Hungarian maestro Peter Eötvös to conduct @ Jacaranda

Music
We’re super fascinated to learn that the acclaimed Hungarian composer-conductor Peter Eötvös (pronounced urt-vursh) will soon take part in a mini-residency in Los Angeles. It all kicks off with Eötvös’s personal participation in FIERCE BEAUTY, the January 12 edition of contemporary music series Jacaranda, Music at the Edge. He’ll conduct the U.S. premiere of his ...

Little drummer boys at Lula Washington Dance Theatre 1

Dance · Music
Interspersed amongst the thundering herd of kickin’ African drummers that propelled Kwanzaa madness at Lula Washington’s Crenshaw Boulevard dance studio over the holidays was a passel of tiny tots … young gentlemen. They banged the drum, and not slowly. I asked our friend Erwin Washington, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Lula Washington Dance Theatre, for ...

Kwanzaa madness at Lula Washington Dance Theatre

Dance
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

Film
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

Dance · Film
[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”

Dance · Film
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

Music · Reviews
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

Ideas & Opinion
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!

Dance
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

Dance · Film
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 ...