3/8/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Misty Copeland On Changing The Face Of Ballet

Misty Copeland said “I never thought I could make a career out of something I enjoyed doing something I was passionate about, something that gave me a voice”  Copeland is the first African Americans to become a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Continue reading

3/4/17 O&A NYC WITH WaleStylez DANCE: Flexin’ on ‘Em – Brooklyn’s Flex Dance Music

By Adewale Adekanbi Jr.

Flexing also called Bone Breaking, is a style of street dance from urban streets of  Brooklyn, New York. The sty is characterized by rhythmic contortionist movement combined with waving, tutting, floor moves, and gliding. Continue reading

3/4/17 O&A NYC WITH Flexin’ on ‘Em – Brooklyn’s Flex Dance Music

By Adewale Adekanbi Jr.

Flexing also called Bone Breaking, is a style of street dance from Brooklyn, NewYork that is characterized by rhythmic contortionist movement combined with waving, tutting, floor moves, and gliding. Continue reading

8/19/21 (REPOST) O&A NYC TRIBUTE: A Conversation With Dudley Williams Moderated By Jennifer Dunning

On Thursday October 23, 2014 Dance critic and author Jennifer Dunning talked with Dudley Williams about his career that spans almost six decades. Clack Center NYC hosted A Conversation with Dudley Williams at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza at 6pm.. Williams was frank, funny and informative, discussing a wide range of his experiences with some of the world’s most renowned choreographers. 

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2/20/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Geoffrey Holder- A True Renaissance Man (REPOST)

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Geoffrey Holder- a true renaissance man. Includes rare footage and interviews with wife Carmen de Lavallade and son Leo Holder.  Continue reading

(Repost) 2/9/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: A Conversation with Unstoppable Joan Myers Brown

By Walter Rutledge

“On Saturday, April 19, 2014, Out and About NYC Magazine had the pleasure to talk Joan Myers Brown, the driving force behind the success of the Philadelphia Dance Company beloved called Philadanco. In the almost ten years since this interview this living tribute to black dance and the Philadelphia arts tradition (both Brown and the company) are still Philly’s finest. The company is on full display this week at New York City’s Joyce Theater through tomorrow Saturday Febraury 10th for three performances. We repost this interview because despite international acclaim the struggle continues. “- Walter Rutledge Continue reading

2/16/17 O&A NYC DANCE- BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Bad Blood by Ulysses Dove

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Bad Blood received its World Premiere, in 1984 on Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. Featuring music by Laurie Anderson (Gravity’s Angel and Walking and Falling) and Peter Gabriel (Excellent Birds) the work in an erotic tour de force battle of the sexes. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre premiered the work in 1986. It is one of seven Dove ballets in the Ailey Company repertoire.  Continue reading

2/14/17 O&A NYC DANCE- VALENTINE’S DAY: A Song For You- Dudley Williams/ Choreography Alvin Ailey

 

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In 1972, Alvin Ailey created the elegiac solo Love Songs for dancer Dudley Williams. The  sixteen minute solo, composed in three sections includes A Song for You by Donny Hathaway; Poppies by Nina Simone; and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother by Donny Hathaway. Many  thought of the work as the male equivalent of the female solo Cry (1971). Continue reading

(REPOST) 2/11/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Clive Thompson- The Graham Years

By Walter Rutledge

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To celebrate the Martha Graham Dance Company New York Season- February 14th thru 26th at the Joyce O&A NYC Magazine reposts Clive Thompson- The Graham Years

The life of a bank clerk at the Government Savings Bank in Kingston, Jamaica was not going be Clive Thompson’s fate; he had been a performer for most of his life. Clive and his sister Norma had been childhood favorites in the local talent shows and were part of the “opening act” in Children’s Corner Club at the Saturday matinees. After seeing the Katherine Dunham Dance Company perform and a chance encounter with modern dance teacher Ivy Baxter he began formal dance classes. Continue reading

2/10/17 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Mourner’s Bench- Talley Beatty Choreographer

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Talley Beatty choreographed and performed Mourner’s Bench in 1947. It represents the anguish and loss for former slaves, now free men, killed during the Reconstruction Era at the beginning of the rise of the Klu Klux Klan. Beatty explained to me, “People were murdered by the Klan and at daybreak their relatives would find their bodies in the fields still covered in the morning dew.”

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