Lots of interest in the Joffrey Ballet in advance of the fun, revealing, and memory-filled documentary, Joffrey Ballet: Mavericks of American Dance, which will receive nation-wide viewing this Saturday.
Tom Mossbrucker, at left, memorable in the Joffrey’s production of Billy the Kid, choreography by Eugene Loring, was with the Joffrey organization from 1977 to 1998. He’s not seen in “Mavericks”; the interviewees include Christian Holder, Ann Marie deAngelo, the great Gary Chryst, Ashley Wheater (the company’s current artistic director), and Trinette Singleton, among other first-generation Joffrey dancers.
No mention in the docu about the Joffrey’s long association with the city of Los Angeles, what a pity. But to compensate, there is the presence of local arts & journalism guru, Sasha Anawalt, who is a key talking head in the film as the author of the go-to book on Joffrey history.
Last summer, interviewing Mossbrucker along with his co-director of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Jean-Philippe Malaty, at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, I asked Mossbrucker to reflect on the influence of his former boss, Robert Joffrey, on his current career.
On 20 January 2012, the Dance on Camera Festival, now powering up in New York, honored Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Director of Preservation, Norton Owen, for his outstanding contribution to the dance film genre.
[click on photo for detail]
Said Marta Renzi, board president of the Dance Films Association, which runs the annual Lincoln center film festival: “Over the decades, this perennially boyish man has become a distinguished member of the dance film community. [We are honoring] his more than 35 years with Jacob’s Pillow in charge of the Pillow’s Archives, exhibitions, talks and documentation programs. Norton has been a faithful and avid audience member at DFA’s Dance on Camera Festival, often scouting films to be shown at the Pillow.”
The Alabama-born Owen took a somewhat circuitous path to his role as the Pillow’s historian. Attending Adelphi University on Long Island, he met his destiny via his dance instructor, Norman Walker, who headed the Pillow in the ’70s.
Owen arrived at the Pillow in 1976 as a student dancer, and soon became Walker’s administrative assistant, handling contracts and correspondence, on an hourly wage. Serving as the festival’s press liaison in the late seventies, he fielded a constant stream of journalist’s questions concerning historical information. A dance archivist was born.
Owen now oversees the core collections preserved in the Archives at Jacob’s Pillow which were originally assembled by founder Ted Shawn. Materials have been continually added since the 1930s. The Archives at Jacob’s Pillow has approximately 6,000 films and videos from 1894 to present, 45,000 historic dance photos and negatives, 313,000 pages of unique printed materials, 27 trunks of costumes dating from 1915-1940, and a publicly accessible dance library.
The Archives are housed in an 18th century structure, Blake’s Barn, donated by the Hollywood dancer, Marge Champion, and named in honor of her late son. In addition to a central area for exhibits and lectures, the building houses a reading room with video stations providing access to the moving image collection. The lower level contains temperature-controlled storage areas and video production equipment.
Jacob’s Pillow remains at the forefront of the dance preservation field partly through its active participation in the Dance Heritage Coalition, an alliance of eleven major dance collections including the Library of Congress, Harvard Theatre Collection, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Norton’s latest career achievement has been the 2011 launch of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, an online resource of video clips from performances that have taken place at the festival from 1936 to 2011.
I am personally beholden to Norton Owen for inviting me to the festival, in 2010 as a speaker on a panel honoring Jack Cole, and in 2011 as a Scholar in Residence under his supervision. To be at the Pillow, with fellows, pondering and discussing a great art form is a dream for any dance writer. Norton is a joy to work with, constantly on the move, managing scholarly research, and hosting the public’s access to the facility. He oversees a grinding weekly schedule of pre-performance talks, post-performance q&a, and twice weekly “Pillow Talks,” many involving complexities of guest speakers and audio-video torment. Throughout this maelstrom, Norton is accessible, scrupulously polite and helpful, and, miraculously, he completes the summer season without being buried by the avalanche of paper crossing his desk. His entire operation, which pairs intellectual thought with dance performance, is a jewel. My fond congratulations go to Norton on this well deserved recognition.
It’s the relatively short torso astride a dauntingly long set of legs. It’s the straight, strong, vertically held back. It’s the house style of aggressive physical attack that is apparent in these photos. This matches Carol Sumner, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet. She danced for Mr. Balanchine from 1958 to 1978, twenty years that she calls “the best of my life.”
Ms. Sumner was born in Brooklyn and began her professional ballet training in Manhattan with Eileen O’Connor on W. 56th Street. At age fourteen she auditioned for the School of American Ballet and was accepted. There she studied with Antonina Tumkovsky, Helene Dudin, Felia Doubrovska, Pierre Vladimiroff, Anatol Ouboukoff and Muriel Stuart. After three years of study, she was invited to join the New York City Ballet. The corps de ballets member was immediately given demi-solo and solo roles to dance. When the Company moved from City Center to its present home at Lincoln Center, she was promoted to soloist.
Ms. Sumner’s principal roles included, Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Divertimento No. 15, Agon, Western Symphony and The Nutcracker. She danced the role of Sacred Love in Frederick Ashton’s Illuminations and leading roles in Todd Bolender’s Souvenirs and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare. Balanchine fashioned solo roles for her in Raymonda Variations, Harlequinade, Donizetti Variations, Coppelia, Clarinade, Diamonds (in the ballet Jewels), Don Quixote (divertissement), and Pulcinella, in which she was partnered by Edward Villella.
I’m pleased to have Carol Sumner as my friend on Facebook and she allowed me to publish these marvelous photos.
We didn’t make it through all of Ovo, Cirque du Soleil’s sweet-spirited show now infesting the Santa Monica beach — in a good way! After awhile, the insect parade started to bug us out. Exiting early, a tad weary, we left behind 1,998 others still cavorting in the colorful carnival.
Opening night in the big tent, which is now spawning its own civilization next to the Santa Monica Pier, was a party. The Cirque-ites broke down our resistance by cramming us, not unlike foraging bugs, with hors d’ouevres, cupcakes, and champagne.
Stuffed to satiation, we ourselves were then crammed into the big tent. So much fun to sit with that many people oohing and ahhing at the dazzling display — clowning, acrobatics, and flying trapeze.
My favorite number, a relatively simple one, the red lady bugs with heads budding stamen, lying flat on their backs while juggling slices of kiwi with their paddling feet. Don’t ask. It works. So adorable, fun, such sweet energy, and a feast for the eyes.
Cirque du Soleil | OVO | Santa Monica Pier |thru March 20
The ditty she sings is inane, and her costume even worse. But Rita Hayworth does her thing prettily enough.
Until a monster dancer joins her on stage — Jack Cole.
Choreographers, pay attention @ 1:43. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the way to make an entrance — on your knees!
Do you notice that Cole never fully stands up? See how he hugs the ground? Modern dance roots. Layer on that the jitterbug moves he learned from the best — by dancing with ladies like Marie Bryant at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom.
You can see that Hayworth enjoys being partnered by him.
The men in the group are trained in Cole technique, the women not. That would come later.
Tonight and Every Night is a very fun, watchable movie, full of dance. The marvelous Marc Platt, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo guy, has a speaking role in it, and he dances as well.
What a coincidence, Jerry Robbins’s sailor ballet “Fancy Free,” which led to On the Town (1949) and made possible all kinds of Americanisms in classical ballet, dates from 1944. Who imitated whom? I personally think of Cole as a greater innovator than Robbins, who was known for borrowing. But lacking conclusive evidence, let’s just say that both dances were conceived during the War, when sailors were in the zeitgeist.
Capturing my eye at the L.A. Art Show opening last night, the optical art of Polish-born artist Julian Stanczak, on display by Santa Fe’s David Richard Contemporary art gallery. The show, at the Convention Center — L.A.’s own contribution to urban blight — is on through the weekend.
Shifting Square, 1973 acrylic on canvas 30 x 30 inches
Translucent Light, 1970 acrylic on canvas 24 x 30 inches
College Green, 1987 acrylic on canvas 70 x 70 inches
The artist’s biography bears publishing because they don’ t make ‘em like this anymore.
1928 Born in Borownica, Poland.
1940-42 Concentration camp, Perm, Siberia. Permanently lost the use of right arm (had been right-handed). After escaping from the camp, joined and then deserted from the Polish army-in-exile.
Wandered alone through the Middle East before rejoining family in Teheran, Persia (Iran).
1942-48 Polish refugee camp, Uganda, Africa. First private art lessons.
1948-50 Went to Borough Polytechnic Institute in London, England.
1950 Emigrated to the United States.
1954 Recieved BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art.
1956 Became United States citizen. Completed MFA at Yale University, studying under Josef Albers and Conrad Marca Relli.
1995 Retired after 38 years of teaching. Resides in Seven Hills, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
It was inspiring to eavesdrop on Amiri Baraka, the poet, playwright, essayist, intellectual, and political activist, as he swapped kitchen table banter about life and art with his daughter, the academic and curator, Dr. Kellie Jones.
The tête-à-tête took place before an SRO audience at the Hammer’s Billy Wilder Theater. It was the closing day of “Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980,” one of the key exhibitions of the Getty Research Institute’s “Pacific Standard Time’ arts umbrella, and the community gathered to get a last look.
It was a father and daughter show. Inevitably, we all hung on the verbal droppings of père, whose inimitable phrasing and acerbic bon mots did not disappoint.
The silken jazz dancer, Marie Bryant (1919-1978), seen here jiving with the great Harold Nicholas, was, for a time, rehearsal assistant to Jack Cole. That’s interesting. Cole’s performance group was all white. It wouldn’t be otherwise. But he clearly relied on Bryant for special tasks. Asked what she did for Jack Cole, Bryant replied, “I teach Betty Grable to shake her buns.”
I have long wondered what transformed Grable from a schmaltzy-waltzer into the bootie-shaking hottie of “No Talent Joe.” I naturally credited Cole. Now I think differently. Enter Marie Bryant.
While delighting in Meryl Streep’s microscopic replication of Margaret Thatcher’s facial tics and bug-eyed pronouncements in “The Iron Lady,” do not neglect a prior film, “The Reagans,” which stars the great Aussie actress, Judy Davis.
“The Reagans,” a hugely fun, educational and entertaining docu-drama, dates from 2003. The massively ambitious undertaking, a made-for-television movie, traces RR’s career, starting in Hollywood, and marches through time and place with spot-on period mise-en-scene. The White House, Bel Air, and Palm Springs: all restaged with a fine eye by director Robert Allan Ackerman.
Who knew that a left-wing woman (that would be me) could feel so moved by the Ronnie-Nancy marriage? But the film is tremendously affecting; it advances with operatic energy and scope. Judy Davis, at its center, finds incandescence in a female character others would only find brittle. James Brolin, as the old man, also fantastic. I found “The Reagans” much more fun and satisfying than “The Iron Lady.”
teddy wilson piano, red norvo vibes, charlie shavers trumpet
why arts·meme?
Los Angeles is bursting with fine art and performance -- plus the best big-screen film viewing in the world. I've covered the cultural beat for years, lately for the Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post. I mix it up on arts·meme, a fine arts blog.
Lots of interest in the Joffrey Ballet in advance of the fun, revealing, and memory-filled documentary, Joffrey Ballet: Mavericks of American Dance, which will receive nation-wide viewing this Saturday.
The Archives are housed in an 18th century structure, Blake’s Barn, donated by the Hollywood dancer, Marge Champion, and named in honor of her late son. In addition to a central area for exhibits and lectures, the building houses a reading room with video stations providing access to the moving image collection. The lower level contains temperature-controlled storage areas and video production equipment.
I am personally beholden to Norton Owen for inviting me to the festival, in 2010 as a speaker on a panel honoring Jack Cole, and in 2011 as a Scholar in Residence under his supervision. To be at the Pillow, with fellows, pondering and discussing a great art form is a dream for any dance writer. Norton is a joy to work with, constantly on the move, managing scholarly research, and hosting the public’s access to the facility. He oversees a grinding weekly schedule of pre-performance talks, post-performance q&a, and twice weekly “Pillow Talks,” many involving complexities of guest speakers and audio-video torment. Throughout this maelstrom, Norton is accessible, scrupulously polite and helpful, and, miraculously, he completes the summer season without being buried by the avalanche of paper crossing his desk. His entire operation, which pairs intellectual thought with dance performance, is a jewel. My fond congratulations go to Norton on this well deserved recognition.
1928
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