What I saw last night. Rachid Ouramdane at New York Live Arts (formerly Dance Theater Workshop). 
This was a solo or duet if you count the musicians interactions. It featured circular movement, metronomes and a large lamp on a kind of balance that bobbed like a drinking bird. Not as good as his piece on Wednesday but had some moments.
Elements: turntables, video, live music, tap shoes, make up, rotating disc, metronomes
Title: “World Fair”
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What I saw last night. Rachid Ouramdane at New York Live Arts (formerly Dance Theater Workshop).
This was a piece about surviving torture. That generally is not an entertaining evening. I still recall the Irish Dance group of torture survivors that I saw earlier in the year. Definitely an eat your vegetables moment. This show however has a lighter touch.
It opens with a voice discussing in general terms the traumas it witnessed and suffered. In near darkness several men and women start to walk about the stage. Finally they begin to fall to the ground in broken heaps and at awkward angles that suggest mistreatment. The most impressive part is when one woman stops in the center of the stage and starts spinning like a skater in bare feet. It becomes faster and faster and goes on for it seemed at least 10 minutes with out pause. Body parts looked disjointed and seperated. It was an amazing feat of endurance and image. The rest of the show was fine but that segment will remain as one of the best of the year.
Elements: bank of lights, guitar, voice over, film, crazy spinning
Title: “Ordinary Witness”
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What I saw last night. Ralph Lemon at the Tinker auditorium at the French Institute. Passed the flagship Apple store on the way to the theater and saw the tributes to Steve Jobs. This blog would likely not exist without my Iphone 3G so that is my tribute. That and I might get the new 4s for better pictures…
Another lecture in the auditorium this one centered a great deal around what he performed at BAM last year. Still he is a skilled reader and this made a nice addendum to that work. 
Elements: film, talk, animated dog & giraffe
Title: “About a Paradance: the inherent protest and emigre nature of performance (and how it could belong nowhere)”
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What I saw last night. Xavier Le Roy at the Tinker Auditorium at the French Institute. 
Lately I have seen a lot more of these shows where the talk is the performance. In this a former molecular biologist explains how he went from cancer research to performance. It was interesting in a career path sort of way but the post show Q&A was rather weak. Too many performers in the audience that wanted to hear themselves talk.
Elements: talking, film, chair, pillow
Title: “Product of Circumstnaces”
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What I saw last night. Opening day of the Crossing the line festival at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. A number of performers at this event that mostly took place in the Embassy but also across the street and in Central Park.
First I visited the Spermbar which was a food cart next to the park. Here lab coat clad “technicians” armed with Ipads took orders for sperm donations by traits (blue eyes, blonde hair etc). The traits actually corresponded to various non body fluid ingredients like apples and blueberries. All served up at the end in a test tube. Tourist reactions to the cart was really the best part.
Next I heard a lecture in both French and English. 
Also watched a man and woman crawl and writhe on the third floor amongst dog statues. 
Afterwards I saw a diminutive man with a deformity perform a slow pas de Deux with a good looking Asian man. Looked sort of salacious. 
Next I went down to the lobby where a man was guarding a toothbrush. ( a comment on attaching value to items) 
I went outside where I saw slow moving dancers moving across the street. 
Finally I went to the park where a man pretended to be a dog and then hid behind a mirror.
Elements: outside, greyhound statues, foodcart, speeches, mirror, audience interaction
Title: “The Conspiracy of Performance” by Trajal Harrell “Esteriority3″ by Kimberly Bartosik “Pas de Deux” by Raimund Hoghe “The Spermbar” by Prune Nourry “Lande Part” by Laurent Pichaud
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What I saw last night. Raimund Hoghe at Dance Theater Workshop. 
Second time seeing him in a week but this was a duet with Faustin Linyekula who seems to be extremely fit in contrast to Mr. Hoghe’s malformed spine. Still a quiet meditative piece with no spoken word. Just a lit candle and some stones.
After I went home to see the remains of the tornado that hit the city.
Elements: candle, stones, paper
Title: “Sans-titre”
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What I saw last night. Arthur Nauzyciel’s direction of “Hetero” at 70 Wooster St.
This was a play performed in someone’s loft. An all male cast performed an alternate universe story in which there were only men and some were considered lesser and could procreate with their superior male partner. 
They read from their scripts while performing around the apartment and while baking a cake. 
Particularly notable for me was one of the performers was “Prez” from the show “The Wire”. He was the cop who later became a teacher and was good at code breaking. Sorry if that was a spoiler. There was another guy who was in “Treme” but I did not recognize him.
Elements: cake, scripts, apt
Title: “Hetero”
What I saw last night. Raimund Hoghe at Le Skyroom. 
A diminutive man with a spinal deformity and a passing resemblance to the first George Bush had a solo show ostensibly on reminiscences about September 11. The best part is that there was no overt mention of the day but you could see how his actions and musings could be related if you want it to be. Musical accompaniment included Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Maria Callas etc. The Skyroom itself is a cool space well suited for this show.
Elements: magnifying glass, small chandelier, black jacket, spoken word
Title: “Skyroom Project”
What I saw last night. Ryoji Ikeda at Florence Gould Hall. 
A bit like seeing Laser Floyd at the planetarium this was a Japanese noise electronica artist who created pulsing and throbbing soundscapes while a screen projected streams of data and points that reacted to the music in the manner of the old lighting plasma storm ball my roommate had in college. Was surprisingly compelling for the most part although at one point the screen went dark for too long and the momentum was lost. I am not sure this was an artistic choice or a failing of the tech people at the theater.
Also it was fashion night out in NYC and so the neighborhood featured crazy fashionistas in impossibly short animal print skirts with shoes that were to high to be walked in properly while being greeted by obsequious Amerasian pan sexual hosts at the door of almost every apparel accessories boutique in the city.
Here is a runway show of store clerks at Ann Klein as an example.
Elements: loud music, film, ear plugs
Title: “datamatics [ver. 2.0]”
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What I saw last night. Maria Hassabi at PS 122. 
Some crazy lady filmed the whole show over my shoulder with her iphone. This show was in the downstairs theater and was a solo with only a rug as a prop and a recording of ambient sounds (traffic, dishes clattering etc.)
Elements: rug
Title: “Solo”
