How green is Thor’s Valley
Thor Steingraber, former vice president for programming for The Music Center in downtown Los Angeles, has been named the new executive director of the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge. CSUN’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Harry Hellenbrand heralded the occasion: “Thor is credited with the vision to blend classical ...
An artist embraced: Carmen de Lavallade
The amazing, still gorgeous, always regal Carmen de Lavallade — born in New Orleans, raised in East Los Angeles — exemplifies an Empress of dance, the kind of royalty spawned in Vernon, California. Thursday night, De Lavallade returned to Los Angeles — where she and chum Alvin Ailey attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where she ...
Carmen de Lavallade, in homecoming, celebrated in CAAM exhibit with Geoffrey Holder
So looking forward to viewing the California African American Museum’s latest exhibition, “A Memoir in Movement,” dedicated to the great dance/theater/visual arts couple Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder, an exhibit comprising photographs, paintings, sculptures, and costume designs. De Lavallade, a Los Angeles native, is a living dance treasure whose legacy ports names like Lester ...
Opera occupies Union Station 1
The overture ended, a set of heavy double doors opened, and into Union Station spilled the opera audience. As the group dispersed, some displayed trepidation in their quest for the singers heard in their headsets. Others eschewed the life-sized version of Where’s Waldo: One couple made a beeline for the bar; ordering a bottle of ...
Chakiris, a cut above the rest 1
The camera catches a gang of gypsies rehearsing, in 1958, at New York’s Winter Garden theater before shipping overseas to perform in West Side Story’s second cast in London. Front and center is “West Side”s choreographer Jerome Robbins, running the “Cool” number with its inimitable finger snaps. Foremost in this group, a cut above the ...
Jonathan Lynn rules comedy
“Laughter is the sound of recognition,” says the author of the book Comedy Rules, Jonathan Lynn. The veteran filmmaker, novelist, screenwriter, and director co-wrote, along with Sir Antony Jay, Yes, Prime Minister, the former hit BBC television series now restaged as theater at the Geffen Playhouse. “When people recognize the truth of something they have ...
Francisco Zuniga at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts – opens June 1
We’re very excited to get into the mix at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Saturday night. The highly respected gallery on La Brea Avenue just north of Beverly Boulevard is hosting an evening that’s all about love of the arts. The main event is the opening of a centennial tribute to Mexican sculptor and painter Francisco ...
Cavalia Odysseo, a horse of different breed
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. ...
Matt (Harold Henry) Mattox, memorialized 1
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 ...
The challenge of “‘Tis Pity” … a chat w/ CAP UCLA’s Kristy Edmunds
Jan
8
2013
Reading up on the 17th century play, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, I broke into a sweat. The work is about incest, tough stuff. Cheek by Jowl Theater, the celebrated troupe of British actors, brings playwright John Ford’s tragic drama about carnal knowledge between a brother and sister to UCLA’s Freud Playhouse for a five-performance ...