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From left to right, dancers Dormeshia, Rachna Nivas, Rukhmani Mehta and Michelle Dorrance. They are in motion. Dormeshia and Dorrance wear white pants, thigh length white tunics, and tap shoes. Nivas and Mehta wear white leggings, long white dresses with golden details on the skirts and bodices. They have bands of bells around their ankles and are barefoot. The tap dancers have a quality of bending and sending energy into the floor. The Kathak dancers are lifted, arms raised, poised.
Photo: Richard Termine
  • Reviews

Joy in SPEAK

Emilee Lord

When Masters Converse

Green-toned book cover featuring the silhouette of a forest and leaping figure with the title “Ways to Move: Black Insurgent Grammars by Jonathan González” on the right, and poetic text on the left reading: “i want to be with you in the ways with you of vertigo seas,” “i want to be with you in the ways with you of smashing monuments,” and “i want to be with you in the ways with you of these lonely trees.”
Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan González and Ugly Duckling Presse
  • Book Reviews

On Language Learning

Emilee Lord

A reading of Ways to Move: Black Insurgent Grammars by Jonathan González

A flat image of the front cover of "Resistance and Support: CI @ 50" appears centered on a dark maroon background. From top to bottom, the cover descends through sunset – muted burnt orange, carrot, creamsicle, golden rod, pale yellow, into a black and white photo of two dancers partnering in the ocean. One dancer is on his ass in the water. The other stands, both knees bent, reaching out for her comrade in the waves. They hold hands at the wrists, arms fully extended. The title “Resistance and Support,” each word on its own line, spans the top third of the cover page in a burgundy, serif font. Below, the subtitle “CI @ 50” slants in smaller white italics. The text “EDITED BY: Ann Cooper Albright,” back to the burgundy with no italics, sits about one thumbs width above the dancers in the ocean.
Photo: Courtesy of Ann Cooper Albright, includes photo by Lasse Lychnell
  • Book Reviews

Zooming Out and Weighing In

Jennifer Passios

Thirty-three writers shape Contact Improvisation’s next chapter.

A scene from the 2025 film, The Testament of Ann Lee: Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) opens her arms wide and looks on a slight upward diagonal, lips gently parted, gaze forward, or perhaps “beyond.” The reverent gesture takes up the whole horizontal span of the image. Lee dresses modestly in a muted cerulean dress with long sleeves. A cream colored scarf covers her head and wraps around her bust in an X. The image cuts off just beneath the scarf.
Photo: Courtesy of Disney and Searchlight Pictures
  • Reviews, thINKpieces

Rave, or Revelation? Celibate Orgies & Mixed Messaging in The Testament of Ann Lee

Lauren Berlin

In this cinematic story of the Shakers, contradictory messages about the body compete with ecstatic movement sequences

Mulunesh, a Black woman in a thick, hooded raincoat, stands crookedly with her weight shifted over one foot. Her arms are lifted out from her sides and her hands are in fists. She is lit with harsh, bright lights, and boxed in on three sides with heavy transparent plastic. Behind her, a sheet of white marley and two red cables dangle limply, as if caught mid collapse. The floor beneath her feet, made of the same white marley, is spotted with piles of black paper confetti.
Photo: Bas de Brouwer
  • thINKpieces

Decomposing Mediation: On FRANK

Writings from tD's Emerging Writer's Fellowship

Georgina Pazcoguin, her short black bob framing her face, wears a white bodysuit decorated with blue and red flowers and holds a classical Chinese fan. Her eyes are defined with lined makeup as she extends into an elongated ballet pose.
Photo: Pentalina Productions LLC
  • Interviews, thINKpieces

About Face: Yellowface and the Cost of Looking Away

Lauren Berlin

To love ballet is to let it evolve

A group of dancers move together in a clump holding toilet plungers, some of which are donning messy black wigs or flightlights-as-eyes.
Photo: Jenna Maslechko
  • Interviews

By the Way, You Can Laugh

Rachel DeForrest Repinz

Brian Golden on disability, play, and humor as access.

A woman with short cropped hair wearing a long white tunic balances on her left leg in front of a large stone pillar and a section of the American flag. She looks over her extended right arm, her wrist gently lifted.
Photo: Meg Goldman
  • Interviews

The Truth Lives in The Body

Lauren Berlin

Reflections from Naomi Goldberg Haas on Movement, Belonging, and the Body as a Place to Return

Two human-shaped puppets seated side by side on a platform, their legs hanging over the edge and their arms extended forward as if gesturing outward. Both puppets feature detailed facial expressions with open mouths. The puppet on the left has curly hair and wears a cheetah-print robe layered over a red bra with black lace, while the puppet on the right appears bald with facial hair and is dressed in shorts and shoes. Puppeteers dressed in dark clothing are partially visible behind and around the figures, with their hands engaged in supporting and controlling the puppets. A dark background and focused lighting emphasize the puppets’ faces, clothing, and posture, creating strong contrast and directing attention to the figures.
Photo: Charlie Lyne
  • Reviews

Sex, Satire, and Puppets on Stage

Emily “Lady Em” Culbreath

A boldly funny and surprisingly tender puppet show uses candid confessions and surreal imagery to explore sex, aging, and human intimacy.

In a dark-lit space, a group of barefoot dancers huddle together. Someone lays on top of their shoulders, their face upside down to the audience.
Photo: Michael Tubbs
  • thINKpieces

Ephemeral Patterns: Translating “The Yellow Wallpaper” into Movement

Writings from tD's Emerging Writer's Fellowship