Live Arts Plus

The block is much more than a strip of pavement in an urban neighborhood. It’s a stage for both good and bad to flourish in a community and for its residents to express their hardships and triumphs. Lakaï dissects topics like toxic masculinity, racial profiling, mental health and violence as a way to self-check and self-improve our respective communities worldwide. Their 2 hour-long piece draws from Jazz, Hip Hop, and Afro-Diasporic styles while incorporating powerful spoken word and live music aspects to paint complex stories that reflect the realities of inner-city existence.

World premiere OUI DANSE with special guest artist Christine Dakin:

A challenge to the body, a dare to the imagination, a reconnection with humanity. OUI DANSE in French, means “yes dance”. “YES” for positivity, OUI / “WE” for universality.

Artistic director/choreographer Brice Mousset explores the OUI DANSE award- winning first work Travailler in an hour long re-envisioning: WORK!

Mousset draws on his education in human/biological sciences and the testimonies of burned out players in the business world to portray work conditions driven by ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality. As success infiltrates and pollutes, WORK! shows the loss of humanity with grotesque elegance, bold movement and a theatrical sensibility. WORK! follows its characters journey through the circus of the business world’s competitions, compulsions, masquerades and the desperation to escape. Combining irony, exaggeration and raw emotion, the choreography creates a world of reckless movement, technical bravura and the deceptive simplicity of pedestrian movement.

LIVE DANCE AND VIDEO: Mimi Garrard and Marcus Jarell Willis

2 premieres by Mimi Garrard will be presented and a solo by Marcus Jarell Willis. “Mimi Garrard and Dancers at the New York Live Arts displayed her creativity and a mind that is ever open to experimentation” Joel Benjamin United States Premiere “Travelling Man” for live dance and video was first performed in Cardiff, Wales to an enthusiastic audience. It is directed, and has video and sound by Mimi Garrard. The choreography is by Mimi Garrard with Marcus Jarell Willis. Marcus is a former dancer with Alvin Ailey and is an excellent choreographer who has created works on companies world- wide. World Premier, “I Celebrate Myself” was inspired by the poem “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman and features the dancer Marcus Jarell Willis. Direction, sound, and video are by Mimi Garrard.

“The program presented at New York Live Arts on November 12, 2017 was truly a presentation of Mimi’s mastery of the art of video dance making and her excellent skill at forming motion.” -Ruth Grauert

“With unusual movement and background projections we are catapulted into states of consciousness that are unfamiliar, even foreign.” -Barney Yates about program at Live Arts

Barnard/Columbia Dances at New York Live Arts features choreography by modern dance legend Merce Cunningham in a MinEvent arranged and staged by Jamie Scott and Dylan Crossman expressly for Barnard and Columbia dancers. New works to premier are by David Dorfman, Amy Hall Garner, and Adrienne Truscott. Produced by the Barnard College Department of Dance and performed by Barnard and Columbia University students, this concert celebrates its fourteenth season of dance at New York Live Arts. The Cunningham MinEvent is as part of the official Merce Cunningham Centennial.

*Live Arts Plus Partner – read more about our Plus Partner program.

Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School, Arts , “home to one of the more progressive collegiate dance departments in New York” (New York Times), offers a unique undergraduate dance curriculum centered on recent developments in the field. These performances highlight new work created by guest artists Susan Rethorst and Rebecca Stenn, as well as student-created works.

*Live Arts Plus Partner – read more about our Plus Partner program.

When Change Comes transports audiences through a century of music, movement, and human connection in the shadow of our nation’s most defining moments.  Using Mark Stuart Dance Theatre’s explosive brand of storytelling, When Change Comes follows three love stories set against the backdrops of the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and the LGBTQ Rights Movement.  Danced to hit standards from the 1930’s, 1960’s, and the 2000’s, the show features 7 dancers, 3 vocalists and a 5-piece band.

When Change Comes aims to inspire and empower audiences to create positive change in their communities. This theatrical experience includes a 90 minute performance of When Change Comes followed by discussions with Mark Stuart and the cast.  We will ask:  how might we commit to small everyday acts of kindness, learn to truly see each other, and build empathetic dialogue about equality and tolerance.

A Movement Forward, exists as a challenge: Can we all turn seemingly small acts of kindness into a tidal wave of tolerance? Experience the magic and join the Movement…

All Student Tickets $10, use code bethechange

For more info, visit whenchangecomes.org