By Walter Rutledge
This week summer is in full force and so are the arts. We have art in Soho, dance on the Westside and Chelsea, Shakespeare in Harlem and a great lady of the theatre portrays the great Lady Day. Here are some of the many events happening in that city that never sleeps guaranteed to keep you Out and About. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
A memorial service will be held for modern dance pioneer Mary Anthony on Sunday July 13, 2:30pm at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Once again a Bible Bigot, this time Kim Burrell, has misused scripture to preach hate and exclusion. The article below originally appeared in Harlem World Magazine in the summer of 2010 shortly after the Deitrick Haddon/Tonex twitter scandal broke. For years the gospel industry had made subtle references and caddy “humorous” comments about Tonex’s flamboyant gospel stage show. But there was nothing subtle about their reaction when Tonex decided to live in his own truth. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
On Sunday, June 29th, 3pm, the 10th annual memorial class in honor of the late Lavinia Williams Yarborough will take place, at the Rod Rodgers Dance Studio, 62 E 4th Street. The class will be conducted by Williams long-time student, teaching assistant Noel Nantambu Hall. A reception will follow from 5pm to 6 pm. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center will present the final PEEKS performance on Monday, June 30, 7:30pm at the Actor’s Fund Arts Center 160 Schermerhorn Street. The series will conclude with A Song For You: An Evening With Dudley Williams. Dancer and teacher Dudley Williams will discuss the creative process and collaborative relation he shared with choreographer Alvin Ailey, which lead to the creation of the ballet Love Songs. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
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
By Walter Rutledge
Dance Of the Village Elders, a program of Harlem Hospital Center and Ailey Arts in Education and Community Programs, are seniors who keep in shape by keeping in step. The dance and fitness class in residence at Harlem Hospital uses movement-based exercises to strengthen muscles, increase cardiovascular function and mobility and to have fun! Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Outstanding performers have always been the hallmark of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Dancers that consistently test the technical and artistic boundaries of modern dance remain a fundamental part of founder Alvin Ailey’s continuing legacy. Artists Carmen DeLavalallade, Dudley Williams, Judith Jamison, Miguel Godreau, Linda Kent, Sara Yarborough, Sarita Allen, Gary deLoatch, Desmond Richardson, and Renee Robinson all possessed an innate ability beyond technique, a God given gift that unfortunately cannot be taught. When the stage lights hit these special individuals it is refracted into dazing, flawless, pure light that pulls you in… moth to flame. Celeste Linda Sims is pure light. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
From the Horse’s Mouth performed their three-day, three performance run from Friday, May 30 through Sunday, June 1 at the Pace University’s Michael Schimmel Center For The Arts. The series celebrated the life and career of Frederic Franklin. It was not only a fitting tribute to a dance legend, but also a joyous homage to a life well lived. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Dances For a Variable Population (DVP) will present Solstice Steps for three free performances Friday, June 20 at 6pm and Saturday, June 21 at 5pm and 7pm at the West Harlem Piers Park. Presented as part of the Riverside Park’s Summer on the Hudson series Harlem Dances, the production will feature a cast of over 50 performers and ranging in age from 25 to 85; including professional dancers, dance luminaries and community-based senior citizens. The world premiere performances features choreography by DVP’s Founder and Artistic Director Naomi Goldberg Haas, and invited guest choreographers and performers including Loretta Abbott, George Faison, Sandra Genter, Dyane Harvey, Walter Rutledge, Dudley Williams and Robin Williams. Continue reading
The show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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
Seward Park Lower East Side East Broadway and Essex Street
Ballet Tech Kids Dance lighting up The Joyce stage! Celebrating five years as Artistic Director, Dionne Figgins premieres a full-length ballet, "Echoes of the Studio," featuring students dancing alongside BT alumni. This new work highlights the journey of Ballet Tech students from studio to stage, showcasing the inspiration, technique, determination, and heart it takes to bring a trainee’s dancing to life.
THE JOYCE THEATER
American Liberty Ballet presents Sylvia, a myth-inspired tale brought to life with vivid characters and dynamic choreography.
Theater at St. Jean’s150 E. 76th St.New York, NY 10021
Honor three decades of Brooklyn Pride with an evening spotlighting LGBTQ+ artists who are shaping the culture of the borough and beyond. Round out the night with films, talks, readings, art-making, dancing, and so much more.
200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Honor three decades of Brooklyn Pride with an evening spotlighting LGBTQ+ artists who are shaping the culture of the borough and beyond. Round out the night with films, talks, readings, art-making, dancing, and so much more.
Both a longstanding tradition and one of Brooklyn’s hottest events, First Saturdays has been putting the art in party for more than 25 years. Be here the first Saturday evening of select months—along with hundreds of your new closest friends—for free art, music, dancing, films, talks, readings, and creative outlets. Plus: signature cocktails.
200 Eastern ParkwayAmerican Liberty Ballet presents Sylvia, a myth-inspired tale brought to life with vivid characters and dynamic choreography.
Theater at St. Jean’s150 E. 76th St.New York, NY 10021
Ballet Tech Kids Dance lighting up The Joyce stage! Celebrating five years as Artistic Director, Dionne Figgins premieres a full-length ballet, "Echoes of the Studio," featuring students dancing alongside BT alumni. This new work highlights the journey of Ballet Tech students from studio to stage, showcasing the inspiration, technique, determination, and heart it takes to bring a trainee’s dancing to life.
THE JOYCE THEATER
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack and Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, the company’s fourth consecutive BAM season promises to be a celebration of joy, beauty, and the transformative power of dance.
Program
Hymn (1993, new production 2026) by Judith Jamison
Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium
Yankee StadiumBoston Red Sox vs New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium
Yankee StadiumThe show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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
Join us on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 1:00 PM for the unveiling of the 5th iteration of the Harlem Renaissance 2.0 Banner Project, presented by The Gatekeepers Collective (TGC). This year’s powerful public art installation, "Where Art Meets Activism on 125," honors the lives, legacies, and cultural contributions of Same-Gender-Loving/LGBTQ+ African American trailblazers whose vision, courage, and creativity helped shape Harlem and American culture
The Forum at Columbia University
The Oxtail Off - NYC: This event will feature THE BEST Caribbean food trucks in all of New York City, along with top chefs competing for the Oxtail Off Championship crown! Based on your ticket level, you will be able to receive samplings of Oxtail from competing chefs, or enjoy full plates from our amazing onsite vendors. Vegan, pescatarian, and vegetarian options will be available.
99 Scott Studio Ballet Tech Kids Dance lighting up The Joyce stage! Celebrating five years as Artistic Director, Dionne Figgins premieres a full-length ballet, "Echoes of the Studio," featuring students dancing alongside BT alumni. This new work highlights the journey of Ballet Tech students from studio to stage, showcasing the inspiration, technique, determination, and heart it takes to bring a trainee’s dancing to life.
THE JOYCE THEATERAmerican Liberty Ballet presents Sylvia, a myth-inspired tale brought to life with vivid characters and dynamic choreography.
Theater at St. Jean’s150 E. 76th St.New York, NY 10021
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Alicia Graf Mack and Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, the company’s fourth consecutive BAM season promises to be a celebration of joy, beauty, and the transformative power of dance.
Program
Hymn (1993, new production 2026) by Judith Jamison
New York hottest place to be for a fun Sunday evening house music party. JD Frankie Paradise will get you moving whether you dip, twist or just strike a pose.
District - 246 west 35th street
The show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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 AvenueThe show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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 AvenueThe show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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
A dance and wellness classes design for Older Adults taught by Walter Rutledge
204 W 134th St, New York, NY 10030
The show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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 AvenueThe show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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 AvenueA dance and wellness classes design for Older Adults taught by Walter Rutledge
720 Nereid Ave, Bronx, NY 10466
The show will present iconic works from the museum’s collection by more than 20 artists, including John Chamberlain, Chryssa, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, and Andy Warhol. Highlights will include Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019) and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Soft Shuttlecock (1995), on view in New York for the first time in 25 years. These works will be shown alongside Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019), a major loan to the exhibition, and recent acquisitions by contemporary artists such as Farah Al Qasimi, Alex Da Corte, Lucia Hierro, Martine Gutierrez, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Yee I-Lann, Cara Romero, and Liu Shiyuan, whose practices expand the legacies of Pop.
1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 (at 88th Street)
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