News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in September 2020

Here are the latest promotions, appointments and departures, plus notable awards and accomplishments, from the last month. Comings & Goings At American Ballet Theatre , Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III and Cassandra Trenary have been promoted to principal, Gabe Stone Shayer to soloist. At Pennsylvania Ballet, Jack Thomas […]

Ailey's New Choreography Unlocked Festival Focuses on the Choreographic Process

Coming this fall to the ever-expanding Ailey organization is an intriguing new event: the Choreography Unlocked festival. From Oct. 12–14 and 26–28, the Joan Weill Center for Dance will host workshops, performances and panel discussions. It is an extension of Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, an annual residency fellowship for four emerging and mid-career choreographers, […]

Rennie Harris Sanctifies the '70s With Funkedified

The grand master of transforming street dance for the stage (and 2017 Dance Magazine Award recipient), Rennie Harris returns to the New Victory Theater with the multimedia Funkedified. This world premiere, with dancers of Rennie Harris Puremovement as well as guest artists from The Hood Lockers, looks back on African-American culture of the 1970s. A […]

4 Choreographers on Their Biggest Career Regrets

Overnight success doesn’t happen often in the dance world. Mistakes, regrets and on-the-job realizations are simply part of the process. Four accomplished choreographers share what they had to figure out along the way. Pam Tanowitz: It’s all about the editing. Photo by Brad Paris, Courtesy Tanowitz For Pam Tanowitz, time to fail is key. “My […]

Spotlight: Ephrat Asherie Debunks the "Dancers Are Dumb" Stereotype

Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie has a thing for breaking boundaries. A trained ballet dancer, Asherie fell in love with hip hop in college and soon became one of the most talked-about b-girls on the scene. Today, she brings house and breaking to concert stages with her celebrated choreography, and continues to cross genres as a dancer […]

What Makes the Dance Magazine Awards So Uplifting

Some nights, you head home buzzing with energy. After last night’s Dance Magazine Awards, we were dancing with it. We had the privilege of honoring four legends of our field—Rennie Harris, Marika Molnar, Linda Celeste Sims and Diana Vishneva—in a ceremony that was filled with inspiration and beauty. Joshua Culbreath in Doubt & Dolo. Photo […]

Dance Magazine Award Honoree: Rennie Harris

It makes sense that Dance Magazine long ago dubbed Rennie (Lorenzo) Harris the “high priest of hip hop.” When the often shy, Philadelphia-born choreographer founded his company Rennie Harris Puremovement in 1992, he planted a prodigious seed in the dance world. Then and now, Harris’ mission has been to examine, preserve and share the culture […]