In-person performances are slowly coming back, but virtual is not completely gone yet. For May, there is a mix of both. From May 19-26 at The Armory, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company will premiere Jones’ Afterwardsness which “…addresses isolation and trauma amid the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and ongoing violence against Black bodies.” Included will be spoken word inspired by Company members’ own writings; a new vocal composition by Holland Andrews; an original violin solo entitled “8’46″” by Pauline Kim Harris, written in homage to George Floyd; as well as excerpts from Olivier Messiaen’s wartime composition Quartet for the End of Time, notes the release. For more information visit www.armoryonpark.org/programs_events/detail/afterwardsness.
STILL RUNNING:
March 1-June 27 – For this live performance at Performance Space New York, members of AFROFEMONONOMY who have collaborated in different configurations celebrating each other’s work—come together for the first time as a group. Artists include Black femme theater makers Lileana Blain-Cruz, Charlotte Brathwaite, Eisa Davis, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Ayesha Jordan, Joie Lee, April Matthis, Jennifer Harrison Newman, Okwui Okpokwasili, Stacey Karen Robinson, Kaneza Schaal, and others. For more information visit performancespacenewyork.org/shows/work-the-roots/.
ALSO, THIS MONTH:
May 3 – 17 – Baryshnikov Arts Center continues their digital performance series with Stefanie Batten Bland’s Kolonial, created in collaboration with installation artist Conrad Quesen and inspired by the colonial exposition parks of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean during the 1810s–1940s. Get access at https://digital.bacnyc.org/stefanie-batten-bland.
May 4 & 6 – Omari Wiles’ Les Ballet Afrik will present a live performance of New York Is Burning to honor the thirtieth anniversary of the film “Paris is Burning,” made during a 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. For more information visit https://www.guggenheim.org/event/new-york-is-burning-omari-wiles-les-ballet-afrik.
May 7 – The Living Gallery at Gibney, curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney brings educator, creator, mover, and motivator, to the virtual space. Get access at https://gibneydance.org/event/living-gallery-hope-boykin/.
May 11 – ALL ARTS will present the new docu-dance film One + One Make Three created by Alice Sheppard, Kinetic Light’s Artistic Director, and directed by Katherine Helen Fisher of Safety Third Productions during a bubble residency at Z Space in San Francisco. Get access at allarts.org/2021/04/past-present-future/ throughout 2021.
May 11-15 – NYLA’s Live Ideas presents The Motherboard Suite “… a suite of music by musician, poet, actor Saul Williams directed by Bill T. Jones, performed by Williams, his musical collaborators and features six choreographers – Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, and Shamel Pitts. For more information visit https://newyorklivearts.org/event/the-motherboard-suite-live-arts/.
May 21 – 25 – Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith, and Derick K. Grant, the tap trip, come together again at the Joyce for the virtual presentation of Tap Family Reunion, the 4th annual Tap Family Reunion presenting the world premiere of The Mayor of Harlem, a look into the life of pro-activist Bill Robinson. Get access at https://www.joyce.org/4th-annual-tap-family-reunion
May 26 – Christopher Rudd’s Witness: Part 1 – Yesterday is featured in Gibney’s Sorry I Missed Your Show, a three-act contemporary ballet. Get access at https://gibneydance.org/event/sorry-i-missed-your-show-christopher-rudd/
May 27 – June 2 – Batsheva Dance Company, under Artistic Director Ohad Naharin, will stream YAG, their first production adapted especially for the screen for the Joyce Theatre’s streaming channel. Get access at https://www.joyce.org/batsheva-dance-company?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Eblast_2021_Batsheva_Push1&utm_content=version_A
May 28 – 29 – J Bouey will premiere his film Chiron In Leo, curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa for Gibney’s “New Voices: Spotlight series,” and by JACK as part of Stacy Grossfield’s Images // Landscapes series. Get access at https://gibneydance.org/event/spotlight-chiron-in-leo-with-j-bouey/2021-05-28/
May 29 – Beginning on May 4 and running until June 14, DanceAfrica returns with new content reimagined for the digital space and pays homage to the ancestral energy of Haiti around the theme Vwa zanset yo: y’ap pale, n’ap danse!, in Haitian Creole, or “Ancestral voices: they speak… we dance!”. DanceAfrica Artistic Director Baba Abdel R. Salaam commissioned pieces from HaitiDansCo in Cap-Haitien and three American companies—Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective and The Fritzation Experience in Brooklyn, and Rara Tou Limen in Oakland. Get access at www.bam.org/danceafrica.