Forward Motion Festival Celebrates the Power of Inclusive Dance

Karen Peterson and Dancers host the seventh edition of the Forward Motion Festival on Saturday, May 16 at the Sandrell Rivers, 6103 NW 7th Ave., Miami.  (Photo by Lisa Nalven)

Bodies tell stories in myriad ways, and dancers with disabilities turn these into distinctive art. For many of her 35 years among South Florida dance notables, Karen Peterson, a non-disabled choreographer and director of her own company, has added to the quality and spread of physically-integrated dance, which brings together creators and performers exhibiting a range of mobility.

A primary endeavor for Peterson has been the Forward Motion Festival, now in its seventh year. The event, which has gained international attention, brings together established and emerging mixed-abilities dance artists, offering a snapshot of how the form has evolved over the past five decades.

Performances are Saturday, May 16, at Miami’s Sandrell Rivers Theater. Workshops and a roundtable discussion led by Silva Laukkanen, director of integrated dance at Art Spark Texas, follow on Sunday. Also at the conference is Joel Brown, former artist from London’s Candoco Dance Company

“(It’s) a huge undertaking even for someone who’s been at it for so long,” says Peterson, noting that producing this seventh edition involves logistical as well as artistic challenges. Because of the uncertain funding climate, she chose not to invite participants from abroad this year. She says, however, the National Endowment for the Arts ultimately awarded support for the festival.

“We may have a smaller audience but do significant work with a loyal following,” emphasizes Peterson.

In addition to Karen Peterson and Dancers, the lineup brings three premieres from Tampa’s REVolutions Dance, founded in 2005 by artistic director and wheelchair dancer Dwayne Scheuneman, a frequent festival participant.

Forward Motion Festival first-timer Marisa Hamamoto, founding artistic director of Los Angeles-based Infinite Flow Dance Company, choreographed and will dance with collaborator Travis Ammann in “Metamorphosis,” an exploration of their identity as differently-abled Asian-Americans. She will also be part of the conference.

For Hamamoto, born in Japan and California-raised, settling on a cultural and an artistic identity has been complicated. “I’ve often felt my only true home is dance,” she says.

But even that has tested her. While held under the spell of ballet, she admits, “More than my ethnicity, physicality impeded my dream to be a professional ballerina.”

Still, she persisted in training — something Hamamoto partly attributes to what she describes as a Japanese work ethic and the “tunnel vision” she associates with her autism, which was diagnosed later in life.

In 2006, she collapsed during a dance class and was paralyzed by a spinal cord stroke.

“I thought this was a curse,” she says, “for continuing to dance in a world telling me to stop.”

In time she regained most of her mobility but remained unable to shake her fear of dancing. Then one day at a Japanese corporate party, where a salsa instructor animated the crowd, Hamamoto was amazed that “in this five-minute activation, my body just came alive. I realized I had purpose—a life worth living.”

 Having founded Infinite Flow in 2015, the artist upholds cross-disability representations with eclectic productions true to her hard-earned vision. “Our body language not only speaks to others but also to ourselves,” she says. “When you move with joy, that external vibration also travels inward.”

Peterson values a festival newcomer such as Hamamoto, whose resumé includes Latin styles and commercial work. “There’s a wide range in our kind of dance,” says the organizer. “The audience loves to see different groups each year.”

Yet REVolution’s Scheuneman is an artistic anchor. “We have a lot of mutual trust,” says Peterson. “He’s a Gulf War veteran and athlete who, ironically, was injured in a diving accident. A long while back, he contacted me to set a piece on him in Tampa. I nudged him to audition for San Francisco’s Axis Dance—this country’s most venerable physically-integrated company—where he ended up dancing. Directing his own company, he’s engaged an interesting roster of choreographers.”

Scheuneman—who’s performed in FM with both Axis and REVolutions—stresses that such deeply personal relationships have fortified his artistic undertakings.

“Touring to events like Karen’s is an important component of our mission,” he says. “Performers from outside help build local audiences. And the time we spend together lets us learn about our mutual concerns.”

 Dancers with different disabilities, by watching each other, discover variant pathways to performance. “In our company we have two dancers who have spinal cord injuries and one leg-amputee,” says Scheuneman. “Going to festivals has helped them develop as artists.”

At this year’s festival, REVolutions will premiere “Adhesion,” choreographed by Merry Lynn Morris, a non-disabled University of South Florida professor long associated with REVolutions.

“This duet shows how being stuck in place, then getting unstuck, is all part of moving onward,” says Morris.

“Propel,” is a quartet by Cuban-American Leymis Bolaños Wilmott, who founded and leads Sarasota Contemporary Dance. Starting at Miami’s New World School of the Arts, the choreographer has been an ally of dancers with disabilities who here examines mutual support among men.

“Love Yourself As You Are” marks dance veteran Frank Chaves’s first work created for dancers with disabilities.

A Miami native of Cuban heritage, Chaves built an award-winning career as choreographer and artistic director of River North Dance Chicago. He recently moved to Sarasota and is living with syringomyelia, a degenerative spinal cord condition.

A long dinner conversation with Scheuneman about the twists and turns of life and dance inspired Chaves to create this duet for Scheuneman and company dancer Sam Kedziora.

“Since I started out in this,” says Peterson, “there’s been more choreographers working with mixed-ability groups.”

Their works confront such questions as how mobility aids like wheelchairs contribute to artful movement. And Peterson’s own group provides answers with decisive attitude and skills.

“Duets 4 Six,” set to an original score by violinist Polina Mahova and Benjamin Lazarus, returns in an expanded and reimagined version after a preview last October.

“Now there are background dancers who reflect off the original duets,” says Peterson. “They create a sort of mystery.”

The work explores contrasts and parallels within what Peterson describes as “a conversational architecture.”

An expanded version of “In the Blink of an Eye,” set to music by Polina Mahova, continues to explore perseverance in the face of existential blows.

By adding new dancers, Peterson says the work “has gained relevance considering the current dangers of being gunned down or pulled off the street.”

 Supporting this dance genre, Peterson wants to create this kind of solid content and craft.

Scheuneman agrees. “I don’t want audiences to just feel inspired by our stories. I hope they’re more impacted not by the challenges of our disabilities but by the quality of our art.”

WHAT:  Seventh edition of Forward Motion Dance Festival

WHERE: Sandrell Rivers Theater, 6103 NW 7th Ave., Miami

WHEN: 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 16. FM7 Conference, 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 17

COST: $20 and 25 for shows; free for conference

 INFORMATION: (305) 298-5879 or karenpetersondancers.org.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at  www.artburstmiami.com.  

 

An Outdoor Stage, Premieres and Past Favorites Shape Spring for Dance Companies

An excerpt from last year’s “Blue Pencil,” a resonant indictment of censorship featuring dancer David Harris, is part of Dance NOW! Miami’s shows on Friday, May 8 in Lauderhill and Saturday, May 9 in Aventura. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of Dance NOW! Miami)

Staging new works or expanding into a new venue can bring a fresh view of a performing arts company and, with this, a confirmation of continuing vigor. For two of South Florida’s steadfast dance organizations these signs of one more forward-moving spring are about to brighten the calendar.

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami will be at Pinecrest Gardens’ geodesic-dome amphitheater for the first time on Saturday, May 9, reviving favorites that fit, as if made for it, the natural setting. And Dance NOW! Miami will unveil co-artistic director Hannah Baumgarten’s “Love-less: Dance of the Last Moho Braccatus,” alongside repertory standards and “Traces,” a world premiere by company co-director Diego Salterini, on Friday, May 8 at Lauderhill Performing Arts Center and on Saturday, May 9 at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center.

“Performing at Pinecrest Gardens’ Banyan Bowl feels incredibly meaningful for us,” says Jennifer Kronenberg, projecting a vision she and Carlos Guerra hold as DDTM co-artistic directors. “Our company is always looking for ways to make ballet accessible. We aim to meet audiences where they are. With this show we go further letting the environment become part of an overall experience.”

Although the DDTM offerings are not site-specific, the dancers will still stake their art on the surroundings.  “There’s something very special about stepping outside of a traditional theater to perform in tandem with nature,” says Kronenberg. “Here the lush greenery allows each ballet to breathe in a different way and transcend boundaries.”

It’s an additional asset that DDTM has ballets at hand which, developed throughout a decade, reveal reverence for the natural world through inspiration, mood, and imagery.

“This bouquet of works visually and emotionally resonates with the site’s openness and botanical backdrop,” explains Kronenberg.

Excerpts from company artist-in-residence Yanis Pikieris’s “Four Seasons,” first restaged for Dimensions in 2021, move—with the changing color of phrases, the temperature of emotions rise and fall—to Antonio Vivaldi’s same-named, weather-wise set of violin concertos.

Pikieris’s son Yanis Eric, the company’s other artist-in-residence, contributes “In Bloom,” an ensemble work from 2025. His selections from Oliver Davis’s album “Dance” pulse with enough vitality to keep contemporary classicism in the pink.

When DDTM performed Ariel Rose’s “Vow” outdoors at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2018, this duet’s intimacies—searching to clinging, to Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds’s “1953”—grew in proportion to a view of Jacob’s Pillow’s home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. Now it trades that woodland for a hovering subtropical verdure letting the dancers reinvigorate their ardor.

Frequent performances of Ben Needham-Wood’s “Apollo and Daphne,” with a score by Arvo Pärt, have become a DDTM calling card. At Pinecrest Gardens every vine and curve of bark will seem to conspire with this myth of a nymph who, resisting the god’s advances, turns into a laurel tree.

Rafael Ruiz del Vizo, a DDTM company dancer, presents his “Phases,” to Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” telescoping into lunar cycles for Emily Bromberg—alongside Maikel Hernandez, Alexander Sokolov, and Ariel Morilla—to orbit through glow and shadows.

“We’re fortunate to have close relationships with these choreographers,” says Kronenberg. “Trust and understanding allow us to transfer their works to a new space while honoring their original intent. That said, performing outdoors requires adjusting to unique parameters. This isn’t a bad thing. Details barely noticed on a traditional stage may look more pronounced, and dancers can connect un-hemmed.”

Dance NOW! Miami’s third program this season, “Love, Lost & Found,” will also reference nature and what’s natural to the human heart. “The evening’s pieces complement each other reflecting that theme,” says DNM’s co-artistic director Hannah Baumgarten, who points out how premieres and significant re-stagings have bolstered the company into its third decade.

“Forest Dreams” is by Tandy Beal, a West Coast wonder-wooing choreographer whose roots reach back to the ’70’s and the incomparable productions of Alwin Nikolais Dance Theatre. “From the 1980s, this is a beautifully crafted abstract-dance journey through the California redwoods,” says Baumgarten. “We first presented it in 2011 in our ‘Masterpiece in Motion’ series.”

An excerpt from last year’s “Blue Pencil,” a resonant indictment of censorship during Portugal’s Salazar regime, also returns. “This solo—danced with passion by David Harris—depicts someone being stripped of their identity yet struggling to regain agency,” says Baumgarten, who hopes it elicits timely reflection.

Commissioned by Miami Design Preservation League for Art Deco Weekend 2026, Salterini’s “Deco-de”—to George Gershwin’s “Lullaby”—is a trio that extols the sleek geometries of a style the choreographer admires.

His premiere, “Traces,” brings a more intimate tribute. This came about, according to Baumgarten, when Julia Faris, long a pillar of the company, announced her retirement. “Diego threads together works she’s danced in to create a loose narrative about her journey—from uncertainty to connection through the love that’ll take her to the next chapter.”

Baumgarten, too, had specific dancers in mind—lanky and fleet Austin Duclos and Kirsten Velasco—when she turned to choreographing “Love-less . . . ,“ a duet, based on an environmental calamity, which had been stirring in her since she came upon Sam Green’s documentary “32 Sounds,” a Live Arts Miami/Miami Film Festival event at the Perez Art Museum.

“The director referred to a library of recordings in London where a librarian confessed her favorite sound was the last-known recording of the Hawaiian songbird Moho braccatus. I whipped out my notebook and hurriedly jot down the story.”

Already reduced to one breeding pair by climate change and other threats, the birds became extinct after a hurricane killed the female, leaving the male to call out—“a haunting, hollow sound,” says Baumgarten—for his mate. The choreographer seized upon this “for an allegory of our frailty and unpreparedness for the loss of those we’re bound to.”

The scenario in four movements avoids strict literalness, its more subtle esthetic upheld in the costumes by Haydée and Maria Morales and the lighting and set design by Bruce F. Brown. Federico Bonacossa, whose score Baumgarten considers “paramount,” uses birdsong as a springboard for his eclectic musical progressions.

For Baumgarten, all these creations reveal DNM’s sustaining love for their artistic species. Kronenberg shares that sentiment regarding DDTM, saying, “Carlos and I adore revisiting the gifts of dancers and choreographers. They keep our art not just alive but evolving.”

WHAT: Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, Ballet in the Gardens

WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, May 9

WHERE: Banyan Bowl, Pinecrest Gardens, 11000 Red Road, Pinecrest

COST: $34.50, $42.50

INFORMATION: (305) 669-6990 and dimensionsdancemia.com/

WHAT: Dance NOW! Miami Program III: “Love, Lost & Found”

WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, May 9

WHERE: Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188th St., Aventura

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE: 8 p.m., Friday, May 8, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, 3800 NW 11th Place, Lauderhill

COST: $25.96, $37.76, $49.56 at Aventura; $20, $30, $40 at Lauderhill.

INFORMATION: (305) 975-8489 and at dancenowmiami.org/

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at  www.artburstmiami.com.

From Kitchen-Table Origins to New Leadership: Miami City Ballet Enters a New Era

The 2026-27 season for Miami City Ballet marks the first season programmed by new artistic director Gonzalo Garica. Picture is Miami City Ballet Principal Dancer Hannah Fischer. Celebrated photographer Pari Dukovic shot a series of images of Miami City Ballet dancers that were revealed at the 40th Anniversary Gala. (Photo by Pari Dukovic, courtesy of Miami City Ballet)

Miami City Ballet is completing its 40th anniversary season and is now undergoing a rare dual transition in leadership, with Gonzalo Garcia, only the third artistic director in the company’s history, preparing to launch his first fully programmed season. 

At the same time, MCB has hired a new executive director. Scott Altman who was appointed in mid-April, arrives to MCB with a background as president and CEO of the Cincinnati Ballet and most recently president and CEO of Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Inside the Miami Beach studios where the company’s identity has been shaped and molded for decades, Toby Lerner Ansin, founder of the Miami City Ballet, longtime dancer Ashley Knox, and newer arrival Hannah Fischer represent different points along the timeline as the organization adjusts to change at both the artistic and administrative level.

Garcia says one of the things that has stayed with him most since arriving is Ansin’s account of the company’s earliest days.

“She shared how everything started, and how in her kitchen, she was with some of her friends, and they were like, ‘Let’s call this person, and let’s call her, and let’s call him…’ and then a year later, you know, the curtain went up… They had 17 dancers, and then 21 at the end of the season,” he says, recalling how quickly the idea turned into an institution.

Ansin situates the origin story in personal terms.

“I’m the longest person there in the building. I’m the abuela that’s been there since the very beginning. There’s some people that have been there 30 years, but I’m the only one that’s been there for all 40 years, plus the year before it started,” she says.

For Garcia, that sense of something built by instinct and fortitude is part of what makes the next chapter feel so charged.

“This is a transitional moment for the institution,” he says.

Garcia has a five-year contract as artistic director with MCB, which began on Aug. 11, 2025. When asked, the company would not disclose salary terms at this time.

For the new artistic director, the central tension is how to move forward without losing what already defines the company. 

“How do we not throw any of the good stuff away that has been built here,” he says, “and completely pay homage to the past and understand it, but then completely move forward?”

It is a question that lands differently depending on where someone stands in the company’s legacy.

Knox, a dancer with 25-plus years with MCB, describes those shifts as an internal continuity rather than a disruption—each artistic director adding another layer rather than replacing what preceded it.

“From Edward, I feel I gained an understanding of musicality and attack. With Lourdes, it was technique and intention, and now with Gonzalo, I’m excited to see what he brings for me to explore.”

Fischer, a dancer hired in the final phase of Lourdes López’s tenure, is stepping into Garcia’s programming as something lived in real time rather than remembered history. Much of her familiarity with the repertory already aligns with what is now coming to the stage under his direction, including Christopher Wheeldon’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” which she says she is keenly familiar with from her time performing the co-production with The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada.

“I’ve done almost every role in that ballet,” she says.

She also danced the role of Odette in the MCB premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s version of “Swan Lake,” which Garcia is bringing to his season, the third time the company will perform the contemporary interpretation.

Gonzalo’s arrival isn’t just a change in leadership; it’s the right move in many ways.

“I think it’s the right time in his life for this position,” says Ansin. “If you look at where he started in Spain, and how his career has grown, it’s the right step.” Garcia trained in Spain and joined the Zurich Ballet before joining San Francisco ballet in 1998 and becoming a principal dancer in 2022. After performing as a guest artist in the 2004 Centennial Celebration at New York City Ballet, he joined the company in 2007 as a principal dancer. 

New executive director Altman says he’s joining at a time when MCB is “on a trajectory of growth and new artistic heights” and that there’s an “opportunity to build on MCB’s legacy.”

After 40 years, Ansin is deeply aware that the company’s future depends not only on artistic excellence, but on building and sustaining audiences in a rapidly changing and growing city.

“We have to thank the community for supporting the ballet over 40 years, and we’re now a major institution, and we just have to keep on expanding and getting people, more people in the door. And because when you look at all the condominiums going up, you could fill the Arsht a million times. We need to figure out how to get more people in,” she says, adding ‘You’d be surprised how many people don’t even know we exist.”

Fischer, 31, comes from a ballet family—both of her parents danced with and later taught at the National Ballet of Canada, which she joined in 2015 before leaving to dance with Miami City Ballet. She notes that MCB isn’t a company with a centuries-old European tradition or the automatic cultural recognition of the New York City Ballet.

“I think Miami gets kind of a rap for being a party town, and perhaps a little bit uncultured. And I think it is difficult because it’s not like New York or European (cities) where dance is government funded or it’s been in their history for so many years and everyone goes to the ballet.  Not everyone goes to the ballet in Miami.”

That reality, she believes, has made the company both “scrappy” and inventive —qualities shared by Garcia and Ansin.

“They both have that mindset where they’re like, ‘Okay, this is a different kind of culture here. How can we tap into what they need, what they want to see, while still honoring, you know, Balanchine roots, Jerome Robbins roots. I think they have tapped into ‘Miami, what makes us special’ and so they’re finding really interesting ways to get that attention.”

Garcia is opening the season in October with a mixed repertory program that includes a world premiere by Tony Award-winner Patricia Delgado, a former Miami City Ballet principal dancer, in collaboration with composer, producer, musician, and songwriter, Emily Estefan, the daughter of Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

“Patricia is developing a voice in the dance world and this is her home. This is her artistic home, for sure, and she grew up in Miami. “ Delgado is working with Gloria and Emily Estefan on their new production of “Basura,” which is making its debut at the end of May at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre with plans for it to play Broadway.

Garcia adds that the programming reflects the kind of artistry he wants to bring to the company. “I told Patricia, this is what I want the beginning of my chapter to be: I want it to be jazz and I want it to be Tchaikovsky. I think these types of collaborations can go a long way.”

Knox, who joined Miami City Ballet under founding artistic director Edward Villella, says she has seen the company evolve through every leadership era. 

“The first 10 years of my career were with Edward,” says the now 42-year-old dancer, who joined the company in 2002 as an apprentice and has been a principal dancer since 2021.  She says by the time she arrived, MCB was “pretty well established and had a reputation of being a strong Balanchine ballet company. . . I feel like he was at a time where he felt he had finally built a company that he wanted.”

With López, she found a mentorship. “She had a focus on technique and how you approach a role, like the intention behind it, whether it was a story ballet or not. That really helped me grow through those years.”

She sees Garcia’s leadership as continuing the throughline. “He creates a positive environment to work, and he has such a passion for ballet as an art form.  I’m happy that I’m able to be a part of this transition for the company, because . . .  I am seeing already the direction it is going in and know that it’s in good hands.”

Garcia is looking beyond what’s presented on stage and has ideas for bringing MCB into the future. Renovations were already planned for the Miami Beach studios, which are a few blocks north of Lincoln Road.

 “The building is going to be more practical.” He wants to utilize the black box theater and create livestreaming events that are performed in front of a Miami audience. “It will be free. People can sign up and watch a preview rehearsal of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or of Emily and Patricia’s piece.”

Another source of excitement for Garcia is having the ability to reposition the visual and cultural footprint. “One of the things I’m passionate about is changing a bit of the way visually we think of Miami City Ballet and for people in Miami for how they see us. We have more freedom than many other companies do because of where we are. You can be sexy, you can be elegant, you can be glamorous, you can be beachy. We represent literally so much and that’s visually exciting – that’s cool.” 

WHAT :  Miami City Ballet in “¡Vamos! to the Beach”

WHEN:  7:30 pm on Friday, May 1, 2 pm and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, and 2 p.m., Sunday, May 3.

WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami).

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES:  7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 9 and 1 and 6:30 p.m., Sunday, May 10, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale

PRICE : $45-$265

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  (305) 929-7010 and www.miamicityballet.org 

For the complete schedule of MCB’s upcoming season, click here.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at  www.artburstmiami.com. 

 

New World Symphony, Miami City Ballet Pair Composers, Choreographers for ‘American Dance Odyssey’

New World Symphony, led by Stéphane Denève and featuring the New World Symphony Fellows, present “American Dance Odyssey” in collaboration with Miami City Ballet featuring five new works along with a tribute to Jerome Robbins. (Photo by Alex Markow, courtesy of NWS)

Dance and music go together like bright stars in a dark sky – one enhances the other. Two powerhouse Miami arts institutions are collaborating on an all-new performance that elevates American music and contemporary ballet.

New World Symphony is partnering with Miami City Ballet to premiere new music from contemporary American composers and choreographers. “American Dance Odyssey,” which will be performed at New World Center on Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19, brings together five composers and pairs them with five choreographers.

“It’s logical, of course, that we try to unite the art forms,” says Stéphane Denève, artistic director of New World Symphony. “We’re linking creativity to new music and new choreography.”

Dancers from Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, and St. Louis Ballet will perform in the original pieces; the program also includes a tribute to the late American dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins.

“We really want to show off the American music and ballet of today,” says Denève, who had a hand in selecting the composers.

The project also reflects a longer commissioning strategy at Miami City Ballet, which has increasingly expanded beyond its George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins repertory to invest in new works by contemporary choreographers. Choreographer Brian Brooks will be participating in American Dance Odyssey; he was commissioned during the 2017-2018 MCB season and created “One Line Drawn.” Brooks has been paired with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

“American Dance Odyssey” is structured around five composer-choreographer pairings curated by New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet: Carlos Simon, an Atlanta-born composer whose work engages with Black American musical traditions and contemporary themes, with Miami-born choreographer and former Alvin Ailey dancer Jamar Roberts; Sarah Kirkland Snider with choreographer Claudia Schreier; Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winner Jennifer Higdon with New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck; Michael Abels, a composer active in both concert and film music including scores for filmmaker Jordan Peele, with choreographer Pam Tanowitz, and the pairing of Puts and Brooks.

Each composer and choreographer pair was instructed to create a 5-to-7 minute arrangement. “We organized the pieces so that they could be performed together, as a choreographic concerto, but that each piece also has an individual life of its own,” explains Denève.

Many of the composers and choreographers knew of each other and some even worked together in the past; but for others, this will be the first time meeting. Such is the case with Kirkland Snider and Schreier.

The two were first introduced via email and began conversations about what their collaborative piece would sound like and look like.

Schreier is a New York City-based choreographer and this will be her third time working with Miami City Ballet. She created the world-premiere ballet “Slipstream” for MCB in 2019. When she was first introduced to Kirkland Snider, the two spoke about the different themes they hoped to evoke with their piece.

“She and I spoke before she composed it and I was so enamored with what she produced. It’s a beautiful, rapturous, lush piece of music,” Schreier says.

The choreographer admits that part of her creative process involved referring frequently to a written description from Kirkland Snider about what “Iris” meant to her.

Schreier, during a telephone interview, reads from Kirkland Snider’s email and recites, “I called it ‘Iris’ because iris is a symbol for hope and wisdom, and it’s also the part of the eye that lets the light in. It’s a short piece, but in thinking about the state of our country at this point in time, I am praying for wisdom, hope, and light.”

In her email to Schreier, the composer describes the harp as a steady rhythmic undercurrent—persisting beneath the shifting music around it. At times, she notes, the piece opens into moments of celebration, which she interprets as expressions of the human spirit’s resilience.

“I want to celebrate the good in people… and I hope that better days lie ahead,” is how Kirkland Snider closed her statement.

“She sent me her thoughts before I started creating, so I had that as kind of my point of inspiration,” Schreier explains. “I love the idea of the iris being the part of the eye that lets the light in and having this kind of circular entry point into the music.”

Schreier choreographed a work for six dancers, each paired with another, to show the interconnectedness of people and relationships. She ensured that the sense of hope and connection is the driving force for the dance.

“As I was writing this piece, knowing that it would be used by a choreographer, I was trying to think in terms of levels, of pulse and rhythm, so that they would have different musical layers to respond to,” says Kirkland Snider.

Echoing what she first shared with her choreographer partner, Kirkland Snider says the work was largely inspired by reflecting on the current state of the country. “No matter where you fall politically,” she notes, “we can all agree that the country feels deeply polarized right now, with very little empathy across that divide. We’re made up of many different backgrounds, heritages and cultural traditions—and that diversity is something to celebrate—but the question is, how do we actually do that?”

Her answer is felt in “Iris.”

“It starts from a small idea and that little fragment is repeated and grows into this huge body of sound throughout the piece,” says second-year NWS fellow Hannah Corbett speaking about “Iris.” “Texturally, it’s pretty complicated but it’s truly a stunning piece.”

Corbett will be acting as the concert master for “American Dance Odyssey” and as leader of the string section, and will be violin soloist as part of the concerto.

The Toronto native expresses gratitude for the New World Symphony program and adds how exhilarating it is when guest composers write music specifically for the fellows. “So much of my musical life is spent studying the mastery of others and replicating that excellence. But playing a premiere, especially five premieres, is different. There’s no recording in existence… We get to be the first people to play this music and our recording will be the one that future musicians use as their reference when performing this choreographic concerto somewhere else.”

Playing in performances like “American Dance Odyssey” is part of why she became a musician.

“It’s gratifying to bring to life the music of my time,” Corbett says.

WHAT: “American Dance Odyssey”

WHERE: New World Center, 500 17th St., Miami Beach

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19. The Saturday, April 18 showing will also be shown live on Wallcast in Soundscape Park with free admission.

COST: $55, $99, $135, $160, $290 

INFORMATION: (305) 673-3330 or https://nws.edu/dance

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Dance NOW! Miami’s Mirror of History, Humanity with ‘1933’ and ‘Bridges NOT Walls’

Dance NOW! Miami presents “Bridges NOT Walls” and other works on Sunday, March 15, at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of Dance NOW! Miami)

The second program of Dance NOW! Miami’s 2025–2026 season brings together two works—one a world premiere and another first performed in 2017—connected by a common thread of politically charged history.

The world premiere, “1933,” choreographed by Hannah Baumgarten, and the other, “Bridges NOT Walls,” created by Baumgarten and Diego Salterini, co-founders and co-directors of Dance NOW! Miami, are part of the company’s Program II at the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center on Sunday, March 15.

“1933,” a cabaret-inspired work for three dancers, addresses the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It was first performed last December at the Sanctuary of the Arts in Coral Gables.

Describing it as a dramatic creation, “1933” “ironically started as a playful romp… an upbeat and athletic dance piece,” says Baumgarten. “I found some fun Balkan music and started playing (around) in the studio with the dancers. But the news of comedians being censored by the government, removed from their jobs, pushed the fun right out of me,” she says, referring to the controversies of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who was temporarily suspended from ABC, and Stephen Colbert’s show, which faces the end of its run on CBS in May.

She recalls jesters—also called court fools—popular during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. “A society that silences the jesters is on the brink of losing its freedom,” says Baumgarten. “They, from the time of kings, were meant to release political tension, but also to speak out without being condemned. And so, the story unfolded: artists taking action, using their art to speak out, of the sounds of fascism, in rallies, on the streets. In the past and perhaps even today…”

Those sounds of reality in “1933” made it a companion piece to “Bridges NOT Walls,” which has not been presented in full since 2019.

Salterini says that when the pair began to conceive “Bridges NOT Walls” in 2015, it was in response to the changing social climate around them.

“Conversations about racism, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights were intensifying, and public discourse was becoming increasingly defined by division: the looming metaphor of the ‘wall’ as a reality of political debate.”

By the time it premiered in the company’s 2016–2017 season, Salterini says, the divisions had become even deeper.

“Entrenched in ways we could hardly have imagined, ‘Bridges NOT Walls’ emerged as a reflection of that moment and as a call for empathy, dialogue, and connection.”

As the work gained momentum, the company began to collaborate with the Ballet of Mexico City and the Classical Ballet of Quintana Roo, “sharing the stage, adding sections, and performing with both companies in both Mexico and the United States,” says Baumgarten.

A few years later, the piece resurfaced when the migration crisis reached its peak in Italy. “At that time, we were collaborating with Opus Ballet and realized that the work had a specific meaning for that moment,” she says. “We presented it in Florence to a full house, with the audience on their feet, and again in Rome in April 2019. The work was received with a sense of urgency and a hope for a future that could offer greater acceptance and compassion to those in need.”

Salterini adds that a decade later, the message is as urgent as ever.

“A reminder that art can and should continue to be a bridge when the world insists on building walls.” While the leaders of Dance NOW! Miami are not bound to promoting a specific political cause, they agree that what is happening around the world influences their work.

“It is not our explicit mission to promote a political or social agenda, but as artists—and simply as human beings living in profoundly complex times—it is impossible to separate our creative voices from the world we inhabit. We strive to create dances that transcend immediate headlines, works that can resonate across generations and cultures through universal themes,” says Salterini.

For Baumgarten, she equates art to a mirror.

“It reflects, questions, and invites awareness. In that sense, our work is not political, but human, because its purpose is connection, compassion, and understanding—timeless values that endure beyond the politics of any given moment.”

Also on Program II are two short pieces: the duo “Strings of Goodbye” (2009), by Salterini, which Baumgarten defines as “the powerful and poetic journey of a couple, dealing with the direction their relationship will take,” and the solo “OH!” (2003), by Baumgarten, which she affirms explores “the choppy moments of falling in love, remembering that first kiss that sends shivers down your spine.”

The program also includes “Forest Dreams,” by choreographer Tandy Beal, which Salterini describes as “a modern dance work that creates a vivid, almost sculptural landscape on stage, where the dancers move through space in wide runs and changing ‘planes,’ evoking the feeling of traversing a living, dreamlike forest environment.”

“Forest Dreams” is part of the company’s “Moving Masterpiece” series, meant to provide Florida audiences with opportunities to see masterpieces created by living choreographers such as Beal or by legendary great masters including Isadora Duncan, José Limón, Doris Humphrey, and Gerald Arpino.

The program was conceived, according to Salterini, with the objective that “people leave the theater not only moved by the dance, but also more curious, reflective, and open to dialogue.”

And while there may be emotionally challenging moments throughout, Baumgarten believes there will be many moments with a positive impact.

“We promise that our audience will leave the theater uplifted, with their hearts full and brimming with optimism for the future.”

WHAT: Dance NOW! Program II: “Bridges NOT Walls” and other works

WHEN: 7 p.m., Sunday, March 15

WHERE: Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188th St., Aventura

COST: $25.96, $37.76, $49.56 (includes fees before taxes); $20,  students with a valid ID at box office. 

INFORMATION: (305) 975-8489 and at dancenowmiami.org/events/bnw

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Sara Baras Brings ‘Vuela’ to Flamenco Festival Miami in Tribute to Paco de Lucía

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras’s “Vuela” comes to Flamenco Festival Miami on Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1, the exclusive big-ticket concert of this year’s annual celebration of the art form at the Adrienne Arsht Center. (Photo by Sofia Wittert, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

Onstage, “prima bailaora assoluta” Sara Baras is as indomitable as a force of nature. With footwork as relentless as a summer rainstorm on a metal roof, arms that look as though they could hold up the sky, and a face that radiates warmth like the sunlight of her native Cadiz, it is easy to see why she has been an audience favorite at Flamenco Festival Miami since the event began.

Her company’s first performance here was in 2005, the festival’s inaugural year, before it moved from the Jackie Gleason Theater (now Filmore) to the then newly erected Adrienne Arsht Center.

In its fourth visit to Flamenco Festival Miami on Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1, the company performs “Vuela,” a concert-length work that pays homage to guitar titan Paco de Lucía, whose untimely death in 2014 sent shock waves through the flamenco world.

Guitarist Paco Fonta, long a pillar of Miami’s flamenco scene, explains that de Lucía “made his mark on all of us,” not just with his playing and his incredible technical prowess, but with the music he created. “He was a god, practically,” says Fonta.

Baras explains that she thinks of “Vuela” as her way of thanking the musician she calls one of her greatest teachers.

“I was lucky to be close to the Maestro and to have his advice and warmth my entire life,” De Lucía admonished her to “never forget where you come from,” says Baras.  “Of course, you must travel and live and share and learn from all cultures, but without forgetting who you are.”

If de Lucía opened flamenco to the world, Baras, for her part, opened the world to flamenco. With his embrace of jazz, Latin and rock influences and the incorporation of instruments like the Peruvian cajón, the saxophone, and the electric bass into his ensemble, de Lucía breathed new vigor into traditional flamenco and brought millions of young listeners into the fold. And Baras, with over a quarter century and five continents’ worth of touring under her belt, has herself become one of the art form’s preeminent international ambassadors.

Since the debut of “Vuela”  in 2024, Baras has played to sold-out theaters in cities like London, Paris and Hong Kong, and will have its fourth run in Madrid this spring.

“Vuela” is a work in four acts— “Tierra,” “Mar,” “Muerte” and “Volar”—with fifteen dance and musical numbers that Baras says explore elements like the earth and the sea to create a work that she says is more experience than spectacle. Wooden canes pound the ground in the section “Earth,” while “Mar” speaks of “the immensity of the sea and the water. Afterwards “Death,” being able to accept that our loved ones leave us, not only with the sadness of losing them, but also with gratitude for having had them with us.”

In the end, she says, the performers allow those emotions to “fly through dance,” first out to the audience then back to the performers on stage, in that profound energetic circle that only live performances can create.

The troupe is made up of a corps of six dancers, Baras, and six musicians, including guitarist and musical director Keke Baldomero, who was tasked with composing and arranging the music for this ambitious production.

Baldomero, who played for many years for singer José Mercé, joined the Baras troupe in 2012. He has written many full-length works for them since, from 2012’s “La Pepa” to “Alma,” a highlight of the Arsht’s 2023 festival. Still, the notion of composing a nearly two-hour piece in homage to the god of the flamenco guitar must have been a daunting one. Baldomero chose to weave recordings of de Lucía in with his own compositions; these, too, contain motifs that play off the Maestro’s rhythms and melodies.

Miguel Marín, founder and director of the international Flamenco Festival, explains that “one of the lovely things in the show is that each of the artists has their moment.” Audiences, he says “see these sublime moments of guitar, singing, dance, percussion.”

Indeed, while a Sara Baras concert is always a visual feast, it is as rewarding to simply listen to as it is to see. While it would be nearly impossible to close your eyes during one of Baras’s solos, if you did, you might appreciate more fully what a virtuoso percussionist she truly is. This is perhaps one of the qualities that endears her to guitarists like de Lucía: she is as much as a fellow musician as she is a dancer. And, like her guitarist mentor, Baras never holds back.

“When she performs,” Marín says, “she gives herself over completely, and it’s not just her. It’s her whole group that has to give of themselves as she does.”

Other musicians in her group include singer May Fernández, who, like Baras, hails from Cádiz, Spain’s oldest city and one of the cradles of flamenco. Her powerful voice has the rich, gutsy authenticity of someone who grew up in the “barrio de Santa María,” historically a hotbed of flamenco tradition and southern Spanish sass.   Matías López, “El Mati,” approaches lyrics with tender sensitivity. His voice carries a delicious sweetness punctuated by moments of raw emotional intensity.

“The show,” Marín says, “has the additional element of collective energy. You see Sara and you see how she is giving it her all and, as the singer, you too are inspired. You have to give it your all, it’s something that feeds itself.”

Marín notes that de Lucía had an unwavering dedication to flamenco that Baras shares, as well as “a humility that makes both of them even greater.”

“I want to connect with everyone,” says Baras. “I don’t want to dance just for myself.” Onstage, “when you stand up there, the truth is you want to reach the last heart in the last row.”

She wants the audience to find themselves immersed in the performance.

“Whether or not you can tell a ‘soleares’ apart from a ‘seguidilla,’ it doesn’t matter,” she says. “Flamenco knows nothing about passports or languages. It doesn’t have any of those limits. It goes directly to the heart.”

Other events in the Flamenco Festival include “Son Gitano,” a Latin American and flamenco fusion band, performing outdoors on the Arsht’s Thompson Plaza at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25. Tickets are $29.95 at 305-949-6722 or arshtcenter.org. Singer Ángeles Toledano, a rising star in the flamenco firmament, plays the Miami Beach Bandshell at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 5. Tickets are $26.43 at  miamibeachbandshell.com/.

WHAT: Flamenco Festival Miami presents “Vuela,” by Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 1

WHERE: Knight Center Hall, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami  

COST: $35.10 – $204.75, includes fees.

INFORMATION: (305) 949-6722 or arshtcenter.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com 

Miami City Ballet Founder Celebrated with Original Work ‘Three Waltzes for Toby’

It was 1985 when Toby Lerner Ansin, an arts advocate and divorced mother of three, set out to secure a professional ballet company in South Florida. For her mission, she would enlist dance world-luminary Edward Villella as artistic director and the backing of kindred spirits.

Almost 6,000 miles across the globe, Alexei Ratmansky, a ballet talent pulsing with creative longing to move beyond Soviet strictures, was starting on his career path in Kyiv, Ukraine. Just a few years later in Zaragoza, Spain, high-spirited eight year old Gonzalo Garcia, was enrolled in ballet classes by his mother, who’d noticed how moving to music brightened her son’s days. As destiny would have it, María de Ávila’s prestigious dance academy was steps away from their family home.

These three figures come together in both a celebration of MCB’s 40^th anniversary and the visionary’s 85^th birthday.

“Into the Magic City,” the company’s winter program, is a layered treat of two significant George Balanchine works and a world premiere by Ratmansky entitled “Roses from the South, Three Waltzes for Toby,” set to a Johann Strauss II score.

MCB performs the program Friday through Sunday, Feb. 20 to 22 at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center and in West Palm Beach at the Kravis Center Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1.

“When my children asked me what I wanted for my birthday,” says Lerner Ansin, “I immediately said a new ballet.“

Anyone who has known Ansin for any length of time would not be surprised by her answer. She began ballet lessons as a child to help strengthen her ankles, but what started as therapy became a lifelong passion that stayed with her into adulthood.

“To this day,” she says, “I’m carried away by the magic of ballet — its beauty and musicality. As a girl, it captured my imagination. From the first time I walked into a studio, that’s all I wanted to do.”

When she realized she would not become a professional dancer, she didn’t abandon the art form. She held on to the enrichment ballet offered, which made her both an enthralled theatergoer and a dedicated presence in boardrooms — a true champion of the arts, ensuring ballet continues to flourish. She acknowledges that her own tenacity has been indispensable in drawing allies to her cause.

“I just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she says, reflecting on the persistence it took to bring Miami City Ballet wider recognition.

Now Ratmansky’s aptly titled “Roses from the South” is giving MCB’s founder her flowers.

The efforts of former Miami City Ballet artistic director Lourdes Lopez and the sponsorship of The Ansin Family Foundation brought back the renowned choreographer to the company. Ratmansky, who was artist-in-residence at American Ballet Theatre and has held the same role at New York City Ballet since 2023, premiered his “Symphonic Dances” at MCB in 2012 and staged his version of “Swan Lake” for its first North American production here four years ago.

Lerner Ansin is captivated by Ratmansky’s choreographic approach. “He came last November,” she says, “and while he set the ballet, I watched for hours in the studio over most of three weeks. Alexei had no notes — he just came in and created, very interactive with the dancers. If something didn’t feel right, they tried something else. He added twists and turns and some comical touches the audience will love. The music is so festive it later made me dance around my bedroom.”

At a recent studio run-through, MCB rehearsal director Joan Latham oversaw the cast’s energetic response to three compositions from 1880s Vienna: “Lagoon Waltz” (for eight women), “Roses from the South” (for eight men), and “Emperor Waltz” (bringing both groups together). Leisurely passages broke into a gallop, but that cavalcade was never devoid of convivial configurations.

“This is my first choreography to Strauss,” says Ratmansky. “It wasn’t just him but Arnold Schoenberg’s arrangements that also interested me. Strauss, of course, is very danceable, but he can get a little too sweet. These versions give the music deeper layers.” In 1921, modernist master Schoenberg arranged the waltzes to raise funds for his performance society, bridging new music and the past.

Inspired by Lerner Ansin’s vision for MCB, Ratmansky crafted celebratory movements. “I’m trying to gently portray the special quality of the company, which resembles a supportive family. I like that these are great professionals who are also humble in how they present themselves. I want to give each one a moment to shine.”

Garcia, who as a principal at New York City Ballet originated roles in Ratmansky’s “Concerto DSCH” and “Pictures at an Exhibition”—both now in MCB’s repertory—says interpreting these works is “a high-caliber experience that can propel the dancers. The common denominator among Alexei’s ballets is how confident he is—how specific—from the comical to the melancholy. You have to work hard, be very present in the room, but he knows what you’re capable of and how to make you better.”

Although Garcia did not curate this MCB season, his perspective on the programming is invaluable. In fact, he added a piece not originally planned for the show. Alongside Balanchine’s “Serenade” to Tchaikovsky—a work he prizes for its historical significance and beauty (it was Balanchine’s first U.S. creation in 1935)—he included the fireworks of “Tarantella,” a 1964 bravura duet originally choreographed at New York City Ballet for Edward Villella. “Apart from its historical significance,” Garcia says of the fast, virtuosic piece set to music by New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, “this is a great showcase for company talent.”

As a young dancer at San Francisco Ballet, Garcia was once called on at short notice to substitute for a “Tarantella” lead. “When the legs started to scream, I learned how to deal,” he recalls. “But the ensuing performances taught me how to deepen characterization and economize energy.” That intimate understanding of this and other works is something he now passes on to MCB dancers, while giving them space to make each role their own.

“They learn quickly and work hard,” he adds. “With a good eye, they shoot for the highest level.”

The impact of this achievement—a communal one, as Lerner Ansin notes, her aspirations realized through successive generations—carries a message Ratmansky finds especially meaningful today.

“It’s notable that these dancers come from different places,” Ratmansky says, pointing to company members with roots in Japan, Latin America, Canada, Ukraine, and the United States. “This is what America is about. Each person brings something special, and there should be a space—with respect and appreciation—for all.”

”WHAT: Miami City Ballet’s “Into the Magic City”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22

WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne

Blvd., Miami

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28; 1 p.m. Sunday, March 1

COST: $45-$265, depending on show time and venue.

INFORMATION: 305-929-7010 or miamicityballet.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

ScreenDance Miami Returns, Exploring Dance and Identity

“Imamou” explores the beauty of a traditional Haitian folk dance. The film will be shown as part of ScreenDance Miami on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Perez Art Museum Miami. (Photo courtesy of filmmaker Portsha Terae Jefferson)

How do you celebrate dance? ScreenDance Miami, a four-day festival opening on Wednesday, Jan. 21, elevates this traditional art form with a little help from another visual medium. Through film screenings and artist talks, ScreenDance Miami 2026 aims to bring the community together over a shared passion.

While ScreenDance Miami features a wide range of dance films taking place across various venues in the city, this year’s lineup leans into documentary.

Filmmaker Jennifer Lin will screen two works spotlighting Asians in dance as part of the Wallcast at Soundscape Park on Friday, Jan. 23. The evening begins with her short film, “Ten Times Better,” followed by her feature documentary, “About Face: Disrupting Ballet.”

ScreenDance Miami’s festival director, Pioneer Winter, read Phil Chan’s book, “Final Bow for Yellowface,” and discovered that New York City-based Lin had created a film about it titled “About Face.” He reached out to the director and asked to screen her film, to which Lin cheekily suggested a double feature.

“The two films, one grew out of the other, and I feel like they’re kind of bookends to the story of Asians in ballet,” says the reporter-turned-author-turned filmmaker. “‘Ten Times Better’ really looks at a pioneering dancer, George Lee, who represents the past. And Georgina and Phil in ‘About Face’ kind of represent the present and the future in terms of Asian Americans in dance.”

In “About Face,” Lin explores the authenticity of Asian dancers with a particular connection to “The Nutcracker” and the famed Chinese “Tea” dance. Lin herself grew up going to the ballet with her mother, and later in life would take her daughter to see the classic ballet. “The Chinese dance in ‘The Nutcracker’ never felt right to me, but I could never pinpoint why. When I read Phil Chan’s book, he gave me the language to explain why it was offensive.”

As she embarked to create “About Face,” Lin stumbled upon a man who would become the focus of her other documentary. In her research, she found a newspaper clipping about a young Asian dancer who was in the Chinese “Tea” dance in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” in 1954 with the New York City Ballet. That young man was named George Lee. After months of searching, Lin discovered Lee had changed his name (from Li to Lee) and moved to Las Vegas where he was no longer dancing but working as a blackjack dealer. Lee was 88 years old when Lin met him.

Naturally, she felt an urgency to interview Lee due to his age and share his story with the world. “Ten Times Better” had its world premiere on Feb. 10, 2024, at Lincoln Center’s Film at Lincoln Center in New York.

“I hope that people are drawn into Lee’s story and the discussion Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin are trying to lead in ‘About Face’ and the issues they’re trying to address,” says Lin. “I hope people will stop and think about diversity and inclusion in the dance world.”

The dance world is saturated with female dancers. It’s a place where men often feel marginalized. Enter dancer-turned-filmmaker Keith Glassman. The Los Angeles-based dancer spent most of his life dancing. Why? He wasn’t sure.

“I’ve been dancing for a long time, and I wasn’t quite sure why I kept doing it,” says Glassman, whose film screens . The question stayed with him, and he eventually began asking other male dancers the same thing. After over a decade of asking friends and colleagues, “Why do you dance?” Glassman was ready to make a film.

“I didn’t know anything about filmmaking,’” recalls Glassman. But he reached out to producer and composer The Angel, who instantly fell in love with the project.

“I felt there was some real depth in this film,” says the producer, jumping on a Zoom call with the director. “The human aspect of it, that it could speak to anyone, not just the dance community. It really just spoke to me as a human being, first and foremost.”

Part of what drew The Angel to Glassman’s film was the stories she heard through the interviews. “Most of the men went through hell to be able to dance. From sleeping on park benches to sweeping floors… no matter what was thrown at them, they felt compelled to dance.”

Glassman posed the same question to 33 other male dancers in his feature-length documentary, “Lives Beyond Motion,” which is screening on Saturday, Jan. 24, at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

“I love the fact that it branches out and shows a whole bunch of different people coming from different dance backgrounds but they all have similar experiences because of their gender. The male experience in dance is specific.”

Winter says he can relate first-hand to the experiences featured in “Life Beyond Motion” having been a dancer since he was child. He shares that the film is “refreshing,” adding, “It’s a lot of talking heads, a lot of history, a lot of conversation. I would say the content is very rich as far as the conversations and the frankness and the honesty of the people being interviewed.”

Working with a local jury to view and select all of the films screening for ScreenDance Miami., Winter speaks of the curation as a subtle art form — moving one film here, adding another there, and then stepping back to ensure all the ingredients meld together for a delicious meal. “Part of the curation is seeing how to best support films so they’re not just floating on their own,” explains Winter.

He can see the bigger picture and how one film might need a little support from another. Winter felt it was important to screen “Adele Myers and Dancers Presents: Miami DanceMakers Documentary” but felt that on its own it would get lost. He paired it with another doc, “Grass Stains 2024,” as part of the Miami Incubator Documentaries program on Thursday, Jan. 22. “Grass Stains” is a site‑specific dance initiative and mentorship project launched by Winter.

“I thought the Adele Myers doc was important to include, and we were able to include it by then bringing in these other films, because then it makes sense as a conversation,” says Winter.

The 2026 program features 17 short films and three feature-length films.

One dancer that will be featured in the Adele Myers documentary and another film of her own is Miami dancer and choreographer Cecilia Benitez.

“The thing I think is really cool about Cecilia is that she is sort of an example of an artist that has been able to take advantage of multiple artist opportunities that are available for professional development in the community,” says Winter. “She did ‘Grass Stains’ with me, she’s done ‘Here and Now,’ and now we’re screening her film at ScreenDance.”

Benitez’s short film, “La Superstición del Huevo,” is the dancer’s first official film. She worked on it with director Darmyn Calderon. The 12-minute movie will screen as part of Program 2 on Saturday, Jan. 24 at PAMM.

Calderon approached Benitez with the idea for “La Superstición del Huevo.” She wanted to turn a photography series into a dance film. The two worked together and Benitez stepped into the role of the only movement artist in the piece. The story follows the Latin ritual, or superstition, where one uses an egg to cleanse the negative energy from another. “It’s really about the relationship between a mother and a daughter and the rituals we do to either cleanse, or to connect, or to heal,” explains Benitez.

She says ScreenDance is another opportunity that the Miami community has given to her.

“Miami Light Project gave me my start with ‘Here and Now,’” says Benitez.  “I’ve just been able to take advantage of various grants and programs, like ‘Grass Stains’… I truly believe in the Miami dance community so much our resilience and our ability to be really resourceful. This community’s pretty awesome.”

 WHAT: Miami Light Project: ScreenDance Miami

 WHERE: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; The Light Box Studio at Miami Theater Center, 9816 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores; New World Center’s Wallcast at Soundscape Park, 400 17th St., Miami Beach; and Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.

 WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 22 and Friday, Jan. 23, and noon and 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24.

 COST: Select screenings are free with RSVP and others are $5  not including fees via miamilightproject.com. At PAMM, free with museum admission. Admission is $18 for adults and free for museum members.

 INFORMATION: (305) 576-4350 or miamilightproject.com. Complete schedule at miamibeachbandshell.com/event/screendance-miami-festival-2026/

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

The ‘Winter’s Breath’ of Dance NOW Miami! Features Jon Lehrer Company in Coral Gables

Dancers Hunter Hoffman and Julia Faris, from Dance NOW! Miami, in the love duet from “Havisham!” by Hannah Baumgarten, which will be performed as part of the program “Winter’s Breath” at Coral Gables’ Sanctuary of the Arts. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of Dance NOW! Miami)

Miami dance returns to Coral Gables as the Jon Lehrer Dance Company (JLDC) joins Dance Now! Miami (DNM) for an evening of performances. The program includes signature DNM pieces, a new work-in-progress, and a world premiere, showcasing a vibrant dance scene.

The 18-year-old modern dance company, based in New York City, will perform with DNM on Friday, Dec. 19, in a program titled “Winter’s Breath.”

Diego Salterini, co-founder and co-director of DNM, joined by Hannah Baumgarten, explains how the relationship between the two companies began in 2021.

“A few seasons back, we presented one of his works, ‘Solstice,’ and when Jon came down for a residency with our dancers, that’s when our camaraderie and friendship really deepened. Our audiences loved ‘Solstice’ — it stayed in our repertory for two seasons and received a great response here in Miami and beyond,” says Salterini.

The two companies are collaborating for the one-night seasonal celebration featuring nine short pieces.

The evening opens with “Ave Maria,” a serene homage to mothers, specifically to the Virgin Mary. The piece, created by Isadora Duncan, which premiered in 1914 at Carnegie Hall, is set to music by Franz Schubert. Andrea Mantell Seidel, who staged it for DNM, is a Professor of Dance and the founding director of the Intercultural Dance and Music Institute, which is housed in the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University.

A dancer and choreographer recognized as an authority on Isadora Duncan, Seidel, also the founder of The Isadora Duncan Dance Ensemble, dedicated to maintaining her legacy, has trained DNM dancers in Isadora’s free and emotional style.

“(‘Ave Maria’) is a perfect choice for a holiday show, establishing the program’s warm opening,” says Baumgarten.

The program includes another Duncan work, a delicate and fairytale-like solo titled “Harp Etude” (1917), set to the music of Frédéric Chopin, also staged by Mantell Seidel and performed by DCM dancer Allyn Ginns-Ayers.

In her book, “Isadora Duncan in the 21st Century,” published in 2016, Mantell Seidel writes that the dance was inspired by the tale of Ondine, “a water nymph who was in search of a human soul so that she could unite with her human lover.”

The evening also features the world premiere of Salterini’s newest work, “Deco-de” (2025)..

“I created ‘Deco-de’ in response to an invitation from George Neary, interim director of the Miami Design Preservation League, to develop performances for the 2026 Art Deco Festival,” says Salterini. “I wanted to capture the essence of the Art Deco movement — that incredible sense of modernity, optimism, and bold design that defines both the architecture and the era.”

He explains that it is a seven-minute trio based on George Gershwin’s 1919 composition “Lullaby.”

“In my research — and reflecting on my own artistic upbringing — I connected to how Art Deco often feels like a visual ‘Will to Power’: vertical lines, sunbursts, sleek forms, and that sense of forward motion and confidence.”

Salterini says he doesn’t like to explain too much about his works.

“I want audiences to discover their own meaning through what they see and feel,” he says. “But what I can share is that “Deco-de” channels those Art Deco ideals through three extraordinary dancers — Austin Duclos, Sophia Pfitzenmeier, and Kirsten Velasco— whose physicality and artistry bring the concept vividly to life. And I hope it will captivate audiences with its beauty, strength, and elegance.”

Three pieces by Baumgarten are included in the “Winter’s Breath” program including a work-in-progress, “1933,” along with “Love Duet from Havisham!” (2024) and “There I am, Here” (2008).

Presented as a rough draft, ‘1933’ is “a visit to a time when artists are silenced,” says Baumgarten. “The small cast of three, Alexander Campbell, Sophie Leung, and Julia Faris, carries a large message.”

The love duet from “Havisham!,” which Baumgarten describes as “a romantic duet that makes us all smile,” will be performed by Faris and DNM’s newest dancer, Hunter Hoffman, who “brings his own romantic sensibility to this piece,” says the choreographer.

“Havisham!” was first presented in 2024 as a site-specific premiere at the Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach. It reimagines Miss Havisham, the infamous wealthy spinster from Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations.”

The lyrical “There I am, Here” will feature a guest performance from Jenny Hegarty, former DNM Rehearsal Director, now based out of New York, who is in Miami to restage a work of Tandy Beal titled ‘Forest Dreams’ for DNM’s Program II in March. “We are blessed to have her distinct and powerful presence on stage for this show,” says Baumgarten.

Lehrer’s company will perform “Here in this Eden” (2013). The company made its debut in February at the Sanctuary of the Arts and also performed there again in May.

“Here in this Eden” is described by the choreographer as “a classic love duet about two people who want to be exactly where they are, at this moment, with this person—in other words, creating their own Eden.”

“I am so excited for our audiences to experience its intensity and grace,” shares Baumgarten.

Drawing the evening to a close will be “Winter’s Breath” (2014), a work by Baumgarten and Salterini, from which the program takes its name. Created during a residency at New Jersey’s Stockton University, “Winter’s Breath” offers a magical view of winter’s many facets. “The music is Max Richter’s reimagining of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ that takes audiences on a remarkable journey,” says Baumgarten.

Staged by Ayers and Faris, who are also the DNM associate director and rehearsal director, respectively, “Winter’s Breath”  feature Alexander Campbell, Austin Duclos, Hunter Hoffman, Sophie Leung, Sophia Pfitzenmaier, and Kirsten Velasco.

“The program is beautifully varied,” says Salterini about the company’s upcoming show, adding “it’s a performance that truly reflects the season — inviting, heartfelt, and rich with emotion.”

 WHAT: “Winter’s Breath,” a dance concert by Dance NOW! Miami with special guest Jon Lehrer Dance Company.

WHEN: 8:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 19

WHERE: Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Avenue, Coral Gables

COST: $28, $18 includes fees.

INFORMATION: www.dancenowmiami.org/events/wb

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

A Sugar Plum for a Newly Arrived Ballerina in MCB’s ‘The Nutcracker’

Miami City Ballet dancers in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®’ “. Choreography by George Balanchine. © George Balanchine Trust. (Photo by Alexander Izilieav)

With its year-after-year performances, a long-burnished classic like “The Nutcracker” gains new glow when a gifted ballerina takes command for the first time of a prominent and career-elevating role. Showing this, Macarena Giménez, hired this season as a principal at Miami City Ballet, will debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the company’s George Balanchine version of the holiday dance tradition.

Miami City Ballet’s “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” is at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, opening Friday, Dec. 12 through Sunday, Dec. 28.

“I so look forward to this opportunity,” says Giménez, a 32-year-old native of Longchamps, Argentina. In Buenos Aires, she entered the school of the venerable Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón and joined the company in 2012, eventually rising to the rank of principal under the direction of former American Ballet Theatre star Paloma Herrera.

All along, “The Nutcracker” in Rudolf Nureyev’s darker rendition marked key moments in Giménez’s career. As a youngster she danced small roles like a mouse and a child in the Party Scene. Her promotion to principal came after a rousing performance of Clara as a young woman.

“At the Colón, Clara was my first performance after I gave birth to my daughter,” says the ballerina. “Now, immersing myself in Miami City Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ for Sugar Plum, I’ve been truly enchanted by the whole endeavor—costumes, sets, and especially the choreography, which is so attentive to the music.”

The magic of the ballet’s fantastic world, evoked through Balanchine’s wizardly dance strokes to Tchaikovsky’s famed score, culminates in Giménez’s regal ministrations as Sugar Plum in the second act’s Land of the Sweets. This follows iconic scenes as the first act’s Christmas party, the conjuring of mysterious guest Herr Drosselmeyer, the battle between mischievous mice and upright toys under a Sequoia-sized Christmas tree—with the Nutcracker at the helm—and a flurry of lissome Snowflakes.

Let it be said, though, that ruling this fairyland—where sweets jump through hoops, perky as peppermint, or swirl around, rich as Spanish chocolate—requires not just a decorous carriage and a cordial disposition but true ballerina grit.

Giménez has gained praise in how she balances suppleness with strength. And now, she explains, “By dancing Balanchine I’ve learned to apply technique in a novel way so that the movement looks natural and feels right in my body.”

Unlike most dancers at MCB, the Argentine newcomer did not develop her artistry in a Balanchine-based environment. Luckily, she does bring experience in some of the master’s works. Throughout her eleven years at the Colón and then at Sarasota Ballet, the company that drew her and her husband, Maximiliano Iglesias, as principals to Florida in 2022, she danced notable roles in Balanchine ballets such as “Allegro Brillante” and “The Four Temperaments.”

Giménez emphasizes how important it’s been for her to not just adapt but to flourish in Balanchine’s inventive laying out of dance phrases, which, she notes, often land right on the strongest beats of the music.

About Sugar Plum’s displays alongside her Cavalier, she explains that “partnering feels especially different. It seems so much more three-dimensional. The spacing between me and the man allows for greater freedom in doing turns and participating in lifts. Of course, my classical base is there to bolster me, so it’s mostly been a matter of building on that with a new set of tools.”

In this, she’s had the good fortune to be partnered by Stanislav Olshanskyi, a mutual discovery that has worked beautifully for both.  Apart from his impactful stage presence, the Ukrainian-born dancer has well-honed skills to develop a productive artistic relationship with a variety of ballerinas. He recalls how back in the National Opera of Ukraine, where he was a principal dancer until coming to Miami City Ballet in 2022, he was serially assigned roles alongside more than twelve of the company women. At MCB, however, he’s been most frequently paired with Dawn Atkins, his trusted and terrific Sugar Plum.

“Sure, everyone’s different,” he says. “And for me to adjust to someone new could be a little challenging.  There are nuances, and adjustments have to be made. But we all speak the same language of ballet, and sometimes it’s just a matter of us finding other, though similar words.”

A shared exemplary talent is, of course, a big part of this partnership. And in the case of Giménez and Olshanskyi, add a companionable understanding of what it takes to accommodate to a new environment, artistic as well as personal. Both dancers have as background classical European dance training—Giménez refers to the Russian academic lineage at the Colón—and had to shift to the dynamics of the American school—the speed, the keen musicality—once at their present company.

All that came to bear on Olshanskyi when he first portrayed the Cavalier at MCB three years ago, given that at his former Ukrainian company the Nutcracker story (choreographed by Valery Kovtun), as in the case of the Colón version, does not include a Sugar Plum and her consort.

“It’s turned out to be a pretty easy process with Macarena,” says Olshanskyi. “Occasionally we can be on different pages since we’ve never danced together before. But if there’s something we need to clear up, we just talk it out. And I think that doing this in a classical ballet, rather than in something contemporary, has also helped out.”

When the couple unveils their detailed crafting of the pas de deux that figures as the climax of MCB’s “The Nutcracker,” they’re determined to shine in its formidable feats and harmonious elegance. Still, Giménez has reserved a special place in her heart—as an artist and a mother—for Sugar Plum’s initial entrance into the ballet. There she sets the tone for her realm by dancing among students from MCB School, who will, no doubt, take her back to her own childhood experiences on stage.

She recalls a story of her eight-year-old daughter, Emma, when after a visit to see “The Nutcracker” wished she could take the Sugar Plum Fairy’s magic wand home.

“She became entranced by all the dance, the music—by so many sounds and colors,” says Giménez, and that’s a delight she can’t wait for her daughter to experience again.

WHAT:  Miami City Ballet’s “Balanchine’s The Nutcracker”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, Saturday, Dec. 13, Friday, Dec. 19, Saturday, Dec. 20, Tuesday, Dec. 23, Friday, Dec. 26, Saturday, Dec. 27; 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 21; matinee performances: noon, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, Wednesday, Dec. 17, Thursday, Dec. 18, Sunday, Dec. 21; 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, Friday, Dec. 19, Saturday, Dec. 20, Tuesday, Dec. 23, Saturday, Dec. 27.

WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

COST: $52.65 to $360.95 includes fees.

INFORMATION: 305-929-7010 or miamicityballet.org

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

‘Men Who Dance’ Festival: Six Years Of Breaking Stereotypes

Dancers Taylor Garcez, Daniel Romero, Duam Castro, and Tobias Souza in “On The Sixth Day” by Rafi Maldonado-López, the opening number of the 2024 Men Who Dance Festival. This year’s festival, at the Broward Center, is set for 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29 and 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 30. (Photo by Simon Soong, courtesy of the Men Who Dance Festival).

Six years of history has demonstrated the triumph “Men Who Dance.” Since its inception, the initiative has set out to, and succeeded in, setting a decisive precedent for breaking down stereotypes and prejudices that have long hindered the development of male dance.

The “Men Who Dance Festival 2025,” in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, is set for 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29 and 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 30.

Rafi Maldonado-López, festival artistic director, says that this year, the “Men Who Dance” has its biggest lineup of dancers and companies yet, having grown from the small number of participants in its early days to 52 dancers representing more than twenty countries.

In its first year, fifteen dancers took to the stage after an eight-month quarantine during the pandemic. “It was an overwhelming and emotional moment for all of us to be back in front of an audience, doing what we are most passionate about: dancing,” recalls Maldonado-López, a multidisciplinary dancer, choreographer, managing director of the Sanctuary of the Arts cultural center, and founder of the Inter-American Choreographic Institute.

Today, he says, it is the largest male dance festival in the United States.

“We never imagined that our adventure was just beginning, and some bet that contacting the South Florida dance community and asking them to join forces would be an impossible task.”

A dance festival of this nature brings with it numerous achievements, but also deeply rooted challenges that require unwavering courage and a firm grasp of the role played by art, artists, and the institutions that support them, especially when issues of gender and diversity are at stake.

“Decades ago, when I was growing up and starting my career as a dancer, the world was very different. Dancers, especially in classical ballet, were subjected to ridicule and overwhelming stereotypes. Parents shuddered at the idea of their sons enrolling in dance classes,” says Maldonado-López. “While we are still not without problems, things have slowly improved, and we are seeing more and more men joining professional companies.”

Eight major companies are returning to this year’s festival: Miami City Ballet (MCB), Dance NOW! Miami (DNM), Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami (CCBM), Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami (DDTM), RTW Dance, Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida (ABTF), New Canon Chamber Collective, and Syncopate Collective.

Joining them are five other companies including, Jon Lehrer Dance Company (New York), Tropilla Malambo (Buenos Aires), Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theatre (Chicago), and C.A.M. Dance Company (Davie, Florida). Not forgetting Enterprise (Arizona), the first company of Native American dancers to perform at the 2025 Men Who Dance Festival.

“This year, the biggest challenge has been maintaining the festival’s international character. This is due to delays or denials of international visas, even though the vast majority of the dancers representing various countries already reside in the country,” says Maldonado-López.

He comments on the current arts climate in the state of Florida but emphasizes that “Men Who Dance” is not about an agenda.

“Unfortunately, in recent years, the state of Florida has not supported any form of diversity, including gender diversity,” he adds. “Some might say that the legislative climate was becoming somewhat hostile to any group that wanted to celebrate and honor the historical contributions of women, Black people, Latinos, or any other diverse group.”

“ ‘Men Who Dance,’ ” says the director offers a space for expression and exploration. From Indigenous dance to ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, tango, flamenco, and malambo, the main objective of the festival is to normalize the presence of men in dance in all its disciplines, as well as to foster public support.”

But the work of the Men Who Dance Festival, its artistic director, its dancers, and its dedicated team doesn’t stop there, as its growth and activity naturally carry a global perspective.

“In 2021, we created ‘Men Who Dance Global.’ So far, we’ve held global editions in Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico,” explains Maldonado.

Its his production company, the Inter-American Choreographic Institute, which coordinates a three-day seminar/audition with local dance organizations, teachers, and companies.

“The featured artist then comes to represent their city and country at the national Festival here at the Broward Center. However, as I mentioned before, the visa situation has hampered the project’s progress.”

There are two goals he shares for the future of the festival.

“The first is to expand the Men Who Dance Festival seminars/auditions across the country and into Europe, increasing the Festival’s visibility and broadening the range of artists, for the benefit and enjoyment of our audience. The second is to seek out and support the next generation of ‘men who dance’ and achieve their inclusion in the larger Festival.”

He credits the camaraderie that forms each year among dancers, companies and  artistic directors.

“It is the driving force behind the festival’s exponential growth.”

WHAT: Men Who Dance Festival 2025 

WHERE: Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts,  201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale

WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29, 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 30

COST: $29.50, $41.30, $53.10, includes fees

INFORMATION: www.browardcenter.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.