BALAM Dance to perform at Lehman

BALAM Dance Theatre will visit Lehman College Mar. 30 to present Defining Diversity, its 30th anniversary performance, featuring a traditional Balinese, Spanish and Afro-Caribbean repertoire. Sponsored by the college’s Freshman Year Initiative Program, the free performance will take place from 11 am to 12:40 pm in the Lovinger Theatre. The public is invited to attend.

Nani Devi, BALAM’s resident Balinese guest dancer, will perform in Oleg Tambulilingan, a traditional female Balinese dance. Other featured artists include Barbara Romero, co-director of Danzas Españolas, in the Spanish dance solo Caracoles Antiguos; Baroque violinist Leah Nelson in the comedic duet Fandango Fantasy; and Kaleidoscope of Kultures Dance Theatre, with the Harlem-based teen group Wadleigh Dance Ensemble, performing Marcea Daiter’s Afro- Caribbean work Haitian Myth and Village. A new work also will make its world premier—Hip-Hop Hanuman, a humorous masked solo performance that combines hip-hop, Balinese and ballet movements.

The program will honor BALAM founding director Islene Pinder on her 80th birthday. She established the company in 1979 and taught dance at Lehman until she retired in 1998. BALAM offers a new vision of contemporary dance that emanates from the fusion of diverse cultural dance styles and movement techniques. Its style blends contemporary choreography, eclectic music, striking masks, imaginative props and vibrant costumes to create a performance for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

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The Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture will show Downfall on Sat., Mar. 28, 7 pm at the Meeting House, 4450 Fieldston Road.

When writer-producer Bernd Eichinger read the falleys of historian Joachim Fest’s book Der Untergant (The Downfall: Inside Hitler’s Bunker, The Last Days of the Third Reich), he knew he had found the dramatic key to a film he had wanted to make for decades, but never thought possible due to its scope.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel,Downfall shifts its gaze back and forth between the crumbing military situation on the ground in Berlin and the bizarre domestic situation in the bunker underneath it, combining high wartime drama with a sense of mundane detail that verges on the surreal.

The running time is 2 hours 36 minutes and rated R. Movies begin with an introduction and are followed by discussion. A donation towards the Film Club of $3 to $5 per person will be accepted at the door. The society reserves the right to provide an alternative film if a video is unavailable.

For further information call (718) 548-4445.

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The Uptown Coffeehouse will be presenting folk singer/songwriter Eric Andersen on Sun., Apr. 5 at the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture Building, 4450 Fieldston Road, at 5 pm. Admission is $20. Bronx Cultural Cards are accepted. Brining you the best traditional and contemporary singer songwriters. Call (718) 885-2955 for more details.

BALAM, Dance Theatre