Contemporary Dance: Naomi Funaki + Jared Alexander feat. Ayodele Casel, Sidra Bell, and It’s Showtime NYC!
The first night of Contemporary Dance features extraordinary tap dancers with special guest Ayodele Casel, rising choreographer Sidra Bell, and street dance by It's Showtime NYC!
Curated by Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Ayodele Casel is an award-winning and critically acclaimed tap dancer and choreographer named one of The New York Times’ “biggest breakout stars of 2019.” Born in the Bronx and raised in Puerto Rico, her practice centers highly narrative works rooted in expressions of selfhood, culture and legacy. Her projects include her concert and Bessie Award-winning film Chasing Magic, her one-woman show While I Have the Floor, and her theatrical and film series Diary of a Tap Dancer. She serves as a tap choreographer for the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, which garnered her a 2022 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Choreography. A frequent New York City Center collaborator, she created an interactive show for their inaugural “On the Move” five-borough tour and is one of their 2023 featured “Artists at the Center.” Her collaboration with Grammy award-winning Latin jazz composer and pianist Arturo O’Farrill is hailed by The New York Times as “next level” and “thrilling.”
Sidra Bell is the founder of Sidra Bell Dance New York and a choreographer and educator who is currently a Master Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and a recent artist-in-residence at Harvard University. Bell is also the founder and creative director of the award-winning MODULE Laboratory, a New York City based immersive platform for movement and theater artists. Bell has won several awards, including a First Prize for Choreography at the Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, and a National Dance Project Production Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Bell has created over 100 works, notably for BODYTRAFFIC, Ailey II, The Juilliard School, Whim W'Him, among many others. She was the first Black female choreographer commissioned to create work for New York City Ballet, where she created two works for film and the Lincoln Center stage (Fall Fashion Gala 2021 and Innovators & Icons Program).
It’s Showtime NYC!’s mission is twofold. First, to cultivate creative excellence within the next generation of Street/Club Dancers by providing unique experiences connected to careers within the dance and performing arts world. Second, to advocate for, and highlight the recognition of, Street/Club Dances as seminal American artforms and folkloric movement cultures within the performing arts sector. Their vision is to become a leading talent incubator for Street/Club Dancers in the NYC metro area by investing in the dancers’ creative maturity; building community; creating space for future ambassadors in Street/Club Dance, spreading the dance forms through schools, stage, studio and the screen. It’s Showtime NYC! is a program of the Bronx-based non-profit organization Dancing in the Streets.
National Dance Institute is a non-profit arts education organization that brings children together through inclusive, joyful dance and music programs. Founded by legendary dancer Jacques d’Amboise, NDI has impacted the lives of thousands of children worldwide for nearly fifty years. At Bryant Park, NDI children will perform beloved repertory choreography and a sneak peek of our June Event of the Year, "Earth's Song."
Bryant Park Picnic Performances presented by Bank of America is a free outdoor festival that welcomes all New Yorkers to experience the city’s vibrant arts and culture. The series provides a platform for extraordinary artists and serves as a vital outdoor venue for a wide array of New York’s cultural institutions.
Bring your own picnic or purchase food and drinks from tents on the east side of the lawn. Attendees can enjoy cuisine from the five boroughs with a rotating line-up of artisanal vendors curated by Hester Street Fair.
Stout NYC also offers giant pretzels, gourmet popcorn and other light bites as well as a selection of beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase.
Bryant Park lends out hundreds of free blankets on a first-come, first-served basis, or bring your own cotton or fleece blanket. To protect the lawn, please do not sit on waterproof materials such as plastic tarps, yoga mats, or inflatable chairs.
Take a seat in one of the pre-set chairs on the lawn or grab a chair from the gravel. You can use a chair anywhere in the park except for the center lawn "blanket zone".
Find jugglers, hula hoops, giant Jenga, and more fun on the east side of the lawn at select events.
We love dogs, but dog urine can leave the lawn with bald spots. Dogs are welcome on the gravel and bluestone, but please do not bring dogs on the lawn.
Performances are cancelled when it is unsafe to be outdoors. In some cases, the lawn may be too wet to open but the performance may continue. Follow @bryantparknyc on Twitter and Instagram for day-of event updates. You can also check the lawn status on the bryantpark.org homepage.
