Vanessa Williams sings a medley of “Mary Had a Baby” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain” on the TV special David Foster’s Christmas Album musical staging choreography by Walter Painter dancers Paula Brown and Darrel Wright (NBC, December 10, 1993). Continue reading
Earth Song is the third single from Michael Jackson’s album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The ballad incorporates elements of blues, gospel and opera. Jackson had a long-standing history of releasing socially conscious material such as We Are the World, Man in the Mirror and Heal the World. However, Earth Song was the first that overtly dealt with the environment and animal welfare. Continue reading
Agon (1957) is a ballet for twelve dancers, with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by George Balanchine. The cast includes:First Pas de Trios– Peter Boal, Zippora Karz, Kathleen Tracey Second de Trios– Albert Evans, Arch Higgins, Wendy Whelan Pas de Duet– Darcey Bussell, Lindsay Fischer.
And an excerpt from the Pas de Duet featuring Diana Adams and Arthur Mitchell
Geoffrey Holder’s Banda dance debuted in the 1954 Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House Of Flowers. Holder the Baron of The Cemetery (based on the Haitian Loa of Death Baron Samedi) and received both a performer and choreographer credit in the program. The Broadway musical takes place somewhere in the West Indies during Mardi Gras weekend. Continue reading
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart released on the 1972 album Let’s Stay Together is a cover song, originally performed by the Bee Gees and written by Barry and Robin Gibb. His rendition took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement. Continue reading
Duet from Concerto Six Twenty-Two is set to Concerto in A for Clarinet and Orchestra, K. 622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Choreographer Lar Lubovitch premiered this work on his company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, at the Municipal Theatre in Angers, France on December 12th 1985 on dancers Sylvain Lafortune and Edward Hillyer. The work was performed at the first Fire Island Dance Festival, which has become the annual summer fundraising centerpiece for Dancers Responding To AIDS. Continue reading
Missing You, written, composed, and produced by Lionel Richie as a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had died earlier that year. The video includes, as well as still photographs and tribute clips of Gaye himself, tribute clips of former Supremes singer Florence Ballard and of Paul Williams of The Temptations, both Motown artists who had died in the 1970s. Continue reading
The dance world mourns the loss of its Lyric Prince; Dudley Williams has passed. The details are still unfolding; but more important than the circumstances surrounding his death, is how he inspired everyone who ever met him through his giving, humble spirit. Over the last twelve years Dudley became a colleague, friend, and confidante. We shared an appreciation for many things, two that were always paramount: dance that could reach beyond the footlights and touched your soul, and a very dry martini. Continue reading
Cotton Comes to Harlem was the beginning of short period in American film that featured black actors in leading roles and the themes dealt with issues from the African-American microcosm. With a screenplay by Arnold Perl and Ossie Davis, and directed by Davis this action drama represents the black prospective. Much of the film’s humor is urban black comedy, which was groundbreaking in 1970.
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
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 