On Friday April 18th and Saturday April 19th at 7:30pm Dance Dhamaka, WilliamsCollege’s Indian Dance troupe, presents Legally Brown: A politically conscious Bollywood dance show at Williams College ‘62 Center for Theater and Dance. Dance Dhamaka is over 30 people strong and since 2006, has presented annual full length shows modeled on traditional Bollywood movies. This year’s show, Legally Brown, promises to follow in the footsteps of Bombay in My Soul and Brokeback Bollywood to surprise audiences with spectacular choreography, vibrant costumes, and lots of melodrama.Reserve tickets at 413 597 2425 or buy them in person at the Box Office.
There are few things that are more exciting than seeing some of our favorite performing artists collaborate together to create a new song, theater work, dance piece, or a combination of all of the above. Trickpony, showing here on March 8th, is one of those collaborations. Outstanding performers ballerina Sally Rousse and aerialist Chelsea Bacon combine thier specialties to create an amazing piece of performance art that can only be described a genre bending. This is one collabrotive effort we encourage you not to miss.
If you missed the latest DJ Rekha’s Boston Globe recomnended event in Cambridge, don’t fret. Put on your dancing shoes and head on over to the Bollywood Dance Party on February 9 at 8 PM for another chance to hear this great DJ spin a combination of music with an intense beat: hip hop, rap, reggae, ragga, rock, soul and global dance hits.
We would love to know what you have to say about MASS MoCA. What did you think of the latest exhibition, event or performance? Write a review of anything and everything relating to MASS MoCA and then send it to me at bbishop@massmoca.org. We’ll pick visitor reviews to share on the blog. Please title all e-mails Patron Review and indicate whether we can post your review on our website.
It takes a lot of brawn and brain to be an intern, especially one at MASS MoCA. I am fairly convinced that our interns are superheroes (and I’m not just saying that because I used to be one.) MASS MoCA interns not only help us put up successful exhibitions, and put on amazing shows, but also help us keep the museum functioning on a day-to-day basis. Did you get a postcard in the mail from MASS MoCA about an upcoming show? An intern might have designed the postcard, an intern might have stuck your address label that postcard, an intern might go to the airport and pick up the performing artist you are invited to see, an intern might help set up the seats you are sitting in to enjoy that performance, an intern might sell you your ticket to the show or the galleries, and an intern might have done research on the artist whose work you can view in the galleries.
One of the things I love about our interns is that no matter what crazy task we ask them to help us with they are still full of energy and life and overall just glad to be here. For example look at the photos posted here of Emily (the marketing intern who will be posting her own additions to the blog occasionally) and Aimee (one of the performing arts interns.) I walked into the museum this morning to find them dancing energetically in the courtyard. Perhaps they were feeling inspired by the David Neumann work-in-progress they saw this past weekend or maybe they are preparing their moves to show off to the Armitage Gone! Dance company when they arrive later this week, but either way they looked like they were having a ball. And later when I asked them to repeat their show for the camera they not only performed again but, incredibly, with even more energy. Which is just more proof that our interns rock!
We are currently searching for interns to help us out during the 2008 winter/spring season. If you would like to join our team for a season please visit the page linked above and apply now. The application deadline is November 1, 2007.
Dance by Emio Greco, music by Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon. While we don’t have a date for when the finished piece might be performed here, if you have a chance to see this elsewhere, don’t miss it. It is astonishing.
We are delighted to welcome our good friends from Marafanyi Percussion to the African Dance party on Sunday, September 2 as dance instructors. The founders of this pioneering group, Lara Gonzalez & Yael Shacham, are exceptionally gifted and fun teachers and were the star attraction at our booth at North Adams Downtown Celebration last Thursday.
This blog has been a work-in-progress from Day One. After a few months of developing and designing the site, MASS MoCA has finally launched the blog. Now in our ‘live’ state, we are waiting to see how the public will interact with it.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Brittany; I started working at MASS MoCA as an intern in the marketing department in January 2007 and have since been hired full-time as Marketing Coordinator. I will be submitting to the blog occasionally as will interns and other staff members. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are ecstatic to have this opportunity to share with you some of the things we love about the museum and our thoughts on contemporary art, performances, and events.
This weekend I got the chance to attend the work-in-progress rehearsal of Emio Greco/ PC’s new work Popopera. The company was here as part of the NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires programming. I was more than inspired by the way the dancers powerfully included electric guitars (and, most challengingly, their cords)into their piece. I was even more surprised when I found out that none of these dancers had ever picked up a guitar before they began their residency here two weeks ago! Bravo to the beginnings of a stellar piece, as well as reminding me of what sort of things can be accomplished in just two weeks.
Continuing with a theme of works-in progress, I urge all of you — especially those who have never come to a work-in-progress showing — to visit MASS MoCA on September 29th when David Neumann and his dance company Advanced Beginner Group present feedforward. This dance is shaped around popular American sports and the movements those sports require. They’ll be joined by a live trombone choir adding an authentic sporting event feel to the evening.
