How do you make a dance film about one of the most devastating social issues of our time? In the latest collaboration from Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, the answer is to merge visceral movement storytelling with cold, hard facts. “Am I a Man?” follows Lil Buck and Boogz as they dance through an experience […]

Chalvar Monteiro saw his first Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance at 12 and was smitten. Today, at 28, he’s a lithe, elegantly understated member of the company. But he’s experienced some happy detours along the way—namely as a dancer with MacArthur-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham, as well as Sidra Bell and Larry Keigwin. After a […]

Ballet Across America returns to The Kennedy Center this week with a twist: programming curated by American Ballet Theatre principal Misty Copeland and New York City Ballet soloist/resident choreographer Justin Peck. It’s a unique opportunity to get inside the heads of two of the most influential figures in American ballet today—so what companies and choreographers […]

Women make up the vast majority of the dance world. Yet it’s no secret that they’re routinely passed over for leadership positions and choreography commissions, confronted with sexism in the studio and stymied by expectations of how female artists should look and behave. Here, 10 industry leaders open up, candidly sharing their stories, and offering […]

Behind the scenes at a shared audition for Kyle Abraham, Brian Brooks, Kate Weare and Anna Sperber this fall Brooks tests the dancers’ creativity with an improvised solo. Photos by Jim Lafferty. It’s noon, and the audition is already running behind schedule. The next group of warmed-up dancers is led into the room. “Swedish Fish and Terra […]

The dancemaker takes on Tupac, Biggie and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Photo by Steven Schreiber, courtesy Abraham. Kyle Abraham’s provocative modern choreography often deals with the difficult themes of racism and identity. This fall, he’s looking to further explore these ideas by collaborating with visual and musical artists. He recently spoke about his new piece, Absent […]

The first time Jacqueline Green auditioned for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she was 16. She’d taken her first dance class just three years earlier—when teachers had to physically hold her foot to teach her a tendu. Yet when she and a couple of friends learned that Ailey’s main company was holding auditions in Washington, […]

An eclectic mix of artists reenvisions Martha Graham’s Lamentation.  PeiJu Chien-Pott in Lamentation. Photo by Hibbard Nash Photography, Courtesy MGDC.   They’re choreographers you would never expect to see sharing a bill with Martha Graham: Modern dancer Kyle Abraham, tapper Michelle Dorrance, contemporary abstractionist Liz Gerring and Sonya Tayeh of “So You Think You Can […]