Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, in partnership with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Universal Hip Hop Museum, announce a series of free dance events in the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on March 25, April 29, and May 20, 2022 at 7:30pm. The Dance Floor events are free, and in addition to pop-up performances commissioned by Works & Process, will feature DJ-spun tunes from the most-loved musical genres of today curated by the Universal Hip Hop Museum. The line for the event will form at the Atrium's entrance on Broadway, between 62nd and 63rd Street.

 

The Dance Floor: Fresh, Bold & So Def Women on March 25 features the Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LDC), an all-female intergenerational troupe led by director/choreographer Michele Byrd-McPhee. On April 29, The Dance Floor: Future Skool with Les Ballet Afrik will be presented. Highlights from New York Is Burning will be performed, created by Ballroom choreographer and star of HBO's "Legendary" Omari Wiles for his company Les Ballet Afrik. The Dance Floor: NYC Club Life & Hip Hop on May 20 stars NYPL Artists-in-Residence Brahms "Bravo" LaFortune, the revered club dance legend, and Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, a Bessie Award-winning choreographer and dancer. With Ephrat Asherie Dance they will perform a pop-up performance of the Works & Process commissioned, UnderScored. Performances are part of the spring programming at Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and are presented by The Universal Hip Hop Museum in collaboration with Hip Hop Education Center and Works & Process.

 

Throughout the pandemic, Works & Process continued to provide opportunities for artists and pioneered the bubble residency to support their work safely. The spring 2022 season will feature the official world premieres of works created by New York artists – many representing historically marginalized performing art cultures – and incubated during the peak of the pandemic inside 2020-21 Works & Process bubble residencies. Alongside the commissions, Works & Process will present performance excerpts of and artists discussions about new works prior to their premieres at leading organizations including BAAD!, BAM, Boston Ballet, Federal Hall, Glimmerglass Festival, The Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet. 

 

The Dance Floor: Fresh, Bold & So Def Women

Friday, March 25 at 7:30 pm

The Universal Hip Hop Museum, scheduled to open a permanent home in the Bronx in 2024, strives to celebrate, preserve, and educate the public on the local and global phenomenon of hip hop. The Atrium will provide an Upper West Side stage for UHHM in 2022 with a series of shows incorporating three of the key elements of hip hop: rapping, DJing, and dancing. Joining UHHM for Women's History Month is the Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LDC), an all-female intergenerational troupe led by director/choreographer Michele Byrd-McPhee, previewing a new commission from the Guggenheim's Works & Process series. LDC's groundbreaking work centers feminist narratives examining intersections of gender, race, and resistance. After the show, make your way to the dance floor for an unforgettable hip hop jam. Presented by The Universal Hip Hop Museum in collaboration with Hip Hop Education Center The Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective will be coming to Lincoln Center direct from their Works & Process LaunchPAD "Process as Destination" residency at Bethany Arts Community.

 

The Dance Floor: Future Skool with Les Ballet Afrik

Friday, April 29 at 7:30 pm

The Universal Hip Hop Museum, scheduled to open a permanent home in the Bronx in 2024, strives to celebrate, preserve, and educate the public on the local and global phenomenon of hip hop. The Atrium will provide an Upper West Side stage for UHHM in 2022 with a series of shows incorporating three of the key elements of hip hop: rapping, DJing, and dancing. Future Skool opens the night with a cypher of emergent artists and next generation hip hop innovators followed by a performance of the vogue, hip hop, and Afrobeat-fusion dance work New York Is Burning, commissioned by the Guggenheim's Works & Process. This work was created by Ballroom choreographer and star of HBO's Legendary Omari Wiles for his company Les Ballet Afrik. After the show, make your way to the dance floor for an unforgettable hip hop jam. Presented by The Universal Hip Hop Museum in collaboration with Hip Hop Education Center Les Ballet Afrik will be coming to Lincoln Center fresh from their Works & Process LaunchPAD "Process as Destination" residency at The Church, Sag Harbor.

 

The Dance Floor: NYC Club Life & Hip Hop

Friday, May 20 at 7:30 pm

The Universal Hip Hop Museum, scheduled to open a permanent home in the Bronx in 2024, strives to celebrate, preserve, and educate the public on the local and global phenomenon of hip hop. The Atrium will provide an Upper West Side stage for UHHM in 2022 with a series of shows incorporating three of the key elements of hip hop: rapping, DJing, and dancing. Scheduled during Hip Hop Appreciation Week with guest DJs from UHHM, this event also stars NYPL Artists-in-Residence Brahms "Bravo" LaFortune, revered club dance legend, and Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, Bessie Award-winning choreographer and dancer. They preview UnderScored, a reflection on the intergenerational movement conversations integral to NYC's underground dance community. After the show, make your way to the dance floor for an unforgettable hip hop jam.

 

Presented by The Universal Hip Hop Museum in collaboration with Hip Hop Education Center

This pop-up performance of Ephrat Asherie Dance will culminate the company's Works & Process LaunchPAD "Process as Destination" residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation. Lead funding for Works & Process season is provided by Stephen Kroll Reidy with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Evelyn Sharp Foundation, The Geraldine Stutz Trust with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Works & Process has received support from the U.S. Small Business Administration Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and Paycheck Protection Program and NYC Employee Retention Grant Program. Major support for the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein. Additional generous support is provided by Rockefeller Brother Foundation. Endowment support is provided by The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Oak Foundation.

 

Works & Process at the Guggenheim 

Described by The New York Times as "forward thinking" and "an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process," since 1984 Works & Process has welcomed New Yorkers to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed performers and creators of the performing arts. Led by Producer Caroline Cronson and Executive Director Duke Dang, Works & Process nurtures and champions new works, shapes representation, amplifies underrepresented voices and performing arts cultures, and offers audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Artist-driven programs blending performance highlights with insightful discussions are, when permitted, followed by receptions in the rotunda, producing an opportunity for collective learning and community building while also helping to cultivate a more inclusive, fair, and representative world. Approximately fifty performances take place annually in the Guggenheim's Frank Lloyd Wright–designed, 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Annually Works & Process produces a program at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain as well. In 2017 Works & Process established a residency program inviting artists to create newly commissioned performances made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. In 2020 Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions was created financially support 84 new works and over 280 artists and nurture their creative process during the pandemic. To forge a path for artists to safely gather, create, and perform during the pandemic from summer 2020 through spring 2021, Works & Process pioneered and produced 250 bubble residencies supporting 247 artists, made possible through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. On March 20, 2021, after over a year of shuttered indoor performances and with special guidance from New York State's Department of Health, Works & Process was the first cultural organization to reopen live, indoor ticketed performances in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. worksandprocess.org 

 

David Rubenstein Atrium 

In-person events begin with the reopening of the beloved community space, the David Rubenstein Atrium, on Thursday, March 10. Philanthropist David Rubenstein's generous $10 million donation in 2021 has made it possible for Lincoln Center to reopen and expand its civic-minded activities in the space beyond the arts to meet the needs of New York City communities. Multiple days a week, audiences will be treated to specially curated events and performances, from the return of fan favorite Latin dance nights and a family friendly performance from the neuro-diverse theater company E.P.I.C. Players, to a staged reading of teenage playwrights in #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence–in collaboration with Roundabout Youth Ensemble–and opportunities to donate blood at community blood drives. Atrium events continue until May 26, with Anthony Roth Costanzo. As part of his residency with the New York Philharmonic, Costanzo presents his Authentic Selves performance series, closing out the space's spring season. All events in the David Rubenstein Atrium are free and first-come, first-served. For more information visit LincolnCenter.org/Atrium.

 

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world's leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit's strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center's work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21st century and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life.