News

February 8, 2015

Steven Reker of People Get Ready wins award, debuts at Lincoln Center

Things may have seemed quiet on the People Get Ready front since the summer release of their sophomore album Physiques but rest assured respect, accolades and affection continue to accrue for the members of this uncategorizable indie/performance quartet.

That accrual has been most pronounced in the case of main man Steven Reker. First Lincoln Center selected him to debut a new piece of work at their prestigious American Songbook
series. (The date is February 27th for those who like keeping your calendars up-to-date.) And just this morning The New York Times announced that Steven has been awarded American Dance Institute (ADI)'s Solange MacArthur Award for New Choreography. To quote Steven's Facebook page: "Flabbergasted and honored! I'm so thankful for this and the [ADI] for selecting me - especially as I approach my 9 year anniversary of being in New York." And to quote the Times which also quoted him: "The award recognizes a rising American choreographer with financial and administrative support for presenting a commissioned work. Mr. Reker said in a statement that the award, which includes a $10,000 commission, would allow him to create 'a piece I have wanted to make for years but could only imagine making since my resources are somewhat limited in NYC.''."

(The city's paper of record ran a related article about Manhattan real estate this weekend. Insert sad smilicon of your choice here.)

Anyway, this news is sooo-weet! (Or "so sweet" if you like regular English.) Awarded to just a single choreographer each year, the prize is a big honor (or "biggie" if you like weird English)! We all hope it helps Steven continue to develop his most-excellent hybrid style creativity. For a sampling of said creativity, peep the movement-heavy video for Physiques title track, which SPIN called "transfixing, exuberant" when they premiered it earlier this year.



Make no mistake, the other PGR members have hardly been resting on their laurels. They've been earning new laurels too. In October, The Village Voice named Jen Goma the best female vocalist in New York. In December, the whole group did an east coast jaunt opening for Blonde Redhead down the eastern seaboard. (Some dude named Dean posted this report on his Tumblr.)

And, oh yeah, their new record got nice notices all over the place. It premiered on The New York Times' PressPlay site. AllMusic named it an editor's choice. NPR Music's Bob Boilen called the first track from the album "Rainbows" his song of the week, excitedly hyping the "new record by a band I madly love." BrooklynVegan complimented them for "going from sparse to the stratosphere at the drop of a hat." On the radio waves, KCRW liked their "trancelike slow jams that are easy to get lost in" and WNYC's Soundcheck invited the band in for a live session.

Wanna go deeper than reading a bunch of kudos and pull quotes? Well, yeah, we can help with that too. For a bit more insight on what makes Steven tick, may we recommend this conversation he had with Atwood Magazine. Here's a favorite quote: "I think what is most important in the collective experience is the idea of pleasure and sharing this idea or concept of pleasure between audience and performers alike. Slow realization, taking time to digest one of our performances sometimes happens. If you’re not too familiar with contemporary performances then yea it will be hard to digest. Or it may be kind of wild or new to you. It’s nice when someone approaches one of us and says 'Hey I saw you in 2009! That show meant a lot for me.' Moments like that still happen."

If you click the link you can also read about how inspiring he found Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope tour in 1998. Totally worth it. Anyway, fingers crossed Steven and PGR keep creating moments for us for a long time to come.


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