This year’s Dance Against Cancer poster features an original drawing by artist Keith Haring. A dance gala is always a good thing. But an impressively star-studded dance gala for a very important cause? It doesn’t really get better than that. The third annual Dance Against Cancer benefit, hosted by the American Cancer Society and produced […]
ABT’s Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes in “Swan Lake,” part of the gala program. (photo Siggul/Visual Arts Masters) Nobody puts on a ballet gala quite like Youth America Grand Prix. Their must-see performances routinely feature bold-faced names from all over the world. Watching all those ballet superstars sharing a single stage is one of those […]
I will never stop wanting to hear about even the littlest, most mundane details of dancers’ lives. I mean, let’s be honest: We all have our stalker-y tendencies. But while my friends get their celebrity dirt from Us and People, I read dance companies’ Facebook pages and scour dancers’ Instagram feeds. They’re my celebrities, and […]
If you’ve seen Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform in the last 12 years, odds are you’ve been mesmerized by Hope Boykin. The petite powerhouse knows how to command a stage, whether she’s sassing her way through Ailey’s Blues Suite or channeling her spiritual side in Ailey’s iconic Revelations. Boykin fell hard for dance as […]
Last night, I was able to snag a ticket to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s “season preview” performance, a sampler of works from their upcoming New York City Center season. There was an excerpt from From Before, an earthy, polyrhythmic company premiere by legend Garth Fagan. There was the spankin’ new Another Night by up-and-comer […]
Wendy Whelan (by Henry Leutwyler) Wendy Whelan Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet “One of my most memorable performances took place at the Palais Garnier in Paris in 2008, alongside dancers of the Paris Opéra Ballet. I danced the ballerina role in the second movement of George Balanchine’s Symphony in C. It took a lot of […]
Sure, dance is fun, but these performers have other skills they’re putting to good use: Alexandra Johnson in Sidra Bell’s House Unrest. (Jubal Battisti) Alexandra Johnson Sidra Bell Dance New York Hobby: Reupholstering furniture “My mother has always been into sewing and she’s worked in interior design, so I latched on to her interests. Now, […]
First things first: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater‘s Alicia Graf Mack is extraordinary. I initially watched this New York Times video without sound, and that was just fine: Mack’s endless limbs and serene focus were enough to keep me glued to the screen. (There’s some nice footage of AAADT performing Ailey’s Revelations and Rennie Harris’ […]