12/31/15 O&A NYC Throwback Thursday: Jennifer Lopez – Waiting For Tonight (Remix)

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Jennifer Lopez- Waiting for Tonight, offered a thematic depiction of a Y2K New Year’s Eve dance party. The video led to increased media attention, with Lopez being recognized for her curvaceous figure and buttocks. Continue reading

10/16/17 (REPOST) O&A NYC WITH WaleStylez DANCE: The League Of Extraordinary Dancers -Episode One – The Tale Of Trevor Drift

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The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, commonly called The LXD, was a 2010–2011 web series about two groups of rival dancers: The Alliance of the Dark who are the villains and The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, the heroes, who discover they have superpowers referred to as “the Ra” through their dance abilities. The entire story takes place over hundreds of years, beginning in the 1920s up to the year 3000. Continue reading

12/29/15 O&A NYC Song Of The Day: Madonna- Justify My Love

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Justify My Love by Madonna revolutionized the music industry with the first VHS video single.  Due to the highly sexually charged content MTV banned the music video. Madonna capitalized on the scandal becoming the first artist to release a single in this format., Continue reading

12/11/23 O&A NYC Song Of The Day: Vanessa Williams – Go Tell It On The Mountain/ Mary Had A Baby (1993)

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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

12/23/15 O&A NYC Wildin Out Wednesday: Dance of the Snowflakes

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Dance of the Snowflakes takes place at a community playhouse holiday pageant. The inner monologue of our dancing snowflakes becomes progressively weird and anxious (“On the way here, I hit a man with my car. I didn’t stop because I thought this was more important.”). A total existential crisis ensues.   Continue reading

12/21/15 O&A NYC REVIEW: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater- Piazzolla Caldera

By Walter Rutledge

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The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater gave a cautious debut performance of Paul Taylor’s tango infused Piazzolla Caldera, but now the Company has thrown caution to the wind. Set in a milonga (tango dance hall) this rich dance theatre work allowed the Ailey Company to really flex their dramatic muscle. Piazzolla Caldera has become the highlight of the 2015 New York City Center season showcasing the Ailey Company at their sultry best.  Continue reading

12/18/15 O&A Shall We Dance: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland- Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux

Shall We Dance

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During the 1977 Christmas season, CBS brought Mikhail Baryshnikov’s highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet The Nutcracker to television. The production has remains the most popular and most often shown television production of the work in the U.S.  Mikhail Baryshnikov performed the title role, with Gelsey Kirkland as Clara.
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12/10/15 O&A NYC REVIEW: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater- Rennie Harris Exodus

By Walter Rutledge

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The real significance of Rennie Harris’ body of work has been his ability to transform hip-hop, a vernacular dance style created during the height of inner city urban blight of the 80’s, into the foundation for his abstract narrative art form. In early works such as Rome and Jewels (2000) Harris transforms the visceral hip-hop esthetic into 21st classicism. His latest work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Exodus infuses the hip-hop genre and modern dance with theatrical elements and strong choreographic structure. Continue reading

12/4/15 O&A NYC Shall We Dance Friday: Jill Scott – Back Together featuring Complexion Contemporary Ballet

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Jill Scott has release her latest music video Back Together. While Scott isn’t in the video herself, the theatric clip features dancers from Complexions Contemporary Ballet breathe life into relationships broken by misunderstanding, the death of a loved one or personal issues. Continue reading

(Repost) 11/27/15 O&A NYC Shall We Dance Friday: Sylvie Guillem- Boléro

Shall We Dance

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One of Maurice Bejart’s most noted works, Bolero shows a woman dancing hypnotically on a tabletop. Sylvie Guillem performed its sinuous caressing and beckoning movements as if she were making incantatory gestures as a high priestess of an erotic ritual. Men seated motionless on chairs at the sides of the stage fall under her spell and slowly come to life. As Ravel’s familiar score mounts to a mighty climax, they dance around the table and at last jump on it to join the woman. The ballet is a remarkable image of awakening desire. Continue reading