Harlem Stage Announces Spring 2011 Season

For its spring 2011 season, Harlem Stage-one of the country's leading producers and presenters of performances by artists of color-amps up its tradition of honoring Harlem's cultural history with a roster of contemporary artists in dance, music and film, who take inspiration from the past.

Among the season's highlights:
· 2010 MacArthur Genius Grant winner Jason Moran and Grammy nominee Meshell Ndegeocello team up to salute a legendary piano genius in The Fats Waller Dance Party;
· Classic albums and songs from the neo-soul movement of the 1990s and 2000s get re-imagined in Soul: Remixed, Revisited and Reconstructed;
· Emerging and established dance artists share the stage in the 12th season of the acclaimed annual E-Moves festival, anchored by a 25-year retrospective from Urban Bush Women;
· Filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris launches his new participatory multimedia project, bringing audience members' histories to life in the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion.

More than 20 spring events are organized under several Harlem Stage series, including the cutting-edge music series Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage now in its fourth sold-out season, the E-Moves series of dance performances and films, the Harlem Stage on Screen film series featuring the Black Documentary Collective and the LGBT-focused NewFest as collaborators, and the new-generation contemporary jazz-focused series Harlem Stride, among others.

Harlem Stage also presents a monthly open-mic series for teens, Uptown Open, which features youth-run events that present young poets, emcees, scholars, and activists sharing their voices, their art, and their opinions in an after-school safe space. Uptown Open is presented in partnership with Urban Word NYC,

"We are thrilled to present a varied, diverse and explosive season of dance, film, theater and music for our audiences this spring," said Patricia Cruz, Harlem Stage's Executive Director. "We strive to promote artists of color doing extraordinary work and are proud to bring New York audiences this impressive line-up."

TICKETS
Ticket prices range from free to $35. Seats at free performances must be reserved in advance. Ticket purchases and reservations can be made online at www.HarlemStage.org or by calling the box office at 212-281-9240, ext.19 or 20.

SEASON SCHEDULE
The full Harlem Stage Spring 2011 season is listed below -- organized by discipline then by date. More information available at www.HarlemStage.org.

DANCE

Fri-Sat, April 8-9, and Fri-Sat, April 15-16
E-MOVES 12
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $20
E-MOVES, Harlem Stage's critically acclaimed dance series now in its 12th season, celebrates the future of dance with some of today's most exciting choreographers in two dynamic programs featuring short works by emerging artists and extended works by evolving choreographers. This year's featured evolving artists are Brandon 'Peace' Albright/Illstyle and Peace Productions and Johari Mayfield. Emerging choreographers include Miguel Anaya, Maria Bauman, Maurice chestnut, Marguerite Hemmings, Otis Donovan Herring, Marianne Kim and Will Bond, Daisuke Omiya, and Efeya Sampson.

Thu-Sat, April 28-30 and Sun, May 1
URBAN BUSH WOMEN - Resistance and Power
7:30pm Thu-Sat; 3pm Sun at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $35

Urban Bush Women celebrates its 25th Anniversary season with works including Body Talk, Naked City, Women's Resistance, and Southern Diaries. Throughout the company's history, Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar has brought the untold and the under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. This evening will focus on social commentary, resistance, and protest, presenting an opportunity to move toward the future by recognizing what is gained from our own personal stories. Part of Harlem Stage's E-Moves series. Presented in partnership with Urban Bush Women.

FILM

Wed, Feb 16
Recoloration Proclamation
Directed by John Sims; special appearance and introduction by DJ Spooky
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
John Sims is a political polymath artist creating projects spanning the areas of mathematics, art, and political activism. His Recoloration Proclamation is a series of short films quilted together to document his response to the Confederate flag. The film explores his controversial works as well as the various public responses to them, as well as the dynamics that frame the Confederate flag in issues of races, visual terrorism/pride, and Southern heritage. A moderated discussion with the filmmaker and a reception follow the screening. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series. Co-presented with Black Documentary Collective.

Tue-Fri, Feb 22-25 and Sun, Feb 27
Digital Diaspora Family Reunion
Created by Thomas Allen Harris
3pm-8pm Feb 22-25 (RSVP required); 3pm Sun at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: FREE
Harlem Stage presents the launch of a unique new project. For 15 years award-winning documentary filmmaker and artist, Thomas Allen Harris has mined his family archive to create compelling narratives that engage, entertain, and illuminate the intersections of personal family history with the historical sweep of our culture and times. "Why leave your photographs stored in boxes," Harris says, "when they can educate and empower new generations about who we are and where we come from." Harlem Stage hosts Harris' latest creation, Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, a participatory multimedia initiative in which audiences bring history to life through their photos and stories. Harris encourages participants to bring photo albums, pictures and mementos to Harlem Stage Feb 22-25 and share family stories (participants must reserve a time by calling 212-281-9240 x19 or 20). Then return to Harlem Stage on Feb 27 for a presentation celebrating the collective history. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series. Presented in partnership with Chimpanzee Productions

Wed, March 9
Sonia Sanchez: Shake Loose Memories
Directed by Jamal Joseph; executive produced by Voza Rivers. Special appearance by Sonia Sanchez
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
A musical, poetic journey through the life, art, and activism of Black Arts Movement icon Sonia Sanchez. A discussion with the filmmaker and Sanchez, and a reception follow the screening. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series. Co-presented with Black Documentary Collective.

Tue, April 26
Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight for Fairness
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
Chimpanzee Productions and Harlem Stage present a special screening of Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight for Fairness. Award-winning director Thomas Allen Harris' short documentary connects the Black Civil Rights Movement with the LGBT Marriage Equality Movement. Commissioned by Tribeca Film Institute's Tribeca All Access program, in collaboration with 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, this pioneering film documents how State Representative Byron Rushing, a straight LGBT civil rights ally, fought successfully for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts with the aid of his LGBT constituents. The film provides an in-depth look at marriage equality in communities of color and illustrates their stake in the ongoing struggle. The screening, followed by a panel discussion and reception, is being seen as a major community dialogue on the issue of same-sex marriage. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series.

Wed, May 4
A NIGHT OF WORK-IN-PROGRESS FILMS
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
Featuring Melissa Haizlip's Mr. Soul! Ellis Haizlip and The Birth of Black Power TV; Nicole Franklin's Little Brother and Yoruba Richen's The New Black. A discussion with the filmmakers and a reception follow the screening. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series.

Wed, June 15
Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project
Directed by Charles B. Brack
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
This documentary tells the little known story of Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old student who was fatally stabbed in a gay-focused hate crime in Newark. A gifted student and basketball player, Gunn was stabbed while waiting for a bus. The film depicts the homophobia that motivated the murder, and questions the lack of its media coverage. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series. Co-produced with Third World Newsreel and co-presented in partnership with NewFest.

MUSIC

Sat, Feb 12
Cabaret Chocolat
7:30pm at Aaron Davis Hall, Convent Avenue between W. 133rd and W. 135th streets
Tickets: $25
Following a sold out sensation last year Tamar-Kali returns with a titillating new Valentine's Day salute. Presented as a treatise on love, this multidisciplinary performance piece personifies desire, passion, infatuation and heartbreak through illusion, burlesque, aerial spectacle, dance, and song. Tamar-kali's alterna-classical hybrid Psychochamber Ensemble anchors this bold presentation. Part of the Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series.

Fri, March 11
Marcus Strickland Quartet w/The Tap Messengers of New York
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $15
Following the success of his highly acclaimed 2009 trio album "Idiosyncrasies," tenor and soprano saxophonist Marcus Strickland continues to propel the music world forward with the Marcus Strickland Quartet. Featuring E.J. Strickland (drums), David Bryant (piano) and Ben Williams (bass), the quartet will explore new and classic works from Strickland's repertoire, known for its distinctive blend of jazz, hip hop, soul, and world music styles. The evening opens with The Tap Messengers of New York, a tap dance collective founded by Michela Marino Lerman, Lisa Latouche, Sean Jackson, and Orlando Hernandez, and inspired by the legacy of Art Blakey and Horace Silver's legendary Jazz Messengers. Part of the Harlem Stride series.

Fri, March 25
Soul: Remixed, Revisited and Reconstructed
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Ticket: $15
Emerging talents remix, revisit, and reconstruct classic albums and songs from the soul movement of the 1990s and 2000s. Led by music director and arranger Marc Cary, and backed by a powerhouse band of contemporary soulsters including ArinMaya, The Crowd, and TreZure Empire as well as winners from Harlem Stage's "I Know You've Got Soul" competition. The musical journey celebrates the era of artists like D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Musiq, Bilal, Lauryn Hill, and more. Part of the Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series.

Fri, April 15
Lil' Ricky's Harlem: A Dance Party with Rich Medina
9:30pm at Aaron Davis Hall, Convent Avenue between W. 133rd and W. 135th Streets
Tickets: $15
Maintaining the tradition of his legendary residency at APT, DJ Rich Medina brings Lil' Ricky's Rib Shack uptown for one night only. Presented in conjunction with Harlem Stage's E-Moves dance series (and following its Friday night performance next door), Medina's party brings his signature blend of funk, house, afro beat and soul. With music this good, it will be impossible to stay off the dance floor! Part of the Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series.

Fri and Sat, May 13-14
THE FATS WALLER DANCE PARTY, Small's Paradise Tribute
Featuring Jason Moran and Meshell Ndegeocello
9pm and 11pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
Aside from its nightly sets, the legendary club Small's was famous for its after-hours jams and rent parties. Among the many artists Smalls hosted, Fats Waller regularly got the joint jumpin'. This tribute concert looks back at that legacy, at the stride piano tradition for which Waller was a seminal figure, and how it resonates in contemporary music. Artists Jason Moran and Meshell Ndegeocello, along with a full band, re-envision Waller's historic music into a contemporary dance event. Part of the Harlem Stride and Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series.

Sun, May 15
HABANA HARLEM: Tribute to the Park Palace with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra
5pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10
This edition of Harlem Stage's Habana/Harlem series pays tribute to the influence of Afro-Cuban music that made its way to New York and defined an era. The Park Palace, once located at 110th Street and 5th Avenue, was one of East Harlem's hottest dance clubs, serving up boleros (romantic ballads), guarachas (a Cuban form with a "chicka-chicka" pulse), and charangas (Cuban-style music that accompanies the suave dance called the danzón) from the 1920s through the '50s. It was just one of the venues where great Cuban, Puerto Rican and New York musicians went to perform. This concert explores that music's innovation and its future. Part of the Harlem Stride and Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series. Produced by Neyda Martinez and Onel Mulet.

Tue, June 14
Ben Williams & Sound Effect
7:30pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $15
Celebrating the release of his debut album State of Art, the Thelonious Monk International Bass Competition winner Ben Williams brings his Sound Effect quintet to Harlem Stage. It's a musical exploration of contemporary times encompassing jazz, soul, pop, hip hop, and go-go. Part of the Harlem Stride series.

THEATER / SPOKEN WORD / POETRY

Thu, Feb 17, March 17, April 21, and May 19
Uptown Open
5pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $3 for under 18; $5 for adults 18 and over
Uptown Open is a monthly open-mic series for teens. A safe, uncensored space where poets, spoken-word artists, emcees, scholars, and activists can share their powerful voices. These events are run by youth for youth, with DJs, hosts and a featured poet each month. Uptown Open is hosted by the Word Wide Leadership Board and presented in partnership with Urban Word NYC.

Sat, March 19
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
3pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (@ W. 135th St.)
Tickets: $10; $5 for 18 and under
The masterfully told Pulitzer Prize-winning epic novel by Junot Diaz chronicles the life of Oscar de Leon, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey who is obsessed with science fiction novels, falling in love, and the curse that has plagued his family for generations. This stage version was adapted and directed by Elise Thoron and is performed by Elvis Nolasco. This presentation is made by special arrangement with The American Place Theatre.

SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS
Harlem Stage gratefully acknowledges support from the following sponsors: Harlem Stage on Screen series receives major support from HBO. The Harlem Stage Partners program receives leadership support from Deutsche Bank and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. The Inside/Out program receives leadership support from the Ford Foundation. Time Warner is the Lead Sponsor of WaterWorks, which also has received major support from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Harlem Stage Family Series receives major support from the MetLife Foundation. JPMorgan Chase Foundation is the Lead Sponsor for Harlem Stage Education Program, which also receives support from Consolidated Edison, the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, the Jane and Tad Shepard Family Foundation, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Harlem Stage's 2011 Spring Season partners include Black Documentary Collective, The Jazz Gallery, American Place Theatre, Urban Word NYC, NewFest, Chimpanzee Productions, Third World Newsreel, and Urban Bush Women.