Soulful, spiritual, aspirational: Yuval Ron Ensemble revisits Spain’s Golden Age
The first time I heard the music of virtuoso guitarist Yuval Ron was, gosh, it must have been twenty years ago, in an intimate concert at a private home — his own. Packed into a living room on three sides in chairs arranged three rows deep, a group of total strangers passed an indelible evening ...
Toni Basil ‘does the Pony, does the James Brown’ on CBS
We loved seeing Toni Basil, 76, doing the pony and the James Brown on CBS Sunday morning on Oscar Day 2020.
An Oscar cookie for the New York dance world
Strike a dance pose! cried the photographer, and the critics complied. Contrary to popular belief, when artsmeme is not excavating the coal mines of library archives for factoids to tickle your fancy, or cajoling you to attend the latest cool performance, she has a social life! This gathering on Oscar Sunday in New York included ...
post sponsored by The Soraya
On sacred ground: Step Afrika! @ The Soraya
Feb
5
2020
Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya. It is republished on artsmeme with permission. In a return visit to The Soraya on Sunday, February 23, Step Afrika!, the distinguished Washington, D.C.-based performance troupe, will bring its latest creative project to Los Angeles. Drumfolk, a special Black History Month presentation, lends ...
Before ‘Redhead’: ‘Gentlemen Chase Redheads’
gwen verdon, richard kiley, stars of ‘redhead‘ She starred, in a peak moment of her Broadway fame, in the Tony Award-winning musical, Redhead, which opened at the 46th Street Theater on February 5, 1959. Her director/choreographer was Mr. Fosse. courtesy of verdon-fosse legacy The show, a murder mystery in the vein of KNIVES OUT but ...
Modern-dance greats recognized with Martha Hill awards
Jan
21
2020
carolyn adams, stuart hodes, nov 29, 2019 As the Hollywood award season advances, the dance world, too, honors its luminaries, last November 29 granting Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Awards to a trio of greats, each a member of the second and third generation of American modern dance. These leading lights include: Carolyn Adams, the sparkling, ...
Merle Oberon’s terpsichorean trepidation 4
For those who recently watched THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934) on Turner Classic Movies, a special Jack Cole connection has come to mind from 86 years ago. Our story involves the film’s glamorous stars, Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. The duo, co-stars of “Pimpernel” were on a touring junket tied to the movie’s release on December ...
And then … ‘And Then We Danced’ at Scandinavian Film Festival
A coming-of-age tale straight out of Tbilisi, the film follows Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani), a competitive dancer who is thrown off balance by the arrival of Irakli (Bachi Valisvili), a fellow male dancer with a rebellious streak. “And Then …,” directed by Levan Akin, was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film ...
Justice & joy united by Contra-Tiempo 1
ed. note: this story was originally published on artsmeme Oct 21, 2018 Contra-Tiempo’s new work joyUS justUS is exuberant, activist dance-theater. Say the title out loud and you hear “joyous justice.” Dig deeper, and you discover it takes a stand on topics that are on the boil in America today: immigration, resistance, the power of ...
Death of a dancer: Elyse Borne
Dec
21
2019
Elyse Borne, after a long battle with cancer, passed away December 16, 2019. After her career as a soloist with New York City Ballet, Ms. Borne further distinguished herself as one of the world’s foremost George Balanchine repetiteurs, and over a period of 20 years from 1996-2016 she staged, with permission of the George Balanchine ...