Wally Cardona
Really Real: A new work in development
“One of the most adventurous choreographers of his generation; a master of passionate, abstract dances.”
–Brooklyn Magazine
The Brooklyn-based, internationally acclaimed choreographer Wally Cardona creates vast yet personal works that transform venues. A departure from his traditional use of objects (one recent presentation included 300 columns), Cardona’s new work exposes the complex and intimate landscapes that exist between people in movement. This BRIClab workshop will feature Cardona performing one on one with members of his company, encounters that are central to the finished work, which will grow to include the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and an expanded cast.
Creative Advisor: Richard Maxwell
Co-commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and WCV, Inc.
Abena Koomson
Cozi Sa Wala
"Abena Koomson's voice brings chills each time she appears..."
–DanceHere.com
A stunning singer and performer who recently starred Off-Broadway in Bill T. Jones’ Fela!, Koomson powerfully blends narrative and song in this one-woman piece about the necessity of storytelling and the preservation of the oral tradition. A Brooklyn local born of Ghanaian immigrant parents, she will use her BRIClab residency to expand this short work, originally performed at FringeNYC, into a full-length theatre piece complete with West African music, Fanti fables, and dance.
Directed by Keith Oncale.
Creative Advisor: Lynn Nottage
The TEAM
The American Capitalism Project: To the Boys and Girls in America, I am taking a sick day
“How stimulating it was for me to wake up in 2009 in the hands of present-tense theater companies who know what they’re doing.”
–Ben Brantley, NY Times
Acclaimed for their rigorous explorations of contemporary American themes, The TEAM (Theatre of the Emerging American Moment) presents a new work grappling with the question “What is American capitalism vs. capitalism as a theory?” With a title inspired by a Hold Steady album; content influenced by cowboys, bowling and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard; and mentorships that partner company members with experts from the financial sector, the development of this piece began before the economy collapsed and is sure to remain subject to market fluctuations.
Directed by Rachel Chavkin.
Creative Advisor: Morgan Jenness
Abigail Nessen & Shaun Bengson
Ain’t That Good News
“(Nessen’s work is) worthy of Bob Fosse's cabaret work, as funny as it is horrifying."
–EDGE Entertainment
Performance duo Abigail Nessen and Shaun Bengson have embarked on a wildly dynamic two-person rock musical. Bringing together their varied musical skills (including banjo, accordion, horse-head-fiddle, trumpet, flute, piano, and electronic sampling) with folktales and fables, first person accounts of survival, and interviews with refugees and retirees, their new work is a revelatory celebration of everyday people doing small and large things to positively change their lives and their communities.
Directed by David Eppel
Creative Advisor: David Neumann
Danspace@BRIC:
Week 1: Home
Is home where you're from or where you are? What does it mean for Danspace to present performances outside of its iconic "home" of St. Mark's Church? How does BRIC’s co-presentation program open its “home” to organizations from outside of Brooklyn? Curators Abby Harris Holmes and Sarah Maxfield consider these questions in a new series with six choreographers exploring what it means to be home, and how it feels to be a stranger.
April 28 Happy Hour Join Danspace@BRIC artists and staff in Manhattan for a homey Happy Hour featuring imported beers at one of Danspace Project’s local bars, Jimmy’s #43 in the East Village.
May 2 + 3 Home Performances at BRICstudio: Kawamura the 3rd’s Sweets to the Sweet; Elke Rindfleisch/Andrea Haenggi’s In My Bones; and Adam H Weinert’s Match Box Dance.
Danspace@BRIC:
Week 2: Stranger
May 16 Show & Tell This pre-performance event at BRICstudio explores the Home/Stranger themes from the perspectives of food, shelter and transportation. Special guests include: Chef Joshua Stokes, architect David Taylor (Arup), and the New York Transit Museum.
May 16 + 17 Stranger Performances at BRICstudio: Maura Nguyen Donohue/inmixedcompany’s what it was; Sahar Javedani/compani javedani’s in the Middle, somewhat aggravated (excerpts); and Colleen Hooper’s Solved, Part Two.
Ethel With Gutbucket
The Monsters’ Ship (La Nave De Los Monstruos)
Co-presented with Cinema Tropical.
La Nave de los Monstruos was originally part of the film series “El Futuro Más Acá: The Future South of the Border” curated by Itala Schmelz, Héctor Orozco and Vania Rojas.
A special thanks to the Mexican Cultural Institute and Filmoteca de la UNAM for their generous support of this presentation.
"I wish there were more rock bands who played like ETHEL."
–John Walters, Guardian UK
ETHEL, the nation’s premier rock-infused, postclassical string quartet, teams up with the avant-squonk art-rock wild men of Gutbucket to tackle the vintage Mexican science fiction classic La Nave De Los Monstruos (The Monsters' Ship, 1959). In the film, the last male on Venus has died and the planet's regent sends Gamma and Beta, two gorgeous aliens, on a quest to find men on other planets. ETHEL and Gutbucket dig into this fertile ground and create a new original score which will be performed live to the film. After this BRIClab work-in-progress performance, the completed work will have its world premier at Celebrate Brooklyn! (Summer 2009).
Creative Advisor: Annie-B Parson
Commissioned by the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival with support from the Starry Night Fund of the Tides Foundation
Toni Blackman
Travels of a Lyrical Ambassador
651 ARTS SALON SERIES
651 ARTS presents the sensational musician, poet, activist and international champion of hip-hop culture Toni Blackman for this work-in-progress showing at BRICstudio. One of the first artists to break ground using hip hop to promote international peace and understanding, Toni Blackman never imagined that hip hop would be so universally spoken in places such as Swaziland, Botswana, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Travels of a Lyrical Ambassador examines her belief in the power of music and poetry to inspire personal and social change.