You’re under arrest … for good dancing
Jun
12
2016
Dancing cops … seems unusual. But according to dance historian Jennifer Homans in her seminal book from 2010, Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, classical ballet had its origins not with white-tutu’ed swans on pointe, but with drilling military men, much like the dancing Columbian cops seen in the video above. Writes Homans: Dance was ...
Death of a dancer: Muhammad Ali
Jun
7
2016
When he floated like a butterfly, he was a dapper dancer. Like this? Read more: Death of a dancer: Albert Evans Farewell Violette Death of a great one, June 25, 2009
Ana Laguna brings wisdom, depth to ‘Juliet & Romeo’ @ Segerstrom 1
Relatively unknown in the U.S., Ana Laguna is a legend in Europe — as a dancer, choreographer, and muse of pioneering choreographer Mats Ek, also her husband. At age 61, she’ll dance the role of the Nurse in the Royal Swedish Ballet’s “Juliet and Romeo” on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 at Segerstrom ...
Hip-hop hors d’ouevres, courtesy of Dance Camera West festival 1
We’re just about two weeks to blast-off for one of our favorite events of the annual calendar, the popular, fun and stimulating Dance Camera West film festival, an event that touches many in the dance community. The festival this year celebrates a biggie, its 15th anniversary, and a new association with the Center for the ...
Charles Lummis, Los Angeles city founder, sprung to life in dance & documentary
Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre will bring its site-specific brand of immersive performance, this weekend, to the historic Southwest Museum building. The performance, “143 Days,” is part of a commission by the Autry Museum of the American West and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dance company will present a modern retelling of the pioneering American ...
Royal Swedish Ballet’s stunning, unconventional ‘Juliet and Romeo’ soon @ Segerstrom
With a history that stretches back to 1773, you’d expect the esteemed Royal Swedish Ballet to offer a “Romeo and Juliet” full of swordplay and courtly gowns. But no — not when master choreographer Mats Ek is in charge. He reimagined the tragic love story in 2013 with the same urban, gritty edge that he’s ...
Review: Antiquity updated in SOLUNA Fest’s ‘Rules of the Game’
Vulnerable humans cower in the debris of a humongous classical bust crashed to earth. An unnatural occurrence … like an airplane felled. Symbols of ancient civilization — either Greek, Roman, or a modern approximation of both — tumble down, explode into shards. Not to worry; it’s all fake. It’s video art. This stunning and impactful ...
In Dallas, for SOLUNA Festival, coming apart at the seams
In a world that seems to be fraying if not coming apart at the seams, the ultimate deconstruction, that of the human body — a startling central image at last night’s premiere of “Rules of the Game,” a collaboration by visual artist Daniel Arsham, choreographer Jonah Bokaer, set to an original score by Pharrell Williams. ...
Review: Memphis jookin phenom Lil Buck & pals wow @ Broad Stage
Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is only eight blocks from The Broad Stage, but it took Memphis jookin phenom Charles “Lil Buck” Riley thousands of miles and several years to get from one to the other. Six years ago, he was busking for quarters on the Promenade, but when a video of him dancing to ...
Sad but beautiful: Highways remembers ‘Dancers We Lost’
“Dancers We Lost” is a comprehensive dance-history project honoring performers who died due to complications of HIV/AIDS. The Dancers We Lost exhibition is the visual component of a large history project, it’s all so sad, but forgetting these people seems even worse. The exhibit is now installed at the noble Highways Performance Space in Santa ...