EVANMATTHEW STEWARD, PERFORMING ARTIST, IS MAKING A NEW DANCE FOR NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY’S NYC SPRING SEASON

FIVE QUESTIONS ANSWERED

This short interview captured on March 21, 2025 by Edward Schoelwer with Kevin Thomas, artistic director of Collage Dance Collective, explores the company’s efforts to make a ballet adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s celebrated novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The conversation has been edited for clarity purposes.

Some scholars argue that “tragedy” is an art form that only flourished during the Golden Age of Greece. However, it is clear that the tragic impulse or spirit is a concept that flows through all eras of Western culture. When we describe a work as a tragedy, we infer that the creator’s intention is “serious” and that its themes likely touch on death.

It is not always true that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”  After 18 years, Contemporary West Dance Theatre (CWDT) is leaving Glitter Gulch and moving to Philadelphia.  Their relocated operations in the City of Brotherly Love (street address TBD)  begin June 5, 2025.  CWDT is making the change of location because of the attraction of Philadelphia’s cultural vibrancy and to enhance the company’s mission of fostering creative and artistic expression. 

“Aesthetic Arrest,” a term coined by James Joyce and perpetuated by Joseph Campbell, DESCRIBES exactly what happened when I attended the Limón Dance Company’s performance of Missa Brevis at the Joyce Theater in New York City on November 6, 2024.

For her first company commission, Kayla Farrish has choreographed a piece for Limón Dance Company inspired by two of founder José Limón’s lost works. Drawing on archival imagery of Redes (1951) and El Grito (1952), Farrish ran with Limón’s themes of the collective and an awakening consciousness.

An opinion piece from CNN— Editor’s Note: Steven Melendez is artistic director of New York Theatre Ballet and a subject of the new documentary film “LIFT,” available on Apple and Amazon. He was born in the Bronx, New York, and

"Lift," the inspiring feature-length documentary film about New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) and its education / outreach program to disadvantaged youth 

will soon be at a theater near you.  And if there is no art house showing it, you can stream it!

Collage Dance – one of the largest Black-led performing arts organizations in the South and one of only a few professional ballet companies in the world with a roster of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) dancers – has announced that it will receive a two million dollar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Red Shell Mgmt is pleased to announce that joining its roster of touring performances is The Effects of Gravity, an artful and innovative multi-media production that celebrates the human quest for understanding the universe and speaks of planetary stewardship.

Choreography by José Limón, Music Zoltán Kodály

Have you noticed that most conversations about concert dance these days emphasize the pleasurable experience of attending the performance.

April 29 and 30, Memphis-based Collage Dance Collective is set to premiere Their Eyes Were Watching God, a new ballet reimagining Zora Neale Hurston’s iconic 1937 novel of the same title.

Observers have described Nai-Ni Chen’s choreography as a combination of traditional Chinese dance with Western styles, or a merging of contemporary and Chinese influences, or Western contemporary movement with Asian forms.   

NEW YORK, New York – Following a national search, the José Limón Dance Foundation has appointed Michelle Preston as incoming Executive Director.

A dance performance coming to Mobile this week will provide what one organizer thinks will be an inspirational demonstration of the ways artistic dance can transcend expectations.

Steven Melendez’s life sounds like stuff from which movies are made: While living in a homeless shelter in the Bronx as a child, Melendez discovered ballet through New York Theatre Ballet’s LIFT program, which provides scholarships to at-risk children.

New York Theatre Ballet’s Founding Artistic Director Diana Byer has appointed Steven Melendez as her successor as the company prepares to celebrate its 45thAnniversary in 2023.

The company, belatedly celebrating its 75th anniversary, presented a program with works by Limón and Doris Humphrey and a premiere by Olivier Tarpaga.

LeLand Gantt’s performance of Rhapsody in Black was an entry point for people in an overwhelmingly White region to talk about race. This compelling one-man show exploring racism, identity, and self-image was presented virtually in 2021 through a Berkshires community collaboration.

The choreographer Nai-Ni Chen died in December. Now her company takes its next steps, beginning with a season at New York Live Arts.

To ensure Ms. Chen's legacy continues to flourish, grow, and inspire the generations to come, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Board of Directors and Executive Director Andrew Chiang announce the appointment of three new artistic leaders for the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

In-person service has been scheduled at Ng Fook Funeral Home 36 Mulberry Street in Chinatown NYC on Sunday 1/9/2022 at 2PM-6PM. If you are compelled to come to see Nai-Ni for the last time. Please request here. To send flowers, please contact Brighten Florist 24 Mulberry Street (212)619-1188. Tell them it is for Nai-Ni Chen's Sunday afternoon service at Ng Fook.