Ballet brawler: Edward Villella profiled
Sep
12
2015
Very impressive, comprehensive reportage on Edward Villella‘s whirlwind tour through the ballet company he founded, Miami City Ballet. The profile of Villella written by Miami-based dance critic Jordan Levin — it’s a story she lived. My sole quibble is with the title — The Spectacular Rise & Fall of Edward Villella, ‘America’s Baryshnikov — I ...
Rock on, Timur, in “Collapse” at BAM
Sep
10
2015
Very jazzed to learn that our home-town band, Timur and the Dime Museum, will share its bodacious, electronic musical-offering to dear Mother Earth, COLLAPSE, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s venerable “Next Wave” Festival next week. COLLAPSE, an art-rock tour of the daily dump of ecological disasters, with songs composed by band member Daniel Corral, ...
Bringing ballet to Beethoven: Melissa Barak @ the L.A. Phil
We chatted recently with Melissa Barak, artistic director of Barak Ballet, concerning her upcoming choreographic contribution to the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s annual gala concert September 29 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The festive all-Beethoven program includes not only the Philharmonic but its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, doing double duty with the Simon Boliivar Symphony of Venezuela. ...
Grover Dale’s Labor Day wish for dancers 1
It takes a dance legend with a resume as impressive as dancer/choreographer/dance educator Grover Dale to bring it down to what really matters. Yes, it’s work. Yes, you need the money. But, hey, dancer … do it because you have to. The above sketch was shared on this Labor Day weekend by Grover, the creative ...
Barrie Chase rocks the Hermes sandal 4
An interview with the statuesque and still beautiful Barrie Chase spurred a conversation on Facebook about the hip-looking Grecian-style sandals the cool sixties dancer wears in these photos. Chase has not only gorgeous long limbs, but beautiful ballet-trained feet. First to comment was longtime ballet master and presenter Don Hewitt, “I have called them Hermes ...
Johan Renvall, ABT dancer, no more
Sep
3
2015
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 ...
Travis!
Sep
2
2015
An interview with Travis Wall, dancer/choreographer for “So You Think You Can Dance,” and his concert dance company, “Shaping Sound,” which has two October showcases at The Broad Stage. Wall is under consideration in his fifth consecutive Emmy nomination for Outstanding Choreography. Read my interview with Travis Wall, just published on the website of the ...
A chat with The Broad Stage’s new director Wiley Hausam
Prominent in the crowded field of Los Angeles performing-arts houses is The Broad Stage, where a lively smorgasbord of arts offerings forged a high-profile presence since its debut — in an enviable Santa Monica location — in 2008. Wiley Hausam, a newcomer to Los Angeles, will soon take up the mantle of artistic and executive ...
Diavolo meets New West Symphony at Valley Performing Arts Center 2
We live in strong anticipation of DIAVOLO‘s season-opening “L’Espace du Temps” performance at the beautiful, acoustics-rich Valley Performing Arts Center. The performance will enjoy live orchestral accompaniment by New West Symphony, under the direction of Christopher Rountree, of a trio of scores by great composers: Foreign Bodies (2007, Esa-Pekka Salonen); Fearful Symmetries (2010, John Adams); ...
Schindler’s list: Vienna influences on the Los Angeles architect
Aug
25
2015
The Prequel , an art & architecture exhibit soon to open at Schindler House, teases out the landmark 1922 Kings Road House’s architectural influences by illuminating the debates playing out in Vienna Modernist circles when architect Rudolf Schindler was a student and young practitioner. Through photographs, drawings, and furniture designs, the exhibition reviews foundations laid ...