Hussein Smko premiered Ballade: The Rain Song at the 2017 Battery Dance Festival, on a platform with a view of the Statue of Liberty. There couldn’t have been a better backdrop. The work pairs Smko’s unique fusion of contemporary dance and hip hop with powerful spoken word read by journalist and Iraqi-American refugee Riyadh Mohammed. […]
Barriers & Bias: What It's Like for Immigrant Dance Artists
Hussein Smko premiered Ballade: The Rain Song at the 2017 Battery Dance Festival, on a platform with a view of the Statue of Liberty. There couldn’t have been a better backdrop. The work pairs Smko’s unique fusion of contemporary dance and hip hop with powerful spoken word read by journalist and Iraqi-American refugee Riyadh Mohammed. […]
Disney Junior's “Mira, Royal Detective” Brings Indian Dance Styles to a Global Audience
The work of Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan has appeared everywhere from “So You Think You Can Dance” to a White House Diwali celebration with Michelle Obama to the 2014 Miss America pageant. But despite the variety of his resumé, Mahajan’s latest gig marks a first for him: creating movement for an animated series. The […]
And the “Dance Spirit” Award for Best Movie Choreography of 2019 Goes To…
Nope, there’s still no Oscar for Best Choreography. So Dance Magazine‘s sister publication created the Dance Spirit award for Best Movie Choreography of 2019. Though we’re big fans of all seven of the nominated choreographers, and think each one deserves to be acknowledged for their contributions to some of our favorite films this year, based […]
Inside Nashville Ballet's Recent Performance with Maren Morris
Seeing a concert by one of your favorite musicians makes for a memorable experience. But sharing the stage with them while you dance? That hits it out of the park. Enter Nashville Ballet, which regularly works with Music City stars for its annual Ballet Ball fundraiser. For its 2020 edition, held aptly on Leap Day, […]
The Well-Read Dancer: PNB Principal Sarah Ricard Orza's Faves
Between being a Pacific Northwest Ballet principal, a doula and a mom, you’d think Sarah Ricard Orza wouldn’t have spare time to pick up a book. “It’s always something I’m saying I need to make more time for!” she says. “Growing up, we didn’t have a television, so reading was big in our house. Nowadays, […]
These 8 Dance Stars Had That Special Spark When They Were Kids—and We've Got the Videos to Prove It
Our favorite dancers didn’t step onstage for the first time as fully formed artists. Like any performer, they dedicated years to their training. But looking back at videos from pro dancers’ tween and teen years, you can see that, even then, they had an undeniable spark—their technique was gaining finesse or their creative gears were […]
The Well-Read Dancer: Book Recs From The People Movers' Kate Ladenheim
The subject matter Kate Ladenheim tackles, not to mention the way she tackles it, is often wildly ambitious—a multipronged series digging into internalized misogyny and the social impact of glass ceilings, for example, or a farcical meditation on what it takes to “make it” as an artist, told largely through social media. It should come […]
How Cats Inspired a Generation of Dancers
There are two phases of everyone’s life: before seeing Cats and after seeing Cats. Starting today, with the release of a new film version of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s hit musical, millions of viewers will enter into this second phase of life, and a new generation of people with “Memory” stuck in their head will arise. […]
A New Musical Netflix Series Starring Robbie Fairchild and Jenna Dewan Drops Tomorrow
A new show drops on Netflix tomorrow, and it’s a dancer’s dream come true. (No, it’s not “Flirty Dancing.”) “Soundtrack,” an episodic musical show from the creator of “Smash” and “Gossip Girl,” has lots of dancing—but not one note of singing. That’s right—when the characters on “Soundtrack” have a musical number, they lip-sync to the […]