A chat with Ralph Lemon
Nov
2
2010
“How do you watch something kind of unwatchable? How do you hear something unlistenable?” asks Ralph Lemon, multi-media choreographer, addressing no one in particular. Talkative in a cross-country phone interview, he’s musing on his latest dance work, How Can you Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? It’s a good title for ...
Cannibals found in New Zealand! 1
Nov
2
2010
I read with interest the news that Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy, two of America’s strongest home-grown ballet talents, got plucked by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Stiefel as artistic director. A nice move for a gifted and beautiful couple. Even more delighted by the way Kiwi journalistTom Cardy cannibalized my descript in the L.A. Times of ...
USC festival to screen historic LA experimental films
Oct
31
2010
Professor David E. James asks arts•meme to announce this upcoming event,Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles 1945 – 1980, a three-day symposium aims to expand understanding of how experimental film making evolved in Los Angeles and to contextualize its place in postwar art history. The project places focus on the community of filmmakers, artists, ...
Ruth Page’s Pavlova passion
Oct
31
2010
Ruth Page, seeing the Russian ballerina perform in Indianapolis in 1914, was not the the only American girl of her generation to be transfixed by Anna Pavlova. The same thing happened to Agnes DeMille in Los Angeles. Enjoy!
Ballet is dead. Long live ballet. 1
In the October 13, 2010 issue of The New Republic, dance critic Jennifer Homans queries, “Is Ballet Over?” In her essay, Homans notes: “Ballet has always and above all contained the idea of human transformation, the conviction that human beings could remake themselves in another, more perfect or divine image. It is this mixture of ...
Jackie K’s symphony seat before she was Jackie O
Oct
24
2010
This snapshot was taken by my colleague Bret at Avery Fisher Hall, where over two evenings, we watched the New York Philharmonic’s young new conductor Alan Gilbert do his thing. Mrs. K/O, in her time, sat in the seat in front of us. The first concert was a mixed bill of Debussy, Sibelius Violin Concerto ...
Choreographer Kyle Abraham, Pittsburgh homeboy, BESSIE awardee
Oct
24
2010
Gifted dance artist Kyle Abraham, whose “The Radio Show” just won a Bessie Award, and who I immensely enjoyed meeting at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in August, is my homeboy from Pittsburgh. Never mind that I’m a good twenty years older than Kyle — a full generation. He and I share a few Pittsbuggian, er ...
Breaking news from Peter Blogdanovich ….
Oct
23
2010
This just in from one of our smartest film maker/writer/critics: This is just to let you know that I now have a blog on older films. It’s called Blogdanovich, of course, and it is under the umbrella of indieWire, so if you want to read the entries you can go to indieWire—Blogdanovich and it’ll come ...
Ballet’s Angel Corella looks ahead … and back
Oct
22
2010
“Dance is a way of connecting with people. When you play classical roles, you use your technique to express something, to make the audience part of what you’re doing,” says veteran ballet star Angel Corella, who as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater for 15 years has played serious dudes with names like Siegfried, ...
Back to LA after whirlwind classical music tour of NYC 2
Oct
21
2010
Your humble correspondent is chained once again to her desk in Los Feliz, California, following a 10-day tour of paradise — otherwise known as New York City in scintillating October weather, with the art season in full blast. As a lucky recipient of a fellowship to the NEA’s Classical Music & Opera Institute, I joined a gung-ho group ...