Since 1954, Dance Magazine has celebrated the living legends among us with the Dance Magazine Awards. This year, in light of deep reflections on racial equity inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the selection committee decided to take a close look at exactly who the magazine has honored over the past seven decades. Unsurprisingly, […]
In this global economic crisis, it sometimes feels like the plight of dancers has been largely ignored. So Debbie Allen is on a mission to change that. “They don’t list dance and the arts as essential,” she says, “but we are! We give people more joy and hope than almost anything.” To spread that joy […]
Debbie Allen’s The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (2010) fuses ballet with tap, flamenco, hip hop and gymnastics in fantastical settings such as Candy Cane Land, Jazzland and the Land of the Kimono Dolls. The Hip Hop Nutcracker (2014) is set in New York City and juxtaposes Tchaikovsky’s classical score with hip-hop choreography created by Jennifer Weber, […]
Four dancers have been selected as 2016 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, an annual award to 20 National YoungArts Foundation finalists for outstanding achievement in academics, in addition to artistic excellence in dance, theater, music, visual arts and writing. Modern dancers Jared Brown and Kaylin Sturtevant of Dallas, Texas, classical Indian dancer Pavithra Nagarajan […]
The holidays are here and in the dance world, that typically means one thing: Nutcracker season! As a former bunhead, I’d be remiss not to give a shout-out to some of the Nutcracker productions we all know and love. Houston Ballet’s Jared Matthews and Karina Gonzalez dance the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux. 10 Nutcrackers That Rock George […]
Chloé and Maud Arnold pose with NYCDAF Ambassador for the Arts, Debbie Allen. Last night, the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation awarded Debbie Allen the 2015 NYCDAF Ambassador for the Arts Award at the annual “Bright Lights Shining Stars” gala. Held at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, the event paid tribute to Allen […]
During last night’s “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” on NBC, Mariah Carey’s performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” stole the show, but not for the reason you might think. Of course the diva hit those impossible high notes, but it was her crew of elfish dancers that made my jaw hit the floor. […]