Remembering Rudi
July’s onset has us excited about a special event taking place in the City of Lights in a week. A new documentary “La Passion Noureev,” directed by Fabrice Herrault, will have its premiere in Paris. The venue is the Cinéma le Balzac on the Champs-Élysées. Herrault clarifies, via email, that “La Passion Noureev” is not ...
Herb Alpert, Los Angeles bus driver, puts on the Ritz 1
Choreography by Tabitha and Napoleon … with a nod to Irving Berlin (1929), Fred Astaire (1946) Like this? Read more: Herb & Lani at Vibrato A royal Hollywood evening with Fred Astaire, John Travolta Paula Abdul, Choreographer’s Carnival honoree
Fred & Cyd march on tippy toe in “The Band Wagon”
In this publicity still for “The Band Wagon” (MGM, 1953), Cyd Charisse marches on gorgeous gams while her partner Fred Astaire embodies a human exclamation point. In the movie, Cyd dons a different frock. Costumes were by Mary Ann Nyberg, who has a wonderful film-costume portfolio. Nyberg ran into problems dressing Judy Garland in “A ...
How a genius choreographs: Jack Cole’s “Beale Street Blues” 2
In this 30-second snippet from the men’s dance in “Beale Street Blues,” one of Jack Cole’s three great dance numbers from THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (Fox, 1953), the work of a brilliant dance maker is on display. It’s a game of craps gone wrong. It gets played out on a platform, ostensibly (my reading) ...
Beach ballet 1
The Hollywood Negro Ballet troupe formed by choreographer Joseph Rickard practice on Laguna Beach, California. In 1956, Flemyng invited the Los Angeles-based First Negro Classical Ballet (also known very briefly as the Hollywood Negro Ballet) and its director, Joseph Rickard, to join forces with the New York company. Rickard was of English German background and ...
post sponsored by Ford Theatres
Flamenco’s furor to blaze in Deborah Lawlor tribute @ Ford Theatre 1
Jun
10
2013
One of L.A.’s most accomplished arts impresarios will float in flamenco heaven this Saturday night when her helming of the 20-year-running series “Forever Flamenco!” will be honored in an all-star performance at the Ford Theatre. Deborah Lawlor, southern California’s key importer of the gypsy art form, will take a rare turn as spectator, and not ...
Nureyev influenced Mick Jagger 3
“Nureyev: His Life,” Diane Solway (William Morrow & Company, 1998) contains a brief interview with pop singer Marianne Faithfull (pages 333-4): Among [Nureyev’s] biggest fans were Mick Jagger and his girlfriend, the pop singer Marianne Faithfull, who were photographed arriving for the premiere [of Roland Petit’s Paradise Lost (1967) made for Nureyev and Dame Margot ...
New York Times honors Jack Cole & dance critic 3
It’s a big honor to be recognized in the New York Times. I am awfully proud to receive a shout-out (used to be called a “name mention”) from Dave Kehr, the highly respected film critic. In his weekly New York Times round-up of recently released DVDs, Kehr writes: MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW The choreographer ...
The dancing Douglases
Does love of dance run in the family? If so, then actress/producer Illeana Douglas has traced her dance gene. Illeana, a great film buff, is hosting Turner Classic Movies’ “Second Looks” programming on Friday nights of this month. Her marvelous, quirky film curation is catalogued in a wonderful essay written for TCM by Roger Fristoe. ...