Avant-Garde-Arama Arrives

Charles Dennis Productions announces the presentation of Avant-Garde-Arama Arrives, a festival of short works of dance, film, music and performance art that will be presented Friday and Saturday October 25 & 26 at 6pm at the Lace Mill Gallery, 165 Cornell Street in Kingston, NY. Suggested admission is $20. Parking is available on Manor Avenue and Progress Street. For further information call 917-673-9023 or email charles@charlesdennis.net.

Avant-Garde-Arama was originally created in 1980 by performance artist Charles Dennis and musician/visual artist Jeffrey Isaac at the legendary East Village, Manhattan venue Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122) now Performance Space New York. Producer Charles Dennis was a co-founder of P.S. 122 and presented his critically acclaimed inter-disciplinary dance, performance art and video in that space for over 40 years.

In 2019 Charles Dennis moved from Brooklyn, NY to Hurley, NY and began searching for opportunities to present avant-garde, experimental works in the Hudson Valley. During the summer of 2021 he curated and produced 2 Avant-Garde-Arama Programs in Woodstock NY and for the past 3 years has been presenting the festival at The Lace Mill in Kingston, NY. The Lace Mill is an anchor of the Ulster County arts community. Built in 1903, the US Lace Curtain Mill employed hundreds of Kingstonians – particularly women – over several generations. RUPCO purchased it in late 2013. The building currently houses 55 affordable apartments with a preference for artists. The building offers several gallery spaces and designated shared and private work studios.

Avant-Garde-Arama Arrives at The Lace Mill offers a smorgasbord of short works in an informal, cabaret setting hosted by Charles Dennis.

Avant-Garde-Arama Host/Producer Charles Dennis

Avant-Garde-Arama Arrives Program

Bruce Milner's Sing Along

Keyboardist and vocalist Bruce Milner, lately of The Bobcats and a member of the 60's one hit wonder band, Every Mother's Son, offers a set of songs for the audience to sing along with. Lyrics will be provided.

Linda Montano

Celebrated performance artist Linda Mary Montano, soon to be 84 in January 2026, wants to be there with you.

Linda will appear by either #1 - Facetime, or #2 - Video or #3 – Live. Please stay tuned...

Charles Dennis

Choregrapher/Performance Artist Charles Dennis will perform “Dreaming Out Loud”, an evolving, solo dance-talk work. In this work Dennis gives voice to the bubbles of thought that emerge into his consciousness as he dances. The work offers a conscious dream state revealed onstage with words and movement.

Elizabeth Clark

Composer, harpist, pianist and vocalist, Elizabeth Clark, recently know for her earth- opera "Seeds of Nuclear Winter" offers a set of her original music.

George Habernig

Composer George Habernig will offer a set of his original electronic music.

Mona Banzer

Choregrapher/performance artist Mona Banzer performs a new improvisational Solo piece "Academy of Cleaning". This piece reveals the inner dialog of Mona's "obsession of cleaning! "She gets amused and forced by authentic impulses and allows herself to follow those to create a story, much will be expressed through movement as well. Have a ball!

ALEXCHRISTINE - a film by Charles Dennis

ALEXCHRISTINE is a short film by Charles Dennis about relationships - how fragile and important they are. Featuring dancers Alex Romania and Christine Bonasea-Salut and original music by Francesco Beccaro.

Liv Butowsky and Laura Coe perform "These Words" (Saturday Oct. 25 only)

Liv Butowsky and Laura Coe will perform "THESE WORDS" (Satiurday Oct. 25 only), a duet for dance and spoken word which invites viewers to reflect on the relationship between language (loss) and power through current U.S. politics. In March 2025 the New York Times published “These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration,” a compiled list of 198 words the authors found the new administration had consistently deleted across government websites. In six months we’ve witnessed the dissolution of major laws protecting civil and human rights connected with many of the words that were erased. The piece celebrates these words/people, their continuing diversity and self-expression, and the power of movement as a resource to continue speaking.

LIV BUTOWSKY is a multidisciplinary performance artist from New Paltz, NY. Her recent collaborators in movement, poetry, and research include Dirt Picture Studios, Laura Coe, Hana van der Kolk, Bibiana Med, Angella Beallor, Erika Pujic, CapCity Slam, Edith Wharton's The Mount, Skidmore College, and Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company.

LAURA COE (Chickasaw) is a New York based dancer and choreographer representing Harvard Breakers Crew and Double Yolk Collective, focused on site-specific and community engaged work exploring indigenous perspectives of relationality and collaboration through contemporary and hip hop movement languages.