Public Events
BAC presentations are designed to bring to the stage innovative, contemporary work of dance, music, theater, visual, and multi-media artists. To date, BAC has presented the work of artists including Donna Uchizono, Aszure Barton, Maria Pagès, Benjamin Millepied, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Toni Morrison, William Forsythe, Foofwa d’Imobilité, Tere O’Connor, Richard Move, Pierre Rigal, Mal Pelo, Molly Davies, Lucy Guerin, and Meg Stuart, among others.
In addition, the Movado Hour, a series of free, hourlong chamber music concerts presented in a salon setting, takes place throughout each season. The series, sponsored by Movado, takes chamber music back to its roots by providing music lovers with the unusual opportunity of experiencing music in an intimate and informal salon setting. Among the artists featured on this series have been Philip Glass, Gidon Kremer, Robert Spano, Brentano String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Casals Quartet, So Percussion, and The Knights.
In 2009, BAC launched BAC Flicks, a new series combining film and conversation with special guest artists, presented in partnership with La Cinémathèque de la Danse (Paris). Among the films and artists featured on this series to date have included Man on Wire (2008) with Philippe Petit, Lucinda Childs (2006) with Lucinda Childs, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1966) with Suzanne Farrell, and A Video Tribute to Merce Cunningham by Charles Atlas.
Artist Development
BAC’s residency program provides artists with the space and resources to research and develop new independent projects or collaborations. Artists are generally invited to spend two to eight weeks at the Center, during which time they are free to pursue their creative agenda with administrative and technical support provided by BAC staff members. Residencies often include opportunities to “test” works-in-progress through informal studio showings, which in turn give audience members a unique glimpse of the creative process. BAC artists in residence are sometimes invited to perform the work they have developed at the Center as part of the BAC Presents series. Artists in residence have included Richard Siegal/The Bakery, Tere O’Connor, OtherShore dance company, Foofwa d’Imobilité, John Jasperse, Deborah Hay, David and Ain Gordon, Fang-yi Sheu, Julia Mandle, Studio Six Theater Company, Yvonne Rainer, Manou Phuon, Xavier Le Roy, Nell Bryer, David Leach, George Stamos, David Neumann, Christopher Williams, Deganit Shemy, and Elevator Repair Service.
Artist workshops are occasionally offered for free to professional artists throughout each season. These have included William Forsythe protégé Jill Johnson teaching techniques of Ballet Frankfurt and The Forsythe Company; Batsheva Dance Company member Ariel Freedman leading a workshop in Ohad Naharin’s gaga technique; Russian ballet master Azari Plisetsky leading a workshop for dancers from American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet; and director Lev Dodin of the Maly Drama Theatre leading a workshop with apprentices from the Saint Petersburg Academy of Theatrical Arts for students from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the Juilliard School, and the Actors Studio.
The Fund for New Work builds on Mikhail Baryshnikov’s long history of commissioning national and international artists to create new interdisciplinary pieces. The Fund is intended to produce work that will be fully staged with touring potential. Artists supported by the Fund are afforded use of the Center’s facilities and receive a commission fee. Since the Center opened, commissions have been awarded to choreographers Benjamin Millepied, Donna Uchizono, Aszure Barton, David Neumann, and Alexei Ratmansky.
