Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Every once in a while, a story in the New York Times makes me question my own self-proclaimed, “Pop Culture Specialist” status. Today’s article on dancing YouTube star Matt Harding, made me feel shame.

The title is not misleading. “Dancing” shows a guy dancing: a big, doughy-looking fellow in shorts and hiking boots performing an arm-swinging, knee-pumping step that could charitably be called goofy. It’s the kind of semi-ironic dance that boys do by themselves at junior high mixers when they’re too embarrassed to partner with actual girls.

The dancer is Matt Harding, the 31-year-old creator of the video, and with some New Agey-sounding music playing in the background, he turns up, grinning and bouncing, in 69 different locations, including India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu and the Nellis Airspace in Nevada, where he performs the dance in zero gravity. [NYTimes.com]

Sure, this guy’s good, but he’s no Gabe.

BAM 2008 Next Wave Festival: New Voices From Spain

Photo: Maria Madrigal

Here is what the music portion of the BAM Next Wave Festival looks like:

New Voices from Spain
Huecco (BAM Howard Gilman Opera House)
Rosalía (BAMcafé)
Oct 11

ETHEL’s TruckStop: The Beginning
Directed by and created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen
Oct 14-18

Darwin’s Meditation for The People of Lincoln
Conceived and composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
Oct 29-Nov 1

Arjuna’s Dilemma
Music-Theatre Group
Music by Douglas J. Cuomo
Nov 5-8

Red Hot + Rio 2
The Next Generation of Samba Soul
Dec 4 & 5

Check out the full 2008 Next Wave schedule here.

SUBSCRIPTIONS
Friends of BAM and Subscribers: Jun 16
General public: Jun 23
More Info

SINGLE TICKETS
Friends of BAM and Subscribers: Aug 21
General public: Sep 2

Various dance and music groups will celebrate the spirit of the Brooklyn Bridge through performances at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. Free. Be sure to check out all the events going on throughout the weekend at www.nycvisit.com/bb125.

Sunday May 25, 2008
1:00pm: Deedle Deedle Dees
1:30pm: Brooklyn Ballet
2:00pm: Silver-Brown Dance Company
2:30pm: Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre
3:00pm: Errol Grimes Dance Group
3:30pm: Brighton Ballet Theatre

Download the 2008 Season Schedule (PDF)

Now in our 7th year, BRICstudio’s 2008 Season shatters the boundaries of the creative process by connecting you to cutting edge dance, music and theater by artists from Brooklyn to the Mississippi Delta. See new work, learn about the development process, and offer feedback during BRIClab. Discover local choreographers at Danspace Project. Witness one-of-a-kind collaborations straddling genre and geography with 651 Arts. BRICstudio’08 is your invitation to new and emerging performance in Brooklyn. [briconline.org]

Tickets: $10 Students, $12 Adults or buy a labPASS for only $50!
(PASSes include access to 1 work-in-progress presentation and 1 eLABorate conversation for each BRIClab artist.)
Purchase tickets here, or call 866-811-4111.

Usually, there is some overlap between the BRICStudio season and the Celebrate Brooklyn! lineup, and this year is no exception. On May 8 and May 11 you can catch workshop presentations of Hall Willner’s Bill Withers Project which will have its premiere at Celebrate Brooklyn! Saturday, August 9.

Our good friends at The Music Slut are throwing a big party tonight (04/18) at Club 205. Here are the juicy details:

9pm Marxwall
10pm Alan Astor
DJ Brad Walsh

It’s an electronic dance extravaganza!

And to celebrate these amazing groups being, well, amazing, we are giving away pairs of tickets to see The Long Blondes, The Teenagers and The Cave Singers at the party in addition to gift bags filled with all sorts of goodies!

205 Club
205 Chrystie St @ Stanton
Cost: $5, 21+

Hey, I’d go if I was in the same time zone.

The Company’s Joyce program features the full-length premiere of This is the Story of a Girl in a World, a group of five related works set to songs and music by the extraordinary Antony, Lou Reed and Nico Muhly; the world premiere of Beauty and the Brut set to a commissioned score by art-rock band Fischerspooner; an encore performance of BLOOM (2006), set to a commissioned score by Rufus Wainwright, with the live accompaniment of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, under the direction of Francisco Nunez. Lighting design for all works is by Petronio’s longtime collaborator Ken Tabachnick and costumes for the evening include designs by fashion innovators Ben Cho, Michael Angel, Tara Subkoff,
Tony Cohen, and Rachel Roy.

Performances will take place at The Joyce Theater, April 1-6, 2008 (Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm). A post-performance discussion is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street) in New York City. Tickets are $40, and in celebration of The Joyce’s 25th Anniversary Season, tickets to the Sunday evening performance are $25. Tickets can be purchased by calling JOYCECHARGE at (212) 242 0800 or online at www.joyce.org.

[Press Release Continued After The Jump]

“Stephen Petronio Company @ The Joyce (w/ Lou Reed, Antony, and Rufus Wainwright)” continued after the jump