A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y., region, including club-inspired modern dance; brassy soul from the West Coast; photography and multimedia art; and more.
Ephrat Asherie Dance
EPHRAT ASHERIE DANCE BRINGS CUTTING-EDGE STREET DANCE to PS21
(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Ephrat Asherie Dance brings its blend of street and social dance to PS21 on Friday and Saturday, August 25 and 26, at 8pm, as part the Chatham Dance Festival. The company’s work straddles the genres of dance and theater, and is inspired by the New York City club scene of the late-1990s and early oughts. The performances will take place under the Tent at PS21, 2980 Route 66, in the town of Chatham.
B-girl, house dancer, choreographer Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie grew up in the 1990s making mix tapes and watching music videos. “While I was training extensively in ballet and modern dance, I was dancing socially with my friends,” she said. In college, Asherie saw Rennie Harris’s hip-hop version of “Romeo and Juliet” and thought, “This is incredible. I have to figure out how to do this.” She continued, “Before Rome and Jewels I had never really seen hip-hop in a theatrical setting, on the concert dance stage. It was something I related to immediately.”
Royal Jelly Jive
ROYAL JELLY JIVE BRINGS BRASSY GYPSY-PUNK to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – San Francisco-based Royal Jelly Jive brings its soulful, brassy party music to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, August 25, at 9pm. Fronted by the streetwise, soulful vocals of Lauren Bjelde, Royal Jelly Jive plays a fusion of the jumpin’ jive of the 1940s, brass band music of the 1950s and ‘60s, and today’s Gypsy punk as popularized by groups like Beirut, Gogol Bordello, and Slavic Soul Party. Horns, bass, drums, and keyboards surround Bjelde’s vocals that combine the elegance of Nina Simone and the rough grit of Tom Waits.
Still from Manfred Kirchheimer’s ‘Canners’
FESTIVAL of PHOTOGRAPHY & MULTIMEDIA ART RETURNS to HUDSON HALL
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Just the Facts,” the second annual LightField Festival of Photography & Multimedia Art, returns to Hudson Hall now through September 30, with an exhibition, artist talks, film screenings, workshops, and a panel discussion.
Curated by Anna Van Lenten, LightField’s founding director, “Just the Facts” features photography and video work by six distinguished artists – Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Brenda Kenneally, Phyllis B. Dooney, Stacy Kranitz, Zoe Strauss, and Masterji — plus a screening of “Canners” by documentary director Manfred Kirchheimer.
The exhibition delves into the lives of working class people who struggle daily to keep their dignity in a social landscape that is increasingly hostile to immigrants and the working poor. The festival looks past common stereotypes to show how marginalized people, largely invisible to mainstream culture, have been left behind by technology and globalization.
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Jenny Nelson, Bend, 2017
ABSTRACTIONS EXHIBITION OPENS at CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Abstractions, a new multi-artist exhibition featuring works by Jenny Nelson, Stephen Walling, Juan Garcia-Nunez, Bruce Murphy, Christopher Engel, Joe Wheaton, and John Griebsch goes on view at Carrie Haddad Gallery on Wednesday, August 9, and runs through Sunday, September 24. A reception for the artists takes place on Saturday, August 12, from 5 to 7pm.
The exhibition features new abstract paintings by Jenny Nelson; 3-D wooden wall sculpture by Stephen Walling; a new series of abstract watercolors by Juan Garcia-Nunez; enamel sheet metal paintings by Bruce Murphy; gestural abstract paintings by Christopher Engel; and oxidized metal sculpture by Joe Wheaton. The upstairs gallery will feature aerial landscape photography by John Griebsch.