The News Review:
- School Uses Dance In Lessons
- Pickle: Dancing in the streets
- There’s plenty to keep kids busy over break
- African roots inspire troupe to create authentic works
- Private screening
- Eastern eyes
School Uses Dance In Lessons
Click 2 Houston.com – Feb 14, 2008
The school recently teamed with. Break dance and hip-hop classes are integrated into the curriculum. Tap and ballet classes are offered after school.
Pickle: Dancing in the streets
Knoxville News Sentinel – Feb 14, 2008
And it doesn’t help that this dance flick hits theaters so soon after the fresh “How She Move” which focused on similarly hungry step dancers. But the target audience won’t care about the conventional formula. All that matters is that director Jon M. Chu and his choreographers turn “Step Up 2″ into an explosive mash-up of break-dancing stepping and acrobatics set to an addictive soundtrack of hip-hop artistry. Chu doesn’t just take the energy to the streets. He spills it off the screen.
There’s plenty to keep kids busy over break
Utica Observer Dispatch – Feb 14, 2008
Routine basics cheer skills and jump skills for novice and intermediate levels ages 7-15. The cost is $249 for a full day (each program) and $150 for a half day. Drama for Teens: 6-8 p. Tuesday through Thursday.
African roots inspire troupe to create authentic works
Columbus Dispatch – Feb 14, 2008
The visiting Muntu DanceTheatre of Chicago will share the essence of African dance during the weekend. Although the Saturday performance will be presented as a Black History Month observance “At theKing Arts Complex we do black history 365 days a year” said Carr’Mel Ford-White performing-artsdirector. The dance company will also appear at noon Friday in the Barnes & Noble store at Lennox TownCenter. The troupe which first performed at the complex in 1995 was brought back Ford-White saidbecause “Muntu fits very well with our mission. “One of the things that we’re excited about is we have a lot of African dance companies here inColumbus and they’re all excited about coming to take part in this particular event. The complex typically features contemporary-dance companies Ford-White said but Muntu showscombine live drumming with energetic dancing. Muntu Dance Theatre founded in 1972 has earned a reputation for performing authentic Africanpieces… “All the dances are researched” said Lynn D. Stevenson company manager. “In fact the artists after the Christmas and Kwanzaa break traditionally travel back toAfrica to absorb what’s going on on the. (continent)” she said “and they bring dances backto the United States for us to use and to perform. The 10 dancers and four musicians of Muntu will perform works that originated primarily inwestern Africa Stevenson said.
Private screening
St. Petersburg Times – Feb 14, 2008
"I never thought this would be happening" said Paulette Johnson 49. "A movie!" The atmosphere was like a party as fans munched on nachos and popcorn greeting Johnson's mother as "Miss P. " They whooped and clapped when they glimpsed Johnson in the movie's first choreographed scene where a group of street dancers don masks and start break dancing on the subway. The school has about 200 students and everyone knows Ebone her mother said. She's taught classes taken classes and been a role model and inspiration to its students. For dozens the film was proof that their dreams could come true. "She makes it possible that I can do this" said Taylor Barnes 10 who said she's been dancing at the studio for eight years.
Eastern eyes
New Statesman – Feb 14, 2008
A belly-dance student in Cairo. A village girl lost in the endless plains of rural Turkey. Disillusioned middle-aged ?gr? from Damascus. A schoolgirl seized by Iran’s religious police. An Algerian housewife trapped in a gloomy French apartment… On a trip back to Sana’a she encountered an outspoken 13-year-old Najmia and spent 72 hours filming her as she outraged Sana’ani society by refusing to cover her head (“They’re crazy – I like fresh air” Najmia says) playing with boys riding a bicycle and telling her critics that “a person’s honour does not live in the veil”. Najmia’s struggles reminded al-Salami of her own. “If a woman decides to break through and prove that she is equal to men the consequences are heavy” the director says. “Not only can she lose her reputation but the whole family will be badly criticised. Because I hated this injustice I chose confrontation over oppression and Najmia feels the same way. Though it was not shown widely in Yemen the film proved so successful in the United States that viewers set up a college fund for Najmia and the Yemeni president personally persuaded her father to allow her to attend school. In a festival programme so heavy with frustration it is a rare tale of victory and escape – and a rare reassurance that despite its troubles Middle Eastern film is far from powerless.