By Walter Rutledge
The first weekend of summer has gotten off to a very hot start. It is a perfect reason to beat the heat by experiencing some exciting dance and theater. Or maybe you want to spark up some heat and show some pride at a big parade. Here are some of the events happening in our community and around the city.
The Limon Dance Company is celebrating the 65 season of the company this week at the Joyce Theater. The season will run through Sunday June 24. The season will include the World Premiere of Come With Me, a commissioned work by Grupo Corpo’s Rodrigo Pederneiras, and Cuban composer Paquito D’Rivera. The work was inspired by the music of Bombardino, Ladies in White, Dreams, and Freedom Dance.
In addition the program will feature Limon’s 1942 solo Chaconne set to Bach, which will be performed live. The 1956 Limon masterwork The Emperor Jones, which was reconstructed by former Limon dancer Clay Taliaferro. Taliaferro learned the ballet from Jose Limon and until this season is the only other man to dance the lead role. Jiri Kylian’s La Cathedrale Engloutie, the Debussy music will also be played live. For more information visit www.limon.org.
The performance schedule is as follows: Friday June 22 8pm, Saturday June 23 2pm and 8pm, and at Sun 2pm and 7:30pm. Tickets start at $10 for tickets call JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. All other tickets can be purchased online at www.joyce.org.
Tony Award winner George Faison is directing a new Equity showcase production of Accept “Except” LGBT NY with performances beginning Thursday, June 21at the Faison Firehouse Theater located in Harlem at 6 Hancock Place at West 124th Street between St. Nicholas and Morningside Ave at 7:30pm. The opening is scheduled for Wednesday, June 27th at 7:30 p.m. and will run on selected dates through Sunday, July 8th, 2012.
Accept “Except” LGBT NY is about the struggle for justice in America from slavery to modern day Gay rights. It tells the story of two gay twenty year olds running from the Law, a male from the plantation era (18th Century) and a female from the penitentiary era (21st Century). The play is based on the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Accept “Except” LGBT NY, was written by Karimah. The production has a cast led by teen spoken word artist/poet Cynthia Keteku, known as Ceez, and Sean Phillips Knock Me A Kiss (2011 Audelco winner best dramatic production). The creative team also includes Costume design by Project Runway and Tony Award nominee (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess) Emilio Sosa.
The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday June 22, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday June 23, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday June 24, at 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Faison Firehouse Box Office at 212 665 7698. For credit card purchases call Smarttix at 212 868 4444 or online at SMARTTIX.COM
NYC Dance Week, a yearly festival that advocates dance conditioning and wellness, will offer more than 100 free and discounted dance, fitness and wellness classes over the course of 10 days, starting Thursday, June 21 through Saturday June 30, 2012. Studios throughout Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn will offer a sampling of dance classes. Participating studios include: The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory; The Ailey Extension; Fit and Fab Studios; Kinespirit; Power Pilates; Nika Ballet Studio; Astoria Fine Arts Dance; Bridge for Dance; Brooklyn Ballet; Dance Manhattan; Dance New Amsterdam; Dancewave; Danza Niwa; Dardo Galleto Studios; Dhoonya Dance, Marie-Christine Giordano Dance Company; Peridance Capezio Center; Sandra Cameron Dance Center; Smart Workout; STREB Lab for Action Mechanics; Dardo Galletto Studios; and TDH Cultural Arts Center. For a schedule of studios, and classes visit the NYC Dance Weeks website http://nycdanceweek.org/the-festival/free-classes. To register for events visit http://nycdanceweek2012.eventbrite.com/.
In conjunction with the festival NYC10 performance, to celebrate NYC arts, will occur at Dixon Place on Monday June 25, 2012, 7:30 p.m. NYC10 is a dance initiative designed by NYC Dance Week, where ten emerging dance companies are given up to ten minutes to showcase their work. This year it will feature presentations by Silva Dance Company, Roots In Revolution, Benjamin Briones Ballet, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Breaking Through, Sy Parrish, Boston Community Dance Project, Opus Dance Theatre Company Inc., Sacred Space Dance, and The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Repertory Company.
Gay Pride Week culminates in the headline grabbing Gay Pride Parade 2012 on Sunday June 24 beginning at noon. The parade will travel down Fifth Avenue marching from 36th Street and heading south to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The party continues as parade watchers are invited to Pridefest, the annual LGBT street fair on Hudson Street to round off gay pride festivities here in New York City.
As always thank you for letting me share my world with you.
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