Local History

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The Last Text of Augusto Boal

Oppression, according to Brazilian theater director and political activist Augusto Boal, happens when one person is dominated by the monologue of another and has no opportunities to reply, dialogue, or interfere in the change of an event.

Remembering Mary Saludares (1989 – 2009)

Mary Saludares, a gifted young member of Washington D.C.'s dance community, died on February 20th, 2009. She was 20 years old. She passed after being struck by a car while on tour in Baltimore as a member of the Washington Ballet Studio Company.

Local History: Jan Tievsky on Glen Echo Dance

The founder of dance at Glen Echo discusses the dance scene in Washington in the 1970s and 1980s, and how she worked with the Park Service to create one of the first major local public dance institutions.

The DC Improvisation Festival Present, and Past by Maida Withers

Maida Withers, founder of the DC Improvisation Festival writes about the festival's past, and present, and shares a video with excerpts from the recent performances.

Michael Bjerknes

"Michael Bjerknes, a former Washington Ballet dancer and ballet master and co-founder of the American Dance Institute in Rockville, died April 14 of colon cancer at the Washington Home and Community Hospice. He was 51. After Mr. Bjerknes stopped dancing, he became a teacher and ballet master at the Washington Ballet and the Universal Ballet in Seoul. He was an influential creative force in the Washington area for the past two decades.

Video: Local Dance History Interviews II

Local dance history interviews with Sue Green, Alvin Mayes, Barbara Drazin, and Michelle Ava

Rima Faber on Pola Nirenska

Rima Faber writes about Pola Nirenska, one of the founders of the dance community in Washington, D.C.

Video: Local Dance History Interviews

Video interviews of local dance history: recollections from Judith Judson and Marcia Freeman

Must-read

Three Poems by Sandra S. McRae

Winter Solstice We drive in the darkpast the open fieldsinto the neighborhood:Millions of lights on the housesin the trees—the world a-twinkle with hopewhile overhead a...

One Poem by Sarah Karowski

Kindly i want to diein the same way daddytakes care of tarantulas—kindly. pick me upby the leg & chuckme out the way. Sarah Karowski (she/her) is...

Street Scene by Vincent Casaregola

Street Scene Early evening heat rises frompavements, from cement and asphalt,carrying a scent slightly sour,slightly acrid—oily and tar-like. Outside the café, beyond its fenced-intables, a large...