With a Little Luck, Freddy's Just Might Usher in the New Year

After being forced out of Prospect Heights, the legendary Freddy's Bar sets up shop in Park Slope

(Originally published on Patch.com) Brooklyn, NY

After a brief hiatus, Freddy's is back.

By month's end, if all goes according to bar co-owner Donald O'Finn's hopes, Fifth Avenue's South Slope will be graced with an amped up version Freddy's Bar and Backroom, which earlier this year was forced from its longstanding Prospect Heights home on Dean Street by Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project.

This legendary community hangout was always for the people, but its new incarnation is also by the people. Many of Freddy's regulars—builders, artists—are chipping in to help shape the space.

"Freddy's is very much about community, but now its also being built by the community," O'Finn said in between working with plumbers and painters at the bar's new location. "That's what Freddy's was always about. Community."

But the Freddy's, which O'Finn dreams will pour its first drink at the strike of midnight on New Year's Eve, won't just be a replica of its old, iconic self. It will be bigger, and, possibly, even better.

"I see it as Freddy's on steroids; everything is amped up a bit," said O'Finn, who was once the spot's manager, but is now co-owner, along with Matt Kuhn and Matt Kimmett, both former Freddy's bartenders.

Ownership isn't the only thing that's changed. For the first time, Freddy's Bar will serve food and Kuhn will hold the reins on fare. "It'll be Freddy's-appropriate, pub grub, nothing fancy, something to fill the hole in your stomach," Kuhn said. "We just knew we had to take advantage of the kitchen in this space."

Much, of course, will also remain the same at Freddy's new South Slope location between 17th and 18th streets, where the short-lived Ellis Bar used to make its home.

According to O'Finn, the distinctive 1940s red mahogany bar, the booths and bar stools that gave the place its saloon-like quality will continue as central fixtures. And of course, Freddy's' famous backroom will continue to let artists, musicians, and installationists show off their creative works

But the road to South Slope has been bumpy. First, after an unsuccessful fight against the wrecking ball of eminent domain, which lasted some seven years, O'Finn, Kuhn and Kimmett, had to clear out the over 70 year-old bar in just two weeks. On the bars website the trio affectionately refer to the Atlantic Yards project as the "Death Star."

 "I used to say I couldn't get my emotions out of that building in just two weeks," said O'Finn, let alone all the tchotchkes that made Freddy's, well, Freddy's. "The last thing I did was literally kissed that building … and then punched it."

Finding an affordable new space wasn't easy–and the venue they've settled on is still three or four times as expensive as their old location, according to Kuhn and O'Finn. The trio inspected at least 15 locales and got serious about half of them, according to Kuhn, but they all fell through for one reason or another–costs were too high, the spaces were too bare-bones for their budget (which Kuhn likes to joke is 39 cents), the steps weren't high enough to be approved for a liquor license.

They liked South Slope for being more affordable and less developed than its northern Park Slope neighbor, yet built-up enough so that they wouldn't have to start from scratch with wiring, plumbing, heating. Also, they liked its diversity. "It's a mixed neighborhood. There's and ethnic quotient, but also people who have been here for generations," said O'Finn. "There are doctors, lawyers, artists, blue-collar workers."

Kuhn predicts that many Freddy's regulars will follow they're move, at least initially, to the Slope. But then it'll be time to shake new hands and make new friends.

 "We can lay down some roots here and be a go-to spot in the neighborhood; there aren't that many bars," Kuhn said. "We'll make this block a destination block."

Much of Freddy's essence they attribute to the flurry of followers who are helping them out. "There are so many fine folks who have stepped up," said Kuhn.

"Whether builders or artists, whether we give them half bar tab and half money, we're working it out. As Donald always says, 'now the inmates run the asylum.'" And what he means, of course, is that it's a win-win to have people who know the place create the place.

"Freddy's just bled soul. When Ratner and boys threw us out, we moved everything, every yellow paper taped behind the bar," Kuhn said with a hint of disbelief.

Still, for the bar, life goes on. "We're doing a good job so far of capturing the essence of what Freddy's was."

Defying Expectations in Life and Dance

Brooklyn-based dance artist Miguel Gutierrez explores our nation’s unrealistic expectations through cultural icon James Dean
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

Many of our nation’s most enticing artists refuse to be boxed in. They work hard to defy the roles society ascribes them, by which they are marked, categorized, classified, and tied down. James Dean—who died 54 years ago this September—is one artist who tried, but didn’t live long enough to succeed. The Brooklyn-based dance artist Miguel Gutierrez is one who has thus far succeeded. This September, the two artists come together in Gutierrez’s newest work, Last Meadow, September 15–19 at the Dance Theater Workshop.

Shortly after Dean’s death at age 24, he was widely cited as having told his friend and co-star Dennis Hopper that he had had enough of acting and wanted to direct. Hopper was oft-quoted recalling that Dean couldn’t stand “being treated like a puppet. We had pretty much seen the end of James Dean on the screen, even if he had lived. He couldn’t stand being interrupted every five seconds by some idiot behind the camera. He was too caught up in the role to be stopped abruptly and made to start again.”

Dean wanted to define who he was, and not be told. As it stands, though, any desires he had to cut loose were halted by the freak car accident that ended his life and he lives on in our nation’s cultural imagination as the rebellious youth he played in Rebel Without a Cause.

It is this iconic image that Gutierrez makes use of in Last Meadow. Inspired by Dean’s classic films and the emblem we have made of him, Gutierrez explores how we, as a nation, cast unrealistic expectations upon our own identity as a nation. Together with long-time collaborators Michelle Boulé and Tarek Halaby, Gutierrez takes us to an America in a state of collapse and confronts us with the perpetual state of waiting, where what you need never comes.

By no means new to exploring existential questions in the theatrical realm, Gutierrez’s work is often fraught with questions about who we are and why we are here. It is these questions, and also the exploration of how a dance performance might give insight into them, that drive Gutierrez’s work. The Powerful People—the name by which Gutierrez and his collaborators are known—explore these complexities with a sense of urgency that both captivates and disconcerts.

Part of what makes Gutierrez’s work so enticing is that each project pulsates with a fresh urgency and Gutierrez, who refers to himself as a dance and music artist, seems to rediscover his own identity each time anew.

For more information dancetheaterworkshop.org or miguelgutierrez.org.

An Exploration of Love

Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan launch BAM’s Next Wave Festival
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

Juliette Binoche is one of France’s most celebrated actresses. She’s recognized world-wide and has worked with a disparate array of directors including Anthony Minghella, Louis Malle and Michael Haneke. Across the English Channel, Akram Khan, an award-winning British choreographer and dancer, has worked with his own disparate set of artists, including ballerina Sylvie Guillem and pop-singer Kylie Minogue.

Neither of them shies away from unconventional collaborations. But they both broach new waters in a full-evening dance work, In-I, in which they jointly explore the boundless territories of love. In it, Khan dives into emotion with singing and acting, while Binoche explores movement. The result, In-I, which premiered in London in 2008, kicks off the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival September 15–26.

In-I, in many ways, is about risks. Risks in life and risks in love. Both artists dared to delve into new creative territories and got to know their own expressivity anew. Khan, known for choreography that mixes contemporary dance and classical Indian khatak, had to put himself in Binoche’s body, untrained as a dancer, and explore a whole new movement vocabulary which would allow them to seamlessly communicate with one another onstage. Also, he had to take on more overtly emotional stances than he’s accustomed to, and work with words. Binoche, therewhile, had to dance.

In In-I they both bring to life a couple who confront the pains and pleasures—the risks—of love. A high, free-standing wall of shifting colors and moods, part of a set design by the Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor, seems to symbolize a constant divider between self and other.

“How do you dare to love, how do you find the courage to love?” Khan commented in a short video about the piece. And Binoche said: “When two people love each other, there’s a way of reaching yourself more than in any other circumstance because the other one pushes you in places you’ve never been before. The purpose of being in a couple is to meet yourself, to understand yourself.”

It seems appropriate, then, that these two artists should both have explored new expressive terrain for In-I. In this exploration they, too, were pushed to places they’d never been before. “We had to let go of a lot of things,” Binoche commented. “In fact, it created some conflict and some doors were slammed. But we gained a lot of trust.”

Their collaboration sounds not unlike any partnership of love, wherein exploration precedes conflict, precedes understanding, precedes trust.

A Communal Spirit of Hope

The 28th annual Downtown Dance Festival is a platform for everything dance
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

During nine days this August, dance companies from near and far will blur some of the boundaries between performer and viewer, one dance form and another, and bring the expressivity of movement to workers, tourists, families, residents and passersby in Battery Park, Chase Plaza and on Governor’s Island. The 28th annual Downtown Dance Festival, hosted by Battery Dance Company, serves as a platform for everything from classical Indian, to contemporary ballet, and, like in previous years, audiences will have the opportunity to learn segments of the choreographies they’ve just watched. Jonathan Hollander, Battery Dance’s founder and artistic director, hopes that this year’s festival, which, as always, is free, will evoke a communal spirit of hope.

Is there a particular company you’re especially excited about introducing to New Yorkers?
We hope to present a folk dance ensemble, Kolkha, from the Republic of Georgia. It’s tantalizing because we’re still worried about the immigration aspect. This company has 30 dancers and it’s notable because of New York’s relationship with Georgia due to Balanchine’s Georgian roots. Also, from a political standpoint, I think it would be interesting to put a human face on what was front page news on the political side just a year ago.

What is the DDF’s overall focus this year?
People have been so depressed about the economy, the state of the world, and the state of the government for eight years. Now the Obama administration has ushered in a new era and people are embracing a communal sense of hope. I felt this at the opening of BAM’s Muslim Voices festival in June where people of all colors and economic brackets were shoulder to shoulder under the spell of music and world peace; everyone from patrons to people who scraped together the money for low-priced tickets. I just hope that same spirit carries through in our festival where there are companies from many ethnic backgrounds and there’s a similar diversity in the audience.

How did you select the participating companies?
We received over 90 applications this year. That’s up from 70 last year and the most we’ve received ever. We love to present international groups because we feel there is never enough cultural exchange. A curatorial panel, which I’m not a part of, selects based on our mission of wanting to broaden the experience all New Yorkers can have of dance, not just the cognoscenti.

August 15–23: Battery Park, Chase Plaza, Governor’s Island.

Taking Ballet Beyond the Bunhead

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company brings dance to the people in three outdoor performances
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

When Christopher Wheeldon and Lourdes Lopez founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company in 2007, they made it their mission to expand the reach of classical ballet through innovative, collaborative work, and underscore its pertinence in society today. This year, three outdoor performances in August promise to carry out this mission fully.

Wheeldon, a former resident choreographer of New York City Ballet, is creating a new work to new music by Martha Wainwright, both commissioned by City Parks Foundation, for the company’s first two outdoor performances, August 14 and 15 at Central Park SummerStage. Not only is SummerStage a venue where dance events typically attract a more varied audience than would a typical proscenium theater dance concert, but the collaborative nature of the performance—Wainwright will perform live—also suggests that not only ballet bunheads will come out to watch and listen.

The next day, August 16, Wheeldon and Morphoses’ dancers will bring a more interactive event to East River Park as part of City Parks Dance. During the afternoon, they will supplement a short performance with an educational session and reach out to audience members through discussions about the choreography.

A Landlocked Company With a Worldly Feel

Tulsa Ballet brings its global talent to the Joyce Theater
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

Not all things Midwestern are bound by their landlocked location and limited to regional reach. The Oklahoman Tulsa Ballet, founded in 1956 and now comprising dancers from 15 different countries, is one exquisite example of an organization—here, ballet company—which has achieved national, perhaps even global, significance from within its interior setting.

Featured on the cover of Pointe Magazine last March, the company has made recent appearances in Dance Magazine, the New York Times and was described as “One of the best in the world” by the Portuguese national magazine Semanario when it made its international debut in Sintra, Portugal, in 2002. The company first came to New York, to Brooklyn College’s Whitman Hall, some 26 years ago and now, August 10–15, makes its Joyce Theater debut with a spectrum of works that, again, speak for its encompassing range.

Nacho Duato’s Por Vos Muero is set to old Spanish music from the 15th and 16th centuries and pays tribute to the social importance of dance during that time. Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s light-hearted Elite Syncopations, to Scott Joplin, demands an entirely different set sensibilities. And Korean choreographer Young Soon Hue’s This Is Your Life comes with Astor Piazolla’s tango and is inspired by the television program of the same name.

Since day one, Tulsa Ballet has both preserved classical 19th and 20th century repertoire and presented works by leading contemporary choreographers. Artistic director Marcello Angelini has successfully kept with this mission since his appointment in 1995 and thus guaranteed that Tulsa’s recognition continues to grow, year after year.

Living to Tell the Tale

By Mary Staub, New York Daily News, August 2009