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Article Excerpt
Each new year, Dance Magazine readers with a tempting array of dance delectables: twenty-five dancers, companies, choreographers, or trends that we believe will make you sit up and take notice in the coming months. [] We're often asked how we select those who grace our pages each January. Choosing so few out of the myriad of talent that commands our attention daily is frustrating at best. We rely on dance writers and critics (no, not artistic directors and press agents) scattered around the globe to send us nominations, and from that group, we select twenty-five who represent the diversity of the dance community. Is the list inclusive? No. Is it subjective? You bet. But we promise that someone or something in this group will make you open your eyes, catch your breath, or wipe away tears. [] Here they are: 2003's 25 to Watch. It's a new year. Go see some dance.
BAHIYAH SAYYED-GAINES
High Drama
BY ROBERT TRACY
Bahiyah Sayyed-Gaines's fiery energy and passion keeps Alvin Ailey's spirit permeating the dance arena of the twenty-first century. After graduating from The Juilliard School, she went international, joining William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt, Donald Byrd/The Group, and Complexions before joining Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1998. Under Artistic Director Judith Jamison's tutelage, she has soared through the Ailey repertoire.
Extremely well versed in ballet, Horton and Graham techniques, jazz, and ethnic dancing, Sayyed-Gaines's fierce dramatic sense can take you to the lowest abyss or to the heights of ecstasy. The idea of the dancer/actress has always appealed to the Ailey sensibility, and Sayyed-Gaines has even been compared to 1940s film actress Joan Crawford. "You have no idea what a positive compliment that was," she says. "I love her! I love high drama, which is why I feel blessed to be the tool through which the Ailey legacy is kept alive today."
www.alvinailey.org
Dance-history teacher Robert Tracy has written books on Balanchine, Graham, and Noguchi.
JERRY MITCHELL
Broadway's Hot Commodity
BY SYLVIANE GOLD
Jerry Mitchell is not exactly a new comer--he started performing in community theatre in Paw Paw, Michigan, when he was 8. In 1980, at 20, he came to New York to audition for Agnes de Mille, who hired him for the ensemble of Brigadoon. He's been working as a choreographer since 1992, but last summer, the resounding success of Hairspray moved him inarguably into the top tier of current Broadway choreographers. He says he learned "millions of secrets about how to do a good musical" assisting Michael Bennett and Jerome Robbins, and this year, those secrets will help shape a remarkable run of new shows: Imaginary Friends was to open in December 2002; Never Gonna Dance, based on the 1936 movie Swing Time, arrives in the spring; Gypsy, with Bernadette Peters, begins rehearsing this month. And of course, he'll be doing the thirteenth installment (tentatively scheduled for June 15) of Broadway Bares, the benefit show that lets it all hang out for charity.
DANCE MAGAZINE'S regular musical-theater writer, Sylviane Gold, has written about theater for the Boston Phoenix, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The New York Times, and other publications.
TAMIECA MCCLOUD
Native Dancer
By DARRAH CARR
Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, Tamieca McCloud trained with another girl of the same name at the School of the Garden State Ballet. The two later attended Rutgers University and double-majored in dance and literature. Nevertheless, McCloud, 30, has always made her individual mark. After three years of performing with Pilobolus Dance Theatre, she became restless, eager to explore varied interests, including music, native cultures, and text. The name of her company, Restless. Native. Dance., reflects her mind-set and indicates that her movement vocabulary is far from staid. McCloud explains, "The work is eclectic and jumps from style to style. My range is anywhere from balletic to something you'd see in a club." Her collaborations with poet and performer Kimabe add to the mix, while strong female characters provide another inspiration. The company's first season in June of 2002, "Angels and Amazons," was influenced by images of women as both nurturing healers and fierce warriors. www.restlessnative.org
Darrah Carr is a New York City-based writer, choreographer, and teacher, active...
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