September 8–11, 2010

The annual DanceNOW [NYC] Festival celebrates New York City’s vibrant dance community. Produced by DanceNOW [NYC] and presented in partnership with Dance Theater Workshop, this year’s festival features 40 choreographers, from young innovators to mid-career and established artists, in a lively showcase format. Continuing its signature “short takes” programming, the Festival offers audiences an opportunity to experience a wide range of dance by some of New York’s most innovative and dynamic artists.

“We are always looking for ways to inspire today’s dance makers, to challenge and support the creative process, and to provide artists with new resources to develop their craft,” says Artistic Director and Producer Robin Staff. Now in its sixteenth season, Festival Twenty Ten is taking the DanceNOW “less is more” policy to task, challenging Festival participants to create a new work or present a repertory work seven minutes or less, that offers a concise, clear, and complete artistic statement. The artist that best meets the DanceNOW Challenge will be awarded a week-long residency at Silo at Kirkland Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, along with a $1000 residency stipend and a paid teaching opportunity at DeSales University, with whom DanceNOW has partnered since 2006 to bring New York City-based choreographer/educators to Bucks County/Lehigh Valley, to teach and perform. The artist will be selected during the Festival by a panel of administrators, educators, and peers.

Performances are at Dance Theater Workshop, September 8–11 (Wednesday through Saturday) at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door, and can be purchased by calling 212-924-0077, or online at www.dancetheaterworkshop.org. Dance Theater Workshop is located at 219 West 19th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) in NYC. Subway: 1 train to 18th Street; A, C, E, L trains to 14th Street/8th Avenue.

Program / Festival Artists:

Wednesday, September 8

• Abraham.in.motion /Kyle Abraham
• ad hoc Ballet /Deborah Lohse
• The Bang Group /David Parker
• Bridgman/Packer Dance
• The DASH Ensemble /Gregory Dolbashian
• Jamal Jackson Dance Company
• Kawamura the 3rd
• Khaleh London
• Skybetter & Associates
• Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre

Thursday, September 9

• binbinFactory /Satoshi Haga
• Erica Essner Performance Co-Op
• Independentdancemaker /Kara Tatelbaum
• Roger C. Jeffrey /Subtle Changes
• Nicholas Leichter Dance
• Inmixedcompany /Maura Nguyen Donohue
• John-Mark Owen
• Iain Rowe
• Amber Sloan

Friday, September 10

• Camille Brown
• Daniel Charon
• Jennifer Chin
• Gina Gibney Dance
• INSPIRIT dance company
• Stefanie Nelson Dance Group
• Riedel Dance Theater
• small apple co /Makiko Tamura
• Christopher Williams
• Ellis Wood Dance /Ellis Wood

Saturday, September 11

• John Heginbotham
• Sara Hook Dances
• Malcolm Low
• Pengelly: Projects /Fritha Pengelly
• PORTABLES /Claire Porter
• Race Dance /Lisa Race
• Marta Renzi
• Singh & Dance /Paul Singh
• Misnomer Dance Theater
• TAKE Dance /Takehiro Ueyama

DanceNOW [NYC] is produced by Directors Robin Staff, Tamara Greenfield, and Sydney Skybetter.

Bending the rules and defying the standard, DanceNOW [NYC] has followed its own path for more than two decades, seeking new means to promote, challenge, and develop the artistic careers of a wide genre of choreographers and connect new audiences to dance. Embracing its signature short-format programming, DanceNOW [NYC] offers cultural events that are distinct, accessible, and reflective of the new direction and passion of New York City dance makers. The DanceNOW [NYC] vision is directed toward developing relationships with New York City dance makers via year-round performance opportunities through the annual Festival at Dance Theater Workshop and the Dancemopolitan series at Joe’s Pub; promotion to new audiences to increase visibility; and creating opportunities for career advancement. Additionally, DanceNOW [NYC] supports artists through its artist-in-residency program at Silo at Kirkland Farm. For more information, visit www.dancenownyc.org.

DanceNOW [NYC] is supported, in part, with funds from the Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Edith C. Blum Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Image: PIERDUO, The Bang Group, Photo by Nicholas Burnham

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Nicholas Leichter’s choreography is funky, making people want to clap and dance in their seats. Co-directing with Nicholas Leichter is Monstah Black, the score creator known as a “Messiah of the Funk.”  Brian McCormick as producing director contributes interesting titles for the dance numbers like Papi, incorporating popular slang to reference the poppy fields and other elements of the classic Wizard of Oz/The Wiz tale.

Nicholas Leichter’s choreography is suitably even more multi-dimensional than the traditional Wizard of Oz story, incorporating technique with raw bumping and grinding.

To me, the overall movement blends contemporary dance with Afro-Cuban and other island influences.  The dancing flows so naturally out of the dancers that it seems improvised except that order exists through formations and patterns.

Following the sexually charged Lick Shots number to a song by none other than Missy Elliot is He’s the Wizza, a long duet featuring Stephanie Liapis and Nicholas Leichter.  Here Nicholas Leichter shows off Stephanie Liapis’ skills as a dancer, ending the section dramatically to create nice set up for Soon as I get Home.

Dawn Robinson is brilliant in Soon As I Get Home celebrating the fabulousness of being a big black woman.  She conveys a sideways evolution of Diana Ross as if investigating what Diana Ross would be like when she’s chillin at home, being constantly fanned by an admiring man servant.

A highlight of the performance is an intense dance between two men, Wendell Cooper and Nicholas Leichter.  Each male interrogates the other with fierce dance moves and martial arts-infused partnering work.  Work!

Entering in very grand style, vocalizing from the audience, Yozmit makes a special appearance from the sky, like an outer-worldly creature.  Each movement is sharp and meticulously executed as Yozmit sings her heart out, compelling and captivating.

In order to gain a better understanding behind the creation of this fascinating show, I interviewed dancer Wendell Cooper.  In an expression of mutual respect and admiration, Wendell Cooper created a movement phrase tribute to Nicholas Leichter, who in turn assimilated the phrase into the Juicy Fruit section.  Wendell describes the challenges he faced trying to make a solo in the style of Nicholas Leichter who he says “tries to expand outside of the ego-driven art of the dance world.”

Wendell Cooper describes how “in this solo I wanted to expand [Nicholas Leichter’s] style that is particular to him rather than in an individual style.  If I was to create something in his style how would I do that?  [By] getting into his brain: learning his rhythm and style and his vocabulary. So I borrowed a little from his rep: combination of hip-hop and jazz, definitely the chaos-there’s a moment -it’s crazy- we have to throw our legs over our body and pitch and fall.  I tried to marry the chaos with rhythm and detail I feel like it has to be daring to be interesting for the public to watch, like this feeling of- they might not make it!  It’s a mix: house, technique, break-dancing jazz, capoeria, vogue, contemporary, moderness-that’s why I’m drawn to his work because he takes all these elements and blends them into a language.  I am trying to learn to do that in my work as well.”

As I continue my discussion with Wendell about how we talk about and define dance.  We both agreed, Nicholas Leichter has a unique style and his work is tricky to dissect because it’s fragmented.  I’ll try to dissect it for you: fouettés into popping followed by gooey modern dance, then African and Jazz-all of these fragments are fused into a sequence.  Nicholas Leichter’s many influences have been absorbed into a his own vocabulary to create poetry with dance. Though difficult to define in terms of genre, the work of Nicholas Leichter parallels the contemporary trends seen in media in which various elements are reworked together, derived from our modern world where distinct cultures and traditions exist side by side.  Honoring the specific cultural roots of very stylized dance forms, Nicholas Leichter shapes his own language, spoken with African steps transitioning to an almost traditional ballet sequence flowing into floor-work.  All elements come together within same conceptual framework.

As artists, Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black have unique processes of working, a system that seems to involve deconstructing and restructuring the construct, exploring the point of each scene, and taking into account the underlying social and political messages. In this production of The Whiz one will experience the story in an entirely new way, as the creators took accumulated content and applied our contemporary situation.

In the hands of Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black, this production is not a remake but instead something re-imagined, sourced and rooted in the cultural history and development of the tale.

This re-creation of The Whiz has been developing with various sections previously appearing in shows through DanceNOW and Joe’s Pub.  This latest version is still missing some of the larger dance numbers which will be added for the full production at Abron’s Art Center around June 17, 2010.  Be sure to check out “The Whiz: Obamaland” at Abrons Arts Center to see more story and more dancing!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: DanceNOW [NYC] presents Dancemopolitan- nicholas leichter dance The Whiz: Emerald City
Choreography: Nicholas Leichter with additional choreography by Wendell Cooper
Venue: Joe’s Pub Manhattan, New York City
Performance Date: Friday March 19, 2010
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I will start with my least favorite.  Whisper Within by TAKE Dance choreographed by Takehiro Ueyama, Four Screaming Women from Jane Comfort and Company, and Exposition #2 from Mute choreographed by Luka Kito and Megan Boyd.  These 3 works stand out because they are what everyone hates about modern dance.  Pointless, under rehearsed, boring, and quintessential "downtownyness" with unfinished lines, typical, unoriginal, tired, old choreography.  If you have something to say and can’t find an original way to say it, then don’t create work. Modern Dance will never move to the forefront in the art world if we as a dance community don’t say "this is not good," "no one but your friends want to see this," and "stop masturbating on us."  There, I said it.  I don’t want work I saw in college, and I don’t want 4 people talking to me and making gestures and not even able to get the script or the gestures right.  If Cirque De Soleil can do the things they can do, I would like to hope that four people standing on stage saying the same 10 words over and over can actually get it right!

Let’s move on to some better stuff…  Homage to Mahler, by Hanya Holm performed by Betsy Fisher, Sacred Things (excerpt) by Wallie Wolfgruber & Co., an excerpt from View Partially Obstructed from Gina Gibney Dance, Riptide from Banana Peel Dance, a collaborative work between Aaron Draper and his dancers Kimberly Almquist and Nicole Mitchell and Becoming by Li Chaio-Ping.  These 5 pieces are more original than the previously mentioned works; they are better performed, more interesting, have a better use of space, and have an idea that keep me involved.  Sacred Things begins looking under-rehearsed and is looking a little too difficult for the dancers until Ryoko Kudo enters the stage and the piece really begins to take shape.  Her presence is startling, she is fearlessly being thrown and carried and has me on the edge of my seat waiting to see where she will go next.  She saves the first act for me. 

Li Chaio-Ping has some exceptional moments and is very exciting to watch her as she calmly dives into some exciting choreography.  Gibney’s excerpt is beautifully danced.  Her performers are exquisite and seamless, although I didn’t understand the sections that were put together, I totally enjoy watching them, they are completely intoxicating.  These works will keep me from wanting to leave and hang myself from some ballet barre down the street at ABT.

Last but not least, my totes favs of the evening…  Pray/Prey from the Stefanie Nelson Dance Group and Wooden Heart from the Julian Barnett Project.  Both of these pieces take chances and go to places and explore ideas in ways I haven’t really seen before.  Pray/Prey is a trio that explores the control men have over women and vice versa.  With the male literally miming the playing of music as the two girls dance and fall over each other to get to him, they find themselves fighting him, but can’t resist the attraction; it is at times humorous and at times creepy.  I love this piece and will be sure to catch their next performance.  I am totes intrigued!

The piece that closes the evening and for good reason is Barnett’s, Wooden Heart, with music by Portishead,  …so right there they already get 10 cool points because they use music, good music not random sounds from answering machines or whatever some of the the other groups use; it is actually music, with a pulse and a beat and a melody…. I am starving for it.   Anyway, it is a really cool duet where there is a microphone and  performers singing, dancing up against the wall, unison dancing that is creative and organic, AND an interval where Julian’s partner Jocelyn Tobias crawls across stage on her back for minutes…. I am gagging!  I love, love, love it!  It reveals the secrets that lie behind the motivation between the attraction of women and men.  A witty and cunning piece of dance!  Yay!

Friday Night’s Performance of DTW’s DanceNOW was exactly what I remember of my Halloween trick or treat pillowcase of candy from when I was little, some amazing pieces of delicious chocolate, and then some awful packages of old Tootsie Rolls, broken Sweet-Tarts, and rusty pennies.  I am thankful for the fun works I saw and terribly disappointed by what is allowed to be shown and accepted as "dance NOW". 

iDANZ Critix Corner Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio Performance:  2009 DanceNOW (NYC) Festival Venue:  Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), NYC Performance Date:  Friday, September 11, 2009 www.iDANZ.com

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Amber Sloan’s premiere ‘Below’ is the gem of the performance Wednesday night. The piece begins with Matthew Rogers and Sloan slowly rolling with their heads toward the audience, blond hair and brown crashing back and forth like waves, getting progressively faster until she stops him with a swift hand to the shoulder.  Like lovers trying to find a comfortable fit, they wind in and out of each other’s space.  The tension builds as the sound of sirens becomes discordant music and the movement grows more aggressive and three dimensional.  Finally, Sloan breaks out of the pattern to sit in stillness while Rogers continues to fret, rolling back and forth.  Even confined to only seven minutes, Sloan delivers a rich and relatable story.

Kyle Abraham is magic.  It is not only his incredible skill as a performer that is on display at DanceNow (although holy crap he’s amazing), but also his tender and astute choreography.  In an excerpt of his new work, ‘The Radio Show’, he transports us to another world with a dense solo full of rapid gestures, swift falls to the floor, and chilling stillness.  His extreme use of space, combined with stark lighting (with more light on the back wall than on him), make us feel like we are peering into his character’s life.  All of the elements of the piece, including a beautiful version of the song “Smile” performed by Janelle Monet and the wonderful costume by Sarah Cubbage, fuse together to create an incredibly subtle and satisfying slice-of-life piece.

To see a little more of Kyle Abraham, check out his performance of "Brick" on YouTube.

DanceNow not only showcases a variety of talented choreographers, but also the amazing dancers they employ.  Mention must go to Troy Ogilvie and Amber Lee Parker who give a nuanced performance of Sidra Bell’s “your distance kept”, a piece full of complicated rhythms, flying legs and sexy get-ups.  Also, Darrin Wright and Lindsey Dietz Marchant make a charming pair with great comedic timing in “But It’s For You” by Tami Stronach.  The DanceNow festival serves up such a huge variety of dance that everyone can enjoy their old favorites and maybe some new favorites as well.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Hope Davis 
Choreographers:  Amber Sloan, Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Tami Stronach Performance: DanceNow [NYC] 
Venue: Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), NYC
Date:  Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 
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