The Salon at CBH | Curated by Molly Crabapple
Please note that this program has reached its registration capacity! We invite you to come on the 19th with the understanding that entry is space-permitting. Thank you!
Join us for CBH’s inaugural Salon, a curated party of music, poetry, conversation, tarot card readings, salsa, litefeet dancing, refreshments and more, scheduled throughout the night and hosted by Brooklyn artist Molly Crabapple! Come, dress up, and spend the evening with Molly, each other, and her guests, including lightfeet dancer Sony Jayy, opera singer Adriana Valdés, poet Nicole Sealey, electro-pop musician Maximum Fractal, tarot reader Gereve, salsa band Anonima Orchestra, and community organizer Asad Dandia. It’s a curated evening and community party in a stunning building, open to all!
Featuring Performances, Readings and Conversations with...
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun (with Marwan Hisham), which was long-listed for a National Book Award in 2018. Her reportage is the 2022 winner of the Bernhard Labor Journalism Award, and has been published in The New York Times, New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and elsewhere. Her art is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art. Her animations have been nominated for three Emmys and won an Edward R. Murrow Award. Currently, she is a fellow at the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library researching the history of the Jewish Labor Bund.
Anonima Orchestra is a multicultural ensemble that has become a vibrant fixture in the New York salsa scene. Originating from Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Japan, and Ecuador, the orchestra embodies the city's diverse tapestry, infusing its performances with an electrifying fusion of Caribbean, South American, and global influences. Anonima Orchestra transcends borders, delivering a universal musical language that captivates audiences, inviting them to dance and celebrate the rich cultural mosaic that defines the spirit of salsa. Welcome to a world where the vibrant sounds of Queens converge, and the universal language of salsa bridges nations.
Asad Dandia is a Brooklyn-born local historian, community organizer, and tour guide. He is the founder of New York Narratives, a walking tour company and storytelling agency with a special focus on the city's immigrant and minority communities. He was a key plaintiff in an ACLU-led lawsuit that successfully challenged NYPD surveillance of NYC's Muslim communities, leading to major policy reforms in the city. His oral history was profiled in the Center for Brooklyn History's "Muslims in Brooklyn" project, and he also leads private tours at the Museum of the City of New York, where his activism was featured in a recent exhibit entitled, "City of Faith" that ran from 2022-2023. His writing has been featured in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Al-Jazeera English, among others.
Maximum Fractal makes dark-electro-pop music for people who think too much. Using synthesizers and home-made instruments Max melds genres like they meld genders, bending concepts around the gravity of existence. Max has toured the world, playing music for thousands of people in the US, Canada, Russia, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Australia. If Max looks confusingly familiar to you, it may be because Max is the artist formerly known as Kim Boekbinder.
Gereve presents an immersive tarot experience, transcending the present, past and beckoning the future. Her practice is cultivated from the ancestral bohemian magick of the legacy Varlow Academy in New Orleans where she is a coven resident. Readings will call upon your ancestral spirit guides to lend you insight for the year ahead.
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Sony Jayy is a subway acrobat and litefeet dancer who started performing on trains in 2012 at the age of 13. Finding time after school and on weekends, he posted on Instagram and Tik Tok, where his followers continue to grow. “To get away from the drama of our neighborhoods, we go to the trains,” he says. “Subways are our safe haven.”
Nicole Sealey was born in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and raised in Apopka, Florida. She is the author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure, an excerpt from which was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem; Ordinary Beast, finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Open Book Award; and The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named, winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Her honors include a 2023-2024 Cullman Center Fellowship from the New York Public Library, a Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from The American Poetry Review, and fellowships from CantoMundo, Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has appeared in various journals including The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and Poetry London. She teaches in the MFA Writers Workshop in Paris program at New York University.
Adriana Valdés began her musical studies as a violin player in Cuba, moving to vocals while in Mexico, attending the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. She started her career at a young age, performing title roles in Alcina, Don Pasquale, The Medium, Pinocchio, L’enfant et les Sortileges, La Scala di Seta, and more. She is a four time Vocal Prize Winner, described by the press as “a force of nature.” Adriana made her debut with Opera de Bellas Artes in México as Gretel in Humperdink’s Hänsel und Gretel, under the baton of Niksa Bareza. She made her American debut in 2016 in the title role of Emilio Arrieta’s Marina with the Miami Lyric Opera. She currently lives in New York City, where she works with Composers Concordance, The Village Trip, and other contemporary composers groups. She has premiered and performed songs and operas by Gene Pritsker, Milica Paranosic, Kitty Brazelton, Debra Kay, Faye Ellen Silverman, Dave Soldier, Will Rowe, Charles Coleman, Harold Meltzer, Sunbin Kim, and many others.
The Salon at CBH is funded in part by Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
Please note that this program has reached its registration capacity! We invite you to come on the 19th with the understanding that entry is space-permitting. Thank you!
Join us for CBH’s inaugural Salon, a curated party of music, poetry, conversation, tarot card readings, salsa, litefeet dancing, refreshments and more, scheduled throughout the night and hosted by Brooklyn artist Molly Crabapple! Come, dress up, and spend the evening with Molly, each other, and her guests, including lightfeet dancer Sony Jayy, opera singer Adriana Valdés, poet Nicole Sealey, electro-pop musician Maximum Fractal, tarot reader Gereve, salsa band Anonima Orchestra, and community organizer Asad Dandia. It’s a curated evening and community party in a stunning building, open to all!
Featuring Performances, Readings and Conversations with...
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun (with Marwan Hisham), which was long-listed for a National Book Award in 2018. Her reportage is the 2022 winner of the Bernhard Labor Journalism Award, and has been published in The New York Times, New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and elsewhere. Her art is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art. Her animations have been nominated for three Emmys and won an Edward R. Murrow Award. Currently, she is a fellow at the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library researching the history of the Jewish Labor Bund.
Anonima Orchestra is a multicultural ensemble that has become a vibrant fixture in the New York salsa scene. Originating from Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Japan, and Ecuador, the orchestra embodies the city's diverse tapestry, infusing its performances with an electrifying fusion of Caribbean, South American, and global influences. Anonima Orchestra transcends borders, delivering a universal musical language that captivates audiences, inviting them to dance and celebrate the rich cultural mosaic that defines the spirit of salsa. Welcome to a world where the vibrant sounds of Queens converge, and the universal language of salsa bridges nations.
Asad Dandia is a Brooklyn-born local historian, community organizer, and tour guide. He is the founder of New York Narratives, a walking tour company and storytelling agency with a special focus on the city's immigrant and minority communities. He was a key plaintiff in an ACLU-led lawsuit that successfully challenged NYPD surveillance of NYC's Muslim communities, leading to major policy reforms in the city. His oral history was profiled in the Center for Brooklyn History's "Muslims in Brooklyn" project, and he also leads private tours at the Museum of the City of New York, where his activism was featured in a recent exhibit entitled, "City of Faith" that ran from 2022-2023. His writing has been featured in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Al-Jazeera English, among others.
Maximum Fractal makes dark-electro-pop music for people who think too much. Using synthesizers and home-made instruments Max melds genres like they meld genders, bending concepts around the gravity of existence. Max has toured the world, playing music for thousands of people in the US, Canada, Russia, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Australia. If Max looks confusingly familiar to you, it may be because Max is the artist formerly known as Kim Boekbinder.
Gereve presents an immersive tarot experience, transcending the present, past and beckoning the future. Her practice is cultivated from the ancestral bohemian magick of the legacy Varlow Academy in New Orleans where she is a coven resident. Readings will call upon your ancestral spirit guides to lend you insight for the year ahead.
Sony Jayy is a subway acrobat and litefeet dancer who started performing on trains in 2012 at the age of 13. Finding time after school and on weekends, he posted on Instagram and Tik Tok, where his followers continue to grow. “To get away from the drama of our neighborhoods, we go to the trains,” he says. “Subways are our safe haven.”
Nicole Sealey was born in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and raised in Apopka, Florida. She is the author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure, an excerpt from which was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem; Ordinary Beast, finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Open Book Award; and The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named, winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Her honors include a 2023-2024 Cullman Center Fellowship from the New York Public Library, a Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from The American Poetry Review, and fellowships from CantoMundo, Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has appeared in various journals including The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and Poetry London. She teaches in the MFA Writers Workshop in Paris program at New York University.
Adriana Valdés began her musical studies as a violin player in Cuba, moving to vocals while in Mexico, attending the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. She started her career at a young age, performing title roles in Alcina, Don Pasquale, The Medium, Pinocchio, L’enfant et les Sortileges, La Scala di Seta, and more. She is a four time Vocal Prize Winner, described by the press as “a force of nature.” Adriana made her debut with Opera de Bellas Artes in México as Gretel in Humperdink’s Hänsel und Gretel, under the baton of Niksa Bareza. She made her American debut in 2016 in the title role of Emilio Arrieta’s Marina with the Miami Lyric Opera. She currently lives in New York City, where she works with Composers Concordance, The Village Trip, and other contemporary composers groups. She has premiered and performed songs and operas by Gene Pritsker, Milica Paranosic, Kitty Brazelton, Debra Kay, Faye Ellen Silverman, Dave Soldier, Will Rowe, Charles Coleman, Harold Meltzer, Sunbin Kim, and many others.