After more than a year of promises about a new initiative geared toward younger audiences, the Kennedy Center has finally made good on its word. The institution just launched its latest multiday event, but unlike most KenCen festivals, “Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America” isn’t happening inside the walls of the big Kleenex box [...]
Come Fly Away is perfect for anyone frustrated by bad dancing in a musical or bad acting in a ballet. In the touring version of the 2010 Broadway show now at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater, there's not a painted-on smile or half-assed pirouette in sight. That's because Come Fly Away is a high-quality hybrid [...]
You could say the standing ovation has lost some of its meaning. After all, just about any Kennedy Center show that's pretty decent or better can be relied on to bring folks to their feet.
But last night, the one the audience gave The Washington Ballet for its production of ALICE (in wonderland) felt utterly well-deserved. [...]
Mention Belgium and I immediately think of beer. After trappist ales and lambics, waffles and chocolate come to mind. Brussels is the seat of the European Union and Colin Farrell once starred in a moody film set there called In Bruges. Judging by the name the Alliance Française de Washington has given Washington's first festival of [...]
No, CM Punk isn’t a Washingtonian. His wrestling attire, decorated with the stars of Chicago’s flag, are proof of his indelible association with that city.
But there’s no reason why we can’t adopt him as our own.
Even as a millennial resurgence fades her stigma of a transient population ever so slightly—and with all due respect to [...]
Fidelio is Beethoven’s only opera, so you’d think it would get performed more. But it doesn’t. The last time the National Symphony did it was 1970, though its rousing overtures periodically make it into Beethoven potpurri programs. So it’s a rare treat to see the whole thing at the Kennedy Center, if not fully staged, [...]
The Kennedy Center announced the 2012 recipients of its Local Dance Commissioning Project earlier this month, but the news didn't seem to travel very far; I couldn’t find the announcement on the Kennedy Center’s website, and only received a press release about it this week.
But it’s nonetheless worth noting. This year’s winners are Company E [...]
Twyla Tharp and The Washington Ballet make a good pair.
Tharp, a choreographer with a national reputation who’s been creating pieces for decades, is generally lumped into the modern dance category, but she’s worked with ballet companies throughout her career. And she’s known as stickler for precise technique, the kind that only comes from years of [...]
Dance Place is the region’s most reliable spot for local and touring modern dance, yes. But it’s also famous for its years-long loyalty to specific choreographers.
Daniel Burkholder and Sharon Mansur are two examples. This weekend, the Brookland venue hosts the duo's two-person show, "Sightlines." The dancers, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary of collaborating together, [...]
In 2010, John and Leo Manzari were big news. The teenage brothers, a dancing duo from Southwest D.C., had been picked from almost-obscurity by tap dancing eminence Maurice Hines to star in Sophisticated Ladies at the Lincoln Theatre. Their Cinderella story—combined with the boys’ charming looks, manners, and cool onstage style—proved irresistible to the Washington [...]
