2023 Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Contemporary Dance Curated by Tiffany Rea-Fisher (FREE)
Company:
Bryant Park
Contemporary Dance
Curated by Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Thursday, June 8 at 7PM
Robin Dunn + Legendary Friends, Additional Artists TBA
Multiple dance artists celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary on the Bryant Park stage
Creative Director, Choreographer and F.A.C.E. Coach Robin Dunn teams up with her legendary friends Buddha Stretch and Mr. Wiggles to create a memorable celebration of Hip Hop dance in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop. They have worked with celebrity artists from the likes of pop culture icons Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Missy Elliot to rock stars like U2. Robin is the former Director of Amateur Night at the world famous Apollo Theater as well as being a former member of the world renown Fatback Band. Buddha Stretch is a current member of the well respected Mop Top and Elite Force dance crews and Wiggles continues to honorably represent his crews Rock Steady Crew and Electric Boogaloos. Robin, Buddha Stretch and Mr. Wiggles made history in 1989 by being the first to introduce the art form of Hip Hop dance at New York’s Broadway Dance Center. They continue to travel the world performing, teaching at dance institutions and universities, sharing their individual stories honoring the culture, history and art form of Hip Hop dance. What these longtime friends and colleagues have in common is their passion for Hip Hop dance and commitment to showcasing it with excellence.
Friday, June 9 at 7PM
Dance Heginbotham + TBA
Dance Heginbotham (DH) is a New York-based contemporary dance company committed to supporting, producing, and sustaining the work of choreographer John Heginbotham. With an emphasis on collaboration, DH enriches national and international communities with its unique blend of inventive, thoughtful, and rigorous dance theater works. Founded in 2011, DH has shared the stage with artists such as Maira Kalman, Ethan Iverson, Colin Jacobsen, Joshua Bell, the National Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Brooklyn Rider, and The Knights. DH had its world premiere in 2012 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has since been presented by Arts Brookfield, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carolina Performing Arts, Duke Performances, Harkness Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Vail International Dance Festival, among others. In 2016, DH toured to Indonesia, Laos, and the Philippines as cultural ambassadors of the United States with DanceMotion USA.
Thursday, June 15 at 7PM
Two rising stars in contemporary dance, Terk Lewis and Kayla Farrish
Terk Lewis began his formal ballet training at the age of 17 with Tony Calucci at The Dance Extension in Columbus, OH. He then went on to earn his BFA in Dance from Western Michigan University. He then went on to join Eisenhower Dance Detroit where he performed in works by Laurie Eisenhower, Stephanie Pizzo, Eddy Ocampo, and Joel Hall. Lewis went on to join Complexions Contemporary Ballet under Artistic Directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. While with the company for seven years he had the opportunity to perform works by both directors, as well as Jae Man Joo, William Forsyth and Marcelo Gomes. Lewis became an artist in residence with the company in 2017. Lewis went on to dance in Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC (Choreographed by Camille Brown) and perform in Peter Pan and Rock of Ages at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Most recently, Lewis danced in the Lin Manuel Miranda Feature Film In The Heights, at the Met Gala (Choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler), and in the Musical Series Up Here on Hulu (Choreographed by Sonya Tayeh). As a choreographer, Lewis assisted Jae Man Joo while creating Circular for Ailey II and also assisted Jill Johnson on choreographing the opera Crossing that premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has choreographed his own commissioned works for The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, The Steps Conservatory, The Joffrey Ballet School, Black Boys Dance Too (Presented by Bryant Park NYC), and Western Michigan University.
Kayla Farrish is a Black American Director merging dance-theater, filmmaking, narrative, and sound score. She captures ranging identity, the mythical dualities of history and present survival, and powerful dreaming lending to liberation. Her commissions include Gibney, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Danspace, Pepatian, Little Island, Harlem Stage, Blacklight Summit and beyond. Some works formed: Black Bodies Sonata, The New Frontier: My dear America, Sunny Side/Inside the Laughing Barrel, December 8th, Martyr’s Fiction, and others. She creates live works, films, site-specific/immersive, and collaborations. She recently shared Choir (Carrie Mae Weems Exhibition), To Dream A Lifetime (BlackLight), Roster with Melanie Charles, MIXTAPES with Alex MacKinnon and site-specific Broken Record (Little Island) with Brandon Coleman, and Rinsing and Harbor films. Presenting spaces include Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Symphony Space, and National Sawdust, among receiving support from Watermill Center for the Arts, Armstrong Now, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, Baryshnikov Arts Center, La Mama Theater, and others. She received the Sundance Uprise Grant for Emerging BIPOC Directors, Bessie Awards for NYLA’s Motherboard Suite and December 8th-Gibney, NY Times Top 2021 Dance Performances - Roster and Breakout Star. She is a recipient of the Harkness Promise Award for 2022. During 2022, she was a Rehearsal Director for Punchdrunk Sleep No More, and adjunct faculty for NYU Tisch Dance.
Friday, June 16 at 7PM
Soles of Duende + Josh Johnson
A night featuring two of New York's extraordinary percussive dance artists, Soles of Duende and Josh Johnson
A Brooklyn-born Puerto-Rican from New Haven, a Mexican Puerto-Rican Jew from the Lower East Side, and a Bengali Indian from Jersey walked on to the wooden floor and the rest? History. Bonded by their deep love of music, their crafts, and true connection, Soles of Duende is on a lifelong mission to elevate the joy and music of true collaboration across disciplines and the celebration of the forms they practice. Based in the sounds of Tap (Amanda Castro), Flamenco (Arielle Rosales) and Kathak (Brinda Guha), Soles of Duende’s fire is the spirit that lives within each of these women to celebrate their connection given their beautiful differences and to uplift the forms that made them.
Josh Johnson is a Harlem native, who tap-danced on the trains of New York City to pay for college at Penn State University. The New York Times and Reader’s Digest have covered his amazing story of hard work, persistence and positivity. Since Spring of 2012, Johnson has appeared in many Jazz Clubs of New York City, keeping in the tradition of the African American tap masters such as The Nicholas brothers, The Berry Brothers, the Original Hoofers and The Copasetics; and performing for audiences big and small. Johnson plays gigs anywhere from The Cotton Club to The Blue Note. From the Village Vanguard to the New Victory Theater and the world-famous Box Theater of Varieties in lower Manhattan. Johnson has been featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer and has made multiple appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He’s been a Red Carpet Correspondent on the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, and has been featured on Dancing with the Stars in an AT&T spotlight Performance. Johnson is a young man on a mission to inspire and delight audiences – both young and old. His story of persistence, hard work and positivity brings smiles, tears of happiness and encouragement to audiences all over the world.
Photo Credit: Chris Lee
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