Strolling through American teen-dance history 1
Jan
23
2019
Dancing to a hit song of late 1957, “The Stroll” by The Diamonds, these kids clearly did not get the memo that being a teen in in the ’50s was a boss thing to be. Their charming shyness — and, ahem, terrible dancing — is precious. And it’s the polar opposite of today’s Tweeting, Instagraming, ...
Sending in the clowns for classical ballet renewal 2
James Whiteside (Harlequin), Thomas Forster (Pierrot)photo credit: Andrea Mohin / The New York Times The tears of a clown rained down all weekend at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It was the West Coast premiere of American Ballet Theatre‘s triumphant reconstruction, Harlequinade —and it was a pip. The dashing Commedia del’arte clowns pictured above, diamond-suited Harlequin and ...
Millepied’s disjunctive ‘I fall…’ exposes choreographer’s weakness
L.A. Dance Project, disjunctive, disconnected, photo by l.a. dance project A harrowing drive across dark, slick, and unmarked Washington Boulevard in pelting rain went unrewarded by enduring Benjamin Millepied’s “I Fall, I Flow, I Melt,” a 75-minute, intermission-less dance performance by L.A. Dance Project performed in the round at the company’s newish headquarters named for ...
Channel your inner ‘Black Cat’ — at Long Beach Opera
Alcoholism, horror and haunting — a day in the life under the Trump administration, right? No such thing! Now you can be traumatized by Trump by day and then, again, at the opera, in the evening. Seriously, Long Beach Opera‘s upcoming production based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat — in conjunction with Musica ...
“Mary Poppins, step in time!” cries Van Dyke to Breaux & Wood choreography 5
Kick the knees up! Step in time Votes for women! Step in time It’s the master! Step in time Step in time. As we enter movie theaters in anticipation of the fun and joy director Rob Marshall and his choreography partner, John DeLuca, have in store for Mary Poppins Returns, let’s step in time … ...
‘Ballets With a Twist’ leads the way in reaching new audiences
It doesn’t feel like they do it to fulfill a foundation, or government, ‘outreach’ grant — although they certainly deserve one. They seem to do it by instinct, by coupling brains, creativity and talent with a genuine desire to connect and entertain. That’s why I applaud boutique ballet company ‘Ballets With a Twist‘ for its ...
‘When I say freedom, you say jazz’: JazzAntiqua @ 25
Folk flooding toward the theater half an hour before showtime gave the first indication that something special was on tap at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on Saturday night. In Los Angeles, traffic-frazzled late arrivals are the norm. The faithful flocked to a special, nearly familial, celebration: JazzAntiqua Dance & Music Ensemble‘s big 25th ...
What was so ‘faux’ about Miss Ruth?
Nov
26
2018
For years I have read critiques that Ruth St. Denis, by all reckoning along with Isadora Duncan the matriarch of modern dance, staged ‘faux,’ or non-authentic, ethnic choreography. Her lack of performative integrity caused her artistic offspring — Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Jack Cole — to rebel. But what does that mean? ...
Mazowsze, the Polish folkloric dance troupe inspiring ‘Cold War’
Director Pawel Pawlikowski‘s visually beautiful and emotionally gripping Cold War, which opens December 21, rises from the ruins of post-war Poland where is set a seemingly impossible love story. Cold War earned Pawel Pawlikowski the Best Director award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. In the film produced by Amazon Studios, two fictional lovers meet ...
Aching loss of Arthur Mitchell assuaged by Memorial, DTH season 1
Nov
15
2018
The 50th anniversary season of the beloved Dance Theatre of Harlem will honor its legendary Founding Artistic Director Arthur Mitchell, who passed away on September 19, 2018, with a memorial service on December 3, 2018. Free and open to the Dance Theatre of Harlem community and friends, the memorial will include performances by the company, ...