92Y HARKNESS DANCE FESTIVAL
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11- SUNDAY, MARCH 20
Kathryn Posin Dance Company Opens Festival with World Premiere of Climate Change
Festival Features Five Artists Over Five Weeks, Plus
Dancers Among Us Art Exhibition
NEW YORK, NY: January 13 – The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival presents five artists over five weeks, from February 11 through March 20, 2016, including a performance for families and a photography exhibition. The festival opens with a world premiere from the Kathryn Posin Dance Company, Climate Control, featuring Meredith Monk, who comes to 92Y after a wildly successful project with Anne Waldman that inspired the New York Times to call her “a collaborator, and a marvelous one.”
In Climate Control, Monk is on stage with her equally virtuosic partner, Theo Bleckmann, singing and playing Monk’s Facing North. This is a first-time collaboration, bringing Posin’s choreography and Monk’s stunning vocalizations together for the first time. In this dance, Posin envisions a world of drastic climate contradictions with the block-like dances of the Arctic juxtaposed with the fiercely rhythmic undulation of the ancient Hula.
The Company also performs Waves, Posin’s 1975 modern-dance classic that grew out of the “group motion” communal spirit of the seventies. It was originally commissioned by the American Dance Festival to an original piece by electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel, and later commissioned by Jiri Kylian, Alvin Ailey, and Eliot Feld. Waves is being reconstructed after 30 years by original cast member Lance Westergard.
The Company’s final piece is Century Rolls, John Adams’ response to the turning-over of a new century and his homage to the piano music of that century. In this piece, one hears Copland, Gershwin and Bartok through the fractured vision of a post-minimalist composer. The 14-minute work for eight dancers is a complex study in rhythm, locomotion, and partnering.
The Kathryn Posin Dance Company performs Thursday, February 11, and Friday, February 12, at 8 p.m.
Art Exhibition
Dancers Among Us – January 19-March 1, 92Y’s Milton J. Weill Art Gallery
Photographer Jordan Matter’s exhibition, presented as part of the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival, features stunning images that capture the spirit, ingenuity, and serendipity of dancers who transform everyday situations into theatrical ones. For information and viewing hours, contact the Art Center at 212.415.5562.
Upcoming in the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival:
José Limón Dance Company: Dialogues
Fri, Feb 19 and Sat, Feb 20 at 8 p.m.; Sun, Feb 21 at 3 p.m.
Artistic director Carla Maxwell and members of the Limón Dance Company explore one of José Limón’s important lost works, Dialogues, which hasn’t been seen since the 1960s. First, the piece is broken down, and Maxwell discusses the tools and processes used to capture this lost gem, revealing how it relates to Limon’s other works; this is followed by a full performance of the dance.
Keely Garfield Dance: Pow
Fri, Feb 26 and Sat, Feb 27, 8 p.m.; Sun, Feb 28, 3 p.m.
Keely Garfield is described by the New York Times as “an artist working at the height of her powers” whose work “is worth watching multiple times. There is so much to see, so much to delight in and puzzle through, that once is rarely enough!” Pow is a procession of intimate narratives about monsters and angels, and monstrous angels. It’s a Frankenstein of a performance in which elements of acclaimed dances Garfield has made are radically reconfigured, sutured, amplified and left to run amok, creating a shocking new version of events. In Pow, resilience is palpable as the performers rise to the physical challenge, emotional engagement, and complex sequential contests of the work.
Pilobolus: Rules @ Play – FOR ADULTS AND FAMILIES
Sat, Mar 5, 3 p.m.
Rules @ Play is a lively, interactive show created specifically for a youth audience – fun, engaging and accessible. Throughout life we all encounter rules, and we usually view them negatively. Rules @ Play explores how rules actually present opportunities to solve problems and overcome challenges. They spark creativity and, in our case, give us tools to make dances. Pilobolus dancers perform and analyze four of the company’s favorite works through movement and discussion on and off stage, showcasing the benefits of playing by the rules. Pilobolus family shows are lively, interactive performances that entertain, engage and explore. They set out to expand the audience’s understanding not just of movement and dance, but of creativity and of art, while helping people of all ages think differently about what they see on stage and beyond.
Tina Croll + Company: One Rhinoceros, 3 Birds and a Pineapple
Fri, Mar 19 and Sat, Mar 20, 8 p.m. / Sun, Mar 21, 3 p.m.
Tina Croll + Company present five original works from past and present with a cast of more than 15 dancers, including the world premiere of One Rhinoceros, 3 Birds and a Pineapple, a new work for six female dancers. In this work, Croll rejects a linear narrative in favor of a more kaleidoscopic vision. Solos and duets are intermingled with a chorus swirling through in geometric patterns—sometimes causing havoc.
Balkan Dreams II (2007), originally an evening-length collaboration with the twelve-piece Balkan Brass band Zlatne Uste, explores the variety of rhythms and moods found in the traditional music of Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Romania. There will be live music by Zlatne Uste on opening night, Friday, March 19.
She Rides a Tiger (2012) is part of a series of dances on the theme “Sanghe Shakti Kalau Yuge,” which means “In this Dark Age Strength is in Unity” in Sanskrit and is set to music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
Walkabout (1995) is an exploration of complex rhythms, with light, athletic choreography and playful with music by John Cage.
The Stamping Ground (2008) is an investigation of group energy in movement and space using large groups. Up to 16 female dancers will perform an array of ancient folk dances in sublime unison.
WHAT: 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival
WHEN: Thurs, Feb 11-Sun, March 20
WHERE: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128
TICKETS: $25-$35 at http://www.92y.org/harknessfestival or 212.415.5500
