For February, there will be in-person and virtual performances. Topping the list is Donald Byrd and his Seattle-based company Spectrum Dance Theater, at The Alexander Kasser Theater (Feb. 10-13) in New Jersey, with the dance theater work “Strange Fruit.” The work is “… Byrd’s personal response to the legacy of lynchings as a form of racial terrorism.” Byrd explains, “For 100+ years, there’s been no acknowledgement for the most part about these lynchings. It’s a little bit like those people have not been buried. We are offering a prayer up to them. To their memory.”
Premiering in 2019 at Washington Hall in Seattle, “‘Strange Fruit’ draws its title from the 1937 poem and song of the same name by Abel Meeropol and made famous by the great jazz singer Billie Holiday—which metaphorically addresses lynching as a tool of racial terrorism during the Jim Crow Era. For this dance/theater work, the facts of lynching act as springboards into a highly personal interior space and state of mind. Abstract yet grounded in a brutal reality, ‘Strange Fruit’ tracks Byrd’s feelings as a response to lynching and plays out as a series of dance/theater vignettes,” notes the release. The score samples music from Negro spirituals to Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. For more information visit www.peakperfs.org
ALSO THIS MONTH:
(Virtual) Jan. 31 – Feb. 27—New Dance Group: Voices for Change will present rare historic dances by the American Dance Guild over four weeks featuring works by artists of the New Dance Group Studio, as produced and recorded by the Guild at The New Dance Group Gala Retrospective Performance on July 11, 1993. For more information visit www.americandanceguild.org
(Virtual) Feb. 1-18—Gibney’s new program, Talk It Out!: A Free Digital Talk Show featuring conversations curated by MICHIYAYA, Kayla Farrish/Decent Structures Arts, Soles of Duende, and devynn emory. For more information and to RSVP visit www.gibneydance.org
(In-person) Feb. 3-4—At New York Live Arts, Dzul Dance will present “Legends of the Forest” which “…explores various myths and legends from Mexican and pre-Hispanic culture,” notes the release. For more information visit www.newyorklivearts.org
(In-person) Feb. 7—At Dixon Place, the White Wave Dance SoloDuo Dance Festival returns for the sixth year and will feature 30 dancemakers from the New York Metro area and across the country under direction by Artistic Director and founder Young Soon Kim. For more information visit www.dixonplace.org
(In-person) Feb. 11—At the 92nd Street Y, The LayeRhythm Experiment & Guests offers an evening of improv dance, music and spoken word poetry from the collective dance troupe featuring Mai Lê Hô – dance; Tatiana Desardouin – dance; Lex Sadler – bass; Simone Acosta – keyboard; Jharis Yokley – drums; Nasiyr Abdullah aka Osyris Antham – MC; Malik Burke aka Malik Work – MC. For more information visit www.92y.org.
(In-person) Feb. 11-12—Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet at Mark Morris Dance Center, joined by Philadelphia-based Variant 6 Vocal Ensemble, will offer the New York premiere of “Munu Munu,” a full-length ballet to both medieval and contemporary vocal music. For more information visit www.newchamberballet.com
(In-person) Feb. 15-20—At The Joyce Theater, the Colombia-based Sankofa Danzafro brings “Accommodating Lie,” an evening-length work by Rafael Palacios, that “…seek[s] to dismantle stere-otypes about and around the black body through a series of emotional solos and duets,” according to the release. For more information visit www.joyce.org
(Virtual) Feb. 17—New York Live Arts presents the return of Bill Chats featuring historic dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and writer, Yvonne Rainer in conversation with Live Arts Artistic Director Bill T. Jones. The conversation will be moderated by Patricia Hoffbauer. For more information visit www.newyorklivearts.org
(In-person/Virtual) Feb. 24—92Y Harkness Dance Center Artists in Residence companies Baye & Asa and Passion Fruit Dance Company will share an evening of dance. For more information visit www.92y.org
(In-person) Feb. 27—At New York Live Arts, Jamill Olawale Kosoko’s performance reading and book launch, “Black Body Amnesia: Poems and Other Speech Acts” promises to “…enliven a personal archive of visual and verbal offerings…” according to the release. This event is part of Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism – A Citywide Festival, February through March 2022. For more information visit www.newyorklivearts.org