The French named it … let’s see how they do it … film noir
Jun
19
2015
The French coined the term “film noir” (both for dark plot lines and shadow-soaked visuals). In a land that reveres cinema like no other, France has hidden in its oeuvre crime films and dark melodramas that capture the essence of noir. A series spooling at the Aero Theatre this weekend, “The French Had a Name ...
Bawdy, bodacious broads on parade
Author/radio host Sandra Tsing Loh presents her solo comedy act, The B**** is Back: An All-Too Intimate Conversation, inspired by her best-selling memoir The Madwoman in the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones. For mature audiences. From 1906 through the beginning of television, Sophie Tucker and her bawdy, brash, and risqué songs paved the way ...
Central Avenue dancers jive once more
Jun
15
2015
Looking very much forward to attending a special evening of important American dance history. A dance retrospective of African-American vernacular dances, starting from the slavery era to today, will be on view at Cal State Dominguez Hills, performed by the Central Avenue Dance Ensemble. Central Avenue, of course, the historic jazz and r&b black cultural ...
Fosse unfurled
Jun
12
2015
A true magnum opus, arts·meme contributor Larry Billman‘s authoritative essay on choreographer Bob Fosse written in 2012 for the Dance Heritage Coalition‘s “100 American Dance Treasures” series. Read it here. American dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse (1927 – 1987) works out routines alone at the Broadway Arts Studio (1755 Broadway at 55th Street), New York, January ...
Review: Lucinda Childs’ “Available Light” @ Disney Hall 6
It was the silver-mesh curtain draped across Disney Hall’s “McFries” pipe organ that gave the performance its first “wow” moment. Almost as though architect/set designer Frank Gehry tossed a throw-rug over a messy sofa to ‘red up for the guests. But Gehry’s living room is none other than L.A.’s stellar fantastic transformational concert hall named ...
How “Girl Shy” was Harold Lloyd? Find out at the Villa Aurora.
Jun
10
2015
What a nice notion … that Harold Lloyd was “Girl Shy” (1924). At an upcoming screening, we’ll learn more from Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne. (Her very existence a clear indication that Lloyd wasn’t totally girl shy!) She’ll appear at a wonderful silent-movie night with live organ accompaniment by Michael Mortilla pumping the pipe organ at the ...
Review: Los Angeles Ballet “Directors’ Choice” program
The last time I saw Los Angeles Ballet was at the Ford Theatre in the early 1980s – that, of course, was the other Los Angeles Ballet, the one directed by John Clifford. Always on shaky ground, and much maligned by the Los Angeles Times, it later faced dwindling financial support and stiff competition from ...
Magritte “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” to hang @ LACMA
Jun
7
2015
Just one incredible canvas of the approximately 47 works recently bequeathed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by collector A. Jerrold Perenchio is this incredible painting dating to 1935 by Belgian Surrealist artist, René Magritte. Fundamental to the work of the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte is his play with pictorial reality, which is presented ...
How beautiful! French art bequeathed to LACMA
Love the work of French artist Pierre Bonnard and his inimitable ‘interior’ paintings, an example, “Apres le repas,” from 1925, above. That’s just one canvas of a huge trove of French and other European art bequeathed last November as a major gift to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) by the Los Angeles-based ...
Biennale Golden Lion for De Keersmaeker
Jun
4
2015
An alluring invitation just arrived from Italy. The occasion is the Venice Biennale’s granting of a Golden Lion award, perhaps the most acclaimed honor the art world has to bestow, to Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, on June 27. It was wonderful to see Judson Church pioneer Steve Paxton honored in a similar way ...