From sexy to sassy to Shining Sea.     With their powerful thighs and boundless energy, Paul Taylor’s women seem more yang than yin. Then there’s Annmaria Mazzini. Her delicate features and physical abandon send a whiff of something different floating out to the audience. She wandered through the recent revival of From Sea to […]

What makes a great partnership? Onstage couples talk about that X factor.     While legendary couples like Bogie and Bacall, and Tracy and Hepburn have torched the screen for years with that ineffable “X” factor, otherwise known as chemistry, the world of dance also can be counted on to seduce audiences with steamy pairings. […]

Celebrating its 50th: The Public Theater created a new kind of dance musical.     When you think about the preeminent figures in our musical theater, producers don’t come to mind first. You might cite Florenz Ziegfeld, or George Abbott, or Harold Prince. Maybe David Merrick or Cameron Mackintosh. But the list is pretty thin, […]

Training in aerial dance is still relatively new. When Nancy Smith, founder and artistic director of Frequent Flyers Productions and founder of the Aerial Dance Festival in Colorado, wanted to add aerial work to her repertoire, she locked herself in a studio for eight months to experiment. Keith Hennessy, former Contraband founding member and director […]

All steamed up: Kathleen Marshall’s new Pajama Game salutes Fosse’s classic moves.     The way the story goes, it was Jerome Robbins who suggested to his co-director, George Abbott, that they give the job of choreographing their 1954 show Pajama Game to a newcomer named Bob Fosse.   While the show could certainly have […]

Fernando Bujones, dancer, 1955–2005. It was a short life and, in some ways, a life not completely fulfilled, for he died still a man of promise. Bujones’ story mingled the good luck that jump-started his career with the ill fortune that cast a pall over his later years as a dancer, leaving unfinished the final […]

Today more dancers than ever rely on agents to get auditions, guest appearances, and tours.   When classically-trained Kim Craven showed up to audition for talent agency Kazarian/Spencer & Associates in Los Angeles, she had on the standard uniform of her profession: leotard, tights, and a French twist. Perfectly respectable, very Freed of London. At […]

Emilie Conrad begins to demonstrate a wave motion and suddenly the room quiets down to an intense hush. Her rippling spine appears more like water than bone. Students may feel like they are watching a performance rather than a demonstration.   “Human beings are like fish that swim in the ocean not knowing the basic […]