B-GIRL: Rokafella, female break dance pioneer, is featured on October 15 for the “NYC Arts Pioneers” Altamura Legacy Concert at Princeton United Methodist Church.

Altamura Legacy Concerts (ALC) presents break dancer Ana “Rokafella” Garcia and pianist Adam Tendler in a program at Princeton United Methodist Church Sunday, October 15 at 4 p.m.

Garcia begins the concert with a talk, demonstration, and viewing of excerpts from her film All the Ladies Say.  John Cage’s prepared piano music follows with Tendler playing works by John Cage. ALC Artistic Director Cristina Altamura hosts with Adam Sliwinski of So Percussion. A coffee bar opens at 3:30 p.m., with Princeton University piano student Otto Trueman warming up the audience starting at 3:45 p.m.

Garcia is a dance teacher, poet, musician, and entrepreneur. She has been credited as being a female break dance pioneer and influencing the new generation of B-Girls and B-Boys. She also happens to be a childhood friend of pianist Altamura. Their first collaboration was a choreography for their elementary school talent show to Nena’s “99 Luftballons!” In 2008, they reunited at Central Park Summer Stage with Rokafella’s theater and dance company Full Circle Productions in a piece consisting of urban dance styles set to the music of J.S. Bach, played by Altamura onstage with the dancers. That eventually led to a co-commission in 2015 by the Kennedy Center and The Victory Theatre on Broadway for a theater piece called “Out of the Bachx.”

Tendler performs works for prepared and un-prepared piano by John Cage, including his lush In a Landscape and A Valentine Out of Season. Tendler has been closely associated with Cage’s work for two decades, working closely with the John Cage Trust and Edition Peters, Cage’s publisher, and performing the composer’s work internationally. His performance will follow a brief dialogue with Sliwinski.

Altamura Legacy Concerts is a new concert series developed in 2023 by Altamura, featuring herself and a roster of guest artists performing on a newly restored 1924 Steinway B grand at Princeton United Methodist Church, home of the Tiffany stained-glass window depicting St. George that graces its facade. Concerts are on select Sundays at 4 p.m. in the Sanford Davis Room of Princeton UMC, adjacent to the church’s sanctuary.

Visit legacyartsinternational.org for more information. Tickets are $30 ($10 for students with ID).