Though I am no dancer (at least by any technical terms ) myself, and although I don’t see an awe inspiring amount of dance performance in my free time, I do have a few dear friends in the dance community and try to take in as much as I can, within my budget and reason.  Luckily New York City has a great range of performances that are either cheap or free and my friends tend to have extremely good taste in the directions they point me into.  My experiences with such showings usually ranges from the thought provoking to the extremely exciting, making me more of a dance enthusiast since moving to New York than I can say to have been at any previous point in my life.  This includes the curiously long period of time when I was taking tap, jazz and ballet classes and really really obsessed with Bob Fosse. Then again, who wouldn’t want to be a part of this?

AUNTS are a Brooklyn based dance and performance art collective, that present many events yearly incorporating dance and community. Please read their short mission statement here. When my friend took me to the first AUNTS event I attended, way out near their home base in Brooklyn’s still often sketchy Bed-Stuy, at first I felt as many outsiders to a scene feel upon being thrust into the thriving unfamiliar. Once inside for about twenty minutes however, I began warming up to the place and likewise felt as if it were opening up to me. I witnessed all kinds of things that night. Not only did I bare witness to the kind of artistic atmosphere I dreamed of finding in New York City, but I also found myself drawn to dance and performance art in a way I had really never been before. Maybe it was the infrastructure of community that I felt, or perhaps it was the performances themselves. As they moved in and out of the spaces i was inhabiting, taking up the conch and calling attention to the corner of the room that moments ago I was sitting, drinking a 40 in or developing right in front of me as if I had something to do with this artistic manifestation, I began to feel a part of something. This was a sharing of art that involved performance, yet avoided almost all egotism. Instead, this felt more like sharing. Like the physical manifestations of these performers inner lives. As if the performances rose out of our evening taking us into a higher state of awareness. Though this first night is still my most fond AUNTS experience, all that have followed have been special and exciting in their own ways and I have yet to be disappointed.

Most AUNTS events are free or very minimal in price of attendance. Although I’ve never seen them turn someone away for not having anything to donate, usually they set up a donation system. When entering, guests are often asked to donate booze a personal item or both. Items from the donation box then get set up and displayed at a “boutique” where one could select something that someone else had donated to take as their own, creating a sort of anonymous exchange. Though you will likely get a beer handed to you, donating booze means sharing in other peoples and it’s encouraged. This do onto others type of attitude helps establish a happy communal environment. I found a girl on the subway once wearing the scarf I had brought as my donation. It made us both very happy.

Anyhow, AUNTS are throwing a Pajama Party this Friday night which I most likely will be attending after the much anticipated Of Montreal show at Roseland that I’m going to earlier that night(and i suggest you attend as well). These guys know how to throw a hoe-down. Here is the info as it appeared in my message from their mailing list.

Fri, 10/10/2008
9:00pm start
$5 or FREE with Pajamas

The Tank
217 East 42nd btw 2nd & 3rd
First Annual Pajama Jam

Remember the good old days when art parties would rage until 4am? Cry not, put on your best pair of jammies, and head over to The Tank @ chashama on 42nd street for the First Annual Pajama Jam. Enjoy popcorn and beer, bring your teddy bear, start a pillow fight, paint on the walls, play games, dance, and enjoy an assortment of interactive performances and film screenings from every discipline. Guest appearances will included site-specific dance bulldogs AUNTS, noise-toy building with circuit-appropriators Loud Objects, the premiere of 2PlayerProductions’ Blip Festival 2007 videos, riotous comedy collective Shades of Black and more!

Schedule of Events:

9-11pm: Dance on Film
“No Se” Dion Mucciacito
“Looking for Tonto” Brian Buck
“War” Jennifer Lott
“Happens” Megan Harrold
“Four Mists” Dir. Peter Butaine, Chor. Tze Chun
“To Each Her Own” Noe March

with interspersed site-specific performances by AUNTS curated by Jeso O’Neill, featuring:

robot hands
Ryan Ross
Jesse Wintermute
Devika Wickremesinghe

11-Midnight: Screening of 2007 Blip Festival DVD!

Midnight-2am: Shades of Black Comedy curated by Elon James White (The Black Comedy Experiment)

2am-4am: DJ dance party

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GETTING TO THE TANK

The Tank @ chashama is located at 217 East 42nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Aves.

To get to The Tank @ chashama by subway take:
Any Train to Grand Central. Walk East.

If you do decide to attend the Pajama Party or any other AUNTS events, please play it cool. AUNTS is a tight group of like minded communitarian performers who are are very welcoming and giving to new faces, however, if you don’t respond well to interactive performance or are just looking for some shits and giggles please take your thrill seeking elsewhere. These people believe in building a safe heaven for their art. Please only come if you are willing to celebrate and support their communal goal.
Now, let’s shake it down, Pajama style!!!?!
Or something like that.

Here is something to dance around to as you pick out your perfect pajama attire. The second track off of one of my favorite albums this year “Sea Lion” by Ruby Suns.

Ruby Suns-Oh Mojave