Memories of Paul Taylor … and ‘Aureole’ 2
Oct
7
2018
Ed. note: Guest blogger Sharon Kinney contributes this reminiscence to mark the passing away of Paul Taylor on August 29, 2018 and to honor a great American dancer/choreographer. Writes Sharon: It was the summer of 1962, Paul Taylor invited me to come audition for a new piece he was making to be performed at Connecticut ...
Pick: Diavolo at the Music Center
There’s a dizzying amount of dance going on the next few weekends, as it is the height of the fall season. But if you really want to travel to dizzying heights, consider the upcoming offering of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, Diavolo | Architecture in Motion at the Ahmanson Theatre. Diavolo Artistic ...
John Scofield jazz combo at cozy Theatre Raymond Kabbaz
Oct
5
2018
John Scofield, the creative, distinctive and versatile guitarist and composer first burst on the scene playing with greats like Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham in the late ’70s . Possessed of a distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful improviser whose music falls between post-bop, funk edged Jazz, and ...
Wham-bam Chris Nichols book-jam to slam Tam
The biggest little kid we know has a new Taschen book (means loads of photos) which reminds us it’s a small world after all. Architectural historian and and Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee Founding Member Chris Nichols’ Walt Disney’s Disneyland tells the tale of the transformation of a southern California orange grove into the mother ...
Sasha Waltz ‘Kreatur’ in U.S. premiere at German Currents Film Festival
The acclaimed German dance company, Sasha Waltz & Guests, will celebrate the US premiere of its critically hailed dance film, Kreatur, as the closing night event of the German Currents Film Festival, presenting outstanding German, Austrian and Swiss Films in Los Angeles. The annual festival now in its 12th year runs from October 19 – ...
Stylish mid-century Frost Auditorium re-opens with big bash 1
Oct
1
2018
What if you threw an old-fashioned block party and half of Culver City, California, attended? That’s what happened Saturday night at a joyous occasion: the grand re-opening/fundraiser for a newly refurbished landmark building, the Robert Frost Auditorium — a rare gem of Southern Californian mid-century-modern architecture. Cozy, yet imposing, the curvilinear structure houses a 1,200-seat ...
‘Nearly live-in-movie-theaters’ Bolshoi Ballet broadcasts to restart
The performances are captured “live the same day.” That’s how it works. Because you don’t want to go to the local multiplex in your jammies at three a.m. to see a simulcast, do you? Most of us are more than happy with the ‘close to real time’ rebroadcast from the Bolshoi Theatre at the comfortable ...
Disney Hall, in living color, as L.A. Phil turns 100
Wow, wow, wow. This is fabulous. Our symphony orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (founded in 1918), is blasting into its centenary season in high style. It is converting its Frank Gehry-designed building, a happy pile-up of undulating stainless-steel surfaces, into a huge projection surface. Disney Hall will pop with crazy purples, blues, pinks and other psychedelic ...
In memoriam: ‘Still trying to get Paul Taylor’s jump right’
Sep
17
2018
Ed. note: A guest writer, Sean Mahoney, pictured above, submitted this personal reminiscence of his work with the great iconoclastic choreographer Paul Taylor (1930 – 2018). Mahoney, who began his association with the Taylor organization in 1994, has been a member of Paul Taylor Dance Company since 2004. I was in rehearsal and Paul was ...
How ‘Lola’ helped Bob Fosse handle Gwen’s ‘bad reputation’
In a 1991 interview with Gwen Verdon on CUNY Television, the great Gwen describes her first encounter with Fosse as her choreographer for Damn Yankees. I had seen [Fosse] at MGM studios. We had met at a party that Michael Kidd gave. I had a reputation for being difficult … and I was. I was ...