What first caught my eye while scrolling through the dance section in the news was not the title of the article or the content itself, but rather the author’s name, Alastair Macaulay. So I figured, with the name Macaulay, what could be bad? And I was right. Macaulay wrote a review on Michelle Obama’s recent hosting of the Fall for Dance program in the East Room of the White House.
Fall for Dance, as Prof. Smaldone told us in class, is an annual production presented by the City Center and it is something which most New York dance-goers take pride in. Fall for Dance combines various styles, giving new perspective to something already familiar.
Although space was constricting, various pieces were performed representing four major choreographers including Ailey (excerpts from the solo “Cry” and the group dance “Revelations”), George Balanchine (the “Tarantella” pas de deux), Paul Taylor (male quartet from “Cloven Kingdom”) and Twyla Tharp (a duet from “Nine Sinatra Songs”).
Aside from the exciting performances executed at the White House by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Nasha Thomas-Schmitt, co-director Ailey company’s Arts in Education program, held a class prior to the performance for nearly 100 students from schools all across America. As Judith Jamison, artistic director as Ailey, so cleverly put it, “Dance is the soul of this nation!”
Lots of good names to add to the Name Dropping file…