dance
D.J. Tommie Sunshine on childhood summers at the Shore and his big Sandy benefit plan
“My family has a house on the Jersey Shore in Manasquan,” he explained. “It's the beach where my parents met, when they were 12 and 14, and they've been together ever since. And though the benefit took a lot to arrange, Sunshine hopes it won’t be a standalone concert. “Basically, this is a bit of a litmus test. If we pack the place, which I am confident we're going to do, then we're looking to do it in more places and we're looking to do a bit of tour. We want to take it to the Stone Pony in Jersey. We want to do one on Long Island. We already found a place in Philly. We want to do one in D.C. It's all dependent on how this goes.” More
The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, showing off the borough's talent and bringing artists from across the pond
"Every artist is connected to Brooklyn in some way," Longmyer said. Many of them—Nick Catchdubs, Lauren Flax and Mess Kid—are longtime Brooklynites or, like ShadowBox, recently moved to the borough. Trouble & Bass, Mixpak, and Fade to Mind are among the Brooklyn-based labels hosting stages or bringing their signed artists to the festival. "It's the opposite of stress," Drop the Lime (Luca Venezia), the native New York producer and D.J. who's playing BEMF for the first time his year, said. "I rarely get to play my hometown. It's a great energy and vibe because you've got your fans there but also you have your friends." More
Streets of Your Town: this week's concerts, with Gilberto Gil, Blue Öyster Cult, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more
Streets of Your Town: This week's best concerts, from rock to jazz to rap to everything else, including Gilberto Gil, Blue Öyster Cult, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more. More
(2)Dancers from 'Flex Is Kings' get their first mainstream notice via the 'Times'
Deidre Schoo, who directed the film with Michael Beach Nichols, said in a phone interview that the article may have been the first to truly validate flexing as a dance form. “A number of flex dancers are on tour with Madonna and have performed on shows like 'America’s Best Dance Crew,'” she said. Jonathan George, a.k.a. Jay Donn, is currently touring with Big Bad University, the artist and songwriter collective launched by Sky Blu of the band LMFAO. “But flex is still pretty underground." Schoo said. "It was great to see it acknowledged by a dance critic for the Times.” More
Streets of Your Town: This week's concerts, with RZA, Allen Toussaint, Heart, and more
Streets of Your Town: This week's best concerts, from rock to jazz to rap to everything else, including RZA, Allen Toussaint, Heart, and more. More
Veteran Manchester disco D.J. Greg Wilson, from reel-to-reel to The Hacienda to today
“Disco nowadays means so many different things to different people—to one it’s ‘YMCA’ by the Village People, symbolized by the embarrassing uncle trying to do the moves at a wedding, to another it’s the orchestral splendour of MFSB in Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, whilst yet another, as you say, equates it to the ‘Theme From Miami Vice.’ But stuck with it we are. It’s weird how we keep ending up with genre names that have been previously used, R&B and electro being the other examples. It would have been nice if the current scene could have been named with a bit more originality, but such is life.” More
Ashton Kutcher gets involved in local filmmaker's flex-dancing documentary
“Knowing the characters he’s played on TV and film, you have all these preconceived notions of who Ashton Kutcher is,” the filmmaker told me in a telephone interview today. “But he really knows what he’s doing. He’s a real thinker, an entrepreneur and a businessman.” More
Streets of Your Town: This week's concerts, with Bloc Party, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more
Streets of Your Town: This week's best concerts, from rock to jazz to rap to everything else, including Bloc Party, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more. More
Fluently Baryshnikov: the dancer visits the ghosts of his past with 'In Paris'
Since his defection from the USSR in 1974, Baryshnikov’s career in the West has been largely an attempt to plumb possibilities unknown in the Soviet Union at the time he left (and he’s continued in that direction even since 1989). In much the same way that his Western career has often been a rebuke to his past, he’s been diffident until now about accessing his Russian experience. Now, the very fact that he speaks entirely in Russian and French in this theater piece must inevitably function as an act of reconciliation. More
Remixer, producer, promoter, and D.J. Jacques Renault is riding the crest of Brooklyn's dance-music wave
That time has gone to good use these past few years. Renault’s C.V. includes work with fellow Brooklyn D.J. Marcos Cabral as Runaway, a bunch of re-edits he’s made for super-limited-edition vinyl pressings (usually around 100 copies, never more than 300), and a handful of terrific remixes. His 2010 remix of fellow Brooklynites Midnight Magic’s “Beam Me Up” evokes every era of New York’s post-disco diaspora while sounding utterly of-this-moment. More
I Heard Your Single: A survey of the month's releases, featuring Jennifer Lopez, D.J. Khaled, Sepalcure, and more
At the end of each month I survey recent singles from local acts—selectively, not exhaustively. By “singles,” I mean everything from 7- and 12-inches to “focus tracks” (e.g. they gave the MP3 away two months before the album release, or made a video), and by “local” I mean they live in New York. (Remixes and guest appearances by New Yorkers on out-of-towners’ records also get looks in.) Suggestions are welcome to matoswk@gmail.com, no guarantees made. In April, I listened to the radio a little more than usual. More
Letter from the borough where Flex is King
Inside the Bond Street Theater in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn last week, an assortment of dancers, choreographers, filmmakers and their friends had gathered to support Flex is Kings, a new documentary about the Brooklyn-based phenomenon known as flex dancing. The film’s Kickstarter campaign had yet to reach its $40,000 goal (which it did on Monday afternoon, three days before the deadline). And so the directors, Deidre School and Michael Beach Nichols, staged a last-minute performance to promote the film, while giving others a chance to see what flexing is all about. More
Streets of Your Town: This week's concerts, with the Black Keys, Justice, Marianne Faithfull, and more
Streets of Your Town is a weekly index of live music offerings in New York. In this week's lineup: the Black Keys, Justice, Marianne Faithfull, and more. More
David Dorfman's tribute to Sly and the Family Stone has plenty of nostalgia, not much substance
The performance, while enthusiastic, suffered from a lack of direction and looked more like a Soul Train episode than a serious attempt at examining an era or even the inner politics of the famed rock band. That said, Dorfman’s dancers all seemed to be having a grand old time during what must have been a fun production. More
Filming about dance: At Lincoln Center, a linchpin of the annual dance calendar unspools
Perhaps the best example of the best of the 40th Anniversary Dance on Camera Festival is the informative and touching 2011 documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, which will ultimately screen in 40 theaters across the country. Director Bob Hercules takes the viewer through Joffrey’s early career and his relationship and collaboration with Gerald Arpino. The film also demonstrates the complexity of running one’s own dance troupe. Many of the challenges that dogged the Joffrey after its namesake died of AIDS in 1988—financial woes, Arpino’s takeover as artistic director, a move to Chicago—would have felled a lesser group of working artists. Along the way, one rediscovers Joffrey’s immense accomplishment in making ballet truly American. More
