Aching loss of Arthur Mitchell assuaged by Memorial, DTH season

Nov
15
2018
Dance


The 50th Anniversary season of New York City’s beloved Dance Theatre of Harlem (Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director; Anna Glass, Executive Director) will honor its legendary Founding Artistic Director Arthur Mitchell, who passed away on September 19, 2018, with a memorial service on December 3, 2018


Free and open to all members of the Dance Theatre of Harlem community and friends, the memorial will include performances by the company, alumni, students from the School and special guests.

The memorial marks the official start of Dance Theatre’s 50th Anniversary season which includes its annual New York City Center engagement from April 10-13.

So emotional to have lost Arthur Mitchell at this juncture!

Dedicated to his life and legacy, the City Center program will include a reimagined version of his 1971 ballet, Tones, which he began setting on the current company, renaming it Tones II, right before his sudden death.

I would like to take this occasion to respectfully share my writing about Dance Theater of Harlem and my soon-following interview with Arthur Mitchell for the Los Angeles Times dating from 2010. It was an honor to interview him, and I love the company.


Arthur Mitchell memorial | Riverside Church, New York City | Dec 3, 3 pm
Dance Theater of Harlem | 50th Anniversary Season | City Center | April 10-13

leave a comment

advertisements

advertisement

Rudik’s ‘Swine Lake’ tunic for partnering ‘Piggy’ awaits your bid

Nov
15
2018
Dance · Fashion

For your bidding: An embellished custom-made golden bodice with gold lamé embroidery worn by Rudolf Nureyev during his performance as the handsome prince while dancing with a giant ballerina pig in “Swine Lake” on season two of The Muppet Show. The bodice is generously embellished with silver and gold lamé trim, applique, simulated pearls, chunky rhinestones, velvet ribbons, gold-tone beads, and scattered iridescent glass.

According to the Nureyev Foundation, an invitation was extended to Nureyev in October 1977, and the episode (#213 of Season 2) was broadcast shortly after the release of Valentino.

We’d like to see David Hallberg, Marcelo Gomes, Sergei Polunin, or  Roberto Bolle bid on that lovely thing — and wear it! 

Rudolf Nureyev costume | Julien’s Auctions | Nov 16

leave a comment

advertisements

advertisement

‘Apollo’ off the rails. Wrong. Nyet.

Nov
12
2018
Dance · Featured
Two photos, one above, one below, of the very same moment, from “Apollo,” George Balanchine’s masterwork dating from 1928. The above capture by dance photographer Paul Kolnick, is from the recent ‘Balanchine: The City Center Years Festival.’ In it, the young god Apollo dances with the three muses, Calliope, the muse of poetry; Polyhymnia, the ...
read the full story

advertisements

advertisement

Make ’em laff, ladies, at Palm Springs International Comedy Festival

Nov
12
2018
Film
We all need a laff. Pardon my French, but I laughed my ass off watching the exquisite comic timing of Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant in delivering the brilliant script of CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME. Very highly recommended. I am equally pleased to see Kathy Griffin presented with the “Comedian of the Year” ...
read the full story

Gloria Cheng’s garlands for new music in Los Angeles

Nov
12
2018
Featured · Music
Ed. note: The great and gracious pianist Gloria Cheng is a guest contributor to the blog, with an excerpt from an essay she herself penned recounting the scene for new music in Los Angeles. “Only in Los Angeles?” was originally published by NewMusicBox and is excerpted with kind permission. Writes Gloria Cheng: It could be ...
read the full story

Balanchine goes global in City Center festival

Nov
8
2018
Dance · Reviews
by 
The elegant brochure and historical resonance of Balanchine: The City Center Years generated great promise as a highly anticipated event marking the 75th anniversary of midtown Manhattan’s richly dance-historic theater. The six-performance festival (Oct 31 – Nov 4, 2018), which showcased an array of landmark Balanchine works performed on the stage where nearly all had ...
read the full story

Donald McKayle memorialized in UC Irvine exhibit

Nov
8
2018
Dance
This stunning shot of the young dancer, Donald McKayle, is one of many such portraits on display in an exhibit at the University of California, Irvine, where McKayle was a longtime, distinguished Professor of Dance. McKaye, who signature works, “Games” and “Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder” mark his status as an American dance treasure, was also ...
read the full story

Stuart Hodes’ ‘balancing act’ with Dances for a Variable Population

Nov
7
2018
Dance
It’s all a balancing act according to former Martha Graham dancer Stuart Hodes, who in the video above shares the joy and wisdom of continuing to move, move, move into his senior years. This is the premise behind the wildly popular Dances for a Variable Population led by artistic director Naomi Goldberg Haas, a venerable ...
read the full story

Pharrell Williams: ‘Cease and desist, Mr. President’

Nov
6
2018
Language & ideas · Music
In a cease and desist letter sent Monday, October 29, 2016, Pharrell Williams‘ attorney Howard King called on the President of the United States to stop playing the singer’s “Happy” during events. In an act of disgusting insensitivity, the song was played at a rally over the weekend just hours after a gunman killed 11 ...
read the full story

Heidi Duckler Dance’s fully ‘Loaded’ dock-dance at the Ford

Nov
2
2018
Dance · Reviews
A distant, pulsing whir of ambient music accompanies the sight of a peculiar, tall figure as he rambles toward us. We spy him (or is it a she?) through the half-closed gate/loading-dock door (or it a gate ‘half-open’?) approaching like a swamp monster escaping the woodsy glen surrounding the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. This creature, ...
read the full story