Review: BodyTraffic at the Gindi 1
Did you feel the earthquake that rocked the top of the 405 Freeway near Mulholland Drive Thursday night? Oh, you missed it? It was the tremor of excitement when BodyTraffic, Los Angeles’s newest and best entry into the contemporary dance universe, shook the stage of the University of Judaism’s Gindi Auditorium. The ten-member troupe, co-directed ...
Dirty laundry courtesy Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre
May
31
2012
Dance maker Heidi Duckler, who shakes us out of our passive theater-going habits and drags us around our own city, brings her landmark site-specific work, Laundromatinee, to the La Brea Coin-Op. These shows come on the [dirty] heels of Duckler’s ambitious Cleopatra CEO, a baroque corporate-opera set in the ghostly but seventies-resplendid executive offices of ...
Traffic getting heavy near Mulholland Drive. BodyTraffic on board!
May
27
2012
In flagrant disregard of its own name, BODYTRAFFIC, the Los Angeles contemporary dance company, is racing ahead. So we wrote in the Los Angeles Times about Southern California’s sleek repertory dance ensemble. Indeed our local dance troupe BODYTRAFFIC will transfer a slate of cool contemporary choreography across the country to the Joyce Theater — the ...
Gene from Pittsburgh 1
May
21
2012
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Gene Kelly for the past week. It’s a good feeling. We’re from the same home town. Kelly was a huge movie star. The only other dancer to reach that level was Fred — not from Pittsburgh. Read my story on The Huffington Post.
Happy 100th Gene Kelly! Love, Oscar 2
A parade of Technicolor-tinged dance sequences enchanted a full house at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater Thursday night. “A Centennial Tribute to Gene Kelly,” the first of a two-part event hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the beloved dancer-choreographer-director in this most effective manner — by screening his sensational dance clips. ...
Dances for a Variable Population occupies Times Square
May
18
2012
“We were in the middle of the most chaotic place in the world. A place that when you are there you want to leave. We’re there and people are taking the moment in and participating like crazy. Our workshops are so crowded. People get inspired by seeing seniors dance, it’s really moving. They want to ...
The unlikely coaches of classical ballet 1
May
17
2012
Tamara Karsavina coaches Margot Fonteyn in “Le Spectre de la Rose” Joan Lawson teaches Royal Ballet boys (courtesy Richard Slaughter) Nijinska rehearses Les Noces for the Royal Ballet revival of 1966. (Thank you, Richard Slaughter, former Royal Ballet principal dancer)
Investing in artists: winners of the 2012 Alpert Awards
Los Angeles arts honchos gathered at the oh-so-cool Santa Monica digs of the Herb Alpert Foundation for a joyous occasion on Friday April 10. A generous buffet luncheon celebrated 18 years of Herb Alpert and Lani Hall’s philanthropy. And Irene Borger, the award program’s long-time director, gave her annual recognition to five deserving mid-career creators ...
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall, outstanding arts philanthropists, oversee 2012 Alpert Awards
The Herb Alpert Foundation and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) have awarded the 18th annual Alpert Award in the Arts to five exceptional mid–career artists. The award, a prize of $75,000, recognizes past performance and future promise to artists working in Dance, Film/Video, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts. Herb Alpert, the legendary musician and ...
“Choreography by Jack Cole” on TCM September 10 4
On Monday, September 10, 2012 Turner Classic Movies will dedicate an evening to the brilliant creativity of Jack Cole. The evening features four films choreographed by Cole — he himself dances in two of them. I co-host the September broadcast with TCM’s Robert Osborne. Films on the slate: Tonight & Every Night (1945) – 8 ...