Kwanzaa madness at Lula Washington Dance Theatre
Jan
3
2013
Point me to a better show. I’m open minded! But now in my third year of attendance, I find the year-end Kwanzaa Celebration at Lula Washington Dance Theatre not just exhilarating fun, not only pulling you to the edge of your chair with non-stop great dancing, but, an added pleasure, it blasts off to a ...
Hello Harlow! 2
Jan
2
2013
In a nice movie-starrish start to the new year, we’re attending the opening of an exhibition dedicated to actress Loretta Young at the Hollywood Museum on Highland Avenue on January 8. Then the next night, we’re looking forward to attending a super fun “Evening at the Barn” presentation by the Hollywood Heritage group — a ...
Happy New Year 2013 from arts·meme! 1
[click directly on photos for detail] Incandescent dance photography from a Hollywood film. Why are we not surprised that Jack Cole stands behind it? The Harlequinade costumes are a dead giveaway; one of the enduring interests of this choreographer (he died in 1974 in Los Angeles) was commedia dell’arte. High-voltage performance (Gower Champion laudable in ...
Jack Cole rehearses Marc Platt, Rita Hayworth in “Down to Earth”
Jack Cole (seated, pointing) rehearses Marc Platt & Rita Hayworth for “Down to Earth” (Columbia, 1947) in the photo at left. Platt executes the move in costume and a (bad) wig, at right. Cole was very big on gladiators; judging by the look on Platt’s face, the dancer was perhaps less so. [click on ...
Esa-Pekka, Especially-Pleasurable, at HEAR NOW benefit 3
Posing with The Lyris Quartet (Alyssa Park, Shalini Yijayan, violins, Timothy Loo, cello, Luke Maurer, viola) is our marvelous and much-missed Los Angeles Philharmonic Conductor-Laureate, Esa-Pekka Salonen, on a return visit to our town. Salonen’s now London-based where he’s principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. His presence at a house party in Culver City proved ...
Saving the children … 1
Dec
16
2012
Allegorical text written by J.D. Salinger for his character, Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye (1951): “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing ...
Dance a big part of L.A. County holiday celebration!
Dec
15
2012
It’s time for the 53rd Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. More than 20 choirs, music ensembles and dance companies from the many neighborhoods and cultures of L.A. celebrate the season during this free three-hour extravaganza. You can attend part of the show or all of it and it’s full of ...
Jack Cole, Hollywood director 4
On the camera crane works Jack Cole (in white sweater, click photo for detail), directing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” exactly as he did for all four GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) dance numbers (Two Little Girls From Little Rock, Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love, When Love Goes Wrong, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best ...
An easy nut to crack: City Ballet of Los Angeles in “The Nutcracker Swings”
Dec
11
2012
City Ballet of Los Angeles (CBLA) continues its mission to reflect the diversity of its city and bring classical ballet to new audiences with its winter program, The Nutcracker Swings, a twist on the holiday favorite set in 1942 Los Angeles during World War II. The Nutcracker Swings is CBLA’s tribute to the classic tale ...
Celebrating Iran’s Jewish artists: Shulamit Gallery
Dec
9
2012
Two weeks after a bustling opening party launched a new house of art at Venice Beach, we revisited the multi-floored Shulamit Gallery on a grey-skied late-November afternoon. The smart, post-modern shoebox structure wedges neatly into a row of buildings that marks the end of Venice Boulevard. At this location, arguably the western-most point of sprawling ...