ESSENTIAL EVENT // Our Performance Picks For BAM's Next Wave Festival This Fall

Last week the Brooklyn Academy of Music launched the 29th season of its Next Wave Festival, offering up a barrage of amazing performance, visual art, film, music and more. Past festivals have featured renowned figures like Phillip Glass, Merce Cunningham, Laurie Anderson and Ingmar Bergman, and this year's lineup is no less exciting.

You can peruse to full schedule here, but we've singled out a few events that us at 3rd Ward are particularly thrilled to check out. Check out our picks after the jump.

Symphony for the Dance Floor (BAM Harvey Theater, Oct 13 & 14 at 7:30pm, Oct 15 at 7:30pm, 10pm) - Composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain mashes up hip-hop, pop and classical music alongside visuals by renowned hip-hop photographer Jonathan Mannion and choreography by Millicent Johnnie. Dance party as performance or performance as dance party?

Between The Lines (BAMcafé, Sep 22 at 8pm, Oct 20 at 8pm, Nov 10 at 8pm) - "Storytellers, thinkers, and drinkers" take a look at different 21st century subjects through readings, short films, performances and more. Themes for each date are "Think You're Pretty Smart," "You Are What You Eat" and "Missionary Positions," respectively.

I don't believe in outer space (BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Oct 26—29 at 7:30pm) - Renowned choreographer William Forsythe presents wild, dark and humorous dance theater. The Guardian called it "a strange, comic cacophony of speech, song and dance – a performance in fragments that suggests a man already receding from life and gazing down at it with a detached and quizzical eye."

Brooklyn Babylon (BAM Harvey Theater, Nov 9—12 at 7:30pm) - Darcy James Argue, his jazz big band Secret Society and artist Danijel Zezelj conjure up a Brooklyn of the future, where the tallest tower in the world is being built. With a carousel on top. Zezelj paints live onstage along with projected animations and a soundtrack from Argue and Co.

Next Wave Art (Peter Jay Sharp Building, until December 18) - In its 10th year, the exhibition features Brooklyn artists such as renowned subway/graffiti artist Lee Quinones, media artist Marina Zurkow, painter Jules de Balincourt and photographer Rashid Johnson.

-- John Ruscher