BAM is America's oldest performing arts center and a leading presenter of the avant-garde. Since opening in 1861, it has presented the finest in performing arts. The renowned performers who have appeared at BAM include Isadora Duncan, Enrico Caruso, Sarah Bernhardt and Arturo Toscanini, and contemporary counterparts such as Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
BAM continues to develop and present a unique roster of traditional and contemporary dance, theater, music, opera and film, placing particular emphasis on artists of international stature who have a cutting-edge artistic vision. Four theaters showcase the acclaimed Next Wave Festival for new work—BAM's fall flagship event focusing on artists probing new and emerging areas of the performing arts—as well as programs ranging from classical music to circus arts, from Shakespeare to African dance.
The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to screen alternative and independent films that might not otherwise be seen in Brooklyn. In 1999, BAMcinématek, the repertory program, was inaugurated to add retrospective screenings and festivals to the mix. BAMcinématek is a program for new and rarely seen contemporary work, a presenter of classic films from cinema history, and a platform for community groups, local screenings and festivals.
See more at NYCkidsARTS
Next Wave Festival: Vollmond (Full Moon)
Wed, Sept 29, 2010 – Sat, Oct 9, 2010 Vollmond shimmers—literally—as water runs in rivulets over a giant rock, rushes across the stage and rains down, drenching the dancers. A study in Pina Bausch’s unparalleled mix of abandon and supreme control, Vollmond is at once urgent, athletic, and sensual.
Tues, Sept 21, 2010 – Sun, Oct 3, 2010 Musician Laurie Anderson's Homeric epic is about longing, identity and memory. Delusion invokes both humor and terror, conjuring up elves, mysteries, ghost ships and dead relatives to spin poetic stories.