651 ARTSblog

Go see Okwui!

651arts — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:28:06 +0000

Photo by MLO

Our friend and colleague, performer extraordinaire, Okwui Okpokwasili, has created a show and it’s now onstage at Performance Space 122! You may have seen versions of this work presented by 651 ARTS in various stages at 651′s Salon Series in 2006, or at PS’s B.O.B. Festival in 2007. This is a great opportunity to witness how the development of a work evolves over time- and with Okwui and husband Peter Born at the helm, there are sure to be countless intriguing and thought-provoking moments. Friends of 651 ARTS even get a discount! See below for details…

Performance Space 122 presents
Okwui Okpokwasili’s
Pent Up: A Revenge Dance

Bessie Award-winner Okwui Okpokwasili spins a modern folktale. A daughter attempts to construct a coherent past out of her mother’s cryptic signals and signifiers. Interweaving legacy and the loss of old tongues, rituals and original songs, and a good old attempt to get a grip, Pent Up sheds new light on traditional spells and third world brothels, and transforms every scratch & win ticket into a lucky one. Directed by Peter Born.

Feb 8 – 22
Tue – Sat 8p
Sun 5:30p
Additional show Mon, Feb 9 8p

Use code LOTTO and enjoy $12 tickets (Reg. $20)*
Enter code online http://www.ps122.org/performances/pent_up.html
By phone 212-352-3101
In person at Performance Space 122
150 1st Ave. at 9th St.

*May be discontinued at any time, so book now and save!

651 takes East Africa by storm!

651arts — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:22:08 +0000

This past October, at the invitation of the US State Department, 651 ARTS brought three of Brooklyn’s most talented choreographers, Reggie Wilson, Nora Chipaumire and Christalyn Wright, to Kenya and Tanzania as part of 651 ARTS ongoing Africa Exchange program. Wilson, Chipaumire and Wright led workshops and performed at Nairobi, Kenya’s GoDown Performing Arts Center, as well as participated in the first contemporary dance fesival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Check out the slideshow to see some photos taken by 651 ARTS Managing Director, Anna Glass, from their whirlwind trip. And make sure to check back in the coming days to read about some of amazing people they met and their experiences of Kenya, Tanzania.

Check out my Slide Show!

651arts — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:20:58 +0000

651 ARTS in East Africa!

651arts — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:01:42 +0000

U.S. Embassy Brings 651 ARTS from Brooklyn, New York, to Participate in VISA 2 DANCE Contemporary Dance Festival

(October 21, 2008)

The U.S. Embassy will collaborate with the VISA 2 DANCE Festival and 651 ARTS (Brooklyn, NYC) to present three nights of modern dance on October 22-24 at Diamond Jubilee VIP Hall. Three visiting American dancers will also offer workshops to local dancers October 21-24 as a part of the contemporary dance festival.

For the first time ever in Tanzania, American contemporary dancers Christalyn Wright, Nora Chipaumire and Reggie Wilson will perform three solo performances and a trio piece during the three-day VISA 2 DANCE festival. The artists have just returned from Zanzibar where they performed at Ngome Kongwe in collaboration with the Dhow Countries Music Academy’s Ngoma Dance Project. Following their visit to Dar es Salaam, their two-week East African tour will take them to Nairobi, Kenya.

The three American dancers are visiting Tanzania through a generous grant from the American people to foster the exchange of performing arts between Tanzania and the United States. The artists seek to engage their audiences by bringing their unique dance styles that fuse American dance and other world traditions such African dance, Afro-Caribbean, American Hip-Hop, and contemporary dance techniques that use the movement languages of the blues, slavery and the spiritual cultures of Africans.

Reggie Wilson, Nora Chipaumire and Christalyn Wright will perform HO:ME, a structured trio improvisation piece by the three artists. This piece gives the artists’ perspectives on home, and their relationships to their own homes.

Dance performances will be held at the Diamond Jubilee VIP Hall with different programs each of three nights. Other festival performers include dance companies from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Italy, Sweden, and Germany. Performances will begin at 7:30 PM on Wednesday and Thursday October 22 and 23, and at 8:30 PM on Friday, October 24.
Visa 2 Dance aims to encourage artistic creativity among Tanzanian artists, empower them with new talent and confidence to achieve their potential. This is in addition to activating artistic and cultural exchanges through music, dance and theatre, opening cultural borders, develop international links and promote arts and cultural development within Tanzanian society.

The American dancers are a part of the cultural life of New York City, and their company, 651 ARTS, has been committed since 1988 to developing, producing and presenting performing arts and cultural programming grounded in the African Diaspora, with a primary focus on contemporary performing arts.

651 ARTS has worked with over 800 artists and ensembles—from Cuba to Trinidad, Senegal to South Africa, Brooklyn to Brazil and now Tanzania—on more than 350 projects and presentations. The company celebrates a broad range of cultural traditions, striving to forge alliances with artists, audiences, fellow cultural institutions, and local organizations to promote creative expression and community partnership.

Also traveling with the dancers is Anna Glass, Managing Director of 651 ARTS who also runs Africa Exchange, an international program created to facilitate collaborations between performing artists from Africa and the United States through residency programs, workshops and performances. This program explores new artistic forms and mutual influences among cultures to encourage the creation of new, collaborative work. For further information, please visit us at http://tanzania.usembassy.gov.

Karibu Sana for three nights of contemporary dance!

Down in the Delta

651arts — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:49:33 +0000

651 Production Manager, Robert Henderson, and Managing Director, Anna Glass, went down to Mississippi last week to meet with some of the musicians who will be participating in 651′s Mississippi Delta Heritage Project. They were primarily in Clarksdale, Cleveland, Greenville. Here are some classic images from the trip….

Liberty City rules!

651arts — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:35:35 +0000

We are thrilled for April Yvette Thompson and Jessica Blank on the success of their new one-woman play, Liberty City, (of which 651 ARTS supported the development) now running at New York Theater Workshop. You only have until this Sunday (March 16) to see it- so get your tickets now: click here for tickets

Variety review here

Interview with Nora Chipaumire

651arts — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:12:49 +0000

PHOTO: ANTOINE TEMPE

Check out this amazing interview with magnificent dancer/choreographer, Nora Chipaumire: NPR interview/Chipaumire

Some of you may have been lucky enough to have seen her breathtaking performances at 651 ARTS’ Salon 651 Series at BRICstudios last spring. If you haven’t seen her perform, now you have another chance! Chipaumire’s new piece is now on tour!
Chimurenga, is a multi-media dance memoir – an unblinking confrontation with personal experiences growing up during Zimbabwe’s current political, social, economic and racial difficulties. For more info, click here.

Go see: Spirit of Uganda at The Joyce!

651arts — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:45:37 +0000

“Invigorating the stage with that elusive thing called joy”
The New York Times

The Joyce Theater, March 18 – 23

Spirit of Uganda presents riveting programs of music and dance for audiences of all ages. To the melodic tones of standing drums, with dramatic choreography, bright, layered rhythms, and gorgeous call-and-response vocals, a vibrant cast of performers, aged 8-18, oscillates between ferocity and softness as they bring to life the sounds and movements of East Africa. Click here for tickets!

Go see: Passing Strange on Broadway!

651arts — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:38:16 +0000

Passing Strange, a musical for the 21st century, created by rock musicians, STEW and Heidi Rodewald, was first seen in New York at The Public Theater last spring and had everybody talking. It’s now rocking the house at The Belasco Theater- get tickets while you can! passingstrangeonbroadway.com

NYTimes review here

The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project

651arts — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:56:58 +0000

MAY/JUNE 2008
Beginning in early May 2008, 651 ARTS will present a series of concerts, performances, symposia, workshops and film screenings examining the influence that the Mississippi Delta has had on culture throughout the United States. The emphasis of the project will be an examination of the roots of Delta Blues in West African traditional music as well as how the Delta Blues has influenced and continues to influence contemporary blues, gospel, rock and jazz. This project will benefit greater New York area audiences, musicians and students, as well as the musicians of the Mississippi Delta. Because of 651’s commitment to reflecting contemporary culture of the Diaspora, we have also included three commissioned dance/theater works related to or by artists from the Delta, which will premiere during our season. 651’s Delta Heritage Project is born out of the desire to preserve a very particular and special part of American culture, as well as to illuminate its important influences. Details on upcoming shows coming soon!