D.C. DanceWatcher, Lisa Traiger

Rockettes Take Washington

I had a lovely conversation with Melinda Farrell, who grew up dancing at her mom's studio in Centreville, and now is part of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which stops in Fairfax and DC this coming week. My story appears here in The Washington Post Weekend.

Re-Posts from 'Dance Studio Life'

Until this fall I contributed articles to Dance Studio Life, a magazine serving the needs of dance studio owners and teachers.

Here is an aggregate of my 2009 stories:

• "No Studio, No Problem: Teaching Dance in Community, Recreation and Daycare Centers," from August '09
  

• "Non-Profits Filling a Need: Tax-Exempt Status Offers Opportunities to Students, Benefits to Communities," from July '09

• "Knock On Wood's Way With Rhythm Tap," from May '09

• "Stepping Stone to College: Traditional African-based Dance Sends Powerful Message to Teens," from March '09

Dance Is the Answer

At the start of Dance/MetroDC's third annual regional celebration of all things dance, a brief preview of some events appears in today's Weekend section of The Washington Post.

"Washington and its suburbs are ready to rock -- and tango, plie, shuffle, lunge, jump and skip.

It's all part of Dance Is the Answer, the region's contribution to National Dance Week. Over the next 10 days, nearly 80 companies, studios and individuals across the area will offer dance-related activities, such as free hip-hop classes, choreographer meet-and-greets, lectures, workshops and performances in genres spanning the globe and the centuries.

'This year we're showing our local community as an international world of dance,' says Peter DiMuro, director of Dance/MetroDC, the festival's sponsor. 'We're really trying to give an international flavor using all locally based artists: You'll see Indian dance next to hip-hop next to aerial dance next to fusion next to modern. It feels like a trip around the world.'"

Stomp the Stage

Step Afrika! is one of the few locally based dance companies that always makes me feel happy and invigorated.

"Part body percussion and part poetry slam, step dancing has been popular for decades on the African American fraternity and sorority circuit. Today stepping has marched off the college yard and into middle schools, high schools, churches, and community centers. Think Spike Lee's School Daze or Sylvain White's Stomp the Yard, two Hollywood takes on college kids who break it down, dance it out, rhyme, and play the dozens to win credibility (and, because it's a movie, get the girl).

Step Afrika!, the 15-year-old troupe that led stepping from the campus to the concert hall, was founded by a young college grad who had hardly seen a dance concert."

I spent a few days with the company this past summer for an article in the February 2009 issue of Dance Magazine. What? You don't subscribe? Well, then sign up here.

November's End

Before I take a health-imposed hiatus, I’ll be seeing the University of Maryland Dance Ensemble in Helen Tamiris’s “How Long Brethren” Saturday. I spoke with Dianne McIntyre, who rebuilt the piece back in 1991 from a collection of ephemera –- photos, programs, reviews and notes –- at the Federal Theatre Project archives and from the memories of some key Tamiris dancers. My story about Tamiris, “Brethren” and its Jewish connections appears this week in the Washington Jewish Week. There’s a pre-show panel tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. featuring Sali Ann Kriegsman, Mim Rosen and others involved in this latest reconstruction.