5/1/15 O&A Shall We Dance Friday- Encore Performance: Le jeune homme et la mort by Roland Petit (Zizi Jeanmaire & Rudolf Nureyev)- 1966

ENCORE

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Le Jeune Homme et La Mort was choreographed by Roland Petit  choreographed in 1946 to Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, with a one-act libretto by Jean Cocteau. It tells the story of a Young Man driven to suicide by his faithless lover. Sets were by George Wakhevitch and costumes variously reported as being by Karinska or Cocteau. Continue reading

2/24/15 O&A Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center Begins Spring 2015 Season (revised)

By Walter Rutledge 

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Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) begins their 2015 performance /presenting season with its on-the-edge PEEKS-Works in progress choreographers showcase February 26, 7:30pm at The Actors Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn. This on-going, year-round program presents works-in-progress by emerging New York City-based choreographers and dance companies, with a special emphasis on artists of color, women and the LGBT community. The performance is free to the public; of course donations at the door are always welcomed. Continue reading

10/11/24 O&A SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The Fountain of Bakhchisarai Starring Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya

Shall We Dance Friday

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The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Russian: Бахчисарайский фонтан) is a Russian ballet inspired by the 1823 poem by Alexander Pushkin of the same title. With music by Boris Asafyev and choreography by Rostislav Zakharov, the ballet premiered in Saint Petersburg, (then Leningrad) in 1934 at the Kirov Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre). Continue reading

10/3/14 O&A Shall We Dance Friday: Banda (excerpt)- Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade

Shall We Dance

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Geoffrey Holder’s Banda dance debuted in the 1954 Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House Of Flowers. Holder the Baron of The Cemetery (based on the Haitian Loa of Death Baron Samedi) and received both a performer and choreographer credit in the program. The Broadway musical takes place somewhere in the West Indies during Mardi Gras weekend. Continue reading

(Repost) 10/9/20 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Sammy Davis Jr.- The Original Triple Threat

Shall We Dance

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Samuel George “Sammy” Davis, Jr. was born on December 8, 1925. He was an African- American entertainer who broke many barriers and paved the way for entertainers in all  disciplines. Davis was primarily a dancer and singer, but he also received acclaim as an actor of stage and screen, musician, and impressionist. Davis died at age 64 in 1990, after spending 61 years in the profession he loved.  Continue reading

O & A This Week: Tuesday, August 12 through August 18, 2014- Art, Dance, Film, Music and Theatre

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We are midway through August and the arts are in full “summer swing”. There are art events abounding throughout the city many are outdoors and free to the public. Here are a few of the many arts events happening in the city that never sleeps guaranteed to keep you Out and About. Continue reading

O & A This Week: Tuesday, July 29 Through Monday, August 4, 2014- Art, Dance, Film, Music and Theatre

By Walter Rutledge

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 The weather maybe unseasonably cool, but the New York City art scene is definitely heating up. Fine arts prevails in Harlem and Soho, dance is turning heads from Long Island to Lincoln Center, film honors the Godfather of Soul and a gadfly for social justice and we have high flying theatre near Union Square. Here are a few of the many events happening this week in the city that never sleeps guaranteed to get you Out and About. Continue reading

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center: Dancing the Single Life (part 2)

By Walter Rutledge

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Dancing the Single Life (part 2) concluded the choreographer’s showcase portion of the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center three-day New York season at the Actor’s Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street. For the second night five choreographers were presented each testing the boundaries of contemporary dance. It was an engaging terpsichorean event defined by cutting edge, innovative and provocative choreography. Continue reading

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center: Dancing The Single Life (part 1)

By Walter Rutledge

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The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center opened their three-day New York season at the Actor’s Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street, with the first installment of Dancing The Single Life. The concert features five solo works by five choreographers Germaul Barnes, Gierre Godley, Amy Grant Hall, Jason Herbert and Christopher Rudd. It was an evocative evening of dance works by cutting edge dancer makers. Continue reading

Shall We Dance Friday: Dman In the Waters (1998)- Bill T. Jones /Arnie Zane Dance Company

Shall We Dance628x471Bill T. Jones choreographed D-Man in the Waters in 1989, when the mortal danger of AIDS was at a high tide. The work celebrates the buoyant spirit of dancer Demian Acquavella. He had AIDS and died in 1988, but “swimming in its waters” are many others, including Mr. Jones’s partner and company co-founder, Arnie Zane, who had died in 1988. The cast includes Miguel Anaya, Stefanie Batten Bland, Germaul Barnes, Eric Bradley, Catherine Cabeen, Christian Canciani, Rosine Leblanc, Toshiko Oiwa, and Daniel Russel Kubert. Continue reading