Pina Bausch, Matthew Bourne in dance takeover of Bunker Hill

Dance · Reviews
ROMEO AND JULIET director/choreographer matthew bourne, photo credit: johan persson It warmed my dance critic’s heart to see swarms of Angelenos flocking onto the Plaza of the Los Angeles Music Center to enjoy two impressive and complex dance showcases, both running, separately, at the stalwart performing arts center’s active houses. The 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theater is ...

Dance of death and renewal by Pina Bausch at The Music Center

Dance
How would you dance, if you knew you were going to die? This is the central question the late choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009) asked of her dancers in 1975 when she created her seminal work The Rite of Spring. The work examines an unyielding ritual in which the sacrifice of a “chosen one” changes the ...

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 ...

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 ...