Ailey rep line-up for O.C. lacks work by female choreographer

Dance
On tap during the upcoming seven-performance roster of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Orange County: a juicy line-up of works by primarily American choreographers — we really like that and we include Ohad Naharin as an honorary American since his early career had a strong presence in New York. It’s spot-on that Robert Battle, ...

Aureole Restaurant honors 50th anniversary of Paul Taylor’s “Aureole” 2

Dance
A NYC restaurant bearing the same name as Paul Taylor’s much loved white ballet, set to the music of Handel, honors the work and its choreographer. Here’s their specially “Taylor-ed” menu. In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Paul Taylor’s Masterpiece “Aureole” First Course FLUKE CRUDO QUINTET MANDARIN, GRAPEFRUIT, CHIVES, ORMARKET GREENS CHAOS BEETS, RADISHES, ...

Meet Misha and Michel, winners of the Vilcek Prize 2

Dance
Wonderful news from the New York-based Vilcek Foundation, the non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of immigrant contributions to the American arts and sciences. The 2012 Vilcek Prizes in dance honor immigrant dance artists who have made significant contributions to the field in America. The Latvia-born Russian national, now a great American, Mikhail Baryshnikov, nabs ...

A masterpiece of dance on film: Jack Cole’s “Happy Ending”

Dance · Film
The dance sequence below, choreographed by the great Jack Cole (he dances in it as well) closes Twentieth Century Fox’s “On the Riviera” (1951). Every element of  “Happy Ending” rings true. Not a single step is wrong or jarring; on the contrary, all is balanced and golden and smart and right. It’s evidence of Cole’s ...

Earl Carroll’s beautiful construction site

Dance · Film
[click on photo for detail] Label reads: Earl Carroll’s theater-restaurant is famed not only for its “most beautiful girls in the world” but, also, for its unique construction. During the show, leggy ladies of the line paraded onto a huge circular, revolving stage. This photo shows Earl Carroll and some of his aides and chorus ...

Wherefore art thou, o Hollywood choreographer? 2

Dance · Film
[mouse over images for captions] Say you are a film producer, and you have a project that gets a green-light. There’s a dance sequence in the script and you need to hire a choreographer. Using the prime professional database of the film and television industry, IMDB Pro, you will be hard pressed to find one. ...

Turner Classic Movies launches pre-festival: Road to Hollywood

Dance · Film
The amazing, generous-spirited, movie-loving peeps at Turner Classic Movies are launching a fun nation-wide program of FREE screenings in ten cities across the country en route to the third annual TCM Fest in Los Angeles, April 12 – 15, 2012. There’s a centralized ticket reservation website and it is here.

William Forsythe recognized with Scripps/ADF award

Dance
In the course of a 35-year career based primarily in Germany, the American expatriate choreographer-designer, William Forsythe, forged profound, genre-bending advances in choreography for the classically trained dancer. This summer, Forsthye comes states-side to receive very strong recognition and an honor when the American Dance Festival (ADF) will award him with the prestigious 2012 Samuel ...

Kosloff stages Fokine’s “Les Sylphides” @ 80,000-seat L.A. Memorial Coliseum

Architecture & Design · Dance
You’re a young city, spreading your wings. You build a ginormous sports arena. What should you do to inaugurate it? What else? Stage “Les Sylphides”! Dateline, Los Angeles Herald Tribune, July 29, 1923 LOS ANGELES TERPSICHOREANS. Theodore Kosloff [standing, at middle], dancing professor extraordinary, surrounded by a score of his premier pupils in the new ...

Cleopatra, CEO, comes to rule Los Angeles

Architecture & Design · Dance
We chatted with Heidi Duckler, in the final creative phase for her upcoming dance work, “Cleopatra CEO,” which opens this Friday night on the 51st floor of Paul Hastings Tower in downtown Los Angeles, and runs for three subsequent weekends. The architecture-savvy choreographer, celebrating 30 years as a local dance maker, was last seen running ...