TCM to broadcast “Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Film” & “Unseen Cinema” 1

Dance · Film
arts·meme friend Jeff Masino alerts us that next Sunday evening, April 3, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), cable’s outstanding classic film channel has an unusually interesting broadcast line-up. It’s a long evening starting at 5 pm LA time, 8 pm in NYC,  so stock up on wine and cheese. Two “clips” programs of rarely seen early ...

Electric blue for Aszure Barton

Dance · Reviews
Barton stretched her torso, and stretched the lycra, too, of designer Fritz Masten’s smart electric-blue pantsuit. Named for the color, the choreographer admitted in a private conversation that blue’s her favorite. (more…) I enjoyed the Irvine Barclay Theater performances of this 35-year-old Canadian-born choreographer who has as a key patron Mikhail Baryshnikov. Read my Aszure ...

Gene Kelly’s television broadcasts @ Hammer Museum 1

Dance · Film
I’m looking forward to attending UCLA Film & Television Archive’s Gene Kelly event which comprises part of their  film preservation festival . Event is called,“Gene Kelly On Television.” OMNIBUS: ‘Dancing: A Man’s Game NBC, 12/21/1958 (1958) Directed by Gene Kelly and William A. Graham In writing, choreographing and directing this program for the prestigious Omnibus ...

Shades of blackness … in full blasts of great dancing

Dance · Reviews
A good kind of blackness ruled two dance concerts that demonstrated the huge range of vernacular dance arising from the African diaspora. Both were spiritual, moving, infectiously joyful, connective, and concerned with communicating with the audience — everything wonderful that dance can be. First came the Brazilians, the Balé Folclório de Bahia, the national folkloric ...

Cynthia Gregory, Children’s Ballet Theatre, 1953 1

Dance
The great Gregory, blessed from birth with a cygnet neck and skinny legs, as captured by a master photog, Bob Willoughby. Click photos for detail. photo: thank you bob willoughby estate Like this? Read more: Gregory returns to West Coast

Minneapolis gets Merce Cunningham Dance Company collection

Dance · Visual arts
The good news in the dance world is that the Merce Cunningham Dance Company collection of set pieces, costumes, painted drops created for relentlessly innovative choreographer by leading artists, designers and musicians has a loving home. Alas dance fans will have to traipse to Minneapolis to see the stuff, made in New York City though ...

Hoppé’s impromptu Nijinsky photo session 1

Dance · Visual arts
This dapper fellow is E.O. Hoppé, Great Britain’s German-born society-and-arts photographer (1878-1972) whose current show at London’s National Portrait Gallery has spawned very positive reviews. [Click on E.O.’s photo for better view] And it all has a Los Angeles connection. arts·meme friend, Graham Howe, who divides his time between Sydney and Pasadena, is a distinguished photography ...

Choreographer Stephen Petronio, leg man

Dance
As a choreographer Stephen Petronio is a leg man. His meticulously constructed movement-chains travel on high-kicking, fully swinging legs. Transporting the dancers across the stage, they then pause in off-kilter balances before sinking into deep solid lunges. We observed this leg action during the West Coast premiere of Petronio’s “I Drink the Air Before Me,” ...

Brazilian folkloric troupe to rock Wilshire Boulevard

Dance
After the week I’ve had, I am dearly looking forward to Saturday night’s performance of Balé Folclórico da Bahia, Brazil’s only professional folk dance company. The 38-member ensemble, which features live music and singing (five percussionists and three singers) presents the U.S. premiere of Sacred Heritage, a work inspired by the polytheistic nature religion of ...

Cassavetes didn’t make his films for us, but we like them anyway 2

Dance · Film
Saluting the ambitious retrospective of the films — and some of the television work — of John Cassavetes, the patron saint of American independent cinema. The events take place at Cinefamily, located in the old Silent Movie house on Fairfax Avenue, kicking off Thursday night. Cinefamily christens the series, a bit nebulously, with this blistering ...