Meet director Roselynde LeBlanc of ‘Can You Bring It,’ Bill T. Jones doc
‘Can You Bring It’, courtesy Kino-Lorber films This most compelling image is from a dance work dating from 1989, Bill T. Jones’s “D-Man in the Water,” which was a tour de force group work Jones fashioned in response to the AIDs epidemic. So why does that matter now? We have a new pandemic to worry ...
Girl, you’re a woman now: arts·meme at 13
Jul
17
2021
kind of looks like arts·meme founder did at 13 While you were all watching Netflix, arts·meme celebrated her 13th birthday. Since I was also watching Netflix on May 24, I missed it as well. But hey, now that things are opening back up, … er… what’s that? We’re closing down again? Opening again? No more ...
‘United States of Abstraction’: a nice way of putting it
Jul
16
2021
Shirley Jaffe, The Red Diamond (detail), 1964 So that is what we have going on here … abstraction! Life certainly feels abstract lately. When you untether from science, reason, and truth, and when the ravings of a mad man are considered worthy of the public square, never mind that children hear his rants, things are ...
Un sueño de baile de Cuba
Jul
16
2021
Sensual and smooth. Seamless, seductive and sexy. Sublime! Sliding to the silken ‘son Cubano,’ the Cuban sound. Sleek and sensational! Dancing in a Havana dream — un sueño. The man is Victor Zapata, the lady unidentified. Tremendous dancers. In solidarity with the struggle of the Cuban people, our neighbors, our friends.
Inspiring & relevant: ‘José Limón: A Life Beyond Words’ at 49th Dance Film Festival 1
photo by Barbara Morgan It was time very well spent, in my living room, viewing one of the many attractive offerings of the Dance Film Festival, ihat kicks off July 16 (in person, bring a mask) at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. But, wait, world citizens, the Festival features streaming fodder as well. ...
‘Color me modern!’ cries clever new dance book on Intl Women’s Day
Mar
8
2021
(already colored!) yoshiko chuma, jennifer muellerphoto courtesy ‘modern women,’ etc. Facebook page Today is International Women’s Day, the most sacrosanct date in March, which is Women’s History Month. But … just for a moment, ladies: Think GIRL! Each of us started as one — packing roller skates, Oreo cookies, and crayolas. So, get into a ...
Blonde on blonde @ Hollywood Heritage
Mar
5
2021
Alice Faye, Betty Grable Mitzi Gaynor, who worked at Twentieth Century-Fox in the ’50s (The I Don’t Care Girl, Golden Girl) knew what color her hair should be. Looking back at movies in which she appears in (her natural) mousy brown locks, she commented dryly, “Oh, that was before my hair grew in blonde.” We ...
COVID making you ‘coo-coo’? Watch Bob Baker’s marionettes
Feeling a little …. um …. wobbly? Who isn’t? The Bob Baker Marionette Theater Bead Men are here to give you some ‘At Home Happiness’ with their rendition of spacey track “Coo Coo U” by The Manhattan Transfer. Okay, Bead Men, do your thing! Selected lyrics for sing-a-long below. Coo coo uI think you’re coo ...
Beautiful work, Miriam Nelson, in ‘Picnic’ (1955) 5
It was a delight to learn, after checking credits (“Who did this?”) on this sexy dance between William Holden and Kim Novak in PICNIC (1955), a YouTube phenomenon, that the choreographer was our good friend Miriam Nelson who died in 2018 at age 98. Deliciously done, Miriam. It was my honor to share a meal ...
Tenor-sax somersaults & trampolines: Sonny Rollins in 1967 1
SONNY ROLLINS photography by John Abbott Each December, the marketplace offers up some must-have jazz-related item. A newly-minted LP collection, a CD or DVD box, or doorstop book—something that pushes aside everything around it. In 2020, that was unquestionably Sonny Rollins in Holland (Resonance). The two-CD compilation of previously unissued live performances by the tenor ...