Quick Hispanic Heritage Month question: What’s the largest Latino Cultural organization in the U.S.? Time’s up! It’s Ballet Hispánico. Next question: What’s the most fun thing to do during Hispanic Heritage Month? (No – it’s not posting your drunken tio’s cha-cha on TikTok.) It’s attending Ballet Hispánico’s 2024 Celebracion Latina Family Day on Saturday, October 5, 2024 from 9am-4:30pm. This fun-tastic event requires no RSVP and is FREE to the public.

Everyone is welcome: the kids, parents, abuelos – even your grumpy cousin Chucho are all invited to join the celebration on Ballet Hispánico Way at 167 W. 89th Street, NYC, for free dance lessons, performances by School of Dance students, tours of the Ballet Hispánico headquarters, food trucks, craft activities, face-painting and other activities for kids y mucho más!

Ballet Hispánico was founded in 1970 by the visionary Tina Ramírez whose quest was to transform the world through the power of movement by presenting our rich and varied dances on the global stage. (Every Latin-American country dances differently: Cubans do it with salsa, Argentinians know it takes two to tango – and Mexicans dance on their hats!) Ballet Hispánico has been breaking barriers and reshaping expectations, using dance as a dynamic force for cultural expression, empowerment, meaningful change and FUN! Yes, dancing is fun, healthy and good for the soul.

Today, Ballet Hispánico proudly stands as an acclaimed “America’s Cultural Treasure.” Through their three core pillars—the professional Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships— they lead with purpose, uplifting the vibrant, diverse voices of the Hispanic diaspora. Their Company brings the work of visionary Latinx choreographers to life, delivering groundbreaking performances that ignite cultural dialogue and challenge artistic boundaries. Can dance really do all that? Yes, it can!

A true trailblazer in the world of dance, Ballet Hispánico has performed for more than 2.5 million people across three continents. As they look to the future, their unwavering commitment is to empower communities, inspire through the beauty of dance, and continue elevating Latinx voices on the world stage.

So, come be part of the Latinx dance revolution by joining this FREE fiesta – and be sure to wear your dancing shoes!
CLICK HERE FOR ALL EVENT INFO

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Reviewed by Cris Franco

Though national audiences got to know the very dynamic Ms. Lily Santiago when her character, the ridged, secretive Veronica, fell through the sinkhole in NBC’s hit drama LA Brea, her roots have long been in the legitimate theater. Ms. Santiago honed her craft via numerous classical theater companies performing in Shakespeare’s most demanding works including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Measure for Measure and Red Bull Theater’s acclaimed all-female Macbeth. Santiago, who graduated from the theater program at Northwestern University as well as LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, has always had her eyes set on the stage.

That’s why it’s no surprise that Lily delivers no less than two riveting performances (portraying both Kat and Amelia) alongside Academy Award-nominated Rachel McAdams (Spotlight, 2015) in Amy Herzog’s brutally heartbreaking, yet divinely uplifting new drama Mary Jane, directed by Anne Kauffman and running at New York City’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater thru June 30, 2024. 

Mary Jane, which has received four 2024 Tony Award nominations including Best New Play, employs an entirely female cast to tell the tale of the title character’s caregiving for her severely disabled two-and-a-half year-old son, Alex. Though we never see the child, Mary Jane’s small but mighty army of caregivers take us on a journey to understanding that caring for one another is humankind at its best. Making her Broadway debut, Lily Santiago powerfully plays two pivotal characters in Mary Jane’s community of caregivers: the sensitive in-home nurse Amelia and the upbeat (if somewhat evasive) music therapist Kat.  

The all-female ensemble reflects the reality that caregiving isn’t a job, it’s a vocation. A vocation most often answered by women, especially women of color. A universal tale of a mother’s eternal love, it’s a gripping evening of theater where Ms. Santiago serves as the life-saving net ever poised to catch McAdams as she gracefully walks the emotional highwire of a young mother full of hope and forgiveness in an unforgivingly hopeless situation.  Their performances are both emotionally shattering and life affirming. 

Set in a reality always teetering between life and death, this writer was most taken by how Ms. Santiago was able to play the tense dramatic moments alongside the mundane, day-to-day tasks of caregiving with ease but urgency. 

The entire cast delivers powerhouse performances by underplaying the plot’s searing reality: Alex could expire at any moment.  We witness that the ladies’ caregiving goes beyond the sick boy, into caring for one another – providing the emotional support for each other to carry on in their uncertain world.  The story’s parallels are powerful: we are all Alex, for no one is promised tomorrow. Mary Jane and her co-caregivers go about their duties without dwelling on the inevitable, they subtly inhabit the unfolding drama like a child’s cherished music box, slowly playing out its end.  Mary Jane is almost magical in how it guides us into realizing the preciousness and precariousness of our very existence. I was mesmerized. This is a great new play.  

Ms. Santiago recounts her initial reaction upon learning that she’d been cast saying, “I was shaking in my boots because I just love this play. It was one of the most incredible pieces of theater that I’ve ever read. The way Amy (Herzog) fills these characters with such life and humanity. It’s so moving to me.”

And what does she feel about the play now? “I stare at myself in mirror every day and tell myself that I must accept that this is huge and awesome!”And it certainly is. 

To see the talented Lily Santiago deliver two amazing performances alongside the riveting Tony-nominated Rachel McAdams, CLICK HERE

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“Guillermo del Toro has been a treasured member of the MoMA family for the last 30 years from the debut of Cronos in New Directors/New Films 1994 to our upcoming exhibition devoted to his latest masterwork, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” said Rajendra Roy, MoMA’s Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film. “We can’t wait to honor the man who loves cinema with his whole heart in front of the Museum’s adoring film community.”

Del Toro has been nominated for six Academy Awards, winning the Best Director and Best Picture awards in 2018 for The Shape of Water (2017). Del Toro’s work has appeared in several of the Museum’s exhibitions, starting in 1994, when his first film, Cronos (1993), was selected for the annual New Directors/New Films festival. Since then, the Museum has screened The Shape of Water (2017) as a part of The Contenders 2017 and Nightmare Alley (2021) as a part of The Contenders 2021.

The gala featured a tribute to the director Jessica Chastain, Richard Jenkins, Finn Wolfhard and Gregory Mann.

Guests were treated to a preview of Guillermo Del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio, an exhibition that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind del Toro’s new film, opening at MoMA on December 11 through April 15, 2023.The exhibition will provide visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process needed to realize Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022).

Previous MoMA Film Benefit honorees include Penélope Cruz, George Clooney, Laura Dern, Martin Scorsese, Julianne Moore, Tom Hanks, Cate Blanchett, Alfonso Cuarón, Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Kathryn Bigelow, Tim Burton, and Baz Luhrmann.

The evening closed with a performance by Academy Award and Grammy winning artist, H.E.R.

The post Guillermo del Toro Honored at MoMA’s 15th Annual Film Benefit presented by Chanel first appeared on .

Thousands of activists and protesters took to the streets of New York City on Friday to speak out against police brutality and to show solidarity with George Floyd, the Minneapolis man choked to death earlier this week.

The first of two major protests began around 4 p.m. at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan before moving north to Centre Street and White Street, with the largest group leading a standoff with the New York City police in front of the Manhattan Detention Complex and the New York Criminal Courts Building.

Throughout the march, protesters, many wearing medical masks and gloves to avoid possible infection from the virus that causes COVID-19, shouted slogans such as “I can’t breathe!” and “Shut it down!” The loudest and most repeated message was “No justice, no peace.”
Standing in solidarity with the protesters in the center of Foley Square was the mother of Eric Garner, who died in New York in 2014 after being put in a police choke hold.

As the afternoon turned into early evening the protest became more tense, as water bottles and various objects were thrown at officers. One protester managed to spray-paint “FTP” on one New York Police Department van, and George Floyd’s name on the side of the jail, though several protesters in the crowd tried to prevent her from doing this. As a second, smaller group rejoined the main protest and remained in the streets, the police began moving in with pepper spray and making arrests.

Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference in which he promised the NYPD would respect the rights of protesters. “Our police officers have been given clear instructions, as always: respect peaceful protest. We in this city have a long history of respecting every kind of viewpoint.”
As the evening wore on, a second large protest began at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Thousands gathered in front of the sports arena, many clashing with officers who had set up barricades to prevent access to the site. Police used their batons on protesters, making numerous arrests before the event was over.

The protests in New York were just one among dozens of cities holding similar rallies, and remained otherwise largely peaceful compared with Atlanta, Charlotte or Minneapolis.

Floyd, a 46-year-old from Minneapolis, was killed during his arrest on Monday. Video taken from the event showed a white officer kneeling on the back of his neck, sparking outrage and protests around the country. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested Friday afternoon, though the other officers involved in Floyd’s death have not yet been charged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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