Fresh air on a very hot night: No)one. Art House @ Highways
It was a sultry, sweltering, wonderful Saturday evening when a new dance posse, No)one. Art House, propelled ‘danse du moment‘ onto the stage of Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. The audience, half-shvitzing from the room temperature, also seemed half-stunned by how stimulating, immediate and excellent the experience. An amazing cluster of nine dancers arising ...
Classical audacity at The Broad
There are three extraordinary opportunities to experience daring, innovative classical music at The Broad Stage this fall. First, the Isango Ensemble of South Africa re-imagines Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Then the local, stellar, Calder Quartet will perform twice, once with soprano Yulia Van Doran and then with film composer Bear Mcreary. The best Mozart operas ...
Vaslav & the Tramp 2
Los Angeles, December 1916: An encounter between two great body-artists — Vaslav Nijinsky and Charles Chaplin. Never saw Nijinsky looking happier. Chaplin was making Easy Street. The Tramp met The Dying Swan in 1922. Like this? Read more: The Tramp meets the Dying Swan Charlie Chaplin in China
Brilliant at ‘transforming people’ says Tippi Hedren of Edith Head
One of the marvelous interactive exhibits at the just-opened “Hollywood Costume” exhibition, a co-presentation by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Victoria & Albert Museum at LACMA’s May Company building, is a virtual conversation between three movie collaborators. Two, alas, are deceased, but one is still vibrantly alive. Director Alfred Hitchcock ...
UNESCO cultural treasure Royal Ballet of Cambodia to Long Beach
Oct
1
2014
Three decades after near elimination by the Khmer Rouge, the Royal Ballet of Cambodia miraculously endures as the cherished emblem of Khmer culture. The Royal Ballet’s visit to Long Beach is part of a six week tour of the US and Mexico which follows a decade of resurgence after the 2003 designation by UNESCO of ...
Arts ladies of the weekend 2
It gave pleasure, in disparate performances over the weekend, to find and then ruminate on two outstanding players — both exemplary contributors operating in a mixed terrain. The duo included dancer Taisha Paggett and actress Carolyn Ratteray, both top notch, both, by happenstance, African-American artists. Ms. Paggett appears to be the muse of the savvy ...
Swans of Hollywood & Down Under
Sep
25
2014
In anticipation of The Australian Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” which will open the season of “Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.” Swan Lake | The Australian Ballet | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion | Oct 9 – 12 Like this? Read more: Les Ballets de Monte Carlo plunges anew into “Swan Lake“ Transferring high art in ...
Houdini’s Hollywood hijinx revealed @ Barn
Sep
22
2014
It’s not widely known that magician/escape artist Harry Houdini produced and starred in several silent films, including two features for Famous Players-Lasky Paramount. Yes, in his spare time (i.e., when he was not tied up) Houdini was a film pioneer. It’s a story that John Cox, a screenwriter and blogger at wildaboutharry, will soon unlock, ...
Dhani Harrison honors his Beatle dad @ Valley Performing Arts Center 1
Sep
21
2014
It was beyond beautiful, a huge pleasant jolt, in the midst of a wonderful, sold-out “The Fab Faux” Beatles tribute performance last night at Valley Performing Arts Center, when guest artist, Dhani Harrison, pictured at left, took to the stage. The only offspring of ‘the quiet Beatle’ strummed his guitar and honored his father by ...
Ted VanCleave’s tough photographic vision of Los Angeles 2
I deeply respond to photographer Ted VanCleave’s recent “Concrete Porn ~ Buildings & Bridges” series, a visual homage to that most unyielding of building mediums, concrete. “My love of concrete architecture began when I visited the Pantheon in Rome. I was in awe of the beautiful, massive concrete dome which is still the world’s largest ...