Body Wisdom

Some of New York’s most inspiring dance artists saturate the galleries to contemplate the body as a vehicle for wisdom and transformation and to honor the anniversary of one of the field’s beloved artist support organizations: Pentacle. Visitors are invited to wander the galleries, and encounter ongoing, intimate performances in direct dialogue with art from the Rubin Museum’s collection. Renowned dancer-choreographer and Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner Keely Rakushin Garfield curates the night’s offerings.

Performances by artists including:

Keely Garfield

Jeff Berman

Matthew Brookshire

raja feather kelly | the feath3r theory

Amy Miller and Nigel Campbell

Vicky Shick

Doug Varone

Marilyn Maywald Yahel

Eiko Otake (video performance)

And others

About Pentacle

Pentacle is a not-for-profit management support organization for small and mid-sized companies and project-based artists working in dance and theater. Pentacle’s mission is to provide these communities with flexible and affordable management support in a sustained way, on an expert level, and at an affordable price. Pentacle celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2016.

Program Notes by Keely Rakushin Garfield

“There is a body-there is not a body;

This is me-then again it is not.”

The Tang Dynasty poet Hanshan made this curious discovery, inscribed it on a rock, and left no clue behind as to his true identity, when and where he may have actually lived, and when exactly he died. Regarded as an expression of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom, Monk Hanshan’s words essentially challenge the proof of our own eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hearts and minds. We know the world through our direct experience with its innumerable sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and through our feelings and thoughts. As far as we can tell, we locate and store this evidence in our bodies, and create stories in order to remember. Our stories become the corroboration of our existence, as well as the measure of its meaning. Yet amidst the torrent of noise and movement, the backdrop of silence and stillness gives us pause and we begin to suspect that there is a body within the body that although we may barely recognize, we intimately comprehend. Manjushri points to this less trampled upon place and assures us that whether sitting, walking, standing, or lying down – or for that matter, singing or dancing – if we follow the breadcrumbs marking the way, we will discover who we really are - and are not.

In this spirit, we have gathered together a phenomenal group of performers to contemplate the body as a vehicle of wisdom and transformation.