A Humor of Enormous Proportions

Lawrence Goldhuber knows how to deliver humor in dance. A gent of enormous proportions who possesses an equally large sense of humor, Mr. Goldhuber is getting serious with his new work “Julius Caesar Superstar” at Danspace Project this weekend (May 12 to 15).This work of dance-theater tells the story of Julius Caesar and the senators who took him down. Using the columns, altar, and risers of St. Mark’s Church (the site that houses Danspace Project), this narrative will give you a chuckle and plenty of thoughts on power.Mr. Goldhuber said he came up with the idea for the project while he was sitting in the church space. “I had an image of Roman baths. I had the image of big men as representing wealth and power,” he said. “Then I morphed it into Julius Caesar and the ‘JC’ made me think of ‘superstar.'”As for those representations of wealth and power, Mr. Goldhuber found the biggest men he could to dance as the senators. Several of them are at least 250 pounds – and there’s a woman in a fat suit, too. While some of the larger performers are trained dancers, including Thom Fogarty, others are artists in different mediums. “They came through recommendations,” said Mr. Goldhuber. “One’s a poet and has a cable access show. Hapy Phace is a legendary drag performer. I called him out of retirement.”And for the lead role of Caesar, Mr. Goldhuber called on an “uptown” dancer: Robert La Fosse, who was a principal for nine years at American Ballet Theatre before moving to New York City Ballet in 1986. “I thought of Robbie, and I like the idea of bringing him downtown,” said the choreographer.Dancer and choreographer Keely Garfield – who has brilliantly collaborated with Mr. Goldhuber in the past – is also cast in “Julius Caesar Superstar” as an evil Lady Macbeth. (Hey, why not?)Before setting out to create the dances and songs, Mr. Goldhuber went back to previous versions of this story. “I read the play, watched the movies, listened to the Handel opera. You do the research, and then make your own path with it,” he said, adding that a large portion of the Shakespeare play is devoted to battle strategy, which doesn’t translate so well into dance.Though Mr. Goldhuber’s goal is partially to draw a parallel between ancient and contemporary figures (in terms of power and betrayal), he’s also leaving the work up to interpretation. “I’m setting out to make an entertaining evening,” he said. “It’s tough for me to predict what people will take away.”“Julius Caesar Superstar” is a project that’s been two years in the making, which included grant writing and raising about $50,000 to get the show up. “It’s a tremendous amount of work to produce this. There’s the commissioned score, costumes, set, and live video,” said the creator, who would like someday to see the road. “It can be adapted to any location. I’d love to do it in some grand ballroom where you would use balconies or put things in the aisle.” But for right now, Danspace Project has enough nooks and crannies to keep him occupied. For tickets, call 212-674-8194 or visit www.danspaceproject.org.***If you’re among the many who have confused the presenting organization Danspace Project with the school and studio known as Dance Space Center, take heart. Others have too. And that’s partly why Dance Space Center will soon be changing its name and rebranding itself- just as soon as it changes its location.This September, the 21-year-old SoHo dance studio will move farther downtown to 280 Broadway, between Reade and Chamber Streets. The 25,000 square foot space is located in the Sun building, the home of the original New York Sun newspaper.“The current [SoHo] space was supposed to be temporary,” said marketing director David Ganulin. “It ended up being temporary for five years. This move is a realization of the founder’s dreams.”Included in the new space is a 135-seat dedicated theater that producer Alberto Denis will program. The theater adds an important new dimension to the offerings; not only will users be able to create work here, they can show it off, too. In the past, Dance Space Center turned its largest studio into a theater, but this space will be used only for performances.After the move, the as-yet-to-be-renamed Dance Space Center will expand its Pilates and yoga offerings and will tailor the times to attract the neighborhood’s many office workers and city employees. Modern, jazz, and contemporary classes will also be expanded.Construction is set to begin on the new space this month. For more information visit www.dancespace.com.***When the arts help each other, everybody wins. Such is the case with the art sale dubbed “20 X 20” at Diane von Furstenberg’s studio. The proceeds of this sale – today through May 14 – will go toward helping the Bill T. Jones Dance Company/Arnie Zane Dance Company establish a permanent home in Harlem.Works in the sale range from Martin Puryear’s wooden sculpture “Kick” ($400,000) to Cindy Sherman’s series of 15 black and white photographs in the “Bus Rider” series ($125,000) to Herb Ritts’s slightly more affordable photograph “Merce Cunningham, Standing, New York” ($12,000 and signed by both artists). For more information visit www.billtjones.org/artsale. The Diane von Furstenberg studio is located at 389 W. 12th Street and will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.***You Heard It Here First Department: Last Wednesday, New York City Ballet promoted dancer Ask La Cour from the corps de ballet to the rank of soloist, only one day after yours truly predicted that the dashing young Dane would be among those soon to enjoy more stage time. Indeed, Mr. La Cour will be very much onstage this week: May 11, 14, and 15 in “Musagete”; May 12 in “Tchaikovsky Suite 3,” and May 13 in “Glass Pieces” and “Double Aria.”Also on Wednesday, Carla Korbes was promoted from the corps to soloist. She’s a lively dancer with plenty of personality. She has a zippy role in Christopher Wheeldon’s “An American in Paris,” which will be presented on May 10 and 14.

A Humor of Enormous Proportions

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