The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, celebrates a landmark 35th anniversary this year. Today, the nominees for the 2019 Bessie Awards, along with the recipients of the 2019 Juried Bessie Award and 2019 Outstanding Breakout Choreographer Award, were announced and celebrated at the Bessies press conference. (The list of nominations follows.)
The Tank will present their third annual Lady Fest, featuring new work by some of the most exciting lady-identified artists out there, in celebration of womxnhood and the female voice, in all its glory.
Broadway's Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen, is currently in its third record-smashing year at the Music Box Theatre. Following the success of the Broadway production, a national tour launched soon after, bringing the story across North America. A sit-down production made its way to Toronto earlier this year, and will be followed by a West End production set to debut in October 2019 at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Westport Country Playhouse, in association with Hershey Felder Presents, will stage a musical tribute to Irving Berlin, one of the most successful songwriters of the 20th Century, with "Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin," from July 16 - August 3.
Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation, announced today the New York City dance organization's programming for its Fall '19 Winter '20 season, the first in collaboration with The Joyce's new Director of Programming, Aaron Mattocks. With dance styles from contemporary and modern to street and social, and traditional movement from Argentina, India, Spain, Samoa, and beyond, The Joyce continues to lead the way in international dance presentations while nurturing and supporting artists from all disciplines at every stage of their careers. The New York City organization, one of the world's largest presenters of dance, is especially excited to announce that live music will be featured during each and every engagement from the start of the season through the end of 2019. Fall '19/Winter '20 at The Joyce will be a true celebration of diversity in dance with programs and styles that encompass the wide range of aesthetic interests of both its artists and audiences.
After leading the company for 22 years, Artistic Director Terrence S. Orr has announced he will retire in June 2020 after celebrating the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's upcoming 50th Anniversary Season.
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.
After decades of obstacles and being told 'No' repeatedly, Broadway's Charlie Hodges met Twyla Tharp and his life changed forever. Charlie believes that if you love something, you should be allowed access to it and we all must take responsibility for our self-input. He dreams of a world in which everyone is allowed to be the best because there is room for more than one at the top. As artists, we often come to a crossroad with several paths in front of us. Charlie is a prime example of creating a new path when the presented options aren't sufficient.
Since 2012 today's subject Lourdes Lopez has been living her theatre life as the Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. The company is performing May 31st through June 2nd at the Kennedy Center as part of Ballet Across America. The May 31st performance is a shared program with Dance Theatre of Harlem who will be performing May 28th through the 30th.
Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2019 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.
Oregon Ballet Theatre is excited to highlight the rich history of American choreographers in its exhilarating week-long repertory program The Americans running June 7-15, 2019. Come to a performance at OBT and experience the power and poignancy of American-made ballet with three dynamic works, Night Creature, Robust American Love and the world premiere of Big Shoes.
Well before The Met Gala's kitschy theme for 2019 inspired the likes of Lady Gaga, Jordan Roth and countess celebrities to strut their most outrageous stuff down the pink carpet, Mark Morris has been the reigning King of Camp in choreography, celebrating this gleeful genre in company classics such as The Hard Nut. This spring he elevated the playful style integrated with expressive movement in Pepperland, an exuberant homage to the 1960s counterculture and The Beatles' seminal 1967 concept album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Women's Division will hold its 65thSpirit of Achievement Luncheon on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at The Rainbow Room in New York City to recognize notable achievements in theatre, writing, philanthropy and medicine. This year's luncheon will raise funds for comprehensive health care for women through cutting-edge research, discovery and teaching, as well as providing specialty care for all women.
Asolo Repertory Theatre and The Sarasota Ballet proudly announce the installation of brand new seating in the Harold and Esther Mertz Theatre, the main performing space for Asolo Repertory Theatre and the home of The Sarasota Ballet. Located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, which is also home to the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, the exquisite Mertz Theatre is one of Sarasota's most populated and significant cultural venues.
In this solo concert, RESONANCE III, Miki Orihara will be dancing Martha Graham's 'Lamentation (1930)', Doris Humphrey's 'Two Ecstatic Themes (1931)', Seiko Takata's work 'Mother (1938)' Konami Ishii's 'Moon Desert (early 1930's)' and Yuriko's 'Cry (1963)'.
Former Royal Ballet Principal Ivan Putrov has been curating regular galas in London in recent years with hit and miss results. 2017's Men in Motion fell into the latter category however, returning now with Against the Stream, the result is an engaging evening of dance from some of ballet's most starry names.
The 2018-2019 Season will conclude with works by three of America's most recognized and acclaimed choreographers brought together on stage for the THARP PARSONS FORSYTHE program May 10-19 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. With more than 160 choreographed dances to her name, Twyla Tharp is a legendary master of her craft and her In the Upper Room is a tour-de-force of athleticism, built on a pulsating score by Philip Glass.
What happens when you combine six guys who look like every-day average men, close to over 40+ years of dance training and performance, two incredible musicians, and a whole lot of moving parts and set pieces? That is the experience and feelings the audience embraced Friday night as TapDogs took Morsani Hall at the Straz center by storm, and leaving nothing in their wake. 31 incredibly powerful dance numbers and one exciting encore made this evening of tap truly exceptional.
