This month’s calendar highlights Angie Pittman at The Chocolate Factory Theater on June 5-8. Pittman will premiere of “Black Life Chord Changes,” an evening-length solo performance broken into scores for “day” and “night” through “…dance improvisation that pulls from and synthesizes folk traditions of liturgical dancing, soul line dancing, Umfundalai, and post-modern improvisation—with layers of sung and spoken text, patient listening, and recorded sound, to open an experimental improvised movement portal. Blackly so. Through these visceral Black womanist traditions, ‘Black Life Chord Changes’ slips in and out of deep listening, seeing, improvisation, and truth telling.” according to the release. Pittman added, “the forms that I’m naming are a part of the fabric of my work always. By naming them, my goal is to trace my lineage to the experimental space that I’m working and conjuring in, and to create a new space to reflect with new possibilities and ideas. Horizontally in time, I’m always coming and going to form, and experimentation with it.” For more information visit https://chocolatefactorytheater.org/angie-pittman-2024/
ALSO THIS MONTH:
June 4-9: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to BAM with two programs: Program A – “Contemporary Visions”—featuring works by modern dance choreographers Alonzo King (“Following the Subtle Current Upstream”), Jamar Roberts (“Ode”), and Hans van Manen (“Solo”); and Program B – “All Ailey” which includes “Memoria” (1979), “A Song For You” (1972), “Cry” (1971) and the iconic masterpiece “Revelations” (1960). For more information visit https://www.bam.org/alvin-ailey
June 5: TweetBoogie / Boogie Gang will offer the world premiere of “The TweetBoogie Experience” with an ensemble of dancers responding to Tweet’s connection to Black music, dance, history, and hip-hop culture at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture. For more information visit www.hostos.cuny.edu/culturearts/
June 6-8: Kyle Abraham, choreographer, performer, and artistic director of A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, curates Danspace Project’s sixteenth Platform. Titled “Platform 2024: A Delicate Ritual,” the series concludes with intergenerational shared evenings of performance with Vinson Fraley + Bebe Miller. For more information visit https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/
June 6-8: Triskelion Arts will present the premiere of “WHITE HOT ROOM” by Christian Warner, which draws inspiration from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and explores the dissociative effects of long-held traumas within a body. For more information visit https://www.triskelionarts.org/spring-2024/christian-warner
June 6-14: The Bryant Park Picnic Performances/Contemporary Dance Series returns with performances by Naomi Funaki + Jared Alexander featuring Ayodele Casel, Sidra Bell, It’s Showtime NYC!, National Dance Institute (June 6); David Dorfman Dance, Soles of Duende, Joffrey Concert Group, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (June 7); and Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Robin Dunn’s ‘SHOUT,’ Kevin Wynn Tribute, Brooklyn Arts (June 14). For more information visit https://bryantpark.org/activities/picnic-performances
June 8: At BAAD!, the “Out Like That” festival returns with works by Anabella Lenzu, Stephany, Deepa Mahadevan, Ann-Sylvia Clark, Estelle Walkin, Charli Ariel, Shackiel Scott & Parker Ramirez. For more information visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/out-like-that-dance-compilation-tickets-908405333807?aff=oddtdtcreator
June 14–15: Harlem Stage closes the E-Moves series with Camille A. Brown, and associate choreographers Chloe Davis, Juel D. Lane, Maleek Washington, Mayte Natalio, and Rickey Tripp, based on the theme “BLACK JOY.” Brown will present “TURF” featuring her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers. For more information visit https://www.harlemstage.org/events-list/2024/6/14/emoves-camilleabrown-blackjoy
June 14-23: As part of the “River to River Festival” at The Arts Center at Governors Island, Kayla Hamilton and Kate Speer share an installation in dialogue with their performance project “PlaceHolder,” exposing how perception actualizes and strips identities. For more information visit https://lmcc.net/r2r/placeholder-kayla-hamilton-kate-speer/
Jun. 14-15: For CPR’s annual “Open Stage: Spring Movement,” Ayana Evans curates a talk show-style performance extravaganza titled “Giving You the Best That We Got.” Tsedaye Makonnen will be a video correspondent. For more information visit www.cprnyc.org/events/the-ayana-and-tsedaye-variety-show-jun14
June 18: For their inaugural Juneteenth Celebration, Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture will feature dance, music and spoken word with Forces of Nature Dance Company, Women of the Calabash, poet Daniel Beaty and more! For more information visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/juneteenth-celebration-tickets-911789315387?aff=oddtdtcreator
June 18-23: Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to the Joyce with the U.S. premiere of “EQUILIBRIO” (Clásica/Tradición), by Emilio Ochando, “…embracing the flamenco tradition while creating a unique environment of sound and creative staging,” according to the release. For more information visit https://www.joyce.org/performances/100//flamenco-vivo-carlota-santana
June 20-22: Commissioned and presented by The Shed Open Call Series, the world premiere of “Gathering: New York City” by Samar Haddad of Yaa Samar Dance Theatre!, is an invitation, a party, a protest, a celebration of harvest, and the championship game. For more information visit https://ysdt.org/gathering/
June 20-22: YY Dance Company brings Yue Yin’s “SOMEWHERE,” the second chapter of the trilogy that began with “NOWHERE” in 2023, to NYLA. For more information visit https://newyorklivearts.org/event/independent-works-somewhere/
June 21-23: At the Mark O’Donnell Theater, for their 48th season, the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center will present “Color Pointes” featuring ballet works by Ron Alexander, Roger C. Jeffrey, Cortney Taylor Key, Christopher Charles McDaniel, Walter Rutledge and Ted Thomas. For more information visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thelma-hill-performing-arts-centers-48th-dance-festival-season-tickets-899447811617
June 26-29: jess pretty brings “call and response” to The Chocolate Factory, where she wraps her audience in a conceptual, and literal, embrace by unfolding a dance-based, experiential conversation—between pretty and her younger selves, her ancestors, and everybody else in the room with pretty as the host. For more information visit https://chocolatefactorytheater.org/jess-pretty-2024/
June 27–30: At Mark Morris Dance Center, celebrating their 23rd anniversary, WHITE WAVE Dance returns with the four-day DUMBO Dance Festival of contemporary dance in the greater New York City region. For the lineup and for more information visit https://www.whitewavedance.org/
June 28-30: The Fisher Center at Bard will present Urban Bush Women’s “SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar,” conceived, choreographed, and directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar who will reunite with frequent collaborator, composer Craig Harris and guests. For more information visit https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/scat/
June 30-September 29: At Arts on Site, choreographer Jessica Chen brings back “AAPI HEROES,” where audiences follow a young explorer, Kai, on a captivating journey across time to meet AAPI HEROES. For more information visit https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/jchenproject/aapi-heroes?ct=t%28EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_11_7_2023_9_50_COPY_01%29&mc_cid=d9798d1965&mc_eid=UNIQID
