Bryant Park Moves: Free Limón Dance Classes

Bryant Park offers free Limón Dance classes led by former and current members of the internationally renowned modern dance company, Limón Dance. Classes are being held at the Bryant Park Lawn every Saturday morning through September 7 from 10:00-11:00 AM. Classes are open to all levels and ages.

National Dance Institute (NDI) Celebration Team Performance At Rockefeller Plaza

Last Saturday, September 10, the National Dance Institute (NDI) Celebration Team offered two performances at Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan. The young and very talented dancers also engaged audience members in an NDI dance class demonstration.

National Dance Institute (NDI) is a non-profit arts education organization founded in 1976 by ballet star Jacques d'Amboise. Through in-school partnerships, workshops, and public performances, NDI employs dance as a tool to engage and motivate children. Since 1976, the lives of over 2 million public school children have been influenced by NDI through arts and learning programs that are offered free to the children. NDI is currently under the artistic leadership of Ellen Weinstein and a staff of professional dancers, choreographers, musicians and composers.

World Premiere of STREB's "Human Fountain" Makes A Splash At World Financial Center Plaza In Downtown Manhattan

Elizabeth Streb

Earlier this evening, the world premiere of STREB’s “Human Fountain” took place at the World Financial Center Plaza in downtown Manhattan as part of “Extraordinary Moves: A Celebration of Dance through Movement, Film and Art.” This fantastic outdoor performance art involves artists leaping from as high as 30 feet from a three-story structure in order to create cascades of airborne bodies, like a human fountain. This work was inspired by the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas. The free performances will be repeated on Friday July 15 at 12:00 noon and 6:00 PM, and on Saturday, July 16 at 2:00, 4:00 and 6:00 PM at the World Financial Center.

Dance Review from the New York Times (Gia Kourlas):

The main attraction is Elizabeth Streb’s new “Human Fountain,” inspired by the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, and it doesn’t disappoint. Ms. Streb is a rare choreographer whose work looks amazing outside: in “Human Fountain” the juxtaposition of sky, steel and flesh add up to a breathtaking convergence of materials. The dancers take their spots on a three-tiered structure — it rises 30 feet — designed by Ms. Streb and Hudson Scenic Studio. Dropping like logs, they fall horizontally through the air and land on thick mats to mimic the speed and frequency of shooting water. It seems inconceivable, but with lightness and force, the dancers show the distinction between a graceful arc and a harsh, humorous spurt. For the company, which operates with military precision, getting to the right spot on time might be even more harrowing than jumping. (You can even sense the performers’ brief flash of trepidation.) Watching “Human Fountain” is to live a little vicariously, but even better, the piece is about what you see in a delicate split second: the point at which danger and beauty hang in the air.

Dance (I) By Henri Matisse

 

(Audio from the Museum of Modern Art website - MoMA Multimedia)

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has an extraordinary art collection of modern and contemporary art such as this painting called "Dance (I)" by French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954). The painting was done in early 1909 in Paris, Boulevard des Invalides. This oil on canvas, 8' 6 1/2" x 12' 9 1/2" (259.7 x 390.1 cm) is currently on view as part of the Abstract Expressionist New York Exhibit which runs through April 25.

From the MOMA Gallery Caption:

In March 1909, Matisse received a commission from the Russian merchant Sergei Shchukin for two large decorative panels, Dance and Music (now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). This painting was made quickly as a compositional study for Dance, which was intended to hang on a staircase landing at Shchukin's Trubetskoy Palace, in Moscow. The figure at left appears to move purposefully, while the other dancers seem to float weightlessly. The momentum of their movement breaks the circle as the arm of the foreground dancer reaches out. Dance, Matisse once said, evoked "life and rhythm."

Douglas Dunn And Dancers In Central Park

When I went to Central Park last Sunday to see the ING New York City marathon, I serendipitously caught a public performance of the Douglas Dunn and Dancers in Central Park. Above are some images of the performance choreographed by Douglas Dunn, a prominent American postmodern dancer and choreographer.