OUR NEW HOME FOR EAST VILLAGE DANCE PROJECT

Welcome to Avenue C Studio!

R.I.P. ELLEN STEWART. Our MaMa of La MaMa. Everyone has a story about Ellen. I met her first in 1975 or so, when I was visiting New York as a budding performer and choreographer. We met numerous times since then. I would catch her as she walked her dog, since I was just around the corner. If you wanted to talk to her, you had to do that. Meet her "by chance" in the morning dog walk time slot, and approach her for a gig, an idea, a festival, a chat, a kiss, a hug. Whatever it took. We fought. Everyone fought with her. We had one big one in 1989, but I went back. I brought projects from various corners of the world to Ellen. Between Ellen Stewart and Beate Gordon (who became my "real" boss at Asia Society in 1982), I had two Mamas, who I wanted to be like when I grew up. I now feel obligated even more than ever, to continue to work, across borders and across so-called enemy lines. Ellen, your spirit will continue to move me forever. I am blessed to have known you and learned from you.

here is the obit from Time Out NY today:



Ellen Stewart, who died this morning at the age of 91, was a force of culture. When she founded La MaMa back in 1961, Off-Off Broadway theater was in its infancy; in the 50 years since, she has been a vital agent in its growth and expansion, and up until just a few years ago she could still be seen regularly at her East Village drama center. A lifelong internationalist, Stewart helped introduce America to the work of Jerzy Grotowski and his Eastern European contemporaries in the 1960s, and La MaMa's archives are like a geological cross-section of theater innovation. Adrienne Kennedy, Israel Horovitz, Tom O'Horgan, Andrei Serban, Charles Ludlam, Elizabeth Swados, Mac Wellman, Ping Chong, John Kelly, Robert Patrick, Julie Bovasso, Taylor Mac, the Talking Band and Mabou Mines are just a few of the countless artists she helped wean in her peerless career. Stewart racked up many awards, including Japan's Praemium Imperiale and a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, but her greatest honor lay and lies in the incalculable influence of her passion. Off-Off Broadway has lost its mother, but her legacy is everywhere to be found.

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YOU ARE INVITED!

ANNOUNCING AVENUE C STUDIO OPEN HOUSE!
JANUARY 9, 2011

from the desk of Bonnie Sue Stein

In spite of the stressed economy, and the decreased funding for the arts, East Village Dance Project (EVDP) in partnership with GOH Productions has opened Avenue C Studio at 55 Avenue C, near East 4th Street in Manhattan. We are the only studio east of 2^nd Avenue in the East Village, and we are the new permanent home for the EVDP youth program which has been running in studios all over the neighborhood for the last 14 years. Also, the recently formed East Village Dance Project Jr. Company, a group of teens, will be rehearsing and developing new work at Avenue C Studio! EVDP offers a full week of classes in ballet, modern, improvisation and jazz classes for ages 4 to adult. Check out the website for details: www.eastvillagedanceproject.com.

Also, we welcome our good friends at Movement Research who have moved their offices to 55 Avenue C and will offer some of their programs in the new studio space!

OPEN HOUSE was on Sunday, January 9. Councilperson Rosie Mendez stopped by as well as 100 of our friends and neighbors and kids. The EVDP Jr Company performed twice, and we launched our first full week of classes. Come by! Take a class! Rosie promised to dance again, after revealing that when she was studying at NYU, she actually took a few modern dance classes. Go Rosie!

Bonnie Sue Stein

November 30, 2010

Tonight was the first performance of GATHERING SPACE at Al Balad in Amman, Jordan

My thoughts tonight and today were all about water. There is not enough here.

In the desert, there is little or no water.

Maybe we need to cry more to create tears? Then turn them into water?

Water

Tears

It’s about water and tears.

We fear the tears.

The tears tear us up.

We tear up with tears.

We are torn.

We are torn with the tears.

I do not want to expel water from my eyes because that is a waste in the desert.

I must conserve these tears

Why not drink our tears? Or cry crocodile tears.

Crocodile tears (or superficial sympathy) are a false or insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief.

Am I (are you?) crying crocodile tears instead of real ones?

The women in the first row at the performance tonight were crying during Sizzle’s last song. I was also crying. The song is so emotional, and the dancers are doing Palestinian dance steps on top of a camouflage tarpaulin. The image is all together, birth, death, life and pain.

November puppets, from Fox to the Daily Show

The Daily show featuring puppets from the Czechoslovak American Theatre collection.

Art in Odd Places 2010 - CHANCE