Andrew Blackmore-Dobbyn

Pooja and Sacred Foods

While working on Return to the Rivers, our upcoming Himalayan cookbook from Lake Isle Press, Vikas came across this story tucked away among his Sheela Aunty's old treasured recipes. It contains a legend about the roth pooja, which is a form of worship, and...

As executive and artistic director of Dance St. Louis, Michael Uthoff wields enormous clout. As I walked with him through the crowds at the...

This is Part 3 of a four-part series.

Time to Move On
In 1992, Michael Uthoff was feeling restless and was looking for new challenges. "I don't want to say it was a mid-life crisis because it wasn't....

Part 2 of a 4 part series

The Hartford Ballet, 1972-1992

After leaving the Joffrey Ballet, Uthoff choreographed and performed with Lisa Bradley in the First Chamber Dance Company of New York and also took a teaching position at SUNY Purchase to gain some financial security. The couple was still...

Part 1 of a four-part series

A Life in the Arts

Michael Uthoff is an artist and the son of artists. He is a dancer and a choreographer, an artistic director and administrator and above all, Michael Uthoff is a teacher. Currently the artistic director of

We are blessed and grateful for the opportunity to cook for President Obama when he comes to New York City on the 14th of May. Any chef who gets the call to cook for the President of the United States drops everything to do it and we are excited at...

In 1975 the knees of the formerly world's greatest male dancer would no longer straighten completely. He was nearing the end of a spectacular career that changed the world for male dancers. He put the sexy into ballet with his combination of pantherlike power and elegance that had never been...

Vaisakhi is one of the most important religious festivals in India, particularly in the state of Punjab which is the heart of Sikhism. It is celebrated on April 13 by people of all faiths in India...

It is 1978. I am performing the Chinese dance on tour in Act II of the Hartford Ballet's The Nutcracker. In Michael Uthoff's production, this dance is a duet featuring two men. We are wearing black wigs that seem to me more like a Prince Valiant pageboy hairdo than anything...

Holi, the Festival of Colors, is coming once again. Hindus in India will gather together to celebrate the end of winter and beginning of spring by throwing bright powdered pigments and spraying colored water at each other. It is spirited...

As Shelley and Donald Rubin walked through the old Barney's store at the corner of 7th Avenue and West 17th Street in Chelsea, they felt a sense of comfort that they couldn't describe, but they knew that they had found the future home for their extensive collection of Himalayan art....

Really, you shouldn't curse around the holidays. It's not nice and it does little to generate goodwill towards men. It happens sometimes, though. It happened to me a few years ago on Christmas Day. I believe there were mitigating circumstances so I won't shoulder all the blame. If you ask...

Forty years ago, when I was 11 years old, my parents dragged my sisters and myself on a trip to West Berlin from Stuttgart where my father, a naval officer, was stationed. The journey there was made by train, passing through the bleak, gray squalor of communist East Germany. The...

Dear Transit Workers of New York City:

As you sit down to enjoy your Thanksgiving meal, I hope you will take a moment to think about the rest of us here in New York City who depend on public transportation to get to and from work. People like me, for...

When I heard that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) had been shot I was dismayed. I had never heard of her before and I was curious about who she was and why someone would want to shoot her. Reading up on her, I discovered that she is a conscientious, intelligent and...

Every time Eïd al-Adha rolls around I find myself having to explain the holiday to people who are not Muslims. I bring this up because an acquaintance of mine posted an extremely inflammatory picture of animal slaughter during this holiday and has inferred from it that Muslims are barbaric because...

Some of the best writing around right now is coming from Cintra Wilson. If you don't know about Cintra and the Great J.C. Penney Fiasco then drop what you're doing and follow the link. The piece itself is hilarious and antic, in keeping with La Cintra's...

The most watched cooking show in the world is not produced in Hollywood. MasterChef India, based in Mumbai, just began its second season on India's Star Plus TV with the highest viewership of any cooking show in the world. Last season's premiere episode reached a whopping thirty million...

Blogs and other digital media have become an important factor in a restaurant's success. But just ask any chef if she would rather have a Michelin star or a nice write-up by a blog and you can guess the answer. Aliya LeeKong is...

On Aug. 1, the appearance of the first crescent moon signalled that it is time once again for Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims around the world. It is also the time for Zakat, which means almsgiving. Zakat is about immersion in community -- giving what you can,...