Walter’s World: Dance and Music- March 15, 2013

By Walter Rutledge

This weekend dance and music dominates the artistic landscapes. We have a modern dance master at Lincoln Center, a brilliant dance repertory company in midtown and music that bridges the diaspora in Harlem. Here are a few of the many events taking place in our city and around our community.

The 2013 New York season of Ailey II continues at the Ailey Citigroup Theater located at 405 West 55^th Street. The highly anticipated two-week season, which runs through March 24, will offer 14 performances. The season will feature two programs entitled All New and Returning Favorites Returning respectively; the company will present a total seven works.  The All New program will open the season on Wednesday, March 13^th, The program will feature four works, three premieres and one new production, by four emerging and established choreographers; Malcolm Low, Jessica Lang, Benoit-Swan Pouffer and Amy Hall Garner. Returning Favorites will offer three works previously presented by Ailey II by choreographers Ailey II Artistic Director Troy Powell, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison and Alvin Ailey.

The performance schedule is: Friday, March 15, at 8pm  All New; Saturday, March 16, at 3pm  Returning Favorites; Saturday, March 16, at 8pm  All New; Sunday, March 17, at 3pm  All New; and Sunday, March 17, at 7:30pm Returning Favorites. Tickets are now on sale at $49.  To purchase tickets, season updates and a complete schedule of performances visit www.AlvinAiley.org/AileyII or call 866-811-4111.  Tickets can be purchased at The Ailey Citigroup Theater box office located at 405 West 55^th Street.

The Apollo partners with World Music Institute to present Africa Now! – a weekend festival spotlighting today’s African music scene. The festival will culminate with a concert event on the legendary Apollo stage hosted by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.  Africa Now!  features music ranging from hip hop to Afrobeat, pop to folk, and will present a powerful line-up of artists who have drawn upon their roots for inspiration and landed them onto the global music landscape.

The one-hour Africa Now! Artist Talk Panel will be held on
 March 15, 7:30 pm in the
Apollo Soundstage. This meet-the-artist panel discussion with participating Africa Now! artists focuses on how their cultural identities inform their unique brand of music and how, in turn, that music fosters global exchange and transformation. Participants include Blitz the Ambassador, Lokua Kanza, Nneka, and members of Freshlyground and The Soil.

The discussion will be moderated by WBAI’s Esther Armah. 

Tickets are free and reservations are required.

Apollo Music Café will present  
The Soil 
March 15, 10pm at the Apollo Soundstage. Described as ‘Kasi Soul,’ The Soil embodies the next generation of South African choral singing. The Bar & Doors Open at 9pm and tickets are $20.

Family Showtime: Freshlyground will perform on 
March 16, 11am, at the
Apollo Soundstage. The Cape Town-based, multi-racial septet brings their infectious upbeat, easy-on-the-ear Afropop grooves to Apollo Family Showtime. Tickets are $10

Africa Now! Mainstage Concert 
March 16, 8pm at the
Apollo Theater features Blitz the Ambassador, a Ghanian-born rapper unites worlds of hip-hop, Afrobeat, highlife and soukous; Nneka, the Nigerian-German hip-hop/soul songstress draws on reggae, blues, folk and rap in her anthems of protest and struggle; Congolese troubadour Lokua Kanza and Freshlyground; the performance is hosted by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson and tickets are $30, $40, $55.

Paul Taylor Dance Company three-week season, at the David H. Koch Theater, will run through Sunday, March 24^th. The season will present twenty works spanning seven decades; celebrating Taylor’s artistic achievements from the 1950s through the present day. There will be a New York première, To Make Crops Grow, set to music by Ferde Grofé, and the World Premiere of Perpetual Dawn, which marks Taylor’s 138^th dance.

The season will feature the revival of Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal), the 50^th anniversary of Scudorama; and the 25^th anniversaries of the exuberant Brandenburgs, and his Emmy Award-winning Speaking in Tongues. In addition, every program this season to present one of the Taylor’s six masterworks set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach; Junction, Brandenburgs, Esplanade, Musical Offering, Cascade and Promethean Fire. The performance schedule is: Friday, March 15, 8pm: Scudorama • Perpetual Dawn** • Brandenburgs; Saturday, March 16, 3pm: Scudorama • Lost, Found and Lost • Cascade; Saturday, March 16, 8pm: Gossamer Gallants • To Make Crops Grow* • Brandenburgs; Sunday, March 17, 3pm: Musical Offering • Gossamer Gallants • Company B.

Ticket prices for all performances are $10, $30, $55, $80, $110 and $160. Tickets and a complete season schedule are available through David H. Koch Theater box office or by visiting www.ptdc.org/tickets.

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

In Photo 1) Ailey II 2) Fana Testfagiorgis 3) Apollo Marquee 5) cast  6) Jamie Rae Walker, Laura Halzack, Michelle Fleet, Parisa Khobdeh

Photo Credit: 1) Eduardo Patino 2) Pierre Wachholder 3&4) Courtesy Apollo Theater 5&6) Paul B. Goode