Sunday, July 10, 2022
3-6 pm
The semi-circle lawns behind the Museum of Jewish Heritage
Battery Park, NYC (scroll down for map)
A gathering of sorts is a surrealist picnic hosted by the SOKOLOW THEATRE/DANCE ENSEMBLE, in celebration of the 115th birthday of beloved painter Frida Kahlo.
Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble is the living legacy company dedicated to presenting Anna Sokolow’s vast body of emotionally riveting work. Over a 70 year career, Ms. Sokolow continuously broke the silo of modern dance, focusing on the human experience and accessing any genre to fulfill her artistic purpose. Her masterpieces remain relevant to our times and touch the hearts of all people as we struggle with the universal issues of living, regardless of differences in place and culture. ST/DE was founded by Sokolow protégé Jim May and is currently under the artistic direction of Samantha Géracht.
Guest artists Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance envision dance as a powerful force that can help move us toward a more embodied, sustainable and equitable future. Their work aims to investigate the relationship of the moving body to the ecologies we inhabit through performance, media, education and activism. They have an ongoing commitment to advocate for climate justice through the creation of choreography—for stage, screen and street—that merges scientific and artistic research.
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Frida (excerpt)
Choreography: Anna Sokolow
Music: Lola Beltran
Dancer: Margherita Tisato
Based on her personal relationship with Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Anna Sokolow shaped an intimate portrait in dance. Kahlo and Sokolow each harnessed the transformative power of art to allow us to face pain and grief. Today’s performance is done in honor of Frida Kahlo’s 115th birthday (July 6).
“The Lovers” and “Ago” (excerpts from Magritte, Magritte)
Choreography: Anna Sokolow
Music: Alexander Scriabin
Text: John White
Dancers (The Lovers): Ilana Ruth Cohen and Brad Orego
Speaker (Ago): Samuel Humphreys
Anna Sokolow’s 1980 tribute to surrealist painter René Magritte brings his paintings into action with a blend of dance, theater, music, visual imagery and poetry. The work takes a journey of dream-like illogic: sensuous, bizarre, mysterious, comic.
Plastic Harvest
Choreography: Jody Sperling
Music: Matthew Burtner
Costume: Lauren Gaston
Dancer: Maki Kitahara
In billowing costume made of hundreds of plastic bags, Plastic Harvest is a folk dance for the 21st Century, the city dump instead of the village green.
American Elm
Choreography: Jody Sperling
Music: Matthew Burtner
Dancer: Jody Sperling
Costume constructed by Mary Jo Mecca; textile painting by Gina Nagy Burns
“Awakening climate consciousness is critical. A lot of people are fearful, and they cannot act. You have to give them a lifeline, and one important thing is positive visioning. If you can imagine a tree growing on Amsterdam Avenue, it’s an acknowledgement that trees once grew there, and there were people who lived in harmony with those trees, and we can learn from how they lived. And we can plant trees there again.“ (Jody Sperling in Dance Enthusiast)
Directions
The semi-circle lawns behind the Museum of Jewish Heritage
Battery Park, NYC
Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble website
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We are grateful for donations large or small, which makes it possible for us to support our dancers and share Anna Sokolow’s work, honoring the human experience with composure, strength, intuitiveness, and compassion.