Edward Villella: The prodigal son returns to New York

Dance
arts·meme features guest writer Sarah Morton’s report on a special event that took place in New York last night. ♦        ♦        ♦ Edward Villella says he’s thrilled to be back in New York City, and if the audience at the Paley Center for Media Monday night is any indication, New York is just as thrilled ...

Cavalia Odysseo, a horse of different breed

Dance · Theater
Cavalia’s Odysseo is a voyage with horse, man, and woman to the world’s most beautiful locations including the African savanna and dessert, the Northern Lights, the American Southwest, rolling hills and lush forests. Odysseo’s 67 horses of 10 different breeds including the Appaloosa, Arabian, Canadian, Lusitano, Oldenburg, Paint Horse, Quarter Horse, Spanish Purebred and Warmblood. ...

Kyle Abraham brings BODYTRAFFIC talent

Dance
It can be sweaty, painstaking, unglamorous. The steps are stymieing when they won’t knit together. You’re half dancing, half hanging around. It’s always the same people; they never go away. It takes incessant tweaking to get it right. Welcome to the art of choreography, a labor-intensive affair that requires real-time interaction, patient collaboration. This honorable ...

Edward Villella, upcoming, at New York’s Paley Center

Dance
Coming to New York’s Paley Center for Media for an evening of conversation and television and film clips, the legendary dancer and artistic director Edward Villella will discuss his extraordinary and unique career. A regular performer, in the 1960s, on American television, Villella’s accessible appeal and hunky good looks made him a scintillating sight on ...

Matt (Harold Henry) Mattox, memorialized 1

Dance · Film · Theater
by 
MATT (Harold Henry) MATTOX b. Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, August 18, 1921 d. Perpignan, France, February 18, 2013 “I’ve never classified myself as a jazz teacher, I prefer to talk about ‘free-style dancing,’ which means I have a choice of movement for any piece of music,” said Mattox in a 1993 interview. To prepare for his ...

Matt Mattox (1921-2013) leads off in “Lonesome Polecat” 5

Dance · Film
Big guy Matt Mattox leads off his “brothers” in this lovely unhurried number choreographed by Michael Kidd for SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (MGM, 1954). The precision! Matt’s mournful singing, “Can’t make no vows … to a herd of cows” is dubbed in the movie by Bill Lee. Like this? Read more: Matt Mattox, memorialized ...

In memorium: Matt Mattox from ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’

Dance · Film
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) / MGM / LES SEPT FEMMES DE BARBEROUSSE / FRANCE / ARTIST: ROGER SOUBIE Enchanting Jane Powell marrying reclusive rancher Howard Keel is the catalyst for his six brothers following suit in a rollicking athletic courtship, inventively choreographed by Michael Kidd, and visualized by France’s most prolific poster artist, Roger ...

Connoisseur collection of dance-movie posters grace Barnsdall exhibit 1

Dance · Film · Visual arts
“I was born with a poster gene! When I was a kid I used to ‘color in’ the New York Times (black & white) print ads for theater. When I saw the poster, I’d compare their color choices [to mine].” Collector Mike Kaplan offers this charming anecdote in explanation for a lifelong obsession as we ...

Superb exhibition “Stravinsky and L.A. Dance” to close 2

Dance · Music
Stravinsky & L.A. Dance, located on the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s sunlight-strewn mezzanine celebrates the composer’s creative influence on Los Angeles dance-makers of the past. The photos (several by Otto Rothschild) are presented together with reconstruction materials of The Joffrey Ballet’s The Rite of Spring. Curated by Lorin Johnson and Mark Konecny and instigated and overseen by Music ...

Lula Washington dance touches Elizabeth Eckford of Little Rock Nine

Dance
arts·meme friend Erwin Washington sends this letter from the Lula Washington Dance Theatre tour bus. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the original Little Rock Nine, was on hand January 31 at Stuttgart, Arkansas’ Grand Prairie Center when Lula Washington Dance Theatre performed its dance suite about the nine high school students who integrated Central High School ...