The Bronx Academy of Art & Dance presents its annual BlakTino Performance Series, a festival celebrating works by Black, Latino and Blatino artists. The festival runs from Fri., Oct. 10 (National Coming Out Weekend) and continues through Sat., Nov. 8, at BAAD!, 841 Barretto Street in Hunts Point. Tickets cost $15 to $20 and a festival pass costs $45. Several events are offered free! BAAD! offers discounts to BAADGE and Bronx Cultural Card holders. Students and seniors also receive discounts. Ticket offers cannot be combined. For further information and tickets call (718) 842-5223.
The events are as follows:
On exhibit throughout the festival, The Elsewhere Gallery presents Cassandra’s MADONNA. A new work by BAAD!’s resident sculptor.
Fri., Oct. 10, 8 pm, free: Powerful Films from the NY International Latino Film Festival. LUCHANDO and TRANSVESTITES ALSO CRY. The NY Int’l Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) teams up with BAAD! to present two ground breaking documentary films. LUCHANDO, shot illegally in Havana by Noelle Stout, follows four charismatic hustlers, two macho men, a bisexual female rapper and a transgender woman. Luchando, a word once synonymous with Cuba’s revolutionary struggle, is now used to describe sex work for survival – emblematic of the growing division of classes. TRANSVESTITES ALSO CRY is Sebastiano D’Ayala Vlava’s visceral and captivating story of two Ecuadorean transwomen who live in Paris. Mujeron was a boxer in her previous life as a male and lives a solitary existence, whereas Romina has achieved a certain amount of stability in her life. This work won Best Documentary at the 2008 NY International Latino Film Festival. Including a Q&A with Calixto Chincilla, NYILFF founder.
Sat., Oct. 11, 8 pm, free: National Coming Out Day!. Daring Documentary Film! black./womyn.:conversations with lesbians of African descent. Tiona McClodden’s documentary features candid interviews with black lesbians discussing coming out, sexuality and religion, love and relationships, marriage, patriarchy, discrimination and homophobia, activism, gender identity, Black lesbian youth and elders, and what it means to call oneself a Black lesbian today with nearly 50 interviews including Poet/Author Cheryl Clarke, Filmmaker/Activist Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Poet/Author Staceyann Chin, Filmmaker Michelle Parkerson, Artist Hanifah Walidah, Hip-Hop Duo KIN, and Author Fiona Zedde. Followed by Q&A with McClodden.
Sun., Oct. 12, 4 pm, $15: To Love or Not to Love…Forever. MODIFIED AFFECTIONS. Marañao Inc. presents “Modified Affections,” a new play by Puerto Rican playwright Leo Cabranes-Grant, about a couple (one is Puerto Rican and the other is Mexican-American) with divergent points of view on family, sex, monogamy, ethnicity, love, and privacy, exploring issues of gay marriage. The play is directed by Josean Ortiz, and features Ortiz and Ricardo Valdez.
Fri., Oct. 17 at 8pm, free: First Woman and Person of Color to Run for President! CHISHOLM ‘72 — Unbought & Unbossed. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she becomes the first woman and person of color to run for president. Shunned by the political establishment, she’s supported by a motley crew of blacks, feminists, and young voters. Featuring archival footage, period music, interviews with supporters and opponents, and Chisholm’s own commentary CHISHOLM ‘72 is a remarkable recollection of a frenzied, fierce, and fundamentally right on campaign that broke new ground in politics. Those interviewed include author/activist Amiri Baraka (then known as LeRoi Jones), Black Panther founder Bobby Seale, authors Susan Brownmiller and Octavia Butler, former Congressmen Reverend Walter Fauntroy and Ronald Dellums, and journalist/historian Paula Giddings.
Sat., Oct. 18 at 8 pm, $15: Theatrical Comedy from the West Coast! AMOR CUBANO: In a bottle, a tube and a small packet. Written & performed by Maceo Cabrera Estévez, AMOR CUBANO: IN A BOTTLE, A TUBE AND A SMALL PACKET is a multimedia theater piece that takes you into the world of Barbarita Perales – creator of Amor Cubano, the essence of all that’s Cuban packaged in a bottle and sells it on an infomercial. Amor Cubano can stop cops from shutting down the immigrant rights rally and make
Thurs., Oct. 30 at 7 pm, free: Hot Contemporary Authors. AS WE SPEAK! Contemporary authors read from their work and discuss what drives and inspires them to write and how they got published with Linda Villarosa (former NY Times and Essence Magazine editor and author of Passing for Black); Kai Wright (author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York); Achy Obejas (Memory Mambo, We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?) and Jaime Manrique (Latin Moon Over Manhattan, Columbian Gold, Our Lives Are the Rivers and others). Co-sponsored by the Bronx Council on the Arts and Mosaic Magazine.
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Lehman Center for the Performing Arts kicks off its exciting fall season with a not-to-be-missed concert, as the world’s two greatest salsa dance orchestras take the stage on Sat., Oct. 11, at 8 pm. Nine-time GRAMMY® Award winner Eddie Palmieri, salsa music’s most influential artist for over four decades, will be joined by his orchestra, along with celebrated conguero Giovanni Hidalgo.
Palmieri, the Spanish Harlem-born leader of salsa and Latin jazz orchestras and one of the foremost Latin pianists of all time, has revolutionized the sound of Latin music. He started piano studies at an early age and began his career as a pianist in the ‘50s with Eddie Forrester’s Orchestra. He spent a year with Tito Rodriguez before forming the legendary Conjunto La Perfecta in 1961.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of Lehman College at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. are: $50, $45, $40 and $35 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at (718) 960-8833 .
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The Bruce Museum’s 27th Annual Outdoor Arts Festival takes place on Sat., Oct. 11 and Sun., Oct. 12, from 10 am to 5 pm each day, on the grounds of the museum in Greenwich, CT. The Outdoor Arts Festival is a juried event featuring more than 90 artists selected from across the country, whose paintings, photography, drawings, prints, sculptures, and mixed media pieces are all available for purchase. The Festival also includes live music on both days as well as many fun, educational family activities, and a variety of food choices.
Musical performances feature classical guitarists Ed Wright, Lisa Ewald, and Chris Ziko, and Sean and Deirdre Murtha in a special presentation for children. The Jazz Art Dance Company performs in the Museum’s Lecture Gallery on Sunday. A schedule of performances will be available on the Bruce Museum website, www.brucemuseum.org.
Exhibitors compete for cash prizes in six categories: oils and acrylic on canvas; watercolor and acrylic on paper and under glass; graphics and drawings; mixed media; sculpture; and photography. In addition to individual category prizes, there are two major awards given: “Museum’s Choice Award” and the top prize of “Best in Show.”
Festival admission is $8 and includes general admission to the museum. Free early shopping hour is from 10 to 11 am both days. Museum members and children-under-5 are free. The museum is located at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, CT. For information call (203) 869-0376.
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Join the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture for its next Sacred Circle Dance at the Meeting House, 4450 Fieldston Road, corner of Manhattan College Parkway.
Wear comfortable low-heeled or flat shoes.
Evi Beck, experienced dance teacher, will lead the dance.
Suggested donation is $10 to $15 or pay whatever you feel is right for you.
For more information call (718) 548-4445.
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Lehman College’s Theatre Program will open the new season with a production of French playwright Jean Anouilh’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy Medea. Performances will take place in the Studio Theatre beginning on Wed., Oct. 15, at 3:30 pm and continuing through Oct. 26 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Two of the performances, on Oct. 23 and 24 at 8 pm, will be sign language interpreted.
Originally written by Greek playwright Euripides, the story of Medea is one of love spurned and subsequent revenge. When Medea’s husband, Jason, abandons her and their two children to marry someone of a higher social standing, she instigates a series of tragic acts in the name of justice. Anouilh’s adaptation offers a closer look at the relationship between the play’s central figures.
Directed by Jerry Barnard, the Lehman production will offer its own twists with two special performances by deaf actor Ryan Grant as Jason. All other performances of Jason will be performed by actor Sean Connelly. Other cast members include Lydia Diaz as Medea; Roberto Ventura as Soldier/Guard; Bix Windbiel as Boy/Messenger; David Wetter as Creon (first week) and Davi Santos as Creon (second week); and Osnat Greenbaum as the nurse. The children will be played by Caitlin Thompson and Dylan Wolfson.
Barnard, who manages user and program support services at Lehman, is also the producer of two cable television programs: “Conversations” with award-winning playwright Prof. William Hoffman and “Ed Cast” with Lehman Prof. Jim Carney and Hostos Community College Prof. Linda Hirsch. Formerly, he was the managing director of American Theater Alliance and Muzia Dance Theater.
Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors and non-Lehman students. Free to all Lehman students with I.D. For more info call (718) 960-8025.
