Lincoln Center Out of Doors: New spaces, new music, new dance

Summer’s bonanza of free outdoor dance reaches its zenith at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, a multinational, multigenre festival.

Director Bill Bragin, now in his fourth season, approaches the campus as though it were a blank canvas: “I can take advantage of all these new public spaces!” he exclaims.

The most elaborate commission is Eiko’s & Koma’s  new, site-specific “Water,” which takes place in the Milstein reflecting pool Wednesday through Sunday. “It has different resonances now, based on what’s happened in Japan since they conceived the piece,” he notes.

Programming at Joe’s Pub, Bragin worked with the band Burnt Sugar, also included on this year’s bill.
“Choreographer Gabri Christa always wanted to create a piece referencing [Alvin] Ailey’s ‘Revelations,’” he says. “I saw Don Byron’s New Gospel Quintet and a lightbulb went off — every member of her company is a choreographer. Gabri’s process … is a system of conducted improvisation that turns a motif into a phrase of music or movement.”  Christa, Greg Tate and Germaul Barnes’ “Revelations Glitch,” with Byron’s expanded ensemble, plays Damrosch Park on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“Overstuffing is part of my aesthetic,” says Bragin, who’s booked dance programs with live music, including Trey McIntyre with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Aug. 3) and David Dorfman Dance with “The Family Stone: Prophets of Funk — Concert Edition,” accompanied by founding members of the band (Aug. 11). Nightly shows will attract “both the intentional audience and the accidental audience,” predicts Bragin. “And perhaps the ambushed audience.”