Love for Henry in Orange County
A beautiful event Thursday night, October 20, 2013, a cocktail hour in honor of California’s preeminent arts patron Henry Segerstrom, the force behind Orange County’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts and subject of a new coffeetable book. The vast party took place at Assouline Publishing‘s chic boutique at South Coast Plaza, developed by Segerstrom circa ...
Flying high, then down to earth: dance at LAX
A highlight of “Everywhere Nowhere,” choreographer Sarah Elgart’s rich installation presented this weekend in a courtyard at Los Angeles International Airport, was the dance maker in a Hitchcockian cameo-role. Dressed as a peasant, a field laborer, in hobbled Elgart, her back bent beneath the weight of a huge thatch of wheat, a vision of pathos ...
George Chakiris honored @ UCLA Film & Television Archive 1
UCLA Film & Television Archive salutes the extraordinary career of actor, singer and dancer in “An Evening with George Chakiris,” an exciting screening and discussion on Saturday, November 16, 2013. Trained in Los Angeles, Chakiris first distinguished himself as a dancer in Hollywood films, displaying an athleticism and grace that helped bring renown to West Coast ...
In last night’s “Emmys” dance number, gloved arms by Jack Cole 1
Sep
23
2013
In last night’s Emmy broadcast, dance maker Spencer Liff opened his “Number in the Middle of the Show,” with a filip right out of Jack Cole’s playbook: black opera-length gloved arms reaching through holes in a wall … a distinctive design element that Cole used repeatedly. Below, he uses it in “Tars & Spars” (1946) ...
Choreographers move “on camera” at Sunday’s Emmy award show
Sep
20
2013
In an historic first, the Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography (nominees here) has been moved to the Primetime Emmys, that is, the on-air show, widely broadcast this Sunday evening, giving the art of choreography yet another creative boost in Hollywood. In past years, the choreography Emmy has been presented during the “Creative Arts” Emmys the ...
Dance historian Nancy Reynolds to be recognized with Bessie Award
It is with great personal delight that I share the wonderful announcement that the New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies) will honor dance historian Nancy Reynolds with the 2013 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance.The ceremony will take place on Monday, October 7, at the Apollo Theater in New ...
George Chakiris, choreographer’s assistant for Judy Garland’s 1956 Vegas revue 2
An amazing zoom back in time with George Chakiris, who is not only Hollywood dance royalty but a gifted actor and recording artist. George, who celebrates his birthday today, worked with major talent over his long career in stage, film, television and nightclub. He shared memories of assisting choreographer and dance-director Robert Alton in staging ...
Rod Alexander’s “The Birth of the Blues” dance number rediscovered 3
Please, please God, don’t let the world blow up before Sunday night. Because Sunday night at 9 pm, I get to see choreographer Rod Alexander‘s brilliant dance number, “The Birth of the Blues” from THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE (20th Century-Fox 1956), at CINECON Classic Film Festival — in a new 35mm print, ...
Nicholas Brothers ballistic on silver screen 1
Joy to the world, the place to be at 4:30 this afternoon was the balcony of the Egyptian Theater, a spot that offered prime viewing, on opening day of CINECON Classic Film Festival, of DOWN ARGENTINE WAY (1940). The über-fun Betty Grable/Don Ameche technicolor south-of-the-border extravaganza from 20th Century-Fox was Grable’s first headlining role at ...
Chakiris, a cut above the rest 1
The camera catches a gang of gypsies rehearsing, in 1958, at New York’s Winter Garden theater before shipping overseas to perform in West Side Story’s second cast in London. Front and center is “West Side”s choreographer Jerome Robbins, running the “Cool” number with its inimitable finger snaps. Foremost in this group, a cut above the ...