Paula Abdul honored at Choreographer’s Carnival

Dance
Super delighted to learn the wonderful news that Paula Abdul, a career-long dancer/singer/choreographer, received a whole lotta love as well as an award at the annual Choreographer’s Carnival last week. In tribute to Paula, her dance video “Cold Hearted Snake” was recreated step by step (and you thought the Joffrey Ballet restaging of “The Rite ...

Creative team behind Music Center triumph: Joffrey Ballet in Nijinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” 1

Dance
Lorin Johnson, Artistic Advisor for LA’s Rite; Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director for The Joffrey Ballet; Renae Williams Niles, Programming Director for The Music Center; Thor Steingraber, Vice President of Programming for The Music Center; Stephen Rountree, President & CEO for The Music Center; Millicent Hodson, Dance Historian; Kenneth Archer, Dance Historian. *     *     *   Read my ...

Stravinsky in West Hollywood, 1967, captured by photog Bobby Klein

Music · Visual arts
I had been invited back to the Maestro’s house one evening to show him some of my previous work. He took me into his study and locked the door. Beethoven was playing on these huge Voice of the Theater speakers really loud. Stravinsky had been ill and was being watched like a hawk by his ...

John Cusack, ballet fan 1

Dance · Film · Ideas & Opinion
It was not possible to miss actor John Cusack hanging out in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion lobby during intermission at the Joffrey Ballet last night. He’s quite tall, his broad face is totally open and familiar, and his coloring is vivid: jet black hair against pale white skin. He’s striking and artistic looking. I chatted ...

Review: The Joffrey Ballet’s “The Rite of Spring” at the Music Center 5

Dance · Reviews
We did not hoot, we did not holler, but we let rip with a bracing “bravo!” for Vaslav Nijinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” (Le Sacre du Printemps) at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Friday night. First, because the Joffrey Ballet’s 100th anniversary reconstruction of the historic Ballets Russes production was great. But mainly because … to ...

Strong women of early L.A. dance highlighted in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion exhibition 9

Dance · Visual arts
It is so thrilling to have a visual arts exhibition accompanying our Joffrey Ballet performances this weekend. Installed at one end of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s glittering mezzanine level, the display feels like an historical moment for L.A dance.   Modest in appearance but profound in impact, the exhibit gathers photographs of innovative dance that poured ...

Doug Varone & Dancers flash fun, finesse in O.C.

Dance · Reviews
All hail modern dance. Not “contemporary” dance, not “contemporary modern,” but old-school barefoot modern dance, a movement language spoken, traditionally, without the aid of shoes, that is, toes gripping the ground. A conversation, via a trained and fluid body, between music (sometimes text, sometimes silence), fellow dancers, and an audience. Doug Varone, veteran choreographer and artistic ...

Apply now! Seeking new artistic director, L.A. Dance Project 2

Dance
arts·meme got an advanced copy of the application form for the newly opened position at L.A. Dance Project. This time ’round, they’re getting it right; they are going local! APPLICATION Job Title: Artistic Director, Los Angeles Dance Project  Instructions: Fill up the form  #1 Fine Dining: Name three best soft-taco stands in L.A.   #2 Time ...

CDA President Jane Jelenko comments on Millepied’s move to Paris 1

Dance
We had a nice phone chat with Jane Jelenko, President of Center Dance Arts and a major backer of L.A. Dance Project, a young dance company still in its first season with upcoming performances, through the end of May, in Europe. Caught in between screenings at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Jane addressed ...

Exceptional French film to spool at Laemmle Theatres 1

Film
Laemmle Theatres and Rialto Pictures present Marcel Carné’s Port of Shadows (1938) in a new DCP restoration featuring an all-new translation and subtitles by Lenny Borger. When Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter from the Colonial Army, arrives in Le Havre searching for a place to lie low, he doesn’t expect to wind up in the ...