NYC Arts: Baryshnikov Arts Center Premieres Final Installment of Digital Spring 2021 Season

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) presents the final installment of world premieres commissioned for the Digital Spring 2021 season and has continued supporting the development of work by providing resources for artists to realize their creative visions specifically for online presentation.

 

Free and Available to Stream On-Demand at BACNYC.ORG. When released on Mondays at 5PM ET, the digital works will be free and available to watch on-demand at bacnyc.org for two weeks until Monday at 5PM ET. The artists will discuss their projects and creative processes in a series of live-streamed conversations held in conjunction with the premieres.


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All three presentations rounding out the Digital Spring 2021 season were filmed at BAC’s Jerome Robbins Theater in December 2020 and early 2021 with strict adherence to COVID health and safety protocols. The first, premiering May 3—17, is choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland’s Kolonial, created in collaboration with installation artist Conrad Quesen and inspired by the colonial exposition parks of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean during the 1810s–1940s.

The ensemble work of dance cinema examines behaviors of self and community through transparent COVID barriers of isolation. Batten Bland will be in conversation with writer and curator Eva Yaa Asantewaa on Tuesday, May 11 at 5PM ET. Free registration for the ZOOM live-stream will be available beginning May 3 at bacnyc.org. The trailer for Kolonial can be viewed now at bacnyc.org.
 
Next is a video docudrama from multimedia artists and musicians Tei Blow and Sean McElroy of Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble, premiering May 17—31. The Sprezzaturameron follows two men who must confront the precarious nature of art-making in an apocalyptic near-future. As they gain awareness of their own privilege in a reforming world, the duo embarks on a vision quest to craft the perfect apology, inspired by the infamous apologists of the #MeToo era. Blow will be in conversation with producer Andrew Kircher on Wednesday, May 26 at 5PM ET. Free registration for the ZOOM live-stream will be available beginning May 17 at bacnyc.org.


 

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The final premiere June 7—21 is STELLAR by choreographer Kyle Marshall. This dance of speculative fiction began as virtual improvisation sessions with Marshall and two fellow movement artists, Bree Breeden and Ariana Speight. Filmed on the stage of BAC’s Jerome Robbins Theater with an original score including cornet, keyboard, and hand percussion performed live by sound artist Kwami Winfield, STELLAR is inspired by Afrofuturism and the echoes of Jazz. Marshall will be in conversation with performer, educator, and dance writer Charmaine Warren on Wednesday, June 16 at 7PM ET. Free registration for the ZOOM live-stream will be available beginning June 7 at bacnyc.org.
 
Events Schedule
Stefanie Batten Bland
Kolonial (World Premiere)
May 3–17 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)
Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org
Running time: 20 minutes
 
Direction and Choreography: Stefanie Batten Bland
Direction and Cinematography: Jean Claude Dhien
Scenic Installation: Conrad Quesen
Installation Assistant: Anthony Quesen
Costume Design: Shane Ballard
Hair and Makeup: Damian Monzillo
Musical Composition: Grant Cutler
Performers: Miguel Anaya, Stefanie Batten Bland, Yeman Brown, Rachel Watson Jih, Jennifer Payán, Paul Singh, Latra A. Wilson
Montage: Victoria Roseburgh
First Assistant AD: Victoria Roseburgh
Production Manager: Emma Rivera
Filmed December 2020 at BAC's Jerome Robbins Theater 
 
In Conversation: Stefanie Batten Bland with Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Tuesday, May 11 at 5PM EST
Live on ZOOM
Free / Registration required at bacnyc.org beginning May 3 at 5PM ET
 
Stefanie Batten Bland was a 2012 BAC Resident Artist and BAC Presents Artist.


Tei Blow
The Sprezzaturameron (World Premiere)
May 17–31 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)
Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org
Running time: 30 minutes
 
Written and Performed by Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble
Company: Tei Blow, Sean McElroy
Music: Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble
Digital Architect: John Blalock
Aesthetic Consultant: Julian Shapiro-Barnum
Filmed, in part, January 2021 at BAC’s Jerome Robbins Theater
 
Tei Blow was a 2018-19 Cage Cunningham Fellow.
 
In Conversation: Tei Blow with Andrew Kircher  
Wednesday, May 26 at 5PM EST 
Live on ZOOM
Free / Registration required at bacnyc.org beginning May 17 at 5PM ET
 

Kyle Marshall
STELLAR (World Premiere)
June 7–21 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)
Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org
Running time: 30 minutes
 
Choreography and Scores: Kyle Marshall
Performers: Bree Breeden, Kyle Marshall, and Ariana Speight
Sound: Kwami Winfield
Suits: Malcolm-x Betts
Lighting: Amanda K. Ringger
Makeup: Edo Tastic
Filmmaker: Tatyana Tenenbaum
Filmed March 2021 at BAC’s Jerome Robbins Theater
 
In Conversation: Kyle Marshall with Charmaine Warren
Wednesday, June 16 at 7PM EST
Live on ZOOM
Free / Registration required at bacnyc.org beginning June 7 at 5PM ET


 

About the Artists
 Jerome Robbins awardee Stefanie Batten Bland is an interdisciplinary global artist who interrogates contemporary and historical culture. She situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre and installation. A 2020 commissioned artist by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Duke Performances, and 2019 fellow at Center for Ballet Arts at NYU, Batten Bland is also currently a choreographer for American Ballet Theatre's inaugural Women's Movement Initiative. She created Company SBB in Paris in 2008 and established it in New York City in 2011, when she was in residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center and began her current residence at University Settlement.

Tei Blow is a performer, educator, and media designer based in New York. Blow’s work incorporates photography, video, and sound culled from found materials and mass media. He has performed and designed for The Laboratory of Dmitry Krymov, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jodi Melnick, Ann Liv Young, Big Dance Theater, and David Neumann/Advanced Beginner Group. He also performs as Frustrator on Enemies List Recordings. Blow’s work has been featured at Hartford Stage, Dance Theater Workshop, PS122/PSNY, Lincoln Center Festival, The Kitchen, BAM, The Public Theater, The Broad Stage, MCA Chicago, MFA Boston, Kate Werble Gallery, Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Wadsworth Atheneum, and at theaters around the world.
 
Kyle Marshall is a choreographer, performer, and teaching artist. He recently received the 2020 Dance Magazine Harkness Promise Award and a NY “Bessie” Award nomination for the production Colored. His dance company, Kyle Marshall Choreography (KMC) sees the dancing body as a container of history, an igniter of social reform and a site of celebration. Since inception in 2014, KMC has performed at venues including: BAM Next Wave Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Joe’s Pub at the Public, Actors Fund Arts Center, NJPAC, NYC Summerstage, and Roulette.


About Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC)
BAC is the realization of a long-held vision by artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov who sought to build an arts center in Manhattan that would serve as a gathering place for artists from all disciplines. BAC’s opening in 2005 heralded the launch of this mission, establishing a thriving creative laboratory and performance space for artists from around the world. BAC’s activities encompass a robust residency program augmented by a range of professional services, including commissions of new work, as well as the presentation of performances by artists at varying stages of their careers. In tandem with its commitment to supporting artists, BAC is dedicated to building audiences for the arts by presenting contemporary, innovative work at affordable ticket prices. For more information visit bacnyc.org.


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BAC is grateful for the support of its generous individual and institutional annual fund donors in 2018–­­–20 including Anonymous (2); Pierre Apraxine; Joanne and Tuvia Barak; Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lisa Rinehart; Simon Basner; Carol Baxter and Loren Plotkin; Michael Benari; Ray and Jane Bernick; Jamie Bishton; Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Borer; Catherine Brennan; Dino Buturovic and Mirjana Ciric; Pamela Ceglinski; Frank and Monique Cordasco; Nancy Dalva; Richard and Jennie DeScherer.

Additional donors include Janet Dewan; Joseph and Diana DiMenna; Estate of James H. Duffy; Cheryl Lee and Steven C. Dupré; William James Earle; Alan and Judy Fishman; Barbara G. Fleischman; Anne and Chris Flowers; Sandra Foschi; Eve R. France; Alex and Jenia Fridlyand; Randy Gaugert; Carol Giles-Straight; Jon Gilman and Brad Learmonth; Denise L. Stefan Ginascol; Slavka B. Glaser; Michael Goldstein and Carolyn Katz; Peter Greenleaf; Cynthia Harvey; Kim Hendrickson and Grant Delin; Jeffery Hentze; Jano Herbosch; Joan Hooker; In Honor of Roger Hooker; Sarah Hooker; Huong Hoang; Fred Humphrey; Yukiko Inoue; Susan Israel; Bobbo Jetmundsen; Carine Joannou; Stephanie Joel; Colleen Keegan; Leo and Nadine Keegan; Donald M. Kendall; Herman E. Krawitz.

We also acknowledge the generous support from Iya Labunka; Nicole Leibman; Lisa and Anton LeRoy; Jarrett and Maritess Lilien; Julie Lilien; Topper Lilien; Bruce Lipnick; Marianne Lockwood and David Bury; Nick and Cass Ludington; Sarah and Alec Machiels; The Honorable and Mrs. Earle Mack; Deanna Maclean; Maia Mamamtavrishvili; Elizabeth Manigault; Paul and Caroline McCaffery; Karen McLaughlin and Mark Schubin; Gary Miller and Valerie Beaman; Bob and Carol Morris; Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich; Alessandra Nicifero; Ingrid Nyeboe and Louise Fishman; Zoya and Anna Obraztsova; Alvise Orsini; Denis Pelli; Ray Pepi and Karen Arrigoni; Alvin Perlmutter; Steven and Michèle Pesner.

Additional donors include Georgiana Pickett; Ronnie Planalp; Noni Pratt; Christina Repetti: Piedad Rivadeneira; Laila Robins; James Roe; Isabella Rossellini; John Sansone; Sophia Schachter; Hillary Schafer and Mark Shafir; Dorothy Scheuer; Natasha Schlesinger; Laura Schoen; Vernon Scott; Dawn Sequeira; Dennis T. Serras; Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan; Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg; Sandy Siegel; Jeremy Smith; Gus Solomons; Ellen Sorrin and David York; Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley.

Also Christina Sterner and Steve Poses; Angele Surault; Lev Sviridov; Anne and William Tatlock; Michael Tersigni and David Palachek; Jennifer Tipton; Deidra Wager; Robert and Kathleen Wallace; Robert  Warshaw and Debbie Schmidt; Mary R. Waters; Suzanne Weil; Roger Weisberg and Karen Freedman; David N. White, Edgar Wilson; Michael Worden

BAC is grateful for the support of its generous individual and institutional annual fund donors including Affirmation Arts Fund; Altman Foundation; Amazon Smile Foundation; American Chai Trust; Anonymous (2); Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust; Bay and Paul Foundations; Blavatnik Family Foundation; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Dance/NYC's New York City Dance Rehearsal Space Subsidy  Program, made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Additionally, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; DeWitt Stern/Risk Strategies; The Enoch Foundation; Ford Foundation; Howard Gilman Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Irving Harris Foundation; Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust; Dubose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund; Consulate General of Israel in North America; Japan Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation; Sean Kelly Gallery; Kent Van-Alen Fund; The Frances Lear Foundation; The Lupin Foundation.

Additional support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation; Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; New England Foundation for the Arts Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris  Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; North American-Chilean Chamber of Commerce; Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation; NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust; Muriel Pollia Foundation.


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We also acknowledge the generous support of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA; Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; The Reed Foundation; The Jerome Robbins Foundation; Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund; Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; The Shubert Foundation; The Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation; Soros Fund Charitable Foundation; Consulate General of Switzerland in New York; The Thompson Family Foundation; Trust for Mutual Understanding; Twin Beeches Foundation.

Baryshnikov Arts Center is also grateful for support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Funding is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Yamaha is the official piano of the Baryshnikov Arts Center. 

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