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FALL ARTS 2019: DANCE — Dance is central component in Kennedy Center’s new Reach programming

Mark Morris Dance Group takes inspiration from classic Beatles album

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DC dance 2019, gay news, Washington Blade
The Mark Morris Dance Group in ‘Pepperland.’ (Photo by Gareth Jones; courtesy Kennedy Center)

Patrons are invited to celebrate the 10th annual National Dance Day at the Kennedy Center’s  (2700 F St., N.W.) new campus, the Reach, on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10 a.m.-11 p.m. 

Emmy-winning choreographer and actress Debbie Allen will host the day’s festivities which will include interactive dance routines and lessons, outdoor performances, panel discussions, film screenings, live music and more. Participants can learn the official, nation-wide 2019 National Dance Day routine, created by the American Dance Movement and choreographed by Matt Steffanina, on the Reach’s main stage. 

The Kennedy Center has also crated it’s own line dance routine to tell the history of the Kennedy Center. There will be a panel discussion and performance by dancer Tiler Peck from New York City Ballet. Other events include 16 dance classes taught from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. including Chinese Ribbon dance, tap, salsa, Classical Indian dance, dancehall fusion and more. 

Attendees can also view film screenings from documentaries such as “Ballet Now,” “No Maps on My Taps” and “NY Export: Opus Jazz. This event is part of the Reach’s Opening Festival. Admission is free. For a complete list of events, visit kennedy-center.org.

The Reach at the Kennedy Center presents a screening of “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé,” on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. The film follows the pop star’s journey of curating and choreographing her 2018 Coachella performance. Admission is free but timed-entry passed are required. The screening is part of the Reach’s opening festival. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org.

D.C. Style Salsa Academy (7014 Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park, Md.) presents Cuban Styling for Salseros taught by instructor Jonathan Burke on Tuesday, Sept. 24 from 8:30-10 p.m. The class will teach how to incorporate Afro-Cuban and rumba dance styles. Drop-in class pass is $25. Other class packages are available. For more details, visit dcstylesalsa.com.

The Silver Spring Civic Center (1 Veterans Pl., Silver Spring, Md.) hosts a Salsa and Bachata Block Party on Sunday, Sept. 29 from 1-9 p.m. There will be dance lessons, a block party and more. Dance lessons will include Zumba, kids Latin dance, hip-hop dance fitness, Caribbean dance fitness, salsa lessons and bachata lessons. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/eventsdowntownsilverspring.

The Kennedy Center presents “Merce Cunningham at 100” from Oct. 3-5. The performance will honor the iconic dance choreographer’s works “Beach Birds,” which translates the movement of birds into dance and “BIPED,” which merges technology and dance by incorporating animated images. Robert Swinston, who danced for Cunningham and worked side-by-side with him for over 17 years, now leads Compagnie Centre National de Danse Contemporaine-Angers, keeping Cunningham’s brilliant flame alive with dancers of today. CNDC-Angers performs the two Cunningham masterworks in its Kennedy Center debut. There will be a pre-performance talk on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $25-79. For more details, visit kennedy-center.org.

The AfroCuban D.C. Dance Festival is at the Dance Institute of Washington (3400 14th St., N.W.) from Oct. 11-13. The festival will include dance and music workshops. On Friday, Oct. 11, there will be lessons on percussion in Rumba and Batá followed by an after party at Songbyrd (2475 18th St., N.W.) at 11 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 12, there will be workshops on AfroModern, Female Orisha Dance, Rumba Percussion, Orisha Song and Orisha Dance. Sunday, Oct. 13 will feature lessons on Batá Musicality for Orisha Dancer, Rumba Dance and Orisha Dance. There is a fee for each workshop. Tickets range from $20-125. Visit danceinstituteofwashington.org for more details.

The Washington Ballet presents NEXTsteps, a collection of never-before-seen ballets from choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, John Heginbotham and Jessica Lang, at Sidney Harmon Hall (610 F St., N.W.) from Oct. 23-27. Tickets range from $25-100. For more information, visit washingtonballet.org.

Dancer Gian Carlo Perez in Washington Ballet’s ’NEXTsteps.’ (Photo by Procopio Photography; courtesy Washington Ballet)

The Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company presents “Origins of Modern Dance Salon” at the Woodrow Wilson House (2340 S St., N.W.) on Friday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. The performance, which explores how modern dance evolved during the post-WWI era, will include dances and stories about dancers Isadora Duncan and Michio Ito who pioneered this new form of dance. The opening night performance will be followed by a reception. The Sunday performance will include a post-performance talk with Dana Tai Soon Burgess, the openly gay troupe leader. Tickets range from $25-35. For more details, visit dtsbc.org.

Dancers perform ‘Exploring the Rise of Modern Dance’ by Jeff Watts. (Photo courtesy DTSB Dance Co.)

Mark Morris Dance Group presents “Pepperland,” a dance tribute to the iconic Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center Nov. 13-16. Along with music composed by Ethan Iverson, the group will dance to Beatles hits such as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “With a Little Help from My Friends,” “A Day in the Life,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Within You Without You” and “Penny Lane.” There will also be six additional pieces of music inspired by the album. On Nov. 13, there will be a post-performance talk with the dancers, choreographers, composers and other members of the creative team. Tickets range from $35-99. For more details, visit kennedy-center.org.

Bowen McCauley Dance Company returns to its debut venue Dance Place (3225 8th St., N.E.) on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m and Sunday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. Resident choreographer Ilana Goldman will debut her world premiere piece “Crossing.” It will feature music composed for the Kronos Quartet by Stephan Thelen. Other works in the performance will include “Gershwin Preludes” and a surprise work by by Lucy Bowen McCauley. General admission tickets are $25. Senior and student tickets are $15. There will be an opening night after party on Nov. 16 at 9 p.m. with the cast and crew. After party tickets are $25. For more information, visit bmdc.org.

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Music & Concerts

Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule

Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

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Writer Gregg Shapiro with Jill Sobule in 2000. (Photo courtesy Shapiro)

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.

Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).

Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.

With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.

Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”

That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.

While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.

Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.

On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.

Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.

When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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Music & Concerts

Kylie brings ‘Tension’ tour to D.C.

Performance on Tuesday at Capital One Arena

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Kylie Minogue visits D.C. on Tuesday.

Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.

The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”

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