Some of the Africa Consortium gang in town

Panaibra Gabriel Canda and Jorge Conceicao have just completed their round trip journey from Maputo to Albuquerque but, not being crows, they had to detour through places like Houston and Frankfurt. In any case a far journey. Fortunately there is Global DanceFest to spend all those hours in economy class so you don’t have to! Panaibra’s Time and Spaces: The Marrabenta Solos offered an unambiguous perspective on colonial and post-colonial African experiences of which we in the US have little knowledge. The dance and music were exhilarating and profound. Totally enjoyable but with ample meaning to ponder.   

A Visit to Purple Jesus

STEPHEN’S BACK

The Mysterious Mr. Petronio

NOW for Week Two which begins with the Global DanceFest Crow flying out from New York. Referred to by our friends on the East and West coasts as flyover country, we prefer to think of it as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and then on into Albuquerque’s Sunport.  

Those amazing Petronio dancers

STEPHEN PETRONIO has come to town. For the fourth time. Making a lot of people very happy. The Stephen Petronio Company will perform at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Friday and Saturday nights (March 18 & 19) at 8pm. Much of the work presented by GDF incorporates narrative about place and time and events, always with superb dance and music, etc. and we love that. But every now and then, it is good to simply revel in pure dance, to let the energy and gloriousness of unique movement and brilliant dancers take over! And nobody offers that opportunity better than Stephen and his dancers.  

Back in NYC the crosstown traffic is very slow

Petronio company visits are always great dance events and friendly happenings. The first time in 2001 an almost full house at the KiMo braved roads of glare ice to attend. At a later performance at Rodey and my four-year-old granddaughter’s first contemporary dance event, she leaned over to me and, in a very carrying whisper, said, “Grandma, why are the boys dancing in their underwear?” causing many nearby chuckles. During one early visit, Stephen, looking every inch the very hip downtown New Yorker was refused entry to a Central Avenue club because of his shaved head and baggy cargo pants—the door guy apparently convinced he was a dangerous back-east gangster. But the company keeps coming back—for enchiladas, big skies, dust and ice storms and because we love them.

Joan, Panaibra, Marj, Jorge--Arts Consortium gang comes to Santa Fe

 

Blackberry pie at Pasquales

As the crow flies.

 Panaibra Gabriel Canda and Jorge Conceicao have just completed their round trip journey from Maputo to Albuquerque but, not being crows, they had to detour through places like Houston and Frankfurt. In any case a far journey. Fortunately there is Global DanceFest to spend all those hours in economy class so you don’t have to! Panaibra’s Time and Spaces: The Marrabenta Solos offered an unambiguous perspective on colonial and post-colonial African experiences of which we in the US have little knowledge. The dance and music were exhilarating and profound. Totally enjoyable but with ample meaning to ponder.  

 NOW for Week Two which begins with the Global DanceFest Crow flying out from New York. Referred to by our friends on the East and West coasts as flyover country, we prefer to think of it as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and then on into Albuquerque’s Sunport.  

THE RETURN OF STEPHEN PETRONIO

Stephen's mysterious past

 

 STEPHEN PETRONIO has come to town. For the fourth time. Making a lot of people very happy. The Stephen Petronio Company will perform at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Friday and Saturday nights (March 18 & 19) at 8pm. Much of the work presented by GDF incorporates narrative about place and time and events, always with superb dance and music, etc. and we love that. But every now and then, it is good to simply revel in pure dance, to let the energy and gloriousness of unique movement and brilliant dancers take over! And nobody offers that opportunity better than Stephen and his dancers.  

Those amazing Petronio dancers

 

 Petronio company visits are always great dance events and friendly happenings. The first time in 2001 an almost full house at the KiMo braved roads of glare ice to attend. At a later performance at Rodey and my four-year-old granddaughter’s first contemporary dance event, she leaned over to me and, in a very carrying whisper, said, “Grandma, why are the boys dancing in their underwear?” causing many nearby chuckles. During one early visit, Stephen, looking every inch the very hip downtown New Yorker was refused entry to a Central Avenue club because of his shaved head and baggy cargo pants—the door guy apparently convinced he was a dangerous back-east gangster. But the company keeps coming back—for enchiladas, big skies, dust and ice storms and because we love them.

 Northwest out of Maputo over the South African Transvaal, Botswana, Angola and a very long stretch of the Atlantic, probably crossing just below coastal Liberia and Sierra Leone and into New York City.  The first leg of Global DanceFest’s spring dance trajectory.

Jorge ... on the road

Looking for the Saloon.

Last Sunday Panaibra Gabriel Canda, Jorge Domingos and I drove the 10, 17 and 40 from LA to Albuquerque. Panaibra and Jorge had just spent a week in Los Angeles and previewed Time and Spaces: The Marrabenta Solos at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. Great crowd…great glimpse of what’s happening in Albuquerque tonight (and last night). The road trip inspired space awe in our Mozambican guests. While Mozambique has some wild unsettled territory I believe it is mostly tree-covered so this was Panaibra and Jorge’s first glimpse of the real life big skies big mountains big cacti big highways of the southwest. Panaibra was especially taken with place names such as “Two Guns.” Breakfast at McDonald’s, dinner at Cracker Barrel…all we lacked was a drink in the Blazing Guns Saloon!

Found a cowgirl!

 Last night Panaibra and Jorge gave us Time and Spaces, a strong and beautiful piece of dance and music exploring the varied identities of Mozambique, the country, and Mozambicans, the people, since the days of colonization. I believe that one of the most direct and powerful ways to share human experiences is through dance and Time and Spaces proves that is the case! It gives Albuquerqueans a chance to share an hour with our compatriots in Maputo through the power of a dance and the beauty of the music that inspired it.

Yum........

It just keeps getting better.........

 The N4th Theater was at its most inviting last night; the reception goodies were tasty and cleverly-arranged so the golden olive oil glistening on the humus next to the orange and green sorbet matched the table cloths exactly and were happily joined by gleaming bottles of South African red and white. The post-performance discussion was insightful as only the most curious questioners and thoughtful responders can make it.

Panaibra's last visit--(IN)DEPENDENCE

 A nice addition to the evening was author Jonna-Lynn Mandelbaum books about Mozambique and her joining Panaibra and Jorge for the discussion. We have wanted to add a literary component to Global DanceFest for a long time—hopefully we can make this an ongoing program bonus. Hope you all are here tonight!

Post-performance discussion/party!

This blog focuses on VSA North Fourth Art Center and its primary programs: Day Arts and Arts Adventures, arts learning programs designed to enhance and inform the lives of people with disabilities, and N4th Theater & Gallery created to enrich the cultural lives of the entire community.

Now at the end of February 2011, as the spring edition of Global DanceFest approaches, the next few weeks will focus on the world of dance. Global DanceFest (produced by NewArt New Mexico with partners, VSA arts of New Mexico and National Hispanic Cultural Center) runs for three weekends (March 11-26).

This spring our dancers come from Mozambique, New York and Los Angeles. They’re an interesting collection of artists—all with ties to Albuquerque in one way or the other—a season of artists we know and love.

Boyzie, Bryn, Panaibra in Maputo, Mozambique 2008

Panaibra at the party, 2009

Panaibra Gabriel Canda: I got to know this soft-spoken young Mozambican dancer two years ago during a two-week research trip to Maputo for the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium. When he brought (IN)DEPENDENCE to Albuquerque in 2009, it was obvious that Panaibra’s thoughtful, almost gentle persona encompassed a forceful sense of social justice, expressed through dance of such intensity it was sometimes hard to watch. Now in 2011, the mood has changed but the aim is the same. In Time and Spaces: The Marrabenta Solos, Panaibra and his fellow artist, musician Jorge Conceicao, offer a new understanding of marrabenta, the music of Mozambique’s struggle for independence—music played by Panaibra’s father during those years as Panaibra was growing up in Maputo. Panaibra’s work compliments and extends the mission of so many young African artists—to bring the stories of their personal and political worlds to the attention of others through their own artistic mediums—and to present it in such a way that there is no doubt about the power of their intentions.

A beautiful Petronio dancer

Stephen Petronio: Stephen performed in the first Global DanceFest in 2001, on a cold January night at the KiMo Theatre, with fans, even from Santa Fe, literally risking their lives on ice-covered I-25 to see his work—and happy to have taken the risk! Now Stephen’s company returns to Albuquerque for the fourth time—the most visits of any Global DanceFest artist.

When I first saw Stephen’s work I was astounded; it was many years ago, when I managed and programmed the KiMo, and was first traveling to New York and elsewhere to look at national and international artists. The dance was unique and it was absolutely ferocious—even angry—and brilliant. Stephen was dancing in the company then and was mesmerizing on stage, as his equally-compelling dancers continue to be. I wanted to bring the company to Albuquerque but it never seemed to work out for reasons of cost or time. I moved away and then returned to the KiMo to program Global DanceFest 2001 and the rest is ‘Stephen in Albuquerque’ history. Stephen is on a mission to put movement on the stage, movement that you can’t take your eyes off. You really don’t have to think about it, just revel in it! “I Drink the Air Before Me” accomplishes that mission!

Slumber of Reason

Licia Perea: Licia is a hometown girl…made good in the big city of LA. I’ve known her for many years—first as a striking young UNM student, already with that indefinable quality called presence. Sometime, while I was away, she grew up, moved to LA and became a beautiful and accomplished woman who had added classical Latina passion to her persona. Goya’s Los Caprichos provide the basis for Slumber of Reason, a piece in which Licia’s abilities as choreographer, dancer, actress and storyteller are apparent. This artist’s mission, in some part at least, is to incorporate the stories of her own artistic and cultural heritage into a special brand of dance-theater?

Panaibra, Stephen and Licia are as different from each other in many ways as it is possible to be—different places in their careers, different cultural backgrounds, even—to some degree, different dance missions!  I know artists frequently object to anyone attributing the idea of mission to their work—they make art, they say, without having to attach another idea to where their creativity takes them. But isn’t there a sense of mission in what we all do in our work and lives? Mission just means purpose after all—it just sounds more profound. What the serious young Mozambican, the charismatic New Yorker and the talented Angelino all have in common is that they create work that is thought-provoking, mesmerizing, informative and a joy to experience.

Paul Middleton and Joanna Furgal in "We All Fall Down"; photo by Stephanie Graner

This past Sunday, I began rehearsal by announcing we would have several script changes – 12 days before the opening of the show.  Any other group of actors would have likely been very upset – perhaps even thrown a mutiny.  But not Solarity.  The members of this group knew that we had to change the words for practical reasons but we weren’t changing the meaning of the story, because even though I am the principal writer, the script is a collaborative effort informed by all of us.

Because I am the lead writer on this play and I speak and write in what is the accepted, dominant language in our society, sometimes when I write lines for Solarity, they need to be revised according to the needs and speech patterns of some members with disabilities.  This is an integral part of our rehearsal process which is very different from community actors working on a previously published play.

This year, not unlike the last, there were several lines that weren’t working for various actors and we needed to change them during the rehearsal process.  Because this is an ensemble play, changing certain lines also affects the other actors whose lines come before or after their line changes.  All eight actors, the Assistant Director and I spent 30 minutes going through the 60 page script on Sunday afternoon.  The actors participated in the line changing process and ultimately accepted the changes before we started rehearsing this week.

By Thursday night, none of the eight actors were having difficulty saying their lines.  By the time we left the theater yesterday we had a successful run-through in which all lines were memorized and delivered before heading into our final week of rehearsals on Monday.  By making these script changes together we honored the story as well as the artistic and inclusive elements of the group mission – to create professional quality theater featuring performers with and without disabilities.

Solarity Theatre Company
WE ALL FALL DOWN – Nov. 12-21, 2010 at VSA North Fourth Art Center
www.vsartsnm.org

Lou Clark is in Ka-HOOTZ with Dave Bommarito, Patricia Crespin, Clareann Despain, Amber Earls, Lisa Fenstermacher, Maggz Gallegos, Don Garcia, Becca Holmes, Bradd Howard, Kevin McGuire, Jason Montgomery, Casey Mraz, Kathleen Richardson & Wendy Scott
www.kahootztheater.com

This will be my first attempt at a truly on-the-run blog. I am watching Vincent and Association Noa rehearse in our Exploratory Arts studio. What a pleasure. Here’s the way it is when you invite artists to perform in a space for which you are responsible. You see a performance somewhere in the world. It seems to you to be brilliant, moving, unique, inspiring—you love it and want it to come to your town to be shared with people who care about contemporary performing arts and other cultures and exploring a bit!

You invite the artist, find the money to pay some modest fees, prepare your theater for their particular requirements. AND THEN THEY APPEAR. And all of a sudden, however much you admire them as artists and people you wonder if this particular piece is as great as you remember…if your friends will think you did good…if your audience will go away happy.

But THEN at some moment you know that, yes indeed, you made a really wise decision!

That’s how I felt a few minutes ago…just sitting in on a few passages from SAN, the piece the company will perform here Friday and Saturday. Setting: Dancers tired from a day at Acoma, just arrived from France day before yesterday so jet lag is lurking, they’re in their warm-up clothes, it is not glamorous. And then a little of the music (Sufi music!) and they start going through some of the moves. Oh yeah…that’s why we wanted them to come. It is pure pleasure to watch them move and act silly and get serious and practice and prepare. Every dancer in this company is so very accomplished, has such presence.  Also it is quite amazing to see people with such different body types incorporate that unique “Vincent” movement and spirit into their own dance personas.

I saw SAN on stage in Johannesburg at Dance Umbrella last spring and thought it fine and beautiful and was so happy I had made a commitment to invite the artists here to Albuquerque. But you know…the months since…is it really as good as I remember I wonder? As good as all of Vincent’s other remarkable work?

WELL YES. IT IS. I am so excited that this is happening. I am so looking forward to Friday and Saturday nights. SAN IS BEAUTIFUL.

Jonathan Khumbulani  Nkala is getting used to the idea that he is  storyteller, actor, poet, comedian—in other words an artist! When he crossed the Limpopo River leaving destitute Zimbabwe for the promise of South Africa, he was a desperate young man who needed a life and a place to make one for himself. That story is one of two (The Crossing and the Bicycle Thief) Jonathan will tell at the N4th Theater Saturday and Sunday (October 9 & 10).

Jonathan began his artistic journey on the beach at Camps Bay, making and selling his bead and wire figures to the beautiful people visiting Cape Town’s upscale oceanfront where, along with white sand, blue water and warm breezes, you get souvenir vendors and storytellers. It seems kids in Zimbabwe grow up fashioning an array of imaginative toys out of found wire and other debris from both the breaking down and building up of their neighborhoods. They put this skill to good use when they wind up as refugees on a tourist beach.

Jonathan needed something to differentiate himself from all of the other wire and bead arts vendors. His entrepreneurial spirit, which had brought him all the way from a Zimbabwean village to the shores of one of the world’s most desirable cities, came into play. He started to tell his story to the tourists interested in his little figures and—it turns out—Jonathan is a natural-born storyteller.

Now Jonathan will have to comment on this story because I am leaving out some details—but it goes something like this: some of the visitors to the beach hearing Jonathan’s story had connections in comedy and/or commercial media circles and, being impressed with his comedic and dramatic skills, would give him their numbers.

Usually when Jonathan called the numbers it turned out they weren’t so interested after all. Then one was!

Jonathan auditioned for a commercial, got the part, and Bo, an actress and acting coach (among her many professional talents), was called in to help Jonathan smooth out some rough edges. Since then they have been on this journey together from Bo working with Jonathan as diction coach to hosting a performance in her garage with her theater friends in attendance. The audience will have a chance to ask Jonathan and Bo more about this artistic journey after the N4th performances. It is a fascinating story of art and talent and hope winning out in the end.

An important part of Jonathan’s story and Bo’s story as well, is the effect the 2008 xenophobic attacks had on them. South Africa is a sanctuary for refugees from all of the poverty and war visited on the African continent, for people simply trying to find a way to live out their lives with some modicum of safety. The violence that erupted in 2008, brutal attacks against the many Zimbabweans and others who had made it south to Cape Town, was a signal to Jonathan and Bo that it was important that Jonathan’s story get told for reasons beyond his personal artistic goals. We think it is an important time for people in the US to hear this story—and think about combating the xenophobic streak that rears its ugly head here from time to time. Jonathan’s stories are told with dramatic skill and comic timing—they are great fun, full of hope AND important cautionary tales!   

North Fourth Art Center

Welcome to the NEIGHBORHOOD AND OUR NEW BLOG

North 4^th Street. Pre-owned auto dealerships (credit guaranteed!), Mercados, chili wreaths in the shape of crosses and used furniture out front for display. Few trees, no upscale coffee houses, not a fru fru boutique in sight. Everyday real life only.

Favorite lunch spot of visiting artists

North of the 4^th and Griegos intersection there’s a funky little mall that includes the Tortilleria Y Carniceria CUAUHTEMOC (some of the best Mexican food in town), a Laundromat and a church And at the north end of the mall—the North Fourth Art Center. Bold geometric  abstract designs—yellow, blue, green, white, black—decoratethe building front, trees green and glossy shade the street side tile art-arches, colored mostly in shades of Mexican blue and New Mexico brown.

North Fourth's signature

The North Fourth Art Center

Welcome to the North Fourth Art Center and our new BLOG! The art center is a lively place of art classes, the N4th Gallery and its idiosyncratic exhibit series and of the N4th Theater and the range of local, national and international artists it hosts.

Day Arts and Exploratory Arts Programs offer classes for adults with developmental disabilities in every imaginable artistic medium from sewing to filmmaking to sculpting to Musical Vibrations.

Arts Adventures is exactly what the name implies—arts adventures for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Expressions offers adults with mental health concerns a safe yet artistically rich environment.

Buen Viaje Dance and Equilibrium and Solarity Theater, our resident mixed-ability companies perform at the Center and in the community.

The N4th Gallery is in the process of developing new programs but certainly the inventive qualities of the exhibits offered will continue.

The N4th Theater has a variety of programs and coming up in October is Global DanceFest which you will hear all about in the next few blogs.

Artful Cargo Container

Back to the Blog

The North Fourth Art Center Blog is your opportunity to get information about and insight into what we do. And your chance to interact with the staff and artists that work here or visit us with their art.

We will post a new blog every Tuesday or Wednesday about all manner of Center activities. .

Please join us—comment, advise, share.