Dancers made great inroads at the Whitney Biennial this spring. So it’s fair that Karole Armitage, our great magpie choreographer, lets visual artists colonize her show at Henry Street Playhouse, the 100-year-old proscenium theater at the Abrons Arts Center.
Armitage, who choreographed the recent Broadway revival of “Hair,” devotes the first part of the evening to a series of artists’ diversions — some charming, some really annoying. Eclectic Doug Fitch, his head the giant center of a tiny, impeccably detailed room, opens the program with a bravura performance. It’s followed by Will Cotton’s “Cockaigne,” which includes Charles Askegard’s trio for ballerinas in a spun-sugar environment to music by John Zorn.
A glitter/goth rock group performs sadistic rites against a “virgin” who gets revenge. Kalup Linzy and a posse of toughs sail through. And the lovely Weimaraner Bobbin, a fifth-generation descendant of William Wegman’s Man Ray, casts his skeptical eyes on the doings, assisted by Sean Hilton.
The grand finale is Armitage’s own “Rave,” a vogue/ballet extravaganza. Standouts are Jacob Michael Warren rocking sheepskin chaps, Megumi Eda in bare breasts and fishnet and Bennyroyce Royon wearing a platinum wig, channeling Marilyn Monroe. It’s a blast.
