Arthur Mitchell News

BWW Review: LA BALLET 'BALANCHINE'S BLACK AND WHITE' AND 2020 GALA at The Broad Stage

On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at the Jill Newhouse Gallery on the Upper East Side, artists of color will engage in a special talk about European art for the tenth annual Master Drawings New York. Conceived by Savona Bailey-McClain and Jill Newhouse, this event hopes to diversify the conversation about art and bridge time periods, artists and audiences in this 21st century.

Dance Theatre of Harlem announced today a $4 million gift from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the organization's capacity building efforts, including improvements to salaries for artists and staff, investments in fundraising infrastructure and leadership, and innovative artistic and community-building initiatives. The grant includes a $1 million matching gift to be raised by the Dance Theatre of Harlem Board of Directors, led by Board Chairman Ackneil Muldrow, III, bringing the total support to $5 million. The timing of this gift comes at the culmination of DTH's extraordinary 50th Anniversary Celebration, with its New York City Center homecoming engagement and Vision Gala April 15-18, 2020. For more information, please visit www.DanceTheatreOfHarlem.org.

Boston Ballet's 2019a?"2020 spring season opens with rEVOLUTION, a dynamic program showcasing three choreographers who transformed the world of ballet: George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and William Forsythe. rEVOLUTION runs Feb 27a?"Mar 8 at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

As 2020 approaches, a new appreciation of male virtuosity demands consideration. Possibilities for dancers have exploded over the last decade as extreme stretching and acrobatics have come into vogue, though not always for the best. While circus tricks and random moments now seem to rule the stage, not all 'innovation' has been destructive for men. Where once trying to play it straight was the norm, this generation of performers gives zero f*x for anything other than staying true to their artistry and health.

If an audience is full of Black, Brown, Asian or whatever color people, you as a director will think twice about programming La Bayadere or Petrushka. I really believe that.

Jacob's Pillow announces public events held January through May in its Winter/Spring season, featuring co-presentations with local cultural partners; Pillow Parties; workshops and classes; Pillow Pop-Ups; and more. Events take place January through May on the Pillow's 220-acre campus in Becket, MA and across Berkshire County. As the Pillow continues to advance its five year strategic plan, Vision '22, the organization increasingly activates its local and national presence by expanding programming and extending resources beyond its acclaimed summer dance festival.

Valerie Taylor-Barnes, celebrated ballerina of the Royal Ballet and champion of young artists, passed away peacefully of natural causes on November 18, 2019 at the age of 88. She was preceded in death nearly ten years to the day by her beloved husband, Clive Barnes.

Two-time Tony Award and two-time Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone has donated a portion from her personal archive to Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

In a play on 'Sankofa', looking backwards to move forward served Dance Theatre of Harlem well in this sneak peek of the season to come. Returning to the Guggenheim Museum for the first time since 1971, the company revealed an incredible lineup of dancers who were eager to prove their mettle in ballets by George Balanchine and Arthur Mitchell.

Founded by Arthur Mitchell at the height of the civil rights movement, the Dance Theatre of Harlem stands as a unique and singular presence in the world of ballet and dance. The Company returns to Worcester after an absence of decades for one performance at The Hanover Theatre on Friday, November 15 at 8pm that will feature core works from their repertory and Passage, a new piece by choreographer Claudia Schreier and composer Jessie Montgomery.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Works & Process Rotunda Project: Dance Theatre of Harlem at 50 on Monday, September 30, 2019 at 6:30pm & 8:30pm.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2019 season. Since 1984 the performing arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators.

Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) has named Jon Teeuwissen as its new Artistic Advisor for Dance. In the newly-created role, Teeuwissen will program MOT's dance season, expand upon the company's current community engagement initiatives and increase or strengthen collaborative relationships within the industry.

 In association with the African & African American Performing Arts Coalition, K*Star*Productions is pleased to announce the Black Choreographers Festival (BCF): Summer Series, September 7 a?" 8, at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland. Starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday the 7th, the program will feature works by Kendra Kimbrough Barnes, Gregory Dawson and Reginald Savage, among others. Sunday's show starts at 3 p.m., and features more than half a dozen pre-professional youth dance groups from around the Bay Area, including Frankie Lee Peterson III, New Style Motherlode, Oakland School for the Arts, On Demand, Sweat and Zaccho Youth Dance Company.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim announces its Fall 2019 season. Since 1984 the performing arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators.

Donna Walker-Kuhne Receives LPTW's First Rachel Crothers Leadership Award

Dance Theatre of Harlem celebrates 50 years of dance at Jacob's Pillow and commemorates the legacy of their late co-founder Arthur Mitchell in the Ted Shawn Theatre, July 10-14. Founding member and principal dancer Virginia Johnson now leads the multi-ethnic ballet company known for their innovative repertoire, acclaimed as "classy, earnest, and potent" (LA Times). Returning to the Pillow for the first time in five years, Dance Theatre of Harlem performs a program showcasing the dancers' diverse technical expertise in Darrell Grand Moultrie's Harlem on My Mind, Christopher Wheeldon's This Bitter Earth, George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie, and premiering at the Pillow, an expanded version of Jacob's Pillow Dance Award winner Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Balamouk.

The Miami City Ballet began its Friday Ballet across America evening with George Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht Ballet (1980), 'definitely the world according to Balanchine,' wrote Suzanne Farrell in her autobiography. The Miami ensemble got off to a ragged start, literally not up to speed, but once Principal Katia Carranza took the stage, in the role originated by Farrell, the ladies got with the program. Carranza combined necessary speed and technique with glorious attention to musical detail; every beat has been choreographed, and Carranza never missed one even if all she had to move was just a portion of an arm. Her cavalier, Rainer Krenstetter, added to his substantial elevation significant skill in landing--not only softly, but often exceptionally still. And by the time the Gounod score reached its feverish finish, the Corps de Ballet were at last working with the precision required for the final wedge formation; Balanchine's final image requires absolute solidity from the Corps as backdrop so that the sensational to the shoulder lift of Carranza by Krenstetter contains the power it's meant to.