It's often difficult, while in New York City for BEA, to find the time to go out on the town and attend the theater or a concert or a dance performance. There're just too many BEA-related evening events enticing us after we've been walking the show floor all day.
But we're in luck! Thanks to Coffee House Press, dancers from Juilliard, NYU, and Fordham University's dance programs are coming to Javits to do some performance art for us this afternoon. Between 1 and 3 p.m., a troupe of dancers will perform in the lobby, while two of their number will both walk around and dance on the show floor. It'll be easy to recognize them among the throngs of book folk: the dancers will be dressed in flesh-colored leotards decorated with painted words and phrases from Sleight (Oct.) by Kirsten Kaschock, a post-doc fellow in dance at Temple University.
Besides performing, the dancers will pass out informational cards about Sleight, Kaschock's debut novel. Coffee House describes Sleight as The Glass Bead Game meets Black Swan: it's a psychological thriller set in the world of sleight, a multidisciplinary art form combining elements of dance, sculpture, acrobatics, and spoken word. Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of sleight before: it's an art form that Kaschock created especially to serve as the backdrop to this novel about the fraught relationship between two sisters who've spent their lives honing their bodies and minds to perform sleight. So not only will BEA attendees have the opportunity to view a fabulous dance performance, they'll also be witnessing the world premiere of a newly created art form. Only in New York, right?
Kaschock will sign galleys at booth 4505, at 2 p.m. until they run out. There will also be sample chapters available.
