THE MAGAZINE
Introducing Choreographer Merce Cunningham: Embracing Chance in Modern Dance
For Merce Cunningham, uncertainty was not a flaw in performance but its driving force. Rejecting narrative, emotional prescription, and fixed structure, he invited chance into every layer of choreography — from sequencing to sound. This introduction revisits how Cunningham’s radical trust in unpredictability reshaped modern dance and continues to challenge how artists think about control, collaboration, and risk.
Dancer Dorms
What begins as a carefully imagined dorm room often ends in something far more utilitarian. For a dance major, Pinterest-worthy décor gives way to yoga mats, resistance bands, and improvised stretching tools. In this article, TWoA reflects on how training quietly transforms personal space — turning a room meant for rest into a site of discipline, adaptation, and daily physical negotiation.
Revelations: A Dance that Reveals the Spirit of Alvin Ailey and the Soul of the African American Story
Since its 1960 premiere, Revelations has stood at the heart of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — a work shaped by Alvin Ailey’s childhood memories of the Black church and carried forward by generations of dancers. Moving from sorrow to baptism to communal joy, the piece is less a narrative than a living ritual, offering a shared language of endurance, faith, and celebration within the African American experience
Six Favorite Dance Movies in NYC *Unranked
New York has long been a city where dance unfolds in studios, on stages, and in the streets. This unranked selection of six dance films — spanning ballet, musical theatre, documentary, and street styles — offers a way to revisit the city’s rhythms, tensions, and joys, and to see how movement has helped generations of New Yorkers tell their stories on screen.
Natascha Mair, Principal Dancer, on “Sugar Hill:” “We all inspired each other!”
After years of performing traditional Nutcracker roles, Natascha Mair found herself inside a very different holiday world. In Sugar Hill — a jazz-driven reimagining set in 1930s Harlem and scored to music by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn — classical ballet meets swing, hip hop, and jazz. In conversation, Mair reflects on collaboration across styles, artistic exchange, and why this Nutcracker feels less like tradition and more like discovery.
Street Artist JR at the Paris Opera: Back to the Cave
While the Paris Opera undergoes restoration, JR has turned its scaffolding into something more than a temporary skin. Retour à la caverne imagines the opera house as a return to humanity’s first artistic impulse — the cave — culminating in a nocturnal performance choreographed by Damien Jalet to music by Thomas Bangalter. With dancers moving like bats beneath embroidered handprints, the project collapses distinctions between street art, ballet, ritual, and monument.
A Ballet Dancer’s Take: On Balletcore
Balletcore promises satin ribbons, slick buns, and legwarmers warmed by nostalgia. But for dancers who have lived inside the studio, the aesthetic can feel strangely hollow. In this essay, former professional dancer Hannah Lipman traces the distance between ballet as fantasy and ballet as discipline, asking whether fashion’s current obsession can move beyond costume to honor the labor, rigor, and movement that define the art form itself. When brands collaborate with dancers like India Bradley of New York City Ballet, Balletcore begins to shift—from static style to something closer to lived motion.
Happy Thanksgiving! Aaron Copland and Martha Graham’s “Appalachian Spring”
Of all the holidays associated with America, Thanksgiving is by far the most uniquely American one. So, if you are looking for a ballet or a classical music piece to get you into the mood for turkey, stuffing and pie, enjoy our feature about Aaron Copland and Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring.
Cloud Gate: 50 Years of Singing the Song of the Wanderers
For half a century, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has reshaped contemporary dance through a language rooted in Chinese philosophy and lived experience. Founded by Lin Hwai-min and now led by Cheng Tsung-lung, the company blends meditation, martial arts, and modern choreography into works of striking physical and emotional intensity. As Cloud Gate marks its 50th anniversary, this article reflects on its legacy—and its continued relevance on the global stage.
Choreographer and Composer Olivier Tarpaga (USA/Burkina Faso): Translating Emotion to Movement
For choreographer and composer Olivier Tarpaga, dance begins not with narrative but with feeling. Drawing on experiences rooted in Burkina Faso and the United States, his work transforms global politics, memory, and trauma into visceral movement. In this TWoA profile, Tarpaga discusses translating emotion into choreography—inviting audiences to experience, rather than interpret, the human stories unfolding on stage.
How to Become a Cello: Royal Ballet Principal Marcelino Sambé in Cathy Marston’s “The Cellist,” Royal Ballet, 20 October – 2 November 2023
What does it mean to dance an instrument rather than a character? In this TWoA interview, Marcelino Sambé discusses creating the role of “The Instrument” in The Royal Ballet’s The Cellist, choreographed by Cathy Marston. Reflecting on loss, embodiment, and musical intimacy, Sambé reveals how movement, sound, and emotion merge in this haunting tribute to cellist Jacqueline du Pré.
Birmingham Royal Ballet: “Black Sabbath - The Ballet”
What happens when heavy metal collides with classical ballet? Christina Ezrahi examines Black Sabbath – The Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s audacious new production inspired by the city’s most famous band. Conceived by director Carlos Acosta, the three-act work brings the music of Black Sabbath to the stage—blending orchestral power, industrial history, and contemporary choreography to reach audiences far beyond the traditional ballet world.
Viviana Durante, Artistic Director of English National Ballet School: “Follow Your Dream and See Where It Takes You!”
What does it take to follow a dream—especially when it begins far from home? In this TWoA interview, Viviana Durante, Artistic Director of English National Ballet School, reflects on her journey from Rome to the world’s leading stages and her philosophy of dance education today. From resilience and homesickness to interpretation, individuality, and collaboration, Durante shares what it means to build artists—not just dancers.
Fancy a Visit to Paris Opera Ballet?
A Paris stage, streamed straight to your sofa. In this TWoA guide, Christina Ezrahi explores Signes, the cult ballet by Carolyn Carlson created for the Paris Opera Ballet. Revived in 2023, the work brings together abstract painting by Olivier Debré and music by René Aubry—a rare fusion of visual art, sound, and movement, broadcast live on Bastille Day.
Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky! Celebrating an Icon of Twentieth Century Music and Ballet
Think ballet, think modernism. In this TWoA birthday tribute, we revisit how Igor Stravinsky transformed twentieth-century music through ballet—from The Firebird and The Rite of Spring to his defining collaborations with George Balanchine. A story of scandal, innovation, and the birth of neoclassical ballet.
Keep Cool!
Stressed before exams or performances? Take a cue from West Side Story—and let Riff’s iconic “Cool” remind you how music and dance help us breathe, pause, and reset. A TWoA moment of calm.
Happy Birthday, Irina Kolpakova!
As she turns ninety, Irina Kolpakova remains one of ballet’s living treasures—an unbroken link to the imperial Russian tradition and a guiding force at American Ballet Theatre. Read on to learn more about her life and work.
Christian Spuck and Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Messa da Requiem’ at Staatsballett Berlin
Christian Spuck’s Messa da Requiem brings Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental score to the ballet stage in a stark, visually arresting production. Premiering at Staatsballett Berlin at a pivotal moment in Spuck’s career, the work confronts life, death, and collective ritual through massed bodies and choral force. At its best, music and movement fuse into a gripping total artwork; at its weakest, Verdi’s soaring score resists choreography altogether.
Hip Hop Meets Ballet: Dutch National Ballet and ISH Dance Collective Present Oscar Wilde’s “Dorian Gray”
What happens when classical ballet collides with hip hop culture? In Dorian, Dutch National Ballet and ISH Dance Collective reimagine Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray for an image-obsessed, social-media age. Through structured improvisation, live illustration, and sharply contrasting movement styles, the production pushes dancers—and audiences—far beyond their comfort zones. Read on for more.
Pierre Lacotte, Choreographer, Dies at 91
On 10 April 2023, the renowned French choreographer Pierre Lacotte died by sepsis from an infected cut. He was 91. Lacotte was famous for his restagings of 19th-century ballets from the Romantic era. But he was also a key figure in a dramatic event that changed the history of ballet in the West: the Cold War defection of Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev in 1961. Read on for more!