I’m glad when they arrive and I’m glad when they leave. I’m glad when I hear their heels approaching my door and I’m glad when those heels walk away. I’m glad to fuck. I’m glad to care. And I’m glad when it’s over. And since it’s always either starting or finishing I’m glad most of the time.
– Charles Bukowski
It’s obvious that Austin McCormick’s grasp of creating a theatre experience reaches far beyond what merely happens on stage. The more I attend performances in the Company XIV space at 303 Bond Street in Brooklyn the more I am treated to McCormick’s all-encompassing way of choreographing not only movement but sensation. From the way the space transforms each time into a whole new configuration to the heady red wine that greets you (or bubbly sparking water for those who don’t partake) to the strange set that seems almost unfinished in spots, you know it’s all carefully constructed – nothing haphazard or random ever occurs here – and once the lights go out and the projections appear it all makes sense. More than sense – it all makes magic.
Just when you think that an Austin McCormick experience can’t get any more divine, any more sensual, or any more stunningly wicked, he whips up another tray of tempting treats which enthrall and delight you into a dumbfounded trance. Ahhh, Austin. You know what you and Company XIV have done to me. You’ve spoiled me for every other dance company in New York City. So yes, while others are flocking to (yawn) New York City Ballet to take in another predictable performance of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” or pandering to Tinseltown’s “let’s get another take” and “we’ll fix that in the editing room” Black Swan – those who want the opportunity to have an amazing, mesmerizing, transcendent night of decadence, dance and debauchery will come to 303 Bond and let their senses be delighted.
Okay, so – yeah . . . maybe Alter Ego is actually not usually appropriate for children. But you can be there, thinking of them! Because this Sunday – December 19th Alter Ego is having a very special Toys for Tots benefit performance party – at Fontana’swhich is exactly the place you wanna be thinking of wee Tots as you knock back your fifth tequila of the night and watch exotic belly dancing, alternative underground comedy, twisted freak folk music, avant garde antics, sultry modern dance, break-dancing straight from the streets, bawdy burlesque and Santa Elvis!
Entrance is free HOWEVER you MUST bring an *unwrapped* gift for a child. Cash donations are also accepted but not as fun.
Doors open at 7:30pm. Show starts downstairs at 8pm. Holiday fun party is upstairs in the main bar directly after the show until the wee wee hours!
“How delightful are the pleasures of the imagination! In those delectable moments, the whole world is ours; not a single creature resists us, we devastate the world, the means to every crime is ours, and we employ them all, we multiply the horror a hundredfold.”
– Marquis de Sade
The Company XIV ensemble Dénouement—A Murderous Masquerade (Photographer: Corey Tatarczuk)
Company XIV has joined up with Brave New World Repertory Theatre to create a show that, in three acts, covers all the grown-up Halloween thoughts that haunt the recesses of the minds of those too old to go door to door asking for candy on the appointed day.
To step into the space of Company XIV is to surrender yourself to the world that Austin McCormick and his cohorts create. First act – Dénouement —A Murderous Masquerade – is at once devilish, devious, and delirious – it will beguile you, possess you, and then -once it’s had its way with you- will leave you emotionally drained, begging for more.
I can count on one hand the men whose talent leave me dazzled – and while they all strike a chord for different reasons they all have one thing in common: the ability to amaze me in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Like the first time I heard a Sondheim phrase and had to stand still, or the first time I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman perform live (in True West) and couldn’t remember to breath – that’s how I felt when I saw choreographer Austin McCormick’s Company XIV performing Le Cirque Feerique. So dazzled was I that I went twice – and am thrilled that – just in time for Halloween – Austin will be bringing another new, dazzling show that audiences can experience: Dénouement—A Murderous Masquerade. I had a chance to talk with Austin McCormick about how he swirls magic together time and time again to create pure beauty.
Can you die from too much beauty? Probably not. But if you could, I came close to doing so as I watched Company XIV “A mixed media Neo-Baroque dance-theatre company” spin Le Cirque Féerique (The Fairy Circus) into being in front of my dazzled eyes last weekend. The show consists of a series of fairy tales choreographed and directed by Austin McCormick, written and adapted by Austin McCormick and Jeff Takacs, and conceived by Austin McCormick and Zane Pihlstrom and runs till June 6th.
In an unassuming building on Bond Street in Brooklyn where Company XIV makes their home you will find the most unusual matrix of Music, Mystery, and Magic. That’s right, I said Brooklyn. And hold on to your hats, folks, because in the next few paragraphs I’m also going to say things akin to “Frog Prince”, “Madonna”, “Cinderella”, “Carmen”, and “Balloons”. Yes – it’s THAT kind of show.
Dzul Dance is an ensemble troupe that has amalgamated dance with aerial arts in their new show Danzonat Baruch Performing Arts Center. InDanzonwe are submerged in Mayan rituals, offerings, the supernatural world, and a love triangle between a man and two women, while showcasing the music of different Latin American artists the likes of Control Machete and Chavela Vargas. Sounds like a lot of elements, yet Dzul Dance has incorporated all of them successfully for most of the program.
You know you’re standing next to a writer when: their stance is unassuming, their posture is hunched, and when they move it’s only after hours of being in one spot either typing furiously, day dreaming earnestly, or working out that writer’s block by playing yet another game of computer solitaire. (Hey … don’t put it on the computer it you don’t want me to play it!)
You know you’re standing next to a dancer when: their stance is elegant, their posture is perfect, and when they move it’s by way of a grand jeté, or pas de bourrée. Even when they’re waiting to move, they somehow seem to be shimmering.
Sigh. By definition if you’re reading this then I must be writing it … so I fall into the first category. I was born with a writer’s build: short and squat; good for hunkering down for hours (days if necessary) crammed into a small spot, moving as little as possible and living off my own God-given insulation … goodness knows I could hole myself away and write the great American novel and never starve, just give me some chilled beverages (caffeinated if possible, please) and I’m good to go. Maybe that’s why dancers fascinate me. To see what a body can be when it’s in its most perfect state, and then to further that … to see that perfect body used for artistic expression is to see glory magnified one hundred fold.
