The pictures tell the story in Cuba: Paradise Lost in Nostalgia. And like in a good painting, the more you look, the more you see. Colors practically explode – red, blue, green, yellow. There is exuberance – a woman in a flaring red dress dancing with men in the street under a glaringly bright blue…
Category: Community
Forever War – Combat Hippies and Teo Castellanos Fight for Hope in “Amal”
Amal, the name of the ferocious theater piece from the Combat Hippies which I saw last Friday, means “hope” in Arabic. And this riveting, authentic original work supplies that in all kinds of ways. Combat Hippies and Amal are the latest creations from Teo Castellanos, the theater artist and teacher/mentor who, despite numerous awards and…
She’s no FAKE – Carmen Pelaez’s true story of art and Cuban-American heart.
In Miami New Drama’s latest production, FAKE, author Carmen Pelaez takes on: art world politics (social, financial, ethnic), Cuban politics, cultural legacy, why art matters, how art is valued, who decides that value, who controls culture (Cuban, etc.), and – no biggie! – the nature of truth. Plus, since this is a play about Cuba,…
Talking about Dougla and Dance Theatre of Harlem
The next Dance Talk in the series I’ve been hosting for the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center is for the much anticipated return of Dance Theatre of Harlem, which made a big stir last year when the Center hosted the company’s return to Miami after almost two decades. We’ll explore the inspiration and background of…
Swamp Spirits – Dale Andree’s Magical “Everglades Imprint” for AIRIE
An escape from Miami hustle to the quiet of the Everglades seemed like an ideal way to mark the end of a frenzied 2018. But choreographer Dale Andree’s Everglades Imprint offered much more: a spiritual journey, a transformative moment of immersion in the wilderness at Florida’s heart, a place that is mostly abstract to most…
Looking Back and Paying it Forward – Christopher Rudd and Getting a Chance
NOTE: I wrote this story as a freelance writer for the Miami Herald in 1995. I reproduce it exactly here as perspective on my just posted storyFull Circle – Choreographer Christopher Rudd returns to Miami with Dance NOW! EXPLORING BALLET, A FIELD OFTEN CONSIDERED OFF-LIMITS FOR BLACKS, THESE YOUNG MEN TAKE A LEAP OF COURAGE. Reporter:…
Full Circle – Choreographer Christopher Rudd returns to Miami with Dance Now!
Even as a first grader at RR Moton Elementary in South Miami-Dade, Christopher Rudd wanted to dance. But a teacher at the arts magnet school told Rudd dance wasn’t for boys, and so instead he tried art (disastrous) and acting (also.) And that could have been that for him. But when he was in fourth…
Our Story Here and Now with One Night in Miami
With One Night in Miami, the riveting play that just kicked off Miami New Drama’s second season, artistic director Michel Hausmann hits straight to the heart of his troupe’s mission – presenting work that’s central to Miami. Not only because of the play’s uniquely Miami story. But because that story speaks to and for a…
Dance Deja Vu – Edward Villella and Three Generations of Ballet in Miami
When Edward Villella first performed Tarantella, the rocket-powered pas de deux that George Balanchine made on him and Patricia McBride in 1964, he had to drop to his hands and knees to catch his breath every time he shot offstage. Today in Miami he watched, smiling, as Eric Pikieris and Claudia Lezcano, of Dimensions Dance…
Desire and difference – Miami New Drama’s Queen of Basel remakes a classic
The rich, oblivious, self-centered white girl. The dark-skinned Cuban guy seething with ambition and anger. The desperate Venezuelan woman who fled the violent chaos of her home country. We think we know these characters, just like they think they know each other. But by the end of Queen of Basel, the new production from Miami…
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