The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a groundbreaking residency program and incubator for New York City choreographers and dance companies at 13 City University of New York (CUNY) campuses, announces its Winter/Spring 2020 performance calendar.
CDI is presenting five world premiere performances between now and May 2020: Princess Grace Award-winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb's company, Pigeonwing Dance presents Plexus: a work in knots, set to a commissioned electroacoustic score by James Budinich (February 7 at John Jay College); Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre looks back on two decades of inventive dance-making with Hindsight (March 5-7 at Baruch Performing Arts Center);
Abdul Latif's collective, D2D-T, makes its debut with EYESPOT, his first solo season in New York City, featuring Brahms compositions overlaid by live vocal rhythms (March 26-28 at Baruch Performing Arts Center); ColemanCollective tackles pervasive issues of bullying and harassment in Fruit Punch (May 15-16 at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center); Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez, known for combining traditional Flamenco with contemporary global influences, explore the rich rhythms of their form in Tierra Flamenca (May 22 at City College Center for the Arts). Details on the performances, which are all open to the public, are below.
In addition to these performance residencies, ten other artists are benefiting from creative rehearsal residencies this spring at CUNY campuses in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx: As Arts NY Dance, Chuck Wilt/UNA, Edgard Toro,
Gaby Cook/Wild Rhythm Dance Company, Gierre Godley/Project 44, Kayla Hamilton, Alethea Pace, Pony Box Dance Theatre, Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, and Vissi Dance Theater. These CDI resident artists will hold free open rehearsals, informal showings, or master classes to connect directly with communities surrounding each host campus, offering audiences throughout the boroughs opportunities to experience dance in all its forms.
WINTER/SPRING 2020 PERFORMANCES
Gabrielle Lamb/Pigeonwing Dance: Plexus: a work in knots (world premiere)
Friday, February 7 at 7:30pm
John Jay College, Gerald W. Lynch Theater
$25 / $15 students and seniors
http://bit.ly/PigeonwingPlexus / 212-237-8005
Princess Grace Award winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb premieres a new evening-length work, performed by seven members of her own company, Pigeonwing Dance. Set to a commissioned electroacoustic score by James Budinich, Plexus: a work in knots is a complex dance of interdependent bodies, a mysterious network of fluctuating loyalties built upon an unsteady balance of power.
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre: Hindsight (world premiere)
Thursday - Saturday, March 5 - 7 at 7:30pm
Baruch Performing Arts Center
$26 / $11 students
http://bit.ly/AmandaSelwyn2020 / 646-312-4079
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre celebrates 20 years with an evening-length dance theatre work, Hindsight. With a focus on reflection and memory, this world premiere references motifs and signature structures from two decades of richly layered repertory by the choreographer known for her "distinctive, off-kilter elegance" (The New Yorker).
Abdul Latif - D2D/T: EYESPOT (world premiere)
Thursday - Saturday, March 26 - 28 at 7:30pm
Baruch Performing Arts Center
$26 / $11 students
http://bit.ly/ALatifEyespot / 646-312-4079
In EYESPOT,
Abdul Latif remixes Brahms' Three Songs for Six Part Choir, Op. 42 with percussive vocal rhythms, performed live by Latif himself, and accompanied by New York City Ballet Orchestra bassist Ron Wasserman. This season marks the premiere of Latif's artist collective, D2D-T, and harnesses the talents of dancers
Georgina Pazcoguin (NYCB) and Calvin Royal III (ABT). Latif's hybrid choreography traces a movement etymology that connects multi-armed Hindu god modality with intersections between classical ballet port de bras and house vogueing.
ColemanCollective: Fruit Punch (world premiere)
Friday & Saturday, May 15 & 16 at 7:30pm
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
$25 / $20 students
www.tribecapac.org / 212-220-1460
Fruit Punch tackles the pervasive issues of harassment and bullying that deeply impact personal development, self-esteem, and productivity. Created by the Co-Directors of ColemanCollective (Cain Coleman,
Matthew Perez and Charisma Glasper), and influenced by
The Weinstein Company documentary, "Bully" (2012), this evening length work is an abstract theatrical journey, crisscrossing childhood and adulthood to explore parallels between bullying in schools and oppression in later years.
Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez Flamenco Company: Tierra Flamenca (world premiere)
Friday, May 22 at 7:00pm
City College Center for the Arts
$25 (student discount available)
www.citycollegecenterforthearts.org / 212-650-6900
Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernandez have shared the stage with Flamenco greats and choreographed for Madonna and
Ricky Martin. Their new show, Tierra Flamenca, brings together dancers and musicians to explore Flamenco's roots within a structure improvised around the art form's percussive rhythms. Each artist uses their own instrument -- their feet, a hand clap or a guitar string - to play with rhythm and open new avenues of expression while respecting the rules of Flamenco.
