About The Issue: One From the Heart
August 2026
Constance Stamatiou, Jacquelin Harris and Renaldo Maurice in Revelations, choreographed by Alvin Ailey. Photograph by Danica Paulos.
Dance has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. As the youngest of three, with two older sisters, I marvelled at the dances of their teenage years and tried my best to master them. Watching Soul Train and being captivated by the creativity of its dancers was a fixture of my weekends. But what I cherished most were the annual outings my father and I made alone, just the two of us, to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. This was our thing, and I looked forward to those outings with the same excitement I felt in the run-up to Christmas.
They became a way of bonding — a shared interest that did more than entertain us but allowed our relationship to deepen. Most of my friends would have been baffled by the idea of going to a dance performance at all, but with their father — a rock concert, maybe, but this? My dad was different. So was I.
I never expected dance to be more than something I watched — until I attended a performing arts school. Dance quickly became more important to me than I had imagined. As my enthusiasm for my drama training waned, I was pulled towards the dance department. I made a scary decision: I left drama and joined dance. It was a late and uncertain start, but one of the wisest choices I have made.
Dance taught me my strengths and weaknesses, both physical and mental. It gave me an awareness of my body and a confidence I had never known. I learned to listen to myself and respect what I heard. Most of all, it gave me a new way of seeing myself and the world.
All of that went into One From the Heart — which, like so much of what The Kael Report does, is a love letter. Our lettres d’amour aren’t always sweet, but each one is from the heart.
This is a big, ambitious issue, months in the making, spanning two continents, multiple time zones, three nations and several cities. Along the way, we have had the pleasure of forming new relationships within the dance community and gaining a wider understanding of the institutions we have written about, whether through direct assistance or from a distance. At its core, the issue is something quite simple: a celebration of our love of the art of dance — one from the heart.
Related Reading
True American: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
My first experience of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Revelations was in 1984. I was seventeen, and my godmother, Cheryl, took me to see the company as a high school graduation gift. I had never heard of Ailey and did not know what to expect. Although I cannot remember the specifics of that night, what stayed with me then—and continues to resonate now—is the depth and power of the emotions Revelations stirred in my teenage self.
On Its Toes: New York City Ballet
Balanchine changed the ballet world not only through his artistry but through the institutions and dancers he shaped. As co-founder of the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet, he created an enduring framework for his artistic vision, helping to secure his reputation as the greatest choreographer of the 20th century. Mr B — as he was affectionately known to the dancers — also helped break down racial barriers in ballet by championing Arthur Mitchell, who was invited by Lincoln Kirstein to enrol at the School of American Ballet in 1951 and joined New York City Ballet four years later, eventually becoming the first Black principal dancer at a major ballet company.