Miriam Rochlin’s handstand
May
1
2012
Dear Miriam Rochlin, the lifelong dancer and Los Angeles dance instructor who died not two weeks ago, had a wonderful way of keeping fit. Thank you, Karen Goodman, for sharing the photo. Karen’s essay on Miriam’s life here. Obituary in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.
Yes, concentration camp. Yes, Abu Ghraib. Yes, disturbing. Choreography by Hofesh Shechter.
Apr
30
2012
The most interesting guy out there, an Israeli-born dance maker who came out of Ohad Naharin’s shop at Batsheva Dance Company. His “Violet Kid” took Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet to another level. Read my review in the Los Angeles Times.
“Fly out!” cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died. 6
Apr
27
2012
Miriam Rochlin was born in Bonn in 1920 and she died last week in Los Angeles, a huge lifetime later. I knew Miriam only slightly, but knowing her at all was a great privilege. Choreographer Karen Goodman, pictured below chatting with her, knew the incandescent dancer well. The film, “Come Let Us Dance,” directed by ...
Get ready for Hofesh Shechter’s “Violet Kid” @ UCLA Live
Apr
26
2012
I’m a movement junkie. I like to watch the body in motion and I respond well to a lot of form and structure. I also like work that goes to the dark side. That’s why I’m so attracted to the choreography of the Israeli-born London-based Hofesh Shechter. His “Violet Kid” will be danced by Cedar ...
Highly recommended: Faye Driscoll @ UCLA
Apr
26
2012
First it’s really good in a crazy way. Then it’s crazy in not-that-good of a way. Finally it’s super interesting in a way you can’t quite figure out. That’s the road map for “You’re Me,” a grueling duet that dancer/choreographer Faye Driscoll will present tonight and Friday at the Glorya Kaufman Theater on the UCLA ...
East Village building echoing art history gets preservation award
Our story concerns a grand, old New York City structure with a noble track record in art and cultural history. The pink lady in the picture has been home to creative endeavors in music, dance and film. Last year, the exterior of the building receive a $2.1 million restoration as part of the renovations of ...
Tribeca Film Festival off to the races with “Ballets With A Twist” 1
On a recent visit to New York, it was my great pleasure to sit in on a rehearsal of a new work by choreographer Marilyn Klaus. She was preparing the latest addition to her roster of thirst-quenching ballets based on a cocktail menu. Thus the name of Klaus’s boutique troupe, “Ballets With A Twist.” By ...
Misha acts at Broad Stage, then Tavis Smiley chats him up
I enjoyed watching Mikhail Baryshnikov prowl the Broad Stage, supple as an alert deer, in director Dmitry Krymov’s “In Paris.” Playing a rigid retired military man, Nikolai Platonovic, Barysh speaks mellifluous Russian, his mother-tongue, and Russian-inflected French. The 80-minute dance-drama, an adaptation of a Russian short story by Ivan Bunin, opened Wednesday night in Santa ...
George Balanchine dances in British film from 1929 1
What we have here is not “Apollo.” That’s putting it mildly. But it’s still a very amusing, even amazing, piece of historic dance footage that’s making the rounds on Facebook. George Balanchine himself dances in a rather crude bit of his own choreography “Dark Red Roses,” in a British-made early talkie. Appearing in the pas ...
Our Lady of Lourdes blesses Miami City Ballet 1
Apr
3
2012
Oh thank you, dear merciful Our Lady of Lourdes. And thank you to the 11-member committee, who along with Miami City Ballet’s new executive director, Nicholas Goldsborough, conducted the search for a successor to Edward Villella. You anointed in this heavenly role the French patron-saint’s name sake — Lourdes Lopez. And she’s a woman! Er .. ...