dance

The big question surrounding last year’s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires, which had rattled the city mere months prior.

This year, the elephant in the room is the ongoing Iran war, which like last year’s wildfires, puts a celebration like the Oscars in sharp relief. But for Conan O’Brien, balancing gravity and levity is part of his job description as host.

“My job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,” O’Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team.

“It’s a dance that goes on up until the show begins,” the former talk show host said, adding that he and his team of writers are still revising material ahead of the show to ensure their content is as relevant as possible.

“Between us,” he said, referencing Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, “we will find the right tone.”

O’Brien also during the news conference recalled Johnny Carson’s turn hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans, including diplomats and other personnel, were held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the television host parodying ABC’s “Nightline” with his joke, “It’s day 444 of the Oscars.”

“It was such a funny, topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about, and at the same time, got a big laugh and was unifying,” O’Brien said. “That was meaningful to me.”

Kapoor said during the news conference that the production team is putting systems in place to alleviate attendees’ safety concerns amid the tense global situation and reported threats to California.

“Every year, we monitor what’s going on in the world,” the showrunner said, adding that the ceremony has the support of the FBI and LAPD. “This show has to run like clockwork.”

He added, “Everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is even a fan of the show when they’re standing outside the barricades — we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome.”

As for the telecast’s creative direction, the team cited “human touch” as a unifying theme — a not-so-subtle slight to AI.

“We’re celebrating human touch, human connection and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial,” said music director Michael Bearden. “We want to get back to the communal … and so the music will reflect that.”

That spirit of celebration will be especially tangible in the “KPop Demon Hunters” performance, Kapoor said. That performance will be complemented by a “Sinners” moment featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as well as guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.

“We have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even choreography,” the producer said. “So again, we’ve expanded our reach, and we’re telling these global stories, celebrating international films that have had a global impact and doing things in a really different way.”

Mullan and Kapoor closed the news conference by teasing a pair of reunions featuring cast members from “Bridesmaids” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Bridesmaids” alum Rose Byrne is nominated for a lead actress Oscar for her role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which marked O’Brien’s dramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, he said, “half that Oscar’s mine.”)

“We’re gonna have superstars, superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,” Mullan said.

The 2026 Oscars will air live Sunday on ABC, with streaming available on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Australian police evacuated Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from his official residence in Canberra for several hours after a bomb hoax related to a classical Chinese dance and music troupe touring the country that is banned by Beijing.

The New York-based Shen Yun group was sent an email threat on Tuesday saying that explosives had been planted at The Lodge in the Australian capital and would be detonated unless the troupe pulled out of the tour, the BBC and Australia’s ABC News reported.

“Large quantities of nitroglycerine explosives have been placed around the Australian Prime Minister’s Lodge, located on Adelaide Avenue in the Deakin area of Canberra, Australia. If you insist on proceeding with the performance, then the Prime Minister’s Lodge will be blown into ruins and blood will flow like a river,” read the email.

The group is part of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is proscribed in China due to its opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, with the United States and other countries accusing Beijing of a brutal campaign of suppression to deprive its estimated 20 million adherents of their rights to freedom of religion and belief.

The government says the group is a dangerous cult.

Australian authorities confirmed only that they had dealt with an “alleged security incident” at Albanese’s home but that “nothing suspicious was located.”

Police said they evacuated Albanese to a safe location for several hours on Tuesday evening local time.

ABC News said there was no evidence the incident was in any way connected to the Chinese government, citing an anonymous Australian government source as saying a member of the local Chinese community opposed to Falun Gong could have been behind the incident.

The Queensland venue where Shen Yun’s tour was due to kick off on Wednesday evening was evacuated by police on Monday after an “unverified threat” linked to the group was made against the iconic Home of the Arts complex in Surfers Paradise, 45 miles southeast of Brisbane.

A search of the site by officers found no suspicious items, police said, but Experience Gold Coast said it had tightened security for the Shen Yun performances being staged at the venue through Sunday.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust arrangements if required as the safety of our team and patrons is always our first priority,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

A similar bomb-hoax incident in February 2025 forced the evacuation of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on the day Shen Yun was due to open a 12-date tour, starting at the Kennedy Center.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center told The Washington Post that the threat was targeted at Shen Yun performances.

In 2024, Chinese residents of Los Angeles John Chen and Lin Feng were sentenced to 20 months and 16 months in prison for working for the Chinese government to get Shen Yun’s tax exempt status in the United States revoked by paying bribes to an undercover agent posing as an IRS staffer.

In a wiretap transcript submitted by the Justice Department, Chen is quoted as stating the bribes were to facilitate China’s aim of “toppl[ing]” Falun Gong, while in another Chen and Feng discuss orders from a Chinese government official, including deleting the instructions to avoid detection as well as procedures to notify the official if their bribery scheme failed.

A DOJ news release at the time said the Chinese Communist Party designates Falun Gong as one of the “Five Poisons,” or one of the top five threats to its rule, with Falun Gong adherents routinely subjected to “repressive and punitive measures”, including imprisonment.

However, Shen Yun has reputational issues around alleged abusive practices and behavior by the group.

In November 2024, a lawsuit was launched alleging forced labor and trafficking, while dozens of performers described being badly treated by the group in interviews given to the New York Times.

Shun Yen denies any wrongdoing, alleging the lawsuit and complaints were part of an ongoing, politically driven smear campaign by the Chinese government.

DANCE fans are going to be thrilled to hear that an iconic group from the 90s are releasing their first single in over two decades.

The Sun can also reveal that the band has also filmed the music video to go with their song.

The dance group we are referring to is none other than N-Trance, who are best known for their smash hit song, Set You Free.

Students Kevin O’Toole and Dale Longworth formed the group in 1990.

They were soon signed by Pete Waterman’s 380 Records and went onto recruit vocalist Kelly Llorenna, who was just 16 at the time.

The Sun can now reveal that the group is back together and have even released a new song, called Higher.

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The band have even recorded a brand new music video to go with it.

Higher was filmed on a race track, and features a car similar to that of Back To The Future.

The single has just dropped on YouTube and fans are already going wild for it.

One wrote: “I’m 53, born 1973 N-Trance rocked my world in my 20’s. I’m on dance floor again.”

Another said: “For a guy born in 1973 that was 22 when Set You Free blew up this is a welcome return to when dance music was proper!”

A third added: “It’s got anthem and Set You Free vibes I love it good to hear that sound back.”

A fourth was thrilled: “This is what I call a good dance song!”

N-Trance had 14 chart singles in the UK during 1994–2004, with Set You Free being their biggest single to date.

Kevin and Dale met at Oldham College, where they were studying sound engineering.

The pair decided to start making music and used their college’s free recording studio before moving on to Revolution Studios, where they produced Set You Free.

It was at this time that they met fellow student Kelly Llorenna who lent her vocals to the song.

Although the single was eventually certified Platinum, and also hit No. 2 in the charts, it wasn’t immediately popular when it was first released in 1992.

However, three years later it finally reached mainstream success, and proved lucrative for the group.

Away from N-Trance and as a solo-artist, singer Kelly dominated the mid-nineties and early 2000s charts, having bagged six UK top 10 singles thanks to her series of clubland classics. 

She had a number of hits as a solo performer, including Tell It To My Heart, Heart of Gold, and This Time I Know It’s For Real.

Her song Dress You Up reached No.1 on the dance charts in 2008.