New York Latin Culture Magazine®

World-class Indigenous, European & African Culture since 2012

92nd Street Y, New York is a World-Class Cultural and Community Center

The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class cultural and community center in the Upper East Side. It serves all communities from a foundation of Jewish values. The Harkness Dance Center is one of NYC’s premiere homes for dance. 92NY is influential in every creative category, a stage that births new voices, and a space where celebrities present their latest works.

Thank you for sponsoring Latin books, dance, and music. You always make us think, and we learn from you. You are part of our DNA. Toda!

Latin Culture at the 92nd Street Y

92nd Street Y, New York (courtesy)
92nd Street Y, New York (courtesy)

SEPTEMBER

Colombian Literature

100 Years of Solitude: The Latin American Masterpiece, is an online literary course led by Professor Gabriela Polit (University of Texas, Austin), about “Cien años de soledad” (1967), Gabriel García Márquez’s magical realism story of seven generations of a Colombian family that actually tells the history of Latin America, and won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. The course runs online from September 4 – October 2, 2024. $220. roundtable.org 🇨🇴

Márquez’s core thesis is that history repeats itself. The story is a little hard to follow because the story’s Buendía family has similar names and behaviors across the generations. It also touches on many aspects of Latin life that may not be obvious to Americans. That’s why a guided course is an excellent way to understand this magical tale. By the way, Magical Realism isn’t a literary construct. It’s how the Latin working class understands the mysteries of life. If you read this book, you will never forget it.

Cuban American Literature

Eva Mendes (Training Day, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Place Beyond the Pines) talks about her acting career, motherhood, and her debut picture book “Desi, Mami, and the Never-Ending Worries;” in the Weill Art Gallery at the 92nd Street Y; on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 7:30pm. From $25. 92ny.org 🇨🇺

Mendes is a Miami Cuban actress who walked away from superstardom to be a mom. She deserves a lot of respect for that.

Jewish Dance

Israel’s Batsheva Ensemble performs Ohad Naharin’s “Kamuyot” (2023), an immersive community-building contemporary dance, for the first time in Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; from Friday-Sunday, September 27-29, 2024. From $40. 92ny.org 🇮🇱

NOVEMBER

New York Puerto Rican Contemporary Dance

Boca Tuya, led by Omar Román De Jesús, performs three contemporary dances: “Caress them in a way that hurts a little” about love, “Like those playground kids at midnight” about individuality, and “Hi are you like me;” in Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Thursday-Friday, November 14-15, 2024, at 7pm. From $40. 92ny.org 🇵🇷

Puerto Ricans are generally gifted with a natural poetry. Román De Jesús turns contemporary dance into poetry. “Like those playground kids at midnight” is midnight in the barrio where everyone is free.

DECEMBER

African American Women’s Contemporary Dance

Urban Bush Women (UBW), a Brooklyn contemporary dance company that tells Black women’s stories, celebrates its 40th Anniversary with “Solo Meditations” in residency; in the Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday-Saturday, December 6-7, 2024 at 7pm. From $40. 92ny.org 🇺🇸

This is important. We are in a pivotal moment of social change and cultural expansion. America is beginning to realize that most of our popular culture originates in the African Diaspora (the 92NY grasped this more than 70 years ago). Women are the guardians of culture, and in traditional African Diasporic cultures, dance is how we pray. Black and Latin culture is loved around the world because its all about bringing people together. In American life, we have lost each other. Urban Bush Women offers a way back ~ together.

92nd Street Y Features

92nd Street Y Tickets

92nd Street Y, New York (92NY)
1395 Lexington
(at 92nd St)
Upper East Side, Manhattan

92ny.org

About the 92nd Street Y

Celebrating its 150th year in 2023, 92nd Street Y, New York has grown into one of New York’s sacred cultural spaces ~ because of the long stream of genius that passes through its halls. It gives a stage to the great artists of the times, and nurtures new voices in their first whispers of brilliance.

Jewish culture has an intellectual character that is very influential in American life. New York’s first Jewish community made New York an open city in 1654, while it was still Dutch New Amsterdam. Like the Statue of Liberty, 92NY carries the flame, and is even part of our own DNA. Toda. Gracias.

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Harkness Dance Center and Modern Dance

92NY played a role in the development of modern dance and contemporary dance. Legendary pioneers like Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Alvin Ailey developed their craft here.

Ailey’s “Blues Suite,” now an American classic, was part of his company’s first performance in 1958. It’s the precursor to his masterpiece “Revelations.” We dance away the blues all night, and then get spiritual the next day. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre went on to popularize modern dance globally as America’s “Cultural Ambassador to the World.” It all started here.

92NY Festivals

92NY produces several notable festivals.

  • Future Dance Festival is a dance choreographer’s competition that launches new talent into New York’s dance world.
  • Giving Tuesday is a global holiday-giving phenomenon that was started by the 92nd Street Y.
  • Jazz in July is a hot summer jazz festival.

92NY Artists

These are just a few of the legends who have performed at 92NY.