DANCES FOR WAVE HILL (1991-2001)
For 11 summers, Wave Hill’s lush gardens served as a laboratory for over 100 choreographers, including Ron Brown, Yasmeen Godder, Zvi Gotheiner, John Jaspers, Bebe Miller, Wendy Perron, Sarah Rudner, Muna Tseng, and Sara Pearson & Patrik Widrig.
RED HOOK INITIATIVE (1993-2010)
The 18-year Red Hook Initiative served residents of the Red Hook Houses—one of the largest public housing projects in the country—with educational and community programs, youth festivals, and three large-scale community-based site-specific productions by Martha Bowers and Joanna Haigood. All of Dancing’s programs in Red Hook were produced in collaboration with Red Hook cultural, educational and community organizations.
BREAKING GROUND – A DANCE CHARRETTE (2005, 2006, 2008)
For each of the series’ three seasons, five choreographers created five-minute works in five days for compelling historic NYC sites that were revealed to them on the first day of rehearsal. Artistic Director: Joanna Haigood. Choreographers/Sites: Ann Carlson, Eiko & Koma, Larry Keigwin, Tere O’Connor, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar / Tobacco Warehouse, DUMBO, Brooklyn (2005). Douglas Dunn, Noémie Lafrance, Elizabeth Streb, Reggie Wilson, and Yasuko Yokoshi / Fort Jay on Governors Island (2006). Jonah Bokaer, Tania Isaac, Stephan Koplowitz, Gus Solomons jr, and Nami Yamamoto / Hangar B at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn (2008). “BREAKING GROUND – A Dance Charrette raised the bar for site-specific dance in this city.” Gay City News
HIP HOP GENERATION NEXT (2007-Present)
A multiyear series that celebrates the Bronx roots and global evolution of hip hop dance through free public performances, competitions, films, panel discussions, ciphers (freestyle dance circles) and block parties in Red Hook, Brooklyn; Queens; the Bronx; and at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Artistic Advisors: Brandon “Peace” Albright, Emilio “Buddha Stretch” Austin Jr., Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Ana “Rokafella” Garcia, and Adesola Osakalumi. “Centrifugal Force (the hip hop site-specific work commissioned for Lincoln Center’s plazas) was charming, raucous and over in a flash….In this site-specific experiment, three choreographers, Emilio Austin Jr, Adesola Osakalumi and Gus Solomons Jr…created a structure that played formality against unpretentious raw power….Despite the sheer number of dancers, individuality mattered most. Just as no two performers were alike, Centrifugal Force showed us that hip-hop is a world, and it’s best to see it come to life outside.” The New York Times
