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. 

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.