August 28, 2017 | Culture
Leave room for these must-do events on your culture calendar this season.
Two landmark works by Pina Bausch open the 2017 Next Wave Festival at BAM.
1. PINA BAUSCH AT BAM
In 1984, Pina Bausch made her Brooklyn Academy of Music debut. “The word was out, the place was mobbed,” Anna Kisselgoff wrote in The New York Times. More than three decades later, word is out again. BAM’s 2017 Next Wave Festival opens with a landmark restaging of the late German dancer and choreographer’s historic works, performed by Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. On the double bill are the autobiographical Café Müller and The Rite of Spring, one of the finest (and most sexually charged) interpretations of Igor Stravinsky’s iconic composition. September 14–24, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100; bam.org
Auguste Rodin’s The Embrace, on view at the Met.
2. RODIN AT THE MET
Museums worldwide are mounting exhibitions to honor the centenary of Auguste Rodin’s death. Drawing on its celebrated Rodin collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit 50 sculptures, including favorites—The Thinker, The Hand of God, and Orpheus and Eurydice— alongside others that have been out of public view for decades. (Look for The Tempest.) An adjacent gallery displays Rodin’s drawings, and don’t miss the documentary photography by Edward Steichen, who presented the first American show of Rodin’s work, in 1908. September 16 –January 15, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., 212-535- 7710; metmuseum.org
3. THE PUBLIC THEATER’S ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Elevator Repair Service is taking its first dive into Shakespeare in the company’s 25-year history. Associate producer and actor Lindsay Hockaday acknowledges it’s a big challenge: “Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’—it doesn’t fit neatly into comedy or tragedy,” Hockaday says. The Obiewinning troupe reconciles the play’s absurdity and seriousness through experiments with rhythm, delivering dialogue at the lightning speed of slapstick or the slow pace of truth and compassion. It’s part of the Public Theater’s yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary at Astor Place. September 18–November 5, 425 Lafayette St., 212-539-8500; publictheater.org
A film still of Roderick Williams in Blank Out.
4. BLANK OUT AT THE ARMORY
Having wowed critics and audiences with his boundarybreaking 3-D chamber opera, Blank Out, Michel van der Aa brings it to Park Avenue Armory’s massive Drill Hall. Based loosely on the life of South African poet Ingrid Jonker, who drowned at 31, Blank Out weaves the live performance of soprano Miah Persson, as Jonker, with prerecorded audio and visual loops of Persson, baritone Roderick Williams (playing Jonker’s son), and the Dutch Chamber Choir. Wearing 3-D glasses, the audience is wrapped in a sensory experience of memory and tragedy. September 21–25 and 27, 643 Park Ave., 212-616- 3930; armoryonpark.org
Governors Island will be the site of a pop-up dinner (complete with dancing and skyline views) on September 9.
5. POP-UP DINNER ON GOVERNORS ISLAND
Sonoma-based Hand Made Events has hosted sold-out pop-up dinners across the country, but this is the company’s first on Governors Island. You provide the dinner—simple fare or haute, wine or not. They provide tables, chairs, and entertainment. Setup starts at 4 pm; beginning at 6 pm, you can eat and dance the night away, all with the incomparable backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, the harbor, and—bien sûr—the Statue of Liberty. Proceeds benefit the Friends of Governors Island, but get your tickets early; they’ll sell out fast. September 9, Governors Island; govisland.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY J. PAULO PIMENTA (PINA BAUSCH); © PERMISSION OF JOANNA T. STEICHEN, COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (RODIN); BY JOOST RIETDIJK (BLANK OUT); BY TIMOTHY SCHENCK (GOVERNORS ISLAND)
