When their dance company LEV started in 2013, Israeli artists Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar indicated that it would be a heart-centered venture. After all, Lev means ‘heart’ in Hebrew. In the past five years, that intention has been explicitly realized with the creation of their “Love” trilogy. The first part came to New York in 2017, the second in 2019, and this week the series concludes with “Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart” at the Joyce Theater.
As the title implies, Eyal and Behar are more interested in the dangers of love than in its pleasures. Eyal, choreographer of LE-V and former star dancer with the Batsheva Dance Company, expresses emotional distortion by distorting bodies in fascinating ways; Behar, a former party producer, imbues the work with the communal catharsis and shadowy secrets of a club. The special sauce is Ori Lichtik’s electronic score, both throbbing and ethereal. Performances are through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $45 and are available at joyce.org.
BRIAN SCHAEFER
CHILDREN
‘Street’ Savvy
After a year of absence due to the pandemic, this touring celebration of the “Sesame Street” series has returned to the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Entitled “Let’s Party!” and with its final performances on Saturday and Sunday, this 90-minute musical revival features not only Oscar, but also familiar faces such as Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Abby Cadabby and Rosita, who teaches an interactive Spanish lesson.
Little fans will also learn about collaboration. When the residents of Sesame Street discover that they have different concepts of fun, they must come up with festivities that everyone will enjoy.
Tickets start at $25, but you can also find free ‘Sesame Street’ entertainment on the show’s YouTube channel. The expanded Black History Month playlist includes an animated video about aviation pioneers Bessie Coleman and James Banning and a compilation of “Sesame Street” clips featuring black guest stars such as John Legend, Lupita Nyong’o and Erykah Badu.
LAUREL GRAAEBER
pop rock
Hypnotic riffs
Although it has been represented on the world stage for decades, assouf – an invention of Tuareg musicians that combines rock, blues and African folk music – has a remarkable new ambassador in Mdou Moctar. Since 2008, the Niger-born artist has been pouring his prodigious guitar talents into hypnotic, riff-heavy recordings. At first, they reached their audiences organically, as they traveled across the Sahara region through informal file-sharing networks; more recently, Moctar signed with New York-based indie label Matador, cementing his foothold abroad.
Moctar released his sixth album ‘Afrique Victime’ on Matador last year. Between wild, crackling strings of guitar, he sings in Tamasheq about homesickness, love at a distance and the lingering legacy of colonialism in his homeland. On Fridays at 7:30 PM, Moctar and his band “Afrique Victime” play in its entirety at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; the unorthodox indie rocker Bartees Strange will open. The concert kicks off a music series composed by critic and poet Hanif Abdurraqib. Tickets start at $35 and are available through bam.org.
OLIVIA HORN
Theater
Existential trips
In “Sandblasted,” playwright Charly Evon Simpson sends two women on a desert journey that may not lead exactly to what they dreamed of. Fortunately, Odessa (Marinda Anderson) and Angela (Brittany Bellizeare) run into a wellness guru named Adah (played by talk show personality Rolonda Watts) who may just take them to where they really need to be.
This existential piece is about hope, healing and our willingness to turn celebrities into our own personal gods. Who do we choose to believe and why? Simpson’s sophisticated comedy spreads unwavering bits of wisdom, and an ode to the fresh air comes out quite strongly given the many limitations we’ve lived with to survive.
“Sandblasted” runs through March 13 at the Vineyard Theater. Tickets start at $26 and are available at the theater box office and on the website.
JOSE SOLÍS
We live in a heyday for new flute compositions – thanks in part to Claire Chase’s ongoing “Density 2036” commissioning project. But Chase isn’t the only player working to expand the instrument’s contemporary profile. “Field Anatomies”, a new solo album by Laura Cocks, reveals a strong taste in living composers.
This set kicks off lively with composer David Bird’s ‘Atolls’, for a solo live piccolo often played along with 29 pre-recorded parts. In the opening minutes, the composition wastes no time showing off Cocks’ feverish instrumental prowess. But there’s also a lot to enjoy as the piccolo parts in the background take on a greater presence in the mix.
On his website, Bird writes that he derived pitches for the background piccolos by analyzing “a crash cymbal and Janet Leigh’s infamous scream from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho'”. evokes more contemplative moods. That satisfying, subtle array of approaches finds consistent expression throughout the rest of the album.
SETH COLTER WALLS
