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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

My granddaughter, as a child, always loved to go for dance lessons at Steffi Nossen School of Dance (SNSD). Not for the lessons necessarily, but she loved to laugh at herself in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. I always wondered why dance studios had so much “look/see“ space. Shelley Grantham, Executive Director at Steffi Nossen, explained to […]

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Culture in the Age of Covid

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In the northern part of Westchester, where I live, spring is announced by the high tones of the chipmunks and the baritones of the bullfrogs. I watch the little creatures scurrying about all day and at night. I listen to the groans of the bullfrogs. For me, these signs of re-emerging life are a metaphor for […]

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A Nimble Theatre Guy Ponders the Future

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Elliot Fox strides into his empty theater on a recent coronavirus day. He’s never seen it so forlorn. No sounds of clapping. It’s empty for the fourth week in a row. During those four weeks, he has incredulously cancelled or postponed 72 performances between March and May. Now that Governor Cuomo has hit the New […]

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A Hamlet Sort of Moment in the Time of COVID-19

Opening Night Gala, Abbondanza di Primavera:An Italian Evening at Caramoor

    Jeff Haydon is in a contemplative sort of mood. As CEO of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, he is pondering a momentous decision. Every summer since 1945, there has been a music festival at its 90-acre property in Katonah, NY, 50 miles north of New York City. Caramoor’s renowned music […]

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The Kid from Far Rockaway

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I usually describe myself as “just a kid from Far Rockaway.” It’s sort of a salute to the modest beach town on the Rockaway peninsula where I grew up. A few blocks away from our house in the Bayswater area was the Gustave Hartman Orphan Home. The kids who lived there were homeless. They had […]

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History Revisited

“History got under my skin.” That’s the way Waddell Stillman explains his 27-year stint at Historic Hudson Valley (HHV), first as CFO and now as President and CEO. It’s what led him and his team to develop a groundbreaking education program about slavery in the Colonial North. People Not Property is an interactive website and […]

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Everyone Loves a Pop-Up

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  Back in the day, the term “pop-up” usually referred to the ubiquitous Pillsbury doughboy. In today’s world, it has taken on new meaning. Many a pop-up gallery has come and gone in empty storefronts around the city. Enter the New Rochelle Arts Council taking the concept to a whole new level by introducing artist-made […]

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Aaron Copland on CBS

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Westchester’s Copland House is on a hot streak with three national broadcast appearances in just the last four months. For those of you who may have been distracted by the countdown to the holidays, whether it was the last-minute shopping or the long list of year-end to-dos, here’s what you missed—Aaron Copland on CBS.  Well, […]

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