Michael Mahany

Michael Mahany sat down for an exclusive interview with New York City Ballet legend and star of the award winning documentary RESTLESS CREATURE, Wendy Whalen. 

When ‘New American Romance’ debuts in New York City later this month, it will mark American Ballet Theatre principal danseur James Whiteside’s choreographic debut with the company — and it’ll promise to be different than anything the internationally respected ballet institution has ever produced.

Right now, in the world of New York City choreographers, it seems there’s no one on more of a hot streak than Tony-nominated dance creator Camille A. Brown.

JaQuel Knight is a name you need to know. Why? Well, because he’s arguably the most influential commercial dance choreographer of a generation.

The New York City dance community came out in droves early Monday morning to rally against bullying, acknowledge and support male dancers, and to celebrate the dedication, passion, and perseverance the study of the dance demands.

How did they do it, you ask? By doing what dancers do best. They took class!

On the 31st day of July 2019, on a Nordic island in the middle of the Northern Atlantic — Broadway and the dance world lost a luminary in Harold Smith Prince.

The legendary producer, director, stage manager, theatrical pioneer, and (yes, even) US Army Veteran, passed away in Reykjavik, Iceland at the age of 91. Due in part to his passion for creating lasting and evocative work and the preservation of many of his theatrical ventures, the massive contributions to the art forms created by the beloved dance and theatre figure, will quite literally never be forgotten, while his loss will be felt for generations.

The 2019 Grammys was one for the books! 

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While the show itself was awesome, there were only a handful of truly exciting dance moments— and we’ve got them for you right here.

Here’s Dance Network’s list of the FOUR MOST INTERESTING DANCE MOMENTS from the Grammys.

Hamilton’s Puerto Rico company lowered its curtain for the final time on January 27th at the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré, the local venue in which it played in San Juan. The company that performed in PR is now preparing for a San Francisco, CA sit-down run before they (eventually) take off on a national touring itinerary.

While in the final week of its island run, Dance Network was able to catch up with HamiltonPR dance captain and swing, Dashi' Mitchell.

The Joyce Theatre in Chelsea was ablaze with the warmth of excited dancers and dance patrons even though the high in Manhattan last Monday night was only a miserable 12 degrees. Fans, philanthropists, and students were on hand to enjoy New York City Dance Alliance Foundation’s annual benefit concert— this year called Destiny Rising— which not only raised additional funds but also celebrated the $2.5 million in scholarship money the education and convention organization has given out since 2010.

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New York City Ballet principal dancer and star of the hit Hulu dance documentary Ballet Now, Tiler Peck was a guest star of the evening’s concert. Ms. Peck, a former student of Joe Lanteri— the founder and executive director of both NYCDA and its subsequent philanthropic foundation— is still quite fond of her longtime friend.

For many dancers, jumping out of the gate early is the key to catching a majority of their professional career in their prime dancing years, but when they find they’d like to expand or ultimately to transition to something else entirely, they run into the issue of a lack of formal higher education. Often, high-level companies ask dancers still of high school age to move away from home and commit solely to their crafts, and many of these young performers don't get a chance to go through an undergraduate college degree program. 

Fortunately though, St. Mary’s College of California has created an educational solution called the LEAP Program aimed at both professional and retired dancers looking to earn a Bachelor’s Degree without ever having to put their career on hold.

Betsy Struxness, a New York City-based performer who’s made a name for herself as one of the leading dancers in the Broadway community, creating art isn't just simply something she wants to do — it's something for which she was born. Through a new series of self-created online dance videos she’s calling #PatioJams, Struxness, a member of the original Broadway cast of Hamilton and graduate of Juilliard’s dance program, shares her passions for movement, fashion, photography, and music. 

Last weekend, between the matinee of Robbins 100 and the evening performance of Short Stories, interim team Artistic Leader of New York City Ballet Jonathan Stafford, announced the promotion of seven ballet dancers within the company; including Joseph Gordon from Soloist to Principal, and six other corps de ballet dancers to Soloists.

These promotions are a big deal for the company that has struggled over the past year with a number of newsworthy yet odious transgressions, and this news should be good news to dance fans everywhere.

It was announced last week that the TONY® Award-winning New York City Ballet resident choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck, is set to choreograph the film remake of the Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein masterpiece, West Side Story.

The 23rd annual DANCE NOW Festival begins this week at The Public Theatre’s cabaret space, Joe’s Pub.

The festival has grown into a highly anticipated annual autumn event drawing some of New York City’s brightest emerging and established talent. Working within given guidelines of “limitation”, the festival pushes dancers and choreographers to create within the mantra of “less is more”. The festival has produced consistently exciting work and set in motion the career advancement of numerous choreographers over its two decades.

Paul Taylor, the legendary modern dance icon passed away Wednesday in New York City at the age of 88.

Neil Simon, playwright and book writer to countless Broadway plays and musicals, passed away Saturday evening at Manhattan’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after complications of pneumonia. He was ninety-one.  

Undoubtedly by now, you know Stephanie Klemons. The dance and theatre powerhouse has worked hard to make a name for herself on Broadway; she’s as an original cast member, the associate choreographer, and current global dance supervisor of the monumental mega-hit musical Hamilton— yet, her work outside ‘the room where it happens’ makes this major player of the dance world, a superstar.

Believe NYC isn't your normal, run of the mill New York City Broadway travel connection organization. At Believe NYC, students get a first hand, real-life look at Broadway, but moreover, the outreach work that’s developed from its success has made it something far, far more special.

Proponents of arts education have, for years, preached the benefits of artistically enriched schooling and access to after-school programing. The growth witnessed in participating children, time after time, seems to produce confident, adept critical thinkers willing to expand personal horizons and more openly accept and work with peers. Yamilee Toussaint, founder and CEO of STEM From Dance, is no different from her arts education colleagues, yet the angle from which she approaches her work might be, well, to use the mathematical term, a little more obtuse.

James Ludwig and Mark Aldrich certainly know a lot about theatre. “Jimmy” Ludwig, who was on Broadway in the 2003 revival of Little Shop Of Horrors and the original company of Spamalot, and Aldridge whose credits include the 2009 revival of Ragtime and the original company of Newsies, have also both amassed remarkable resumes on the stage and in television and film, but the two also have another, secondary, common passion: beer.

Over 200 of Broadway’s best dancers and performers came together Sunday night at The Hammerstein Ballroom on West 34th Street in Manhattan to raise money for the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’s Broadway Bares. This year’s event, titled Broadway Bares: Game Night, raised a record breaking $1,875,090.00 for the charitable organization.

The 2018 TONY® Awards, which aired live on CBS Sunday night, certainly provided both the live audience at Radio City Music Hall and viewers at home a bright night of Broadway stars, exciting performances, and, of course, some surprises.

Monday marked the 42nd Annual Gala for the National Dance Institute, and some of New York City’s biggest dance, theatre, television, and film stars were out to celebrate the beloved organization. Dance Network was back with a prime spot on the red carpet for the second year in a row covering all the action.

With all the focus this month leading up to the TONY® Awards on June 10th, it’s easy to forget about what’s happening, both literally and figuratively, Off-Broadway. Over at Playwright’s Horizon, the award winning Off-Broadway company revered by the theatre community, a new and profound play is taking a larger look at what it’s like to be a preteen girl— through the lens of competition dance.

Broadway dancer and choreographer Shannon Lewis’ career spells out like a dream to anyone seeking a professional life on the Great White Way. An over two decade resume of performance credits that has taken her to Broadway at least ten times, from Susan Stroman’s early nineties Crazy For You, to the most recent revival of The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, Lewis has worked with nearly every major contemporary Broadway choreographer in the book. Recently, however, Lewis’ venture into the role of the choreographer itself has brought her some new and beautifully unique opportunities— not just in New York, but on the high seas.

Monday and Tuesday of this week brought the Broadway community together to celebrate the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition. Performed at the Minskoff Theatre, the home of Disney’s The Lion King, the thirty-two year old tradition brought company members from at least fifteen different Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, representatives from the Actors’ Equity National Touring companies, and other affiliated organizations side by side, to perform skits and model their originally designed bonnets, all in the name of charity.

Quietly, during a week chock full of huge dance news— everything from the announcement of the 2018 cast of Dancing With The Stars to the opening of the Justin Peck choreographed Carousel on Broadway— a very special announcement came out of The Juilliard School’s Dance Division. A piece of news that in another week may have garnered more attention, should be given it’s due notice; the famed institution's prestigious school of dance announced last Tuesday that Alicia Graf Mack will become the new Director of Dance beginning July 1st.

At this point, you’re probably just stating to come down from your excitement cloud after watching Jesus Christ Superstar Live Easter Sunday night—so, we at Dance Network are here to help you get back up onto your powder puff of musical theatre joy once again!

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Dance Network has put together a list of our FIVE favorite things about Easter Sunday’s performance of Jesus Christ Superstar Live. Check them out here:

Professional dancers have long been respected for their arduous work ethics, steadfast dedications to their art form, and an uncanny ability to perform through pain. Often to the detriment of their instruments, dancers, for generations, have masked injury and risked chronic damage in order to get or keep a job. That stigma—however respectable or repugnant it might seem to be— has pushed some dancers too far, and has left a unremovable stain on the dance world.

One performer, however, a formidable Broadway veteran and profound dancer, Mikey Winslow, has had enough.

Since 2015, through an initiative with Lincoln Center, PTAMD company members have brought a month long festival celebrating the highest echelons of modern dance to the uptown dance community. Paul Taylor’s company, with all of its New York City lower-east-side flare, offers the more traditional ballet crowd a look into the legacy of the American born modern dance style.

Ever wonder what else you need to know— besides having a strong technique and a unforgiving drive and passion— to make it in the dance world? Well, Dance Network is rolling out a new blog series called What It Takes To Make It where we’ll talk about all those other things; the skills, the crafts, and the knowledge that pro-dancers should know, and you’ll hear it all from the people that do it best. We’ll chat with everyone from makeup designers, physical therapists, to wardrobe supervisors, stagehands, and those running dance auditions— all the folks that go into making, supporting, and sustaining a dancer and performer’s career.

In our first undertaking, we spoke with Broadway makeup designer Joe Dulude, II. Dulude’s vast resume includes works for film, television, and at least sixteen shows on the Great White Way, including four currently running: Spongebob Squarepants, Anastasia, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and the long running smash about Broadway’s favorite green-girl, Wicked.

About a month ago, we told you about the official announcement from The Actors’ Fund about a benefit concert reuniting some of the original cast members of the Broadway hit Thoroughly Modern Millie, and its potential to be EPIC.

Turns out, it was MORE than EPIC; not only did the concert go off without a hitch last Monday night here at New York City’s Minskoff Theatre, but it brought back some of the show’s biggest stars to raise money for a very good cause.

If you’re still looking for some great Valentine’s Day plans, you need to look no further than New York City Ballet’s current production of Romeo And Juliet.

This production of R&J— the third incarnation of the former NYCB Ballet Master-In-Chief Peter Martins’ version— stars a rotating cast of some of the biggest and brightest names at City Ballet; including fan favorite, principal dancer Tiler Peck, who’s danced the role of Juliet in all three of NYCB’s manifestations.

These days, the Super Bowl isn't just about football— we, over at Dance Network, know so many people who show up to the party for the food and tune into the game just for the halftime show and the commercials alone. During this year’s gridiron showdown, however, we got it all: an AWESOME game (go EAGLES!!), a fantastic (and somehow, controversial) halftime show performed by Justin Timberlake, and, as always, some hit and miss ads. This year, though, it definitely goes without saying that for dancers, the NFL’s Dirty Dancing commercial was a home run…. err, touchdown, I should say.

The 2018 Grammy® Awards ceremony was a night full of powerful performances, passionate political displays, artistry, and a celebration of the music industry’s power in culture. The festivities took place inside New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, which meant that the 60th annual presentation of music’s biggest awards marked the end of a 15 year drought in which the broadcast had been away from the City That Never Sleeps, and although this particular season’s telecast didn’t feature a large array of dance performances, there were two fantastic movement presentations that stood out.

Tonight, January 26th, Broadway’s Phantom Of The Opera celebrates it’s 30th birthday on Broadway! This never before seen feat, is EXCELLENT news for the dance community, because during Phantom’s thirty year— and counting— run, the musical has employed thousands of dancers and performers all over the world.

This passed Saturday, when an estimated one million people marched nationally in the 2018 Women’s March, the dance and theatre community held their own supportive and concurrent event.

The Actors Fund will be presenting a one-night reunion concert of the 2002 hit dance musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in February. The musical, which won six of the twelve TONY® Awards for which it was nominated, was one of the most celebrated productions of the early 2000’s, and helped usher in some of Broadway’s current top talent.

It’s officially 2018! With the new year comes so many new works making their way straight to the stages of the Big Apple. Dance Network has got a look forward at some of what we’re excited about in 2018.

During the holiday season, many folks think of time with family, airports, road trips, or some much needed time away from work, but for many professional New York City performers the case is just the opposite. 

“As for a show biz family? Well that was not us,” JoAnn M Hunter told me as I prepared questions for our exclusive Dance Network interview, “No one in my family ventured into theatre or any of the performing arts.  I was, and am the lone wolf.”