JCC Blog

Meet Sara Shalva

New Chief Arts Officer at the JCC

Sara Shalva’s enthusiasm about her new position as the JCC’s Chief Arts Officer is palpable and contagious. In fact, it’s impossible to speak with Shalva for more than a few minutes without getting excited about the future of the J’s already excellent arts and culture programming.

“What could be better than a job that allows me to provide opportunities for people to be moved by music, dance, theater, learning and visual arts? It’s totally inspiring,” says Sara, whose plans for her new position include creating strategic partnerships, focusing on Israel as a platform for arts and culture programming, expanding adult enrichment opportunities and designing arts, culture and history oriented trips for adults.

Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Sara grew up in Northern Virginia. She was always drawn to the performing arts and as a...

Meet Michael Feinstein

Michael Feinstein headlines J Live at the Gordon April 8

When Michael Feinstein moved to California at the age of 20, he went to a psychic to receive some life’s direction. A waiter at a piano bar where he was playing had suggested he do so.

“I had never been to a psychic,” he says, “And I figured $25, what the heck?”

The psychic told him that in the future he’d be singing music and be known as much for the way he “set up” songs, in addition to the way he’d be singing them. That’s exactly what Feinstein is doing today.

Feinstein’s breakthrough performance came together in the spring of 1985 when, by default, he was offered a gig at San Francisco’s Plush Room, a venue for jazz and cabaret artists.

“Someone fell out and they needed someone to do a show,” Feinstein recalls.  This was the first time he did a show where the...

Introducing Eduardo Guerrero

On Thursday, October 11, 2018, the Gordon presents FLAMENCO PASIÓN, a dance performance by Compañia Flamenca Eduardo Guerrero.

Direct from Cadiz, Spain, this group of elite artists, including critically acclaimed flamenco dancer and choreographer Eduardo Guerrero himself, will captivate you with the full range emotions this temperamental and passionate Spanish dance conveys. 

Gordon artistic director Alyson Bonavoglia recently caught up with Eduardo on tour:

AB: Your choreography has been referred to as “modern and courageous,” and it has been written that you have “no limits … because [you do] not seem to need them. [You] dance the impossible.” It...

On the Spectrum

by Alex Holt 

Alex Holt was born on Long Island but grew up near Albany and Buffalo, New York. He was first identified as being on the autism spectrum around 1994 or 1995. He received his bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College in journalism in 2013 before moving to Baltimore and receiving his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2014. He recently completed an internship at the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC in 2017, where he still writes.

“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism” - Dr. Stephen Shore

What’s it like being autistic? I honestly couldn’t tell you, at least not completely. Actually, that’s not quite true: I...