Sunday, April 25, 2010

One artist's wry twist: FUNDING THE ARTS

I've known dancer and choreographer Felice Lesser since high school in Connecticut, and by the early 1970s she had already founded her own contemporary dance company in New York. The Felice Lesser Dance Theater has managed to survive all these years, continuing to present brief seasons in Manhattan and to tour occasionally, and the work I've seen has always been interesting.

Felice is presenting her latest work, entitled Funding the Arts, at the Baryshnikov Art Center in New York in mid-May. According to the official description, it's about:

"a few rogue ex-C.I.A. agents (and their K.G.B. counterparts, now bound in a common venture), who overthrow governments around the world, rob their treasuries, and use the booty to fund their first love -- their ballet company.
But when they return to the United States in the post 9/11 world, they find they
are totally unprepared for the realities of running a non-profit arts organization. Out of money, they look for a way to keep the company afloat, while trying to bring down their arch-enemy, and save the world (not to mention dance as an art form), while an apathetic public stays home and surfs the internet."

Gotta love that!

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