dance

A lot of folks know New Mexico for green chiles, the largest hot air balloon festival in the world, and the birthplace of the bomb. But it's also a global center of flamenco—the passionate dance, song and music of the Roma people of southern Spain.

Steena Hernandez said incorporating her own experiences as a dancer in a children’s book highlights the importance of diversity in dance and beyond.

Born on the dance floor in the 1970s amidst the shadow of post-Nixon America and a bruising recession, Disco offered an escape from American disillusionment and economic hardship. Disco celebrated inclusivity, hedonism, and liberation. When it became a commercial success, it became a cultural force that may have seemed vacant and superficial, but there was a deeper cultural significance. David Hamsley writes about that in his book To Disco, with Love: The Records That Defined an Era.

For some sports, picking the winner is simple: It's the athlete who crosses the finish line first, or the side that scores the most goals. But for the new Olympic sport of breaking (if you want to be cool, don't call it breakdancing), the criteria aren't quite that straightforward. How do you judge an event whose core values are dopeness, freshness, and breaking the rules? That was the challenge for Storm and Renegade, two legendary b-boys who set out to create a fair and objective scoring system for a dance they say is more of an art than a sport. Over the years, their journey to define the soul of breaking led them to meetings with Olympics bigwigs, debates over the science of dopeness, and a battle with a question many sports — from figure skating to gymnastics — have tried to answer: Can art and sport coexist? This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Jenny Lawton. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez with help from James Willets and Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

“As Black people, we need more stories like this,” says Chase Allen Sr., a descendant of Shankleville founders Jim and Winnie Shankle.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Alicia Graf Mack about how she's reshaping Juilliard's prestigious Dance Division to make it more relevant than ever.

"Burlesque is the only art form where I control all the aspects of it. I control exactly what people see, and when.” Sophie Bolles, aka Pantie Oaklie, has a new vaudeville-inspired show opening in San Antonio.

Two-step has been around for many years and influenced by the different regions it's danced in. Austin keeps it interesting and weird, as always.

Twyla Moves, a documentary by PBS American Masters, tells the story of the legendary choreographer, who got her start performing on subway platforms in the 1960s. Originally broadcast April 8, 2021.

Melba Huber, who died last week at age 93, founded her dance school in McAllen in 1958.