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| | Christalyn E. Wright in "Those Were the Times to Remember."
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Step by step
The First Weekends series combines performance and discussion to give the audience insight into the artistic process and give the performers feedback that helps them develop their works.
By JOSHUA TANZER
Offoffoff.com
The idea started three years ago with an artist in residence at the Gowanus Arts Exchange (now the Brooklyn Art Exchange) — bring dancers together with their audience to perform and then discuss their works in development. This unusual opportunity gives the audience a chance to see how pieces are developed and understand more about the ideas behind the performance; at the same time, it gives the choreographers and performers feedback that helps them advance their work.
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| FIRST WEEKENDS, JAN. 2000 | Includes individual dances: "Those Were the Times to Remember" by Christalyn E. Wright; "It Starts with an Evil Stepmother," choreographed by Aviva Geismar.
Related links: Review of Oct. 1999 First Weekends | | SCHEDULE | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
First Weekends new dance and discussion series
421 Fifth Ave. (at Eighth Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718) 832-0018
Fri. and Sat., Jan. 7-8, 2000
Tickets $12, $6 low-income
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Production manager Sharon Mansur, who performed her own work as part of the series in October (see our review), says that the process may result in specific changes to the work, but often affects the performers in subtler ways.
"Dance is a performance artform, so every time it's performed there's a potential for it to be a little bit different," Mansur says. "My work is improvisationally based, so it is different every time anyway. [But after the discussion], I have some things now I'll keep in mind."
This weekend's event features Christalyn E. Wright, one of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange's six yearly space-grant recipients and a former member of the well-known group Urban Bush Women. Her solo work "Those Were the Times to Remember" explores childhood and "reflects on .Ê.Ê. how to maintain a sense of freedom and playfulness as we watch young people today struggle for theirs." Second, Aviva Geismar and Dancers perform "It Starts with an Evil Stepmother," described as "a dance fairy tale for seven performers based on the macabre, comical world of Grimm."
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Aviva Geismar and Dancers in "It Starts with an Evil Stepmother."
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The First Weekend series is performed irregularly on the first weekends of some months. This week will be the last in the series before a hiatus of several months while the venue completes its change to the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and focuses on developing as a theater venue.
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JANUARY 5, 2000
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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