thINKpieces

A group of five individuals, dressed in business attire, all gather together for a selfie in the velvet-carpeted lobby of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jane, at the front left, is a white, brunette woman with a medium pixie cut. Clad in a magenta blazer and black turtleneck, Jane dons a bright, bespectacled smile. Grinning behind Jane, Mallory, a white woman with dirty blonde hair, wears a black and white gingham dress and holds a silver clasp. Malik, a tawny-skinned Black man in a black button-down and trousers, stands beaming at Mallory’s left. Allison and Chloe, dressed in a white button-down and a floral dress respectively, lean into the photo, offering their smiles as well.
Photo courtesy of Ashayla Byrd
  • Interviews, thINKpieces

The Leaders Behind the Headlines: Conversations with the Kennedy Center’s [Terminated] Dance Programming Team

Ashayla Byrd

What happens when political agendas take precedence over a nation’s desire to feel seen and supported in artistic spaces?

A crowd of predominantly white people wear white dresses, t-shirts, and gauze veils draped over their heads, faces visible. Most have painted their faces white with pink around their eyes and are wearing KN95 masks. They are walking forward toward the camera, a tall shadowed building, tree foliage, stop lights, and a square of blue sky behind them. Two people in the front open their mouths mid-song and scrunch their eyebrows together, maybe from the sun and maybe with concern. Deeper into the crowd, people hold a white banner with bold black letters, “WE ARE HAUNTED BY WHAT WE SEE IN GAZA.”
Photo: Rachael Warriner
  • Reviews, thINKpieces

There is a Shoah in Gaza

Xander Cobb

Philadelphian Jews dance and sing in protest of Mural Arts Holocaust Memorial Mural that excludes Arabic and Palestine.

Two thousand feet below rolling gray clouds, a woman walks away down the rock slab trail off the summit of Mount Moriah. She traipses between squat, sturdy, coniferous trees in her fluffy brown zip up, teal leggings, and worn hiking books. A water bottle threatens to tumble out the outer right pocket of her blue Kelty backpack. The backpack has seen some things; it is nearly 20 years old.
Photo: Allison Larme
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Not a Dancer, If Only for a Little While

Jennifer Passios

And what if that isn’t a crisis?

A line of eleven people are holding hands in front of bright large windows, their legs lunging and their heads turned in different directions. They were sweat pants and t-shirts, shorts or tank tops, all of various colors. Some of them are looking to their right and down, others looking up and left.
Photo: Julie Lemberger
  • Reviews, thINKpieces

Approaching the End: Open Rehearsals with Stephen Petronio Company

Brendan McCall

Petronio Company's intimate and moving rehearsals during their final season.

Lakshmi Thiagarajan, author of the article, kneels gracefully on the ground in a covered walkway outdoors, lit by lanterns. One leg is forward, clad in yellow and red silk pants with a percussive bracelet on her ankle. Her clasped hands frame her face, adorned with a bindi and golden headband. She looks off to the side with a small smile.
Photo: Lakshmi Thiagarajan
  • thINKpieces

Beyond Entertainment: Exploring Perspectives on the Purpose of Dance in South Indian History

Lakshmi Thiagarajan

Dance as an expression of political power, religious fervor, and of women’s sexualities.

On the right, a man sits in a red kayak with his back to the camera. He wears a green shirt. A white rope is tied to the back of his kayak and reaches out of the frame. He is on a lake heavily grown in with green plants. The water is blue and still. There is a mountain in the distance.
Photo:Rachel Keane
  • Reviews, thINKpieces

All That History in Those Very Seats

Emilee Lord

Steve Paxton remembered

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Resistance Through Performance and Pedagogy: What is Dance Activism?

Mariadela Belle Alvarez
Photo: Jennifer Passios
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What Do We Have Where We Are Now?

Jennifer Passios

Four dancers share their experiences making a life in dance beyond city limits. Perhaps their stories look like yours.

Photo: Todd Carroll
  • Interviews, thINKpieces

The Kinetic, the Femme, The Political: Lineage in motion.

Emilee Lord

Motherhood is not marketable.

Photo: Jennifer Passios
  • thINKpieces

Crazy Wood and Bare Feet

Jennifer Passios

"Instead of being consumers of that culture in Houston, what if we could produce it here?”