All is golden in the Golden Nautilus, says Catherine Turocy
The structure of the Nautilus is considered sacred geometry, the Golden Mean, represented by the Greek letter phi, one of the mysterious natural numbers that seems to arise from the basic structure of our cosmos. “Baroque Dance and the Golden Nautilus” is a lecture/performance by Baroque expert Catherine Turocy. The artistic director of the New ...
As we melt down, then rebuild: Cherkaoui’s ‘Babel(Words)’
In this arresting moment from “Babel(Words)” created in 2010 in Brussels and now on view at Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, co-choreographers Sidi Lardi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet bring their gang of gypsies through a ballet of physical violence that culminates in a gruesome frieze. It’s a vision that should terrify us, were it not ...
Nasty women, nasty men dance with ‘Two Hags’ sculpture: Susan Marshall & Co.
An upright metal grid of cut steel pipe bisects a table, and steel rods — sharpened to a spike — are prepared in rows. The dancers of Susan Marshall & Company pay careful attention to speed, force, and precision, while navigating dangerously sharp edges of Martha Friedman’s new sculpture, Some Hags. The spikes are pushed into ...
Frolic the Hall of Mirrors with Louis XIV in “Versailles”
In the dance world, we know King Louis XIV for his balletomania, which led to the first formal classical ballet, “Le Ballet de la Nuit.” Louis himself danced the lead role, embodying a character modestly called ‘The Sun King.’ (As Mel Brooks sagely noted, it’s good to be king.) A reenactment of the performance appears ...
A $1 tour of Gamble House, for 50 years a public museum
Sep
20
2016
January 14, 2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the gift of the Gamble House from the Gamble family to the City of Pasadena and the University of Southern California. This generous gift agreement allowed the Gamble House to open its doors to the public in September of the same year. The Gamble House was designed ...
Let’s go to the drive-in.
Projection for Two Stations a looping video will transform the parking lot of Bergamot Station Arts Center into a nightly pop-up drive-in movie. The clever creator of this best possible use of a Santa Monica evening is artist Alia Malley (b.1973, California). Malley received her BA in Critical Studies from USC School of Cinematic Arts ...
At Central Opera House, Cole choreographed ‘Bonanza Bound’
The former Central Opera House at 205 East 67th Street in New York City, pictured above. Here Jack Cole labored to create dance numbers for a notorious Broadway bomb, Bonanza Bound (1947). The turkey, however, had top talent behind it. A very rare musical flop by Comden and Green. After their astonishing rise from cabaret ...
Charles Lummis, Los Angeles city founder, sprung to life in dance & documentary
Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre will bring its site-specific brand of immersive performance, this weekend, to the historic Southwest Museum building. The performance, “143 Days,” is part of a commission by the Autry Museum of the American West and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dance company will present a modern retelling of the pioneering American ...
Ford Amphitheatre’s new summer season, a cause to rejoice
May
31
2016
Only in Los Angeles, on the grapevine of the Hollywood Freeway as it cuts a swathe from city to Valley, would a “summer season” extend through October 15. It happens, outdoors, at L.A.’s annual multicultural arts festival — the beloved and historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, now on the cusp of reopening after a two-year ...
Review: Antiquity updated in SOLUNA Fest’s ‘Rules of the Game’
Vulnerable humans cower in the debris of a humongous classical bust crashed to earth. An unnatural occurrence … like an airplane felled. Symbols of ancient civilization — either Greek, Roman, or a modern approximation of both — tumble down, explode into shards. Not to worry; it’s all fake. It’s video art. This stunning and impactful ...