Dance section: Metro Weekly

Night at the Ballet

NPR's Ari Shapiro's ''surreal opportunity'' to sing with The Washington Ballet

Published on May 2, 2013, 5:02am

Did you hear the one about NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro performing with The Washington Ballet? ''I'm not a dancer, and I do not dance,'' Shapiro says, ''but I get to sing this song while everybody dances around me.'' He's not joking. In fact, the song Shapiro sings during his ''little cameo'' in the company's new ballet, based on Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, is in French. {Ari Shapiro (Photo by Doby Photography, NPR)} ''It's a crazy, fun, surreal opportunity,'' ...[more]

Vampire Barre

The Washington Ballet's latest is as much Broadway as ballet

Published on October 25, 2012, 3:04am

''It's been loosely referred to as the Rocky Horror Show of ballet,'' jokes Michael Pink. ''It comes back and back again because it sells out. People adore it. It has that cult status.'' He's referring to Dracula. Both Atlanta Ballet and Colorado Ballet have performed the ballet nearly six times in the past 13 years. Also a repeat performer is the Milwaukee Ballet, where Pink serves as artistic director. {Dracula Luis R. Torres and Maki Onuki in ''Dracula'' (Photo by ...[more]

School Dances

Kennedy Center offers college ''dance sampler platters'' next weekend

Published on May 17, 2012, 5:06am

''Do you know that I performed at the national festival 20 years ago?'' Diane DeFries of the American College Dance Festival Association says she hears that comment often. ''It's amazing how many people working [in dance] have been involved with the organization, or were involved as students,'' she says. But the general public? ''It's sort of been a secret,'' she laughs, ''because we never had tickets.'' This year, ACDFA's biennial National College Dance Festival has doubled the number of its ...[more]

Dancing to Memories

Kyle Abraham honors memories of his father in ''The Radio Show''

Published on May 3, 2012, 1:01am

''It started out as kind of a stutter,'' says Kyle Abraham, about his father's aphasia, a type of brain damage. ''Two years later, it started getting worse. So it was just a gradual thing.'' Abraham's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1999, and lived with that and aphasia, which came in later, until last July. But by 2006, says Abraham, ''conversation was getting a little chancier, harder.'' {Kyle Abraham: Abraham.In.Motion (Photo by Stephen Schreiber)} In many ways, the conversations, ...[more]

Uplifted: Pilobolus

Baltimore native Nile Russell was all ready to give up dancing before he discovered the dance company Pilobolus

Published on May 3, 2012, 12:00am

Nile Russell was all ready to give up dancing. ''In modern dance, there were people freaking out the audience just for the sake of freaking them out, chaos for the sake of chaos,'' says Russell. ''I didn't think there was anything that was really pushing dance forward.'' In fact, Russell was preparing to become a dance teacher and leave New York when a friend dragged him to a Pilobolus audition nearly three years ago. It was love at first move. ...[more]

Nightclubbing

Next Reflex transforms Dance Place into a club with a live band

Published on April 19, 2012, 3:44am

Roxann Rowley wasn't struck by lightning, but a similar experience sparked her dance career. ''I was hit by a car crossing the street,'' Rowley explains, ''and after realizing that I wasn't seriously injured, I decided that maybe I should move – maybe I should continue dancing.'' {Next Reflex Dance Collective (Photo by Delaine Dacko)} Rowley had danced at her San Diego high school and at George Washington University, where she even earned a dance degree. But until the car accident ...[more]

Dancing through Wonderland

The Washington Ballet's forthcoming ''Alice'' is both a massive production and a massive hit

Published on April 4, 2012, 11:46pm

''It's a big one,'' says Septime Webre, ''a really loud, wild dream.'' The artistic director of the Washington Ballet isn't joking about the brand-new production Alice (in Wonderland), which is his original conception, featuring his choreography. Webre has enlisted the Washington Ballet's full ensemble of 40 adult dancers, as well as 100 children starring in two mixed repertory programs. {Alice (Photo by Steve Vaccariello)} But to make it even bigger and wilder, Webre tapped designer Liz Vandal, who's most recently ...[more]

Unlimited

Christopher Morgan is focused on growing his choreography career as well as D.C.'s dance community

Published on March 29, 2012, 3:49am

When he lived in New York, dancer and choreographer Christopher Morgan would occasionally perform the art world equivalent of go-go dancing for parties at venues including the Supper Club in Times Square and Webster Hall. It was an easy way to make a few hundred bucks. ''I'd paint my entire body white and just wear this little tiny unitard and spin fire onstage,'' he laughs. {Christopher K. Morgan (Photo by Todd Franson)} Another time, he appeared in a movie with ...[more]

Flamenco Male Call

Edwin Aparicio puts the focus on men in flamenco

Published on December 1, 2011, 2:03am

Edwin Aparicio is testing the waters, trying to shift perceptions about flamenco. ''American audiences are used to seeing the typical [flamenco] company with lots of girls with pretty dresses -- the polka dots, the ruffles, the trails -- but not much [focus on] men,'' says the choreographer. ''I thought, 'What if I got good men from Spain and also here and create a show around an all-male cast?''' And that's exactly what he's done with Flamenco Men, which will have ...[more]

Dance for Youth

The OASIS Dance Company offers a performance for LGBTQ youth

Published on September 8, 2011, 4:54am

''Many people are living the dream, but in other areas we're still working to progress,'' says Steven Wilson. After the unveiling of the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall, Wilson offers his own tribute to King. ''Images: Secrets from Within,'' performed by Wilson's OASIS Dance Company, incorporates dance and fashion, and benefits Transgender Health Empowerment's Wanda Alston House, which serves D.C.'s homeless LGBTQ youth. ''The main character is a model who's struggling to come out, and ...[more]

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