Beach Sessions 2023 to Present Work by Merce Cunningham and Sarah Michelson

On Saturday, August 26, 2023 starting at 5:45pm on the sand at Beach 108th Street, the shoreline of Rockaway Beach will become the stage for a new arrangement of Merce Cunningham’s iconic work Beach Birds (1991) and a response by choreographer Sarah Michelson. 

In his early 70s, the pioneering choreographer began experimenting with a new software program called LifeForms (later DanceForms). In 1991, using this software as a tool, Cunningham made Beach Birds, a dance so distinctively naturalistic and fluid as to upend expectations of how the computer technology might influence his work. Beach Birds had its second iteration in 1993, with the acclaimed dance film, Beach Birds for Camera, directed by Elliot Caplan. Three decades later for Beach Sessions, the work is adapted again by Merce Cunningham Trust stagers Patricia Lent and Rashaun Mitchell, who will release the birds to their natural setting - the beach - with a new cast of 11 dancers, including Christian Allen, Sienna Blaw, Sarah Cecilia Bukowski, Marc Croussillat, Arielle François, Morgan Griffin, Claude CJ Johnson, Nyah Malone, Chaery Moon, Ryan Pliss, and Hannah Straney. Original cast members Kimberly Bartosik, Michael Cole, Alan Good, David Kulick, and Carol Teitelbaum are also participating in the reconstruction of the dance.

A response by Sarah Michelson will follow, contemplating her personal relationship to Beach Birds (a dance created during her time studying at the Merce Cunningham Studio). Michelson – a prolific artist in her own right – will build upon her choreographic interests with her connection to Merce in the 90’s and his legacy as a frame.

On Friday, August 25th, at 8:00pm at the Arverne Cinema and in partnership with the Rockaway Film Festival, Beach Sessions will present a program of short dance films, all inspired by and created on beaches. The line-up features Merce Cunningham’s Beach Birds for Camera (1993), alongside Maya Deren’s At Land (1944), Simone Forti’s Zuma News, LA (2013), excerpts from Carolyn Brown’s Dune Dance (1981), and Madeline Hollander’s Arena filmed at Beach Sessions 2017. 

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Live performances by Merce Cunningham & Sarah Michelson
Saturday, August 26, starts at 5:45 PM
On the sand at Beach 108th Street
Free and open to the public

DIRECTIONS
Take the Rockaway Ferry to Beach 108th St
OR
Take the “Far Rockaway” bound A train to Broad Channel, transfer to the S-shuttle to Beach 105th Street. Walk down to the beach.
Landmark: Beach 106 Street Food Concession on the Boardwalk

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

Artist's Table: Beach Sessions x LEV NYC
A site specific culinary experience and a site specific performance series come together to create a theatrical evening through the medium of food. 
Tuesday, August 22, 7:00 PM
In partnership with The Rockaway Hotel
Tickets and more information: www.therockawayhotel.com 

Shorts on the Sand: An Evening of Dance Films
Films by Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Brown, Maya Deren, Simone Forti, and Madeline Hollander
Friday, August 25, 8:00 PM
In partnership with the Rockaway Film Festival
Arverne Cinema, 72-02 Gouverneur Ave, Queens, NY 11692
Tickets and more information: www.rockawayfilmfestival.com

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