11/1/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Hinton Battle/Alfonso Ribeiro -Tap Dance Kid (Tony Awards 1984)

Shall We Dance Friday
Fabulous Feet from the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid choreographed by Danny Daniels and featuring Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle and Company. This performance is from the 1984 Tony Awards Continue reading

9/8/24 O&A NYC SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ CONCERT: Bunny Briggs and Duke Ellington- David Danced Before the Lord

Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert of Music featured guest artist, famed tap dancer Bunny Briggs. Briggs known as Duke’s Dancer had a smooth effortless style perfect for Ellington’s Come Sunday. Continue reading

11/30/21 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Harlem On Parade (1944)| Louis Armstrong and Dorothy Dandridge

Harlem On Parade is a musical number from the 1944 American musical romance film Atlantic City. The supporting cast features Louis Armstrong, Buck & Bubbles and Dorothy Dandridge who recreated Vaudeville acts. The film was reissued in 1950 under the title Atlantic City Honeymoon. Continue reading

5/7/21 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The Harlem Sandman (1943) Count Basie and Dorothy Dandridge,

Count Basie and his Orchestra play Harlem Sandman, an extended number in Hit Parade of 1943. It features Dorothy Dandridge and Jack Williams singing plus dance act Pops and Louis (Albert Whitman & Louis Williams) along with dancers Dorothea Durham, Neva Peoples & Ruth Scott.
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11/27/20 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The First Moonwalk- Bill Bailey At The Apollo Theatre (1955)

Bill Bailey, brother of singer Pearl Bailey, is frequently credited with inventing the moonwalk because of a tap dancing move called backslide; making this one of the first ever moonwalks on film Continue reading

8/31/20 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Pie Pie Blackbird (1932) | Eubie Blake Nina Mae McKinney Nicholas Brothers

Pie Pie Blackbird, like a lot of classic shorts from the time is nothing more than an excuse to spotlight some great music from the period. Continue reading

8/24/20 O&A NYC DANCE… AND MORE: Peace One Love- Bringing Brooklyn Together

By Walter Rutledge

Dance has always been a catalyst for change. In 1936 Martha Graham created her masterwork Chronicles as a weapon against the rising menace of fascism in Germany. In 1959 Donald McKayle’s Rainbow Round My Shoulder evoked the hopelessness and inequality of Black men on a southern prison chain gang. On Saturday August 29 Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn (also known as Creative Outlet or just C.O.) will also use the power of dance to heal a community with Peace One Love, an afternoon of the arts celebrating the spirit of the now internationally recognized Black Lives Matter movement.   Continue reading

6/11/20 O&A NYC LOCKDOWN LEARNING: The Harlem Renaissance – Black Cultural Movement in Art Music and Literature

This a video biography of the Harlem Renaissance, a negro movement where Black America developed significant cultural resources and a new cultural identity. It was an era of intellectual flowering. The levity of this movement produced great Black renaissance poets, music, art and literature . Continue reading

(Repost) 9/13/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The A- Z of Dance

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A-Z of Dance shows you how to set hearts alight and clubs on fire. Shot on the streets and rooftops of sunny LA, float like an Arabesque, spin like a B-Boy, wobble like a Chicken Noodle Soup… it’s time to step up! In a very special project for i-D and Diesel, director Jacob Sutton has captured the world’s hottest dancers walking in the air in their Jogg Jeans and cut-offs.

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Lil Buck shows us the way of Memphis Jookin. Super-thighs Nicole the Pole – star of Rihanna’s Pour It Up video – takes us to a whole other level. And fresh from the Rick Owens catwalk, the Soul Step team show us how to dance to Le1f. Continue reading

10/21/19 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: A Zoot Suit (with a A Reet Pleat) [1942] | Dorothy Dandridge & Paul White

A Zoot Suit (for My Sunday Gal) performed by Paul White and Dorothy Dandridge  from the 30 minute short film A Zoot Suit (with a A Reet Pleat) (1942) written by Ray Gilbert and Robert O’Brien (as Bob O’Brien). Continue reading