#ballroom-expansion

#ballroom-expansion

"It took my breath away, because it was something that I really never expected to happen," Felix said when asked about the shoe restoration.

The ballroom design features impractical elements like a stairway to nowhere and fake windows, emphasizing a focus on flashiness over functionality.

There's something powerful that happens when students step onto a stage and the entire community shows up for them. Events like this bring families, staff, and students together in a way that builds pride, connection, and a real sense of belonging.

Now in the fourth year of a war sparked by Russia's 2022 invasion, life in Ukraine is challenging in ways that only those that have lived through something similar can even begin to comprehend. It's the loss of a generation of men fighting and dying on the front lines; civilian deaths and injuries caused by indiscriminate drone and missile attacks; acute shortages and the manifold disruptions of everyday life, not least of the hopes and aspirations of young ballet students in a country with a proud tradition in this art form.

When I came to America I tried a lot of classes and 90% of them, even if a class was for beginner level, were really difficult. I was thinking, if I were a grown woman who just decided to start, I'm going to get trauma, it's so hard, it's so competitive, and I [said], I need to create something dedicated to women, without this pressure, without this judgmental vibe.

But instead, they find their way to a small studio, where they join 27 others in strapping on a pair of high heels and throwing themselves into two hours of dance moves. This is the beginners heels class at Vibe Dance Studio, which was started by Izzy Gonzales and her dad Ed four years ago. It's a place where people can show up exhausted, but end up with so much energy they don't want to go home.

This is an absolute beginners course on the foundations of classical ballet and, a single catastrophic line dance lesson aside, it is also the first dance class I have ever attended. I am in the minority. As we take the barre, it quickly becomes apparent that not being able to tell my left from my right will be a significant deficit over the next 16 weeks. This, however, is a tertiary concern.

With 'Dance Reflections,' the idea was to give back concretely to another discipline that still gives us a lot. It's the reason why 'Dance Reflections' is a sponsorship program, but also a curatorial program; that's quite rare for a brand to have.

We've been exploring what nightlife looks like in London outside of the traditional nightclubs, and here comes the Barbican with a brand-new late-night party series. The 'anyone can dance' events will be a celebration of diaspora, community and joy, with the Level -1 foyer space turning into a dancefloor open until 3am. The series is kicking off on Fri 20th February with a night curated by Eastern Margins, a collective that celebrates alternative East and South East Asian creativity and culture.

I absolutely give you permission to learn what twizzles are, but if you're coming into this as a once-every-four-years viewer, I encourage you to appreciate these performances based on how the skating made you feel. For me, watching it reminds me of the first time I was taken to a classical music performance: "What am I supposed to do with my brain during this?" I thought.

President Trump overhauled the Kennedy Center's board last year, got himself elected chairman, and installed ally Ric Grenell as president. Then, in December, his handpicked board renamed the venue "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" - slapping his name ahead of JFK's on one of the country's most storied arts institutions.

Dominique McDougal and Carro Sharkey's three-part performance, 'Did4luv'-a tragicomic dance solo performed by each of the dancers, alternating every night-debuted this month at the dual 30th anniversary of Sophiensaele's inauguration as a theater and its renowned dance festival, Tanztage. This year's Tanztage invites its audience to consider the (im)material conditions of artistic production: the body and self as sources for capitalist exchange, the extractive nature of our systems of work and its resulting consequences for marginalized bodies.