Ballet & blistering jazz-dance collide in Paris
Sep
3
2020
Youtube, you’ve done it again! And again and again. That’s how many times I have watched this wonderful newsreel clip, clearly an excerpt from a longer British Pathe story concerning … la danse. It takes place in Paris, which is always an excellent start. The cameraman seems be following a haughty prima ballerina, Ludmilla Tcherina, ...
Best of: Guggenheim’s ‘Works & Process’ artist videos
Ed. note: We’ve been tracking the rollout of virtual (video) commissions by artists reacting to life in a new abnormal — a global pandemic. As part of her previous story about the commissioning of these works by the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process, writer Susan Reiter carefully selected “best of best” videos with commentaries, which ...
Guggenheim ‘Works & Process’ spurs artists in limbo
Dylan Crossman When performance venues shut down abruptly in mid-March, innumerable planned events were put on hold. That included the Guggenheim’s modest but high-profile “Works & Process” series, midway through its spring season which featured a mix of dance, theater and music events. Launched in 1984, the adventurous series “explores artistic creation through stimulating conversation ...
A ‘hands-on’ choreographer, Helen Tamiris
Aug
16
2020
When I was a dance student, it was perfectly normal to be utterly terrified of certain instructors. But they didn’t often man-handle you. Two generations ago, however, this was not the case. A student of Jack Cole described him banging her head on the ground as she stretched on the floor in second position. Banging ...
More on Alton’s ‘Choreography’ from WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) 6
Above, an interesting shot of Vera-Ellen‘s “cute” entry into the Danny Kaye-starring “Choreography” number from WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954). You don’t see the dancer’s full descent in the final film. You just see her legs. Nor in the black-and-white photo is it possible to imagine the fuchsia color Vera-Ellen is wearing — a color made possible ...
Gabrielle Chanel: friend, patron, artisan of dance 4
I was intrigued to receive a note concerning a new four-episode series from fashion house, CHANEL, entitled Gabrielle Chanel & the Arts. A new episode of the series, which spools on the CHANEL youtube channel, gives a whirlwind-but-witty overview of Gabrielle Chanel‘s personal and artistic connections with avant-garde ballet. At the turn of the 20th ...
Vail goes virtual
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet and New York City Ballet perform Alonzo King’s The Personal Element. Photo by Christopher Duggan. This is the year of the virtual summer festival. Staying in front of your computer, you can have a virtual Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, Aspen Music Festival experience – and many more. One yearns to experience each ...
Use your ‘Baroque Bubble’ to protect from COVID
Jul
23
2020
Is wearing a mask and washing your hands all day getting you down? Then pick up some social distancing tips-and-tricks from the 18th Century — and protect yourself from a decidedly 21st Century disease, COVID-19. Selective use of crazy Baroque dance gestures will careen those hovering around you a distance of six feet! The “Baroque ...
From darkness, a new dance film @ Dance on Camera virtual festival 2
Peggy Baker was a memorably striking and unusual dancer during her years performing with Lar Lubovitch‘s company. Tall, powerful, seemingly gawky, with lashing limbs, she was never a pretty figure onstage, but more of an energized force field. After spending most of the 1980s with Lubovitch, she was invited to be part of the unique, ...
Shake it! Bump it! Wiggle that Thing in the privacy of your living room — with Toni Basil
COVID classes for the non-contagious contingent The last time we checked out Toni Basil, it was, ahem, a different world. Seated at her dining room table, I interviewed the high-energy, hugely eccentric dancer/choreographer about her amazing contribution to the look, feel, sound and spirit of Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019). My ...