Once Michela Marino Lerman learned how to make music with her feet, she never stopped.
The New York City tap dancing aficionado became enamored with the art form at 5, when her mother put on movies starring tap dance legends Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But what cemented her love for the dance style was Gregory Hines in the 1989 film “Tap.”
“I fell in love with Gregory’s spirit and also what he was doing artistically,” said Marino Lerman from home in New York City. “He was an advocate for tap being considered music as much as a dance form. He was trying to share with the public this concept of the dancing musician.”
The town of Green Mountain Falls might be tiny, but it attracts some big names to its annual Green Box Arts Festival, including Marino Lerman. The New York Times called her a prodigy and described her dancing as “flashes of brilliance.”
Previous years of the festival featured one dance company. This year there are five, including Marino Lerman, who will perform with her husband, bass player Russell Hall: New York City-based Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie and her company Ephrat Asherie Dance, which is rooted in Black and Latinx dances, including hip-hop, house and vogue; modern dance company GALLIM Dance from Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jesús Muñoz Flamenco from Albuquerque; and Barkha Patel, a kathak dancer, choreographer, teacher and artistic director of Barkha Dance Company in New York City.
The festival runs Monday through July 14 and features more than 140 events, including two more new art installations, a Fourth of July Block Party with Stillhouse Junkies, water lantern launch, performances by Theatreworks, short films, ARTDESK Conversations, fitness and art classes and hikes. Reservations are recommended for the free and ticketed events, as many sell out.
Adding his flair to the festivities is renowned Australian installation artist James Tapscott, whose immersive work “Arc ZERO: Nimbus” already is up on the bridge of the town’s Gazebo Lake. It will be in town through September and is the 10th work in his Arc series that spans a dozen years. The piece uses water from the lake to produce a ring of mist visitors can walk through and lights up at night.
Artist James Tapscott’s immersive work “Arc ZERO: Nimbus” uses water from Gazebo Lake in Green Mountain Falls to produce a ring of mist visitors can walk through and lights up at night.
The annual Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls will feature more than 140 events during its two week run, including performances from five dance companies from around the country, music, ARTDESK conversations, fitness classes, hikes and more. Renowned Australian installation artist James Tapscott’s immersive work, “Arc ZERO: Nimbus,” also will be unveiled on the bridge over Gazebo Lake. Photo by James Tapscott
“Diversity in dance was the cornerstone of the art programming,” said Green Box Executive Director Scott RC Levy. “That idea scopes out to the entire festival.”
Other musicians include opera singer Amy Maples, Hot Toddies Jazz Band, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and Manitou Chamber Music Festival. This year’s six ARTDESK Conversations include author and poet Andrew Krivak, who wrote “The Bear,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Emily Nussbaum.
One of Marino Lerman and Hall’s pieces is titled “Suite Oovoo,” in honor of their conure parrot who was “the love of our lives,” she said, and died last year. She appreciates the festival for the way it embraces the true nature of tap dance. Other festivals often require it to be presented in the same way as contemporary or modern dance or ballet, and strip it of the improvisation element that is at tap’s root.
“This dance festival is accepting of the concept that made me fall in love with the art form in the first place and the concept of the dancing musician, improv, call and response, connecting with the audience, and expressing the moment,” she said.
“It’s not always presenting a clean and polished, choreographed thing, but connecting with the spirit and the human spirit.”
Contact the writer: 636-0270
