Screendance, sometimes called videodance, was born decades ago in the work of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. A lack of performance space led dancers to experiment with new ways of presenting their work. The term refers to “the short film form in dance [that is] diverse, global, emergent, alive, trans-media,…
Earlier this week, the Carbonell Awards announced the nominations for the 2015 season. In its 40th year, the prestigious award honors excellence in theater in South Florida — from Cutler Bay to Jupiter. With 100 nominations in 20 categories, Fort Lauderdale’s Slow Burn Theater Company leads the pack with 15 nominations,…
Michel Hausmann and Moises Kaufman could have inaugurated their new theater company with a humble play — a two-character piece with a single set, for instance. But The Golem of Havana, opening this weekend at the area’s newest theater company, Miami New Drama, is decidedly not humble. It’s an ambitious,…
Tony Yazbeck received quite the surprise when YoungArts came calling a few years ago. “They called saying that since I’m an alumni, maybe I’d consider teaching a master class,” the Broadway star says. “I had won an honorable mention in high school, but I didn’t realize until later that this…
Miami choreographer and dancer Pioneer Winter knows a thing or two about producing a live performance piece that integrates its surroundings in order for the piece to become fully realized. His Ebb/Flow performance took place aboard a floating canoe in Biscayne Bay for the SoBay Festival of the Arts in 2012,…
For many American actors, it would be difficult enough to recite a lengthy soliloquy in a convincing Russian accent. But doing so while wearing sky-high heels and almost nothing else while performing acrobatics on an unsteady stripper pole mounted in the center of the stage? That’s a feat of physical,…
Children enthralled by orchestral music? An invitation to sing along with the symphony? In an age where orchestras either need to evolve or become extinct, Ted Ricketts has found a way for families to feel comfortable at a symphony concert. He’s created With Disney in Concert: Magical Music from the…
It can be an interesting test to ask someone how they know Paul Rodriguez. The Mexican stand-up comedian or the 4-time X Game winning skateboarder? Not everyone knows about the father and son duo, though that may change soon. Talent runs in the family but Paul Sr. won’t be overshadowed…
Jessica Trujillo is a world champion salsa dancer. Her team, the Omambo Dance Project, won the professional salsa team division at the World Latin Dance Cup last year. When she called her best friend back home in Los Angeles from the competition at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, the champ…
For decades Brian Regan has been one of the hardest-working comedians in stand-up. In a business where a comedian’s gravitas has been tied to TV and film credits, Regan has built his loyal theater audiences through relentless touring and undeniable jokecraft. However, the comedian is not resting on his reputation,…
Hell’s bells to those who tell hip-hop choreographer Jennifer Weber that the sacred holiday tradition of The Nutcracker has been irreverently tinkered with in The Hip Hop Nutcracker. “Isn’t that what hip hop is all about?” says the Brooklyn-based founder and artistic director of Decadancetheatre, an all-female, hip-hop dance theater…
A beekeeper and an academic meet at a barbecue. That’s what happens in the opening scene of Nick Payne’s brazenly unconventional play Constellations, and it’s the only certainty he provides, the only concrete plot point we can latch onto. The rest of this time-bending experiment is comprised of probabilities to…
Eddie Izzard is a difficult man to keep up with. Both on and off stage, the 53-year-old British comedian has always seemed to be ahead of everyone else, roguishly and cleverly defying expectations and surprising the public on a regular basis. Izzard is regarded as one of the brightest minds…
Just before sunset, comedian Lisa Corrao loads up a backpack full of snacks and libations for the night ahead. She throws in a sweater in case it gets chilly. “And an umbrella,” she says via phone from New York. “You can never forget an umbrella.” It’s just another night on…
The Florida Grand Opera (FGO) returns this weekend to the Arsht Center with a production of Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. The classic and enduring comedic opera established many of the guidelines and parameters we’ve come to know from the opera buffa and it is one of the few works…
Jessica Lang is inspired by artistic collaborations. Her pieces testify to the transformative power of movement, music, and visual composition coming together to create a mesmerizing performance. All of that will be on display this weekend when Lang’s troupe debuts in South Florida at the South Miami-Dade County Cultural Arts…
The Knight Arts Challenge South Florida 2015 People’s Choice Awards nominees are live. The community can vote now through November 17 via text message for one of four selected Knight Arts Challenge finalists to receive $20,000 to fund their projects. It’s a text-to-vote campaign: pick your favorite group, and text…
Perhaps one of the most important artistic development institutions in the country, Miami’s YoungArts program has nurtured the burgeoning careers of over 20,000 alumni since its founding in 1981. Now, the organization announces the launch of a new residency dedicated exclusively to contemporary dance, inaugurated by renowned YoungArts alumnus Desmond…
The Knight Arts Challenge South Florida 2015 People’s Choice Awards nominees are live. The community can vote now through November 17 via text message for one of four selected Knight Arts Challenge finalists to receive $20,000 to fund their projects. It’s a text-to-vote campaign: pick your favorite group, and text…
When you read about all the impressive things comedian and actress Margaret Cho does in the span of a year — both the volume of activity, level of impact, and quality of its humanity — it’s hard to think of her as anything other than a role model. It seems…
Marissa Alma Nick, the director of Miami’s ALMA Dance Theater, stands in the middle of her dimly lit studio among her company of dancers. “You have two choices here,” she says. “You’re either the murderer, or you’re the victim. But both characters require you to lose total control of your…
Miami City Ballet opens its season Friday night at the Arsht Center with a program that is representative of what artistic director Lourdes Lopez calls a major milestone for a ballet company of its size — 30 years as Miami’s resident ballet company. It will be a season that tips…
