5/17/18 O&A NYC THROWBACK THURSDAY: Sir Mix-a-Lot- Baby Got Back

Baby Got Back“, also known as “I Like Big Butts“, the hit song written and recorded by rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot from his album Mack Daddy.  The song samples the 1986 Detroit techno single “Technicolor” by  Channel One. Continue reading

5/14/18 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Breakin – Turbo (broom scene)

From the 1984 break dance movie Breakin’ the famous broom scene by Boogaloo Shrimp (Turbo)  Continue reading

5/13/18 O&A NYC DANCE: Mother (Isadora Duncan c. 1923)

Loretta Thomas performs Mother featuring choreography by Isadora Duncan (c. 1923) with music by Alexander Scriabin. Duncan bore two children, both out of wedlock. The first, Deirdre Beatrice (born September 24, 1906), by theatre designer Gordon Craig and the second, Patrick Augustus (born May 1, 1910),by Paris Singer, one of the many sons of sewing machine magnate Isaac Singer. Both children drowned in the care of their nanny in 1913 when their runaway car went into the Seine River in Paris.

Mother (Isadora Duncan c. 1923)

In her autobiography, Duncan relates that she begged a young Italian stranger, the sculptor Romano Romanelli, to sleep with her because she was desperate for another baby. She became pregnant by him, and gave birth to a son on August 13, 1914; the infant died shortly after birth.

 

5/11/18 O&A NYC DANCE: Ruddur Dance brings Empowered To Hostos

RudduR Dance, an emerging contemporary ballet company will present Empowered, the company’s first single-billed performance on Friday May 11, 7:30pm at Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture 450 Grand Concourse, Bronx. The concert will showcase the world premiere of Witness: Part I – Yesterday, along with audience favorites The Place Between, A Night in the Life of Us, and Doubt of the Devout. From the physical to the spiritual, Empowered breaks visible and invisible chains that bind, while moving to greater strength.

The multi-talented creative team behind Empowered includes Jamaican-born Choreographer Christopher Rudd, acclaimed Vocalist and Composer Tariq Al-Sabir and Mathieu Leopoldo, Head of Rigging. The evening features a blend of contemporary ballet with theatricality and aerial artistry to create provocative experiences that address timely social and political landscapes. Performers crawl, fly, and leap as they move through aerial silk, bungee restraints, shackles, in search for freedom and a higher order. Empowerment is a partnership with Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture and the CUNY Dance Initiative. For more information and tickets call Box Office (718) 518-4455, or visit http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/culturearts/events/YEAR-2018/may/RudduR-Dance/RudduR%2 0Dance.shtml.

Words From Our Artists

 

 

 

5/4/18 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Maya Plisetskaya Dances Bolero, And The Dying Swan

Shall We Dancemed_1408733786_image

Maya Plisetskaya, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet, danced Maurice Bejart’s Bolero set to the famous Ravel score in 1975. Plisetskaya created a stunning theatrical experience. What makes the piece so compelling is that although Plisetskaya may be accompanied by dozens of other dancers mirroring her movement, the first and only focus is on the prima ballerina herself.  Continue reading

5/10/21 (Repost) O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: The Great White Hope (1970)

The Great White Hope, the film and play are based on the true story of Jack Johnson and his first wife, Etta Terry Duryea and the controversy over their marriage and Duryea’s death by suicide in 1912. Continue reading

4/21/18 O&A NYC DANCE/REVIEW: newsteps- a choreographer’s series

By Walter Rutledge

The Chen Dance Center began the 34th consecutive newsteps; the semi-annual emerging choreographers’ series, Thursday, April 19 at the Chen Dance Center, 70 Mulberry Street in New York’s Chinatown. This season the three-performance spring showcase, which runs through Saturday, April 21, selected works from “non- dancers”. Professional artists, actors, musicians, singers, photographers, who applied their expertise of their respective art forms to the choreographic process. The five choreographers selected through an open audition for the April concerts are Kate Douglas, Bryndon Cook, Lauren Oliver, Alec Funiciello, and Sophia Zukoski. Each choreographer is given rehearsal space, an honorarium, mentoring from a member of the selection panel, and multiple (three) performances to give the works time to “find its own voice”. Continue reading

4/18/18 O&A NYC DANCE: Afternoon Of A Faun- Tanaquil LeClercq and Jacques d’Amboise

In Afternoon Of A Faun (1953) Jerome Robbins‘ genius take on the old Debussy/Nijinsky ballet. A 1955 Canadian broadcast of the two legends of the NYC Ballet (and the original ballerina in this) Tanaquil LeClercq and Jacques d’Amboise (Francisco Moncion original danseur). Continue reading

4/16/18 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Katherine Dunham and Dancers in Casbah (Presenting Eartha Kitt)

In 1948, Dunham and her company appeared in the Hollywood movie Casbah, with Tony Martin, Yvonne de Carlo, and Peter Lorre. The film was the cinematic debut of Eartha Kitt. Continue reading