Gwen calls out Bob’s choreography in Gap commercial 4
Jul
16
2017
In a 1999 interview, Gwen Verdon (1925 – 2000) expressed mild exasperation at the use of choreography by Bob Fosse (1927 – 1987) in a commercial by The Gap. “It’s very interesting that right now there is “Go Go Khaki,” a commercial for The Gap. They are doing the Frug. It’s amazing. They are not ...
It’s Savion time … at the spanking new Ford Amphitheatre
Jul
10
2017
Saturday night there’s only one place to be. That’s at the much loved, super historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, fully renovated after its multi-phase expansion. We’ve been clued in that the Ford’s $75 million re-do is nothing less than “gorgeous.” A real stunning gift to our little hamlet of Los Angeles. Breaking in the stage ...
Patricia Morison remembers … Martha Graham, Kiss Me Kate, more 6
We so enjoyed a charming conversation with Broadway and Hollywood doyenne Patricia Morison at her Los Angeles home July 6, 2017. The originator of the role of “Kate” in Kiss Me Kate, still vivacious and chatty at age 102, shared happy memories of her career. She took special care to describe the role that dance ...
Seeking Nijinsky’s unrealized ‘Sarabande’ ballet at Turocy workshop
Jul
5
2017
Nijinsky left behind the seeds of an unfinished ballet he began in 1913. That was the rather infamous year in which the dancer/choreographer unveiled his provocative The Rite of Spring to the shock and awe of le tout Paris. He also premiered Jeux, an overtly sensual ballet for three—a love triangle—that subtly foreshadowed the oncoming ...
Nijinsky influenced by Parisian dance hall? Soon explored at unusual Seattle workshop
Jun
20
2017
How does “Exploring an Unrealized Ballet and its Cultural Context: Paris 1909 to 1915” strike you as an interesting way to pass four days in Seattle? That is exactly what I shall be doing June 29 – July 2 at the University of Washington in Seattle, courtesy of Catherine Turocy, Artistic Director of the New ...
Must the show really go on? 2
In a world in which ‘norms’ seem at best untethered and at worst unhinged, everything is under revision, everything feels up for grabs! And thus we question that most sacredly-held tenet … that the show must go on. In this purposefully ‘bad’ dance number from Cover Girl (1944) courtesy of B-movie factory Columbia Pictures, the ...
Duckler dancers to scale tall ships of Port of Los Angeles
Full immersion is the typical call to action of a Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre site-specific happening. That’s what attracts her adventure-seeking audience. But next Saturday night, when we attend Beyond the Waterfront, Duckler’s latest site-specific work, we hope it does not require a plunge into the deep dark sea at the Port of Los Angeles ...
Despondence emerges in choreographic language
The culture is in upheaval; most everyone admits and discusses it. Artists, of course, feel it acutely — as do we all. It’s a conversation that best takes place in communities. One place is with an audience, at a theater. But how to translate these profound feelings, which seem so contingent on verbiage, into a ...
Populist Eifman Ballet en route to Southern California
Choreographer Boris Eifman is the Donald Trump of the ballet world. His fans love him for his provocative, populist appeal while his critics find him unsophisticated and far from coherent. And then there’s the Russia thing. Eifman is Russian and his narrative ballets, while modernist in story line, have the old-school Bolshoi tendency to go ...
Gray Davis’s grandest battement
Jun
4
2017
“I never realized how high it was,” he said. “Luckily, I’m a ballet dancer, so I swung my leg up.” That’s what American Ballet Theatre dancer Gray Davis, 31, told the New York Times in describing how he got himself out of the grisly pit of the subway track at Broadway and 72nd Street station. ...