Dance

Arts & Life

How my best friend and I stay connected to our culture through dance

Folklorico – dances of the people – is a style of dance from Mexico. It helps preserve traditions of spirituality, storytelling, music, and clothing design. And for many Mexican American teens, it serves as a connection to a culture not commonly represented in mass media. Fifteen-year-old Kylie Hooks is a Folklorico performer with Joyas Mestizas, a Western Washington-based Mexican Youth Group. This is the story of her relationship with the dance.

Arts & Life

The Nutcracker is back this holiday season, and it's ditching racist caricatures

Covid precautions have led to a new way of performing the Nutcracker ballet. But there's another big change that has nothing to do with Covid: the character of the Chinese Tea dancer, which plays on racist stereotypes about Asian people, won’t be in this year’s production.

Arts & Life

Dance Church is NOT church. But it inspires religious feelings

From the outside looking in, Dance Church looks like a mashup of a fitness class and living-room dance party. On the inside, it inspires spiritual feelings for some participants.

Arts & Life

'The resilience of native women': These Navajo matriarchs heal and educate through dance

Thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls are missing - many presumed murdered, their families denied the dignity of laying their bodies to rest. "Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project" honors these women and their land, and educating non-native people along the way.

Arts & Life

'This came from a dream.' How this Navajo family is healing with dance

Eugene Tapahe never dreamt the coronavirus pandemic would bring the world to a stop. Nor could he have known when the virus struck that another pandemic a century earlier - and a tradition that grew out of it - would send his family on a 30,000-mile journey to heal.

Seattle arts with Marcie Sillman: past, present, and future

As with most industries during the pandemic, it's a singular time in Seattle arts history. After 35 years of covering the scene, KUOW's longtime arts and culture reporter Marcie Sillman gives us the 30,000

Health

Soul Line Dancing: Come For The Fitness. Stay For The Friendships

Research shows that when you add a social component to an exercise plan, you're more likely to stick to it. That's especially true of the steps, turns, beats and fun of soul line dancing.