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swanlake1998 · 3 years

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Article: Five Pioneering Black Ballerinas: ‘We Have to Have a Voice’

Date: June 17, 2021

By: Karen Valby

These early Dance Theater of Harlem stars met weekly on Zoom — to survive the isolation of the pandemic and to reclaim their role in dance history.

Last May, adrift in a suddenly untethered world, five former ballerinas came together to form the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy. Every Tuesday afternoon, they logged onto Zoom from around the country to remember their time together performing with Dance Theater of Harlem, feeling that magical turn in early audiences from skepticism to awe.

Life as a pioneer, life in a pandemic: They have been friends for over half a century, and have held each other up through far harder times than this last disorienting year. When people reached for all manners of comfort, something to give purpose or a shape to the days, these five women turned to their shared past.

In their cozy, rambling weekly Zoom meetings, punctuated by peals of laughter and occasional tears, they revisited the fabulousness of their former lives. With the background of George Floyd’s murder and a pandemic disproportionately affecting the Black community, the women set their sights on tackling another injustice. They wanted to reinscribe the struggles and feats of those early years at Dance Theater of Harlem into a cultural narrative that seems so often to cast Black excellence aside.

“There’s been so much of African American history that’s been denied or pushed to the back,” said Karlya Shelton-Benjamin, 64, who first brought the idea of a legacy council to the other women. “We have to have a voice.”

They knew as young ballet students that they’d never be chosen for roles like Clara in “The Nutcracker” or Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake.” They were told by their teachers to switch to modern dance or to aim for the Alvin Ailey company if they wanted to dance professionally, regardless of whether they felt most alive en pointe.

Arthur Mitchell was like a lighthouse to the women. Mitchell, the first Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet and a protégé of the choreographer George Balanchine, had a mission: to create a home for Black dancers to achieve heights of excellence unencumbered by ignorance or tradition. Ignited by the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he founded Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969 with Karel Shook.

Lydia Abarca-Mitchell, Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan were founding dancers of his new company with McKinney-Griffith, 71, soon taking on the role of its first ballet mistress. Within the decade, Shelton-Benjamin and Marcia Sells joined as first generation dancers.

Abarca-Mitchell, 70, spent her childhood in joyless ballet classes but never saw an actual performance until she was 17 at the invitation of Mitchell, her new teacher. “I’ll never forget what Arthur did onstage” she said of his Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at New York City Ballet during a Tuesday session in January. “He made the ballet so natural. Suddenly it wasn’t just this ethereal thing anymore. I felt it in my bones.”

Marcia Sells, 61, remembered being 9 and watching with mouth agape when Abarca-Mitchell, McKinney-Griffith and Rohan performed with Dance Theater in her hometown, Cincinnati. “There in front of me were Black ballerinas,” Sells said during a video call in April. “That moment was the difference in my life. Otherwise I don’t think it would’ve been possible for me to think of a career in ballet.”

Shelton-Benjamin left her Denver ballet company, where she was the only Black dancer, turning down invitations from the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theater, after reading a story about Dance Theater of Harlem in Dance magazine. Abarca-Mitchell was on that issue’s cover — the first Black woman to have that honor. At her Harlem audition, Shelton-Benjamin witnessed company members hand-dying their shoes and ribbons and tights to match the hues of their skin. Here, no traditional ballet pink would interrupt the beauty of their lines. “I had never seen a Black ballerina before, let alone a whole company,” Shelton-Benjamin, 64, said during a February Zoom meeting. “All I could think was, ‘Where have you guys been?’”

Finding one another back then, at the height of the civil rights movement, allowed them to have careers while challenging a ballet culture that had been claimed by white people. “We were suddenly ambassadors,” Abarca-Mitchell said. “And we were all in it together.”

They traveled to American cities that presented such a hostile environment that Mitchell would cancel the performance the night of, lest his company feel disrespected. But they also danced for kings and queens and presidents. In 1979, a review in The Washington Post declared their dancing to be a “purer realization of the Balanchinean ideal than anyone else’s.” Their adventures offstage were similarly electric, like the night in Manchester when Mick Jagger invited them out on the town. “We walked into the club with him and everybody just moved out of the way,” Shelton-Benjamin said.

Cultural memory can be spurious and shortsighted. Abarca-Mitchell was the first Black prima ballerina for a major company, performing works like Balanchine’s “Agon” and “Bugaku” and William Dollar’s “Le Combat” to raves. In an April Zoom session she said she first realized how left out of history she was when her daughter went online to prove to a friend that her mother was the first Black prima ballerina. But all she found was the name Misty Copeland, hailed as the first. “And my daughter was so mad. She said: ‘Where’s your name? Where’s your name?’ It was a wake-up call.”

While Abarca-Mitchell paused to wipe her eyes, Shelton-Banjamin stepped in: “I want to echo what Lydia said. There was a point where I asked the women, ‘Did it all really happen? Was I really a principal dancer?’ And Lydia told me: ‘Don’t do that! Yes, you were. We’re here to tell you, you were.”

Sells went on to a career that included serving as the dean of Harvard Law School, until she left this year to become the Metropolitan Opera’s first chief diversity officer. Shelton-Benjamin is now a jeweler who recently became certified in diamond grading. She, along with Abarca-Mitchell, McKinney-Griffith and Rohan, continue to coach and teach dance. They all have families, including another grandchild on the way for McKinney-Griffith, who announced the happy news to whoops on a recent call.

But they are done swallowing a mythology of firstness that excludes them, along with fellow pioneers like Katherine Dunham, Debra Austin, Raven Wilkinson, Lauren Anderson and Aesha Ash. It’s true that Misty Copeland is American Ballet Theater’s first Black female principal. It is also true that she stands on the shoulders of the founding and first generation dancers at Dance Theater. A narrative that suggests otherwise, Sells said, “Simply makes ballet history weak and small.”

Worse, it perpetuates the belief that Blackness in ballet is a one-off rather than a continuing fact. And it suggests a lonely existence for dancers like Copeland, a world absent of peers. “We could’ve been Misty’s aunties,” Abarca-Mitchell said. “I wish she was part of our sisterhood, that’s all.”

Dance Theater saved them from being the only one in a room. The work was so hard, the expectations so high, the mission so urgent, that those early days demanded a familial support system among the dancers. “Someone would take you under their wing and say, ‘You’re my daughter or sister or brother,’” McKinney-Griffith said. “The men did it also. Karlya was my little sister, and we kept that through the years.”

Like in any family, the relationships are complicated. The women speak of feeling shut out of today’s Dance Theater of Harlem. They are rarely brought in for workshops or consultations on the ballets they were taught by Mitchell. At his memorial service in 2018, they wept in the pews unacknowledged. “We’re like orphans,” Rohan said with a laugh in a Zoom session. “If the outside world neglects us, it seems all the more reason that Dance Theater of Harlem should embrace us.”

Virginia Johnson, a fellow founding member, is now the company’s artistic director. She assumed the helm in 2013 when Dance Theater returned after an eight-year hiatus caused by financial instability. “It makes me sad to think that they feel excluded,” Johnson said in a phone interview. “And it’s not because I don’t want them. It’s just because I can’t manage. I’ve probably missed some chances but it’s not like I haven’t thought about the value of what they bring to the company. They are the bodies, the soul, the spirit of Dance Theater of Harlem.”

“We all think about and love and respect what Arthur Mitchell did,” she added, “but these are the people he worked with to make this company.”

By the end of May, the five members of the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy were fully vaccinated. They traveled from Denver, Atlanta, Connecticut, South Jersey and, in Sells’s case, five blocks north of Dance Theater of Harlem for a joyful reunion. So much is different now at the building on 152nd Street. The old fire escape in Studio 3 where they’d catch their breath or wipe tears of frustration is gone. So are the big industrial fans in the corners of the room, replaced by central air conditioning. But they can still feel their leader all around them in the room. Crying, Abarca-Mitchell told McKinney-Griffith, “I miss Arthur.” (Though they all laugh when imagining his response to their legacy council. “I do believe he would try to control us,” Rohan said. “’What are you doing now? Why are you doing that? Let me suggest that. …’”)

The body remembers. In Studio 3, all Shelton-Benjamin had to do was hum a few notes of Balanchine’s “Serenade” and say “and” for the women to grandly sweep their right arms up. “These women help validate my worth,” Abarca-Mitchell said afterward. “I don’t want to take it for granted that people should recognize Lydia Abarca. But when I’m with them I feel like I felt back then. Important.”

Even as the world reopens and they grow busy again, they’ll carry on with their Tuesday afternoons. They want to amplify more alumni voices. They dream of launching a scholarship program for young dancers of color. This fall, they’ll host a webinar in honor of the director and choreographer Billy Wilson, whose daughter Alexis was also part of Dance Theater.

“What we have is a spiritual connection,” said Rohan, who turns 80 this year. She was 27 when she joined the company, already married and hiding from Mitchell that she was a mother of three young children for fear it get her kicked out. When she eventually confessed a year later, he got mad, insisting he would have increased her salary if he’d known she had mouths to feed.

“Arthur planted a seed in me, and all these beautiful women helped it grow,” she said. “Coming from Staten Island, I was just a country girl from the projects. My first time on a plane was to go to Europe to dance on those stages. I thanked God every day for the experience. This year, coming together again, I remembered how much it all meant to me. I didn’t have to be a star ballerina. It was enough that I was there. I was there. I was there.”

#article #ballet #the ny times #marcia sells #sheila rohan #gayle mckinney griffith #karlya shelton-benjamin #lydia abarca #virginia johnson

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thatshighlyoffensive · 7 years

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That’s Highly Offensive: 2018 Golden Globes

Y’all know I only wear all black all the time, so I find the fact that Hollywood is "uniting" against whatever tonight by wearing all black to be kind of a stupid way to pussy foot around the issue, but who asked me? This should have been a night when the carpet looked the way I think it should at all times, but honestly, a lot of stuff looked makeshift and cheap to me. And WHAT was with all the skirts-over-pants nonsense?? I thought that was over. Also, forgive the overuse of the funeral garb schtick but what choice did I have?

Wow. It's rare that the first look I see ends up being the worst dressed of the night, but Debra Messing has just taken the cake, eaten it, made another cake, eaten that, made another one, and took that too. I know it's cliché but MESSing says it all. #thefacesofmeth That emerald eyeshadow and those Elvira for Family Dollar false lashes!! And WHAT is that dent in her forehead?? I’ll tell you what it is… bad Botox. Or Juvaderm. Or whatever expired baby bunny cartilage her dermo found in Karen Walker’s dumpster. Oh and also, she’s wearing the dress version of Liza’s putty kkk hood shoes and it’s all HIGHLY offensive.

Kelly Clarkson- "From Justin to King Midas" if King Midas was a lizard...

Kristin Cavallari went as 1999 Oscars Angelina Jolie but with a ballerina's bun and I'm not ok with it.

I honestly have nothing bad to say about Tracee Ellis Ross’s outfit. The phrase ‘Charmin Noir’ comes to mind, but let’s not bc you know how much I love a turban/wrap!

Meryl Streep: You bore me to tears. I like your glasses.

It seems to be literally KILLING Giuliana Rancid that she can’t ask “Who are you wearing?” bc she is incapable of NOT pointing out the fact that she’s not asking that question to every person she's interviewed. And as always, she looks like the Queen from Antz but this year her skin is a particularly orange shade of Oscar Meyer all beef frank. She also has one of the most bulbous horse hair dino ponytails I’ve ever seen. She's like the anorexic version of Starla from Napoleon Dynamite. AND HER TAN LINES! I didn't know you got those from bottled self tanner...

Catherine Zeta Jones: I am still obsessed with CZJ even after recently rewatching Ocean’s Twelve for the first time since Cat and I fell asleep in the theater. Her face, her body, her dress, her earrings, her love for her thousand year old father in law… I am fully behind all of it!

Penelope Cruz: See above. #stunning

I don't know who this woman from Outlander is but I do know she better be on her way to audition at Tweetsie Railroad.

Connie Britton: NO.

Jessica Biel and J. Tim- don’t NO ONE CARE. I don’t know one person who watched ‘The Sinner’ (most people didn’t even know what I was talking about when I asked if they’d heard of it), so the fact that she is nominated is a testament to that Sexy Back money and nothing more. Just her talking about being a producer of the show is like… We get it…you’re the only one who would pay you to be an actress anymore. PS, your arms are fabulous.

Mandy Candy Moore: Olé!

Holy shit Diane Kruger looks amazing.

Unfortunately, Sarah Paulson is one of those I feel looks like she's in something cheap. Really cheap. Like she stole a leotard from the Xanadu Mourning collection and wrapped a table cloth around herself. And I can't say I love the choppiness of her bob.

Michele Williams- I’m still not over how ridiculous you looked on Dawson’s Creek, but your pixie has grown on me over the last few years but OHMYGOD what is that shelf in the back? Lloyd Christmas called…

Seth Myers looks like the singing sword and a foot had a baby and named it Cheremy.

Jamie Chung- First of all, why are you here? Secondly, you look like the winner of a ‘Grunge Bride’ themed stripper contest sponsored by Hefty in 2002. Those shoes….

Alexis Bledel- Let’s get this out of the way: I can’t stand you. You’re a mumbler with creepy Kewpie doll eyes and mouth. But as for what you’re wearing, GASP you’re not wearing solid black so you obviously don’t care about women!! But also, you must not care about yourself either because you look like one of Ariel’s sisters and Dionysus had a baby and it came out haunted.

Why is Dave Franco wearing so much rouge????

Alison Brie- Ok, you can channel Audrey Hepburn, I guess. Although her dress does resemble my senior prom dress from Cache. Oh wait- there’s a pants leg. You’re trash.

William H. Macy: Did Grubby die? That’s the only reason I can think of for Teddy Ruxpin to show up to the Golden Globes in all black…

Gal Gadot is clearly going to an audition for "A Chorus Line" after the Globes. Why else would she steal a maitre'd's jacket and cut it in half?

Saoirse Ronan looks perfect all around. I need all of it immediately, even though I’d look more like Bruce Villanche dressed in drag doing a David Bowie tribute than her svelte awesomeness…

Eva Longoria looks like a pregnant Sharpie.

It took me a solid 3 seconds & a glance at the caption to figure out I was looking at Halle Berry and not some mixed berry bag of Skittles from a prom themed episode of the CW’s Gossip Girl revival. And her bangs look gross and ridiculous. #whywontsheage??

I take it back: Reese Witherspoon looks like the pregnant Sharpie. Or maybe her daughter has decided to become a fashion designer and this was her first foray into an origami—inspired collection? #blacktobasics

Nicole Kidman (or Nicky Kickin it in the Moulin Rouge, as Jack McFarland calls her) looks flawless, as always. The one negative thing I will say is that I find flutter fly cap sleeves to be among the most offensive things in adult female fashion (mainly because the only humans that can pull them off are pre-teens, anorexics and Kate Moss (not that she’d ever wear them).

Viola Davis wins everything. Omg that hair and makeup and jewelry and dress. ⚰️⚰️⚰️

Did Zac-without-a-K Efron want people to mistake him for Milo Ventimiglia? Is that the reason for the mustache? Why is he even there? GASP! Are they already remaking High School Musical (because you know that’s in the works…) with him starring as Troy again?!? #prayerhands

Why exactly is Naomi Campbell at the Golden Globes, must less in a piece from the never-to-be-seen sketches Vivienne Westwood did for Guy Richie’s new pandering remake starring Madonna as Herlock Holmes?

Lily James- You are gorgeous perfection and I mean that because anyone that stars in a live action Disney remake is automatically on my shit list (I’m looking at you, Emmas Stone and Watson…) but what the actual hell are you wearing? You look like a Project Runway contestant’s submission on the theme “Maleficent’s entrance to the party.”

Octavia Spencer looks like the teacher who got to play Glinda’s role in a #metoo fundraising, high school production of Wicked after the lead was stricken with mono.

Greta Gerwig- I’m tempted to allow it, but only if you’re intentionally channeling Marchesa Luisa Casati.

Angelina Jolie- oh. my. god. I know I’m biased (as one of her long lost, adopted children she’s never acknowledged or heard of) but I cannot say one bad thing about this, especially since I’ve been in 100% Bombshell Manual mode lately and anything with feathers or frills or femininity is giving me LIFE. #bestdressed

Elizabeth Moss: from Polly to Pollyana. Anyone that gets that is my lifelong friend and anyone that doesn’t please never talk to me again. But seriously honey, that waistline is not your friend.

Jessica Chastain- I think I love everything about this but am i crazy or does it make her look a little bulky? Tell me I’m crazy. I’m crazy. (Narrator: She was definitely crazy.)

omg Maggie Gyllenhaal is wearing the same Castle Greyskull, droopy-sleeve of wizard-vagine garment as Debra Messing! Is this a thing?? Gross. And those earrings are stupid too but I don’t know why.

Emilia Clarke is perfection (minus the bow but moving on) and I don’t even love GOT.

Geena Davis stole one of CZJ’S costumes from Chicago and i can’t say that I’m angry. I will say that I’m angry that the head designer at LOFT got hold of it and added a few of those filthy lace panels before she walked the red carpet, but since she still looks pretty flawless…I’LL ALLOW IT.

As always, Lena Headey looks like the drunk, badass aunt who was a groupie before falling into acting so I love her even more than when she gets drunk and sets people on fire on tv. The dress does look like something a goth would make to wear to a Renaissance fair, but who cares when she looks that cool in it?

I love Margot Robbie more than almost anyone in Hollywood today (even though she stole my life’s dream of playing Tonya Harding. Seriously, I’d started writing a short right before they announced that movie and I’m not even kidding), but I can’t say i know exactly what she was going for with this look… an Elsa-possessed mistletoe over her womb to subtly announce she’s expecting? A tribute to the portion of Fantasia where fairies ice skate to ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ as a nod to the ice goddess she plays in ‘I, Tonya?’ I’ve been staring at it for a few minutes now and can honestly say I have no clue.

Gwendolyn Christie- I have no idea what you are wearing but I do know that I am obsessed with your GOT character so you have my permission to do whatever you please.

Kerry Washington unfortunately looks like some anorexic basic at her junior prom. And those floral net booties are what a leprechaun wears to a funeral. wtf. Oh but her hair is on point.

Kate Hudson- Je refuse.

Chris Hemsworth can do no wrong even in a suit made from a brocade table cloth and VELVETEEN shoes so don’t even worry about it, honey.

Michelle Pfeiffer- omg i am heartbroken over how matronly you look!! As anyone who knows me knows, my mother could pass as your identical twin, so I take it kind of personally when you show up on the red carpet dressed as Marian the librarian’s widowed sister, Ovarian.

Zoe Kravtiz- Sweetie, it’s already been done and its name was Natalie Portman. A chunky, funky emerald earring does make you look like Audrey Hepburn's edgy cousin though. Whatever- you still look gorgeous and I love you.

Kendall Jenner- There are so many things wrong with your look, much less your existence, but I’ll just sum it up with this: T. STRAPPED. POINTY. TOED. SHOES. Also, lay off the brow botox before you look like Debra Messing, or worse, Kylie Jenner. #gasp

Sarah Jessica Parker literally went as her character from Hocus Pocus attending a funeral.

Isabelle Huppert wins the night! Nope, spoke too soon. Her dress has those damned flutter sleeves on it too! What IS that? It’s trash, is what it is…

Roseanne Barr forgot to put a dress over her Spanx…

Ok, that's all I got. I barely watched any of the actual show bc I can't with most of those self important a-holes, so I can't comment on anything "exciting" or "interesting" that might have happened. Let me know if I missed anything highly offensive🥂

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mastcomm · 5 years

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Things to Do in N.Y.C. This February

Looking for even more reasons to get out of the house? Visit our Arts & Entertainment Guide at nytimes.com/spotlight/arts-listings.

Feb. 1

‘Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Rat’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This daylong celebration includes a parade, performances and family-friendly art activities. (While in the area, head to Rumsey Playfield in Central Park for the free winter sports festival Winter Jam, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; metmuseum.org.

Feb. 2

BAMkids Film Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A range of international works, from live-action features to animated shorts, should appeal to children of all ages. A carnival rounds out the weekend-long festivities. Feb. 1-2; bam.org.

Feb. 3

‘Five Hundred Years of Women’s Work: The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection’ at the Grolier Club. With more than 200 items, the Grolier Club’s latest exhibition documents the history of women making an independent living. Among the works are one of the first books printed by women, a 1478 history of Rome’s emperors and popes, and a copy of Mary Seacole’s 1857 autobiography, the first by a black woman in Britain. Through Feb. 8; grolierclub.org.

Feb. 4

The Moth StorySLAM at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The writer Dame Wilburn will host this iteration of StorySLAM in which 10 Harlemites will be selected to share their stories on the evening’s theme: “Only in Harlem.” Doors open at 7 p.m.; eventbrite.com.

Feb. 5

Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ at Le Poisson Rouge. The Brooklyn ensemble Darmstadt performs its interpretation of this 1964 landmark composition ahead of the musician and composer’s 85th birthday this summer. At 8 p.m.; lpr.com.

Feb. 6

Art in Dumbo’s First Thursday Gallery Walk in Brooklyn. Galleries will stay open late so visitors can browse the Triangle Arts Winter Open Studios and other galleries on their own, or join an Insider’s Tour, a free guided tour of exhibitions on view at Janet Borden and A.I.R. Gallery. (Then stroll along the East River to take in Antony Gormley’s “New York Clearing,” a monumental public work piece called “drawing in space,” at Pier 3 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.) From 6-8 p.m.; artinDUMBO.com.

Feb. 7

‘Cane River’ at BAM Rose Cinemas. Horace Jenkins died shortly after finishing this 1982 romantic melodrama tackling issues of colorism, the legacy of slavery and deceitful practices against African-American landowners. After a negative was found and painstakingly restored, the film is now getting its theatrical release. Feb. 7-20; bam.org.

Feb. 8

Animation First Festival at the French Institute Alliance Française. Award-winning features, immersive exhibits, video game demonstrations and more are the heart of this festival. For those Academy Award-minded fans of animation, the Oscar-nominated feature “I Lost My Body” will be shown on Feb. 8 at 11 a.m., followed by a behind-the-scenes panel discussion with the film’s editor, Benjamin Massoubre. Feb. 7-10; fiaf.org.

Feb. 9

‘Visions of Resistance: Recent Films by Brazilian Women Directors’ at the Museum of the Moving Image. Stories of resilience and uprising are the focus of this series, which pays particular attention to the lives of black Brazilians. Feb. 8 and 9; movingimage.us.

Feb. 10

‘Hamlet’ opens at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Ruth Negga received rave reviews for her portrayal of Hamlet in Dublin. Now she will reprise the role that she says “cracks you open,” for New York audiences — and it’s a very tough ticket. Feb. 1-March 8; stannswarehouse.org.

Feb. 11

‘The Mother of Us All’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Virgil Thomson’s opera, with a libretto by Gertrude Stein, is rarely performed. All the more reason to see one of the performances of this work this month. Feb. 8, 11, 12 and 14; nyphil.org.

Feb. 12

‘Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures’ opens at the Museum of Modern Art. After its inaugural exhibitions, the newly renovated museum begins its rollout of new shows. Among the first up is Lange’s photographs, which sharply reflect the human condition. It’s the first major MoMA exhibition of Lange’s career in 50 years. Feb. 9-May 9; moma.org.

Feb. 13

Artist Talk and Book Signing: Rachel Feinstein at the Jewish Museum. In her first museum retrospective, the artist and fashion muse Rachel Feinstein presents fanciful works with a core of steel — a balance of the whimsical and the grotesque. On this night she’ll speak about her exhibition, “Maiden, Mother, Crone,” and the inspirations for her art, which underscore that there is no reality without fantasy. From 6:30-8 p.m.; thejewishmuseum.org.

Feb. 14

‘High Fidelity’ premieres on Hulu. The latest adaptation of Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel, Mike Hale wrote, “gender-switches the record-store-owning, Top-5-list-making protagonist, who’s now played by Zoë Kravitz.” She plays a record store owner in the gentrifying Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. hulu.com.

Feb. 15

20th anniversary screening of ‘Love & Basketball’ at BAM Rose Cinemas. Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, and teenage hoop dreams: See Gina Prince-Bythewood’s 2000 classic on the big screen as part of the “Long Weekend of Love” series. Make it a Valentine’s double-feature: “The Photograph,” a new Issa Rae-Lakeith Stanfield vehicle reminiscent of 1990s black love stories, arrives in theaters Feb. 14. bam.org.

Feb. 16

Irina Kolesnikova in ‘Swan Lake’ at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Russian prima ballerina and the St. Petersburg Ballet Theater make their United States debut in Tchaikovsky’s beloved classic. Feb. 15 and 16; bam.org.

Feb. 17

‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein’ open at Classic Stage Company. Kate Hamill reimagines Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Tristan Bernays adapts Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” for this repertory cycle of two Gothic tales. In repertory through March 8; classicstage.org.

Feb. 18

Toni Morrison’s ‘The Source of Self-Regard’ at 92nd Street Y. André Holland and Phylicia Rashad perform a dramatic reading of the writer’s 2019 nonfiction collection, consisting of works written over four decades that still resonate socially and politically. Morrison would have turned 89 on Feb. 18. At 8 p.m.; 92y.org/event/toni-morrison.

Feb. 19

‘Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks’ at the Brooklyn Museum. For this exhibition, the artist, who is of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, has selected items from the museum’s collection to be presented alongside his recent work. The result: a rethinking of institutional categorizations and representations of Indigenous peoples and Native American art. (Also on view: “Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas,” an exploration of the effects of climate change on Indigenous communities. It includes more than 60 works spanning 2,800 years and cultures across North, Central, and South America.) Both shows opens Feb. 14; brooklynmuseum.org.

Feb. 20

‘West Side Story’ opens on Broadway. New moves and plenty of tattoos: Ivo van Hove’s approach to this beloved musical is finally here. Jerome Robbins’s choreography has been replaced by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s; “I Feel Pretty” is gone; and this production has an intermission-free running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Open run; westsidestorybway.com.

Feb. 21

‘It’s All in Me: Black Heroines’ at the Museum of Modern Art. On the heels of Film Forum’s four-week “Black Women” festival, MoMA presents this intriguing series with works both familiar and obscure, including “The Watermelon Woman,” “Support the Girls,” “Sambizanga” and “Lime Kiln Club Field Day.” Feb. 20-March 5; moma.org.

Feb. 22

‘Platform 2020: Utterances From the Chorus’ at Danspace Project. “If contemporary dance holds a certain allure yet still seems intimidating,” Gia Kourlas wrote recently, this series “is a way in.” Ideas about performance and protest will be explored by its organizers, Okwui Okpokwasili, a MacArthur recipient, and Judy Hussie-Taylor, Danspace’s executive director and chief curator. Feb. 22-March 21; danspaceproject.org.

Feb. 23

‘Countryside, The Future’ at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The museum turns over its rotunda to Rem Koolhaas’s long-awaited exhibition. In addressing environmental, political and socioeconomic issues, it will examine changes to what Koolhaas calls the “countryside” — that is, rural areas not occupied by cities. Feb. 20-Aug. 14; guggenheim.org.

Feb. 24

‘Cambodian Rock Band’ opens at Signature Theater. Lauren Yee’s music-infused work, featuring songs by Dengue Fever, follows a Cambodian-American woman trying to prosecute a Khmer Rouge prison warden. Previews begin Feb. 4; signaturetheatre.org.

Feb. 25

‘Dana H.’ opens at the Vineyard Theater. Lucas Hnath’s latest is personal: It’s the story of how his mother came to be held captive by an ex-convict who kept her trapped in a series of Florida motels, disoriented and terrified — for five months. Previews start Feb. 11; vineyardtheatre.org.

Feb. 26

‘José Parlá: It’s Yours’ at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. For his first solo museum exhibition in New York City, Parlá presents new paintings that explore his connection to the Bronx. Expect works that “address the suffering caused by redlining policies, the waves of displacement imposed by gentrification, and structural racism,” according to the exhibition news release. Feb. 26-Aug. 16; bronxmuseum.org.

Feb. 27

‘Pioneering African-American Ballerinas’ at the Museum at FIT. This event focuses on some of the ballerinas who paved the way for Misty Copeland, who, in 2015, became the first African-American woman to be named a principal at American Ballet Theater. The panelists include Virginia Johnson, now the director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem; Lydia Abarca, first prima ballerina of the Dance Theater of Harlem; Debra Austin, the first African-American female dancer at New York City Ballet; and Aesha Ash, former ballerina with City Ballet. At 7 p.m.; fitnyc.edu/museum.

Feb. 28

‘Intimate Apparel’ previews begin at Lincoln Center Theater. Lynn Nottage’s 2003 play has been adapted into a chamber opera, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon. Nottage wrote the libretto and Bartlett Sher is directing. Set in 1905 New York, the story follows an African-American seamstress who through letter writing courts a laborer working on the Panama Canal. Previews begin Feb. 27; opening night is set for March 23; lct.org.

Feb. 29

‘Brendan Fernandes: Contract and Release’ at the Noguchi Museum. A collaboration with the dance and visual artist Brendan Fernandes is the focus of Saturday programming at the museum this month. Dancers engage with Isamu Noguchi’s works as well as with Fernandes’s “training devices.” Saturdays through February; noguchi.org.

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Things to Do in N.Y.C. This February

Looking for even more reasons to get out of the house? Visit our Arts & Entertainment Guide at nytimes.com/spotlight/arts-listings.

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‘Intimate Apparel’ previews begin at Lincoln Center. Lynn Nottage’s 2003 play has been adapted into a chamber opera, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon. Nottage wrote the libretto and Bartlett Sher is directing. Set in 1905 New York, the story follows an African-American seamstress who through letter writing courts a laborer working on the Panama Canal. Previews begin Feb. 27; opening night is set for March 23; lct.org.

Feb. 29

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0 notes

mastcomm · 5 years

Text

Things to Do in N.Y.C. This February

Looking for even more reasons to get out of the house? Visit our Arts & Entertainment Guide at nytimes.com/spotlight/arts-listings.

Feb. 1

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from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/things-to-do-in-n-y-c-this-february/

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