Death of a dancer: Gary Bates 9

Dance · Music
In this image from the Los Angeles dance troupe, Eyes Wide Open Dance Theater, Fred Strickler (top) and Gary Bates (bottom) appear in “Don Quixote,” choreographed by Bates to the music of Steve Reich. Bates, who was a cornerstone member of the Los Angeles dance community, passed away on April 15, 2017. Bates’ contribution to ...

Death of a dancer: Muhammad Ali

Dance
When he floated like a butterfly, he was a dapper dancer. Like this? Read more: Death of a dancer: Albert Evans Farewell Violette Death of a great one, June 25, 2009

Love for Violette (1933 – 2016) 1

Dance

Goodbye, Daniel Levans 8

Dance
Sad to hear of the loss of the versatile American classical ballet dancer Daniel Levans (sometimes ‘Levins’), who was a principal with American Ballet Theatre right when I was first falling in love with the art form — and ABT! I was delighted in recent years to be Facebook friends with Daniel. Raised in the ...

Johan Renvall, ABT dancer, no more

Dance
This kind of beauty should never perish, and yet … it does. Remembering Johan Renvall, a splendid dancer with American Ballet Theatre from 1978 – 1996. Anna Kisselgoff’s obituary in the New York Times here. A wonderful unposed photo below of Renvall with ballerina Martine Van Hamel, below, shared by arts•meme friend Patsy Tarr. Thank ...

The death of a dancer: Albert Evans

Dance
Our sadness is profound at the loss of a beautiful Balanchine dancer, a great veteran of New York City Ballet where he was a principal dancer. Albert Evans perished today at age 46. photo credit: Albert Evans, The Four Temperaments, Paul Kolnik/New York City Ballet Read more: The death of a dancer: Michael Jackson Death ...

Maria Tallchief, who trained in Los Angeles, dies

Dance
Excerpted from “Maria Tallchief, America’s Ballerina, Larry Kaplan [University of Florida: 2005]: When I was twelve years old and Marjorie was ten and a half, we went to a new ballet teacher. A ballet mother at Mr. Belcher’s told Mother that the great Bronislava Nijinska had opened a studio near Beverly Hills, and even though ...

Matt (Harold Henry) Mattox, memorialized 1

Dance · Film · Theater
by 
MATT (Harold Henry) MATTOX b. Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, August 18, 1921 d. Perpignan, France, February 18, 2013 “I’ve never classified myself as a jazz teacher, I prefer to talk about ‘free-style dancing,’ which means I have a choice of movement for any piece of music,” said Mattox in a 1993 interview. To prepare for his ...

“Fly out!” cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died. 6

Dance
Miriam Rochlin was born in Bonn in 1920 and she died last week in Los Angeles, a huge lifetime later. I knew Miriam only slightly, but knowing her at all was a great privilege. Choreographer Karen Goodman, pictured below chatting with her, knew the incandescent dancer well. The film, “Come Let Us Dance,” directed by ...

MJ dances 2

Dance · Music
When Michael Jackson died in June 2009, I was attending a three-week symposium for dance critics run by the National Endowment for the Arts at Duke University — an honor. This so-called dance criticism “Institute,” staged annually at the American Dance Festival, was think-tank focused on dance as an art form — geared for specialists ...