Category: Modern Dance

No comments

8/22/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project’s Artists Speak

  By , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Rutledge

Shall We Dance Friday

The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) 2025 presentation, Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions will grace the stage of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance this Saturday, August 23, 6pm. This unprecedented dance/theatre event showcases ten of Chicago’s most dynamic and diverse dance companies. The event is more than a dance concert. The production is a collective of Chicago-based artists celebrating the continued historic contributions of the Black dance community on the city’s cultural landscape. Continue reading

No comments

8/21/25 O&A NYC DANCE: O&A NYC Embeds With CBDLP for Chicago Dance Event

  By , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Rutledge

Out and About NYC Magazine (O&A NYC) will embed with the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) for the Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions performance on Saturday, August 23, 6pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The magazine has begun to document the artists from the ten dance companies performing in this unprecedented evening of Black dance excellence. The event is being documented with written commentary, video interviews and a review of the performance. The historic and cultural importance of this “consortium of the creative” needs to be brought to the attention of the theater going public. Not just in the great city of Chicago but to our international audience. Continue reading

No comments

5/16/25 O&A NYC DANCE IN MEMORIAM: Ella Thompson Moore- May 31, 1939- May 13, 2025

  By , , , , , , ,

“On behalf of the Charles Moore Dance Theatre, it is with a broken heart that we announce the passing of Ella Thompson Moore, Artistic Director of the Charles Moore Dance Theatre, Dance Matriarch to many, Queen to all. Ella went to join her beloved husband, Charles Moore on Tuesday May 13, days before her 96th birthday. Arrangements will be posted when finalized. Please keep her son Anthony and grandson Jalen, her dancers and drummers in prayer. Her presence, grace, wit and warmth will be greatly missed. We are eternally grateful for the impact she had in our lives.”- Faye Moore (with permission of the family) Continue reading

No comments

2/28/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The View Celebrates Judith Jamison – Performs Cry

  By , , , , , ,

Shall We Dance FridayOn February 27th 2025 The View honored Black women who have broken barriers. The segment highlighted the accomplishments of Judith Jamison, choreographer Alvin Ailey‘s muse.  Constance Stamatiou a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs Right On Be Free an excerpt from Cry in honor of this Black History Month icon. Continue reading

No comments

2/18/24 O&A NYC DANCE REVIEW: Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet – Remembering

  By , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Rutledge

Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet (JGCO) presented their New York City season February 13 thru 15 at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Bam Fisher Fishman Space. The seventy minute audience friendly one act was more than a celebration of Black History Month; it is also a fitting tribute to the dance theatre genre. The season offered a blend of spoken word, live drumming, recorded music and voiceovers, theater, ritual, art, photography, video projections and of course the primary medium dance. Continue reading

No comments

2/11/25 O&A NYC DANCE: Kevin Iega Jeff Creates to Communicate With Homage

  By , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Rutledge 

Keeping in the spirit of his credo, “create to communicate”, Kevin Iega Jeff has choreographed Homage for the Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet. Homage will be presented during Remembering, the company’s 30th anniversary season celebration February 13, 14, 15 at BAM Fisher Fishman Space in downtown Brooklyn. The intergenerational ensemble work highlights the artistry of three accomplished female performers Shirley Black Brown Coward, Bahiyah Sayyed and Thera Ward. Continue reading

No comments

2/1/24 O&A NYC ITS SATURDAY ANYTHING GOES: Mercy by Alex Miedzinski for Senior Lyrical 2023

  By , , , , , , , , ,

 

Choreographer Alex Miedzinski presents Mercy, featuring the senior students (age 17-18 years) of the Performance Training Program. The work was performed at their 2023 End of Year Concert at Brent Street one of Australia’s premiere dance academies. Continue reading

No comments

1/17/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Happy Birthday Debbie Allen!!!

  By , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Rutledge


Happy Birthday to one of the dance world’s icons Debbie Allen. We had the opportunity to talk to Ms. Allen about a wide range of her life experiences from segregated dance classes in her native Texas, to heartless rejection and finally coming into her own in New York City. We pay tribute to a living dance legend and activist born on January 16th.- Walter Rutledge

In 2015 O&A NYC Editor-in-Chief Walter Rutledge interviewed Debbie Allen at the Faison Firehouse Theater for Dance Noir Magazine (DNM). The print article would discuss her relationship with Katherine Dunham. The video was produced as visual notes for the upcoming Dunham article. When the magazine suspended publication, out of respect for DNM Founder/Editor-in-Chief Carol Lloyd, we held the material with hopes of eventually printing the article for DNM. After eight years Ms. Allen’s words remain relevant, inspiring and informative and should be shared. We call this first installment Empathy. Continue reading

No comments

1/7/24 O&A NYC INSPIRATIONAL TUESDAY: Judith Jamison- 22nd Kennedy Center Honors (1999)

  By , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morgan Freeman introduces honoree Judith Jamison at the 22nd Kennedy Center Honors in 1999. Continue reading

No comments

1/3/25 O&A NYC DIVO ALERT: I Wanna Be Ready- Matthew Rushing

  By , , , , , , , , , , ,


Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing premiered his fifth ballet, Sacred Songs, for the Alvin Ailey American dance Theater (AAADT) on December 20, 2024.  Today Friday, January 3, is the last opportunity this season to see this new work which uses the deleted music from the original production of Revelations. Continue reading