Kick off the New Year with dance and be the first to see three new performances commissioned by Works & Process on the East End at The Church in Sag Harbor, Guild Hall of East Hampton, and The Watermill Center. The inaugural Dance Out East culminates in week-long creative residencies. It provides unique insight into the process and preparation of new choreographed works that will sequence into the Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival at the Guggenheim Museum.
“Dance Out East: The Scattering by Emily Coates” will be held at The Church in Sag Harbor on Thursday, January 9, at 6 PM. Dancer and choreographer Emily Coates’s new performance project sources George Balanchine’s brief history beyond the metropolis to reflect on how the body and spirit of a choreographer scatters, living on in unexpected places, starting with his arrival in America in 1933. Coates draws upon her background as a former member of the New York City Ballet. Working with Ain Gordon (direction and dramaturgy), Derek Lucci (performer), Charles Burnham (musician-composer), and Melvin Chen (pianist), she and her collaborators collage misplaced and overlooked archival traces and transmissions of Balanchine and related artists into a new whole.
“Dance Out East: Music From The Sole’s House Is Open, Going Dark (working title)” will be held at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Friday, January 10, at 7 PM. Blurring the line between concert, dance, and music performance, “Music From The Sole” is a tap dance and live music company celebrating tap’s roots in the African diaspora. Co-founders composer and bassist Gregory Richardson and Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval draw from Afro-Brazilian, jazz, soul, house, rock, and Afro-Cuban styles. After multiple residencies through the Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artists-in-Residence program and opening the newly renovated Hillarie and Mitchell Morgan Theater at Guild Hall this past summer, see a preview of their newest work culminating the company’s technical residency at Guild Hall.
“Dance Out East: Djapo by Marie Basse Wiles and Omari Wiles” will occur at The Watermill Center on Saturday, January 11, at 2 PM. West African dance cultural icon Marie Basse-Wiles and her son, Ballroom Icon Omari Wiles (CATS: The Jellicle Ball), co-create Djapo, bringing together dancers from the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance, founded by Basse-Wiles and Les Ballet Afrik. For 32 years, MKSAD has brought together the African diaspora in an annual conference. Basse-Wiles has trained generations of renowned artists whose impact continues to resonate worldwide, including tours to Senegal, Mali, Gambia, and Guinea. Her son Omari Wiles has followed in her footsteps while walking to the beat of his own drum, creating AfrikFusion informed by Afro Club Culture, Vogue, and West African dance. See excerpts from this new work, which is the continuation of a rich dance history.
Tickets are $25 or $20 for members. Visit danceouteast.org.