Buskers, like this unidentified trio from Streetlife 2009, are warming up their pipes for the 2010 edition.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

It’s getting closer to that time when the streets of Red Bank become dotted with guitar slingers, mimes and magicians on Saturday nights as part of the summer-long StreetLife series.

But first, they must demonstrate their street creds.

Entertainers get their chance at at winning a spot on this year’s Streetlife roster via auditions next week at Count Basie Theatre.

The tryouts are from 6 to 8p on Wednesday at the theater’s rehearsal studio on the second floor.

It’s expected, as it usually does, to bring out the area’s characters, said Nancy Adams, executive of RiverCenter, which sponsors the series.

Last year, a gentleman showed up in a stone gray suit with a briefcase, and for his audition, simply stood still. You may remember him as the human statue.

“He was almost like public art. It’s cool,” Adams said. “The auditions are a hoot.”

RiverCenter director of operations Harriet Cook said there are about 65 slots to fill, although many past performers fill them, and the selected acts get to use StreetLife as a potential springboard into a brighter entertainment career.

“We’ve had a lot of local talent able to build on their repertoire,” she said, and rattled off the names of some recognizable StreetLife alums, like The Wag, Quincy Mumford and Matt O’Ree.

Think you’re ready for that kind of stardom? Take your three- to four-minute showcase act, plus a biography and references, if available, to the Basie Wednesday.  More info can be found at RiverCenter’s website.

The StreetLife series, entering its ninth year, runs from 6 to 9p every Saturday during the summer, beginning in June and wrapping up in August. However, if a big sponsor comes through, Adams said there’s a chance it will be extended into September.

The dance program’s theme this school year is the evolution of jazz dance in America. Davis is scheduled to return for another lesson at RBR today. (Click to enlarge; photos by Dustin Racioppi)

What: ‘Sounds of Motown,’ a dance program performed by dance majors in Red Bank Regional’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy.

Where:

Red Bank Regional High, 101 Ridge Road, Little Silver.

When: Friday, May 15th, at 7p, with an encore performance on Saturday, May 16, at 2p.

Need to know: The students will perform 30 originally choreographed dances to the music of Motown artists including Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Jackson Five, Rick James and others.

Most of the dances have been choreographed by graduating seniors as well as some lower classmen.

“I wanted to show the development of
Hip Hop from Motown. So the dance begins with the complicated moves of
Hip Hop and then gradually reverts to the much easier moves of Motown,” says Jazlyn Ortiz, one of the seniors who choreographed a number
for the show.

Pieces by professional choreographers Elysha Richman, Jolene Baldini, Dylan Smith, Joanne Paulantonio and Barbara Vari will also be performed. 

Tickets are $10 ($5 for students and senior citizens) and will be sold at the door.

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So what’s a Momix Remix?

It’s a look back at more than 25 years worth of
invention from the atelier of celebrated choreographer Moses Pendleton and his Momix Dance Theater company.

A Momix performance finds human bodies exploring new and surprising ways to
move and bend, as they discover what it’s like to experience the world as an
insect, a reptile, or a baseball.

Red Bank oRBit interviewed the self-described “avant gardener” in advance of Friday’s Momix show at the Count Basie.

What does this master illusionist do to “put a little polish on the old third eye?” Does he really only perform for fish?

The answers, friends, only in oRBit…

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In conjunction with tonight’s reopening of the Count Basie Theatre after four months in mothballs, today’s edition of Red Bank oRBit contains a two-fer:

• We’ve got an interview with a Mark Eaton, a 15-year Capitol Steps veteran (and former lobbyist) who dishes on the comedy troupe’s Friday-night show and what happens after the Nov. 4 bubble deflates…

• And, if you’re wondering how acts like the Capitol Steps, Rufus Wainwright, the B-52s and Patton Oswalt wind up on the Basie’s boards, check out our interview with Numa Saisselin, who not only runs the theater as its CEO, but personally books every act.

We’re oRBit, and we approve this message…

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In today’s edition of Red Bank oRBit, your comprehensive guide to what’s going on around The Green, you’ll find:

• a item on the nearly nude, airborne dancers in “Garden of Earthly Delights” wrapping up their highly praised run of shows at the Two River Theater

• an update on an almost-sidelined production at New Jersey Rep that hews to the dictum, ‘the show must go on!’

• a sorting out of the bands and musicians — including the panties-flasher we featured last week — taking to stages in and around Asbury Park

• and a look at what we’re viewing as a kind of warmup for the Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale on September 20 as Atlantic Highlands holds its 30th annual outdoor flear market at the marina.

oRBit also features the richest events calendar and restaurant guide to the greater Red Bank area, so pop on over when you’re ready to map out your weekend.

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You may have noticed the cryptic, vaguely erotic posters around Red Bank for “Garden of Earthly Delights” starting tonight at the Two River Theater.

Well, Red Bank oRBit has not only the details, but an interview with MacArthur Award recipient Martha Clarke, the artist responsible for what promises to be a roomful of flying bodies and choreographed hell.

It turns out, you see, that this 90-minute, wordless piece was inspired by the painting of the same name by Hieronymous Bosch, who conjured a landscape of copulating nudes, oversized fruit and other phantasms to depict either a 15th-century vision of the underworld or a 20th-century Grateful Dead concert — take your pick.

Read all about Clarke’s dance interpretation of the seven deadly sins, and the trick to depicting sloth, only in Red Bank oRBit.

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