!

New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies
Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC

Monday October 15, 2012

Apollo Theater
253 West 125th Street

Hosted by Elizabeth Streb.
Award presentations by Marina Abramovic, luciana achugar, Ron Brown, Brenda Bufalino, Archie Burnett, Stuart Hodes, Bebe Neuwirth, Kevin McKenzie, Charles Reinhart, Rokafella, David Thomson, Wendy Whelan and more.
Performances by Souleymane Badolo and Trisha Brown Company.

Doors open at 7 pm, ceremony begins promptly at 8 pm.
Drinks and food available for purchase at the theater.

Tickets $10, available at www.apollotheater.org and at the Apollo box office.

To further support the Bessies, please choose the Bessie Supporter ticket for $20, online or at the Apollo box office.

Join the Bessie Angels for priority seating and a pre-show benefit cocktail reception at the Studio Museum in Harlem beginning at 6 pm. Click here for details.

Everyone is invited to the free after-party following the ceremony at the Alhambra Ballroom, sponsored by Two Boots Pizza!

Photos: Christopher Duggan

Earlier this week, Joyce Programming Associate Laura Diffenderfer sat down with George Faison, Matthew Rushing, and Ronald K. Brown, three of the four phenomenal choreographers who have set work on Philadanco for the company’s current engagement at The Joyce Theater (the fourth choreographer whose work will also be featured is Rennie Harris).

The choreographers had a spirited discussion about Nina Simone, the inspiration for Mr. Rushing’s new work, Moan;  what it means to be a choreographer; common links through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Porgy and Bess; and much more.

Listen in!

Flamenco historian and aficionado Brook Zern led an insightful and informative Dance Talk on the art of flamenco surrounding Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca’s sold-out performances at The Joyce last fall.  Revisit this Dance Talk video to enhance and inform your experience watching Soledad Barrio at The Joyce this season. The company performs September 18-30.

Video streaming by Ustream

The Bessie Award nominations for the 2011-2012 season were announced Wednesday, and we’re thrilled to congratulate all of the distinguished artists who were recognized, including several who performed at The Joyce Theater and Joyce SoHo.

In a press release announcing the nominees, the Chair of the Bessies Steering Committee, Lane Harwell said, “this years Bessies’ nominees demonstrate the vibrancy and diversity of dance and performance in our city. The nominees show how the arts can lead us all through times of challenge and change.  We are especially delighted to announce the Juried Award recipient and a new partnership with The New York State DanceForce to connect this emerging artist to venues and artists throughout the state.”

The 2012 Nominees:

Outstanding Production (of a work performed in a larger capacity venue of more than 400 seats):
- Event by Merce Cunningham, performed at the Park Avenue Armory
- Preludes and Fugues by Emanual Gat, performed by Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve at The Joyce Theater
- Samhara performed by the Nrityagaram Dance Troupe at The Joyce Theater

Outstanding Production (of a work that stretches the boundaries of a traditional or culturally specific form):

- La Edad de Oro by Israel Galvan, performed at The Joyce Theater
- Dingle Diwali by the Darrah Carr Dance Company with guest choreographer Sean Curran, performed at Symphony Space
- Jazz Meets Flamenco by Juan de Juan and Jason Samuels Smith, performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Outstanding Production (of a work performed in a smaller capacity venue of less than 400 seats):
- Twin Pines by Keely Garfield, performed at Danspace Project
- NOX by Rashaun Mitchell, performed at Danspace Project
- Antigone Sr./Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at the Judson Church by Trajal Harrell, performed at New York Live Arts

Outstanding Production (of a work not technically considered dance but happening in and influencing dance in New York):
- The Rehearsal by Cuqui Jerez, performed at Performance Space 122, and the French Institute’s Crossing the Line Festival at the Performing Garage
- Big Girls Do Big Things by Eleanor Bauer, performed in Perfoma 11 at New York Live Arts, and in American Realness at Abrons Arts Center
- The Thank-you Bar by Emily Johnson, performed at New York Live Arts

Outstanding Revived Work:
- Fort Blossom revisited by John Jasperse, performed at New York Live Arts
- The Shining by Yvonne Meier, presented by New York Live Arts
- Roaratorio by Merce Cunningham, performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Outstanding Visual Design:
- Wendall Harrington and Simon Pastuk, for set and projection design for Firebird by American Ballet Theatre
- Company XIV, for light, set and costume design, for Snow White, performed at 303 Bond Street
- Doris Dziersk, for set design for Blessed by Meg Stuart, performed at New York Live Arts
- Christine Shallenberg, for lighting design for Restless Eye by David Neumann, performed at New York Live Arts

Outstanding Sound Design or Composition:
- Alex Waterman for Show by Maria Hassabi, performed at the Kitchen
- Christian Wolf, John King, David Behrman, and Takehisa Kosugi for Event by Merce Cunningham, performed at the Park Avenue Armory
- Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi, Dhaneswar Swain, Prasanna Rupatilake, and Surupa Sen for Samhara by Nrityagram, performed at The Joyce Theater
- Flamme Kapaya and band for more more more . . . future, by Faustin Linkyekula, performed at the Kitchen in the French Institute’s Crossing the Line Festival

Outstanding Emerging Choreographer:
- Jennifer Weber and DECADANCE colleagues for DECA, performed at Joyce Soho
- Liz Santoro for We Do Our Best, performed at Danspace Project
- Lee Sher and Saar Harari for Fame, performed at Montclair State University
- Rashaun Mitchell for NOX, performed at Danspace Project

Outstanding Performer (of a work performed in a larger capacity venue of more than 400 seats):
- Shantala Shivalingappa in Swayanbhu by Shantala Shivalingappla, performed in World Music Institute at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
- Silas Riener in Split Sides by Merce Cunningham at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
- David Hallberg for his work with The Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theatre

Outstanding Performer (of a work that stretches the boundaries of a traditional or culturally specific form):
- Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards for sustained achievement in performance, and her work with Jason Samuels Smith at The Joyce Theater
- Gianne Abbott in Brazil! Brazil!, performed at the New Victory Theater
- Jessica Alejandra Wyatt in Asuka by Eduardo Vilaro, performed by Ballet Hispanico at the Apollo Theater

Outstanding Performer (of a work performed in a smaller capacity venue of less than 400 seats):
- Omagbitse Omagbemi for sustained achievement in the works of Keely Garfield, Ralph Lemon, David Gordon, Urban Bush Women, and many others
- Ryoji Sasamoto in Glowing by Kota Yamazaki, performed at the Japan Society
- Silas Riener for sustained achievement in the works of Merce Cunningham and in NOX by Rashaun Mitchell

Outstanding Performer (of a work not technically considered dance but happening in and influencing dance in New York):
- John Fleck in Mad Women by John Fleck, performed at La MaMa
- Emily Wexler in Mad Heidi by Yvonne Meier, performed in American Realness at Abrons Arts Center
- Nicole Mannarino in Devotion Study #1 by Sarah Michelson, performed at the Whitney Museum

Join us on October 15, 2012 at 8pm in celebrating all of the nominees at this year’s Bessie Award ceremonies, which will once again be hosted at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem.  For more information, visit www.dancenyc.org/bessies.

Go on the website of the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, and you’ll learn that the organization “encourages discussion of anything to do with mushrooms and fungi except illegal fungal substances and their distribution.” It’s only a small surprise that Robby Barnett, a founding artistic director of Pilobolus, the company whose name is derived from a light-seeking fungus, is an active member of the Society.

Not given to making pronouncements, Barnett is masterful at making them. “Anybody who likes to eat has, at least, to be interested in mushrooms,” he recently proclaimed. For him, interest in the art and science of collecting mushrooms connects to what is probably his lesser interest in the art of dance. Someone who prefers the outdoors to nearly everything, he is especially intrigued by what mushroom forays offer in the way of discovery. “It’s not much different from the experience of watching dancers improvise. You blur your eyes to see more clearly, filtering background noise in order to find the details you’re really looking for.”

A dancer is most often silent. It’s hard to chat when you lift or carry or spin. But the hunt for fungi doesn’t have to be a solitary one, Barnett maintains, and he relishes conversation while creeping up on mushrooms with someone he loves. He so likes the challenge of doing two things at once that, following his brother’s lead, he once trained himself to read The New York Times while driving his car.

But not with the family dog on the roof. Spiegelman, the bassethound Barnett named after Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist who collaborated with Pilobolus on the acclaimed Hapless Hooligan in Still Moving, sleeps 20 hours a day near the kitchen stove on a bed with his name proudly autographed by the eponymous Spiegelman. There he lies, bending towards the light, not doing two things at once, warm in fungi-less months.

Spiegleman and a friend

Pilobolus invites you back into the studio to watch the making of Azimuth. Created in collabroation with Michael Moschen, the world-renowned master juggler who has been recognized by the McCarthur Foundation with the prestigious Genius Award, Azimuth presents a geometric universe where gravity-defying dancers and objects that seem to bend the laws of physics must find harmony within the celestial machine.

A product of Pilobolus’s International Collaborators Project, Azimuth unites the underlying spirit of Pilobolus’s work—support, humanity, connection—with an artist similarly fascinated with the emotional and physical properties governing human interaction.

Azimuth premieres tonight at The Joyce. Purchase tickets now.

The premiere of Parallel Exit’s evening-length comic ballet, I ♥ BOB: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Guy, marks the close of Joyce SoHo’s 2011-2012 performance season. Joyce SoHo intern Elmes Gomez spoke with Artistic Director Mark Lonegran about I ♥ BOB, which was supported by a planning residency provided by The Joyce Theater Foundation with major support from The Rockefeller Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund.

Elmes Gomez (EG): Tell me about the origins of your company and the inspiration for its name.

Mark Lonergan (ML): Parallel Exit began in Toronto, where I’m from originally. It grew out of a desire to create physical theater. I was very interested in exploring how to use the body to tell a story – not just movement for movement’s sake, but to create characters, relationships, and narrative without text. The great “aha” moment was when a friend gave me some Chaplin films to watch – a revelation. Chaplin is the master of non-verbal comic storytelling, and this inspiration really launched the direction of the company.

The name Parallel Exit came from a brainstorming session, in which we threw a bunch of random words on the floor. I thought the two words sounded intriguing, and reflected the physical nature of the work. A caveat – I was a carefree artist in my early 20’s when the name was chosen, so long-term “branding” was not my priority.

(EG): You mention Chaplin as an inspiration. I understand his film, City of Lights and Gene Kelly’s An American In Paris provided fodder for I ♥ BOB. Can you tell us more about how you came to use these two films?

(ML): I mention these two films for specific reasons. City Lights is perhaps the greatest silent film ever made – a masterpiece that blends comedy and pathos in an incredibly poignant way. We were inspired by the story of two innocents falling in love in the midst of a teeming, heartless metropolis. The challenge of matching Chaplin’s masterful storytelling is translating it to the theater; he had all the advantages of film (close-ups, locations, editing), while we are working in real time with live performers. This is a constant challenge for Parallel Exit, as we aim for absolute clarity on a tiny budget, not relying on production values or a huge number of captions to get our story across.

An American In Paris has one of the greatest extended dance sequences ever captured on film. Gene Kelly was a master storyteller, and we aspire to match his incredible ability to convey character, emotions, and comedy through his dancing. The challenge is not only to reach that level of genius, but to ensure our performers execute our choreography while fully playing the scene – both are vital to communicating the story to the audience.

(EG): From which other sources do you draw inspiration?

(ML): When I first moved to New York City, a friend told me to take a look at the work of Bill Irwin. Just as I had been inspired by Chaplin, seeing Bill Irwin was an incredibly eye-opening experience. Here was a man who was doing exactly what I was attempting – playing character, comedy, and story in a non-verbal comic environment. One of the most memorable experiences I’ve had was when Bill came to see our show TIME STEP; having him in the audience, seeing what we had created, and hearing the audience respond was an absolute joy.

I’ve also been inspired by the work of a wide range of performing artists: the striking visuals of Robert Wilson, the smart and funny work of David Neumann, and the brilliant physical theater of Complicite and Improbable Theatre.

(EG): Clearly, comedy is a vital component to your work. What are your thoughts on the relationship between comedy and dance and performance art today?

(ML): A great question. I think comedy in our culture is at a strange crossroads. In popular culture, comedy has been predominately represented by the television sitcom for decades; it’s perhaps the worst example of the form in our history. Thankfully, a renaissance of sorts has come about with some brilliant comic performers (Sacha Baron Cohen, Zach Galafianakis, Louis C.K.) who are genuinely funny and who care about the state of the form. In theater, comedy has just had a very good year with James Corden and Christian Borle both winning the Tony for performances that are love letters to the art of physical comedy. In dance, I am happy to say comedy is still alive and well; Jerome Robbins would be proud. New York actually has a Comedy in Dance Festival at Triskelion Arts every year, and many leading choreographers and companies incorporate comedy into their work: Susan Stroman and Casey Nicolaw on Broadway, Mark Morris, Pilobolus, and MOMIX in modern dance.

(EG): When and where can audiences next experience Parallel Exit?

(ML): In addition to the performances at Joyce SoHo this month, Parallel Exit will appear in SummerStage Kids, with free performances in Manhattan and the Bronx. Our next indoor appearance in New York will be at Symphony Space in the fall. We are presenting our family vaudeville revue EXIT STAGE LEFT , a show that incorporates physical comedy, tap, and live music. It’s a tribute to the golden age of variety entertainment and it’s an absolute blast for audiences of all ages.

Purchase tickets to see Parallel Exit at Joyce SoHo July 20-22 and 26-29 here.

Joyce SoHo intern Elmes Gomez spoke with Kyle Abraham, a 2011-2012 Joyce Theater Residency Artist, about the work he has been creating through our creative residency program (made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). The work, Boyz N The Hood: Pavement will premiere at Harlem Stage this fall.

Elmes Gomez (EG): Where do you find inspiration for your work? Where do you turn when you are stuck during your choreographic process?

Kyle Abraham (KA): My work, in general, is derived from my life experiences. More to that, I think a lot about my high school years. I think about how formative those years were, in terms of my insecurities and my introduction to traditional dance forms. Other than that, I’m really inspired by art in general—visual arts, music, theater—and seeing dance. I love seeing shows whenever I can!

EG: As a choreographer, what is it about a dancer that catches your attention and makes you want him or her to be in your work?

KA: The thing that interests me most in a dancer is his or her willingness to “go there,” wherever “there” might be. I dig that openness and fearlessness. I love seeing dancers who aren’t afraid to get ugly. Because dance isn’t supposed to always be pretty.

EG: You often perform in the pieces you choreograph. Does that contribute to the personal nature of your choreography? Do you find it challenging to get an outside perspective when you’re performing in the work?

KA: I think of dance as my love and my work. I don’t even know how to separate myself from it, nor do I know why anyone would want to do that and call himself a storyteller. Everything seems rooted from the perspective of the one telling the story. And in my work, I’m usually telling a story that, in some way, is or was a part of my experiences.

EG: For the work that you’re creating as part of your Joyce residency, how does music come into play? Do you prefer to choreograph your movement before or after the music is set?

KA: Every dance and its process is totally different from the next. For Boyz N The Hood: Pavement, I knew from the very beginning, that I wanted to use opera music. So I began to choreograph to that music. Generally, I think I just generate movement that either feels good or hopefully, falls in line with the themes in the work without focusing too much on the reasoning behind “the middle back Merce curve that came after that ballet-like step.”

EG: What creative outlets other than dance do you enjoy?

KA: Music is my first love. Sometimes I actually choreograph a dance as an outlet for more people to know different songs or artists that I’m listening to at that moment. Other than music, I’m kinda in a biography phase. So I’m reading a couple of those… And, I’m always reading random history books — love it! That usually happens while listening to some string quartet or something; I can’t read while hearing people sing because I get distracted by the words in the song!

For more information on the Joyce Residency Artist programs, click here. For more on the premiere of Boyz N The Hood: Pavement, visit Harlem Stage.