The midterm elections are less than three weeks away on November 6. If you’re registered to vote, hooray! But you can’t fully celebrate before you’ve completed your mission. Showing up at the polls is what matters most—especially since voter turnout for midterms doesn’t have a fabulous track record. According to statistics from FairVote, about 40 […]
Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Abuse Are Getting A Second Chance Through Ballet
They say that not all heroes wear capes. It’s true: Some, like Meredith Harper Houston, wear leg warmers. A few years back, Houston, who is black, began thinking about how none of the students at her Los Angeles dance studio looked like her. Her desire to use dance to serve her community eventually led her […]
Teen Dancers Are Unapologetically Protesting Gun Violence
Dance has a long history of social activism. Heck, our website even has a whole section devoted to it. But tackling social justice causes has typically been the territory of mature dance artists and brainy college students. Not anymore. This year, teenage dancers throughout the country have started getting involved to highlight an issue that […]
Anyone Who Says Dancers Should “Stick to Dancing” Doesn't Know Their History
At a time when the political climate is increasingly divisive, it’s no wonder people want to compartmentalize. Some want their pirouettes separate from their politics, and can be quick to protest when dancers challenge that both on and off the stage. Most recently, American Ballet Theatre principal Isabella Boylston was scrutinized when she shared this […]
Iranians Are Protesting Their Government By Posting Videos of Themselves Dancing
In May, Iranian authorities quietly arrested four women. Their crimes? Posting videos of themselves dancing on Instagram. Modesty laws in Iran forbid women from dancing in public. Last week, one of the four women arrested for her videos, teenage Insta-star Maedeh Hojabri, made what many believed to be a forced confession on Iranian state TV, […]
Meet The Ballet Dancer Teaching Hurricane Maria Survivors
Rebecca Warthen was on a year-long assignment with the Peace Corps in Dominica last fall when a storm started brewing. A former dancer with North Carolina Dance Theatre (now Charlotte Ballet) and Columbia City Ballet, she’d been sent to the Caribbean island nation to teach ballet at the Dominica Institute of the Arts and in […]
Why Setting a Dance About Apartheid on American Dancers Makes Sense Right Now
When Kevin “Iega” Jeff saw Fana Tshabalala‘s Indumba at the annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in South Africa, he immediately knew he would ask Tshabalala to set the work on his company. “There’s an ancient energy in Fana’s movement, a deep and trusted knowing,” says Jeff, director of the Chicago-based Deeply Rooted Dance Theater. “Because […]
Dance Theatre of Harlem Made a Powerful Promotional Video Combining Ballet and Activism
You don’t need to convince us that dance can be a powerful vehicle for change. But in case you had any doubts, Dance Theatre of Harlem‘s new promotional video is all the proof you need. As part of their 2018 New York season, DTH will be hosting a gala on April 4 to commemorate the […]
The Power of Jerome Robbins' The Cage in the #MeToo Era
The encounter with man-eating female creatures in Jerome Robbins’ The Cage never fails to shock audiences. As this tribe of insects initiates the newly-born Novice into their community and prepares her for the attack of the male Intruders, the ballet draws us into a world of survival and instinct. This year celebrates the 100th anniversary […]
How Kate Ladenheim's New Video Series Tackles Women's Internalized Misogyny
It’s a standalone dance film series, a nuanced examination of contemporary feminism and an evocative teaser trailer for an upcoming performance—it wouldn’t be a project by Kate Ladenheim, artistic director of The People Movers and one of our “25 to Watch,” if it wasn’t daringly ambitious. Glass is the multi-hyphenate’s latest creation, a four-pronged project […]