A night of expressive dance and music, Unsound New York presents Soft Power and Speaker Music, is set to take place on Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth.
Soft Power will showcase the work of Felicita, a music producer, and Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble, one of the largest and oldest Polish folk ensembles.
The one-of-a-kind show will synthesize traditional choreography and costume with new music to create a hypnotic multimedia experience. It will also explore folk culture, national identity, tourism, branding, illusion and farce.
According to a spokesperson, the concept stems from Felicita’s own childhood education in traditional dance. The music, created by Felicita, is a fusion of Polish folk, noise, trap and chamber music, and was released last year by PC Music.
Soft Power was originally commissioned by Unsound.
There will also be an opening act by Speaker Music, or DeForrest Brown Jr., who is a New York-based rhythm analyst, media theorist and curator who also represents the Make Techno Black Again campaign. Speaker Music will present “a black rhythm happening to fill a crease.”
He will reference the culturally noteworthy 1969 album, “Black Rhythm Happening,” by jazz trumpeter Eddie Gales, and probe deeper into the “sonic narratives of African-American expression towards a novel rhythmic and romantic abstraction of vibration and frequency.”
The event is open to all ages, and will start at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 6 p.m. Admission is $10, and tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite. The Knockdown Center is located on 52-19 Flushing Ave.
Alexis Wilkinson, director of Exhibitions and Live Art at the Knockdown Center, told QNS that the show represents what the center is all about.
“Soft Power is an exciting convergence of traditional Polish dance from the renowned Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble with live experimental music by Felicita which exemplifies Knockdown Center’s ongoing commitment to unexpected boundary-crossing encounters and to the community in Maspeth,” Wilkinson said.
