Moving free-form or in sync with the spoken choreography (or not), audience members take part in a communal moment of cathartic release.
Park Avenue Armory has announced the dates for the world premiere of SOCIAL! the social distance dance club, a new interactive and experiential movement piece commissioned by the Armory as part of its Social Distance Hall , its recently announced series of commissions of dance, music, and theater created by artists during and in response to the pandemic. Conceived by Christine Jones, renowned set designer for Spring Awakening, American Idiot, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Steven Hoggett, choreographer and movement director for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and multimedia artist and musician David Byrne (Talking Heads, David Byrne's American Utopia on stage and film and Reasons to Be Cheerful), SOCIAL! will begin previews in the Drill Hall on April 9 and open April 13, running through April 22. Show times during the week will be at 7pm and at 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
With a playlist curated by Byrne, Hoggett, and Jones and mixed by New York City DJ Natasha Diggs, SOCIAL! invites participants to the Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall to dance in their own socially distanced spotlights, all the while listening to a wonderfully singular instructional voice over by David Byrne with choreography by Yasmine Lee. Moving free-form or in sync with the spoken choreography (or not), audience members take part in a communal moment of cathartic release.
SOCIAL! is part of the Armory's Social Distance Hall commissioning initiative, which provides artists with the space and resources to create and present to in-person audiences new works devised for and reflective of a society grappling with COVID-19. The Armory, with its immense, 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall and multiple airy rooms and entrances-featuring an air volume comparable to being outdoors-can provide an early pathway and model for the re-opening of the performing arts in New York and beyond.Park Avenue Armory has developed very strict health and safety protocols that include wearing masks at all times and rigorously enforced point-to-point choreography that ensures that no individuals are ever less than a six-foot distance from each other. The plan meets or exceeds applicable governmental standards. The protocols satisfy or exceed the recommendations of Federal, State, and City agencies overseeing the response to the health crisis. However as noted above, the Armory will only open and present programming if health conditions and governmental regulations permit.
All tickets will be electronic/mobile-only and are available for purchase for SOCIAL! the social distance dance club! at armoryonpark.org . There will be no tickets available to purchase onsite. By purchasing a ticket to SOCIAL!, ticket buyers consent to being Rapid Tested for COVID-19 on site at Park Avenue Armory. For entry to the Armory, all audience members will be required to fill out a COVID questionnaire and provide contact tracing information. No exceptions will be made.
SOCIAL! the social distance dance club
By Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones, and David Byrne
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