By Walter Rutledge
The Dance of the Village Elders is returning to St. Philips Church, 204 W 134th Street beginning Thursday October 16th, at 2:30pm. The senior wellness classes, which uses dance as the primary medium was a mainstay in the Harlem community. The participates learned choreography, in addition to the wellness/fitness training, and presented biannual concerts in St. Philips’ sanctuary. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) will present A Ramp To Paradise on June 27 and 28, 2025 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater,405 west 55th Street. The dance theater work is the brainchild of THPAC executive chairman Alex Smith, Jr. and is based on the short story A Ramp To Paradise conceived and written by Smith. The story centers around a group of friends who attend the famed 1980’s underground dance club-The Paradise Garage. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
For those of us that believe “Hell has no fury like a women scorned”. And for those of us who know firsthand you do not mess with a Black woman who “ain’t feeling it”. Leave your Elizabethan mindset at home and head to the Harvey Theater to experience MacBeth in Stride – Shakespeare from a sistah’s point of view. Written and performed by Obie- Award winner Whitney White the production takes Shakespeare and female empowerment to a new level. This soulful contemporary rendition of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Macbeth runs for only five remaining performances through April 27 at the Harvey Theater located at 651 Futon Street in downtown Brooklyn. Continue reading
The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) is conducting a search for three choreographers for the upcoming 2025 season June 27th and 28th at the Ailey Citicorp Theater. THPAC will present A Ramp to Paradise an original work based on a short story by THPAC Executive Chairman Alex Smith Jr. The story is set in the Paradise Garage, the New York Black gay mega club from the late 70’s and 80’s. Choreographers should have expertise in Modern, Jazz and period social/club dance styles. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
The applause has subsided, curtain fallen and the house lights are at half during a brief pause between dances. Instinctively we peruse the program to find the bio of that one standout performer. In many cases that dancer’s initial training and nurturing did not happen in one of metropolis’ elite dance academies. Instead, that first fire was probably kindled in a storefront, church basement, or school gymnasium. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet will commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary with a three-day New York City season Friday, February 13 through Sunday, February 15 at BAM Fisher Fishman Space. The season will offer Remembering, a program that reflects Gaines continued commitment to educate and enlighten the next generation through the dance theatre genre. Continue reading
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
By Walter Rutledge
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is now halfway through their 66th New York season at New York City Center. In the 18 remaining performances this season, which runs until January 5, the company will present 19 works by 12 choreographers. The fall/winter Ailey season has become one of New York City’s annual holiday traditions. Continue reading
By Walter Rutledge
Lloyd Knight’s solo dance work, The Drama will have its preview public performances Friday, December 13, 7pm, and Saturday, December 14, 6pm, at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune Street, 11th Floor, in Manhattan’s West Village/Meatpacking district. Commissioned by the Guggenheim’s Works & Process The Drama is being presented on conjunction with Fall 2024 Studio Series and will have it official premiere on January 13th, 2025, 7pm, at the Guggenheim Museum. 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