Wicked and proud: choreographer Liz Lerman in conversation
Choreographer, dancer, and writer Liz Lerman will present an interactive lecture this week concerning a project she calls, “Wicked Bodies.” Lerman is researching the visual portrayal of women’s bodies throughout history. The Wicked Bodies project provides a format in which Lerman interviews guests, gathering data “real-time,” adding to her perspectives and understanding of the images, issues, ...
Joan Crawford: an actress who paid her dues before #metoo
Feb
6
2018
A great double bill, this Friday night, as part of “Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film” series on now at UCLA Film & Television Archive, two powerful films directed by Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford. Mildred Pierce (1945) Joan Crawford’s career-renewing turn is the primary but far from the only attraction adorning one of Michael ...
REVIEW: Keigwin + Company Celebrates Bernstein @ The Soraya
Not one, but two, sweet-hearted, newly commissioned dance works by choreographer Larry Keigwin for his charming and excellent dance troupe, Keigwin + Company, had world premieres tonight in the classy, comfortable, and elegant Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya), formerly the Valley Performing Arts Center. The commissions came as part ...
Before Tonya Harding, there was Vera Hruba Ralston
Feb
1
2018
The Flame. 1947. USA. Directed by John H. Auer. Screenplay by Lawrence Kimble, based on the story by Robert T. Shannon. With John Carroll, Vera Ralston, Robert Paige, Broderick Crawford, Henry Travers, Hattie McDaniel. DCP. 97 min. John Carroll plots to relieve his brother (Robert Paige) of his inheritance, with the help of femme fatale ...
Tonya Harding: “I am so happy with myself!”
Jan
31
2018
Tonya Harding, age 20, spoke those words when interviewed after her sensational athletic performance February 16, 1991 at the National Figure Skating Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Harding skated a near perfect program and became the first American ladies skater to land the triple-Axel jump.
Bernstein’s gripping ‘Waterfront’ score to surge thru The Soraya
The American Film Institute ranks On the Waterfront (1954) as one of the best ten movies of all time. The searing indictment of union corruption on the New York docks was a landmark in social realism. Its greatness lies in the collaboration between the towering talents of director Elia Kazan, actors Marlon Brando, Karl Malden ...
Google/YouTube Red streaming channel to launch with dance 2
Ed. note: arts·meme is pleased to publish an excerpt from a story written for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences website, emmys.com. The story concerns the premier of “Step Up: High Water” on the new YouTube Red streaming-video channel on Jan 31. ♣ ♣ ♣ ...
L.A. Opera’s Francesca Zambello on Bernstein’s ‘ingenious’ ‘Candide’
Ed. note: arts·meme is delighted to excerpt an interview with L.A. Opera guest director Francesca Zambello conducted by Gary Murphy. The interview was first published by the Opera League of Los Angeles. Gary Murphy: Welcome back to Los Angeles for the seventh time. We are looking forward to your production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in ...
Jungle love on Val Day: ‘Tarzan in the Movies’
Jan
23
2018
A love fest for the cutest couple in the sub-Saharan — Tarzan and Jane — at the Barn on St. Valentine’s Day. An ‘Evening at the Barn’ dedicated to the King of the Jungle and his slate of films comes courtesy of Scott Tracy Griffin, author of “Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration” (Titan Books, 2012). Griffin’s ...
Miguel Gutierrez picks ‘dem bones in K-D-A-VER
Jan
23
2018
One decade ago, choreographer Miguel Gutierrez invented his participatory performance DEEP AEROBICS, a protest-cum-workout that been presented in Paris, Brussels, Helsinki, and Montpelier. Gutierrez has since written that he hopes to “destroy the technique, because it’s just too hard to teach, and the world is going to hell in a hand basket anyway.” Watch out ...