August 20, 2008 at 12:47 pm · Filed under ballet, dance, dance event, KATE, manhattan, art, modern, city, new york, nyc, mercecunningham, new york city, abt, choreographer, modern dance, contemporary dance, new york dance, companies, city center, dance culture, dance companies, american balet theatre, KATE-M, SYREN, kate mehan, chroeographer, SYREN modern dance
This is one of the posters starting appear around the city (this one at 5th Ave N/R/W train stop). This is a great event at City Center (all tickets $10!!!) The shows are in Sept. Everything from Shen Wei, ABT, Cunningham, to Oregon Ballet Theater and much much more. A great mix, the right price, and a SUPERB venue. One of these days, we hope SYREN will get on the bill! In the meantime, we are enthusiastic supporters.
Check it out!
http://www.citycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=3775
www.syrendance.org
Recent Posts by kate mehan
September 6, 2007 at 3:49 pm · Filed under backstage, dance, lincoln center, video, DAVID, 890 broadway, japan, city, nyc, dancebloggers, paris, abt, broadway, blogging, american ballet theatre, MATTHEW, matthew murphy
I’ve been sitting at my computer for a few tense hours minutes trying to think of a way to introduce myself on The Winger. Even though I’ve been blogging on my own site for a while now, for some reason I was struck with a bit of writers block when it came time to post here. I’d like to take a minute to thank Kristin for letting me join her growing global family (and even out the Lincoln Center scales a LITTLE.) You see, it was because of Kristin’s website that I began taking blogging seriously. David had mentioned it to me when he became interested and other than a few random (and slightly pathetic) MySpace blogs about my feelings, I hadn’t spent much time blogging before I came across this lovely site.
So after a few minutes of writers block, it hit me that I still hadn’t responded to a fellow blogger’s (Winger regular Tonya) tag to share 8 Interesting Facts About Myself. “Interesting” is a quite generic and loose word which almost automatically makes my facts look boring, but I’ll give it a try. Perhaps it will give readers a chance to get to know me (as if “Ranting Details” isn’t personal enough) before I start blogging up a storm here!
1. I am extremely proud of my Montana upbringing.
There are very few dancers that hail from Big Sky country, and even though I was born in New York City, I still consider myself a Montanan at heart. I spent my formative years there before heading off to High School at NCSA and made life long friends that I miss more with each passing day. On top of genuinely nice people, crazy wildlife (we would often have bears walking through my neighborhood), and INCREDIBLE scenery, how often do you get to see a sunset like this?!
2. The only other place I can see myself living soon is Paris.
After visiting Europe for the first time in February (fellow Winger Evan even visited our class), I immediately decided I would live in Paris at some point in my life. The architecture is incredible, the art is overwhelming and the croissants…well, I could live on them (in fact I did which is perhaps why I got mono.)
3. I’m also oddly obsessed with Japan.
My first trip out of the country was with ABT when we went to Japan a few summers ago and it was life changing. Much of Japan feels like being in the heart of Times Square except in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” Everything is so overwhelming, from the mobs of people to the neon lights. I ended up having a rather Asian themed apartment and have a “wall of crap” that contains MANY Japanese toys. One of my favorite posters is an old Japanese movie poster I bought right by these incredible lotus lily pads (?) pictured below. I will always have a special place in my heart for Japan and will never forget wandering around completely lost in the winding streets. We also had an infamous night at a club called GasPanic on our last night in Tokyo, where we didn’t get back to the hotel until 5am. The subways shut down at midnight and don’t open until 5am so we just kept exploring. Too many memories to share in one post.
4. I am constantly in awe of my family.
Being in a family of artists can be difficult at times but I realize I would NEVER be where I am without my family. My father was an actor, my mother a dancer and they both teach now. My sister is also an INCREDIBLE tap dancer (pictured with me below.) All of them push me to reach for more in my art and look beyond the regular and for that I’m eternally thankful.
5. I’m a TOTAL musical theater dork.
Perhaps the most embarrassing fact about me, but true nonetheless. Instead of Sesame Street, I listened to Sondheim as a child and would kill to have dinner with him. One of my favorite things to do in the city is go see shows and prove to people that musical theater isn’t always fluffy nonsense (although a lot of times it is and what’s wrong with that?!) Fortunately, some of my best friends go to school at University of Michigan for Musical Theater so I will get to watch them on stage soon. The picture below is with two of my closest friends, Michael Lowney and Jessica Hershberg who you will see on a Broadway stage in the near future. Perhaps we are acting out a 21st century version of “The Telephone Hour” from Bye, Bye, Birdie?
6. I almost didn’t join ABT.
When I was at NCSA I was offered a contract with Studio Company during my sophomore year but before that I was rather convinced that I would try to go to City Ballet. Melissa Hayden represented that side of my training while Warren Conover took the ABT side, so I loved parts of both companies. The way things fell into place, I ended up at 890 and my jaw dropped to the floor. I still have moments when I have to pinch myself when I look around the room at who is dancing.
(One of my favorite pictures ever with Craig Salstein, Jeff Golladay, and Marcelo Gomes.)
(Me with fellow Winger and best friend extraordinaire, David Hallberg. This is turning into “The many hairstyles of Matt Murphy.” I’ll refrain from the bowl cut I sported my whole adolescence.)
(At the end of the night after my first gala with fellow dancers in 2004.)
7. I can’t drive.
Ugh, I took my first lesson (with Nick and my sister Carson) this past weekend and it was comedic to say the least. Being a dancer prohibited me from ever having time to learn! The following video might scare you…
8. I wrote the screenplay for “American Beauty,” and won an Oscar for it.
Okay, so I lied. I was running out of “interesting” things about myself. It’s one of my favorite movies though…I guess that’s a fact.
Now who do I get to tag? Perhaps I’ll share the love with 8 fellow Wingers? Chosen at random, since I don’t know many of you! Let’s see if everyone can join in and we can get to the know the dancers that much more!
David, Kristin, Cathy, Susan, Carla, Benny, David B., and Candice.
Recent Posts by matthew
July 9, 2007 at 3:40 am · Filed under SLOAN, friends, music, musicians, nyc, rob hudack, lakeside lounge
Posted by Kristin Sloan
I came home to NYC this weekend to help Doug organize for thehappycorp’s upcoming move, and to get a little more editing work done on my larger home screen… but one of the highlights was getting to catch our musically gifted friend Mr. Rob Hudak (now a resident of New Orleans, a devoted husband, and proud father) playing at the Lakeside Lounge on Avenue B during his weekend stay in the city. It is always fun to see him and Jen when they’re in town, and to get the bonus of hearing him sing! You can check out his music at robhudak.com, as well as some of his other super creative work at mechanicalhead.com.
Photos by Doug
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
January 19, 2007 at 6:34 pm · Filed under SLOAN, parties, artists, art, nyc, dougaitken, moma, videoart
Posted by Sloan
Thursday night we got to check out Doug Aitken’s Sleepwalkers and attend the opening night party in the lobby and mezzanine area of the MoMA (thanks Daniel!).
The West wall - the building is alive!
One of the projectors.
Unfortunately it happened to be one of the coldest nights this winter - not exactly the best scenario in which to view an outdoor art piece. Nevertheless, the scene in the sculpture garden was stunning and the characters were interesting to watch. (I’ve always been fascinated with Tilda Swinton).
Tilda’s giant arm.
Doug, with Charles Renfro’s back of head, in the sculpture garden.
Me freezing, in line for the party, with Doug’s jacket - he’s the best.
At 10PM the projections stopped and it was time for the party. It was completely packed!
But luckily we were upstairs by the “Out of Time” exhibit, which they eventually opened up to make more room for everybody. We missed the music performance by Seu Jorge which was downstairs, but we were having fun checking out things like the Bill Viola piece and the art made by the residue from the 2002 fireworks celebrating MoMA’s new digs in Queens.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
January 16, 2007 at 6:16 pm · Filed under SLOAN, artists, culture, art, nyc, dougaitken, moma, creativetime, videoart
Posted by Sloan
For those of you who have been readers for a while, you may remember we mentioned something about an upcoming “New York Public Art Project”.
Well that project is Doug Aitken’s Sleepwalkers, a video art piece that will be projected onto the EXTERIOR walls of the Museum of Modern Art. How fantastic is that?
courtesy MOMA/Creative Time
I don’t want to give away details (although I’m sure most of you have already read plenty about it in the press recently) but I have no doubt it will be both fascinating and beautiful. You can see it tonight until February 12th, from 5PM to 10PM.
Before (or after) going, I highly recommend checking out Doug Aitken’s book “Broken Screen“, in which he has casual discussions with other creative luminaries like Robert Altman, John Baldessari, Rem Koolhaas, and Ed Ruscha about art, modern life, and the concept of nonlinear and visually fragmented film, among other things. The beauty of the book is that it really feels like you are listening to two artists chat over coffee. A tone that we like a lot here.
:)
More info to come after the opening party tonight.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
January 16, 2007 at 12:26 am · Filed under SLOAN, food, nyc
Posted by Sloan
The other night we attended a lovely pot-luck dinner for a good friend of ours. We were assigned to the “struedel” group (meaning we were in charge of dessert). Since desserts (and steak) are my favorite, I thought it would be smooth sailing… until we remembered that our dear friend has a wheat allergy.
Babycakes to the rescue!
Babycakes is a tiny bakery at Broome and Ludlow in the Lower East Side of Manhattan that serves up both wheat-free and gluten-free delicacies. And they’re pretty tasty too! So, if any of you have something against wheat (or you just wanna check out this cute little place) now you know where to go.
:)
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
