MORNING PIECE FOR YOKO ONO (a happy birthday celebration)

When your heart is dancing
Your mind is bouncing
Bounce bounce bounce bounce

~ Yoko Ono

How does one recognize the birthday of an art world and rock’n’roll icon? By having a Happening. By having a dance party to honor their life and work. So, let’s gather to dance in celebration of Yoko Ono’s 90th birthday on Saturday, February 18th, at Central Park’s Naumburg Bandshell from 10:00-11:30 a.m. Rain or Shine. It’s time for a celebration! It’s time for dancing! It’s time for action.

Say Something Nice About Yoko

In the spirit of Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree” and as a gift to her, wish tags will be available for you to write your wishes. The wish tags will be collected in a cloth bag, delivered to Studio One, and shared with Yoko. And a limited-edition pocket mirror will be given out on a first-come basis. The pocket mirror will be used at the morning’s Happening when we will move the party to Strawberry Fields and sing “Happy Birthday, Yoko” at the Imagine mosaic.

Bring your bells to ring! Bring your signage to hold high. Bring your balloons and flowers. There will be performers to entertain you. Do you want to perform? Let’s sing “Happy birthday, Yoko!” together. Let’s make this dance party filled with energy and love. Let’s dance in celebration of the extraordinary life of Yoko Ono! Let’s dance! Join us!

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

~ Yoko Ono & John Lennon

YOKO ONO is an American-Japanese multimedia artist, musician, and peace activist. Known for her involvement in the Fluxus art movement and the culture at large, she has profoundly contributed to visual art, performance, filmmaking, and experimental music since the early 1960s. Born in Tokyo in 1933, Ono moved with her family to New York in the mid-1950s and enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College. Over the next decade, she lived in New York, Tokyo, and London, greatly influencing the international development of Fluxus and Conceptual art.

Yoko Ono’s earliest works, often based on instructions that she communicated to the public in verbal or written form, range from feasible to improbable, often relying upon the reader’s imagination to complete the work. Also known for her marriage to rock musician John Lennon, her collaborations with her late husband boldly communicated her commitment to social justice. And outside the gallery space, Ono has recorded and performed with her avant-garde Plastic Ono Band. She continues to create works that obfuscate the boundaries between art, politics, and society–and, in recent years, she has embraced social media to communicate her artistic and activist messages to broader audiences.

For more information:

Phillip Ward & Jennifer Barton
[email protected]