NYC High Line Gets it Right for Visitors of All Ages

The High Line is educational and a valuable life lesson about community
management of natural settings. Here are some ideas about how to spend
your day:  High Line Article.

June 20 on The High Line

How Puppets Get Real in War Horse at Lincoln Center

The transplanted production values of the National Theatre of Britain's War Horse, now a multiple Tony Award winner playing at Lincoln Center Theater, are so extraordinary that some of them should be marked adults only. Not that the production offers nothing to children. It offers quite a lot. But the vivid reality of early twentieth century war, as created by Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, may be frightening to younger children. So, pack up your less easily frightened 'tweens and teens, and visit this production. You will fall in love with beautiful horses all over again. Though the outlines of the endearing story of the equine sacrifice during World War I continues to stir the heart as it did in Michael Morpurgo's original short book, the fiery horrors of the battlefield feel more than a little close for comfort in the intimate surround of the Vivian Beaumont Theater. It's riveting theater and much larger than the original story. Better than virtual reality, the play borrows techniques from film to absorb you in its world. The horses are watching you, and they will respond. Get off the couch.

Across the Ages Dance Performance--June 17-18 Cambridge

Here's a link to a slideshow for the runthrough of this intergenerational dance group in Cambridge:

The documentary is progressing. A short article on Intergenerational Dance in Cambridge can be found here.

New Photos from the Across the Ages Dance Project



Dancers Gather to Rehearse for ATAD in May
cc by Deborah S. Greenhut 2011

Scenes from Daniel McCusker's rehearsal process last month are available at: Defining The Capture.

The technical rehearsal was completed yesterday, and the production week is generating tremendous excitement. Scenes from the development process will be available this week at the DTC blog, in and around our filming of the final week.

Producer Focus: Marcie Mitler for Across the Ages Dance

Some people sit around and complain that there are no opportunities for them to be creative. Other people go out an invent them. Here's a link to my posting about Marcie Mitler, who is co-producing Across the Ages Dance with Eliza Mallouk. Their program will open next week, and they are achieving their goals. No, there may not be that many opportunities for people over fifty or under twenty to dance professionally--unless we keep making new ones. Cheers, ladies. We can all borrow a page from your playbook!

Choreographer Focus #5: Daniel McCusker

Choreographer Daniel McCusker has nurtured a movement in the Cambridge dance community. Two of his students, Marcie Mitler and Eliza Mallouk, are producing Across the Ages Dance, and he has choreographed a piece for the group. He's committed to the idea that artists must contribute to their communities in order to sustain them, and it is clear that what goes around comes around in this intergenerational project. I met Daniel just as he was starting to work on his piece. Excerpts from an October interview appear here.

Young Choreographer

Cat Wagner is a young choreographer who is working on an intense and technically interesting piece for the Across the Ages Dance Project in Cambridge. Read about her plans for the June concert at Defining The Capture, here. It's less than a week to the opening. Cat's dance includes some of the youngest participants in the concert. Truly intergenerational!