Pieces of Eight Choreographer Highlight: LeeWei Chao Given the safety protocols put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19, our junior company, OBT2, has adapted to the prevailing challenges by adding new projects and programming. This year in addition to a daily ballet technique class and supplemental classical training, our OBT2 pre-professional dancers experienced… Read More

BHM Spotlight: National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica Jamaica became independent of Britain in 1962 and that same year marked the founding of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC). This was not a coincidence for the NDTC saw its role as a conduit for celebration along with contributing to the founding of the… Read More

Arthur Mitchell Balanchine’s Puck Protégé In the mid 1960s I was fresh out of graduate school and a young faculty member at Reed College. Reed treated me exceedingly well and in 1966, thanks to a young faculty development grant, I was on a research leave at the Rockefeller University in New York. The leave proved… Read More

George Washington Smith A dancer of mixed race and considered the first male American ballet star Considered one of the first male American ballet stars, George Washington Smith maintained a relationship with dance and teaching that spanned a lifetime. Before him, there is no mention of a male ballet dancer in 19th century America. He… Read More

Black History Month Spotlight: Janet Collins Written by Stephen Karakashain Her talent was prodigious. When she was about sixteen, the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo came to Los Angles, and Janet decided to audition. She was the only person of color and she lacked an accompanist, bringing instead a portable phonograph. When she finished her audition,… Read More