Art

The Midnight Moment In Times Square Offers First Snow

Published

4 months ago

December 11, 2022

In December, a whimsical welcoming of winter graces the billboards of Times Square. Director-choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall’s First Snow is a hopeful appeal for an unending abundance of beauty amidst the fragile state of our natural world. As snow cascades across a stark, black backdrop, dancers slowly emerge from darkness. Immersed in snowfall, their choreographed movements and personal gestures are swirling and spontaneous, punctuated by pauses of wonderment that evoke memories of a first encounter with snow. Eventually drained of bodily energy, the dancers recede towards the darkness, collapsing beneath the accumulation of the silent storm.

“I have dreamed for many years of creating a piece in Times Square – the mecca of light, concrete, human imagination and drive, that allows the passerby a brief moment of beauty, quiet, and reflection, and invites nature back into this city…immersing the audience in a beautiful snowstorm, one which not only invokes beauty and wonder, but a deep nostalgia through movement and dance. My hope for this piece is to remind people of the power and nature of beauty in all its forms, and a deep wish for mother nature to hold on.”
— Celia Rowlson-Hall

The making of First Snow also mirrors the environmental themes Rowlson-Hall addresses throughout her work. The snow that descends upon the dancers is made from recycled, biodegradable packing. With the intention of making films that leave as little environmental trace as possible, the costumes were lent by designer Sara Lopez of A–Company, a fashion line that seeks to reduce waste. “My films leave as little trace as possible, because I make films that celebrate the beauty of this world,” says the director. “I won’t add to the waste and destruction of our planet in that pursuit.”

Film Credits
Director: Celia Rowlson-Hall

Original Score: Plan & Elevation V. The Beech Tree by Caroline Shaw and the Attacca Quartet

Dancers: Aliza Russell, Connie Jie Hung Shiau, Jesse Kovarsky, Kevin Pajarillaga, Marla Rose Phelan, Nando Morland, Yeman Brown & Zui Gomez

Editor: Kevin Tadge

Director of Photography: Jake Saner
First AC: Tom Van Scoyoc
Gaffer: Kyle Driggs

Makeup Artist: Mandy Bisesti
Wardrobe provided by A—Company

Produced by Kelsey Grills & Marla Rose Phelan
Executive Producer: Ziggy Le Vin at Director’s Lab

First AD: Andrea Murillo
Production Assistants: Makenna Finch & Catheryn Clifford

A Movement Museum Production. Gibney Company’s Moving Toward Justice Fellowships are funded by Andrew A. Davis, a trustee of the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, the Bay & Paul Foundations, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and The Ready Foundation.

Bessie Award winning Celia Rowlson-Hall (b. 1984) is a director-choreographer whose courageous personal work admits a restlessly inquisitive, feminist voice, a flare for iconic imagery, and a capacity to easily glide from art-house to playful, popular fare.

Celia’s debut feature, MA, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015, and went on to screen at over forty festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards, including the Breakthrough Audience award at AFI Film Festival and the Independent Visions Award at Sarasota Film Festival. That same year, Celia was named one of 25 New Faces to watch for Filmmaker Magazine.

Celia began her career as a professional dancer and quickly moved into choreographing for film and television. Early collaborators included directors Gaspar Noé and Lena Dunham on GIRLS, and more recently she choreographed After Yang, X, Birds of Paradise, Ziwe, Chapter One of Vox Lux, The Fits, and John Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch. She has also choreographed music videos for artists such as Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Bleachers, and MGMT.

Bringing her experience of choreography and performance to the screen, Celia has written and directed numerous short films and videos. These videos have garnered several awards including an Emmy nomination, as well as screened at festivals such as Sundance, Venice, SXSW, SFIFF, Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center. In 2017, Miu Miu commissioned Celia to create the next installment of their Women’s Tales Series, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Celia is a Sundance Institute FilmTwo Fellow and Cinereach fellow, and is currently working on her next film. She currently splits her time between Brooklyn and Upstate, NY.

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Suzanna Bowling

Suzanna, co-owns and publishes the newspaper Times Square Chronicles or T2C. At one point a working actress, she has performed in numerous productions in film, TV, cabaret, opera and theatre. She has performed at The New Orleans Jazz festival, The United Nations and Carnegie Hall. She has a screenplay and a TV show in the works, which she developed with her mentor and friend the late Arthur Herzog. She is a proud member of the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle and was a nominator. Email: suzanna@t2conline.com

Art

Events In April Bring Easter, Spring and Flowers Galore.

Published

3 days ago

March 25, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

Photograph: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy’s, Inc.

Join the Judy Garland and Fred Astaire tradition with the Easter Bonnet Parade on Fifth Avenue. There is also the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden or right at home the flower show at Macy’s. On select Fridays every month, you can enjoy Free Admission to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum between 5 pm and 9 pm.

Until 4/9: Macy’s Flower Show. The show includes beautiful, bright floral arrangements, special events including live music, and kids’ activities.

until 4/23: This is The Orchid Show‘s 20th year. Reconnect with nature while experiencing the picture-perfect beauty of the orchids. On select nights, adults can experience the exhibition through Orchid Nights, with music, cash bars, and food available for purchase.

4/1-30: Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival, hosted by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, celebrates Japanese culture and the arrival of spring. It features a variety of cultural performances and activities, as well as a small flea market, tea ceremonies, and crafts. The highlight is the magnificent display of cherry blossom trees, with over 200 trees in full bloom. Visitors can admire the pink and white blooms and enjoy a traditional Japanese atmosphere. Tickets are usually around $40 for adults, though seniors and students get a reduced rate of $35.

4/7-16th: The New York International Auto Show. The first new york Auto Show took place in 1900, for over 120 years now they have been sharing what’s new and interesting in the auto industry.

4/9: The Easter Parade starts near St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 10am. The tradition dates back to the 1870s, where elaborate bonnets and fashion galore is full frontal.

4/9: “Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time,” comes to MoMA.

4/15: The Tartan Day Parade is an NYC tradition that offers attendees a unique way to celebrate and honor Scottish culture. For the 25th year, there will be bagpipes, dancers, and even Scottish dogs marching in the parade. Attendance is free and open to the public. In addition to the parade, expect a whole week of Scottish-themed events and festivities.

4/15: Pillow Fight in the Park at Washington Square Park.

4/15: The New York Restoration Project is giving out 3,500 free trees to New Yorkers across all five boroughs. To get one of the 3,500 free trees that will be given away, register in advance on this website, where you’ll also get to browse through the current list of distribution dates, times and locations.

4/15 and 29: f the likes of udon, yakitori, ramen, and taiyaki make your mouth water, then mark your calendar for Japan Fes in Chelsea. The event will be held from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and is considered a paradise for Japanese foodies and cultural enthusiasts.

4/16: Holi in The City demands food, music, dance, and fun while embracing people and organizations from all ethnic and religious backgrounds.

4/22: Earth Day celebrated in NYC with a festive, family-friendly outdoor fair in Union Square. There will be dozens of exhibitors, interactive displays, a green-vehicle show, family activities, music, and entertainment. 12-6pm.

4/27: Attend The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience

4/27- 30: Antiquarian Book Fair now in its 63rd year, this festival for book collectors at Park Avenue Armory for a full weekend of first editions, maps, manuscripts and other treasures from literary epochs past from nearly 200 exhibitors.

Art

Ken Fallin’s Broadway: Celebrating Hadestown’s 1000th Performance

Published

4 days ago

March 24, 2023

Ken Fallin

On Sunday, March 19, 2023, Hadestown celebrated the first day of spring and the show’s recently-achieved milestone of 1,000 performances at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre.

The handsome artist with Anais Mitchell

On hand were songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin, Tony Award winner Lillias White, original Broadway cast member Jewelle Blackman as Persephone, Grammy Award winner Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt as Hades, and two-time Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada as Eurydice. were joined by Amelia Cormack, Shea Renne, and Soara-Joye Ross as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Alex Puette, Trent Saunders, and Grace Yoo.

The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, Hadestown is the most honored show of the 2018-2019 Broadway season. In addition to the Tony and Grammy Awards, it has been honored with four Drama Desk Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers, and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.

Art

The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation’s Golden Age

Published

2 weeks ago

March 13, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

In the summer of 1941, Walt Disney’s top animator led hundreds of Disney artists out on strike, nearly breaking the studio. This is the true story of those two creative geniuses, plus a corrupt advisor and a mafia gangster, who collided to cause the greatest battle in Hollywood history.

An essential piece of Disney history has been unreported for eighty years.

Soon after the birth of Mickey Mouse, one animator raised the Disney Studio far beyond Walt’s expectations. That animator also led a union war that almost destroyed it. Art Babbitt animated for the Disney studio throughout the 1930s and through 1941, years in which he and Walt were jointly driven to elevate animation as an art form, up through Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia.

But as America prepared for World War II, labor unions spread across Hollywood. Disney fought the unions while Babbitt embraced them. Soon, angry Disney cartoon characters graced picket signs as hundreds of animation artists went out on strike. Adding fuel to the fire was Willie Bioff, one of Al Capone’s wise guys who was seizing control of Hollywood workers and vied for the animators’ union.

Using never-before-seen research from previously lost records, including conversation transcriptions from within the studio walls, author and historian Jake S. Friedman reveals the details behind the labor dispute that changed animation and Hollywood forever.

Join a book talk with the author Jake S. Friedman on March 21 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm, at The Lambs, 3 West 51st, 5th floor. RSVP@The-Lambs.org. The book will be available to be purchased and signed by the author.

Jake S. Friedman is a New York–based writer, teacher, and artist. He is a longtime contributor to Animation Magazine, and has also written for American History Magazine, The Huffington Post, Animation World Network, Animation Mentor, and The Philadelphia Daily News. For ten years he was an animation artist for films and television as seen on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Saturday Night Live. He currently teaches History of Animation at the Fashion Institute of Technology and at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The rest of his time he specializes in mental health for the creative psyche.

The moderator will be honorary Lamb Foster Hirsch, a professor film at Brooklyn College and the author of 16 books on film and theater, including The Dark Side of the Screen:Film Noir, A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio, and Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway.

The Cole will be Magda Katz.

More about the book here.