It’s yesterday, once more: BLOCKS NYC challenges you to recreate classic album covers (pictured: The New York Dolls).
BLOCKS NYC: 60’s FOLK ALBUM COVER HUNT
Why go to all the trouble of gathering three buddies, crossing the pond, parking your white VW bug to the left of the frame and holding up traffic while crossing the street? There’s got to be an easier way to put your own stamp on an iconic image.
If you’re up to that challenge, Keep 6 has your back — at least when it comes to paying tribute to some notable fronts. Their October 12 event, a NYC first for the Toronto-based organization, is a scavenger hunt that allows participants to celebrate Greenwich Village’s rich musical history while challenging them to contemplate how the march of time has altered the area’s physical landscape.
BLOCKS NYC begins under the Washington Square Arch, at 11am — at which point teams will be given copies of famous folk and rock album covers from the 60’s and 70’s. Then, they’ll be asked to recreate those scenes. By the time the crawl is complete, points earned will turn into pints downed — when the teams converge at The Bitter End, to share pictures and stories from the day.
Sun., Oct. 13. The event begins at 11am, under the Washington Arch in Washington Square Park, with a 5pm closing reception at The Bitter End (147 Bleecker St., btw. Thompson & LaGuardia). Registration deadline: Mon., Oct. 7. Contact info@keep6.ca. For the website: keep6.ca. Visit facebook.com/events/411724682266714. For Twitter/Instagram: @keep6TO.
Ellis Wood and Marni Wood (Oct. 12, at DANCENOW).
DANCENOW JOE’S PUB FESTIVAL
The Public Theater’s 15th anniversary celebration of Joe’s Pub brings a sprawling dance program to the venue’s intimate stage — via a cabaret-style showcase of NYC’s most exciting and innovative dance makers. An adventurous short-takes format, and a high-stakes audience scoring system, puts some spring in the steps of DANCENOW — an annual fall festival whose 2013 installment showcases the work of 40 choreographers, over the evenings of Oct. 9-12.
This season, participants will take the DANCENOW Challenge — which asks artists to create a clear and complete artistic statement, in five minutes or less, for the specifics of the Joe’s Pub stage. Each evening, audience members will vote for the work that best meets the challenge. Four winners will receive a weeklong creative residency at DANCENOW Silo on Kirkland Farm in Bucks County, PA — and the festival’s top 10 works will be presented at an Oct. 19 encore performance. Here’s the complete schedule. For further details, Google the choreographers, and companies — and be sufficiently impressed:
Yin Yue (Oct. 12, at DANCENOW).
On Wed., Oct. 9: binbinFactory/Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa, Mark Dendy, Jennifer Edwards/JenEd Productions, Shannon Gillen + Guests, The Good to Go Girls, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Heidi Latsky Dance, John-Marc Owen Presents, Claire Porter/PORTABLES and RG Dance Projects-Ruben Graciani. On Thurs., Oct. 10: b&company|dance / Bryan Stimpel, BIGMANARTS/Lawrence Goldhuber, Clare Cook Dance Theater, danceTactics performance group, Harlem Dance Club, Sara Joel, Deborah Lohse, TAKE Dance, Tze Chun Dance Company and WKcollective. On Fri., Oct. 11: 10 Hairy Legs, 277DanceProject, Jane Comfort and Company, Maura Nguyen Donohue / inmixedcompany, Aaron Draper, Cori Marquis + the Nines [IX], Donnell Oakley, The Raving Jaynes, Magdalene San Millan and Steeledance. On Sat., Oct. 12: The Bang Group, Tricia Brouk, Ensemble Dance / Pilar Castro Kiltz, Junichi Fukuda, Mettin Movement, Pengelly: Projects, Amber Sloan, Megan Williams / ModConProjects, Marni and Ellis Wood and Yin Yue.
Oct. 9-12. All shows at 7pm, at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette St., btw. E. Fourth St. & Astor Place). Tickets: $15 in advance, 20 at the door. Purchased by calling 212-967-7555, at joespub.com and in person at The Public Theater box office, 1-6pm. Also visit dancenownyc.org.
We’ve only just begun: Doomed sweethearts Mag (Samantha Britt, soprano) as Joe (Chad Kranak, tenor), in Chelsea Opera’s “Ballymore.”
CHELSEA OPERA 10th SEASON OPENER
Two one-acts, performed twice by a cast of four, add up to a bill of double digit distinction — as Chelsea Opera opens its 10th season with the New York premiere of Richard Wargo’s “Ballymore, Part One — Winners” and Seymour Barb’s “La Pizza con Funghi.” Steven Crawford guest conducts the Chelsea Opera Chamber Orchestra and Lynne Hayden-Findlay provides the stage direction. Soprano Samantha Britt, mezzo soprano Darcy Dunn, Chad Kranak and Robert Balonek play all of the roles in both operas, whose plots mine the genre’s grand tradition of epic tragedy and broad comedy. In “Ballymore,” young lovers Mag and Joe (in the family way and about to graduate high school) are shadowed by a mysterious pair who allows the audience to eavesdrop, with the knowledge that a tragic accident will soon cut short the exuberant couple’s plans. In “La Pizza,” the classic arc of a 19th century Italian opera is played for laughs — as the soprano’s plan to poison her older baritone husband (so she can shack up with that dreamy tenor) is complicated by a loose-lipped mezzo maid. Although every character has drawn their last breath by the final curtain, Chelsea Opera assures us they’ve got far more than 10 lives — and seasons — left in them.
Fri., Oct. 11 at 7:30pm & Sat., Oct. 12 at 4pm. At St. Peter’s Church (346 W. 20th St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). Advance tickets are $35 preferred, $30 general, $20 students/seniors ($45, $40 & $25 at the door). To order, visit ovationtix.com or call 866-811-4111. For more info, visit chelsaopera.org.
