{Dd} Short Short List 9/22-10/5
1. Kyle Abraham at NYLA
MacArthur Genius, Bessie-award winner, and all around critical darling Kyle Abraham takes over New York Live Arts for the next two weeks. Abraham’s company, Abraham.In.Motion, has been at NYLA for the past two years, the second recipient of its unique residency program that gives artists the time and funding to create whatever they can imagine. In this case, that is not one work but two: The Watershed, an evening-length work following the history of civil rights in the United States from the antebellum era onwards, and When the Wolves Came In, a series dances exploring the struggle for civil rights in the United States and South Africa.
The Watershed: Sep 23, 24, 26, Oct 1, 3 at 7:30pm.
All tickets $15-40 at New York Live Arts.
2. New York City Ballet: 21st Century Choreographers–and a last chance to see Wendy Whelan
There are more than enough reasons to go see this night at the ballet, but if you need two: a world premiere by Justin Peck, and Wendy Whelan. Peck is a rising star in the ballet world, and Whelan is taking her final bow at Lincoln Center on October 18th. In one of the last programs before her goodbye show, she is performing in Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth, which is the first piece I saw her dance in person, and what made me understand her importance as a dancer. (In other words, it was utterly breathtaking, and won her a standing ovation. No video clip I’ve seen comes close to doing it justice.)
Oct 2 at 7:30. This program will also be performed Oct 7, 9, and 11.
3. Big Dance Theater at BAM
Big Dance Theater continues to blur the lines between dance, theater, and film with “Alan Smithee Directed This Play: Triple Feature.” Taking the name “Alan Smithee” from the pseudonym the Directors Guild of America allows filmmakers to use when they wish to remove their name or refuse authorship of a film. Exploring questions of authorship and ownership, BDT takes pieces of films and novels to create a greater whole.
Sept 30-Oct 4 at 7:30 at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Tickets $20-$60.