Step aside, Sugar Plum Fairy! Enter the Kwanzaa Kween.
Dec
30
2013
Much as we love the chiming celesta that signals an indelible ballet escapade, that of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the beloved holiday favorite, “The Nutcracker,” we’ve also grown to love another special solo. I’m calling it the Kwanzaa Kween — a ballet divertissement porting a heady tinge of the African continent. The dance is ...
Kwanzaa madness at Lula Washington Dance Theatre
Jan
3
2013
Point me to a better show. I’m open minded! But now in my third year of attendance, I find the year-end Kwanzaa Celebration at Lula Washington Dance Theatre not just exhilarating fun, not only pulling you to the edge of your chair with non-stop great dancing, but, an added pleasure, it blasts off to a ...
Lula Washington’s “tutu raffia” bids 2011 adieu
A highlight of the blistering Kwanzaa show staged by Lula Washington Dance Theatre at the Nate Holden Theater this weekend was a sinewy solo by Haniyyah Tahirah bedecked in what the choreographer Lula Washington calls a “tutu raffia.” It’s a clever cultural mash-up combining Africa & classical ballet. The eternally creative Washington explained: “The look ...
Holiday picks: Joffrey ‘Nutcracker’ & Lula Washington ‘Kwanzaa’
Nov
29
2011
Dance critics — that bad bunch of bah-hambugg’ers — roll their eyes at the words, “The Nutcracker.” But when the houselights dim, and the Tchaikovsky pours forth, just catch a glimpse of their faces. You know — when the Sugar Plum Whatzz’its dance before their eyes? They love it. You’d have to be a Certified ...