Let’s get this party started! Memphis jookin’ with Lil Buck at Carpenter Center in Long Beach

Dance
As a dance writer and historian, I’m completely fascinated — and on board — with the seemingly inexhaustible supply of witty, innovative new dance forms that arise from the streets of our society. A crash course in one such form will be on tap at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, with the entertaining showcase, ...

Within her delicacy, strength: Raven Wilkinson appreciated 1

Dance
Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018) broke as rigid a color barrier as could be found in the mid-fifties, when she was hired, in 1955, to join the all-white corps de ballet of Sergei Denham’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She went on to dance with the Dutch National Ballet as a soloist, and (similar to Janet Collins, ...

artsmeme to abraham: let’s talk ‘requiem: fire in the air of the earth’!

Dance
Kyle Abraham | Credit: Peter Hönnemann artsmeme founder debra levine recently enjoyed a zoom conversation with the very talented kyle abraham, who has been a choreographer ‘du-moment’ for nearly 15 years. this interview was commissioned, and first published, by the soraya, where a.i.m. by kyle abraham will perform his ‘requiem: fire at the center of the ...

Flying high! Luminario Ballet’s aerial dance-art to The Wallis

Dance
An exciting occasion for one of Los Angeles’s most fun and resilient dance companies is its debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts, aka The Wallis, in mid-February. Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles. is a repertory ballet, aerial, and modern dance troupe founded in 2009. A hearty crew, it has trod all channels ...

REVIEW: Aaron Copland meets the 21st at New York City Ballet 1

Dance · Reviews
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Megan Fairchild, Roman Mejia, center. From left, Emilie Gerrity, Jonathan Fahoury, Daniel Applebaum, Isabella Lafreniere. photo: Erin Baiano There is so much that is invigorating and innovative about Copland Dance Episodes, Justin Peck‘s major new full-evening work for New York City Ballet in its world premiere on January 26. Yet it also connects with, and ...

Northward-bound … for San Francisco Ballet ‘NEXT@90’ anniversary celeb

Dance
War Memorial Opera House interior, photo robert canfield I’m heading north — to attend a friend’s birthday party. That is, San Francisco Ballet, the oldest extant classical-ballet company in our nation. Established in 1933 by Adolf Bolm, and developed artistically and institutionally by three ballet brothers, Willam, Lew and Harold Christensen, the SFB staged the ...

REVIEW: Vertigo Dance Company’s time to heal & time to dance

Dance · Reviews
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korina fraiman, eden ben-shimol, theo samsworth, etai periphoto: marina baronova The Vertigo Dance Company returned to New York’s Baryshnikov Arts Center this past weekend (Jan 12-14) with a timely new work, “Pardes.” The choreographic creations and dancing of this vibrant company from Israel continue to be an immersive, affecting experience. Founded thirty years ago by ...

Academy Film Museum ‘Regeneration Summit’ to include music & dance

Dance · Film · Music
Hooray! It’s a regeneration summit! Not really sure what that is, but we’ll all find out soon enough February 3-5, at the onset of Black History Month, when The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema, kicks off a three-day event with the grand mission of exploring the history of ...

Lewitzky doc to open Dance Camera West at Barnsdall Art Park

Dance · Film
I was delighted to learn that the annual DANCE CAMERA WEST festival will take place this year, the weekend of January 19, in the cozy underground theater of Barnsdall Art Park, one of the truly happy places of our fair city. The urban-rustic setting fits well with the California theme of the Festival’s opening film, ...

Pilobolus at Pepperdine: Dance’s Favorite Fungus Turns Fifty

Dance
Fifteen times performing at Pepperdine University in Malibu! Pilobolus approaches that benchmark, bringing a show on January 25 entitled “Big Five Oh,” in celebration of the beloved acrobatic dance troupe’s fiftieth birthday. With seven diverse works presented on stage, it should be a party. Musing on this occasion, I found myself wondering about the company’s ...