The Dash Arts Festival begins tomorrow, offering six concerts, theatre and dance productions, and two arts exhibitions intended to showcase the "new generation of Jewish artists from around the world," supported by various London Jewish organizations including London's Israeli Embassy.
The program is diverse, but of consistently high quality. The series is also noteworthy for the simple diversity of venues, ranging from the ICA and contemporary dance space The Place to Momo's Kenia Bar and Scala (presumably with the 19-year-olds' sick from Popstarz having been mopped up).
For us, the highlight is tomorrow night's inaugural performance of New York's Bang on a Can All-Stars with special guest Czech vocalist Iva Bittova. The album that BoaC released with Bittova is not, we admit, our favourite thing they've done — in fact it can get a little treacley. But simply no one can pull off the incorporation of rock elements into classical music frameworks and spaces as well as the BoaC kids, and we hear that Bittova is an electrifying live performer.
See the website for further descriptions — performances occur through November. (Warning: to get fill descriptions of the performers, you have to download the PDF of the program. This irritates.) Don't miss, however, the three Monday night performances at Momo's Kenia Bar (by pianist Maurice El Medioni, singer Yasmin Levy, and band Les Yeux Noirs), which are completely free (though booking is recommended).
