Ring in the new year with some live and some virtual dance performances. Two of the live performances open this week: Reggie Wilson’s Fist & Heel Performance Group’s “POWER” at BAM (Jan. 13-15), and Oona Doherty’s “Hard to Be Soft” at the new Irish Arts Center (Jan. 13-23).
On his return to Brooklyn, Wilson’s “POWER,” developed at Jacob’s Pillow and the neighboring Hancock Shaker Village, “…brings alive the mutual Black-Shaker influence by channeling the refusal of Anglo-Judeo-Christian limitations on the body into utopian energy that manifests through whirling, stamping, and singing. [And for this] propulsive, rhythmic experience connecting American Black and Shaker traditions, Wilson explores the body as a radical tool for illuminating the internal and communal…drawing inspiration from Mother Rebecca Cox Jackson, a free Black woman who became a Shaker eldress and formed her own community in Philadelphia—as well as the Shakers’ complex relationship to free and enslaved African-Americans,” according to the release. “POWER” coincides with BAM’s annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For more information visit www.bam.org. For the American premiere of Doherty’s “Hard to Be Soft,” described by The Guardian as “…an homage to Doherty’s hometown of Belfast [that captures]…the carapace of swagger and sass, rage and resilience built up by men and women in a place where the conflict seems intractable and horizons are limited by constrictions of class and religion,” featured is Sam Finnegan, John Scott, and the Sugar Army, a locally-cast group of teenagers. For more information, visit www.irishartscenter.org
ALSO THIS MONTH:
(Virtual) Jan. 7-23—Ayodele Casel’s “Chasing Magic” at The Joyce. Created in collaboration with Creative Director Torya Beard, for “Chasing Magic,” Casel is joined by musical collaborators Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist Arturo O’Farrill, singer/songwriter Crystal Monee Hall, music director and composer Annastasia Victory, and percussionist Senfu Stoney. The movement collaborators are: EVIDENCE Artistic Director Ronald K. Brown, Anthony Morigerato, plus tap artists Naomi Funaki, Amanda Castro, and John Manzari, and filmed on The Joyce stage by tap dancer and filmmaker Kurt Csolak. For more information, visit www.joyce.org
(Virtual) Jan. 11-31—The Exponential Festival. The Exponential artists/projects will include sharings from Annie Heath, River Donaghey, Joe Hendel and more. For more information, visit www.theexponentialfestival.org
(Virtual) Jan. 12-28—The 12th annual Bronx Artist Now series in partnership with BAAD! and Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture. For one evening of this month of events, featured will be dance artists Alicia Raquel Morales, Kayla Hamilton, Alexander Diaz, Rourou Ye in a conversation facilitated by Fana Fraser and many more offerings. For more information, visit www.pepatian.org
(In-person) Jan. 14-23—Thunderbird American Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City. For its 47th annual performance, the Company’s Pow Wow and Dance Concert will again include dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. For more information, visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net
(In-person) Jan. 14-15—The 19th installment of the Contemporary Dance Festival (formerly known as the Contemporary Dance Showcase) from Japan and East Asia. There will be performances by Kentaro Kujirai and Barabbas Okuyama (Japan), Hao Cheng (Taiwan), the Choi x Kang Project (Korea). For more information, visit www.japansociety.org
(Virtual) Jan. 15-16—Jasmine Hearn at JACK. In Hearn’s performances titled “WEDDING WEEKEND,” featured will be the solo “N I L E : Rose Rising” and the video and sound composition “What soil lines my vessel.” For more information, visit www.jackny.org
(In-person) Jan. 21-22—Ranardo-Domeico Grays’ VISIONS Contemporary Ballet at Green Space. Grays will present “Dash – Between,” a work for the Company as part of the Take Root at Green Space. For more information, visit www.greenspsacestudio.org
(Virtual) Jan. 27-29—Angie Pittman at Roulette. In “I’ll tell you, but please be still,” Pittman will offer “…a dance performed by two people dancing together and apart…embodied research into Darkness in the style of Audre Lorde and Piracy in the manner of Nina Simone,” according to the release. For more information, visit www.roulette.org