Latest news with #TheCookout
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Big Hoops to Fill': Roxbury native highlights community, cultural traditions with new art sculpture
Ja'Hari Ortega is taking hoop earrings to a whole other level. Ortega's new art installation titled 'Big Hoops to Fill' is a large-scale sculpture of golden bamboo hoop earrings that function as interactive swings, but the Roxbury native says the installation echoes not only her love for jewelry but holds space for childhood memories and pays homage to cultural traditions that embody women of color in our communities. 'The fact that we deserve rest, we deserve play, we don't always need to be these strong independent Black women in public space we can also be known as like joyous, happy women with beautiful relationships with our families and friends as well,' Ortega tells Boston 25 News. Audrey Lopez from The Greenway Project says when she met Ja'Hari, one of her smaller creations sparked a bigger vision. Three years later, Lopez says it's here and it's a piece that makes a statement. 'I got to see some large-scale bronze bamboo hoop earrings that she had made in the metal foundry that weighed 65 pounds altogether, and I just said, 'These are incredible, Ja'Hari, would you be open to going bigger,' Lopez tells Boston 25 News. On Thursday, the Greenway Project is hosting an event called 'The Cookout.' It's a chance for community members to meet Ja'Hari, but also enjoy music and food. It will be open to the public where the art installation is located along the greenway from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
New York Times
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Review: Dance Theater of Harlem, Reshaped and Back at City Center
When Robert Garland was chosen to take over as the artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem in 2023, it was the ultimate inside hire. After performing with the company for 13 years, he spent more than 20 as its resident choreographer and the director of its school. The choice seemed to promise continuity, and so far, continuity is what Garland has delivered. Still, a new director inevitably reshapes a company's identity. Since Garland — unlike his predecessor, Virginia Johnson — is a choreographer, it makes sense to watch his choreography for signs of change. The company's programs at New York City Center this week feature the first work he's made since taking over: 'The Cookout.' Garland's choreographic signature is a combination of classical ballet influenced by his chief model, George Balanchine, and Black vernacular dance, what he has called 'Harlem swag.' 'The Cookout' is in this mode, applying ballet vocabulary to tracks of funk, neo-soul and disco while mixing in the kind of party steps that would normally go with such music. At its best, this gambit can reveal hidden continuities, mainly of rhythm, as well as the code-switching versatility of dancers. But the juxtaposition also risks cross-bleeding dilution, since classical ballet and African-diasporic forms hold the body in opposite ways, particularly around the pelvis. Ballet dancers can have trouble getting down — stiffening swag steps, pulling them up — and ballet made casual can become merely sloppy. That's a limitation in 'The Cookout,' though ultimately the piece is just innocuously slight. Garland divides it into four sections, three about kinds of dignity (work, culture, sorrow) followed by one about joy. Work is weakly represented by a broom; culture, by a few of the intricate handshakes known as daps; joy, by red Solo cups. Moments of magic, as when the women in the sorrow section are suddenly lifted off at its end, are scarce. Garland has had more success in choosing his company's repertory. Picking up on one of Johnson's final moves — commissioning a piece by William Forsythe — he has added another, 'The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude.' That 1996 work, set to part of a Schubert symphony, is a challenging exercise in the 19th-century style of divertissement. Here and there, through Stephen Galloway's floppy-frisbee tutus or a snuck-in body roll, the work winks, reminding you that it isn't that old. The less exact the dancing, the less thrilling it is. And while the Harlem dancers start tight, they soon loosen under the stress, especially the women, who struggle with the demands of the quick pointework. Alexandra Hutchinson holds her poise, and David Wright gives and gives with gusto. But the company, which looked terrific in Forsythe's much less classical 'Blake Works IV,' doesn't have this one under its belt yet. Jodie Gates, the former Forsythe dancer who staged 'Vertiginous,' also choreographed a world premiere, 'Passage of Being.' Set to dreamy indie-electronica by Ryan Lott and his band, Son Lux, Gates's work is all misty, silken flow, circling and spiraling and threading long loops into loops. The six Harlem dancers take to this very well, capturing not just the fluency but also the little embroideries and pauses for breath that bring the choreography to life. These are good choices, giving the dancers something they can handle and something to reach for. More important, though, is Garland's handling of the company's connection to Balanchine: the mentor to Garland's mentor and the company's co-founder Arthur Mitchell. And here, he's on a roll. After Balanchine's 'Allegro Brilliante' in Johnson's last season came 'Pas de Dix' in Garland's first. Now, he has added 'Donizetti Variations,' and it's another winner. 'Donizetti,' like 'Vertiginous,' is in the mode of a 19th-century divertissement. But while using similar formulas, it's much more formally playful and inventive. It's a fast, fun game of threes, and the dancers, coached by the former New York City Ballet star Kyra Nichols, find the right calibration of energy to make it bounce and fizz. They deliver the work's many interwoven garlands and close canons with a confectionary exactitude that is composedly thrilling. As the central couple, Hutchinson and Wright shine: she strong enough to be soft, he adding extra torque and bend to spins that are truly vertiginous. This is a 'Donizetti' danced with a dignity that doesn't preclude a party-like atmosphere. Traditionally, it opens a program, but Garland put it at the end on Thursday. There, it did what 'The Cookout' tried to do: close with joy.
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
At Dance Theater of Harlem, ‘Mr. G Has a Plan'
Putting a program of ballets together is like composing a delicious meal. An enticing beginning, something more substantial to follow, and a finale that leaves 'em wanting more. Creating that perfect menu is one of the most central and difficult tasks for a ballet company's artistic director, who must also consider how the mix of works will develop and challenge the dancers technically and artistically. 'I love thinking about all this,' said Robert Garland, the artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem, which will perform at New York City Center from Thursday to Sunday. 'No one really talks about it, but it's one of the most important parts of the job.' Garland, who danced with Dance Theater of Harlem from 1985 to 1998, was the company's resident choreographer before taking the helm in 2023. For his second New York season, he has programmed George Balanchine's 'Donizetti Variations,' William Forsythe's 'Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude,' a new work ('Passage of Being') by Jodie Gates, and two of his own pieces, 'The Cookout' and 'Return.' His intent with the programming, he said, goes back to his first experience of seeing Dance Theater of Harlem as a young boy in Philadelphia in the 1970s. 'There was 'Forces of Rhythm' by Louis Johnson, which mixed ballet and funky movement, and then the 'Corsaire' pas de deux' — a swashbuckling display of balletic virtuosity. 'I was just blown away that you could move from one to the other.' He added, 'What I always want is for the works to speak back and forth; to have a conversation within the dancers' bodies.' Balanchine is always part of that conversation at Dance Theater of Harlem, Garland said, since Arthur Mitchell, who founded the company with Karel Shook, was the first Black principal dancer at the Balanchine-led New York City Ballet, and brought many of his mentor's ballets into the repertoire. And besides, Garland said, 'he is my choreographic hero.' For this season, Garland decided on the effervescent 'Donizetti Variations' (1960) set to music from the opera 'Don Sebastian.' The ballet, in 13 sections, is essentially a long string of enchanting divertissements, asking for an unobtrusive allegro virtuosity from a principal couple and an ensemble of six women and three men. 'It's a really challenging ballet,' said Kyra Nichols, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, who staged the work on Dance Theater of Harlem. 'It's fast, with a lot of jumps and technical difficulties that aren't obvious. And it must look effortless and fun.' A challenge for the dancers, Nichols said, was to move with speed and attack but also know how to 'vary the texture; it can't all be the same intensity.' Kouadio Davis, who is performing in all the ballets over the course of the three-day City Center run, said he hadn't initially understood why Garland had chosen the very classical, prettily balletic 'Donizetti.' But after learning the work, 'it just clicked,' he said. 'It's the perfect Balanchine piece for us right now, technically challenging in a way we are ready for.' The choice of Forsythe's 'Vertiginous,' set to the finale of Schubert's 'Symphony No. 9,' was a way of building on skills the company had developed through dancing his 'Blake Works IV (The Barre Project)' last year. Forsythe, an American choreographer, has explored ballet's principles and techniques in a way that has helped to shape classical dance over the past few decades. 'I really appreciate the way Mr. Forsythe and Mr. Balanchine use rhythm and syncopation; it's a very American approach to musicality,' Garland said. 'Forsythe really opens up the Schubert score to the ear of the dancer; it teaches them a kind of freedom within the constraints.' 'Vertiginous' was originally choreographed in 1996 for three women and two men. But for Dance Theater, Forsythe asked Gates to create a new version, using six women alongside the male pair. A sparkling display of the traditional properties of ballet — classical technique, tutus, pointe shoes, a friendly display of formal manners — 'Vertiginous' is also notoriously tricky. 'One ballerina said she would rather go through childbirth again!' Forsythe said of a previous staging. 'It has such high technical demand in the musicality, the detail and coordination, and it shifts dramatically from step to step at such high speed that not only is your body challenged, but your mind, too.' 'It was time to kick it up a notch,' Garland said. 'Vertiginous,' Davis said, is a showcase for the dancers. 'It's so technical: It starts in fifth position, then a plié, the first step you do in ballet class, and it's like you are going through the whole class, showing what you know about ballet.' He added, 'Forsythe told us, 'The dancer loves to untie little knots.' In his pieces, you can always find a new way to get the knot out with more risk, or excitement or cool.' The final piece of the programming puzzle, Garland said, was commissioning a new work from Gates. 'Having a new piece created on you is the pinnacle of artistic expression,' he said. He chose Gates, he said, partly because she had an existing relationship with the dancers from staging the Forsythe pieces and knew their capabilities. And, he said, 'she is one of the few women making classical dance.' 'Passage of Being,' set to three compositions by Ryan Lott, will be performed after 'Vertiginous,' and is very different in tone, Gates said. 'I'm very attracted to movement with circular momentum, looping, threading, unthreading.' The work, she added, 'may appear balletic in nature, sometimes even romantic, but it's important to me that I continually empower the women, ask them to be an equal partner in duet work and have autonomy.' Alexandra Hutchinson, a performer in the work, said Gates 'asks us to think about connection and relationship rather than how the line looks; that's the challenge.' As for his own works at City Center, Garland said they were essentially 'about Black joy, coming together.' 'This program,' he continued, 'gives me what Arthur Mitchell gave me in the '70s — that all these things can exist in the same space and nurture one another.' Or as Davis put it, 'I think Mr. G has a plan.'
CBS News
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Celebrated New York dance company comes to Lesher Center
The Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded by Arthur Mitchell, partly as a means to create a more accessible style and presence of the art of ballet. Over a half a century later, the company is still carrying on the mission, delivering pretty darned exhilarating performances. The troupe's annual hometown run is a popular attraction throughout New York City, but it also tours across the country. The 18-dancer troupe, now led by Alex Garland, returns to Walnut Creek this weekend, continuing a longstanding relationship with the Lesher Center for the Arts. The program includes a variety of works and styles, from classical ballet to contemporary, urban and postmodern. According to reports, on this tour the company has been performing Garland's world premiere work "The Cookout," set to music by the late Jill Scott, the British Afro-funk band Cymande, and more. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets ($89-$110) and more information are available at or (925) 943-7469.
Miami Herald
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
‘It was not easy': Black women chefs share challenges and triumphs ahead of The Cookout
Kia Damon remembers when she became executive chef at a restaurant and one of the employees didn't want to work with her. The owner told her that the employee was just an older man who was set in his ways and working with a young Black woman made him uncomfortable. The advice she was given: 'figure it out and navigate it.' Damon, who grew up in Orlando, said her beginnings were tough despite becoming an executive chef at a restaurant in New York City at age 24. She even won an episode of Food Network's 'Chopped,' but it still stings to recall what she had to endure. 'It was hard because I just couldn't understand why [being a Black woman] mattered to anyone,' she said. 'I was like, 'I'm good at what I do. I'm good. I got young bones, I got energy, like, I'm hungry.'' Damon's experience highlights the challenges Black women face in the male-dominated industry where Black people in leadership roles are underrepresented. In 2022, only 12.5 percent of chefs and head cooks were Black, according to data culled by Data USA from the U.S. Census. The lack of representation of Black women in the culinary space is why JJ Johnson, the James Beard Award-winning cook book author, chef and co-founder of South Beach Wine & Food Festival's annual event, The Cookout, has been trying to push for more Black women at the event. This year he reached out to Damon. 'It was great for me to tap into her and get her,' he said. Damon, 32, is one of two Black women participating in The Cookout, taking place on Saturday at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, which highlights Black chefs from South Florida. Now in its third year, Johnson said the goal is to have an even number of men and women at next year's event. The event has become popular since it was added to the food festival in 2023, including such names as Oneil Blake of Nobu Eden Roc Hotel Miami Beach and Amaris Jones of Chick'N Jones. Still, Johnson said, there is room to grow. 'The hope is to grow the cookout in Miami to be at a very large scale, so you can get a robust amount of food and flavor, but it really represents the people of that region,' Johnson said. Open the door and keep it open Finding Black women chefs to lead restaurants isn't as much of a challenge as some make it to be, Red Rooster Overtown founder and host of the food festival's Overtown Gospel Brunch, Marcus Samuelsson told the Miami Herald. Samuelsson said it's his goal to make a pathway for women of color in the culinary world. Samuelsson hired Jones as the chef at large of the Overtown eatery as she was simultaneously working to open her own restaurant, Chick'N Jones. For Samuelsson, it's about being intentional in hiring. 'If you want to make change, and you're going to make changes in the industry, and you're looking at it from a structural point of view, you have to work at it,' he said. 'You have to work hard at it, just like we want a great dish, right? It takes effort. I'm committed to that process.' Like Samuelsson, Damon dismissed the claim that it is difficult to find Black women chefs. 'It's silly and it's a discredit to Black women that are doing phenomenal, incredible, excellent work, and maybe those women aren't as visible,' she said. She noted that historically the kitchen has been a space for women, but that as the culinary world became a competitive industry that leads to 'notoriety, fame, acclaim and awards,' women have been given less opportunity. 'Once it goes into that territory, that's when men are like, 'oh, that's for me.' Not when it's just cooking for family or for love or in service of people — actually true service with no attention or no recognition? That's for women folk,' she said. 'But if it's some cooking that can get me awards and money and put me a pack above the rest, oh, that's for the men folk.' Jamaican chef Taneisha Bernal, who moved to Miami in 2009 and has gained a huge social media following with her home-grown cooking skills, will also be at The Cookout. She's excited to be working alongside the men at the event, but recognizes that it's an opportunity to prove her skills. 'This is a male-dominated field, and to see that I'm just one of two women that will be there, of course, we have to come out, stand out and show out,' she said. Bernal has experienced similar friction from male colleagues, many of whom wouldn't listen to her suggestions and ignored her advice. 'It was not easy,' she said. Knowing the obstacles Black women face in the industry, she's worked to mentor other women chefs. Damon and Bernal hope their work is encouraging to other women. 'When they see us on this platform representing at an event such as this, of this magnitude, it gives them hope because oftentimes, they don't know where to start,' Bernal said. 'Being a part of this, it really is allowing me to showcase that you can too do this.' Damon agreed, but noted that in 2025, it feels 'absurd' that having two Black women working at the event is such a milestone. But she said that if she hadn't known about figures like chef and activist Georgia Gilmore, author and chef Edna Lewis, or restaurateur B. Smith, she might not be where she is today, which puts her in a position to help other Black women. 'You gotta open the door and keep the door open.' If you go: What: The Cookout at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival When: 4-7 p.m. Saturday Where: Eden Roc Miami Beach, 4525 Collins Ave., Miami Beach Cost: $175 Info:
