Harlem's Under the Viaduct, Luminata: It Is Our Light. Photo: Under the Viaduct.

Harlem is taking its cues from Paris this weekend, hosting a dance performance piece, Luminata: It is our light, to coincide with the French capital’s annual Nuit Blanche (or “white night”) art festival.

Harlem’s own interpretation of the Parisian affair, now celebrating its 13th edition, is the third event in the West Harlem Art Fund‘s Under the Viaduct lighting intervention series, curated by Savona Bailey-McClain and held at West 125th Street—the historic strip is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year—beneath the Riverside Drive Viaduct, alongside the West Side Highway.

Luminata, choreographed by Ellen Maynard and Autumn Scoggan, will see 10 dancers perform at sunset on Saturday, October 4, weaving in and out of long strips of magenta and orange fabric that will at times wrap around them. The evening will also feature graffiti, sound art, and digital art, with street art along the viaduct pillars from Lady K Fever that will include QR codes linked to music by Meridian Lights.

The West Harlem Art Fund was also responsible for this year’s The “H” in Harlem, a giant LED letter H by Bentley Meeker hanging beneath the viaduct (see “Bentley Meeker Brings Harlem Bling to the Hudson with Giant ‘H’“), and for  Vicki DaSilva‘s light graffiti project, East River Flows (see “Artist Renders East River Flows in Light Graffiti“).


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