7 Days and 7 Nights

THU.MAR.9

Human Walls

Dancer/choreographer Donna Scro Gentile brings her Freespace Dance to St. Mark’s Church for a program of works performed by thirty dancers and four musicians. The members of Freespace Dance will be joined by an additional 24 dancers for the world premiere of Gentile’s “Human Walls,” and the original music composed by Glen Fittin will be performed live by the composer, Tigger Benford, Peter Jones, and Carl Landa. The four musicians will play a total of 100 instruments, including dulcimer, tabla, frame drums, melodicatto, voice, piano, saxophone, and accordion. “Desires” (2005), explores various aspects of desire, ranging from simple longing to raw passion; Daniel Bernard Roumain composed and recorded the music for this work for three couples. And Gentile will dance with Omni Kitts and Dan Mueller in the world premiere of “Reciprocal Motion,” performed to the music of Peter Jones. St. Mark’s Church, 131 E. 10th St. at Second Ave. $15 at 212-674-8194. Through Mar. 11 at 8:30 p.m.

Schoolhouse Roxx

Raunchy performance artist, sensitive singer-songwriter, and rock-n-roll nincompoop Dan Fishback is the quintessential Renaissance Queer, with more disguises than Madonna. “No Direction Homo” celebrates the chaotic life of this up-and-coming anti-diva, in all his exhausted, over-extended glory. Join P.S. 122 for this three-night long extravaganza of downtown performance! Night One showcases Fishback’s childlike, anti-folk power-pop band, “Cheese On Bread,” along with dance-rock BFFs The Bloodsugars and downtown puberty-freaks The O’Debra Twins. Night Two presents a performance art mix-tape, with highlights from Fishback’s brief but prolific career as a playwright and monologist.

Underscored by the music of Dibson Hoffweiler and Preston Spurlock, Fishback weaves together a dozen stories of desire, distress, and bodily functions to create a portrait of queer confusion at the dawn of the apocalypse. Night Three closes the festival with Fishback as a focused, feisty, queer troubadour, armed with an acoustic guitar and a collection of songs from both his debut album, “Sweet Chastity,” and his upcoming release, “Mammal.” The evening begins with surrealist balladeers The Tri-Lambs, and a special, miraculous appearance by legendary feminist performance artist and playwright Deb Margolin. Through Mar. 11 at 9 p.m. P.S.122, 150 First Ave. at E. Ninth St. $20, $15 students & seniors, $10 members at 212-352-3101 or theatermania.com. For more information 212-477-5288 or ps122.org.

FRI.MAR.10

Bite Your Lip

BAX Dance Artist in Residence Faye Driscoll combines live performance, video and an art installation for “Bite your lip,” an unnerving, mixed-medium glimpse into movement and physical sensation. “Eyes, Eyes, Eyes” a premiere, is a fast paced, twitchy work that explores dance as an aggressive, raw-nerve outlet. “Cold Blooded Old Time” investigates the contradictions and tensions between public personas and private breakdowns. In “Lez Side Story,” a video collaboration with Hedia Maron, female gangs battle for turf when a forbidden love gets in the way. Shot in a minimalist space that loosely mimics an urban environment, “Lez Side Story” is a queer take on a legendary tale. Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, a multi-faceted community arts center, located at 421 Fifth Ave. at Eighth St. in Park Slope (F to Fourth Ave. or R to Ninth St.) $15, $10 members, $8 low-income at 718-832-0018 or bax.org.

Disco Still Isn’t Dead

“Do You Think I’m Disco,” the large group exhibition currently on view at Longwood Art Gallery, Hostos Community College, in the Bronx, pays homage to the era of disco by finding its influences in contemporary artistic practice. Many of the participating artists can only look back to the era by examining the cultural residue that remains here today, but a few artists, notably Ronald B. Monroe and Mel Cheren, were active participants in the club scene of the 1970s. Monroe’s small box assemblages from the period sit quietly in the largest of three spaces comprising the show. They pale surrounded by larger works from a younger, contemporary crowd. But taken up close on the intimate scale Monroe would have wished, their magic remains vibrant. They are worth a trip to Longwood for a unique view of disco from the era itself. Through Mar. 18. Mon-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The Longwood Art Gallery is located at Hostos Community College, 450 Grand Concourse at 149th St. in the Bronx. 718-518-6728.

SAT.MAR.11

Local Color

Carol Massa’s work is powerful. On the other hand her drawing with color is delicate and finely executed. Franklin MacFie has a series of works on gauze quite unlike most of what mixed media work looks like today. And Marilyn Fox is unique in her execution of fired clay works, a collection of which has not been shown in many years. Westbeth Gallery, 55 Bethune St. at Washington St. Opening reception with the artists, tonight from 5-8 p.m. Through Mar 26, Thu.– Sun. 1–6 p.m. 212-989-4650. 

Dance 208—Garage Classics 2

DJ Billy Carroll returns for another triumphant Garage Classics night! After last season’s summer and fall with the best of Mel Cheren’s legendary ‘70s/’80s nightclub, Billy turns it out again, and ain’t nobody’s business how good it is! Just ask anyone who’s been to one of his legendary Garage Nights at the Center. You won’t hear Billy play these songs anywhere else! Jonathan Bressler, artist/interior designer provides the décor again, with Kenny Jenkins playing more Garage Classics in the lounge. There will be prizes and surprises. The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310. 9 p.m.-1 a.m., $10, $6 for members and before 9:45 p.m.

Without Boundary: 17 Ways of Looking

Is it possible to speak of a contemporary art with an Islamic difference? This question, urgently needing debate, will be the subject of an exhibition that brings together artists who come from the Islamic world, but who live and work mostly in Europe and the United States. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), 11 W. 53rd St. Sat.-Mon., Wed., Thu. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Fri. 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed Tue. Admission up to $20. 212-708-9400. Through May 22.

SUN.MAR.12

Women’s Performance Festival

Sunday Series Dance and Performance presents works by Lisa Biggs, Abby Man-Yee Chan, and Mitsu Salmon. “Premises for Sale” by Lisa Biggs is part experimental, veríté-style video short and part live solo- performance. This piece captures a black, female artist dramatizing acts of minstrelsy in an Uncle Sam costume in post-9/11 New York City. “Love in a Doggy Bag” is a solo performance by Abby Man-Yee Chan that tells the story of the pressures a Chinese woman confronts when having a child. Mitsu Salmon presents “Heartbeating Kamikaze Down,” a solo performance inspired by WWII Japan. Through personal narrative and the imagined, the piece weaves fantastical characters, voice, and dance. 6 p.m. at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, a multi-faceted community arts center located at 421 Fifth Ave. at Eighth St. in Park Slope (F to Fourth Ave. or R to Ninth St.) $15, $10 members, $8 low-income at 718-832-0018 or bax.org.

Nights from Day

The signature and polemical survey on contemporary American Art returns. “Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night” takes its title from the 1973 film by François Truffaut, whose original French name, “La Nuit Américaine,” denotes the cinematic technique of shooting night scenes artificially during the day, using a special filter. This is the first Whitney Biennial to have a title attached to it. Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave. at 75th St. Wed.-Thu., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri. 1-9 p.m. Closed Mon., Tue. Admission up to $20; pay what you wish Fri. 6-9 p.m. 212-570-3676. Through May 28.

Bi Women Photo Show

Opening reception for “Bisexual Women: An Exhibition” featuring the photographic work by Dulcie Canton, Lucille Lacey, Joanna Marzullo, and Kendra Thomas. Hosted by the Bisexual Women’s Group, which has been meeting at the LGBT Community Center since 1991, this networking and support organization is geared toward the specific needs of bi women, straddling both the gay and the straight world. This show depicts longing for other women, lesbian relationships and their take on queer city life. The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. Through Apr. 8. 212-620-7310 or gaycenter.org.

MON.MAR.13

Los Big Names

Attend this sneak preview of “Los Big Names,” a new solo play written and performed by Marga Gomez and directed by David Schweizer, presented by Out Professionals and LYNX, the OP women’s network. “Los Big Names” recounts the Hollywood misadventures of Gomez, a backstage baby born to Willy Chevalier and Margarita, rising stars of New York’s Latino community in the ‘60s. Among those Marga portrays to perfection are Kathleen Turner presiding over an audition and Queen Latifah, whose death-by-jellyfish in “Sphere” she recreates. $10/$7 OP members. Doors open 6:30 p.m. 7 – 9 p.m. at The LGBT Center, 210 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310.

Queer Resource Center In Connecticut

Award-winning NYC-based queer performance artist and Trinity College Theater and Dance Department faculty member Michael Burke will perform excerpts from his solo performance repertory at the Trinity College Queer Resource Center. A recipient of All Out Arts & New Village Productions’ “Best Performance Artist of 2003” award, Burke juxtaposes spoken text, dance, visual imagery, video, music and sound score to locate the many ways that the personal is the political. The free public event is sponsored by the Theater and Dance Department and the President’s Council on LGBT Affairs. The objective is to raise awareness about LGBT issues and welcome the greater Hartford community to the new Queer Resource Center on campus. The Center was designed to create a welcoming climate on campus for LGBT students, faculty, and staff. It provides a meeting space for EROS, the College’s organization for LGBT students and their allies, and serves as a resource for the entire Trinity community. 114 Crescent St. in Hartford. 4:30 & 7:30 p.m. Information at 860-297-4006.

TUE.MAR.14

When Nicaragua Resisted Reaganism

In “Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War,” Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz seamlessly connects the personal and the political and draws together recent history and present moment with her on-the-ground memories of the contra war in Nicaragua. Unlike the many commentators, who view September 11th as the start of the war-on-terror, Dunbar-Ortiz offers firsthand testimony on battles waged much earlier. While her rich political analysis bears the mark of a trained historian, she also writes as an intrepid activist who lived for much of the 1980’s in war-torn Nicaragua. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St., btwn. Stanton & Rivington St. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. Free.

WED.MAR.15

Bombing at Babylon

Performance Space 122 presents “Sinner,” a psychological thriller by London theatre/dance company Stan Won’t Dance that combines drama, dance, and video to depict the circumstances surrounding the real-life bombing of a gay bar in London’s Soho neighborhood. On April 30, 1999, David Copeland stepped into the Admiral Duncan, a gay bar in London’s Soho neighborhood. Copeland exited the bar, ostensibly to look for a cash machine, leaving behind a sports bag with a nail bomb that exploded at 6:30 p.m. Two people were killed and nearly eighty more were injured. Copeland, a white-supremacist and homophobe hoping to start a race war, was subsequently dubbed “The Soho Bomber.” “Sinner” takes the events surrounding this terrible event as its starting point and continues along a moving, intense, and darkly humorous journey that begins as a nervous pub flirtation and evolves into a suffocating psychological thriller. Former collaborators of London’s DV8 Physical Theatre, Rob Tannion and Liam Steel, join forces with writer Ben Payne to explore the limits of physical and emotional endurance, and to use drama and dance in complementary, layered, and expressive ways. Through Mar. 19, Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sat. & Sun. at 5 p.m. P.S.122, 150 First Ave. at E. Ninth St. $20, $15 students and seniors, $10 members at 212-352-3101 or theatermania.com. For more information 212-477-5288 or ps122.org.

THU.MAR.16

Renaissance

The Kitchen presents two new works by veteran choreographer Yvonne Meier, which both possess the wild improvisations and challenging movement theatricality she is best known for. “this is not a pink pony” displays Meier’s interest in transforming physical objects into animated items that effect the performers’ actions, responses, timing, and structures. “Gogolorez” is Meier’s ongoing improvisation project using her verbal “score technique.” Calling out movement instructions to dancers who obey her commands, Meier establishes a verbal map for movement improvisation that encourages creativity from each individual performer. With these pieces, highlighting different aspects of her unusual performance principles, Meier ends an eight-year hiatus from creating new work. The evening features an all-star cast of performers, including Miguel Gutierrez, Jennifer Monson, DD Dorvillier, Nami Yamamoto, and Jeremy Wade. 512 W. 19th St. Through Mar. 18 at 8 p.m. $12 at 212-255-5793 x 11 or thekitchen.org.

SMUT

The weekly program of no-holds-barred performance every Monday at Galapagos, hosted by Desiree Burch. 70 N. Sixth St. btwn. Kent and Wythe Aves. in Williamsburg. 718-782-5188. 8 p.m., free.

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