Dance

Jun 15 2011

Nigel Lythgoe and Larry King

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—“So You Think You Can Dance” co-creator and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe teamed up with retired talk-show host Larry King today to announce a national health campaign promoting dance as a way to combat obesity.

“Dance is an activity that is universally recognized and accessible across all socioeconomic levels, making it an ideal approach to promoting heart health,” King said.

Mar 24 2011

New variations on "Revelations" taught

In anticipation of the upcoming April performance of the Alvin Ailey performances at the Los Angeles Music Center, students at the Lou Dantzler Preparatory Middle School and the Douglass Marshall Academy Middle School recently had an opportunity to participate in a residency workshop and learn movements to the company’s 50-year-old signature production “Revelations.” The residency was part of the Ailey in the Schools education program.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Feb 3 2011

Brings the arts to at-risk youth

Annual fundraiser helps make after-school programs possible
Hands for Hope (H4H) is an after-school and single-parent resource program based in the North Hollywood music and arts district. H4H serves predominantly low-income minority youth by providing a safe and supportive environment where at-risk youth are nurtured and given room to evolve.

Sep 16 2010

Honoring the art of dance

First lady Michelle Obama recently hosted the first ever White House event honoring the art of dance. She dedicated it to highlighting Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, an icon in the dance world and considered one of the greatest choreographers in the country. Jamison will step down next year, after 20 years of running the company following founder Alvin Ailey’s death in 1989.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Aug 26 2010

Fundraising campaign features T-shirt sales, membership drive

The Center: South L.A. is a proposed center for the arts in Los Angeles that will offer a variety of creative classes in traditional and non-traditional dance, theater, drawing, painting, music, and arts and crafts, and will strive to make art accessible to everyone while simultaneously inspiring and educating young people in the community.

“Currently South L.A. is lacking in access to the arts… Compared to other areas in the city there is a lack of community-focused businesses and destination areas, especially along Western Avenue.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

California
Allied Integrated Marketing recently announced it is launching a new African American marketing division, Allied Moxy. The new division will create innovative campaigns that integrate publicity, promotions, digital and grassroots outreach to speak directly to the full diversity of African American consumers. Spearheading Allied Moxy are industry veterans Kim Walters and Gloria Jones. Walters will oversee national strategy from Los Angeles, while Jones will oversee regional/local strategy from Washington, D.C. Walters brings more than a decade of marketing experience working with entertainment companies such as Codeblack Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and A&E Lifetime Television, as well as consumer brands such as KIA and L.A. Gear and awards programs such as NAACP Image Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. Jones has been with Allied for five years running publicity and promotional campaigns for clients, including Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Relativity Media, and previously worked for WBDC-TV in D.C. and MTV Networks’ Nick @ Nite and TV Land.

 

Representing Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group, Tyler Edwards, a senior at the Orange County High School of the Arts, placed third at the national finals of the fifth annual August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre in New York City. “I am thrilled . . . I’m so glad that I took it for L.A. the first time we got up . . . that’s what we’re talking about!” said an elated Edwards following the competition. Edwards, an aspiring actor, describes the soaring, lyrical monologues found in the plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as “very inspirational,” and said prior to the Los Angeles Regional Finals of the August Wilson competition, “I would love to share a bit of that inspiration with any audience, in hopes that they leave with more appreciation than they walked in with.”

 

Georgia
Bounce TV, the nation’s first-ever over-the-air broadcast television network for African Americans, will launch a second new original comedy series, “Uptown Comic,” on June 18, immediately after the series premiere of the just-announced sitcom “Family Time.” “Uptown Comic” is a half-hour series featuring stage and skit performances by some of the hottest up-and-coming comics in the country. The show is currently in production in front of a live studio audience at the longest-running African American comedy club in the U.S.—Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta. Actor and comedian Joe Torry (Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam) hosts. “Family Time,” a half hour situation comedy created by Bentley Kyle Evans ( “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Martin,” “Love That Girl”) and produced by Evans and partner Trenten Gumbs is set to launch Monday, June 18, at 8 p.m. The series premiere of “Uptown Comic” will follow and be seen weekly at 8:30 p.m. (All Times Eastern.)