Walter’s World: Weekend Picks Singing, Dancing and Dining

By Walter Rutledge

Eastside, westside, all around the town. The is a weekend of great singing, inspiring dance, and fine dining. We have the emerging and experimental and the established visionaries, all share an individual  and unique zeal for excellence.

Sidra Bell Dance NY will present DUEL, two different programs on two consecutive weekends beginning Thursday March 22 at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, Nagelberg Theater located at East 25th between Lexington and Third Avenues. This weekend the company will offer the world premiere of STELLA- a series of miniature manifestos. This is Bell’s latest work and is billed as “an epitaph that deals with observations of the self, private space, nihilism, consumerism, existence, importance, participation, voyeurism, and egomania.”

The Sidra Bell Dance NY is based in New York City and considers itself a boutique company. Under the direction of Bell, the company has presented innovative dance theater works. Her style combines high fashion and cinematic imagery, in full-scale dance theatre productions. Bell’s unique and original approach to dance has a  simplicity and honesty tinged with theatricality and a little bit of madness.

 The four performances of STELLA will take place on Thursday March 22, Friday March 23, Saturday 24, at 8pm and Sunday, March 25, at 7pm. Ticket prices are $25 general admission, $10 students, and two students $15. There is an advance ticket sale of $20 when you use the on-line code BELL. Tickets can be purchased by calling (646) 312-5073, or visiting www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac.

The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica returns to the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College as part of the 2011-2012 World Stages Series. On Saturday, March 24 at 8pm and Sunday, March 25 at 3pm the company will present two programs of dance and music that reflect their rich West Indian culture and heritage. The repertoire presented in the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica’s 50^th Anniversary season encompasses important works spanning the company’s history.

The works offered are: Drumscore (1979), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the company singers *  … minutes and seconds (2010), choreography by Kerry-Ann Henry and Momo Sanno * Cry of the Spirit (1996), choreography by Gene Carson * Sweet in the Morning (1992), choreography by Leni Wylliams * Urban Fissure (2004), choreography by Chris Walker * Sulkari (1980), choreography by Eduardo Rivero-Walker * Gerrehbenta (1983), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the company singers * Kumina (1971), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the company singers

Tickets are $45 orchestra and for the $36 mezzanine. Tickets can be purchased at the box office, and by calling (718) 951-4500 from Tuesday through Saturday from 1pm – 6pm. Online purchases can be made by visiting BrooklynCenterOnline.org. For groups of 15 or more call (718) 951-5000, ext. 3326

This is the last week of Women’s History Month and B. Arts Presenter will offer A Women’s History Month Concert featuring Soprano Willsonia Boyer. This musical tribute to female composers will feature compositions spanning five centuries. The concert will be held on Sunday, March 25 at 6:30 pm at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 West 67^th Street.

The works currently scheduled to be performed include songs by Francesca Caccini (“Air of the Shepherd”), Clara Schumann (‘Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen’), Francesca Caccini  (“Love Let the Wind Cry”), Florence Beatrice Smith Price (“Night”), Pauline Garcia Viardot (“Madrid”), Amy Beach (“I Send My Heart Up to Thee”), Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (“Schwanenlied”) and Delores White (“Velvet Shoes”). The songs will be performed in Czech, Italian, French, German and English. Tickets are $50, the student, senior, and group (6 or more) price is $40. Tickets can be purchased by calling 212 501-3330 and online by visiting www.kaufman-center.org.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company continues their 2012 season at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. The company will present fifteen different works this weekend including all three of the New York City premieres The Uncommitted, Gossamer Gallants, and House of Joy. In addition to the new works two of Taylor’s seminal works Esplanade and Aureole will also be performed.  

The Uncommitted is a true Paul Taylor dance work. Set to the music by Arvo Pärt, the work deals with relationships, or in this case, people who are unable to form bonds. House of Joy is probably the most different of the new work presented this season. The work is set in a whorehouse, and has an unmistakable Taylor twist at the end. While Gossamer Gallants is a fast-paced comedic work about predatory female “insects” and the doomed male bugs that are drawn to them.

The weekend schedule is: Thursday March 22, 7pm: Syzygy, Three Dubious Memories, Piazzolla Caldera *
 Friday, March 23, 8pm: Arabesque, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Syzygy 
* Saturday March 24, 3pm: Arabesque, Three Dubious Memories, Cloven Kingdom
 * Saturday March 24, 8pm: Roses, The Uncommitted, Esplanade * Sunday March 25, 3pm: Aureole, Troilus and Cressida (reduced), Gossamer Gallants, Syzygy


For the complete schedule of the season performances and repertoire visit www.ptdc.com.  Ticket prices for all performances are $10, $25, $50, $60, $75, $100 and $150 and can be purchased by visiting www.ptdc.org/tickets.

Aureole Restaurant is honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Paul Taylor’s masterwork Aureole with a special three-course prix fixe menu. Renowned Chef Charlie Palmer, known for his Michelin-starred New York City restaurant Aureole, has created a special menu inspired by the famous dance that will be offered at the restaurant throughout the month of March. Patrons are invited to be a part of this magical synergy by stopping in to Aureole restaurant for the exclusive Paul Taylor prix-fixe menu.

Aureole Prix Fixe Menu is being offered from March 13 – April 1, 2012 in the Bar Room from 5-10pm, for the value price of $55 per person. Aureole located at 135 West 42^nd Street is in the heart of the theater district near Bryant Park. For reservations to request the Paul Taylor Dance Menu call 212-319-1660.

There is also another option for the real epicurean, a complete evening of dining and dance. Aureole Restaurant and the Paul Taylor Dance Company have fashioned the perfect night out. Patrons can enjoy the special Aureole pre-fixe dinner menu followed by a performance of The Paul Taylor Dance Company. Aureole Dinner and Show Package is also offered from March 13 – April 1, and is only $125 per person. The Paul Taylor Dance Company will offer orchestra seats, box office priced at $100 per ticket, to audience members who wish to take advantage of this special dining and dance experience. To purchase tickets call 646.214.5830.

As always Thank you for letting me share my world with you.

In Photos: 1) Michelle Fleet 2&3) Sidra Bell Dance NY 4) Kerry-Ann Henry 5) Marlon Simms and Keita-Marie Chamberlain 6&7) Aureole Restaurant

Photo by: 1) Tom Caravaglia 2&3) Jubal Battisti 4& 5)  Bryan Robinson 6&7) Charlie Palmer Group