On November 4, right before Pride, Nickerson-Rossi Dance presents Male Aesthetic at the Palm Springs Art Museum: an evening of dance and visual/media art exploring the power, exploring athleticism, beauty, and vulnerability of the male form. The performance brings together contemporary dance, street dance, classical training, and visual art to explore strength, beauty, and vulnerability. Artists include Nickerson-Rossi Dance, Desert Peeps, and young men from Idyllwild Arts Academy.
Onstage this year, Nickerson-Rossi Dance will perform a premiere duet by Artistic Director, Michael Nickerson-Rossi, featuring principal dancer Chad Allen Ortiz, and newest company member Blair Pope, who was commissioned through the 2026 Apprenticeship Program. Desert Peeps, led by Academy hip-hop faculty member Timothy Long, is bringing street dance to the theater stage. Young men from Idyllwild Arts Academy’s Dance Department are showcasing classical dance and the next generation of artists.
All proceeds from the show support BOYS DANCE!, Nickerson-Rossi Dance’s initiative providing scholarships for local boys to train at Palm Springs Dance Academy. Launched in fall 2023 by Executive Director Chad Allen Ortiz, the program has supported more than 50 boys from Kindergarten through 12th grade.
“I wanted the movement to create space for men to be seen not only as strong performers, but as complex human beings,” says Michael Nickerson-Rossi, the founder and artistic director of Nickerson-Rossi Dance. “Male Aesthetic asks the audience to consider who gets to define masculinity—and what becomes possible when men are given permission to move, feel, and express themselves without having to conform to a particular image of what a man should be.”
Nickerson-Rossi hopes audiences leave seeing more possibilities for how men can express themselves, and that young boys are inspired to find their own.
Male Aesthetic
November 4 | 7–8:30 p.m.
Palm Springs Art Museum
https://www.nickersonrossidance.com/so/f8Q3FFI1L?languageTag=en
.Cover photo by Joe Lambie featuring Nickerson-Rossi Dance and dancer Mathew James.
