DON’T MISS!: DOWNTOWN BOLLYWOOD
You can see Indian dancing and Malay dancing from Singapore at the Downtown Dance Festival — even better, it’s all free. Jonathan Hollander, the man who’s been behind the festival for the past three decades, can’t think of a better place for it. “Downtown is America’s trading center, and here we are, importing and exporting dance.”
Hollander’s own Battery Dance Company performs worldwide; many of the groups are handpicked from his travels. This year’s find is Sri Warisan from Singapore, performing refined Malay ethnic dance. But the most unusual mix is the Mayuri Dance Group. Hailing from frigid Petrozavodsk, Russia — about five hours drive from St. Petersburg — the dancers do hot Bollywood moves.
The festival starts at the green oasis of the Lawn at Battery Park tomorrow and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, from noon to 2 p.m., it moves to 1 New York Plaza, at Whitehall Street — framing the international dancing with the unique downtown skyline. Free admission, see http://www.batterydance.org for details.
— Leigh Witchel
Courtesy of Mayuri Dance Group
2 of 5
HEAR THIS!: SOULD STORIES
Soul hit-makers and socially conscious poets come out of the woodwork this weekend for the 29th annual Roots of American Music series, co-sponsored by Lincoln Center and the New Orleans-based Ponderosa Stomp Foundation. “I’m excited,” says 70-year-old R&B legend Otis Clay. “There’s a spiritual thing to what we do. It’s all about life — the good, the bad and everything else in between.” Clay headlines a soulful Saturday that includes a Laura Nyro tribute and music by Memphis guitarist Teenie Hodges, Stax icon William Bell and Labelle alums Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. On Sunday, the message-heavy poetry of Gil Scott-Heron informs a jam-packed bill featuring Swamp Dogg, Aloe Blacc, writer Latasha N. Nevada Diggs and many more. “We’re gonna put love back in the music,” Clay declares, “because this is for the people. It’s everybody’s story.”
Noon to nightfall each day at the Damrosch Park Bandshell,
62nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue; lcoutofdoors.org; free.
— Bill Murphy
Jacob Blickenstaff
3 of 5
WATCH THIS!: PARISIAN HEIST
Veteran French star Michel Piccoli plays a Paris detective who poses as a banker to lure some petty crooks into a robbery in “Max et les Ferrailleurs” (“Scrap Collectors,” in English). But our hero runs into a snag when he falls in love with a prostitute (Romy Schneider) whose boyfriend is the leader of the gang. Regarded as a masterpiece, this elegant and sophisticated crime drama from 1971 is finally having its US theatrical premiere for a week beginning today as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s tribute to its forgotten director, Claude Sautet. Walter Reade Theatre, 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Info: filmlinc.com
— Lou Lumenick
4 of 5
WRIGHT ON!: BUILT WRIGHT
Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright died six months before he got to see the grand opening of one of his most well-known masterpieces — the Guggenheim. But few people know that before the Guggenheim, the first buildings he designed in New York City lived on the very same site in 1953 — six years before the storied museum moved from a Fifth Avenue townhouse and into the Wright-designed structure. Now, those two works — a pavilion and model Usonian house — get their due in “A Long-Awaited Tribute: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian House and Pavilion,” open now. Highlights include films, mini-replicas of the pavilion and photographs by famed shutterbug Ezra Stoller. “They’re not really well-known buildings,” says library and archives director Francine Snyder. “Serious scholars do know about them, but they’re not the first thing people think about.”
Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave.; 212-423-3500, guggenheim.org. Admission: $22 for adults, $18 for students and seniors, free for members and children under 12.
— Christina Amoroso
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
5 of 5
SHOP HERE!: PROPERLY POSH
Ted Baker London will add some British flair to Fifth Avenue with the opening of its largest Manhattan store (595 Fifth Ave.).
Get your fill of proper style at the 1920s Edwardian-manor flagship. The grand-opening weekend will include: afternoon tea served by “Ted’s butlers,” an Instagram photo studio, a chance to win a luxurious trip to London and a scavenger hunt for mystery-value gift cards.
Don’t forget to sneak in some shopping in the scullery and
boudoir-themed floors filled with Ted Baker’s signature tailored pieces for men and vintage botanical feminine designs for the ladies. Store hours: daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., check out @ted_bakerusa on Twitter or facebook.com/tedbakerusa.
— Johannah Masters
