Arthur Mitchell News

The Bessies, formally known as the New York Dance and Performance Awards, celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Apollo Theater on Monday, October 20th. It was an exciting evening that commemorated the diverse world of dance and those who tirelessly contribute to a field that makes this city come alive.

The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced tonight the complete list of 2013-14 season award recipients. The Bessies, produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, were held at the legendary Apollo Theater at 7:30 p.m., following red carpet interviews and photographs with the nominees in attendance. NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray gave opening remarks, and Lisa Kron, whose hit musical Fun Home will make its Broadway debut this year, hosted the evening.

After 16 years, the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University welcomes back Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) to Chicago as part of its 125th Anniversary Season celebration, November 21 - 23, 2014.

Oregon Ballet Theatre announced during Pink Martini's concert at the Oregon Zoo that Nicolo Fonte's world premiere in the upcoming OBT 25 program will feature Portland's favorite 'little orchestra' sharing the stage with the dancers in the first ever full-scale collaboration between the two groups. The ballet, titled Everywhere, was inspired by Fonte's eagerness to create an unforgettable experience for the audience that will reveal new facets of both groups and the performers in them. In celebration of the Ballet's 25th Anniversary Season, this entirely new creation will feature China Forbes, who has been the lead singer for the band since its inception. Opening today, October 11, 2014 at the Keller Auditorium, OBT 25 will continue for five performances through October 18.

NEW YORK, September 30, 2014 - The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today the host of the anniversary ceremony that is to be held at the legendary Apollo Theater. Broadway playwright, actress and 1993 Bessie awardee Lisa Kron will host the 30th Annual Bessie Awards. Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, the awards will take place October 20, 7:30 p.m. Nominees will arrive starting 6:00 p.m. for Red Carpet press interviews and photo opportunities.

The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announces Arthur Mitchell, founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem, as the recipient of the 2014 NY Dance and Performance Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance and Dr. Chuck Davis of DanceAfrica! for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. These awards will be presented at the 30th Annual Bessie Awards ceremony at the legendary Apollo Theater on Monday, October 20.

On Friday, November 21, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 80th Annual Luncheon presents "Brava, Jessye!" to salute the legendary Jessye Norman, who recently wrote about her life in a memoir titled Stand Up Straight and Sing!

The Dance Theater of Harlem community is mourning the death of the much beloved SHIRLEY HARRIET MITCHELL-MILLS, the sister of Arthur Mitchell, founder and artistic director emeritus of Dance Theater of Harlem--a leading dance institution of global acclaim. Ms. Harriet died on August 26, 2014. She was 73 years old.

Oregon Ballet Theatre announced last night during Pink Martini's concert at the Oregon Zoo that Nicolo Fonte's world premiere in the upcoming OBT 25 program will feature Portland's favorite "little orchestra" sharing the stage with the dancers in the first ever full-scale collaboration between the two groups. The ballet, titled Everywhere, was inspired by Fonte's eagerness to create an unforgettable experience for the audience that will reveal new facets of both groups and the performers in them. In celebration of the Ballet's 25th Anniversary Season, this entirely new creation will feature China Forbes, who has been the lead singer for the band since its inception. Opening Saturday, October 11, 2014 at the Keller Auditorium, OBT 25 will continue for five performances through October 18.

The 2014-2015 Kentucky Center Presents season features performances by Susan Boyle, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and Dance Theatre of Harlem, as well as luminaries from the realms of Comedy, Classical music, and the Culinary Arts.

New York City Center's 2014-15 season features an exciting lineup of dance and musical theater that begins with the 11th season of City Center's acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival. The Festival features 24 acclaimed dance companies and artists from around the world, and will kick off in September with two free dance performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in association with The Public Theater, followed by five unique programs at City Center in October. The Band Wagon, an Encores! Special Event starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, follows in November, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, City Center's Principal Dance Company, returns for a month-long engagement in December.

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000), known as 'Tanny,' was surely among the most transcendent.

This Friday, June 20, 10-11:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings**, New York metro area at 9 p.m. on THIRTEEN) is the national broadcast premiere of dance-disability documentary American Masters -- Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun, which reveals the story of influential New York City Ballet principal dancer and polio survivor Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000), known as 'Tanny.' The film will be available on DVD June 24 from Kino Lorber.

Following a successful opening week of Festival 2013, Dance Theatre of Harlem returns with an all-new program. DTH gave its first professional performance at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 1970; since that date, DTH and the Pillow have enjoyed a longstanding and fruitful artistic relationship. The company, led by Artistic Director Virginia Johnson, performs Donald Byrd's smooth yet power-packed contemporary ballet Contested Space, which features a plethora of solos and duets. past-carry-forward, created for DTH by Tanya Wideman-Davis and Thaddeus Davis, conveys the spirit and significance of the Harlem Renaissance. The cornerstone of this dynamic evening is the late choreographer Ulysses Dove's moving, elegiac ballet Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, danced to "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" by Arvo Part. The company appears in a special seven-show engagement in the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow, July 9-13.

The School of American Ballet's Workshop Performance Benefit 2014 on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 celebrated 50 years of these annual performances and raised nearly $860,000 for scholarships and school programs. The evening began with cocktails at 5:30pm in Juilliard's Morse Hall, followed by the presentation of the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Service to Dena Abergel, SAB faculty member and NYCB Children's Ballet Master, and Wien Awards for Outstanding Promise to Lyrica Blankfein, Christopher Grant, Baily Jones, and Addie Tapp. Scroll down for photos from the event!

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000), known as 'Tanny,' was surely among the most transcendent.

A roll call of dance greats - performers, directors, critics, and historians - took the stage one after the other at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts in New York City on the evening of May 30th 2014 to share their memories of one of the greatest of them all, Frederic Franklin.