Gwen & Bob make personal appearance — as Michelle & Sam
It was delightful to see, appearing in person, Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell at a special screening event held on the erstwhile Twentieth Century-Fox lot (soon Disney). The duo, emitting body language that indicated real closeness, participated in a q&a session that celebrated FOSSE/VERDON’s many nominations for Emmy Awards — a whopping seventeen. The August ...
Dig it! Betty Grable in ‘Diga Diga Do’ 1
A fabulous YouTube find, a compendium of song-and-dance numbers performed by Betty Grable, in 1954, during a live television broadcast: the premier edition of Chrysler “Shower of Stars” on CBS. Opening the video is Grable in a sizzling demonstration of how song and dance were integrated during the period — in “Diga Do,” a specialty ...
Where are we heading? Ask artist Eric Nash
Sep
3
2019
We seem to be going sideways … some people think we are going down! So it’s nice of painter Eric Nash, in his soon-opening show at Skidmore Contemporary Art, to lend some much-needed direction. Eric Nash began his career in Chicago as an advertising art director, thus his interest in universal and iconic imagery. He ...
Boys dance 3
For weeks I have planned to include this beautiful video by the master instructor of young men (and young women), Fabrice Herrault. It seems like a timely moment to share it now. Please enjoy the purity, intelligence and discipline on display as a result of Fabrice’s gentle but exigent pedagogy. His work serves no political ...
‘Jay Myself’: the bricks & mortar of art
Aug
26
2019
It’s really a movie about photography, the art of direct observation. But it comes wrapped in a tale of transition. A renowned commercial photographer and artist, Jay Maisel, after forty-eight years living there and at 88 unable to fund its upkeep, must sell his home. His digs are unique — the 36,000 square-foot, 100-year-old landmark ...
Make ’em laff! with eccentric dance
Aug
26
2019
ed. note: the opening words, here, from “The Motion Picture Academy Celebrates Eccentric Dance” published by Dance Magazine August 15, 2019. The author is artsmeme‘s Debra Levine. There’s a type of dance you’ve never heard of: It’s called “classical ballet.” The progenitors included Mathilde Kschessinska, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. The art form passed through ...
REVIEW: Sara Mearns’ deep dance-dig at the Pillow
Sara Mearns in Christopher Williams’ excerpt from “Daphnis & Chloé” Being present for the career arc of a singularly distinctive and memorable dancer is a wonderful privilege. And it’s been a privilege to observe the initial 15 years of Sara Mearns’ career on our dance stages. Primarily, she is a leading light of New York ...
Thank you, Cesar Pelli, for your Orange County beacon
Aug
23
2019
In my many years of trawling the San Diego Freeway southward seeking ballet at the Segerstrom Center, a literal beacon of my destination-arrival has long been a happy sight: architect Cesar Pelli’s masterful Plaza Tower. The master architect passed away July 19, 2019. Located on Anton Blvd. south of South Coast Plaza it stands in ...
Not a man’s dance-world, says ‘Femme Fetale,’ speaking in bodytalk
Aug
22
2019
Of the three-woman dance crew, ‘Femme Fetale,’ comprised of a Korean, a Mexican and a French dancer, one of the ladies is named Marie Poppins. Femme Fetale dance crew
Central-Cali cloister to catapult country-creatives
Bring dancing boots. Beer mugs provided — with beer inside. Top young-gen country music stars to perform. That is the gist of the invitation to attend the touring country-music show Boots & Brews Country Music Festival as it nestles at the Madonna Inn, a cloister of high-kitsch in California’s Central Coast town of San Luis ...