NYU Skirball will present LIVE! The Realest MC, an evening-length ensemble work choreographed in 2011 by Bessie Award-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham in collaboration with A.I.M, running April 4 – 6 at 7:30 pm at NYU Skirball. LIVE! The Realest MC comes to Skirball after a year and a half of international touring with Abraham's current company of dancers.

LIVE! The Realest MC takes a darkly humorous approach to gender roles and masculinity in the black community and the quest for acceptance in the world of hip-hop celebrity. It blends a fast and furious contemporary dance with athletic movement derived from the street, pondering the price of conformity and the ways that identity is formed. Promo Video

“LIVE! The Realest MC is inspired by both the story of Pinocchio and an early solo work of mine entitled
Inventing Pookie Jenkins. These characters share a quest for acceptance. For one, it’s a quest to become a “real boy”; for the other, it’s a quest for “realness,” said Abraham. "Since remounting this work on my current dancers, I realized the importance of re-casting my previously performed role from me to company member Jeremy "Jae" Neal. This shift has been eye-opening! And as a result, I've found a way to address a much larger issue and conversation rooted in identity and equality"

KYLE ABRAHAM is a 2017-18 Joyce Creative Residency Artist, 2016 Doris Duke Recipient, 2015 City Center Choreographer in Residence, and a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. In November 2012, Abraham was New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012–2014. Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2010. He was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch” for 2009. His choreography has been presented throughout the United States and abroad. In 2011, OUT magazine labeled Abraham the “best and brightest creative talent to emerge in New York City in the age of Obama.” abrahaminmotion.org

The mission of A.I.M is to create an evocative interdisciplinary body of work. Born into hip-hop culture in the late 1970s and grounded in Abraham’s artistic upbringing in classical cello, piano, and the visual arts, the goal of the movement is to delve into identity in relation to a personal history. The work entwines a sensual and provocative vocabulary with a strong emphasis on sound, human behavior and all things visual in an effort to create an avenue for personal investigation and exposing that on stage. A.I.M is a representation of dancers from various disciplines and diverse personal backgrounds. Combined together, these individualities create movement that is manipulated and molded into something fresh and unique.

Skirball Moves programming is generously supported by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

TICKETS

LIVE! The Realest MC will run from April 4, 5 and 6 at 7:30 pm. Tickets begin at $55, and can be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org, by phone at 212.998.4941, or in person at the Box Office, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00–6:00 P.M. NYU Skirball is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012. www.nyuskirball.org

ABOUT NYU SKIRBALL

NYU Skirball, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is one of New York City’s major presenters of international work, and has been the premier venue for cultural and performing arts events in lower Manhattan since 2003. The 800-seat theater, led by Director Jay Wegman, provides a home for internationally renowned artists, innovators and thinkers. NYU Skirball hosts over 300 events annually, from re-inventions of the classics to cutting-edge premieres, in genres ranging from dance, theater and performance arts to comedy, music and film.

NYU Skirball’s unique partnership with New York University enables it to draw on the University’s intellectual riches and resources to enhance its programming with dialogues, public forums and conversations with artists, philosophers, scientists, Nobel Laureates and journalists. www.nyuskirball.org.

Jay Wegman is the Director of NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to Skirball, he served as Director of the Abrons Art Center for ten years. During his tenure, Abrons was awarded various honors, including a 2014 OBIE Award for Innovative Excellence and a 2015 Bessie Award for Best Production. He was also a Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and for over a decade served as the first Canon for Liturgy and the Arts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He is the recipient of the 2015 FRANKY award for “making a long-term, extraordinary impact on contemporary theatre and performance in New York City.” While not a performer, he has appeared in Brian Roger’s film “Screamers” (2018), Sibyl Kempson’s “12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens” (2017), and “Romper Room” (1969). Jay is a graduate of Yale University. www.nyuskirball.org.

Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, M to West 4th St.; R & W to 8th Street; 6 to Astor Place.
Programs, artists and ticket prices are subject to change.