Reviews

ight slanted grass supports two performers escaping from a fleshtight yellow and bark-brown garment, a “bodysuit.” One performer lies on the ground, horizontal to the left of the standing figure, with an arm extending upwards.
Photo: Naomieh Jovin, courtesy of BlackStar Projects
  • Reviews

Venus Flytrap: A goddess bound to this earth

Noel Price-Bracey

Spring has arrived, and the earth is enlivened.

a book with a black cover and and the words Defending Rumba in Havana; The Sacred and Black Corporeal Undercommons written in blue, green, organge, yellow and pink.
Photo: des amaiya
  • Reviews

“Yo te salvo a ti; tú me salvas a mí”

desire amaiya

Berry documents how rumba counters predetermined sanctions and barriers imposed by a money hungry and stratifying regime.

A person wearing a leather skirt and thick black beads around their neck like a warrior stares intently at the camera, one arm extended towards us with the palm out. An upturned golden urn is behind them.
Photo: Steven Pisano
  • Reviews

Ankita Sharma’s dhoka/Betrayal/: Militarization and Myth-Making

Brendan McCall

Ankita Sharma's intimate dance interrogates their relationship with India.

Portia, a white trans non-binary person, crouches over a mix of DJ mixer, wires, and opened journals strewn across the floor. They wear a black tank top and athletic shorts, and focus in on a laptop. The glow from the laptop and other technical elements subtly illuminate Portia.
Photo: Ofentse Kwenaite
  • Reviews

When the Muzzle Comes Off, Who Do You Bite?

Rachel DeForrest Repinz

Portia Wells finds their bark.

A young man, nude and with his face hidden, squeezes his legs together while his arms are curved downward from his sides, as if his fists are carrying two imaginary buckets. He is in a room next to a white sofa, in front of an abstract painting composed of light blue strokes, and with a vase of violets near his feet.
Photo: Matthew Morrocco
  • Reviews

Dancing Beyond the Void

Brendan McCall

An emerging choreographer´s dance about AIDS from a queer, Gen Z perspective

A black and white image of Lucia Dlugoszewski swinging her arms while holding percussion sticks and kneeling in front of a line of wooden blocks. she wears a dress and her expression is focused on the instruments positioned in front of her.
Photo courtesy of Bowerbird
  • Reviews

Erick Hawkins Dance Company in Pure Lucia: Quidditas Suchness

Caitlin Green

Hawkins’ dance creates a language of subtleties, compelling and engaging in its simplicity and intentionality

Danielle Currica, one of the four soapbox dancers, lunges low and extended on a diagonal to the left front of the stage. She looks intently, perhaps searching, with wide eyes, wearing a long blue garment with fabric extensions behind her attached to four ropes, faintly seen extending into darkness beyond.
Photo: Jano Cohen
  • Reviews

Megan Mazarick’s Searing Subversions

Jonathan Stein

"soapbox" explores the nature of the ‘performative self’ versus our interior lives.

  • Reviews

Three Flavors of Ballet

Lynn Matluck Brooks
Jennifer Jones, a middle-aged African American woman, smiles radiantly into the camera. Her arms are crossed, and she wears a white V-neck top.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Jones
  • Reviews

Blend In, Stand Out: The First African American Rockette Shares her Story

Megan Mizanty

“Becoming Spectacular” is an earnest memoir of illusion and perfection

The image depicts a striking moment in the first act of Maslow’s Peak. Set in a lush, jungle-like environment, long ropes adorned with hanging foliage and knots descend from above, creating the illusion of vines. A group of BalletX dancers dressed in black, military-fitting costumes with sheer panels stand in formation under dramatic lighting, evoking a sense of intensity and ritual. Each dancer stands behind a rope and synchronously lifts their arms in strong, angular gestures in front of their chest to surround the dropped ropes. The backdrop features dense tropical plants and misty green lighting, enhancing the immersive, nature-inspired atmosphere.
Photo: Vikki Sloviter
  • Reviews

A Ballet for Everyone

Ziying Cui

Jennifer Archibald’s world premiere at the BalletX Festival at the Mann