Carmen deLavallade in As I Remember it @ BAC

Robin Orlin and Germaine Acogny’s At the same time we were pointing a finger at you, we realized we were pointing three at ourselves

“Lamentation Variations” by Liz Gerring and Kyle Abraham for the Graham Company during their 85th Anniversary season @ The Joyce

Vicky Shick and her dancers (Olsi Gjeci, Lily Gold, Omagbitse Omagbemi, Shick and Marilyn Maywald Yahel) during “Stripped/Dressed” @ 92nd Street Y

Ronald K. Brown, Evidence, A Dance Company @ The Joyce

Davalois Fearon of Stephen Petronio Company @ The Joyce

The dancers of NDT2 @ The Joyce 

Marjani Forte-Saunder’s  being Here…/this time @ Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center

Alonzo King LINES Ballet @ The Joyce

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s Farewell Performance @ BAM/Opera  House

Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug in OQ @ Japan Society

Misty Copeland’s momentous and memorable performance of Swan Lake @ The Met

Founder/Artistic Director of DanceAfrica “Baba” Chuck Davis’ good bye after 38 years @ BAM/Opera House

Rennie Harris’ Exodus for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater @ Lincoln Center

The young dance students at Ballet Hispanico during a Dance/NYC uptown event @ Ballet Hispanico School

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Analogy/Dora: Tramontane @ Peak Performances

DanceNOW’s “ENCORE” performance @ Joe’s Pub notably: Mark Gindick and Deborah Lohse, Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Millan, Megan Williams, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Nicole Wolcott, Brian Brooks and Nicholas Leichter.

Seán Curran Company @ BAM/Harvey

Aparna Ramaswamy in her solo performance @ The Joyce

The duo Odissi dancers of Nrityagram- Bijayini Satpathy and Surupa Sen in “Fall For Dance” 2015 @ City Center

Stephen Petronio Company in Locomotor in “Fall for Dance” 2015 @ City Center

Patricia Hoffbauer’s Dance for Intimate Spaces and Friendly People @ Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center

Camille A. Brown & Dancers (Brown, Catherine Foster, Beatrice Capote, Fana Fraser, and Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Mora-Amina Parker) in Brown’s BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play @ The Joyce

Brenna Monroe-Cook as Carolta in Jose Limón’s work of the same name for the company’s International  Dance Festival @ The Joyce

Clark Center’s memorable coming together of legends in “From the Horse’s Mouth: Celebrating Clark Center" @ City College Center for the Arts

Kyle Abraham's Abraham.in.Motion @ The Joyce

Dance Magazine’s 58th annual Awards to Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Karen Kain, Marcelo Gomes, David Vaughn and Soledad Barrio who received the first ever flamenco award. 

Larry Keigwin returning to the stage after a 10 year absence in 3 Ballards during his company’s season at The Joyce

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Samantha Spies’ Walking With ‘Trane at BAM/Harvey

Chyrstyn Fentroy of Dance  Theatre of Harlem

Dianne McIntyre in we carry our homes within us which enables us to fly which she choreographed to Brazilian composer, Marcos Balter’s  new work as part of New York Live Arts music series with yMusic @ NYLA

This year the dance community celebrated the life and time of Earnie Stevenson, Dudley Williams, and Blondell Cummings

My AmNews January Dance Calendar

Maurice Hines
New World Stages
December 23 – March
Hines is joined by tap dancing Manzari brothers and the all-female Diva Jazz Orchestra in Maurice Hines: 
Tappin' Thru “…a swinging, song and dance musical that celebrates the astonishing showmanship of one of the last great tap dancers of a by-gone era,” notes the release.  The show is directed by Jeff Calhoun.  Find out more here 









Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca
West Park Presbyterian Church (165 W 86th Street)
December 11 - January 23
Barrio’s critically acclaimed production of the Greek tragedy “Antigone” by Sophocles, adapted and renamed Antigona, continues.   Merging text, music and flamenco, “The company…reignit[es] the theatrical potential of the Greek chorus as the lyrical and rhythmic heart of the drama,” notes the release.  Find out more here 
 
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
City Center
December 2-January 3
Only two more weeks left of the annual, month-long season at City Center under artistic director Robert Battle, boasting premieres, new productions, repertory favorites and a special new year’s eve performance.  Find out more here 

Some thoughts on Ralph Lemon's Scaffold Room for AmNews

Some Thoughts on Kyle Abraham's Abraham.in.Motion for AmNews

Liz Gerring’s Horizon at Peak Performances (December 10-13) was well-crafted.  In the making of Horizon, Gerring planned to explore “…the idea of density…add[ing] as much as possible to the space in terms of dancers and movement,” but here, nothing is fussy or too much.  From the unobtrusive backdrop that subtly changes mood and color, to the well-timed and always giving lights, to the well-suited water-colored costumes and add to that sounds that just fits, Gerring’s canvas was rich.  In round after round of entrance and exits, she peoples the space in different groupings of formal/unison and juxtaposing dynamism.  The movement is challenging, and it seems like the dancers will never stop.  And between controlled or hurried breaths they slash the air, test their limits of balance, propel their bodies on and off stage, roll a partner like a rug or carry another on their shoulder, calmly walking across the stage.  Without pause, they danced for an hour.  Kudos to the dancers: Brandon Collwes, Joseph Giordano, Molly Griffin, Pierre Guibault, Julia Jurgilewicz, Jake Szczypek, Claire Westby and Parker Murphy [understudy]). Plaudits also go to Michael J. Schumacher, Robert Wierzel’s (Production Design), Amith A. Chandrashaker’s (Associate Lighting Design) and Liz Prince (Costume Design). 

If there is ever a chance to see Dianne McIntyre perform, seize the opportunity.  Alas, one opportunity just passed, (December 9-12) where McIntyre and Bill T. Jones closed the New York Live Arts music series led by yMusic—“Come Around IV,” with newly commissioned solos, to original scores.  Hideaki Aomori, Gabriel Cabezas, CJ Camerieri, Robert Moose, Nadia Sirota and Alex Sopp make up yMusic, the group of NYC instrumentalists who “…has really helped to shape the future of classical music,” according to National Public Radio’s Fred Child.  For the musicians and for McIntyre, the Brazilian composer Marcos Balter created the mesmerizing piece titled "we carry our homes within us which enables us to fly," to which McIntyre danced as if in a perfect trance.  Dressed in variations of white, contrasted by lines of red tape dividing the space for dance and music, McIntyre weaves it all together moving in and around the musicians shepherding them to match her swirls, spins, tilts, lunges and sprinkles of the imagined through her fluttering fingers.  Her body is its own instrument playing against Balter’s sounds and chants and although there is hope that it wouldn’t end, the standing ovation and call (“Dianne…Dianne”) confirms the inevitable.  More please!  

​The “DoublePlus” series at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center closed with “A Split-Bill Evening” featuring Katrina Reid and Marguerite Hemmings, curated by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (December 2-5).  Reid and Hemmings share Jamaican roots, but offer dissimilar dance styles.  Reconfiguring the room, Reid asked the audience to get close, leaving just a small area for her Don’t move too slow through the broken glass, which she wrote and performed. The space returns to the more open norm for Hemmings’ we free, which was a raw and regal mix of film, text, music and dance. At the top, Hemmings asks the audience to take out their phones for this “all-inclusive performance” experience, and further asked that they “Tweet” everything. In a short time, she manages to take the audience on a personal journey professing her view of “free”dom; her film which “walks” us through untraditional neighborhoods. Stripping layer after layer (literally), she dances stories of strife and hope, punctuating each moment of disrobing with razor-like stare.  Peppered in-between codified dance forms, her long and lean body glide from one pop move to another and near the end she activates Kendrick Lamar’s “Black Lives Matter” anthem “we gon' be alright,” arms swinging and chest pumping, daring us to join in.  We do.  Hemmings ends by inviting the audience to the space for a good ‘ole Soul Train Line and we accept.  

​We are excited to offer a new workshop for actors, performers and dancers  working with text.
The PHYSICAL ACTOR WORKSHOP meet weekly for 2.5 hours at the Mark Morris Dance Center. We will utilize the Gaga movement language and other acting methods to connect actions and text to the physical body. Thursdays from 6:30pm-9pm, first workshop on January 7th.

We will also open a new monthly Creation workshop for dancers who want to create their own work. 
Starting Thursday February 11th 12:00PM - 3:00PM (2nd Thursday of every month) 

On march 22nd and 24th from 10 am to 1pm we will be guest artists at the INCUBATOR SERIES at Mark Morris Dance Center. We will share new rep and research from a new piece in progress.

There are still open spots for the Gaga winter intensive  January 6th - 11th, led by Adi Salant the Co Artistic director of BatSheva Dance company. 
More teachers will include Bobbi Jene Smith and Tom Weinberger.

Happy holidays…

Lee and Saar

Job Description:
Full-time, tenure track  Assistant Professor to teach all levels of ballet or contemporary/modern dance technique and who also has  extensive training and experience in Jazz/Musical Theater Dance.  Successful candidates will be able to approach the teaching of Ballet as the fundamental and solid technical basis from which to broaden and develop other mediums of dance training.  In addition to teaching, each year this position will be responsible for either choreographing the department musical theatre production, or the dance Mainstage concert, and will also provide leadership and direction to students in the dance concentration.  The ideal candidate will be a proven artist-teacher, maintaining substantial creative accomplishments in their professional discipline, able to expand the department's artistic and teaching profile, and responsive to the needs of its diverse and ambitious student population.

About Binghamton University:

Binghamton University has built a reputation as a world-class institution that combines a broadly interdisciplinary, international education with one of the most vibrant research programs in the nation. Binghamton is proud to be ranked among the elite public universities in the nation for challenging our students academically, not financially. The result is a unique, best-of-both-worlds college experience.
Read more here