Rosie Herrera learned young that a show girl is never the star of the show. As a teenager working the cabaret at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Little Havana in the early aughts, she posed prettily on the side of the stage, jutting out her hip to display her costume,…

Months in the making, Karen Peterson and Dancers’ latest work, GRIT, debuts in its entirety this Thursday and Friday at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. The defining piece touches on the human experience, and is intended to showcase the strength of the renowned mixed-abilities company, which is comprised of a host…

To create, nourish, and promote art that speaks to South Florida, with an emphasis on Ibero-American culture. That has been the goal of Miami Beach’s FUNDarte since day one. Such an effort got a major boost in 2012, when the non-profit arts organization became one of 34 Knight Arts Challenge…

Ritualistic writing, interdisciplinary theater, phosphorescent paintings, and sexual reassignment surgery come together to form the backbone for the 15th annual Here & Now: 2014, A Knight Emerging Artist Series. Here & Now is where and when the Miami Light Project commissions new performance work by innovative South Florida artists. The…

To close its 16th season, the Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida is dedicating its finale performance to ballet’s Russian forefathers and to Venezuela, which has heavily influenced the company’s neo-classical repertoire. The shows will be held Saturday, May 3, at the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center and Sunday, May 4,…

Shaping Miami into the artistic hub that it’s become couldn’t have been done without the steady, decades-long priming by The Performing Arts Network (PAN) in North Miami. PAN’s founders have been on the frontlines of Miami’s dance and performance scene since the 1980s. Nestled in a narrow commercial strip along…

Set aside for a moment any preconceived notions you may have about the French arts and culture. Toss out the idea of the beret with a striped shirt and a baguette stuck underneath an arm. So much more happens creatively in France and the French diaspora, but it seldom reaches…

The standing ovation at the matinee of Miami City Ballet’s season closer, Don Quixote, Saturday, March 22, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts was a good indication that classical ballet lives and breathes in South Florida. Furthermore, it showed that it holds its own against the Ultra/WMC/MMW fests…

At the January Young Arts Foundation annual gala, Chanel Da Silva, dancer with the Trey McIntyre Project (TMP), kicked off her heels and broke it down on the temporary dance floor to Michael Jackson’s “Startin’ Somethin’.” Da Silva, a 2004 Young Arts Winner and Presidential Scholar in the Arts, wasn’t…

When it comes to dance, Miami may not have reached its apex in ways other cities have, but it sure has had momentum. Instrumental in pushing that energy, stamina, and vibrancy forward have been events like the Miami Dance Festival, which this year celebrates its 11th edition. From Thursday, April…

Niurca Márquez is rewriting the history of flamenco. Each dance-step the Miami-native plants marks a new direction for an art form cemented in Andalusian tradition. Her work simultaneously references and breaks from that tradition to create new contexts for both flamenco newbies and aficionados to consider, in a sub-genre known…

–Octavio Roca, artburstmiami.com Emotions ran high even before the dancing started. Lourdes Lopez, Miami City Ballet’s artistic director, stepped in front of the curtain Valentine’s night to speak lovingly about her two teachers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and announce that George Chakiris was in the audience. Chakiris, who starred…

Precision technique, athleticism and poignant storytelling are synonymous with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — a powerhouse company that has kept the torch of African-American life, history and dance aflame on stage since 1958. Led now by artistic director and Miami native Robert Battle, Ailey is making its yearly…

In 1981, American choreographer and dancer Gerald Arpino saw the world debut of his East-meets-West-themed Light Rain ballet in New York City. It was performed by the dance company he co-founded with Robert Joffrey, The Joffrey Ballet. The New York Times wrote that “Light Rain… is one of Mr. Arpino’s…

Juraj Kojs is a Slovakian-born composer, performer, multimedia artist and presenter. Trained as a classical pianist, he is co-founder of the Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA), whose goal is to cultivate interactive experimentation in composition and performance. He’s intrigued by mankind’s evolving relationship to technology and how it…

Known for its strength and versatility, Miami City Ballet will flaunt a new set of skills this Friday as the company debuts its world premiere of Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite. In addition to tackling Robbins’ dazzling choreography, several dancers will also sing. Yes, ballet dancers will sing. Not…

By George Fishman, artburstmiami.com People have told choreographer Nora Chipaumire that they found her dance-theater performance Miriam too dark. “It’s so black,” they complained. “What am I looking at?” they asked about this performance based on the life and music of South African legend Miriam Makeba. “At first, I was…

By Mia Leonin, artburstmiami.com In the first few minutes of Gabri Christi’s film Quarantined, you can’t see dancer Kyle Abraham’s sculptured torso or his rhythmic leaps or the fact he’s wearing a long white skirt made of tulle. The camera, however, reveals glimpses of a jawline and a closely shaved…

There are many reasons to rejoice in Miami City Ballet’s second program of the season, called “See the Music,” but chief among them is this: the company premiere of Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat. It is a gem, a major addition to the company repertory, and above all it is beautiful…

Haiti’s premiere contemporary dance company Ayikodans returns to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts this weekend for four shows. In collaboration with the Green Family Foundation, the Arsht will present the program in three parts, including the world premiere of Tribulations and a revamped version of Danse de…

Black Male Revisited: Revenge of the New Negro, continuing this weekend at the Miami Theater Center in Miami Shores, is unapologetically raw — and for good reason. The one-man show created and performed by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko reveals the warped, over-sexualized and emotional complexities of African-American men throughout the ages…