Manuel Mendoza

1 week ago | keranews.org | Manuel Mendoza

Less than two weeks after Loris Beckles moved to Dallas, his partner died of complications from AIDS. Andre R. George had come to the city in 1994 to join Dallas Black Dance Theatre. The next year, George launched his own troupe, Nova: A Dancers’ Company. Rather than returning to New York, where he had performed for years in the Alvin Ailey junior companies and for the groundbreaking choreographer Eleo Pomare, Beckles decided to stay and carry on George’s work and his own in Dallas.

3 weeks ago | keranews.org | Manuel Mendoza

The relationship between the 13th-century poet Rumi and his mentor Shams Tabrizi lasted just 40 days. But the brief encounter shook his traditional religious upbringing and led to a body of work whose influence has cut across faiths, cultures and historical periods. Sam Brukhman is one of the most recent to be touched by the story of the Persian mystic. Two years ago, the founder and artistic director of the Verdigris Ensemble conceived Shams, an audiovisual production he says changed his life.

1 month ago | keranews.org | Manuel Mendoza

Along with the typical lineup of ballerinas, danseurs and modern movers, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are part of this year’s TITAS fundraising gala, Command Performance. The group will perform its traditional pre-game routine “Thunderstruck” to the AC/DC song. “I’ve been thinking about how we need to celebrate success in the commercial world, and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are the best at what they do,” says TITAS director Charles Santos.

1 month ago | keranews.org | Manuel Mendoza

Since its 1992 premiere, playwright-actor Charlayne Woodard’s autobiographical one-woman show Pretty Fire has typically starred one performer in all 20 roles. Dallas’ Soul Rep Theatre is dividing the work between CD Lovehall and company member Renee Miche’al. Soul Rep co-founder and co-artistic director Tonya Holloway directs.

1 month ago | keranews.org | Manuel Mendoza

America’s political discord has been known to rip up families. Gabriel Jason Dean’s new drama, Rift, or White Lies, tears into the idea with the story of estranged brothers on opposite sides of the social and cultural divide. One is a progressive novelist, the other an alt-right prison inmate and gang leader.