Neo-Burlesque Variety Show with Poetry, Spoken Word, Music, Dance, and Multimedia Arts
Thursday, February 14, 2019 – 7:30PM
Harlem Stage, the legendary uptown venue that for over 35 years has promoted the creative legacy of Harlem and artists of color from around the corner and across the globe, is proud to present its Spring 2019 season of performances. The 2019 spring season is curated by Monique Martin, Director of Programming for Harlem Stage and features artists who #Disrupt and take creative risk. The performances feature a range of artistic genres, offering audiences the chance to experience legendary performers, as well as rising stars.
This Valentine’s Day, Harlem Stage presents Mo Beasley’s “UrbanErotika,” a live neo-burlesque variety show celebrating erotic love with poetry, spoken word, music, dance, and multimedia arts, as expressed by New York City’s diverse cultures. The special Valentine’s Day performance will feature works that range from the soft and sensual to the bold and audacious; reflecting the full spectrum of romantic and sensual love in a healthy journey of fantasy and desire. UrbanErotika is “the house that Lust built, and Love saved from damnation.”
The performance will feature: Filipino American poet and spoken word artist Regie Cabico; Rock/Jazz/Folk bandThe SoulFolk Experience,selected as WNYC’s “Best Band in Brooklyn” in 2011; hip-hop singer Nemiss ChiYork; spoken word artist Peter ‘Rainmaker’ Seaton; actor and dancer Shannon Lower; award-winning international burlesque artist, producer & cabaret entertainer Zyra Lee Vanity; singer, songwriter and poet Shye Poetand, and other delicious surprises. The artists will pay a special tribute to the sensual and erotic work of Ntozake Shange,an original muse, and now ancestral guide.
UrbanErotika is the brainchild of Mo Beasley, an award-winning performance poet, educator, author, and public speaker with more than 20 years of experience in sexuality, race, manhood, and arts advocacy work.
Event Details:
UPTOWN NIGHTS: Mo Beasley’s“UrbanErotika”
Thursday, February 14
7:30pm
Price: $25
Harlem Stage Gatehouse - 150 Convent Ave (at West 135th Street)
https://www.harlemstage.org/events-list/uptown-urbanerotika
“This season we are conversing, collaborating, and of course singing and dancing. We are thrilled to be working with a growing list of programming partners, who enable us to bring new audiences to Harlem Stage and align ourselves with organizations and artists who share our values. We welcome you to join in this communion of art that informs, inspires and ultimately transforms,” said Patricia Cruz, Executive Director of Harlem Stage.
Monique Martin, Director of Programming,said “As we wade through these precarious times of polarizing speech, mass shootings and mass incarceration we need our #Disrupters now more than ever. The trifecta of art, culture and activism provides us with tools that can guide us to a deeper understanding of the past, present and forecast the future. Harlem Stage continues to entrust artists to co-create with us, a fertile sanctuary space of mutual respect and understanding. We are honored to create generative spaces for our community to see and be with each other. All are welcome!”
TICKETING INFORMATION
Box Office Location: Harlem Stage Gatehouse (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street, Manhattan).
Box Office Hours: Regular box office hours are 10AM–3PM Monday through Friday, except on performance days when the box office remains open until one hour after the start of the performance.
By Phone: 212.281.9240 ext. 19
Online: www.HarlemStage.org
ABOUT HARLEM STAGE
Harlem Stage is the performing arts center that bridges Harlem’s cultural legacy to contemporary artists of color and dares to provide the artistic freedom that gives birth to new ideas.For over 35 years Harlem Stage has been one of the nation’s leading arts organizations, achieving this distinction through its work with artists of color and by facilitating a productive engagement with the communities it serves through the performing arts. With a long-standing tradition of supporting artists and organizations around the corner and across the globe, Harlem Stage boasts such legendary artists as Harry Belafonte, Max Roach, Sekou Sundiata, Abbey Lincoln, Sonia Sanchez, Eddie Palmieri, Maya Angelou and Tito Puente, as well as contemporary artists like Bill T. Jones, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Tamar-kali, Vijay Iyer, Mike Ladd, Stew, Meshell Ndegeocello, Jason Moran, José James, Nona Hendryx and more. Its education program each year provides over 1,000 New York City children with introduction and access to the rich diversity, excitement and inspiration of the performing arts. In 2006, Harlem Stage opened the landmarked, award-winning Harlem Stage Gatehouse. This once abandoned space, originally a pivotal source for distributing fresh water to New York City, is now a vital source of creativity, ideas and culture. Harlem Stage is a winner of the William Dawson Award for Programming Excellence and Sustained Achievement in Programming (Association of Performing Arts Presenters).
For more information on Harlem Stage, visit: www.harlemstage.org.
For a full list of donors, please visit: https://www.harlemstage.org/support/
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