Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Representing at the Guggenheim: In-person performance returns to the museum’s iconic rotunda with energizing beatbox, street dance, and ballroom

• By drediman
• April 2, 2021
• No Comments

Today marks the first day that New York performance venues (which include theaters, comedy clubs, music venues, etc.) can officially present live indoor shows at long last – albeit at 33 percent capacity (capped at 100 people) and with social distancing protocols in place. In the days leading up to April 2nd, courtesy of the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series and the NY PopsUp Festival, New Yorkers got a preview of what it feels like to attend indoor performances. Here are my thoughts on two of those performances that I attended earlier this week.

THE MISSING ELEMENT
Beatbox / Street Dance
Chris Celiz & Anthony Rodriguez

First up was a collaboration between beatboxer Chris Celiz and street dance choreographer Anthony “Invertebrate” Rodriguez. In this new world of ours, I applaud the Guggenheim for giving “alternative” artists like this duo a platform to develop new work and the opportunity to perform them. Their current creation is entitled The Missing Element (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which premiered on Tuesday at the Guggenheim’s iconic central rotunda. Happily, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed space proved ideal for the piloting of indoor performances in terms of traffic flow, social distancing, and sight-lines. The 45-minute performance was both energized and energizing – a dynamic and poetic depiction of the natural world and the elements, as represented by Mr. Rodriguez’s athletic and vividly distinctive dancers. Mr. Celiz’s score – part hard-driving beats, part nature-inspired soundscapes – was performed live (marvelously) by a team of beatboxers to spectacular effect, uniting Mr. Rodriguez’s striking if merely suggestive choreographic imagery.

MASTERZ AT WORK DANCE FAMILY
Ballroom / Hip-Hop / Street Dance
Courtney ToPanga Washington

The programming at the Guggenheim continued to “represent” on the subsequent day, when it presented Courtney ToPanga Washington’s Masterz at Work Dance Family. (RECOMMENDED). Coinciding with Transgender Day of Visibility, the work emphatically celebrates Black Queerness – which is no surprise given that Ms. Washington herself is a Black trans femme choreographer. Her aesthetic is heavily influenced by ballroom culture, as evidenced by the ample voguing and the generous sense of community that her choreography evokes. But there’s also a good deal of hip-hop and street dance thrown into the fray, which gives the overall work an accessibility on a variety of fronts. Never mind that some of her dancers (all of them young and oh-so-eager) at this point are more accomplished than others, their collective commitment and sense of joy was nothing less than infectious to behold. Indeed, the audience regularly erupted into whoops of approval, which got me a bit emotional. This audience-performer connection is what I’ve been missing dearly for a very long time.