Meet director Roselynde LeBlanc of ‘Can You Bring It,’ Bill T. Jones doc
‘Can You Bring It’, courtesy Kino-Lorber films This most compelling image is from a dance work dating from 1989, Bill T. Jones’s “D-Man in the Water,” which was a tour de force group work Jones fashioned in response to the AIDs epidemic. So why does that matter now? We have a new pandemic to worry ...
Un sueño de baile de Cuba
Jul
16
2021
Sensual and smooth. Seamless, seductive and sexy. Sublime! Sliding to the silken ‘son Cubano,’ the Cuban sound. Sleek and sensational! Dancing in a Havana dream — un sueño. The man is Victor Zapata, the lady unidentified. Tremendous dancers. In solidarity with the struggle of the Cuban people, our neighbors, our friends.
Inspiring & relevant: ‘José Limón: A Life Beyond Words’ at 49th Dance Film Festival 1
photo by Barbara Morgan It was time very well spent, in my living room, viewing one of the many attractive offerings of the Dance Film Festival, ihat kicks off July 16 (in person, bring a mask) at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. But, wait, world citizens, the Festival features streaming fodder as well. ...
‘Color me modern!’ cries clever new dance book on Intl Women’s Day
Mar
8
2021
(already colored!) yoshiko chuma, jennifer muellerphoto courtesy ‘modern women,’ etc. Facebook page Today is International Women’s Day, the most sacrosanct date in March, which is Women’s History Month. But … just for a moment, ladies: Think GIRL! Each of us started as one — packing roller skates, Oreo cookies, and crayolas. So, get into a ...
COVID making you ‘coo-coo’? Watch Bob Baker’s marionettes
Feeling a little …. um …. wobbly? Who isn’t? The Bob Baker Marionette Theater Bead Men are here to give you some ‘At Home Happiness’ with their rendition of spacey track “Coo Coo U” by The Manhattan Transfer. Okay, Bead Men, do your thing! Selected lyrics for sing-a-long below. Coo coo uI think you’re coo ...
Beautiful work, Miriam Nelson, in ‘Picnic’ (1955) 5
It was a delight to learn, after checking credits (“Who did this?”) on this sexy dance between William Holden and Kim Novak in PICNIC (1955), a YouTube phenomenon, that the choreographer was our good friend Miriam Nelson who died in 2018 at age 98. Deliciously done, Miriam. It was my honor to share a meal ...
Our New Year’s Baby, Christian Holder, with tail
Jan
2
2021
photo courtesy christian holder Well he couldn’t be cuter, could he? A New Year’s Baby — with a tail! A very good tale accompanies this photo … Christian Holder was born in a trunk, but not in Pocatello, Idaho; rather, in the faraway island of Trinidad. Moving to his mother’s native London while still an ...
Alvin Ailey in 1984: I’ll pass on Black ‘My Fair Lady’
Dec
20
2020
Alvin Ailey, the renowned dancer/choreographer and founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was interviewed in 1984 for a televised series called “Dance On” hosted by jazz-dance specialist Billie Mahoney. Ms. Mahoney started the series at the height of the “dance boom” on a New York City cable access channel in 1980. She interviewed dozens ...
Blowing in the wind, in a COVID-era dance by Jody Sperling
Dec
7
2020
Don’t tell me just because I live in Los Angeles, I am plastic! The world is conspiring to make us all that way! As choreographer Jody Sperling notes, plastic is something we all share — in a bad way. We wear it, we swim in it, we ingest it, we even inhale it. We are in ...