Coming
soon -- the world premiere of Yasuko Yokoshi's Tyler Tyler! Yasuko's previous dance performances have
been described as sublime, outrageous, enigmatic, brilliant, exquisite, fearless
and beautiful (that's only a partial list). We've seen Tyler Tyler in rehearsal
and can say it's all of that and more. Don't miss it -- March 17 - 20th at Dance Theater Workshop in NYC.
We're proud
to be partnering with Kathleen Russo and Lucy Sexton on national touring of Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell. Performing a selection of Gray's monologues and journal
entries, five actors affirm Gray's brilliance as a writer and his gifts as a
keen and compassionate observer of the human condition. The show comes to Minneapolis and Philadelphia in March.
May is "Dan Hurlin's Disfarmer Month" in Massachusetts -- or
maybe it just seems that way, with performances at MASS MoCA and the ICA. Disfarmer was on lists
in three cities as one of the best performances of 2009, including The
Washington Post, where critic Sarah Kauffman wrote: In Hurlin's hands, Arkansas' nearly
forgotten portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer became an unforgettable American
hero.
After 2 years/16
cities/88 performances, Marc Bamuthi Joseph's the break/s: a mixtape for stage comes to a close this April in Madison, WI. Congrats to Bamuthi,
musicians DJ Excess and Tommy Shepherd, and the road crew from Kelvin
Productions. What a ride!
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Ralph
Lemon -- director, choreographer, visual artist -- is in the final development phase
of his first work for U.S. stages in six years: How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? The next few months will find Ralph and his
collaborators in New York, California and Florida where the pieces of this
complex project -- live dance, film, visual installation -- will come together for
the fall 2010 premiere at the Krannert Center for the Arts in Urbana, IL. Follow
Ralph's monthly creative musings on www.ralphlemon.net.
Dean Moss is
back in the studio next month with the cast of Nameless forest. His first
rehearsals last October brought the dancers together with visual artists
Sungmyung Chun and Gandalf Gavan. The plan for the next eight weeks is to
develop and refine the movement material created in the fall, this time
integrating ideas from photojournalist Mike Kamber and composer Stephen Vitiello.
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Join us for a screening of finding the 51st dream state: Sekou Sundiata's America Project at Harlem Stage in NYC at 7:30pm on March 3. A discussion and reception will follow. After last October's release of this DVD, with the accompanying Teaching Method, activities
based on the project methodology took off around the U.S.,
from spirited community sings and citizenship dinners in Minneapolis,
New Bedford, MA and Jackson Heights,
NY; to film screenings and lively discussions
in New Orleans and Nashville. Copies of the DVD and Teaching Method are
available for purchase from MAPP.
Marc
Bamuthi Joseph will be in Houston this spring,
laying groundwork for a LIFE IS LIVING eco-equity festival with Project Row
Houses and Mitchell
Center for the Arts (at
University of Texas). UT is also providing time and space for Bamuthi to work on writing
the script for his new performance project, red, black and GREEN: a blues (he's
shared a few early poems with us -- take a look). We heard
Bamuthi's vision for this project resonating in the speech by eco-justice visionary
Majora Carter at the recent Arts Presenters conference (the annual gathering in
NYC of performing arts colleagues from around the world), when she called
artists and cultural workers to action, to "use art to let people know they can
be part of the solution" to the environmental crisis.
Speaking of
the Association of Performing Art Presenters, there was a refreshing breeze of
provocation blowing through this year's conference. From the optimistic NEA Chairman Rocco
Landesman ("we're an arts granting agency and we ought to be making grants to
artists"), to the unbounded choreographer Elizabeth Streb ("it's not about
asking how do we diversify our audience but about asking who are the
people in our community"), to the insightful Executive Director of San
Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Ken Foster ("there are no more
knowns"), the challenge to embrace change was everywhere.
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 And
speaking of CHANGE: For the first time in nine years, the extraordinary Cuban
music and dance ensemble, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, is coming back to the U.S.! Our
spring 2011 tour is gathering momentum, with dates lining up in every region of
the country. It's gratifying to have so many colleagues who presented Los
Muñequitos on their earlier tours step up immediately to bring them back to their
communities.
Did you
hear what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said about the power of art
and artists in the world? You didn't? It's on our blog!
MAPP
artists travel far & wide: catch this clip of Bamuthi on YouTube, showing the break/s at the Fujairah
International Monodrama Festival in Dubai. |
From
everyone at MAPP, two BIG Thank You's:
To our
founding Board member Linda Walton, who has stepped down after three years of
service: BIG thanks and we will miss you!
To all of
our Cultural Investors in 2009 who came to events, asked questions, wrote on
our wall, stated opinions and contributed money -- BIG thanks -- and get ready for
more in 2010!
Stay in
touch!
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