“forward thinking”
“an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process”
– The New York Times
Even though I know that the favor is rarely returned from east coast writers, I occasionally like to alert our readers as to what is going on in New York City’s dance community. Having enjoyed many wonderful performances at the Guggenheim Museum during my years living and working in New York City, I thought that some of our traveling subscribers might like to know about the Works & Process at the Guggenheim Spring 2022 featuring commissions that celebrate New York’s diverse and extensive dance, music and theater artists. On this series the artists will be representing Modern, Street, and Vernacular Dance and Beatbox Artis, and the world premiere of Third Bird by Isaac Mizrahi, Nico Muhly, and John Heginbotham.
All of the artists are based in New York and “many representing historically marginalized performing art cultures – and incubated during the peak of the pandemic inside 2020–21 Works & Process bubble residencies. Alongside the commissions, Works & Process will present performance excerpts and artists discussions of new works prior to their premieres at leading organizations including BAAD!, BAM, Boston Ballet, Federal Hall, Glimmerglass Festival, The Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet. Taking place in the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all programs invite audiences to embrace artistic process and uniquely blend performance highlights with insightful artists discussions.” – Michelle Tabnick Public Relations press release.
Ladies of Hip-Hop filming at The Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on the last day of their Works & Process bubble residency at Bethany Arts Center, January 2021. Featuring Reyna Nunez, Miyabi Wright, Deborah Conton, Michele Byrd-McPhee, Tomoe Carr, and Nubian Néné. – Photo: Loreto “Still1” Jamlig
SPRING 2022 SEASON THAT INCLUDE DANCE
WORKS & PROCESS DANCE COMMISSION
Ladies of Hip-Hop – World Premiere
Wednesday, January 12, and Thursday, January 13, 7:30 pm
Digital Highlight: Works & Process at Lincoln Center – Ladies of Hip-Hop
The Ladies of Hip-Hop look beyond the traditional lens of exposure for Black bodies in dance, which has overwhelmingly focused on Eurocentric dance aesthetics including modern, contemporary, and ballet. As part of their residency in January 2022, which was made possible by Works & Process and Bethany Arts Community, the Ladies of Hip-Hop will create a concert dance piece for premiere at the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim Museum on January 12 and 13. This commission will preserve and celebrate the beauty, strength, and lived experiences of Black women in street dance. Alongside the premiere, Linda Murray, Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, moderates a discussion with Ladies of Hip-Hop Executive Director Michele Byrd-McPhee, who along with Barnes are artists-in-residence currently working on the Dance Division’s long-standing Dance Oral History Project.
As part of their upcoming Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Bethany Arts Community, the Ladies of Hip Hop will offer a community show-and-tell at 3 pm on Sunday, January 9, as well as an educational program for schools in Ossining, New York. For more information, visit bethanyarts.org.
WORKS & PROCESS DANCE COMMISSION
“New York Is Burning” by Omari Wiles, January 2020, performed by Les Ballet Afrik. Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim. – Photo: Robert Altman
Les Ballet Afrik: New York Is Burning by Omari Wiles – World Premiere
Saturday, January 15, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, January 16, 2 pm
Digital Highlight: Works & Process at Lincoln Center – Les Ballet Afrik
The documentary Paris Is Burning has received critical acclaim for its depiction of the New York drag ball scene and of voguing as a powerful expression of personal pride in the face of racism, homophobia, and the stigma of the AIDS crisis, since its release in 1990. To honor the film’s thirtieth anniversary, prior to the pandemic, Works & Process commissioned Omari Wiles, founding father of the House of Oricci and a legend within the ballroom community, to produce New York Is Burning, which will premiere at the Guggenheim on January 15 and 16. Just as Paris Is Burning did for New York in the 1980s, New York Is Burning reflects the aspirations, desires, and yearnings of a diverse group of dancers in a city beset by health, racial, and financial crises. Wiles’s new work centers on the artists for whom the dance company serves as a surrogate family, including Kya Azeen, Eva Bust A’ Move, Algin Ford-Sterling, Alora Martinez, Shireen Rahimi, Milerka Rodriguez, Kameron N. Saunders, Karma Stylz, Yuki Sukezane, and Yuhee Yang.
Additional Events during the Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” at The Church, Sag Harbor, New York, January 3–13, 2022
Saturday, January 8, 11 am–5 pm – Open rehearsal, public is invited to observe
Wednesday, January 12, 3:30 pm – Vogue dance class
Thursday, January 13, 6:30 pm – Show-and-tell for the public
For more information, visit thechurchsagharbor.org.
Shantell Martin by Catalina Kulczar; Melissa Toogood by Erin Baiano; Lia Cirio by Rachel Neville – Photography: Claudia Schreier; Tiler Peck by Vincent Tullo
DANCE
Boston Ballet: Mikko Nissinen, Lia Cirio, Shantell Martin, and Melissa Toogood
Sunday, February 13, 3pm and 7:30 pm
Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER program celebrates innovative women across creative fields. Prior to the March premiere in Boston, company dancers perform excerpts from the program’s new commissions by Lia Cirio, Shantell Martin, Tiler Peck, Claudia Schreier, and Melissa Toogood. Dance writer Marina Harss moderates the discussion with Cirio, Martin, and Toogood illuminating their creative process, and Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen shares insights on Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER initiative.
DANCE
Alethea Pace and Yin Yue
Sunday, March 13, 7:30 pm
Supported by a partnership between Works & Process and Dance Magazine Awards, choreographers Alethea Pace and Yin Yue, recipients of the 2021 Harkness Promise Awards, discuss their creative process with Joan Finkelstein, Executive Director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.
Prior to its May 2022 premiere at BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance, Alethea Pace shares highlights from Here goes the neighborhood . . ., a multimedia performance installation created in collaboration with Bronx community members. Anchored in the history of the Bronx, the work conjures memories born from both turmoil and resilience and reminds us of the wealth of knowledge we hold in our bodies, memories, and histories. It is an offering to the Bronx and an incitement to dream of radical visions for the future.
“A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time” by Jamar Roberts. Featuring Brandon Michael Woolridge, Patrick Coker, and Courtney Celeste Spears. – Photo: Dancing Camera
WORKS & PROCESS DANCE AND MUSIC COMMISSION
A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time by Jamar Roberts – World Premiere
Sunday, March 20, and Saturday, March 21, 7:30 pm
Digital Highlight: Works & Process at Lincoln Center – A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time
In March 2020, just as the pandemic hit, Works & Process invited Jamar Roberts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s first resident choreographer, to create a Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commission. Roberts created Cooped, with music by David Watson, which was described by the New York Times as “one of the most powerful artistic responses yet to the COVID-19 crisis.” As the pandemic wore on, Works & Process commissioned and supported Roberts with two bubble residencies—at Petronio Residency Center in August 2020 and at Catskill Mountain Foundation in January 2021—during which Roberts produced A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time with dancers Patrick Coker, Ghrai DeVore-Stokes, Jacquelin Harris, Courtney Celeste Spears, and Brandon Michael Woolridge, with commissioned music by Watson.
In January 2021, a digital highlight was produced of a rare indoor video performance commissioned by Works & Process and coproduced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The short solo “A Sketch from A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time,” co-commissioned by the Asbury Park Dance Festival, premiered in fall 2021. On March 20 and 21, 2022, the complete work will have its long-awaited world premiere in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim.
Music from the Sole at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. – Photo: Christopher Jones
WORKS & PROCESS DANCE AND MUSIC COMMISSION
Music from the Sole
I Didn’t Come to Stay – World Premiere
Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12, 7:30 pm
Digital Highlight: Works & Process at Lincoln Center – Music from the Sole
Tap, percussive dance, samba, house, and live music come together on Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12, 7:30 pm in the world premiere of I Didn’t Come to Stay, commissioned by Works & Process and first supported with a Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in summer 2020. In the work, Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and bassist and composer Gregory Richardson lead eight dancers and a five-piece band in a performance that explores tap’s lineage and connections to other Afrodiasporic forms. Together the pair embrace shared roots across the diaspora and reflect on racial and cultural identity, while also celebrating the joy, strength, depth, and virtuosity of Black dance and music.
Additional Events during the Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” at Catskill Mountain Foundation, February 28–March 12, 2022 – Sunday, March 12 – Show-and-tell for the public – For more information, visit catskillmtn.org.
Silas Farley. – Photo: Jenny Douglass
DANCE
New York City Ballet: Silas Farley
Sunday, April 24, 7:30 pm
Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of New York City Ballet’s (NYCB) landmark Stravinsky Festival, former NYCB Corps de Ballet member and beloved City Ballet the Podcast host Silas Farley rejoins his colleagues to create a world premiere, his first for NYCB, featuring a score by David K. Israel and based on a series of compositional exchanges between composer Igor Stravinsky and composer George Balanchine. On April 24, prior to the work’s May 5 premiere as part of New York City Ballet’s Spring Gala, Farley and Israel participate in a moderated discussion and company dancers perform highlights from the new commission.
WORKS & PROCESS DANCE AND MUSIC COMMISSION
The Missing Element – World Premiere
Sunday, May 15, and Monday, May 16, 7:30 pm
Digital Highlight: Works & Process at Lincoln Center – The Missing Element
Fusing the virtuosic music-making of beatbox with awe-inspiring street dance, The Missing Element, commissioned by Works & Process, marries the cypher widely found in rap, beatbox, and break dance with the circular architecture of the Guggenheim Museum and its Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Peter B. Lewis Theater. Creative directors Chris Celiz, a world champion beatboxer, and b-boy Anthony Vito Rodriguez “Invertebrate” assemble a formidable cast that comprises Krumper Brian “Hallow Dreamz” Henry, flexers Joseph Carella “Klassic” and King Havoc, breakers Graham Reese “B-boy Kilo” and Rodriguez, and members of the Beatbox House, including Amit Bhowmick, Celiz, Neil Meadows “NaPoM,” Gene Shinozaki, and Kenny Urban.
Created at the peak of the pandemic in two Works & Process bubble residencies, The Missing Element is an immersive experience exploring the universal elements of earth, wind, fire, water, and space. During the performance, street dancers and beatboxers utilize their abilities to embark on an adventure of sound and dance. All music and sound featured is 100% human-generated.
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WORKS & PROCESS TICKETS: $35, $15 partial view. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available for purchase online only at worksandproces.org.
House seats may be available for $1,000+ Friends of Works & Process. To purchase house seats, email friends@worksandprocess.org. House seats may be released to the public before performances.
To learn more about the Guggenheim Works & Process 2022, Please visit their website.
To read the Guggenheim’s Covid-19 Safety Measures and what to expect when visiting, please click HERE.
Written and compiled by Jeff Slayton from a Michelle Tabnick Public Relations press release.
Featured image: “The Missing Element” with Chris Celiz and Anthony Rodriguez “Invertebrate,” Works & Process bubble performance, March 30, 2021, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Featuring Gene Shinozaki, Joseph Carella “Klassic,” Graham Reese “bboy-kilo”, Kenny Urban, Brian “HallowDreamz” Henry, Neil “NaPoM” Meadows, Anthony Rodriguez “Invertebrate,” Huwer Anthony Marche Jr. “King Havoc,” Chris Celiz, and Amit Bhowmick. – Photo: Dancing Camera
