Tag Archives: #a-good-dance

Holá

This is where you want to go, to El Barrio P.S. 109. Believe me, it really is.

From top right: 1. Sara Morales; 2. Oscar Acasio; 3. & 4. Joanne Steinhardt with Jessie Bonaventure and Emily Donnelly; 5. Brittany Maldonado; 6. Arcadia Carabaillo; 7. Carmina Guitterez; 8. Olivia Beens; 9. Laila

The Artspace has gallery spaces, studios for artists and residences under the NYC Connect lottery program.

Gargoyles from the original building (ca late 1800) have been reclaimed. PS 109 was converted to its present use as artist residences between 2013 and 2015.

There are programs of dance and theater, for poets, writers and Women’s History Month, as well as gallery art shows at El Barrio’s PS 109 Artspace.

For example, this coming week, April 9th, at 7:30pm enjoy Cuba loves Puerto Rico, a dance party organized by Gerardo Cortino. Join a poetry workshop led by Bill Keys on Tuesday nights. An exhibit of Women’s Street Photographers opens on April 10th from 6pm.

This unique community space is located at 215 East 99th Street.

“Wade in the water”

If anyone or anything can convert me towards religion, it would be a snippet from Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. Yes, it is a masterpiece. Yes, it has stunned audiences all over the globe since its creation in 1960.

This audience included. Tonight, I caught a glimmer from archives of this rich inclusive robust dance work on a PBS American Masters show. It sent shivers. Just as it had when I first met it on a stage in the ’60s and every encounter since.

There’s a purity to Alvin Ailey’s choreography that gives his dances grandeur.

They’re so good

Staying on to see Daddy Long Legs after An American in Paris accentuates a long-standing question.

Who is better? Kelly or Astaire? Which style is more exciting and innovative?

Why do we need this needless comparison? Who will heed this inconsequential debate?

Yes. We could call upon apples and oranges to end the discussion.

In fact, I think I 🤔 shall.

Turkey trot

It’s a dance from the 1800s, I think. Or maybe more like from around 1912. I do know it’s not the Fox trot or a waltz or the Lindy.

We danced to a ridiculously fast waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty at our wedding. As Thanksgiving approaches and I reflect, I am grateful for all that.

The dances we’ve had. The dances we have seen. The ones we know and those we wish we could execute to perfection.

MRI Moves

My MR experience today inspired me to choreograph an MRI dance.

Set to the electronic pings, rings, and zings of the cocoon like machine, my dance begins with a darkened stage.

A spotlight falls on each of 3 bundled figures, lying a few feet apart.

As the scene brightens, the first dancer raises his right leg in an arc to the center of his body and over past the right.

The one in the middle sheds her wrapping and pulls up onto her toes, then flat on her heel. She turns to face the last supine figure.

He also unwraps and then rolls to his left. Cat stretch to downward dog and up slowly, sensuously allowing each vertebrae to wriggle to standing.

When all three are standing, they march in a circle that turns into a conga.

The electro-pop of the MRI sets a rhythm for their movement throughout.

Relaxing, the light follows them as they dance off.

Tango

I am kind of over the moon over dance, dancers, and dancing. My passion covers all genres from the à gogo to the ballet to zumba. My affection for the Iberian-inflected dances like Flamenco and Tango is extreme.

Truth is The Tango, that great dance of love, originates in Argentina, not in Spain.

If Tango is seen as romantic, Flamenco can be sexy but edgier. And I have no idea what prompted me to include à gogo in my list, but it too is pretty provocative.

The ballet engaged my interest from an early age. I came to appreciate ballroom dancing later.

Of course, all of the dance, except the zumba, for me is basically a spectator sport. For instance, I always loved watching all sorts of ballet but hated ballet lessons.