How “Birdcage” choreographer Vince Paterson created ‘Fosse Fosse Fosse’ number 4

Dance · Film
“I had the joy of working with Mike Nichols twice. First on “The Birdcage,” and then on “Closer,” I directed Natalie [Portman] and Clive [Owen] in some movement.” We were chatting with choreographer Vincent Paterson on the sad occasion of the death of director Mike Nichols. While working on “The Birdcage,” Paterson created, on the ...

Eighteen minutes of dance greatness: James Brown, T.A.M.I Show (Oct 1964)

Dance · Music
Fifty years ago! James Brown’s ballistic performance at the T.A.M.I. Show, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October 28 and 29, 1964. Even standing still, James Brown is one of the greatest-ever American  dancers. High-Heeled Sneakers Prisoner of Love Please Please Please Night Train Like this? Read more: James Brown’s rhythm ecstasy, Paris 1971 James Brown playlist, ...

From Bernardo to “Bebo’s Girl”: George Chakiris tribute @ MoMA 6

Dance · Film
Balmy Indian-summer weather added pleasure to the late-October opening weekend of “To Save and Project,” The Museum of Modern Art‘s annual film-preservation festival whose tasty programming included a tribute to Oscar-winning actor-dancer-singer George Chakiris. In “George Chakiris: A Life in Film,” a wide-ranging interview that could not begin to encapsulate his decades-long activity in film, ...

George Chakiris in double NYC honor: first MoMA, then Juilliard

Dance · Film
In fitting recognition of a great dancer whose searing, Oscar-winning performance as “Bernardo” in “West Side Story” was filmed on NYC’s Upper West Side terrain where the Juilliard School now stands, George Chakiris will visit the renowned conservatory for an interview and dance conversation. Location shooting of the playground sequences that open “West Side Story” ...

Vaslav & the Tramp 2

Dance · Film
Los Angeles, December 1916: An encounter between two great body-artists — Vaslav Nijinsky and Charles Chaplin. Never saw Nijinsky looking happier. Chaplin was making Easy Street. The Tramp met The Dying Swan in 1922. Like this? Read more: The Tramp meets the Dying Swan Charlie Chaplin in China

Swans of Hollywood & Down Under

Dance
In anticipation of The Australian Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” which will open the season of “Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.” Swan Lake | The Australian Ballet | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion | Oct 9 – 12 Like this? Read more: Les Ballets de Monte Carlo plunges anew into “Swan Lake“ Transferring high art in ...

Flying men of Hollywood dance

Dance · Film
Is it a bird? Is is a plane? No, it’s a Hollywood dance man, flying. Like this? Read more: Ailey guys fly

James Cagney studied ballet with Kosloff 5

Dance · Film
In my soon-published long essay, “Theodore Kosloff and Cecil B. DeMille Meet Madam Satan,”* I write as follows: James Cagney, too, studied ballet with Kosloff, or so the actor-hoofer let drop to the Los Angeles Times in January 1938. Cagney confessed that he was training for a pet project: playing Nijinsky in a bio-pic. (This ...

Fred Astaire, pianist

Dance · Music
On this Labor Day weekend 2014, why not let Fred Astaire, pianist (and, oh yes, dancer), do all the work? Yet another incredible Fred Astaire dance sequence, this one from LET’S DANCE (1950). Just love Fred’s little ballet barre opening the number … then he gives a whirlwind “site-specific” dance tour of two pianos! Like ...

Los Angeles commercial dance gains seriousness, talent 1

Dance
Commercial dancers have more fun. That was abundantly clear at last Sunday’s bang-up showcase and reception hosted by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in honor of the nominees for this year’s Emmy Award for Best Choreography. [At the “Creative Arts Awards,” given in advance of the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, August 24, the ...