Event

In the summer of 2022, Asbury Park business owner Christopher Gonzalez had an idea. He wanted to bring a Dia de los Muertos celebration to the Asbury Park boardwalk.

Traditional Dia de Los Muertos events are held every year in the first week of November. Gonzalez set out to City Hall and secured a permit. Unfortunately construction on the boardwalk was planned and there was no guarantee that the boardwalk would be ready in time.

Undeterred, he came to the conclusion that this Celebration of Life event would have to be postponed until 2023. He reached out to part-time Asbury Park residents and creatives, Danny Driscoll and Ed Chiquitucto, to see if they would be interested in co-producing this event.

Coincidentally, Driscoll was approached by other local business owners, Stephanie Cañas Hunnell and her husband Rich, who mentioned her idea to host a Dia de los Muertos celebration, and the committee was born.

And now, the Dia de los Muertos celebration is scheduled to come to life on Sat., Nov. 4 on the Asbury Park boardwalk.

This free, family and pet-friendly event is planned for 4 to 7 p.m. rain or shine. The committee has been planning, obtaining a permit and securing sponsorships for this event. This Dia de los Muertos celebration is on the Asbury Park Boardwalk.

For those unfamiliar with Dia de Los Muertos or the Day of the Dead it is a traditional Latin holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives and friends for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration.

This event will feature a lively procession from Convention Hall to the old Casino, with an authentic Mariachi band. They invite all participants to join in the procession, bring photos of loved ones and bring offerings to the ofrenda, a traditional altar to honor the deceased.

Participants are welcome to come in traditional attire or just as you are. There will also be professional make-up artists on-site beginning at 2 p.m. outside Convention Hall. The organizers are asking people to join them at 4 p.m. as they plan to begin the procession about 4:30 pm. The procession will march down the boardwalk to the Carousel. There will also be tee shirts for sale, and a Sugar Skull cookie vendor.

As part of the North 2 Shore Music Festival earlier this year the Smithereens performed their classic hits to a sold-out crowd at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park.

After a successful first year, which saw hundreds of thousands take part in the inaugural North to Shore Arts and Ideas Festival in June 2023, the event will return next year to kick off summer 2024 with another three-city, three-weekend celebration of the arts and innovation across New Jersey.Conceived by Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy, the North to Shore Festival was designed to spotlight New Jersey’s culture, diversity, and spirit of innovation.

In 2024, the festival will launch in Asbury Park from June 10 to June 16, swing down the Shore to Atlantic City June 17 through June 23 and conclude in Newark from June 24 through June 30.

Once again, both global headliners and artists who make their homes in each festival city will take the stage in front of an audience drawn from across the state and around the region. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) will again produce the festival, in partnership with a cohort of other live entertainment presenters and producing partners.

Alongside the first season’s headliners — which included Jersey-born pop diva Halsey, hip hop legends Eric B. & Rakim, classic rocker Santana, Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte and R&B songstress Jazmine Sullivan and one of America’s first new wave bands, The B52’s — the inaugural festival presented scores of concerts, film screenings, art exhibits and expert panel discussions on innovation in technology, climate-change, healthcare and business, as well as scores of performances and events, many of them free, featuring artists who make their creative home in New Jersey.

“What makes the North to Shore so exciting is that — even if you only spend one day at the festival — there’s so much to hear, to see, to learn and to do. It’s a perfect introduction to New Jersey’s incredible arts scene,” said John Schreiber, President and CEO of NJPAC.

The festival, in its first year, drew an audience of nearly 250,000 to more than 300 shows in more than 100 venues in three of New Jersey’s most arts-rich cities.

While most festival events were free to the public, ticketed events brought in $7.6 million in ticket sales.
In addition, 56 artists based in Atlantic City, Asbury Park and Newark were awarded North to Shore grants.

Where does the dance scene go when audiences are on vacation? One place seems to be Asbury Park, where a crowd gathered at House of Independents on Aug. 27 for the latest edition of the Asbury Park Dance Festival.

Though visitors to the Shore might regard this fundraising gala as a mere interlude between frosty cocktails and dips in the surf, the dancing is seriously good. A team of Paul Taylor alumni organize these events to raise money for Arts Ed NJ (previously known as the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership), and this year’s program featured major talents and a terrific range of styles.

While most of the dances shown on this club’s small stage were duets, there was no shortage of variety. It would be hard to imagine a greater contrast, for instance, than the one between tapper Dario Natarelli and a pair of gutsy Pilobolus veterans, Casey Howes and Jake Warren, now with Leggy Bones Physical Theater Company.

In an atmospheric sketch choreographed with Michelle Dorrance, Natarelli wistfully addressed onstage cellist Derek Louie as Louie played a transcription of the yearning Gershwin melody, “The Man I Love.” Natarelli gently pawed the floor and appeared to dream. Gliding around the stage, and swooping low, he worked himself up to a tapping outburst that stood for passion.

Howes and Warren displayed no such delicacy. Their piece, “Chaos Theory,” portrayed a grappling, rough-and-tumble relationship. Howes flew by the seat of her pants as Warren grabbed her by the belt and swung her in circles. She clambered up one side of her partner and down the other and wrapped her legs around his head, vise-like. This was love as a form of martial arts, tempered by a sense of humor and the characters’ romantic confusion.

Considerably more subtle, but similarly with no holds barred, was Doug Varone’s “Maybe,” performed by members of his company. Set to the rhythm of the torch song of that name by Janis Joplin, the movement here was alternately languid and abrupt, appearing wonderfully spontaneous as Courtney Barth and Ryan Yamauchi chased each other around the stage, making unpredictable connections. Near the end, a truce was reached. Barth offered her hand to Yamauchi (“Whoa, if I could ever hold your little hand,” the lyrics go), and when the dancers lifted their arms forming an arc overhead, we knew this couple would be OK.

Michael Francis McBride and Samuel Lee Roberts, both veterans of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, offered the duet “Strange Humors,” choreographed by Robert Battle. This piece flirts with danger, its orderly composition seemingly at risk from the dancers’ zany impulses. McBride and Roberts crouched and dodged; Roberts’ knees wobbled, and together the men suddenly fell flat. Yet we had no cause to fear — these wild men might skirt the edge of sanity, but they would never lose control. Even in a romp like “Strange Humors,” these powerful performers moved with elegance and grace.

“This Bitter Earth” is a neo-classical piece by Christopher Wheeldon. Complicating its sentimental mood, and the usual balletic swooning, were subtle movements in which the duet partners sharply turned their heads to the side. Added to a supporting pose with clasped hands, this motif oddly suggested two people locking together (click!). Other incidents, including the ballerina’s seductive approach to her partner at the beginning and her surprise directional change near the end, hinted at the drama in the accompanying text, and in Max Richter’s lugubrious score. New Jersey Ballet’s Denise Parungao and Joshuan Vásquez gave a limpid performance.

These were the highlights, but far from the only attractions at this year’s festival, where the offerings ranged from hip-hop to flamenco and beyond. Additional participants included Andrea Yorita and Zachary Kapeluck of BalletX; Gallim Dance’s Marc Anthony Gutierrez and India Hobbs; Georgina Pazcoguin dancing Bob Fosse; Sun Kim; and Sonia Olla and Ismael Fernández.

A special shoutout goes to Lorenzo Pagano, a star of the Martha Graham Dance Company, who brought his luscious physicality to the “Sun” solo from “Canticle for Innocent Comedians.”