Walter’s World: Weekend Picks Dance, Music, and Art

By Walter Rutledge

The weekend is upon us and there are events taking place all over the city. This weekend there is dance in midtown, music and spoken uptown and art abounding on the eastside. These are a few of the many events happen in our community and beyond.

Elisa Monte Dance will hold their 2012 New York season at The Ailey Citigroup Theatre located in the Joan Weill Center for Dance (405 West 55^th Street at 9^th Avenue). The three performance series will begin on Thursday, April 12and continue through Saturday April 14. The company will present three New York premieres Unstable Ground, with commissioned music by Lois Vierk; In Absentia featuring new music by Kevin Keller; and Outside In with original music by Ben Doyle. Additional works will include revival performances of Pigs and Fishes (1982) and an excerpt from Amor Fait (1999).

There will be a Gala benefit performance on Friday, April 13 at 7:30pm, which will celebrate the rich Thirty-one year history of the company. The performance schedule is: Thursday, April 12at 8pm; Friday, April 13^th at 7:30pm; and Saturday, April 14 at 8pm. Tickets for Elisa Monte Dance’s 31st Anniversary Season are $25 for Thursday and Saturday evening performances; tickets for the benefit gala on Friday, April 13 are $50. Tickets can be purchased by visiting Smarttix at www.smarttix.com or by calling (866) 527-5376


A Special Apollo Music Cafe and Salon Series entitled The Billie Holiday Project will take place Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14 in the Black Box at the world famous Apollo Theater located at 253 West 125 Street.  The evening featuring Queen Esther and Hot Five takes a theatrical turn when two Harlem  icons  coalesce their artistry in a mix of music and spoken word. Queen Esther and Hot Five will perform timeless songs of jazz legend Billie Holiday and couple  them with newly unearthed urban fables by Zora Neal Hurston. The Billie Holiday Project is directed by Talvin Wilks with Music Director Matt Ray, and a veteran cast including Francesca Harper, Charles Wallace and Keith L. Thomas.

The Apollo Music Café is becoming one of Harlem’s hottest and hippest new nightspots. Cutting-edge artists perform in a stylized lounge space that is reminiscent of Harlem cabarets in the uptown music heyday. Doors open at 9pm for bar and food service. The show starts at 10 pm.

Tickets are $20 general admission, Apollo A-LIST members can purchase advance tickets for $15 (available until April 12). Tickets can be purchased in person at the Apollo Theater Box Office, by telephone by calling Ticketmaster (800) 745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com

ArtCrawl Harlem is offering a guided trolley tour that will showcase Latino artists in six outstanding  El Barrio art spaces on Saturday April 14. The four-hour art tour begins at noon and concludes at 4pm with a reception that includes dinner, wine and live music. Bi- lingual tour guides who speak both English and Spanish conduct the tour.

The tour departs from Taller Boricua/Puerto Rican Workshop, which features a group show with underrepresented El Barrio artists. It continues to the apartment gallery of Diogenes-Ballester, whose trans-Caribbean works combine cultural objects and historical artifacts with painting, drawing, prints and new media; El Museo del Barrio, where TESTIMONIOS: 100 Years of Popular Expression draws on rarely-seen works from the museum’s Permanent Collection. Art for Change, presents a group show Know Gays Aloud aims to expose the violence and prejudice that LGBT communities of color have endured through systematic cultural and religious persecution; My Arte, LLC, where the haunting work of Colombian-born artist Cecilia Moreno-Yaghoubi is on display; PRdream/MediaNoche, displays four decades of pioneering video artist Jaime Davidovich, and concludes at Studio 323, whose current exhibition, Transitions, features the mixed media work of owner and renowned antique and fine furniture restorer Jonathan Chanduvi.

Artcrawl is design for the experienced art connessoir and the novice interested in learning more about art and the art scene. There are two packages available; the Trolley Tour and Dinner is $55 per person and there is also a Walking Tour and Appetizers for $25.  Seating is limited so advanced booking  is advised for more information call (212) 866-7427 or email artcrawlharlem@gmail.com you can also visit www.Artcrawlharlem.com

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

In Photo: 1)  2)  Lisa Peluso 3)  Hsing Hua-Wang and  Joe Celej 4) Queen Esther 5) Black and White Series by Cecelia Moreno Yaghoubi

Photo credit:1, 2,3, Roy Volkmann 4) courtesy Apollo Theater