Contemporary Dance Workshop W/ Friends of DTE

Joao Brandao, a collaborator with Dance Theatre Etcetera on the “Dance for Tolerance” project in 2007, just sent Martha an email about an exciting new endeavor launching early “next” year (just two months away).

Mercedes Boronat, a prolific and progressive choreographer and dancer from Barcelona, Spain will lead 12 hours of intensive dance workshops for advanced students and professionals at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.

Visit Mercedes’ website for details, or contact Joao directly, jbrandaonyc@mercedesboronat.com.  Registration deadline Dec. 31.

November @ Kentler

Got an email update yesterday from the Kentler International Drawing Space, right up the way from us on Van Brunt Street.

Besides their current gallery show, “What’s the Big Idea,” (which runs through December 13 with work from artists Bill Fick, Jiri Kornatovsky, Simon Lewandowski, Lucia Minervini, Orlando Richards, and Joel Sokolov) Kentler has a number of events coming up.

This Friday, November 13th (spooky), sees a “live audiovisual set” enter the space entitled  “Dream Spaces.”  The next day begins a series of Saturday morning “Drawing Together” art workshops for children ages 4 & up and parents.  Check out Kentler’s website for details.

Falconworks Coming Around the Bend

The Brooklyn Paper has a short piece on Red Hook community arts organization DTE Falconworks and their upcoming piece, Off the Hook.  The shows are scheduled for November 20th and 21st at PS 15 here in Red Hook.

photo: Bess Adler for the Brooklyn Paper

“Off the Hook” is a youth playwriting program with involvement from some of the same great students who participate in our programs at Dancee Theatre Etcetera.  Students get the opportunity to work with mentor/dramaturgs as they craft their pieces, and then see their visions realized in a full (though bare-bones) production of their plays.

Check out OTH to support these creative young people- head over to the Falconworks website for details or to reserve a ticket.

Free Theater For Red Hook Teens Starts Tomorrow

The In Transition Theatre Workshop begins tomorrow in the DTE studio.

Over the course of 7 weeks, professional actors/DTE-artists-in-residence The Glass Company will lead acting and storytelling workshops with young people ages 15-20.  Using theater to explore times of “transition” in life, whether they be moving on to college, a job, a new home or a new relationship, the workshops will be a forum for exploration and fun.

Meetings are on Saturdays from 2-5pm.  There’s still room if you or a teenager you know is interested in participating.  Contact me- jon@dtetc.org or (718) 643-6790 x 113

Digital Expressions @ Apple

One of the classes Dance Theatre Etcetera teaching artists are working in this fall is a “Digital Expressions” class at the South Brooklyn Community High School in Red Hook.  The class, led by teacher Justin Wedes & teaching artist Jive Poetic, gives students an introduction to computer & software literacy through project-based work from the students’ unique perspectives.

The class recently made a trip to the Apple Store in SoHo for a little fun mixed with a little work as they showed off assignments from the class.  Check out some of the pics from their visit (all photos:  Wilfred Cameron).

Red Hook Eats in The News

Some entertaining write-ups of some new (and not so new) neighborhood spots popped up on the Google Alert today.  First, Sam Sifton with a “dining brief” on Rocky Sullivan’s lobster nights w/ the Red Hook Lobster Pound.

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

…Rocky Sullivan’s bar, now two years out of its original lower Lexington Avenue home, is coming into its Brooklyn own.

While we’re in the gastronomic universe, Time Out New York profiles the new to the nabe Fort Defiance.  Kudos continue to come in for the bar’s signature cocktails. Plus:

The frontier pricing—most drinks are under $10 and the food maxes out in the high teens—helps justify the trek for the rest of us.

Still haven’t made it over to Fort Defiance, but I can attest for the tasty pizza and good vibes at Rocky’s (a favorite spot for post-event wind-downs for DTE staff and volunteers).  Our GM, Liz, had a lobster date planned a while back, but was rained out.  Hopefully when she gets back from Africa (lucky!) she’ll  get us a review.

Halloween Harvest (Festival)

Last Saturday’s annual Harvest Festival at Added Value was rained out,  but you can come down this Saturday, the 31st, for some on-the-farm fun geared towards the little guys and their grown-up travel companions.  They’ll get out the costume bins, there are pumpkins to pick- a good start for a Halloween morning, to be sure.  Give AV a call for details- 718-855-5531- or come on down to Red Hook Saturday morning.

Check out some pictures from last year’s Festival:

Ruby puts the finishing touches on the DTE "Poetree"

The "poetree" in bloom w/ hopes for the future & celebrations of the past

Saturday @ Sea

The Clearwater Sloop is a replica of 18th & 19th century ships that sailed the Hudson River.  Launched in part by Pete Seeger back in the 60s, the sloop has provided maritime education and advocacy for about four decades now, and is coming to Brooklyn on Saturday.

From Brooklynometry:

Schedule of Events
3 – 6pm: Sloop Clearwater sails from Manhattan to Brooklyn (spots on the sail are still available; see below).
5 – 6pm: Start your evening with a family-friendly rendezvous aboard the Historic Waterfront Museum, a beautifully restored showboat barge and floating classroom. Catch great views of the historic tall ship Clearwater as she returns to the Brooklyn waterfront. Snacks, music and fun provided.
6 – 7:30pm: Welcome the sloop to the dock, then hop aboard for a tour of the deck and meet n’ mingle with the Captain and crew!
8 – 10pm: Head around the corner with the crew to Sunny’s Bar, a Red Hook mainstay for sailors for over 100 years. A suggested donation of $5 – $10 gets you great music, refreshments, and a warm mug of mulled cider. Sunny’s weekly bluegrass jam follows close behind, so be sure and bring an instrument along!

If the weather cooperates (and even if it doesn’t), you can’t get better views than aboard the Waterfront Museum, and I’m sure the Sharps family has some good times in store.

The Sloop is on facebook (of course), or you can get more info by emailing volcoord@clearwater.org or capt@clearwater.org.

EnviroMedia Mobile from the Urban Divers

Just got an email from the Urban Divers about their big new educational toy (representing the culmination of years of planning and work), an “ENVIROMEDIA MOBILE”—a traveling urban nature and maritime museum on wheels.  They describe it as…

a unique learning and cultural tool to help increase environmental literacy, youth development and maritime cultural enrichment in our community, in our schools, on the waterfront in NYC.

The Divers will unveil the “mobile” on October 21st, 2:00pm to 4:00pm, at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza Park.  If you don’t know about UD and the work they do on the New York Waterfront, check out their official website.  They ask that you RSVP for the unveiling, so send me an email- jon@dtetc.org- for details.

Super Fun @ The Gowanus Canal

Head over to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to read up on efforts to clean up the notoriously polluted Gowanus Canal.  It’s not clear whether these improvements completely remove the possibility for an EPA “Superfund” designation, as floated earlier in the year, but it is a significant ($150 million) commitment.

Tonkydesigns.com

Taken together, these upgrades will significantly improve water quality and the quality of life around the canal.

^Says the paper.  Check out the article to see why.