Dance

Review: ‘The Migration Project: live performance art installation’‘ at Jane Franklin Dance Company

The Migration Project is a live music, multi-media event directed and developed by Jane Franklin of the Jane Franklin Dance Company that raises many questions: When is it necessary to pick up from...

In the Moment: Jane Franklin on ‘The Migration Project’ Opening Tomorrow Night at Theatre on the Run

With an interest in the stories of refugees and other wandering souls, which I presumed is based upon my own family fables of wanderings to and in America, along with my work as Director, US Office of...

Review: Debbie Allen’s ‘FREEZE FRAME… Stop the Madness’ at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

Ever since Debbie Allen parleyed a killer look in the 1980 movie Fame into a featured role on the popular television series, this triple threat has been busting open doors in Hollywood for women of...

Review: ‘Cinderella’ With the San Francisco Ballet at The Kennedy Center

There are no pumpkins to be found in this Cinderella. The San Francisco Ballet’s version, created by Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and librettist Craig Lucas, departs from the Perrault story most...

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet: All-Balanchine Program at The Kennedy Center

Original works of George Balanchine drift onto The John F. Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower stage by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Under the direction of Suzanne Farrell, who was once the protégé of George...

‘Black Diamond’ by Danish Dance Theatre at The Kennedy Center

The choreographic universe Tim Rushton created for his evening-length contemporary ballet Black Diamond is made up of an engaging accretion of enticing, quirky, and oddball moments in movement. The...

Review: ‘DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Heroes’ at The Kennedy Center

The New York City Ballet’s “main man” for 25 years, Damian Woetzel is a hero to many, certainly one of my favorite dancers. Dressed in stylish jeans and midnight blue t-shirt, his dark curly hair...

Review: ‘The Blues Project’ by Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon and BIG Lovely at The Kennedy Center

If you want to know how America dances, don’t tune in to those kitschy television competition shows So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With the Stars. Check out Dorrance Dance in The Blues...

Review: ‘Tappin’ Thru Life’ at the Penn’s Landing Playhouse in Philadelphia, PA

About half the audience was standing and moving to the rhythm of the music. A few patrons remained in their seats and clapped while the Diva Orchestra played one last piece. There were no dancers on...

Review: ‘The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence’ Co-Presented by Washington Performing Arts and StepAfrika! in Cooperation with the Phillips Collections

There’s a pulse, a simple rhythm. It is both complex syncopation that rushes on, and an inviting and relaxed embrace of the moment. The percussive energy of StepAfrika!, a professional company...

Review: Martha Graham Dance Company at The Alden Theatre

Heraclitus may have said it first, but 20th century modern dance pioneer Martha Graham followed his dictum: “Change is the only constant.” The company the iconic dancer and choreographer founded in...

Review: ‘You Have Made A Story on My Skin’ at Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

You Have Made a Story on My Skin, created by the Production Team and led by writer/performer Rachel Hynes, uses personal stories to explore lingering memories and physical scars. This collaborative...

In the Moment: An Interview with BalletNova’s Artistic Director Laveen Naidu

Area non-profit arts organizations continually develop fresh ideas to reach children who may not regularly have access to the wonders of the performing arts. One new such effort is by Northern...

Step Afrika! Announces Free ‘Step Xplosion’ Tour August 24 – September 10, 2016

Step Afrika! will present free performances in all eight wards of DC from August 24 to September 20, 2016. The full schedule of 2016 tour dates is available online. Here is John Stoltenberg’s...

Meet Playwright Megan Hill from ‘The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play’ Tonight Through Sunday at The Klunch at Trinidad Theatre

Megan Hill is not only the playwright of The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play, but she gets a real workout playing the Instructor this weekend at The Klunch performing at The Capital Fringe’s Trinidad...

An Interview with The Bang Group’s David Parker on ‘Stuck on You’ at Philadelphia’s GayFest! 2016

“Dance theater with a queer sensibility, high spirits, and a spirit of adventure”: An interview with The Bang Group Co-Founder David Parker, performing at Philadelphia’s GayFest! 2016 Laughs abound as...

Review: ‘Kitchen Sink Fest’ at Dance Place

The amount of possibility encapsulated in one minute is a daunting thing to think about, and I pondered such a thing as I waited for the sold out performance of Kitchen Sink Fest to begin on Saturday...

Dance Preview: Misako Ballet Reflects Asian Culture

It’s very quiet – quite lovely, in fact – in the upstairs studio where visiting guest artist Fumihito Shimizu is rehearsing the Misako Ballet Company and guest dancers from Tokyo for a special...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Seven Windows’

In keeping with the theme of several shows in this year’s festival, Philadelphia-based SHARP Dance Company’s Seven Windows is another piece focusing on the power of dreams, death, and reincarnation....

In the Moment: ‘Kitchen Sink Fest’ at Dance Place Part 1: An Interview with Ben Levine

This summer’s Kitchen Sink Fest at Dance Place is showcasing a curated, meant-to-provoke on-lookers, dance and theater technical design elements collaboration. From Kitchen Sink Fest producer Ben...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Glacier: a climate change ballet’

Midway through Glacier: a climate change ballet, a lone dancer, Therese Gahl, glided onto the stage. Costumed in a vibrant blue tutu, her long legs and arms and their deep earth tones, she captured...

Capital Fringe Preview #26: ‘BECOMING’ at fusiondance by Candra Preshong

Why BECOMING will challenge everything you think you know about dance Becoming….’to begin to be’….you may be asking yourself, what does that even mean? I wasn’t sure either, I just knew I needed to...

Review: ‘Riverdance: The 20th Anniversary World Tour’ at Wolf Trap

Some members of the company weren’t even born when lines of dancers with arms at their sides first performed at a Eurovision competition in 1994. I’d say the rest was history but I don’t think anyone...

Review: ‘Aladdin and His Magic Lamp’ at Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre

Aladdin and the Magic of Dance On June 4, 2016, in the Poolesville High School auditorium, Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre staged a production of original ballet, Aladdin and His Magic Lamp....

Review: ‘Juliet and Romeo’ by the Royal Swedish Ballet

The Swedes take on an old classic and make it relevant. Mats Ek’s Juliet and Romeo for the Royal Swedish Ballet, at The Kennedy Center for only four more shows, is a bold retelling of Shakespeare’s...

Review: Paul Taylor Dance Company at The Kennedy Center

The last living – and working – link to the founding generation of modern dance choreographers, Paul Taylor remains true to his values as a consummate dancemaker imbuing his works with impeccable...

A Preview of RebollarDance’s ‘2077’ Premiering on The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on May 17th at 6 PM

RebollarDance, described by Erica Rebollar as “a modern dance collaborative where multi-genre artists can make innovative work,” has cooked up a truly unique evening of offerings for their upcoming...

Review: CityDance’s ‘DREAMscape’ at The Lincoln Theatre

Every so often, we witness a moment in time unabashedly good—good in its intentions, good in its ideals, good from inner core to every outer, polished extremity. CityDance’s benefit performance,...

Reviews: The Washington Ballet’s ‘Carmina Burana’ and ‘Bowie/Queen’

Going Out With a Bang: The Washington Ballet’s Carmina Burana and Bowie/Queen The standing ovation came before a single dancer took the stage. It lasted about two minutes to honor the final time The...

George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts Awards the ‘2016 Mason Arts Award’ to Septime Webre

George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts awards the 2016 Mason Arts Award to Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington National Ballet. The Mason Arts Award is awarded...

Review: DEMO: Place with Damian Woetzel starring Lil Buck at The Kennedy Center

Damian Woetzel’s DEMO Place starring Lil Buck uses art as a platform to explore geographical locations in the midst of authentic human emotions. A 90-minute jam session of dance, music, and dramatics,...

Review: ‘Innovations 2016’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland

There could not be a more apt title for Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s current production than Innovations 2016. This performance of five original works is both timeless and fresh. From traditional...

Review: ‘Drift’ at Howard University

Howard University’s annual spring dance concert, held this weekend at the Ira Aldridge Theater, brings forth emerging artists. In collaboration with The Washington Ballet’s Studio Company, the concert...

Howard University’s Spring Dance Concert ‘DRIFT’ on April 8 & 9

We close our season through movement with DRIFT~ Spring Dance Concert! This production will surely take you on a journey through time, generations, emotions and movement. Dance Coordinators Royce...

Review: ‘Becoming Sugar Plum’ at Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Academy

What a wonderful way to spend an early Sunday afternoon with Dancing Meringues, Petit Fours, Gumdrops and some bot-so-nice goblins, twirling fairies, a prince, a Fairy Queen, poison Thistle Berry...

Review: ‘Twenty Years with Love’ at Bowen McCauley Dance

Lucy Bowen McCauley celebrates 20 years as a choreographer and artistic director of her own company, with Twenty Years with Love, Bowen McCauley Dance, an evening of three pieces including one world...

Review: Monica Bill Barnes & Company: ‘Happy Hour’ at The Kennedy Center

Monica Bill Barnes & Company Serving Up Food for Thought … and Cake In life some things that are easy look hard and others that are hard look easy. That’s also the case for choreographer and dancer...

Jane Franklin Dance’s ‘Wash Over You Part I and 2.0’ at Intersections on 3/5 and on 3/12-13 &19 at Theatre on the Run

Movement and Theatre in Stop Motion Saturday March 5, 2016 at 2 pm Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE, Washington DC Tickets On Sale What: Wash Over You Part I...

Review: ‘Director’s Cut’ at The Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center

Ballet Elevated Earlier this month, the dance world rumbled a bit upon learning of the resignation of The Washington Ballet’s high-energy, effervescent Artistic Director Septime Webre. Since his...

In the Moment: Véronneau and Company Danzante at Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS Festival

Having separately followed two of the DC area’s delightful performing arts groups, one a jazz ensemble and the other a dance troupe, I was intrigued to learn they would be performing together at this...

In the Moment: Gin Dance Company at Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS Festival on March 5th at 5 PM

Gin Dance Company (GDC) is a Metropolitan DC/Northern Virginia based performing arts modern dance company. Founded in Reston, Virginia in 2011 by Artistic Director Shu-Chen Cuff, GDC performs works...

Enter by Tomorrow at 11 AM to Win a Free Pair of Tickets to Dakshina Dance 2/27 or 3/5 Performance

Enter to win a pair of tickets to Dakshina’s performances Dakshina is giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the performances at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on: Saturday February 27th at 9 pm OR...

Review: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland

So you think ballet is boring. Or maybe you’re a ballet fan but would rather see something “new” and “innovative” instead of one of the old classic standards. Perhaps you just feel like the story of...

Review: ‘The 33rd Annual Choreographers’ Showcase’ at The Clarice

The 33rd Annual Choreographers’ Showcase presented by The Clarice and The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) and adjudicated by notable choreographers and teachers Zvi...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Kennedy Center

Only Worldviews coexisted within the remembrance of spirit, while timeless historical context filled the John F. Kennedy Center Opera House on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016. The Alvin Ailey American...

Review: Dance Place’s 35th Year Reunion

Dance Place Reunion Celebrates 35 Years When Dance Place marks a milestone, invariably by the evening’s end its Founding Artistic Director Carla Perlo has more people on stage than in the audience....

A Report on ‘Sanctuary (An American Psalm)’ at Arena Stage

There is a moment when Director and performer John Moletress and Jocelyn Kuritsky are dancing on stage left. Caridad Svich is singing her original song “Low Valley” on stage right. As the dancers...

Dance Preview: Misako Ballet Celebrates Cultural Diversity

Classical ballet director Misako Aoki began her dance training in her native Japan where she later received a scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School in London. From there she joined the...

Review: American Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at The Kennedy Center

Alexei Ratmansky’s newest staging of the great classical ballet The Sleeping Beauty feels like that moment in the classic MGM film The Wizard of Oz when the scene goes from black and white to...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at The Kennedy Center

The Winter’s Tale: Warm Production for a Cold Winter’s Night Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has taken a challenging late Shakespearean play – The Winter’s Tale from 1623 – and revitalized it into...