Gather around an electrifying urban campfire this holiday season and enjoy performances and photo ops on select Wednesday nights.
December 4, 2024 – January 8, 2025
Manhattan West Plaza, 385 9th Avenue, Midtown
This holiday season, gather around Manhattan West’s newest public art installation, an electrifying urban campfire comprised of 220 light bulbs that flicker and come to life in response to spectators’ presence and movements. Stir the virtual embers by swaying and dancing within this interactive art installation, which creates a luminous experience for all to enjoy. On select Wednesdays, join us for performances, photo ops, and special treats around the campfire.
Installation is interactive from 10 AM – 9 PM, daily.
Island of Warmth by ATOMIC3 is a coproduction of Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, and is distributed by QDSinternational.
PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE – Wednesdays from 5 – 7 PM:
DECEMBER 4 | Dance Around the Campfire
Three pre-eminent NYC-based dance companies, each with their own unique style of movement use Island of Warmth as their stage and backdrop, making the art installation soar and swirl in amazing ways. Plus, enjoy complimentary hot chocolate from Daily Provisions, while supplies last.
Line-up – 5 PM & 6PM set start times (in order of appearance):
+ Music from the Sole: Performing an excerpt from I Didn’t Come To Stay, performed by José Cruzata, Josh Davis, Orlando Hernández, Ana Tomioshi, and Lucas Santana
+ Harlem Lite Feet with Chrybaby Cozie and Bomb Squad: Performing Tonality.
+ The Maimouna Keita School of Dance
Curated by Works & Process
DECEMBER 11 | Caroling Around the Campfire (Moved to Citizens Culinary Market)
Nothing says “holiday” more than a visit from the jolly man in red himself! Take your selfie with Santa in front of Island of Warmth while being serenaded by carolers, The Mistletones, and enjoying complimentary hot chocolate from Daily Provisions (while supplies last).
DECEMBER 18 | Hanukkah Around the Campfire
Musical group Brooklyn Klezmer Trio Plus led by accordionist Ilya Shneyveys will get everyone dancing the hora around Island of Warmth – Hanukkah is a Festival of Lights after all!
JANUARY 8, 2025 | Community Around the Campfire: A Sing-along with the Jalopy Theatre
Join us for one last gathering around the campfire with a community sing-along and intention setting for the new year. In collaboration with Brooklyn’s premiere folk music venue, the Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, singers Christian Apuzzo, Emily Eagen, and Kyle Tigges will raise their voices and instruments in song. We’ll sing songs to warm our spirits in the winter months, including campfire favorites you’ll know from folk, bluegrass, gospel, and other Americana traditions, as well as new songs you’ll love to join in on. The trio will teach you all the melodies and lyrics you’ll need to know, and before you know it you’ll be singing in harmony! With support from banjo, guitar, and ukulele!
ABOUT THE CREATORS OF ISLAND OF WARMTH:
Atomic3
Based in Montreal, Canada, ATOMIC3 is a creative design studio founded by director Félix Dagenais and lighting designer Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun that brings together artists from all backgrounds to create unique experiences that put visitors into the heart of the story. Whether interactive or contemplative, ATOMIC3’s creations transform public spaces to connect with people in their daily lives, inviting viewers to see the world and their environment with new eyes. Outside the “black box” of the theatre, audience members become actors and stories become participatory works, where the physical world, light, music and new technologies come together.
ABOUT THE PERFORMING ARTISTS:
12/4:
Harlem Lite Feet with Chrybaby Cozie
Raised in Harlem in the late 80’s, Chrybaby Cozie is a creator of Harlem Lite Feet, champions and stewards of freestyle dance’s emergence, which has gained prominence and recognition around the world. Recognized for the dance style’s weightlessness and virtuosity, performances of his training company Bomb Squad showcase how he inspires next generation youth and communities. They will be performing Tonality, a freestyle dance system inspired by Antonio “Tone Wop” Jackson, the creator of a social dance called the “Tone Whop.” The Tone Whop is a quick, sharp, groovy, and acute footwork step that is amplified percussively creating a technique called Whopposition. Bomb Squad dancers will showcase their mastery of Whopposition by setting the tone of warmth, responding to the distinct Harlem Lite Feet sounds, and creating their own unique tonality. Learn more at instagram.com/chrybaby_cozie.
Maimouna Keita School of African Dance
Founded by West African dance cultural icon and former National Ballet of Senegal principal Marie Basse-Wiles, for over 30 years Brooklyn’s Maimouna Keita School of African Dance (MKSAD) has celebrated dance across the African diaspora and has toured to Senegal, Mali, Gambia, and Guinea. Learn more at maimounakeita.com.
Music From The Sole
Music From The Sole is a percussive dance and live music company that celebrates tap’s Afro-diasporic roots, particularly its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music and its lineage to forms like house dance and samba. Led by Brazilian choreographer Leonardo Sandoval and composer Gregory Richardson, their work embraces tap’s unique nature as a blend of sound and movement, incorporating wide-ranging influences like samba, passinho (Brazilian street funk), Afro-Cuban, jazz, and house. The company appears at both music and dance venues, bringing tap dance to new audiences, and engaging with communities across NYC and beyond through their inclusive and uplifting work. Learn more at musicfromthesole.com.
Works & Process
Championing performing artists and their creative process from studio to stage, Works & Process features artists from the world’s largest organizations and amplifies under-recognized performing arts cultures. Works & Process commissions, provide longitudinal and fully-funded LaunchPAD creative residencies, and present programs that illuminate artistic process at the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Each summer, Works & Process curates and presents free dance programs with City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage and NYC Parks.
12/11:
The Mistletones have been spreading magic, joy, and a capella cheer for the past 10 years with their upbeat, fun and festive vibes. The quartet’s music ranges from classic carols to modern holiday songs, all with a contemporary sound. Learn more at songfulartists.com.
12/18:
Brooklyn Klezmer Trio Plus
Brooklyn Klezmer Trio Plus is a group led by Ilya Shneyveys, a multi-instrumentalist, educator, composer, arranger, and producer of Yiddish music. Originally from Riga, Latvia, and now based in Brooklyn, NY, Ilya has expertise spanning from traditional klezmer accordion to experimental and fusion projects and has performed and teaches at Jewish festivals around the world from local synagogues to Carnegie Hall. Ilya has received multiple awards for his work, including the 2014 RUTH World Music Award at TFF Rudolstadt, the 2017 Shimon-Peres-Prize, and the Eiserne Eversteiner Preis in 2017. Learn more at ilya.shneyveys.com.
1/8:
The Jalopy Theatre and School of Music is a multi-faceted arts space showcasing evolving folk and traditional music and art from New York City, the Americas, and the world. Our programming supports artists, fosters multi-generational community, and provides enrichment and education about our shared musical heritage. Husband and wife team Geoff and Lynette Wiley founded Jalopy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in 2006 with the hope of fostering a community around a shared appreciation of traditional roots music. Jalopy Theatre and School of Music seeks both to support local and traveling artists, and to educate students and audiences new to this music and culture. Learn more at jalopytheatre.org.
ABOUT OUR PARTNERING ORGANIZATIONS:
Quartier des Spectacles/Quartier des Spectacles Partnership
The Quartier des Spectacles is Montreal’s cultural heart, boasting North America’s greatest concentration and variety of cultural venues. The district is the year-round host to countless festivals and events, many of which include free outdoor shows and activities. The Quartier hosts innovative urban installations featuring cutting-edge lighting design, immersive environments and interactive digital spaces. Year round, the Quartier presents artistic video projections on building façades. The Quartier des Spectacles is also a showcase for new multimedia technology, making Montreal a global leader in the urban exhibition of digital content. The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, founded in 2003, is a non-profit organization with more than 80 members active in the district. It is responsible for animating the Quartier des Spectacles by programming cultural activities, managing and animating public spaces, providing distinctive illumination and promoting the Quartier as a must-visit cultural destination. The Partnership is supported by the Ville de Montréal.
QDSInternational
QDSinternational is a non-profit organization that produces and distributes participatory installations for public spaces in collaboration with creative partners, co-producers and exhibitors around the world. An affiliate of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, QDSinternational has built extensive expertise over many years, thanks to the numerous works it has commissioned for North America’s largest cultural district, bringing inspiration to thousands of visitors. The organization’s expertise is reflected in its state-of-the-art processes for the design and production of robust, safe installations suitable for all ages and all climates. QDSinternational relies on a network of first-rate collaborators and technical service providers active in the international exhibition of public artworks and installations.
@quartierdesspectacles_mtl
@mtlenlumiere
@atomic3ca
@qdsinternational
