Kristen Dickerson

With October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Voices of the Tarantate consisting of an all female ensemble, I arrived to the performance expecting an empowering, feminist show. Voices of the Tarantate did not disappoint on that front, but it ended up being so much more than that.

Awakening was an evening full of talented dancers, with credits including So You Think You Can Dance, Billy Elliot, Miami City Ballet, After Midnight, and Radio City Christmas Spectacular. A surprise guest appearance was also made by Alex Wong, former So You Think You Can Dance contestant and cast member of Newsies on Broadway. With such a talented cast and choreographer (Lindsay Nelko), who has an impressive list of credits, including So You Think You Can Dance and X-Factor, I had high hopes for the evening. Unfortunately, I found the choreography for this show to be lacking.

Happy National Tap Dance Day! I know I'm a little late, but that's because on the actual date, which was chosen to commemorate Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's birthday, I was too busy celebrating with the American Tap Dance Foundation!

The New York City Ballet proved that only the best can perform on this stage. It takes great talent to leave a solo dancer on a stage that large without them getting lost, especially when the costumes blended into the matching background (both of which literally caused the crowd to gasp as the curtain rose).Yet the ballerinas shone in the spotlight, strong and graceful. They had beautiful hands, relaxed shoulders, and light, quiet feet--all the little things that make a world of difference.

Performing at the Lincoln Center is the be-all and end-all for dancers. The stakes are high, the pressure is on, and everyone is watching you. This is what all dancers aspire to. Needless to say, my expectations were high going into the evening. So how did Ballet Preljocaj hold up to the pressure? They left me breathless. The outstanding company proved why this is the dream for dancers. Just when you think that dance has nothing new to offer, that every performance you see is the same old, same old, something like this comes along and restores your faith in dance.

Danse Lumiere is native to San Francisco. This performance marked their premiere in New York City. The Scandinavia House, which co-sponsored this evening of dance, along with the Poets House, has a lot to offer to the arts in the near future. Will I be going back? Probably not. But if abstract is your thing, you can find more events coming up at www.scandinaviahouse.org.

Is there any ballet more classic than The Sleeping Beauty? It's a story well-known and loved by all, a tale of true love and overflowing with fairy tale characters. The Russian National Ballet Theatre, which was founded in Moscow in the late 1980s, did a splendid job of bringing this story to life.

So you've decided you want to see Alvin Ailey this holiday season- now what? There are so many different numbers and performances, so where do you start? Which night do you go? How do you choose? After going to Alvin Ailey two weekends in a row, I was amazed at how much the two nights differed and, after recommending the show to my friends, I decided I should help out by giving a brief description of what to expect on oncoming nights to help you pick the night that's best for you.

Small children running wild while dressed as mice, fake cannonballs being thrown into the crowd, a magic show on stage- what else could it be but the season favorite, The Nutcracker?

Glover has been a personal idol of mine as a tap dancer since I was a young girl and fast picking up the art. This, however, was my first opportunity to see him live, and he did not disappoint. Glover tapped along to the band, his feet became a musical instrument of their own- the best musical instrument in the band, in my opinion. His feet created music with a perfectly timed flap, stomp, toe dig, or cramp roll. His infamous speed held true and created a fun, high-energy performance that took the show to the next level.

Alvin Ailey is a modern African dance company that is best known for its strength, powerful isolations, and breath-taking lifts and leaps, and did I mention strength? Despite the horrible downpour of rain outside on Friday night, the house was packed and buzzing with excitement and anticipation for the world premiere of Lift, choreographed by Assure Barton. The artistic director came on stage before the show began to let us know that “if you're still feeling a little chilly, we'll warm you up.” And that's exactly what the night did.

I got to sit down for coffee with current Rockettes dancer, Abigail Gatlin, 26, from small-town Cleveland, Tennessee, and learn what life is really like as a Rockette, what goes on behind the scenes, and what it's like transitioning from a small town to New York City and becoming a member of one of the most amazing dance ensembles in the world!

This quirky ballet company blended ballet on pointe and contemporary/modern dance together to create a smooth and flowing movement.

In music, intermezzo is a musical composition that is partnered with another work of art, usually a play or other, larger musical compositions. Following this definition, Intermezzo, a spectacular new ballet company, entirely lives up to its name. There is no greater joy than an evening at the ballet, or the opportunity to attend a night at the symphony. So, one can imagine that combing the two made for a spectacular performance. The magic of combining ballet with live music, even if it's just a string quartet, creates an atmosphere that can't be beat.

In this hour and a half long monologue by Kyle deCamp and Joshua Thorson, we get to experience the impact of political action and the impending negative effects it can have on a community and, more specifically, on a child: one child, in particular.

Passage a l'act/Acting Out is a wonderful show for art and dance fans alike. This dance performance did not use dance in the way one would expect, but instead went back to the basics of dance, using simple and basic movements as a form of expression and art.

BWW Reviews New York International Fringe Festival's Peter Pan and the Stardust Dances, a tale of Peter Pan, Esmerelda, and floating lanterns told in five acts.

Sullivan shined in this story of love, loss, and letting go. Gone was a storybook told through dance; a Broadway performance without words. With smooth transitions between scenes, I was seamlessly pulled into Sullivan's world of a home that was simultaneously living out the past and looking toward the future. Sullivan shined most fully in her tap solo "Something More," which put on display Sullivan's pure tap talent with her fast footwork, proving that she was completely at home in her leather-soled tap shoes.

The American Tap Dance Foundation's Tap it Out hoofers closed out Tap Week in NYC on July 13, 2013 outdoors in Times Square