Close Quarters III

Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble presents

Close Quarters III

With special guests Smoke Ring

Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 8pm 

The Slipper Room, New York City

Life is a cabaret… again

Berlin in the 1930s had its cabaret. And now, the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble presents Close Quarters III, cabaret for today. An evening of theatre/dance, ranging from sensuous to terrifying to surrealist farce to unbounded joy, will take turns in the spotlight with the fresh artistry and close harmonies of special guests Smoke Ring, the highest-ranked mixed voice quartet in the world. 

The Sokolow company will perform selections from Anna Sokolow’s incisive Kurt Weill and Rooms, her masterpiece of urban longing, along with the supremely silly “Threatened Assassin” from Magritte, Magritte with guest artist Clarence Brooks. As a special treat, guest choreographer Krista Jansen will perform her show-stopping “Off the Cuff.”

Close Quarters premiered in 2023 in the Lower East Side burlesque theater, The Slipper Room, and was the first time the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble designed a program especially for a cabaret-sized space. “The smaller the stage, the more the performers are compelled to reach deep inside,” said Samantha Geracht, artistic director, “which is totally in keeping with Anna Sokolow’s approach to dance.” 

In this third edition of Close Quarters, the company will counterpoint theatre/dance with live music for the first time, teaming up with Smoke Ring, the award-winning mixed voice, queer barbershop and contemporary a cappella quartet based in New York City, renowned for serving up sass and sexiness. 

Close Quarters III

Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 8 p.m.

The Slipper Room

167 Orchard Street, NYC

Seating is all general admission and is first come first serve. Doors open at 7:30pm.

Tickets: $25 and available at https://www.slipperroom.com/event-details/guest-event-close-quarters-iii-may-20.

The Slipper Room serves alcohol, this is an adults-only event.

About Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
SOKOLOW THEATRE/DANCE ENSEMBLE is the living legacy company dedicated to presenting Sokolow’s vast body of emotionally riveting work. Over a 70-year career, Anna Sokolow continuously broke the boundaries of modern dance, focusing on the human experience and accessing any movement genre to fulfill her artistic purpose. Her masterpieces remain relevant to our times and touch the hearts of all people as we struggle with the universal issues of living, regardless of differences in place and culture. The company’s projects include reconstruction, reimagination, deconstruction, historical performance, teaching, lectures, archiving, and partnering with contemporary choreographers—all modes through which we step inside Sokolow’s masterworks and draw from this perspective to better frame our future. ST/DE was founded in 2004 by Sokolow protégé Jim May and is currently under the artistic direction of Samantha Géracht. For more information, visit sokolowtheatredance.org.

About Smoke Ring

SMOKE RING is a mixed voice, queer barbershop and contemporary a cappella quartet based in New York City. Since their start in January 2023, they have taken the barbershop world by storm. They won the 2024 Mid-Atlantic District championship on their first go, becoming the first-ever mixed voice quartet to earn the championship title! And more recently, they placed 9th in the world at their debut at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International quartet contest. They’re currently the highest-ranked mixed voice quartet in the world. They’ve wowed audiences at venues such as the US Open and NYC’s Terminal 5, where they opened for Sammy Rae & The Friends. No matter the venue or the size of the audience, Smoke Ring always aims to inspire singers and othered voices within the barbershop community. For more information visit @smokeringquartet