Memorial Day 2020: Los Angeles theaters we miss 1

Architecture & Design · Dance · Film · Music · Theater
coveted during covid quarantine – the egyptian theatrethis spectacular photo of the egyptian’s balcony by morgan glier for the ucla daily bruin It all feels surreal — but my essential problem during the theater shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic is that for me, art happens at night. Rarely during the day, sometimes at matinees, and ...

arts·meme reveals all at age twelve

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
At twelve, she’s a little lady. A proper one. But sometimes she lets it all hang out — just like Tamara Toumanova in this photo with bad boy Danny Kaye. arts·meme is getting up there in the pre-teen category. Twelve years old today ~ May 24, 2020! Please have fun with our annual birthday posts. ...

On Misty Copeland, gold is the new pink 1

Dance
What ‘ballet pink’ has been for more than a century has gone redefined. It is high time. Enough of that insipid shade. Enter a new theme, dusky gold, the color magnificently worn in these photos by the glorious, triumphant ballerina and principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland. Seen sculpting space in the skyscraper ...

Martha Graham, Rita Hayworth share bill in 1923 2

Dance · Theater
Astonishing discovery by artsmeme‘s Hollywood dance detective … [More Hollywood dance detective stories here!] Every student of dance history knows that Martha Graham danced in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1923, produced by John Murray Anderson, first in Sheridan Square in the Village and then on Broadway. Correct? Yes, correct. Graham, above, appeared in the ...

‘Content’ is such an ugly word for the arts 11

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
Everyone is doing the best they can in a pandemic. But will the rush to provide online content serve dance well over time? Pictured: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in ‘Revelations’ photo credit Paul Kolnik In olden days, two months ago, we attended live performances — dance, theater, and music. Along with movie screenings, that ...

Marvelous new ‘Folies Bergere’ poster punctuates Dave Gould dance number

Dance · Film
To commemorate the first-ever Oscar for Dance Direction, awarded to Dave Gould at the Eighth Academy Awards for his spectacular “Straw Hat” number from FOLIES BERGERE (1935), dance-movie-poster maven Mike Kaplan in tandem with the National Museum of Dance has introduced a new poster. The poster, created by a young artist, was part of the ...

Anatomy of a cancellation: Heidi Duckler Dance illuminates ‘The Chandelier’

Dance
paul crewes, heidi duckler – april 2019 update: August 10, 2021 “The Chandelier” is playing at the Wallis this weekend! April 27, 2020: Almost one year ago nearly to the day, on April 30, 2019, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts gathered the Los Angeles dance press to its stage for an announcement. ...

Enjoy nature. Read a book. Do nothing.

Ideas & Opinion
April 12, 2020Dear artsmeme people! No long letter. No links. No pushing to you to look at this or look at that. You can do as you wish. But since we cover primarily the live performing arts, which are on hiatus, we’re going with that flow for now. It’s a first time in our 11-year ...

In Yiddish: ‘Vash di hent!’ Wash your hands.

Music
photo courtesy yale strom That’s the sage advice of our meshugenah but so-talented friend Yale Strom, who is hosting a special Facebook live offering this coming Wednesday on Radio Free Covid-19. The program, The Tshudne Shtunde (Bizarre Hour) features music from Strom’s ethnographic trips in Eastern Europe collecting klezmer and Yiddish songs from 1981-through today. ...

Enter early Los Angeles ballet instructors Kosloff & Rasch

Dance
ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to publish a two-part excerpt, from a new book, Ballet Class:  An American History by Melissa R. Klapper (Oxford University Press, March 2020). Our Los Angeles-based blog requested writing from Ms. Klapper that focuses on the early history of ballet training in our city. Part two below!   Jean Westheimer, ...