In May, Debbie Allen will enter into an exclusive group of American dance luminaries, joining bold-faced names like Carmen de Lavallade, Bill T. Jones, Twyla Tharp, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ginger Rogers, Alvin Ailey and Gene Kelly as a Kennedy Center Honoree. The annual awards, recognizing those who’ve made outstanding cultural contributions via the performing arts, postponed […]

Since 1954, Dance Magazine has celebrated the living legends among us with the Dance Magazine Awards. This year, in light of deep reflections on racial equity inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the selection committee decided to take a close look at exactly who the magazine has honored over the past seven decades. Unsurprisingly, […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Nicole Buggé nbugge@dancemedia.com (New York, NY) September 21, 2020—Dance Media Foundation (dancemediafoundation.org) in conjunction with Dance Magazine, announced today the honorees for the 63rd annual Dance Magazine Awards: Carlos Acosta, Debbie Allen, Camille A. Brown, Laurieann Gibson and Alonzo King. The Chairman’s Award will go to Darren Walker. The Harkness […]

Who couldn’t use a little extra holiday cheer this year? Netflix is stepping in with a double dose of heartwarming, dance-powered programs this November that celebrate the season. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey First up is movie-musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, dropping November 13. This new family flick is a fantastical journey, following a […]

In this global economic crisis, it sometimes feels like the plight of dancers has been largely ignored. So Debbie Allen is on a mission to change that. “They don’t list dance and the arts as essential,” she says, “but we are! We give people more joy and hope than almost anything.” To spread that joy […]

Need a little oomph as you step back into the studio post-holiday? Let these six dancers provide you a dose of inspiration to start the year off on the right foot. Never stop pushing yourself. During a recent class, dance legend Debbie Allen shared some major wisdom—and tough love—with her students. The lesson: Dancers don’t […]

Nigel Lythgoe put his foot in his mouth last year. He and Debbie Allen were on a panel at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Lythgoe started saying that what the Los Angeles scene needed was a dance festival. “I was shouted down and told, ‘Well, we have got a dance festival!’ […]

I come from a lineage of survivors: African Americans who endured the brutality of slavery, Native Americans who survived forced genocidal migration, and my Jewish grandmother who escaped the Holocaust. My ancestors’ enduring spirits live inside of me, giving me an indelible foundation of strength and compassion. On the bookshelves my mom filled in our […]