Alive from Off Center

In this program, following a brief prologue by Ann Magnuson and a special appearance by Skip E. Lowe, performance artist Tom Cayler delivers a comic monologue entitled "Men Die Sooner," in which a professor of medicine gives a lecture on his theories about why men die sooner than women -- with a bizarre twist. In "Endance," a short documentary about dancer/choreographer Timothy Buckley and his decision to leave the dancing profession to work in costuming, performance clips of Buckley's choreography are intertwined with interview clips of Buckley; former company member Rocky Bornstein; Burt Supree, dance editor and writer for The Village Voice; choreographer Wendy Perron; photographer Chris Callis; ex-company member Karen Pearlman; and country-and-western singer Angel Dean.

Flaxton's "The World Within Us" chronicles the memories of a dying writer; in "Commitment: Two Portraits," Blondell Cummings explores female black America's experiences.

This program begins with a brief prologue by performance artist Ann Magnuson, followed by the video "Le Deuxieme Jour," based on the piece "Godard" by composer John Zorn. The video uses a collage of images, sounds, and music to evoke the work of filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. In selected excerpts from "The Fourth Dimension," artists explore the possibilities of visual perspective through experimental animation of actual images of a man and a woman. "Sotto Voce" features the work of choreographer and dancer Stephen Petronio, who performs to the music "Dance Music for Borneo Horns (Mood Borneo)" by Lenny Pickett. Interspersed between the featured videos are Joan Logue's "30 Second Portraits of Artists," which consist of brief clips of the works of performance artists Takis, Orlan, and Jochen Gerz.

Beginning with a brief prologue by William Wegman, this program features Dutch artist Jaap Drupsteen's surreal video interpretation of two plays written by Gertrude Stein in 1943, in which performers interpret the action of the plays to the music and voices of Fay Lovsky. "In a Garden: A Tragedy in One Act" is about a woman who believes she is a queen being fought over by two men claiming to be kings. In the play "Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters: A Melodrama," three orphan girls meet two brothers, and they decide to perform a play about

This program, which includes a brief prologue by William Wegman, features four separate films of dance for the camera from Montreal. In "La, La, La, Human Sex Duo No. 1," a male and female dancer demonstrate an acrobatic battle of the sexes. In "Jericho," dancers use simple spoken phrases, breath, and economic movement to create a world that teeters on the edges of isolation and tortured interpersonal relationships. In "Tell," four men holding apples perform a dance that portrays their struggle for dominance. Finally, in an excerpt from "Exhibition," five identical women dance on a stage; as the backdrop is pulled away, a vast field completely enclosed by a border of tulips is revealed.

This program features Skip Blumberg's "Dancing Hands," a film containing various segments in which performers "dance" with their hands. The program opens with a prologue by Ann Magnuson in a spoof on a call-in ad for elaborate "press-on" nails, followed by the first segment, "Hip Hop Hands," in which the duo Magnificent Force performs to the music of James Brown, Prince, George Clinton, and M.A.R.R.S. In "Ballet Hand Isolations," members of the New York City Ballet are dressed in black and filmed against a black backdrop so that when they dance, only their hands are visible. In "Cassie's Dream," Wendy Perron acts out a story with her hands, and in "X-Ray," she performs a hand duet with Lisa Bush. In "Finger Tapping," Harold Nicholas of the famed Nicholas Brothers performs a tap dance with his hands to "Not Now, I'll Tell You When" by the Count Basie Orchestra. In an excerpt from "Joe and Blanche," hands act out a relationship between a man and a woman. A handshake sequence entitled "Prevailing Conditions" is filmed against a backdrop of news clips. In "Between Two Hands," a performer demonstrates how her hands dance together. Finally, in "Body Music for Hands," Keith Terry, who also performs the opening title piece, creates music with his hands, body, and voice.