Vain Combat – Broadway between 42nd ~ 44th Street

By Douglas Dunn + Dancers

Today  |  Culture

Douglas Dunn + Dancers

VAIN COMBAT 

Outdoor Dancing*

Free!

Five Dates!

Multiple Locations!

Multiple Viewing Opportunites!

Trying for something rougher than my indoor work, I made the street dance Vain Combat in 2010. The word Vain was meant to mean both arrogant and futile. No irony. Knowing from past experience the difficulty of grabbing the attention of New Yorkers in their daily rounds, I allowed simple configurations and welcomed unison. Lots of duets. We’ve performed the piece over the last fifeteen years many times all around the boroughs. There are fifteen sections, well over an hour of material. The dancers get together before a foray and, choosing various sections, settle on a score for the day, usually about half an hour. We operate as a guerrilla force, entering public and private spaces without permission. Sometimes we are stopped and driven away, most famously on the Lincoln Center Plaza, where a large crowd jeered at the guards and police who confronted and banished us. This round we give up a degree of surprise, inviting you to join other citizens less prepared for our exaggerated presence. 

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Vain Combat is a paean to cross-purposes: to my shoulders being bumped on Manhattan streets by spatially challenged shoppers/walkers/tourists; to war-machine-driven killing by governments; and to the many insufficiently considered antagonistic acts that fall between these two extremes. Enough delight and beauty, what about assault and battery? The constantly morphing piece investigates the results of allowing the contentious tendencies of the human animal to infiltrate the world of aesthetic transport.

– Douglas Dunn

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Please note that all the performances are weather permitting, so check back on Douglas Dunn + Dancers website the day of the show. Thank you!

 

DANCERS

Jules Bakshi, Alexandra Berger, Tony Bordonaro, Emily Pope, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Tim Ward

VAIN COMBAT SCHEDULE:

Friday, May 16

4:30 & 5:00   Broadway between 42nd ~ 44th Street (in the pedestrian zone)

Saturday, May 17 

12:30 & 1:00   Central Park (Bethesda Fountain)

Sunday, May 18 

1:00  Washington Square Park (Garibaldi Plaza)*

2:00  Union Square North

Friday, May 23 

4:30  Father Demo Square, 6th Ave @ Bleecker

5:30  Washington Square Park (by the arch)

Saturday, May 24 

5:30  Washington Square Park (around fountain)

6:00  Washington Square Park (by the arch)

 

*Please note that outdoor dancing is weather permitting so please check our website and/or social media the day of showing. If inclement weather, we will post that the event is canceled. Thanks!

 

*Douglas Dunn + Dancers is grateful to receive a Community Arts Grant from Washington Square Park Conservancy  THANK YOU!