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The vast white skirt of a female dancer spreads out across the center of the stage, drawn and lifted by dancers concealed beneath it, resembling a giant wave. The dancers are constantly struggling to crawl out from within this undulating mass of soft fabric. With their upper bodies bare, they curl up on the ground, suspended in a state between weightlessness and struggle. The spotlight focuses on the white fabric and the figures at the center, plunging the surrounding space into darkness.
Photo: David Wong

Bodies Exposed Under Hard Light: Encountering Fables

Yuying Chen

Virginie Brunelle's Fables reveals how bodies resist and transform.

Thirteen dancers in all white and different color tap shoes dance joyfully off of wooden boards in all directions. Their bodies blurred in space.
Image Courtesy of Michael J. Love

Peering into Practice

Noel Price-Bracey

Michael J. Love’s “Exercise 3” teaches us to value the balance between preparation and performance.

A dancer caught mid-head spin with white sneakers punching into the air while a crowd of others watch intently, arms reaching towards each other.
Photo: Courtesy of Rennie Harris

When do we Shout If Not Now?

Noel Price-Bracey

In Losing My Religion, Rennie Harris models resistance, teaching us to never tire until “victory is won.”

Dancer and Author Leslie Satin stands behind her book table, stacks of green spines in front of her. She has long strawberry blonde hair and long black sleeves. She is gesturing with her right arm up and palm wide open while she speaks to a group of four young women.
Photo: Todd Carroll

We Write Our Histories

Emilee Lord

An afternoon in NYC asking authors why books matter.

On a black marley floor and dimly lit stage, Amalia Colon-Nava and Anna Scattoni stand far left facing the audience. Behind them, three more dancers are captured in motion. Amanda Rattigan and Kayliani Sood are leaping, as Ian “Seven” Tackes is mid-handstand.
Photo: Jano cohen

Carrasco/Haworth DANCEUPCLOSE: Where Artistic Rigor & Wit Meet Tender Touch

Caitlin Green

The complexity of care and connection

Four people in a desert. On the left, a woman with black hair in a red dress sits, a dusty backpack at her feet. Next to her, a bearded man with short brown hair sits looking down, his hands on his knees. To his left is a second man, bald and bare from the waist up, with tattoos covering his left arm and his right arm missing his hand. To his left is a third man, standing, with one hand on his right hip. He is older than the rest, has a white beard, and wears a light blue shirt.
Photo: Quim Vives

Nothing But Dust

Brendan McCall

Mysticism and rave culture collide in Oliver Laxe’s latest film "Sirât"

Sage Ni'Ja Whitson, a queer transgender Black person with long black-brown locs faces the camera with a soft, powerful smile. They wear a round-brimmed brown hat, a triple-ringed silver septum piercing, and a black jacket. One hand with vein-like tattoos is held in a loose fist near their sternum, while the other is wrapped loosely around their stomach. They stand in front of a leafy green backdrop.
Photo: Ryan Landell

In Visible Darkness: A Non-binary Book

ankita

Sage Ni’Ja Whitson builds Black trans portals into darkness.

At center stage, Baoyu, dressed in flowing white robes, leads a semicircle of female dancers dressed in pastel, Han-style costumes. The dancers extend one leg in high arabesque-like lines while holding delicate props such as fans and round silk fans, creating a symmetrical and airy composition reminiscent of classical Chinese painting. Behind them is a large golden backdrop textured like aged parchment. Red calligraphic Chinese characters are written across it, associated with the supernatural framework of the story. A circular opening in the center of the backdrop reveals a cool blue background, evoking the moon or an otherworldly portal. The stage lighting highlights the dancers’ flowing sleeves and soft colors—peach, pale green, yellow, and ivory—suggesting the youthful elegance of the family's girls.
Photo: The National Ballet of China

The Willis in a Red Mansion?

Ziying Cui

The Challenge of Chinese Ballet

Two dancers wear black costumes, and the lighting is low and shadowy. One dancer lays face-up on the stage with arms softly outstretched to the sides and their chest lifted off the floor, legs bending at the knees. The other dancer sits, gazing downwards at them. Dancers: Sayer Mansfield, Marla Phelan
Photo: Tim Richardson

Science and Dance in Creative Conversation

Jen George

Science in partnership with dance yields collaboration and contrasting forces.

nora chipaumire, a Black African woman takes the stage in 100% POP with her collaborator, Shamar Watt, a Black Jamaican man in a black Adidas tracksuit and red-green-yellow, Zimbabwe-flag-colored Nike shoes. As he runs through the frame upstage, backgrounded by a grungy, urban wall, chipaumire captures the camera’s focus as she jumps into the air, one knee tucked up to her chest, the other a foot off the ground. Wearing a ripped white shirt, black track pants, and all-white high tops, chipaumire gazes down at the ground while she leaps up, as if stomping her way back to Earth.
Photo: Ian Douglas

The West Did Not Make Me

ankita

An Interview with nora chipaumire