Gather Round: Street and Club Dance Battles

A 4-Part Outdoor Series, Free and Open to the Public

4:30pm to 6:30pm

Wednesday, September 4, 11, 18 & 25

At Manhattan West Plaza (385 Ninth Ave.)

BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Manhattan West in partnership with the Guggenheim’s Works & Process presents an exhilarating, athletic, and competitive edition of their Gather Round outdoor music and dance series. Inspired by the competitions of the summer Olympics in Paris and the debut of breaking as an Olympic sport, four free performances will celebrate street and club dance battles by bringing together trailblazing pioneers and contemporary practitioners of breakdancing, beatbox, ballroom, and waacking.

The wide-open public space that’s part of Manhattan West provides all the room necessary for performers and observers—and then some, notes Courtney Whitelocke, VP for Arts & Events at Brookfield Properties. “It’s eight acres,” says Whitelocke, of Manhattan West’s total sprawl. “And the public plaza encompasses over two and a half acres.” Creating the plaza, she recalls, “was a feat of magnificent engineering…It’s a platform that covers 15 train lines that come in and out of Penn Station. So when folks come to Manhattan West Plaza, they will be standing atop the busiest transit corridor in the western hemisphere…And on that surface, we get to program year-round free cultural programming for the public.”

And that programming is well-vetted: Upcoming Gather Round programming brings to the Manhattan West Plaza event circle work previously commissioned for—and presented in—the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda. This month’s schedule, on four successive Wednesdays, is as follows:

On September 4, the series begins with Behind The Groove: CeleBreak Outside! Founded by hip-hop legends Kwikstep and Rokafella in 2009 and regularly held at the Nuyorican Poets Café (and now at Brooklyn’s Bogart House), Behind the Groove “invites the break-dancing community to freestyle to classic dance music while providing a space for them to jump into the dance cipher and show the skills they’ve honed.” In this outdoor version of the series, four breaking teams battle it out to the sounds of DJ KS360 and DP One, as emceed by Rokafella.

September 11, Gather Round Kiki Ball is a Hype Kitty-curated celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride and the skills and style that distinguish contemporary Ballroom cultural. Categories for this demo ball will be Runway, Face, and Vogue. Skilled NYC ball walkers are joined by Snookie Juicy West, DJ Byrell The Great, and legendary judges Omari “Oricci” Wiles, Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington, and more.

September 18, Fabulous Waacking Festival Fall Edition is organized by Princess Lockerooo—lauded by The New York Times as the “Queen of Waack.” (Distinguishable by rotational arm movements, posing, and expressiveness, Waacking, the press material notes, “brings together the glitz and glamor of Hollywood films, the vibrant energy of disco, and the colorful underground gay club culture of the ‘70s). Presented here with dazzling costumes and theatrical choreography meant to honor the roots and influences of Waacking, premiere practitioners will go head-to-head while the audience (encouraged to dress appropriately) is invited to “twirl and let loose” as the battle gives way to a group celebration of the form.

September 25, Manhattan West Beatbox Battle with The Beatbox House sees NYC’s top beatboxers bring their newest material in advance of the 2024 USA Beatbox Championships in Pittsburgh. The Beatbox House (Kenny Urban, Gene Shinozaki, Neil Meadows (aka NaPoM), Amit Bhowmik, and Chris Celiz) touches down on Manhattan West’s ground fresh from the music group’s world-spanning tour with the US State Department’s American Music Abroad program.

Celebrate each week’s performance with a special offer on two signature drinks at midnight by navarro’s created especially for Gather Round, as well as other happy hour items.

ABOUT MANHATTAN WEST | Manhattan West is New York City’s newest dynamic destination for food, culture, retail, hospitality and the modern workplace by Brookfield Properties. Spanning eight acres, Manhattan West is located in the center of Manhattan’s new West Side, steps away from Moynihan Hall, Madison Square Garden and The High Line, with seamless access to the theater district, entertainment district, Chelsea art galleries, Meatpacking District and more. Home to diverse world-class office space, Pendry Manhattan West, luxury residences at The Eugene, experiential retail amenities, and unparalleled culinary concepts surrounding a landscaped, two-acre public plaza enlivened with immersive art and entertainment programming by Brookfield Properties Arts & Culture, Manhattan West incorporates the best of Brookfield’s global placemaking portfolio to create a new district that has something for everyone. Visit www.ManhattanWestNYC.com for further information.

ABOUT BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES ARTS & CULTURE | Brookfield Properties Arts & Culture brings together communities and enlivens our unique public spaces through collaborations with world-class artists, creatives, and cultural producers. With thousands of free events and programs per year globally, Brookfield Properties Arts & Culture welcomes millions of people annually to engage in meaningful experiences across music, dance, film, theater, visual arts, recreation, and food. Learn more at https://www.brookfieldproperties.com/en/our-approach/events/.

ABOUT 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, provides longitudinal and fully funded LaunchPAD creative residencies, and presents 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. Learn more at https://www.worksandprocess.org.

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