To say that the local organization Comic Cure cares is an understatement. Over the last year or so, the group has made important progress across South Florida, supporting both local comics and the community at large. Founded by brothers Benjamin and Richy Leis, Comic Cure organizes events year round, with…
Death is inextricably linked with fear — fear of the unknown, fear of loss, the question of when and how. It can’t be said for certain what will happen, but death is inevitable. In Flowers for Spring, a new work performed by Alma Dance Theater director, Marissa Alma Nick offers…
Brazil’s Companhia Urbana de Dança returns to Miami this weekend with their critically acclaimed fusion of hip hop, capoeira, and contemporary dance. Presented by FUNDarte and the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, the performance will feature two of the company’s signature dance works, NÊGO (I. You. We. All Black) and Chapa Quente…
For a play set in the 19th century, George Bernard Shaw’s Candida is frighteningly still relevant. Throughout his life, the Irish playwright and critic harbored allegiances to Marxism, gradualism, and eventually, Fabien Socialism. And in his writing career, Shaw often wrote versions of himself or interpretations of his ideals into…
The Limon Dance Company celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, having existed more years without its founder than with him. The company’s survival is an homage to the man and his work. José Limón (1908-1972), a dancer and choreographer, created many works that are considered masterpieces of modern dance; his…
The Miami City Ballet charms us into believing that a supernatural realm can be breeched through the warm waters on South Florida’s shore. Among the whitecaps are fairies ready to conjure up mischief and help fools fall in love. As the company gets ready to close its 30th anniversary season…
This St. Paddy’s Day weekend, while much of Miami is celebrating Irish culture with green beer, shamrock decor, and Celtic rock, Mad Cat Theatre Company will offer a different Irish perspective: existential despair, traumatic recollections, and creaking ghost stories from the nation’s chief export of the avant-garde, Samuel Beckett. For…
Throughout his storied career, tap dance legend Savion Glover has combined his own brand of tap with a variety of collaborations. He has brought tap to the masses, whether onscreen or onstage. From Broadway and the Tony awards to films like Happy Feet, he has been one of the leading…
While Miami native Pioneer Winter has been active in the local dance community as a choreographer, he has also been wrapping up his Masters of Fine Arts at Jacksonville University. HOST, Winter’s current project, is also his thesis performance. The piece explores the potential of what Winter calls a “practice-based” approach…
Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, known as “Farruquito,” was born into one of the grand families of flamenco. His father was the late cantaor Juan Fernández Flores, “El Moreno.” His mother, the dancer Rosario Montoya, was referred to as “La Farruca.” And his grandfather, the founder of a flamenco school of…
Jeff Quintana, co-founder of Miami’s Villain Theatre, woke up on a Central Park bench every morning for two weeks in the dead of New York City’s winter. It was 2009 and Quintana had just left Miami to pursue his love of comedy — a passion not readily supported in Miami. He…
For his first on-stage appearance as the new creative director of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the University of Miami, James Newton Howard organized a concert Friday night showcasing precisely why he was an excellent choice for the job. The Grammy Award nominated film composer brought his talents from…
New York-based choreographer Camille A. Brown is known for her wide embrace of many dance forms: from African to tap to street styles. Part of the 2016 MDC Live Arts performance program, Brown will make her Miami debut at the Miami Dade County Auditorium on Saturday. Her project, Black Girl: Linguistic…
The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach is under construction until December, but the exhibitions continue. Through partnerships with other organizations, the museum has been presenting art and educational programs outside its own walls since 2015. The bassX series is one such initiative. The exhibitions at bassX are shown…
Alvin Ailey American Dance Company returns to the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts under the direction of artistic director Robert Battle. The program features the premiere of Miami native Battle’s Awakening, a new dance work commissioned by the Arsht Center as part of the theater’s 10 Year Anniversary Celebration…
Film composer and Grammy Award winner James Newton Howard spends most days engrossed in the world of whatever movie he’s working on. He stays indoors and locked away from the public while scoring the next great soundtrack. His methods have garnered him accolades for many of the films for which…
A palace is typically extravagant, filled with too many pillows and too many luxury items. It’s the ultimate signifier of wealth and consumption. But for Japanese choreographer Kota Yamazaki, it’s a frenetic, meditative space where dark and light coexist. Inspired by utakai (poetry readings by Japanese aristocrats) and renga (collaboratively…
After a long day’s work, most people like to plop down in front of the TV to unwind — but not Jamar Roberts. The 33-year-old dancer, choreographer, illustrator, and fashion designer considers the act of watching television an exploration of what’s happening behind the lens. “I usually watch on mute…
Step Afrika! returns to the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center this week for a celebration of dance with roots in African traditions during Black History Month. The rhythmic stepping tradition uses dancers bodies as percussive instruments through marches and response choreography. Based in Washington, D.C., and founded in 1994 by…
Toby Lerner Ansin, founder of Miami City Ballet (MCB), compares choreographer Justin Peck to famed ballet choreographer George Balanchine. “Every time you see their choreography, and depending on where you sit when you watch the ballet, you’ll take away something different,” Ansin says. For the founder’s 70th birthday, her family launched…
It has become impossible to say the words “women aren’t funny” — regardless of a lot of boring, unfunny men trying hard to do so. Miami’s Villain Theater proves women comics are seriously hilarious, which is why they are part of the Saturday Gigantic lineup every week. On Thursday, February…
Trapped in a shoe store in Buenos Aires during an end-of-world hailstorm in 2001, I gritted as ice the size of ball bearings struck the steel roof like shotgun blasts. Later that afternoon, while at a dinner theater in Recoleta, it seemed to me someone had created a dance out…
