Dance Magic

Michelle Obama Open New Dance Series in White House

The stately White House East Room, home to many a bill signing and ceremonial gathering, becomes a stage Tuesday for pirouettes, jetes, gravity-defying leaps and maybe even some bumps and grinds as Michelle Obama inaugurates a new dance series.

Dancers of all types — ballet, modern, hip hop and Broadway — take over the room, first for an afternoon workshop, during which students from around the country will have the chance to work with some of the biggest names in dance. . .

Though the Obamas have spotlighted many varieties of music since they came to the White House — there have been events celebrating Latin music, rock, jazz, country, classical and Broadway show tunes — the dance world might have felt ignored, until now.

The White House has in the past been a scenic backdrop for earnest political affairs. There has been silliness every now and then, like the traditional Easter egg rolls, but usually that storied building had been preserved as a somber shrine to the American system of government. No longer. The Soetorobama family has turned the White House into a Red House, and into their own personal plaything. Michelle has brought "bumps and grinds" to the East Room. I'm going to stop here...