PS 122 Pays Tribute To Ishmael Houston-Jones & C. Carr At Spring Benefit 5/27

Performance Space 122 will pay tribute to two critical pioneers in the world of dance and performance:
Choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones and Performance Critic C. Carr at "Real Dancing with the Real Stars," Performance Space 122's Spring Benefit 2009 to be held on Wednesday, May 27 at The Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street at Pitt Street, in Manhattan).

The star-studded evening begins at 6.00pm and will feature live performances by Philippe Petit, Bill T. Jones' Fela!, Liam Mower from Billy Elliot (the star of the original London production), Elizabeth Streb, Yvonne Meier, Regina Roche, and Adrienne Truscott; plus presentations by Claire Danes, DANCENOISE, and Martha Wilson; as well as video by Charles Atlas.

On the fiery (read: adoring) "Judges Panel" are Justin Bond, Bebe Neuwirth, and Stephen Daldry. And the hosts of the whole downtown dance-centric fundraising shebang are Isaac Mizrahi and Richard Move - the latter will be channeling Martha Graham, of course.

Bookending this fabulous (non)competition are the pre-show cocktail party which will be "decorated" by a performance installation by Butoh Rockettes and the post-show Party with all-around art star DJs Andrew Andrew that is scheduled to go ‘til 1:00am.

The honorees this year are integral to the story not only of Performance Space 122, but also to the New York performance and dance community.

Gala Sponsors include Creative Artists Agency, East Village Community Coalition, Heather Thomas & Chet Kerr, Ivan Martinez and Patty Adams de Martinez, and Scott Rudin Productions.

Evening Overview:
6:00pm Cocktails & Hors D'Oeuvres
8:00pm Performances - Intermission features Live Auction and Benefit Boutique
10:00pm (‘til 1:00am) Party with DJs Andrew Andrew

Location: The Playhouse at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street at Pitt Street, in Manhattan

Sponsorships & Tickets - Available at www.ps122.org
PLATINUM $10,000: 10 front row seats, pre-show reception, post-show party with artists, full-page ad and listing in program, listing in Spring 2009 playbills and on website
GOLD $5,000: 10 premium orchestra, pre-show reception, post-show party with the artists, half-page ad in the program
SILVER $3,000: 10 orchestra seats, pre-show reception, post-show party with the artists, half-page ad in program
BRONZE $2,000: 10 orchestra seats, pre-show reception, post-show party with the artists, sponsorship listing in program
INDIVIDUAL $500: 1 premium orchestra seat, pre-show reception, post-show party with the artists, listing in the program
Patron ticket (limited availability) $200: 1 orchestra seat, pre-show reception, post-show party with the artists

Dress is FESTIVE and more than 350 patrons are expected. Benefit ticket and table contributions are tax-deductible in the amount they exceed $75.

Performance Space 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance. Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P.S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view. www.ps122.org

Ishmael Houston-Jones started dancing in the abandoned NYC Public School 122 in 1979; using the newly formed weekly Open Movement nights to meet collaborators, dancers, friends, and lovers. Ishmael and a band of like-minded art rebels that included Yvonne Meier, Stephanie Skura, Stephanie Doba, Frank Conversano, Fred Holland, Jennifer Miller, Robin Epstein, Mark Russell, John Bernd (RIP) as well as directors Charles Dennis, Tim Miller, Peter Rose and Moulton formed the early informal core of what became Performance Space 122. As a choreographer and performer Ishmael Houston-Jones' early work used movement and text to address issues of race, sexuality, and the AIDS crisis. Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie Award" for their Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders. Works Houston-Jones premiered at Performance Space 122 include: THEM and Knife/Tape/Rope, both of which were collaborations with novelist Dennis Cooper. He also appeared at Performance Space 122 in the work of Holland, Meier, Bernd, Cathy Weis, DD Dorvillier, Terry Fox, Rotozaza and DANCENOISE. As a teacher at the American Dance Festival, The Eugene Lang College at the New School, the Center for New Dance Development in Holland, and many other schools and festivals, Houston Jones has nurtured continuing generations of radical dance makers.

As one of the first writ ers to focus on the burgeoning NYC perfor mance scene in the 1980s, she wrote with intel ligence and context about the artists who worked at P.S. 122 and other downtown theaters and clubs, putting those venues on the map and demanding that the artists they pre sented be taken seriously. She was a columnist and arts writer for The Village Voice from 1984 until 2003, specializing in experimental and cutting edge art-especially performance. She became the major chronicler of New York performance, writing the first features ever to appear on Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, DANCENOISE and others. Some of her performance pieces are now collected in On Edge: Performance at the End of the Twentieth Century, published by Wesleyan University Press. Her work has also appeared in ARTFORUM, The New York Times, The Drama Review, and other publications. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007, and is currently at work on a biography of artist/writer David Wojnarowicz.

 

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