four/four presents "Open Air," a series of new dance and music collaborations, June-September 2021
Company:
four/four in partnership with AudioFemme & ThrdCoast
four/four presents, in partnership with AudioFemme & ThrdCoast:
Open Air
A series of new, site-specific dance and music collaborations, live and outdoors
Five Performances: June–September 2021
New York NY, May 24, 2021 – four/four presents, a curatorial platform commissioning collaborations between musicians, choreographers, and dancers, will produce its first series of live collaborative outdoor shows this summer entitled Open Air, hosted monthly from June through September 2021. These site-specific performances are mostly free to the public and feature musicians Moor Mother, Madison McFerrin, Mary Lattimore, and Melanie Charles collaborating with choreographers Rena Butler, Kayla Farrish, Samantha Figgins and Jessica Pinkett of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Loni Landon, and will feature dancers from Abraham In Motion, Bill T. Jones, Gibney Dance, Ailey II, and others. Open Air is a music and dance discovery platform and provides opportunities for artists to connect and create new work once again in a live setting, stepping out of their usual collaborator circles and expanding their network and audience. The schedule is below. To make a reservation, go to fourfourpresents.com/events.
Shows will begin with a guest DJ set, followed by a 30-minute music set from the musician, a 15-minute except from the choreographer, and will culminate with the premiere of a commissioned work between dancers, choreographer, and musician. Additionally, four/four will livestream these shows and film each performance for audiences who are not able to experience the live event.
four/four works to bridge the gap between dance and music audiences and to develop a new network to align artists, and values championing up-and-coming artists as much as established talent, aiming to create space for artists to grow and for audiences to grow with them.
Since four/four began its journey in May 2020, it has been commissioned to create work for such organizations as Central Park SummerStage and Brooklyn music venue Public Records to present a digital music and dance series entitled TETHERED. four/four brought together musicians and dancers from all over the world to collaborate on films for these organizations featuring artists such as Jon Batiste, Madison McFerrin, Charlotte Dos Santos, L’Rain, Xenia Rubinos, Samora Pinderhughes, and Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang (of Son Lux), and dancers from Alvin Ailey, Batsheva, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Martha Graham Dance Company, Nederlands Dans Theater, and more.
OPEN AIR SERIES PROGRAMMING 2021
Wednesday, June 9
Madison McFerrin with Samantha Figgins and Jessica Pinkett (of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with dancers from Ailey II and Abraham In Motion (A.I.M.)
Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell, Harlem (Bradhurst Avenue and West 151st Street, Manhattan 10039)
Early Show: 5:30PM Doors / 6:00PM Show
Late Show: 7:30PM Doors / 8:00PM Show
Free with RSVP / $25 VIP Reserved Seat
Wednesday, July 14 and Thursday, July 15
Mary Lattimore and Loni Landon
The Green-Wood Cemetery, Greenwood Heights
Presented in Partnership with The Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th Street, Brooklyn 11232)
Doors: 6:00PM / Show: 7:00PM
$25
Intrigued by the notion that cemeteries can act as both sites for both mourning and social engagement, choreographer Loni Landon and experimental harpist Mary Lattimore have created a site-specific performance at Green-Wood Cemetary exploring the possibilities of rebirth and renewal after loss. At the end of the performance, the audience will be invited to participate in a meditation and sound bath.
Sunday, August 8
Melanie Charles and Kayla Farrish
Bushwick Playground Basketball Courts, Brooklyn (1401 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, 11237)
Early Show: 5:30PM Doors / 6:00PM Show
Late Show: 7:30PM Doors / 8:00PM Show
Free with RSVP / $25 VIP Reserved Seat
Wednesday, September 15
Moor Mother and Rena Butler
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, Dumbo (2 Furman Street, Brooklyn, 11201)
Early Show: 5:30PM Doors / 6:00PM Show
Late Show: 7:30PM Doors / 8:00PM Show
Free with RSVP / $25 VIP Reserved Seat
FOUR/FOUR AND SERIES LINKS
Website: https://www.fourfourpresents.com
Series Webpage: https://www.fourfourpresents.com/events
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaR7sa5vtPiSPayuJIUMmg?view_as=subscriber
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourfourpresents/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fourfourpresents
MUSIC BIOS
Madison McFerrin: singer/songwriter, pop, jazz
Mary Lattimore: experimental harpist
Melanie Charles: jazz, hiphop, experimental
Moor Mother: experimental, rap, hiphop
CHOREOGRAPHER BIOS
Samantha Figgins, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
https://www.alvinailey.org/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/samantha-figgins
Jessica Pinkett, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
https://www.alvinailey.org/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/jessica-amber-pinkett
Loni Landon
https://www.lonilandonprojects.com/
Kayla Farrish
Rena Butler
https://gibneydance.org/people/rena-butler/
ABOUT FOUR/FOUR PRESENTS
four/four presents is a presenting and curatorial platform that commissions collaborations between musicians, choreographers, and dancers. Founded by choreographer Loni Landon and music presenter Rachael Pazdan in April 2020, four/four works to bridge the gap between dance and music audiences and to develop a new network to align artists. four/four believes that at this moment in history it is vital to assure the arts are accessible, equitable, and joyful for all. It values championing up-and-coming artists as much as established talent, and aims to create space for artists to grow and for audiences to grow with them. four/four’s mission is to provide a platform for these artists and to present accessible new commissions to the public.
four/four emerged during the COVID pandemic to provide a digital platform for musicians, dancers, and choreographers across the world to connect and create work while stages were dark. Landon and Pazdan’s creative partnership unites dance and music communities in New York City as well as abroad, pulling from their individual networks as career artists and presenters. After less than a year of creating digital collaborations, four/four has presented over 75 dancers and choreographers and over 25 musicians, partnering with organizations such as Central Park SummerStage and Public Records to present this work on their digital channels, which includes their built-in audiences.
FOUR/FOUR BIOS
Loni Landon, Co-Founder
Loni Landon is a dancer, choreographer, and movement consultant based in New York City. In addition to creating dances for her own collective Loni Landon Dance Project, her work has been commissioned by dance companies and film director’s across the country. Landon is a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award winner. A sought-after choreographer, Landon has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater, Keigwin and Company, James Sewell Ballet, Whim Whim, LEVY DANCE, The Juilliard School, BODYTRAFFIC, American Dance Institute, Northwest Dance Project, Hubbard Street II, Ballet X, Ballet Austin, SUNY Purchase, NYU, Boston Conservatory, and Marymount Manhattan College. Her company has performed at The Joyce Theater, Pulse Art Fair, Jacob’s Pillow, Insitu Dance Festival, Bryant Park, Beach Sessions Dance Series in Rockaway Beach, and Guggenheim Works and Process Series. Landon has won numerous awards including First Prize Winner of Ballet Austin’s New American Talent Competition, Northwest Dance Project’s Pretty Creatives Choreography Competition, Next Commission from CityDance Ensemble, Finalist in the International Solo Tanz Theater Competition in Stuttgart, Germany, finalist in the Hannover International Choreography Competition, and an Emerging Choreographer at Springboard Danse Montreal. Landon choreographed the feature film Saturday Church, directed by Damon Cardasis, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Landon was a participant in the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Other residencies include ITE, NYU, CUNY Dance Initiative, Kaatsbaan, and, most recently Stephen Petronio’s new residency center, Crow’s Nest, in collaboration with Dance Lab NY and Dancers Responding to AIDS. She has been adjunct faculty at NYU, Barnard, SUNY Purchase, and Princeton University. Landon co-founded The Playground, an initiative designed to give emerging choreographers a place to experiment, while allowing professional dancers to participate affordably. The Playground was recognized by Dance Magazine as a 25 to Watch. Landon received her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and has performed with Aszure Barton and Artists, Ballet Theater Munich, Tanz Munich Theater, and the Metropolitan Opera. http://lonilandonprojects.com/about
Rachael Pazdan, Co-Founder
Rachael Pazdan has been featured for her work championing artists and producing concerts in Brooklyn Magazine’s Top 100 Influencers in Brooklyn Culture and Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, and has booked music for a handful of prominent New York City venues including Le Poisson Rouge, The Bell House, Summer Series at Industry City, and The Manhattan Inn.
Pazdan has also established herself as a skilled producer, working on logistics and operations for large- scale concerts, festivals, events, conferences, and summits. She has created thought leader summits for Global Citizen in New York City and South Africa, managed talent for Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty runway show, executed major brand activations at SXSW, coordinated pop-up performances at 300 polling locations for the general election, and beyond.
Pazdan is passionate about supporting the New York City artist community and expresses this interest by creating independently produced series and programs. On a whim in 2015, she founded The Hum. For over five years, this series created a platform and network for womxn and gender-nonconforming musicians in NYC, celebrating, instigating, and nourishing their work and connecting artists for special one-off collaborations. Pazdan’s other independently produced programming includes four/four presents, a curatorial platform for music and dance collaborations, and Stories from the Stage, a video series for the New York Independent Venue Association documenting shuttered venues during the pandemic.
Early in her career, she cut her teeth at organizations like Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival and BRIC, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Columbia Artist Management, where she managed local and international tour logistics for orchestras and jazz ensembles.
Pazdan has appeared as a guest lecturer at NYU, Syracuse University, and her alma mater, SUNY Purchase College, where she received a BA in Arts Management. rachaelpazdan.com
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