Strolling through American teen-dance history 1
Jan
23
2019
Dancing to a hit song of late 1957, “The Stroll” by The Diamonds, these kids clearly did not get the memo that being a teen in in the ’50s was a boss thing to be. Their charming shyness — and, ahem, terrible dancing — is precious. And it’s the polar opposite of today’s Tweeting, Instagraming, ...
Sending in the clowns for classical ballet renewal 2
James Whiteside (Harlequin), Thomas Forster (Pierrot)photo credit: Andrea Mohin / The New York Times The tears of a clown rained down all weekend at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It was the West Coast premiere of American Ballet Theatre‘s triumphant reconstruction, Harlequinade —and it was a pip. The dashing Commedia del’arte clowns pictured above, diamond-suited Harlequin and ...
Millepied’s disjunctive ‘I fall…’ exposes choreographer’s weakness
L.A. Dance Project, disjunctive, disconnected, photo by l.a. dance project A harrowing drive across dark, slick, and unmarked Washington Boulevard in pelting rain went unrewarded by enduring Benjamin Millepied’s “I Fall, I Flow, I Melt,” a 75-minute, intermission-less dance performance by L.A. Dance Project performed in the round at the company’s newish headquarters named for ...
Air-con comes to Great White Way
It’s precious. Variety “slanguage” used the expression legit to reference legitimate (live) theater. Not movies, not vaudeville, not burlesque, not off-off, but bigly stuff, like Shakespeare or O’Neill. An example, “Choreographer Michael Kidd distinguished himself in legit before working in pictures.” You’ve heard of Michael Kidd the “terpser”? right? He’s the guy who directs the ...
Channel your inner ‘Black Cat’ — at Long Beach Opera
Alcoholism, horror and haunting — a day in the life under the Trump administration, right? No such thing! Now you can be traumatized by Trump by day and then, again, at the opera, in the evening. Seriously, Long Beach Opera‘s upcoming production based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat — in conjunction with Musica ...
‘Little Sparrow’ to Long Beach: ‘Piaf! The Show’
Jan
7
2019
Karen Carpenter would approve. She would be thrilled to learn that the noble performing arts center named in her honor will be presenting a concert by The Little Sparrow. Well, almost! The Sparrow once removed. “Piaf! The Show,” a delicious way to pass a Sunday afternoon, popped out at me when I studied the season ...
“Mary Poppins, step in time!” cries Van Dyke to Breaux & Wood choreography 5
Kick the knees up! Step in time Votes for women! Step in time It’s the master! Step in time Step in time. As we enter movie theaters in anticipation of the fun and joy director Rob Marshall and his choreography partner, John DeLuca, have in store for Mary Poppins Returns, let’s step in time … ...
‘Wall art’ a child can understand
Jan
5
2019
“Enough with the memes,” griped Senator Charles Schumer to Donald Trump on Twitter. Luckily, Sen. Schumer did not tweet, “Enough with the arts memes.” That leaves us free and clear to share our collection of ‘wall art’ for the eggification, sorry! edification of America’s ‘Chief Egg-zecutive.’ Spanning the centuries, artists have illustrated the nursery rhyme ...
John Sebastian’s Greenwich Village memories 4
John Sebastian’s songs for the Lovin’ Spoonful placed him firmly in the elite 1960s songwriting fraternity that helped turn rock from entertainment to an art form. Like Paul Simon, John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Sebastian was one of the prime architects of folk-rock. That crop of folk ...
‘Ballets With a Twist’ leads the way in reaching new audiences
It doesn’t feel like they do it to fulfill a foundation, or government, ‘outreach’ grant — although they certainly deserve one. They seem to do it by instinct, by coupling brains, creativity and talent with a genuine desire to connect and entertain. That’s why I applaud boutique ballet company ‘Ballets With a Twist‘ for its ...