Chicago (2002) the musical comedy-drama film adapted from the satirical stage Bob Fosse musical of the same name. Both the movie and the stage play explore themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Jazz Age Chicago. The film stars Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones and also features Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Mya Harrison and Desmond Richardson. Continue reading
NUREYEV and the Joffrey Ballet/In Tribute to Nijinsky, the Dance in America broadcast, debuted on March 9, 1981. Recorded in August 1880 in Nashville the program presented a collection of three ‘reconstructed ballets had been seen in a special limited run on Broadway. For television, the dances have been supplemented with biographical comments on Nijinsky by Dale Harris and snippets of interviews with Rudolf Nureyev. Continue reading
Scheherazade premiered on June 4, 1910, at the Opéra Garnier in Paris by the Ballets Russes. The choreography for the ballet was by Michel Fokine and the libretto was from Fokine and Léon Bakst. This ballet provoked exoticism by showing a masculine Golden Slave seducing Zobeide who is one of the many wives of the Shah. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Gospelfest 2016 – Honor Thy Mother took place on Saturday May 7th, 2016 at the Prudential Center (25 Lafayette Street, Newark, NJ). The event produced a two-fold celebration; it is both the ultimate gospel music extravaganza and a wonderful tribute to our mothers. The Mother’s Day Eve event has become a day long gospel event for the entire family and community. Continue reading
Maya Plisetskaya, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet, danced Maurice Bejart’s Bolero set to the famous Ravel score in 1975. Plisetskaya created a stunning theatrical experience. What makes the piece so compelling is that although Plisetskaya may be accompanied by dozens of other dancers mirroring her movement, the first and only focus is on the prima ballerina herself. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
“George Faison is one of my favorite people. Choreographer, director, performer, teacher, activist and cultural icon Faison’s story is larger than life. Throughout his five decades of artistic exploration he has maintained a keen eye, a childlike curiosity and a frolicsome sense of humor; which is reflected through his art and life. This interview was originally posted on May 6, 2016 and was filmed at the Faison Firehouse.”- W. Rutledge
Tony and Emmy Award winning choreographer George Faison will present a new work entitled Kingdom Come at the McDonald’s Gospelfest – Live at Prudential Center (25 Lafayette Street, Newark, NJ) on Saturday May 7th. The ensemble work is an inspiring, and uplifting ballet set to a haunting score of Jerome Olds. Throughout Faison’s career the humanistic quality of his work, and his ability to reach beyond the footlights and touch an audience has become his signature. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
The Harlem Arts Alliance presented a special monthly meeting celebrating the Harlem community’s contribution to dance. The forum, which took place on Monday April 4, acknowledged the contributions of women of color to the advancement of the art form. The evening began with an informal meet and greet in the lobby of Aaron Davis Hall, City College. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance (PTAMD) begins its annual New York City Season Tuesday, March 15 at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center. The three-week, twenty-one performance spring offering runs thru April 3 and will include two New York premieres by Taylor, Sullivaniana and Dilly Dilly- his 143rd and 144th works for the company. The performances will feature live music performed by the renowned Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by long-time Taylor Music Director, Donald York. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
newsteps: a choreographer’s series presented by the Chen Dance Center showcased the work of five emerging dance makers in three performance, Thursday January 14 through Saturday January 16. The showcased marked the 22nd consecutive year of bi-annual performances that support the creative process defined by Doris Humphrey as “The art of making dances”. The juried series provides rehearsal space, mentoring, technical support, and a small stipend that culminates with multiple public performances.
What We’re In Now by Hannah Garner got the evening off on a strong note. Set to the music of Italian film composer and pianist Armando Trovajoli, the duet opened with a seated Garner and Will Noling. Right from the beginning the dancers established a persona that clearly communicated to the audience.
The ensuing movement conversation ranged from contemplative to humorous. The couple, clearly in a relationship, exuded a humanistic honesty that endeared them to the audience. The quirky partnering defied convention becoming integral to the choreographer’s vocabulary.
Ayaka Kamei presented a solo entitled Stay with Me with music by Oda Kazumasa and Zoe Keating. The the amber lighting, jewelry box music and dancer Seneca Lawrence’s pixie-like approach created an air of early morning lightness. Lawrence lulled the audience into a false sense of easiness until a siren and a stage washed in red light interrupted her somnambulism. The work culminates with Lawrence returning to her opening demeanor in repose.
The Scar by Laura Henry featured a quintet clad in distressed khaki shorts and torn tops, which reminisced television’s Survivor, set in Scythia (the land of the Amazons). The angular arms adorned deep plies in second position, and counterbalanced a barrage of a la seconde battlements and athletic jumps. The worked ended with a solo dancer sequestered in a center stage downspot slowly descending in darkness.
Takeshi Ohashi’s textural duet The time presented a multi-faceted relationship performed by Maki Shinagawa and Vivake Khamsingavath. The work opened with Shinagawa slowly walking downstage left balancing an apple on the head of a crouching Khamsingavath. Eventually Khamsingavath sat downstage right and begins to peel the apple.
Throughout the duet Ohashi displayed strong choreographic form showering us with focused imagery that extended beyond elementary poses. One example, a movement passage void of physical contact; then the duet exploded in a flurry of lifts. The “partnering abstinence” made the proceeding section of lifts extremely powerful. The work ended with Khamsingavath now leading a couching Shinagawa upstage. The role reversal produced a clever new perspective to the movement and an unexpected plot twist.
The evening concluded with Quiet, a quartet featuring Elliott Keller, Sarina Taggart, Fola Walker and choreographer Gina Montalto. The work offered good spatial relationships with a strong reliance on symmetry. Montalto displayed good form with quick movement passages that retreated into stillness providing a fitting contrast to the music.
The skyrocketing cost of retail rentals space has forced many non-profit organizations to become homeless. This makes the efforts of organizations like Chen Dance Center not only commendable, but also necessary. newsteps: a choreographer’s series continues the time-honored tradition of nurturing the next generation of choreographers. The next series scheduled for May 19 through May 21 will begin accepting candidates for auditions on February 2. For more information about the newsteps: a choreographer’s series and Chen Dance Center’s other programs visit chendancecenter.org.
Vanessa Williams sings a medley of “Mary Had a Baby” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain” on the TV special David Foster’s Christmas Album musical staging choreography by Walter Painter dancers Paula Brown and Darrel Wright (NBC, December 10, 1993). Continue reading
The new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth Avenue
Encounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern Parkway
The new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern Parkway
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern ParkwayFlamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern ParkwayFlamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern Parkway
A dance and wellness classes design for Older Adults taught by Walter Rutledge
720 Nereid Ave, Bronx, NY 10466
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern ParkwayFlamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern ParkwayFlamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERFlamenco Vivo Carlota Santana returns to The Joyce with the New York City premiere of QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), an evening-length work by acclaimed choreographer Patricia Guerrero, winner of Spain’s National Dance Award, with an original score by Francis Gómez performed live. Featuring Flamenco Vivo’s world-renowned international cast of dancers and musicians, the work explores the elusive fifth element of the earth—ether, the invisible essence that connects all things. Hailed by The New Yorker as “a master of tradition who dares to deconstruct the art form,” Guerrero ventures beyond flamenco’s aesthetic bounds, embracing chaos and fragmentation to reveal its essence—its invisible fifth element—and make it tangible to audiences
THE JOYCE THEATERThe new permanent installation foregrounds the creativity of artists across the subcontinent and enduring, dynamic historical traditions. The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the reenvisioned installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art through a selection of some 500 works organized to survey major artistic movements and living traditions from across the subcontinent. The new galleries present original creations from the Middle Ages to the present, and one-fourth of the works are on display at the Museum for the first time.
The Met Fifth AvenueEncounter an artist who changed the face of portrait photography. Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens is the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date. More than 280 works include iconic prints, never-before-seen portraits, textiles, and Keïta’s personal artifacts, all brought to life with unique insights from his family.
200 Eastern Parkway