Dance photography was born in the search to chronicle the dancer’s ephemeral art. It has grown up to offer a different, wholly independent, form of permanent performance
Dance
Cuban Dancers, Si
By Debra Cash Blame Alicia Alonso for reinforcing her own senseless Cuban embargo. The famed (and literally blind) dramatic ballerina who is the fountainhead of Cuban ballet and an official Friend of Fidel seems to have felt that although she made her own performing career in the United States the Cuban “dance drain” of ballet […]
Dance Feature: Relax with the New
By Debra Cash Ella Baff, executive director of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, recently shared the revision of an article she wrote for Arts Manager International Magazine last year. Her first tip for audience members: “Relax. Remember that when you travel to a foreign country, you may not know the language, but this does not […]
Film Review: Spin Crazy
The critically acclaimed documentary “Rize” claims to be about a new form of hip hop dancing, called “krumping,” that transcends commercialism. By Debra Cash The commercial calculation of MTV, smoggy and as near at hand as central LA, lurks in the margins of the new critically admired hip hop dance documentary, “Rize.” The film examines […]
Dance Review: Danish Treat
A festival dedicated to 19th century choreographer August Bournonville packed a wallop.
Dance Review: Savion Glover — The Monster Bridge
By Debra Cash Tap superstar Savion Glover effortlessly bridges the jazz and rap generations. Improvography is a word coined by the late Gregory Hines. Neologisms are about grabbing the power to make definitions; they assert that language is not specific or expressive enough to make your meaning clear. When tap dancer Savion Glover uses “Improvography” […]
Trust Art, Not Theory
A retrospective chronicles the four-decade career of radical dance giant Yvonne Rainer.
Dance Review: Dancing with Ancestors
Urban Bush Women go back to the past in the name of a more communal and compassionate future. By Debra Cash View Gallery The names of Sojourner Truth, W.E.B. Dubois, Shirley Chishom and Ossie Davis roll down like a mighty stream. On stage, Amara Tabor-Smith of the Urban Bush Women reaches across space, at turns […]
Drawing Audiences to Dance
The challenge of building a new dance audience lies in presenting, and contextualizing, thought-provoking work
Dance Review: Race and Dance
Dance icon Bill T. Jones confounds expectations about race and the power of stereotypes in two new dance pieces. “Reading, Mercy and the Artificial Nigger” and “Mercy 10×8 On a Circle” by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company By Debra Cash Bill T. Jones would no doubt take umbrage at being compared to the white […]