Rosanne Cash transcends all styles of music with her latest release and donates proceeds to a special church by Dann Dulin Rosanne Cash spells her first name minus an “e,” which usually fits between the “s” and the “a.” My guess is that she has instead transferred that letter to the beginning of the word “Enlighten,” which she does for her fellow brethren through her charitable work. The luminous Grammy award-winning cuts-to-your-heart songstress has recently released her song, “Jim and George,” where 100 percent of [...]

Dancers from Pennsylvania Ballet take Shut Up and Dance, and AIDS Fundraiser, to the next level by Chip Alfred It may be one of Philadelphia’s best-kept secrets, but it’s also one of the city’s biggest AIDS fundraisers and one of the most extraordinary, entertaining events of its kind. Shut Up and Dance, a project to benefit MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) put on by a group of Pennsylvania Ballet dancers, presents its twenty-first anniversary performance on Saturday, March 23, at the historic Forrest Theater. [...]

dance4life, a global organization empowering youth in the fight against HIV, gains a foothold in the U.S. by Chip Alfred Ten years ago, it was just a dream. Dennis Karpes and Ilco van der Lind, two Dutch marketers concerned about the AIDS pandemic, imagined a world united to push back the spread of HIV. Using the slogan, “Start Dancing. Stop AIDS,” dance4life, headquartered in Amsterdam, was founded in 2003. It is now the largest youth movement in the world focused on HIV awareness and prevention—inspiring [...]

Dance for Life Chicago Presents a Spectacular One-of-a-Kind AIDS Fundraiser by Chip Alfred Some of Chicago’s foremost dancers and choreographers have been doing something extraordinary one night each year for the past two decades. Members of six of the Windy City’s top dance companies donate their time for a special evening of performance, memories, and celebration—all to support HIV/AIDS services, education and prevention. Like the theme song from A Chorus Line, another dance-themed production, this show is without a doubt “One Singular Sensation.” But unlike [...]

In LIVING WITH HENRY, Playwright Christopher Wilson Takes Audiences on a Journey of Living with HIV in the Now by Chael Needle Writers never know where their words will end up—in the delete folder on their desktop, tucked away in a journal, published, or possibly beating a path to readers’ hearts. Canadian performer and first-time playwright Christopher Wilson never expected his HIV-themed musical, Living with Henry, to become a hit with Toronto audiences nor even an official selection of the prestigious New York Musical Theatre [...]

Two Israeli Artists Create a Dance Production About Learning to Live with HIV by Chip Alfred Sahar Azimi has been a dancer and choreographer for two decades. Tamara Erde is a documentary filmmaker with a background in dance and theater. In 2010, they met and decided to collaborate. There was just one big question—what would the project be about? Azimi, then thirty-six, was going through a traumatic time in his life. Following the devastating end of a six-year relationship with another man, he was diagnosed [...]

Playwright KS Stevens’ New Musical Project, Big Excellent 20th Reunion, addresses internalized prejudices & the powerful experience of living with HIV by Dann Dulin What a Butch! That’s what I thought when I first saw KS Stevens. I meant no disrespect. In fact, she takes it as a compliment, having been crowned 2009’s “Miss Butch Mamas” at the annual Miss LEZ Pageant. (Butch Mamas! is also a title of one of her plays.) “Yep, I’m a minority in a minority group,” she boasts one recent spring [...]

Through Music and Composers Who Created It, a New Film Tells the Story of the AIDS Crisis by Chip Alfred It began with a chance meeting between two of the most unlikely collaborators. When eccentric seventy-something New York pianist Mimi Stern-Wolfe met exuberant twenty-something Australian filmmaker Rohan Spong, their futures were about to change. After Stern-Wolfe worked on the music for one of Spong’s films, the director was captivated by her and a concert series she’d been producing every year for the last two decades. [...]

A Rapper and an Educator Use the Power of Music to Fight AIDS by Chip Alfred He’s a twenty-two year-old Berkeley rapper who’s been a member of the hip hop group The Pack since he was a teen. She’s a thirty-nine-year-old professor of African Studies and a community activist in New Orleans. They’re two people from different worlds who live two thousand miles apart, but they are on the same page about one thing. Both Lil B and Nghana Lewis believe music can be a [...]

Indie Pop Band Bye June Takes on Issues that Youth Face by Chael Needle Since its premiere in January, Bye June’s song, “Shades of Purple,” and its accompanying video, has been winning raves on YouTube and across the gay blogosphere—not only for the folksy whimsy of its tale told through shadow puppet swans sticking together in all kinds of weather, but also for its sincere and sensitive advocacy for marriage equality and pride. Playing off the childlike wonder of making shadow animals on a wall, [...]