Dance Opens the New Met
Ribbon cutting ceremonies are generally pretty ho-hum affairs. But The Met Breuer decided to spice things up today. The new building of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, dedicated to 20th- and 21st-century art (in a bid to expand the institution’s underdeveloped contemporary and modern offerings), is opening to the public today by offering performances by David Dorfman Dance, accompanied by musicians Ken Thomson and Friends.
The dancing was commissioned by MetLiveArts, the performance and events department of New York’s most-visited cultural institution (according to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s remarks at this morning’s reception.) Now that dance is becoming an ever-more present fixture in museums, it’s an encouraging statement that this addition to the art world is kicking things off with dance—and hopefully a sign that there will be much more to come!
The Dorfman dancers were clearly excited to be part of the historic opening. They were at their bouncy, loose-limbed, gleeful best, dancing all over the courtyard and even climbing on the ceiling and windows at one point to make full use of the iconic space (the Brutalist concrete building built in the 1960s formerly housed the Whitney Museum of American Art, which recently moved downtown).
David Dorfman himself even jumped out at one point with his saxophone:
The company is performing throughout the day, both in the “Sunken Garden” just below the Madison Avenue sidewalk, as well as in the lobby. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the opening.
