Summer is almost formally over and our fall work is already in full swing. There are a plethora of events at the New York Public Library revolving around dance to take you through the end of the year, including a conversation with choreographer and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Alexei Ratmansky and new Saturday brunch events at the Library for the Performing Arts! Get them on your calendar now!
The Dance Historian Is In: Un jour ou deux, by Merce Cunningham Wednesday, September 24, at 1 p.m. Third Floor Screening Room, Library for the Performing ArtsDavid Vaughan will introduce and screen a 2012 revival of Cunningham’s Un jour ou deux, which he originally choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1974, with music by John Cage, and design by Jasper Johns. The 2012 revival, reconstructed by Robert Swinston and Jennifer Goggans, was performed again by the Paris Opera Ballet.
First come, first served.
From the Works & Process Archives: Three Choreographers Reflect Thursday, September 25, at 6 p.m. Bruno Walter Auditorium, Library for the Performing ArtsCelebrating 30 years of Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum, choreographers Karole Armitage, Larry Keigwin, and Pam Tanowitz present archival videos of their past Works & Process programs. Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson moderates a discussion with the choreographers, as they reflect on their time at Works & Process.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Works & Process at 30: Artists at Work, Artists in Process
Fiddler on the Roof Singalong Show and Tell Tuesday, September 30, at 6 p.m. Cafe at LPA, Library for the Performing ArtsIn the fifty years since Fiddler on the Roof first opened on Broadway, the shtetl of Anatevka has come to life on stages around the world. The words of “Tradition” and “Matchmaker” have been translated into a dozen languages, and families from many cultural backgrounds have sympathized with the story of Tevye, Golde, and their daughters. Lend your voice to this anniversary celebration and sing along with live performances of your favorite Fiddler songs. Discover the show’s fascinating history in a display of archival material from the Library’s collections. Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler’s lyricist, will be our guest of honor.
50 Years with Fiddler With Marc Aronson, Sheldon Harnick, Alisa Solomon, and Amanda Vaill Monday, October 6, at 6 p.m. Bruno Walter Auditorium, Library for the Performing ArtsCelebrate the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof's Broadway premiere with an evening of stories about the creation and legacy of one of history’s most beloved musicals. Guests include Fiddler lyricist Sheldon Harnick; cultural historian (and son of set designer Boris Aronson) Marc Aronson; Jerome Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill; and Alisa Solomon, author of the critically acclaimed new book Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. Rare materials from The Library for the Performing Arts's theatre, dance, and music collections will also be on display.
LIVE from NYPL: Alexei Ratmansky | Paul Holdengräber Wednesday, October 8, 7-9 p.m. Celeste Bartos Forum, Stephen A. Schwarzman BuildingAlexei Ratmansky has performed with and choreographed for some of the world’s greatest ballet companies, including American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet. This time he’ll take to a very different stage to reflect on his life’s work, which earned him a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2013. Co-presented with the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University.
As part of a weeklong program of events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Fred Herko, his biographer Gerard Forde talks with Herko’s friend and collaborator Billy Name about Herko, Judson Dance Theater, Warhol and the birth of the Factory.
Fred Herko (1936-1964) was a central figure in New York’s downtown avant-garde around 1960. A musical prodigy, he studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music before switching to ballet at the age of twenty. In 1956 he won a scholarship to study at American Ballet Theatre School and within a few years was dancing with established choreographers including John Butler, Katherine Litz, Buzz Miller, Glen Tetley and James Waring. He was a founder member of Judson Dance Theater, presenting six of his own works in the group’s concerts between 1962 and 1964 and dancing in works by Al Hansen, Deborah Hay, Arlene Rothlein, and Elaine Summers. He was a co-founder of the New York Poets Theatre, which staged one-act plays by poets and provided a podium for happenings by Ray Johnson, Allan Kaprow and Robert Whitman; dances by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown; music by La Monte Young, John Herbert McDowell and Philip Corner; and films by Brian De Palma, Stan VanDerBeek and Andy Warhol. Herko starred in seven of Warhol’s earliest cinematic experiments in 1963, including Jill and Freddy Dancing, Rollerskate/Dance Movie, and Salome and Delilah. His untimely death in 1964, at the age of 28, robbed New York’s underground scene of one of its most exuberant and versatile performers, equally at home performing Comb Music by Fluxus composer George Brecht or camping it up in Rosalyn Drexler’s musical comedy Home Movies.
Billy Name is best known for creating the silver interior of Warhol’s Factory, for lighting Warhol’s films and for his iconic photographs of Warhol’s superstars. Prior to working with Warhol, as William Linich, he designed lighting for James Waring’s dance company, Judson Dance Theater and for Herko’s dances Edge – A Work for Dancers and Actors (1962), Garden (1962) and Little Gym Dance Before the Wall – for Dorothy (1963). He co-starred, with Herko, in Warhol’s films Haircut #1 and Haircut #2. A book of his photographs entitled Billy Name: The Silver Age: Black and White Photographs from Andy Warhol's Factory is due for release in November.
Gerard Forde is an independent scholar and curator. He has curated exhibitions at the Design Museum in London and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Over the past twenty years he has lectured widely on art and design history. He is writing a book about the New York Poets Theatre and a biography of Fred Herko.
Initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni in 2004, Artist Dialogues Series provide an open forum for understanding and appreciation of contemporary art. Artists are paired with critics, curators, gallerists, writers or other artists to converse about art and the potential of exploring new ideas.
First come, first served.
Lindy Hop Fashion Show Saturday, November 8, 10:30 a.m. Cafe at LPA, Library for the Performing ArtsSome of the best dressed dancers in New York City, including Harlem’s famously fashionable Lana Turner, show off their personal collections of vintage, swing era outfits. Learn about social dancing in the 1920s and '30s, and the fashion that truly made folks hop, jive, and swing.
Reserve your seat online starting October 8.
The Dance Historian Is In: Choreography by August Bournonville Wednesday, November 26, at 1 p.m. Third Floor Screening Room, Library for the Performing ArtsDavid Vaughan will introduce and screen Conservatoriet, plus historic films of other ballets and of Bournonville classes.
First come, first served.
On Pointe: Brunch with the New York City Ballet Shoe Supervisor Saturday, December 6, 10:30 a.m. Cafe at LPA, Library for the Performing ArtsThe pointe shoe is essential to the art of ballet, and a well-fitted, well-maintained pointe shoe is essential to the health of a ballerina. New York City Ballet Shoe Supervisor Dara Faust, discusses her work maintaining and organizing the precious footwear of world’s greatest dancers. Watch a live pointe shoe fitting, tableside in the Cafe at LPA.
Reserve your seat online starting November 6.
Swan Lake: A Discussion with Alastair Macaulay, Robert Greskovic, and David Vaughan Monday, December 8, at 6 p.m. Bruno Walter Auditorium, Library for the Performing ArtsAlastair Macaulay, chief dance critic for The New York Times, leads a conversation exploring the various versions and interpretations of the much-loved ballet, Swan Lake, with The Wall Street Journal writer Robert Greskovic and dance historian David Vaughan. Enjoy rarely seen, historic video excerpts and photographs of Swan Lake from the Dance Division’s collection.
Reserve your seat online starting November 8.
The Dance Historian Is In: La Mort du Cygne (1937) Wednesday, December 31, at 1 p.m. Third Floor Screening Room, Library for the Performing ArtsDavid Vaughan will introduce and screen La Mort du Cygne, (released in the U.S. as Ballerina), starring Janine Charrat, Mia Slavenska, and Yvette Chauviré, directed by Jean Benoît-Lévy. In French, with English subtitles.
First come, first served.