Festival Ballet Providence’s Black Box Theater, Providence, RI. February 19, 2023. Standing center stage in Festival Ballet Providence (FBP)’s intimate blackbox space, Director Kathleen Breen Combes described the concept of this program – and I could practically feel my face light up. I don’t know if I’ve felt so intrigued, and plain excited, to experience dance art to come.  Breen Combes tasked choreographers with creating works in the theme of 1978 – the year of the company’s founding. And those choreographers came from the company’s very ranks: from first-year apprentices to dancers wh ..read more

Producer Joey Parnes has announced that Bob Fosse’s DANCIN’ the American showbusiness legend’s landmark musical tribute to the artform that defined his life, will return to Broadway 41 years after the original smash-hit production took its final bow. DANCIN’ will begin previews at The Music Box Theatre on March 2, with opening night set for March 19. The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento, one of the stars of the original Broadway production, and produced in cooperation with Nicole Fosse. DANCIN’ is Fosse’s full-throated, full-bodied celebration of dancers and danci ..read more

Film at Lincoln Center, New York, NY. February 10-13, 2023. Dance film didn’t originate in the COVID lockdown era, yet it certainly proliferated then. Many dance companies and independent choreographers called upon the form in order to keep all involved safe, and the process aligned with public health protocals. The result was a notable blossoming of dance film, with the dance field as a whole putting out a plethora of styles, atmospheres, themes, and meanings through the form.      In 2023, COVID lockdowns are a thing of the past – yet dance film is very much not. The ..read more

The Foundry, Cambridge, MA. December 4, 2022. Boston-based dance artist Kristin Wagner stepped into the spotlight. She explained that this program, Refract/Reframe, was The Click’s first indoor show (while they have done outdoor and works in progress over COVID, and also considering that the group came together in late summer of 2021). Wagner also noted that this program is one of the first in the venue – a multimedia art space, one of the only in the area that does that while including dance (that latter part all too rare, noted Wagner).  All of this signaled possibility, fresh starts an ..read more

Rose Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, NY. February 3, 2023.  Memphis Jookin, a tale of growing up dancing in the southern city, hit the stage at Lincoln Center, and judging from the sheer speed the audience jumped to their collective feet after it was over, it was a great success. Lil Buck, aka Charles Riley, takes the street dance that brought him to fame and plants it right in the face of the audience – in a way that makes you want a second helping of this dance treat.  Jookin came about in Memphis over 30 years ago, but it was Lil Buck who brought it ..read more

The Joyce Theater, New York, NY. January 24, 2023. Dancers stride across the stage in Sharon Eyal’s signature relevé walk (legs mostly straight with knees bending slightly upward between steps), hands framing their belly button and elbows symmetrically akimbo. Although there is something fashion show about their diagonal passes, they wear only nude leotards and knee high socks. Micro head movements, saluting gestures and level changes gradually accumulate on top of their consistent steps, which follow a heavy percussion beat –– the opening of composer Ori Lichtik’s unrelenting electronic sound ..read more

Producer Joey Parnes has announced that Bob Fosse’s DANCIN’ the American showbusiness legend’s landmark musical tribute to the artform that defined his life, will return to Broadway 41 years after the original smash-hit production took its final bow. DANCIN’ will begin previews at The Music Box Theatre on March 2, with opening night set for March 19. The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento, one of the stars of the original Broadway production, and produced in cooperation with Nicole Fosse. DANCIN’ is Fosse’s full-throated, full-bodied celebration of dancers and danci ..read more

The Plimpton Shattuck Theater, Boston, MA. January 15, 2023. I was waiting for Company SBB // Stefanie Batten Bland’s Look Who’s Coming to Dinner to start (the New York City-based company touring in Boston). Per usual when I take in shows to review, I assembled my materials to take notes, browsed the program and eyed the stage space. Not quite per usual, one of the ensemble members sat next to me and started chatting with me.  She was jovial and authentic, yet I also chuckled to myself to think that her work of performing was starting; most likely, she was executing an improvisational ”sc ..read more

The Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, MA. November 4, 2022  Creating a whole new world, of shifted values and disrupted systems and structures: it can seem impossible. Yet, what if it weren’t? One thing is for sure: we need to envision that world before we can build it. Abilities Dance Boston (ADB) did just that with Inversion. Through thoughtful choreography, invested performances and bold design, the program demonstrated the power of art – and the deeply visceral art form of dance in particular – to make tangible an idea of something different, something better.  Before a step was dance ..read more

Welcome to an incomplete, randomly ordered list of today’s Black dancers who inspire our socks off. These artist are world-class athletes, industry entrepreneurs and creative creatures down to their core. Because Black excellence is everywhere, there are far too many names to fit on this list. Some names we’re skipping because you should absolutely know them by now – Misty Copeland, anyone? Alvin Ailey is an obvious answer. Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson of Complexions Contemporary Ballet – classic. And if you don’t know the names Debbie Allen or Camille A. Brown – start your research th ..read more