With four outdoor stages showcasing everything from ballet and folk to African, Indian, and Irish dance, the Dance for World Community Festival September 25 in Harvard Square serves as an unofficial kick-off celebrating — fingers crossed— the return to a full season of live dance. “We’re kind of ushering in the fall as a new beginning,” says José Mateo, whose José Mateo Ballet Theatre presents the festival, celebrating its 12th iteration, after being suspended last year because of COVID. “The title of the festival this year is ‘Re-Emergence,’ [reflecting] the

To witness a performance of Kathak, the ancient classical dance native to North India, is to enter a realm not only of movement, music, rhythm and grace, but also of worshipful storytelling, where dance becomes a device for recounting epic tales from Hindu scripture. And so it is when entering the mesmerizingly poetic world Shruti Swamy creates in her new novel, The Archer, which follows a young girl as she discovers the enchantment of Kathak dance and her own capacity for love and creative resilience. Read more @ https://www.bpr.org/post/poetic-new-novel-ancient-form-dance-frees-modern-storyteller#stream/0

Members of DanzTrad, including Yuriza Leonperalta, at right, perform traditional Mexican dance. Isthmus Dance Collective, the nonprofit that organized the festival, hopes to make Shifting Gears an annual tradition. Melanie Joyce, with Swing State Aerial, performs with the Wisconsin State Capitol in the background during the Shifting Gears Bike Path Dance Festival at Olin Park. See more pictures from this event @ https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/photos-shifting-gears-bike-path-dance-festival/collection_06405fa7-121c-5730-8f1a-598e1aa5eac9.html#2

In 1950, choreographer Katherine Dunham found herself, not for the first time, walking the line between artist and entrepreneur. The debut of her ballet Southland in Santiago, Chile, commissioned by the country’s national symphony, had infuriated U.S. State Department officials. Amid the height of the Cold War, a dance depicting a brutal lynching in the antebellum South was not the kind of image-boosting arts experience that the U.S. was seeking to promote. Dunham had a stark choice: stop performing Southland on her South American tour or risk losing her business. For the

In an industry with strict physique expectations, Colleen Werner is forging an alternate path—an adult dance experience that celebrates body diversity. While studying to become a clinical mental health counselor in Nashville, she’s simultaneously dancing with Black Sheep Ballet, a virtual company that aims to bring ballet to more diverse audiences. Meanwhile on Instagram, she’s amassed more than 65K followers through her body-positive posts, and become an ambassador for Gaynor Minden and Discount Dance Supply. Read more @ https://www.dancemagazine.com/plus-size-ballet-dancer/ Lear more about Colleen @ https://www.colleenmwerner.com/

Joan Myers Brown at a class at Philadanco, the company she founded, in late July. “I chose to teach because I didn’t get the opportunities I wanted,” she said.Credit

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville dancer isn't letting disabilities stop her from doing what she loves. In fact, 18-year-old Becca Jones embraces her differences on the dance floor. Inside Royal Youth Dance Ensemble, Jones may move with her feet, but she dances with her heart. "Dance means freedom," Jones said. "It's a chance to be myself and express my emotions." Not only that, but she's able to share her story. In one of her most recent choreographed dances to "Lost Boy" by Ruth B., she dances with a prop: part

No one but her puppy, Alfie, was with Ayla Ciccone-Burton when she heard the good news from her agent. “I got up at the dog park in front of all these people that I don’t know,” she said. “I’m just running around, full screaming, telling my dog that I’m going to be on Broadway.” “He didn’t care,” she added, and laughed an effervescent laugh. She loves him anyway. Like most performers, Ciccone-Burton won’t be playing a starring role in her show. She’ll be singing and dancing in the ensemble —