From the people who killed LACMA’s classic film program: a film museum 1

Film
It’s really difficult living in this city if you have a memory that operates longer than two weeks. It can drive you insane. Having wiped the slate clean by annihilating the perfectly superb classic film program at the County Museum, and installing in its stead an incoherent line-up of movie gobbledy-gook, along comes LACMA Trustee ...

Segerstrom Center for the Arts: 25 years of stellar international dance

Dance · Theater
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Photo by RMA Photography, Courtesy SCFTA On California’s huge map, Costa Mesa forms a relative pinprick. But for the past 25 years, the Orange County city has been a beacon of international ballet, as world-class troupes perform at the House that Henry (Segerstrom) Built 45 miles south of L.A. ...

The back side of HOLLYWOOD, viewed from Palermo

Visual arts
Maurizio Cattelan, “Hollywood,” 2001 color photography, plexiglas, 180 x 400 x 15 cm Weserburg Museum of Art, Bremen, Germany Yes, Palermo. Palermo, capitol city of Sicily, the tip of the boot of Italia, home of the Spaghetti Western. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s restaging/replica of the Hollywood sign, erected among palm trees and olive plantations, sits on ...

What David Hallberg seeks 1

Dance
This video excerpt from Russian television broadcast of the Bolshoi Theatre shows what David Hallberg wants more of … detailed personal coaching on Russian ballet classicism. He’s had a taste of it, and he’s going back for more. Apparently ABT could not offer him this. Otherwise why would he go? But you gotta laugh at ...

Dueling ballet headlines: ABT vs. Bolshoi 4

Dance
You cannot make this stuff up. You just can’t. Dueling headline news …  first from the Bolshoi Ballet, then from American Ballet Theatre … Bolshoi Theatre via RIANOVOSTI Sept 28, 2011 The Bolshoi Ballet picks up an American accent Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater has broken new ground by inviting David Hallberg, of the American Ballet Theater ...

What art looks like 1

Dance · Visual arts
The snapshot at left captures a moment that is precious, ephemeral, and intimate. Three artists, each immersed in private thought, prepare to perform. [Click for detailed view.] It’s a backstage photo of Ballet Alicia Alonso, now the Cuban National Ballet, dating  from the 1948-49 season. Then, a spirited young American ballerina, Edith Brozak McMann, danced ...

Cirque du Soleil’s swell Hollywood opening night party

Film · Reviews · Theater
artsmeme’s debra levine & hollywood dance historian larry billman Fun photos of the super party the Cirques threw in Los Angeles last night posted below. The mighty Montreal’eans upped and closed, from car traffic, a humongous stretch of Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Kodak Theater. There, under a tent, to thumping, hypnotic music, attendees ...

News: David Hallberg Bolshoi contract details leaked!

Dance
Our top-secret Russian connections have reported back to arts·meme global headquarters with little-known details of the David Hallberg/Bolshoi Theatre contract. It’s all in the fine print! While bringing the boyish blonde bombshell into the Bolshoi Ballet fold, there have been, shall we say, glitches. The Russians expressed skepticism, yes, ~ suspicion, distrust ~ about the ...

Look at the amazing building we are getting in Los Angeles!

Architecture & Design · Visual arts
Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad and architect Elizabeth Diller today unveiled the designs of The Broad Art Foundation, a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by world-renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the three-story museum features a unique porous honeycomb “veil” that wraps the building and is visible through an ...

Tutu Taylor

Dance · Fashion · Film
It was a hell of a week for ballet. Our most brilliant male ballet dancer, a true wunderkind, a homegrown wonder, David Hallberg, got a job offer from the Bolshoi Ballet, better, obviously, than his current gig with American Ballet Theatre. So off he goes. Hallberg’s young, 29, he doesn’t speak the language, and Russia ...