Micah Moch: one of 25 talented young dancers to watch in 2012
Jan
3
2012
Touring with Lula Washington Dance Theatre in China late last spring, I couldn’t see straight for all the great dancers in that company. But my favorite — by a significant smidgen — was Micah Moch. Born at Hollywood’s Queen of Angels Hospital in 1987, Moch’s now 24. He explained his unusual name as follows: “Moch ...
Lula Washington’s “tutu raffia” bids 2011 adieu
A highlight of the blistering Kwanzaa show staged by Lula Washington Dance Theatre at the Nate Holden Theater this weekend was a sinewy solo by Haniyyah Tahirah bedecked in what the choreographer Lula Washington calls a “tutu raffia.” It’s a clever cultural mash-up combining Africa & classical ballet. The eternally creative Washington explained: “The look ...
Edward Villella … just because
Dec
31
2011
Because we love him, a marvelous photo of Edward Villella in the beautiful ballet digs he built for his company in Miami Beach. We wish him a Happy New Year. [photo is clickable] photo: Al Diaz/Miami Herald
Jack Cole invites you to a ball 4
From MGM’s “The Merry Widow” (1952) Jack Cole’s beautifully calibrated waltz sequence pours forth. Minutes and minutes of on-screen dancing. Audiences apparently used to like this; I guess they don’t anymore. Enjoy! Cole’s gigs at MGM were fewer then at Columbia or Fox (at MGM: Kismet twice: 1944, 1955, Les Girls 1957, Designing Woman 1957). ...
Balanchine invites you to a ball
What a dream is the performance (video below) of a duet from George Balanchine’s “Vienna Waltzes” sublimely danced by Karin von Aroldingen and Peter Martins. “Vienna Waltzes” had its premiere at New York City Ballet on June 23, 1977. Original cast: Karin von Aroldingen, Sean Lavery, Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, Sara Leland, Bart Cook, Kay ...
Odette/Odile for a discerning audience — kids
Dec
22
2011
You live or die in front of an audience like this — London schoolkids watching a lecture demonstration of “Swan Lake.” Because unlike adults kids don’t fake being interested. Ursula Hageli and Richard Slaughter coached in Swan Lake by Svetlana Beriosova with the Michael Basset at the piano at a lecture-demonstration/performance under the auspices of ...
Transferring high art in a forlorn ballet studio, Svetlana Beriosova
Dec
21
2011
The great Royal Ballet prima ballerina, Svetlana Beriosova, coaches Richard Slaughter and Ursula Hageli in a photo by Linda Rich taken at Dance Works, in London, 1989. Beriosova’s obituary here. Thank you Richard Slaughter for sharing your photo.
Twentieth century’s greatest male dancers
Dec
19
2011
I was born mid-century. So I wasn’t around for the first half. I missed Nijinsky. But here are my candidates for the four most influential male dancers of the twentieth.
David Hallberg grew up obsessed by Fred Astaire
Dec
18
2011
Studying tap dance as a kid, before he got proper shoes, says David Hallberg, “I taped nickels on the bottom of my penny loafers.” Hallberg explains this charmingly in a marvelous profile that aired today on CBS’s News’s “Sunday Morning” program. The premier dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet and principal at American Ballet Theatre more ...
Merrily TCM Classic Cruise rolled along . . .
It was a wild & crazy cruise. Robert Osborne, usually a pretty tamped-down guy, skipped the light fantastic through the casino with Eva Maria Saint in tow. In this amazing shot by TCM photog, Ted Pio Roda, Ms. Saint, one of the silver screen’s most enduring method actors, looks not one day older than when ...