For those of us familiar with the dance world, Capezio needs no introduction. The company is singularly associated with many contemporary definitions of dance itself. The term “Capezios” has been used around pop culture as the “Kleenex” or “Xerox” of dancewear. Now, by enlisting Maddie Ziegler, of all recognizable, young…

Sorry. It just isn’t. — Last week, to celebrate this year’s 4oth anniversary of Queen’s rock anthem, Bohemian Rhapsody, the English National Ballet released a video of two of its leading dancers performing a duet to Freddie Mercury’s singular song. The video of the pair has been making the rounds, being proclaimed as “absolutely breathtaking,”…

Reviewing Starz’s ‘Flesh and Bone’ — Every time a new dance movie, TV show, or documentary comes up, I make a point to see it. I grew up dancing, and I hold out hope with every new reality show, street dance movie franchise, and cutthroat ballet depiction that at least one of them gets it right. …

An Outsider’s Perspective — The only reference I’ve ever had to Michael Flatley, ‘Lord of the Dance’, was the 1998 episode of Friends (“The One With the Embryos”) where Chandler names which “international phenomenon scares the ‘bejeezus’ out of him.” Armed with just that, and the memory of a long-ago videotaped performance of Riverdance…

Nov. 11 would have been the cult favorite author’s 93rd birthday — For the Vonnegut loyal, Kurt’s pearls of wisdom are rarely far from top-of-mind. Books like Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, Bluebeard, and any of a long list of novels and short stories are full of advice for living life. In case your Vonnegut library is a little lacking, here are five of…

Rebutting the Huffington Post The Huffington Post published an article earlier this month, titled “Why Maddie Ziegler Matters to the Dance World,” by Alexandra Villarreal. In the piece, Villarreal argues that Maddie Ziegler, of Dance Moms and Sia’s Chandelier video fame, is “more than a dancer. She is a lifesaver.” Before I even write…

“I believe a woman’s place is in the home. Cooking and cleaning and caring for her husband and children.” When I was in college, just a couple of years ago, one of my female classmates volunteered that statement during a class discussion on gender roles. I remember thinking she was…

The year: 1998. The grade: third. Up to that point in my young life, I’d breezed through spelling quizzes, spelling tests, spelling bees. You name it, I spelled it. Chuckle? No problem. Libraries? Easy. Neither? Neighbor? Laughter? Correct. Correct. Correct. I was on top of the world that year; a…

A reflection on fifteen years of life, love, and neuroses. — Dear Mel, That’s right; I jumped right in with ‘Mel.’ Get over hating the nickname, because, let’s face it: those last two syllables are endless. Fifteen years from now, not even you will want to expend the energy to introduce yourself as Melanie (life is short, after all). Soon enough…