3/6/18 O&A NYC DANCE: A Conversation With Michelle Fleet and Michael Trusnovec- Paul Taylor Dance Company 2018 New York City Season

By Walter Rutledge

The Paul Taylor American Modern Dance begins its annual New York City season at the Koch Theater, Lincoln Center tonight with a special 6pm Dance For All performance. All seats are $5. The season will offer 13 Taylor classics, a work by Lila York, world premieres from Doug Varone, Bryan Arias, and Taylor’s 147th work entitled Concertina. Continue reading

12/31/17 O&A NYC GOSPEL SUNDAY: Revelations- Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey’s masterwork Revelations (1960), one of the most recognizable modern dance works, remains a powerful testament to the human spirit. This cast includes April Berry, Kevin Brown, Ralph Glenmore Deborah Manning, Renee Robinson and Marilyn Banks.  Continue reading

12/29/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Carmen de Lavallade- Kennedy Center Honoree

Carmen de Lavallade, the legendary ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher, who is among the honorees feted for their illustrious careers by the Kennedy Center on Sunday December 24th. de Lavallade talks with correspondent Rita Braver about bringing modern dance to new levels; her marriage to dancer-director Geoffrey Holder; and the bittersweet memories of a life danced to the fullest. Continue reading

12/19/17 O&A NYC DANCE: A Conversation With Jeroboam Bozeman

Jeroboam Bozeman is living his dream. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s New York City Center season marks Bozeman’s fifth season with the company. This is quite a remarkable feat for any dancer especially for a young man from Brooklyn, who grew up shy and introverted. Continue reading

11/28/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Ailey Company To Dance George Faison’s Suite Otis At Gala

By Walter Rutledge

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will present an excerpt of George Faison’s masterwork Suite Otis at their New York City Center season opening night gala, Wednesday, November 29 2017. Choreographed in 1971 for the George Faison Universal Dance Experience the work joined the Ailey repertoire in 1977. 40 years after it’s Ailey debut Suite Otis continues to excite and entertain audiences with verve, aplomb, fleet footed technique and imaginative Archimedean storytelling.

The company will perform the finale section set to Otis Redding’s Tenderness. The full cast section reintroduces the dancers creating a visually exciting yet compelling epilog. Throughout the work Faison (the imperial storyteller) does what every choreographer should do- invites us into his vision and delivers with clarity, focus and impeccable choreographic timing.

Balletomanes still long for the return of old fashion honest storytelling- the hallmark of Ailey’s original company. In Suite Otis Faison’s articulate use of the dance narrative genre captures the majesty and universal humanity of both Otis Redding’s music and the black dance experience. This gave him a voice in an era when Black American dance and culture had started to becoming a global  force.

Suite Otis- George Faison

What Faison did (and continues to do) is to keep the dance/theatre aesthetic in the forefront of the arts conversation. Tenderness will be performed for one performance only on Wednesday, November 29 for tickets and a complete schedule of the five-week New York City season visit ailey.org.

9/8/17 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The American Dance Guild Performance Festival Showcases Diversity!

The American Dance Guild Performance Festival begin their 2017 season last night at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater. The four-day choreographer’s showcase that runs through Sunday, September 10 lived up to the theme 60th Anniversary Celebrating Diversity! The Thursday night performance opened with Dancing Wheels Company resident choreographer Catherine Meredith’s Incommunicado. Continue reading

8/18/17 O&A NYC SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT: The Magic of Dance

Reflections by Margot Fonteyn with Mikhail Baryshnikov, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Dance Theater of Harlem the film includes dance history and fascinating facts. Continue reading

4/15/17 O&A NYC ITS SATURDAY- ANYTHING GOES: Dead Can Dance- Song of the Stars (Pina version)


Dead Can Dance is an English-Australian musical project that formed in 1981 in Melbourne by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. Song of the Stars dedicated To The Memory Of Pina Bausch. Continue reading

3/14/17 O&A NYC DANCE: Paul Taylor’s Airs Performed by American Ballet Theatre (1985)

American Ballet Theatre performance of  Paul Taylor’s Airs featuring music by George Frideric Handel, filmed in San Francisco (1985). Continue reading

2/17/17 SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: A Conversation With Abdiel Jacobsen


Abdiel Jacobsen made his debut with the Martha Graham Dance Company as an apprentice dancing in Errand Into The Maze with world-renowned Russian ballerina Diana Vishneva. Continue reading