Category Archives: Dancing

Hudson County Hosts Powerhouse Latina Music and Dance Acts in Concert Wednesday, July 18th at 7 pm. Tickets Available Now!

Hudson County Hosts Powerhouse Latina Music and Dance Acts in Concert Wednesday, July 18th at 7 pm. Tickets Available Now! 

Jersey City, NJ—Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and the Board of Chosen Freeholders are proud to announce an evening of dynamic live music headlined by two sizzling acts, to be presented Wednesday, July 18th from 7:00-9:00 pm in the Rotunda of the historic Brennan Court House (583 Newark Avenue, Jersey City).

The evening will open with a performance by the Brazilian singer/songwriter Monika Oliveira. Born in Belem do Para and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Oliveira has been performing in the New York area for more than twenty years. She combines her love of Brazil’s musical heritage with a mastery of Jazz to create what critics describe as a “sultry variation on both … that is at once moving and rhythmic, pure and passionate.” Joined by the Brazilians Trio, she will take the stage at 7 pm.

Continue reading Hudson County Hosts Powerhouse Latina Music and Dance Acts in Concert Wednesday, July 18th at 7 pm. Tickets Available Now!

LET’S DANCE!   Meagan Woods Curates “Out of Bounds” Dance Show, Sat, June 2nd

8 Choreographers Explore ‘Resistance’ at White Eagle Hall

 

Let's Dance
Dancer/Choreographer Joe Monteleone
Photo by Juan Michael Porter II

By Sally Deering

 Instead of performing on a stage away from the audience, the new dance show, OUT OF BOUNDS, curated by dancer-choreographer Meagan Woods of Jersey City, will have dancers moving on stage and in the audience.

Let's Dance
Dancer/ Choreographer Meagan Woods of JC

The curtain goes up on OUT OF BOUNDS on Sat, June 2, at 8 pm and will feature eight choreographies by eight New Jersey dancer-choreographers, including Woods. The show goes on at White Eagle Hall, an extension of the Jersey City Theater Center, where Artistic Director Olga Levina invited Woods to curate a dance show that would engage the audience. Continue reading LET’S DANCE!   Meagan Woods Curates “Out of Bounds” Dance Show, Sat, June 2nd

NJCU Presents ‘An Evening with Judith Jamison’ Of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on November 15

Free Event in Skyline Room at NJCU School of Business

NJCU Presents ‘An Evening with Judith Jamison’
Dance icon Judith Jamison photo by Andrew Eccles

Jersey City, N.J., November 9, 2017 – New Jersey City University (NJCU) will present an evening with Judith Jamison â€“ the iconic dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director Emeritus of the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – on Wednesday, November 15, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., at the NJCU School of Business, Skyline Room, Harborside 2, 200 Hudson Street in Jersey City.

As a dancer, Ms. Jamison became one of modern dance’s great performers and she was appointed Artistic Director of the company in 1989 at the request of Alvin Ailey, himself. During her tenure, she shaped the company into the foremost modern dance troupe in the country, and built a permanent home and school for them in Manhattan. Ms. Jamison has received many awards for her accomplishments as an artist and director, and she is being inducted into the 2017 Crain’s Hall of Fame this month, which honors leaders from business, philanthropy and the arts who have left a major impact on New York.

Continue reading NJCU Presents ‘An Evening with Judith Jamison’ Of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on November 15

Kennedy Dancers 40th Anniversary Jersey City Follies

 
kENNEDY DANCERS
Kennedy Dancers Repertory Company
Professional Dancers: Laurel Z. Forsyth, Tiffhanie Ramos, Rachel Khan
Photo Credit: Juan Samaniego

The Kennedy Dancers are pleases to announce their 40th Anniversary Season. Since 1977 the Kennedy Dancers- a nonprofit dance company has served the New Jersey community with dance classes, professional performances, Free programs for Senior citizens and adults with disabilities, scholarships for teens to train as professional dancers.

 
In celebration of the Kennedy Dancers 40th Anniversary we are presenting a fundraising gala- The Jersey City Follies, on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at the historic Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theater on Journal Square, Jersey City, New Jersey.
 
The Jersey City Follies is an evening of fun & music and celebrating vaudeville and burlesque style entertainment with (and you won’t believe who’ll be joining us in the performance) Hudson County Executive Tom De Gise, Hudson County Freeholder William O’Dea, PSE&G Public Affairs Manager of the greater New York Area Richard Dwyer, Assemblywoman Angela McKnight of the 31st District, Senator Sandra Cunningham of the 31st District, Hudson County Register Diane Coleman, Jersey City Councilwoman at large Joyce Watterman, former Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy, New Jersey Assemblyman Nicholas Chiavorlatti of the 31st District,  Anthem Education Group Asst. Director of Admissions Natasha Scalia, Journalist Ron Leir, former Jersey City Councilman Phil Kenny, Executive Director of the Jersey City Bethune Performing Arts Center Alvin Petit, Former Jersey City Corporation Counsel Sean M. Connelly, Jersey City Development Agency Administrator Barbara Amato, Jersey City Director of Cultural Affairs Elizabeth Cain, Tommy “Two Scoops” Parisi, Director of Jersey City Community Development Block Grant Carmen Gandulla, Actress and Jersey City Board of Education Teacher Susan Murphy, Lead Singer of Soul Generation 2 Cliff Perkins, Director of Spirit of Life Ensemble and the Community Awareness Series of Jersey City Daoud Williams, and
 

Continue reading Kennedy Dancers 40th Anniversary Jersey City Follies

  Samuel Pott, Artistic Director of Nimbus Dance Works , Jersey City gives Dancers a Place to Soar

CREATING DANCE, INSPIRING DANCERS

Our interview with Samuel Pott

 By Sally Deering

Sam Potts River View Observer
 Samuel Pott, Artistic Director of Nimbus Dance Works , Jersey City gives Dancers a Place to Soar

The Jersey City dance company Nimbus Dance Works’ repertory of dances blends contemporary with classical and newbies with professionals; and Artistic Director Samuel Pott likes it that way.

Nimbus Dance Works celebrates its 10th season in Jersey City this year with new works by guest choreographers, a performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and a brand new dance studio on Third Street. The school has expanded tremendously since the move from the Barrow Mansion and class registration is in full bloom for the spring session which begins Feb. 2nd. Continue reading   Samuel Pott, Artistic Director of Nimbus Dance Works , Jersey City gives Dancers a Place to Soar

COVER STORY:Sugar Plum Fairies, Jersey Style-Nimbus Dance Works’ “Jersey City Nutcracker” to Enchant Audiences Once Again

By Sally Deering

During the holidays, take a walk down Wayne Street in Jersey City (right off Grove) and you might hear strains of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” blasting from a boom box inside the Barrow Mansion, a community center where theater and dance companies hang their hats – and shoes. In one of the larger rehearsal rooms, professional dancers and students from local schools are spinning, leaping and paying close attention to Nimbus Dance Works’ Artistic Director Samuel Pott as he choreographs their movements for the company’s upcoming production of “Jersey City Nutcracker.”

NUTCRACKER PHOTO 1

Artistic Director and Choreographer Samuel Pott rehearses dancers in a scene from “Jersey City Nutcracker”

 

The curtain goes up Fri, Dec. 21st at the Frank R. Conwell Middle School on Bright Street in Jersey City and runs through Sun, Dec. 23rd — for tickets, go to www.nimbusdanceworks.org. After attending a recent rehearsal, it pleases me to report that this is going to be one fabulous show.

Nimbus Dance Works’ version of Tchaikovsky’s classic features the composer’s beautiful score with a twist on its tale. In the original E.T.A Hoffman story, the boy and girl, Christopher and Maria, fall asleep and the toys that are placed under the tree spring to life. In the Nimbus version, Christopher and Maria embark on a journey through the urban landscape instead where dancers play Sugar Plum Fairies, an Arabian Princess, The Rat King and so much more as Tchaikovsky’s score helps bring the story to life. Continue reading COVER STORY:Sugar Plum Fairies, Jersey Style-Nimbus Dance Works’ “Jersey City Nutcracker” to Enchant Audiences Once Again

RARE CHINA-Shen Yun 2012 presents 5,000 years of Chinese Culture at Lincoln Center – 5 Nights Only!

 

By Sally Deering

 It may seem like an adventurous task – presenting 5,000 years of Chinese culture in one show – and that’s exactly what Shen Yun 2012 sets out to do on Wednesday Jan. 11th –to – Sun, Jan. 15th, at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. Prepare to be dazzled!

 Told through dance, music and song and performed in more than 100 cities around the world, Shen Yun is a collection of short performance pieces that interpret the legends of Chinese culture’s creation and history over 5,000 years.

One of the writers and Master of Ceremonies is Leeshai Lemish, who has been with the Shen Yun Performing Arts troupe, based in Orange County, New York, since its inception in 2006. Lemish has emceed more than 400 Shen Yun performances in English and Chinese, has traveled with the show all over the world and calls Jersey City home.

 “We have 90 performers and that includes a dance company – 40 to 50 dancers – a full orchestra, vocalists, technical crew and we have three companies that size that tour at the same time in the states and all over the world, ” Lemish says. Continue reading RARE CHINA-Shen Yun 2012 presents 5,000 years of Chinese Culture at Lincoln Center – 5 Nights Only!

COVER STORY-Leading The Kennedy Dancers

Diane Dragone (still) has the Dancer in Her Soul

new-diane-in-sailor-suit-in-air

by Sally Deering 

 In the 1920s, when Shirley Temple tapped into America’s hearts with her bouncing ringlets, ruffled crinolines and shiny black tap shoes, mothers from Canarsie to Kenosha trundled their daughters off to their local dance school dreaming of their baby girl’s name in lights. Nowadays, child stars go by first names like Britney, but the local dance school still thrives as the only training ground for kids who dream of a dancing career.

 One local dance pioneer who has kept the stage lights burning in her neighborhood dance studio for the past 34 years is Diane Dragone, Artistic Director of The Kennedy Dancers, a professional dance company and dance school that stands in the wings of New York City.  Through her school and with her years as a teacher and choreographer, Dragone has trained and enriched the lives of thousands of inner-city kids – some who became professional dancers — and she has brought modern and classical dance performances to the multi-cultural and economically-diverse Hudson community. Continue reading COVER STORY-Leading The Kennedy Dancers