A Giselle for the 21st Century
Seen above, the tragic-heroine, “Giselle,” in a contemporary re-make of a woman’s story dating from the 19th century and transferred (rightfully in the 21st century) to the choreographic reins of a woman. The role is delivered with great pathos by the work’s creator/lead dancer Dada Masilo in her “Giselle” on view this weekend at The ...
Aline Mare’s resplendent body art @ Beyond Baroque
Apr
11
2018
Los Angeles-based artist Aline Mare grew up in New York City and began her career as an image maker and performer in the thriving avant-garde arts scene of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s – her collaborators and close friends included Richard Foreman, Meredith Monk, Nam June Paik, and Richard Serra. Mare first met ...
Dear, departed Donald McKayle
Apr
9
2018
Touching tribute photos of the beloved DONALD MCKAYLE (1930 – 2018), legendary dancer, choreographer, director and consummate teacher and mentor who perished aged 87 after a lengthy illness, April 7, 2018 — in Irvine, California.
Michael Jackson could only spin to the left, said Donald McKayle
Chatting in 2011 with the great Tony Award-winning choreographer Donald McKayle (Raisin, Sophisticated Ladies, Dr. Jazz), who passed away just last week, McKayle let drop that he had worked with Michael Jackson on two occasions. And he remembered one funny detail. “He taught himself to dance,” said McKayle. “He could spin only to the left.” ...
Feathers, masks, veils: bodies transfigured by Charlie Le Mindu
Charlie Le Mindu‘s NOIR is an exhibition of raw sculptures; through literal extensions of his existing work with the human form, he explores the competing forces that drive our daily lives and relationships. Le Mindu will present a series of performances on the exhibit’s opening night demonstrating his provocative visual imagination, in which the gendered ...
Spirited actress/director Ida Lupino showcased @ UCLA Film Archive
Apr
4
2018
This one is for Kelly Anne Graml, the longtime publicist at UCLA Film & Television Archive who has been a joy to work with and who will retire from the Archive soon. * * * Calling all me-too’ers and enough-is-enough’ers! Now’s the time to march across Wilshire Boulevard and get-thee to a round-up of films ...
Spend Friday the 13th with ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ now 50 years old
Apr
3
2018
To provide shivers and thrills on Friday the 13th, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of one of the most terrifying movies of all time, Rosemary’s Baby. Ira Levin’s ingenious best-selling novel imagined a witches’ coven hiding in plain sight in contemporary Manhattan and hatching a plot to bring ...
Liberty Hill Foundation to honor L.A. arts angel Liz Levitt Hirsch
Apr
2
2018
“Attention must be paid!” says Jane Jelenko, philanthropist, activist, writer, longtime friend to Elizabeth Levitt Hirsh, and co-chairperson of the upcoming Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner, April 19, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where Levitt Hirsch will be honored with a Founders Award. “I’ve known Liz for nearly thirty years. I’ve watched her arts activism from ...
A smoking dance number! ‘Two Cigarettes in the Dark’
It was so much fun to receive this dance number (above) from our friend the pianist/performer Peter Mintun, a very niche expert in old-tyme American popular music — the stuff of cafe society. The lead tap dancer (unidentified) and chorines deliver performances that can best be described as ‘smoking.’ “Two Cigarettes in the Dark,” by ...
From South Africa, Dada Masilo’s re-envisioned ‘Giselle’ @ The Wallis
She’s messed with Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Carmen. Now comes Giselle. ‘Messed with’ is perhaps a strong term, but South Africa’s Dada Masilo is among a small group of choreographers – notably Matthew Bourne, Akram Khan, Boris Eifman and Mats Ek – with the guts to turn a hallowed narrative ballet into something ...