July 28 Dance Sculpture Audubon Center in Prospect Pa

artistsoul

[[size=18][size=18]b]JULY 28 - FREE PERFORMANCE BY
TAP DANCER/BODY PERCUSSIONIST MAX POLLAK

Part of the closing events for Artist Judith Z. Miller’s exhibit
“Sticks & Stones”
at the Prospect Park Audubon Center
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Solo performances will take place at 7:15 pm & 8:15 pm,
followed by an informal question and answer session with both artists.[/size]

“Sculpture and Dance Inspired by Prospect Park’s Trees”

Brooklyn, NY – The trees of Brooklyn’s last forest, deep in the heart of Prospect Park, inspire artist Judith Z. Miller. On walks along the Park’s nature trails and around Brooklyn, the artist often discovers the trees and other natural objects she uses to make her celebrated art and jewelry. Examples of her “Sacred Staffs”—shamanistic walking sticks—and necklaces are on display in a setting equal to the beauty of her work: the Prospect Park Audubon Center, now marking its fifth anniversary at the Park’s newly-restored Beaux Arts Boathouse. Renowned Tap Dancer/Body Percussionist Max Pollak will perform at the closing reception, Saturday, July 28th from 7-9 p.m. Videographers will document the event for future exhibits. The exhibit runs Thursdays – Sundays from 12-6 pm through July 29th.

Max Pollak will extend the poetic and spiritual forms of Judith Z. Miller's “Sacred Staffs” into moving music through his organic style of weaving body percussion, voice and tap dance into a multi cultured quilt. Mr. Pollak will dance with Ms. Miller’s Staffs using the exhibit as inspiration. The improvisational and audience-interactive performance offering will also contain Afro-Cuban and other folklore elements.

Max Pollak was selected by Dance magazine as one of the “25 artists to watch.” No less an authority than Gregory Hines has declared Max Pollak “one of the finest young tap artists on the planet.” Eva Yasaantewaa in the January 20077 issue of Dance magazine elucidates: “If hearing a dancer tap can double your fun, hearing hoofer Max Pollak can be positively psychedelic. Not content to leave sound-making to busy heels and toes, he sings electrifying Santeria chants; his body percussion turns flesh and bones into drums resonant with Afro-Cuban rhythms. An Austrian-born drummer who loves American jazz and film, Pollak moved to New York in 1991, graduated from The New School's jazz program, and pursued interests in tap and Cuban culture. Originator of Cuba's first tap festival, he's been teaching there since 1998, and has performed with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Cuba's top-ranked Rumba group, Chucho Valdés, leader of the jazz band Irakere and other jazz legends like Ray Brown, Paquito D'Rivera and Slide Hampton. Pollak's loopy, passionate performances have dazzled Tap City festival crowds, awed fans at a tiny Lower East Side new music space, and inspired delirium all over the globe.” More information is available about Max Pollak on his website, www.RumbaTap.com. Video’s of his performances can be seen at myspace.com/rumbatap under “my video’s.”

Time Out NY described Judith Z. Miller’s work as “…inspired by the power of self-protection and self–expression.” Of her work, the artist says, “These Sacred Staffs express my fears, hopes and dreams. What started out as a response to crisis became an artistic and spiritual quest. The purpose of my work, with both the staffs and wearable art, is not only to create new and interesting physical shapes, but also to help attract specific energies.

Judith Z. Miller has participated in exhibitions sponsored by the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists’ Collation (BWAC), held a solo show at the National Museum of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender History in Manhattan this past autumn, and has exhibited at local galleries. She is also the Director of ZAMO! a performing artists’ management consulting agency. More information is available on her web site, www.ZAMO-ZAMO.com.

Hours: the Prospect Park Audubon Center is open Thursday through Sunday & holidays,
12 - 6 p.m. The special closing event is on July 28th from 7-9.

All events are FREE and open to the public.

Directions to the Prospect Park Audubon Center: Enter the Park at Lincoln Road & Ocean Ave., Parkside & Ocean Aves., or Flatbush Ave. & Empire Blvd. (Willink entrance) and follow the directional signs. By train: Q, S, or B to Prospect Park Station. For further information, call the Audubon Center at (718) 287-3400 For more information on Prospect Park events, programs, membership, and volunteering, call the Park Hotline at (718) 965-8999 or visit www.prospectpark.org.


In partnership with the City of New York and the community, the Prospect Park Alliance restores, develops, and operates Prospect Park for the enjoyment of all by caring for the natural environment, preserving historic design, and serving the public through facilities and programs. Prospect Park’s 585 acres of meadows, waterfalls, forest, lakes, and athletic facilities comprise a masterwork of urban green space.