‘Showgirl’ dances once more, at Film Forum
In 1928 Alice White, First National Pictures’ blonde answer to Clara Bow, starred in the movie musical Show Girl. She plays Dixie Dugan, an aspiring dancer who fakes her own kidnapping as a publicity stunt. Based on popular writer J.P. McEvoy’s Dixie Dugan character, Show Girl was the first starring vehicle for White. Long thought ...
Frolic the Hall of Mirrors with Louis XIV in “Versailles”
In the dance world, we know King Louis XIV for his balletomania, which led to the first formal classical ballet, “Le Ballet de la Nuit.” Louis himself danced the lead role, embodying a character modestly called ‘The Sun King.’ (As Mel Brooks sagely noted, it’s good to be king.) A reenactment of the performance appears ...
Looking forward: Pam Tanowitz Dance at the Joyce Theater
Sep
24
2016
I like this skulking posture from “Once With Me,” a dance that had its premiere this past May in Buenos Aires. The dancers are stepping out, aren’t they? Only their heads remain, tucked back, with guilt? reluctance? shyness? Lots of mixed messages in their body language. The choreographer, Pam Tanowitz, who is my fellow Fellow ...
How Eugene Loring ‘got sold’ on working for producer Stanley Kramer 1
Fascinating commentary from dance maker Eugene Loring who choreographed the whimsical The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, a Dr. Seuss-derived cult movie dating from 1953. Loring, the creator of “Billy the Kid” ballet for American Ballet Theatre and founder of Hollywood’s American School of Ballet, ports impressive film credits that include Ziegfield Follies (1945), Yolanda ...
Print pioneers of Los Angeles: Gemini G.E.L. 1
It’s no surprise anymore when an American artist of any discipline or media turns out prints. Painter, sculptor, installation specialist, conceptualist, land mover—all find something in their trick bags that will fit on a piece of paper with a high-rag content. It wasn’t always so. None of the Abstract Expressionist vilde chayas who dominated 1950s ...
A $1 tour of Gamble House, for 50 years a public museum
Sep
20
2016
January 14, 2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the gift of the Gamble House from the Gamble family to the City of Pasadena and the University of Southern California. This generous gift agreement allowed the Gamble House to open its doors to the public in September of the same year. The Gamble House was designed ...
It’s cool. You’re cool. So go. AfterParty @ The Wallis.
As everyone in Los Angeles knows, it’s not the event. It’s the after party. That’s why a cool new theater package offered by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts stands a good chance of attracting a younger demographic into its cozy theater smack in the center of Beverly Hills. It’s AfterParty @ The Wallis, ...
Buy Marilyn’s birthday suit 1
Yes, Marilyn, you are attending President Kennedy’s birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York. But that does not mean you have to wear your birthday suit! Instead, Monroe commissioned a super special gown from French-born Hollywood designer Jean Louis for the occasion. A real stunner. And it’s soon for sale courtesy of Julien’s ...
Anita Bryant tells it, once more, to Playboy magazine 1
Sep
6
2016
Less than 10 years after the Stonewall Riots, Anita Bryant launched a successful campaign to repeal gay rights in Dade County, Florida. Bryant’s notorious campaign gave legitimacy to a new style of right-wing politics and helped launch the Moral Majority and similar right-wing movements that continue to the present day. Bryant’s rumblings had a major ...
Kyle Abraham’s “Pavement” rolls down Laguna way 2
Sep
4
2016
This wonderful photo by Carrie Schneider, reminiscent of Jerome Robbins’s mise-en-scene for “West Side Story,” comes courtesy of the Laguna Dance Festival. The annual dance fest on the cusp of its 12th season presents Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion as one of three programs on offer the weekend of September 22. Abraham’s troupe joins BODYTRAFFIC and BalletX on ...