NEW ISLAND FESTIVAL Provides Shows, Installations, and Music Acts For All Ages
By: Gabrielle Sierra Sep. 01, 2009
The New Island Festival will provide many theatrical shows, art installations and music acts that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Highlighted below are eight of the festival's family-friendly offerings that will be featured on New York's Governors Island from September 10-13 and again from September 17-20. The festival will kick off the fall with provocative theatre, stunning site specific performance, dazzling visual arts and exhilarating DJ sets, performed by world class Dutch performers. More than 150 artists will perform during the festival. Governors Island is easily accessible via a FREE and very short ferry ride.
Silent Disco - KIDS ONLY!
Adventure stories and fairy tales in the midst of exciting dance workshops. Up to 12 years old.
www.silentdisco.com
ADMISSION IS FREE (with the purchase of a passport)
Seven years ago, two friends organized a secret party at the campsite of the Dutch festival, Parade. Even though DJs were spinning sets and everyone was dancing, the people sleeping in their tents nearby never heard a sound - all the music was broadcast on wireless headphones.
The "KIDS ONLY!" version of Silent Disco features Deejay BIG KING BING (Bing Wiersma), a theatre maker who lost his heart to the Silent Disco about 5 years ago. Like all Silent Disco deejays he'll play a bit of everything.
The Archaeological Dig
Touch the history on Governors Island. An amazing archaeological site exclusively open to the public.
ADMISSION IS $3.00 (Ages 3-12); FREE (Below 3 years old); $5.00 (Ages 12+)
Join the adventure and bring your family to explore the remnants of one of the oldest settlements in New York City. Connecting adults and kids to the history of New York City, this once in a lifetime experience puts you in a front row seat to an incredible and never before seen exploration to what lies under Governors Island.
Dating back nearly four centuries, this small village was the only civilian community on the military island. Its few remaining inhabitants were forced to evacuate in the 1950s and the town had since been forgotten, until demolition workers accidentally stumbled onto the site.
In 2009 the southern half of the Island was opened to the public for the first time. Now, researchers are mining the area for clues about New York's past. The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) has agreed to temporarily make the site available for viewing.
Tuig's Salto Vitale
An energetic and dizzying effort to raise a 45 foot wooden structure with a man on top.
ADMISSION IS FREE
Salto Vitale is a performance that takes place up to 45 feet above the ground. Inch by inch, a giant wooden structure is erected, with a man clinging to the top. After struggling with their bare hands to put this contraption together, the performers eventually arrive at the moment of truth. Suspended high above the crowd, what will this man decide to do? It's a thrilling visual experience for people of all ages. Don't miss it!
SleM's Wind Nomads
An awe-inspiring gathering of 400 paintings flapping their wings in the wind.
ADMISSION IS FREE
The Wind Nomads is an expansive and magnificently colorful gathering of 400 large paintings. Flapping in the breeze like an endless flock of gargantuan butterflies, this remarkably beautiful mixture of art and landscape is an arresting spectacle to behold.
Flying Piano
Set up on the streets of Manhattan and Governors Island, this 22 year old prodigy and her grand piano offer a fresh perspective on classical music.
ADMISSION IS FREE
As New Yorkers rush to work early in the morning, they may have some difficulty reconciling the site of Iris Hond and her Flying Piano - set up in the street - playing Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff. After this Manhattan wake-up call, Hond will move to Governors Island to perform for festival goers, with the skyline as backdrop.
Spatial Effect's Waterwalk on the Hudson
Theo Botschuijver will try out his walking shoes - on water - in this one of a kind installation.
ADMISSION IS FREE
Waterwalk emerged more or less by accident in the late 60s after Theo Botschuijver and Jeffrey Shaw began experimenting with inflatable cushions. Their first tests drew worldwide attention, and before long they were rigging Sean Connery to walk on the Pacific in the classic James Bond film "Diamonds are Forever."
Since then, they've put pedestrians inside inflatable triangles, tubes, and spheres, having them stroll across rivers, oceans, and lakes, in Europe and Australia. Preparations are under way for the biggest Waterwalk ever - cycling in a plastic ball from Dover to Calais. This will be the first Waterwalk in the United States, and it's well timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's expedition.
Ferry-Welcoming Show
High-voltage incidents and accidents from one of The Netherlands' most exciting street theatre companies.
ADMISSION IS FREE
High-voltage incidents and accidents from one of The Netherlands' most exciting street theatre companies. At the Ferry-Welcoming Show, performer Pieter Post will welcome you to the island with his gamut of wild tricks.
The New Island Festival is part of NY400, which celebrates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage from Amsterdam to New York Harbor, and commemorates 400 years of enduring friendship between the Netherlands and the United States.
PRODUCERS/SPONSORS
New Island Festival comes to New York under the artistic leadership of Joop Mulder (Oerol Festival) and Terts Brinkhoff (de Parade/Mobile Arts). David Binder is the producer, and Henk Scholten (Theater Instituut Nederland) is the executive director. Co-presenters are The Joyce Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Performance Space 122, St. Anne's Warehouse, Dance New Amsterdam, The Figment Festival, HERE Arts Center and The Under The Radar Festival.
Amstel Light, Heineken, ING, Time Out New York and TheaterMania.com are the official sponsors of the festival.
New Island Festival is made possible by NY400, Oerol Festival, Mobile Arts, Netherlands Theatre Institute, City of Amsterdam, Flanders House, The Province of Fryslân, and the Consulate General of The Netherlands in New York.
New Island Festival thanks the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York.
HOURS OF OPERATION
New Island Festival will play Thursday-Sunday on the following schedule:
Thursday 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
PASSPORTS / TICKETING
To experience the full range of theatrical productions and events at the New Island Festival, it is recommended that patrons purchase a $35 all-access one-day Passport. When you arrive on Governors Island and pick up your Passport at the Festival box office on the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", you'll have a chance to choose from a wide variety of shows taking place at the Festival that day. With your Passport, tickets to nearly everything are FREE and will be provided by the box office exclusively to Passport holders on a same-day, first-come, first-served basis until one hour prior to showtime. For additional information and to purchase Passports, visit www.NewIslandFestival.com.
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