Anatomy of a cancellation: Heidi Duckler Dance illuminates ‘The Chandelier’

Dance
paul crewes, heidi duckler – april 2019 update: August 10, 2021 “The Chandelier” is playing at the Wallis this weekend! April 27, 2020: Almost one year ago nearly to the day, on April 30, 2019, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts gathered the Los Angeles dance press to its stage for an announcement. ...

Schoenberg, Schoenberg & Mehta at Disney Hall

Music
Not a new law firm, although the gent on the left, E. Randol Schoenberg, is an attorney. And he is a friend of artsmeme. This charming backstage-at-Disney-Hall portrait taken January 10, 2020 features Zubin Mehta, Conductor Emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, following a pithy program at the L.A. Phil of music by Wagner and ...

REVIEW: BODYTRAFFIC’s Wallis residency opens strongly

Dance · Reviews
by 
BODYTRAFFIC performs (d)elusive minds by Fernando Hernando Magadan (l-r) Guzmán Rosado, Tina Finkelman Berkett. Photo by Don Lee. Some dance performances give us gorgeous bodies, abstract movement and music we can hum: an escape from politics, madness and murder. Others use dancers for polemics and not much else; these may be worthy, but hard to watch. On Friday, ...

‘Buy local’ defines 2019/20 dance season at The Wallis

Dance
A big gang of arts journalists crossed the thin line to mount the stage of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Tuesday evening to toast a special occasion whose time has come. In his annual upcoming-season announcement, The Wallis’s artistic director Paul Crewes, shown in photo with the Beverly Hills theater’s CEO Rachel ...

A new chapter for CalArts dance dean Stephan Koplowitz

Dance
After a decade in the position, Stephan Koplowitz has stepped down as dean of dance at California Institute of the Arts, aka CalArts. As an internationally known artist, and a Herb Alpert Awardee, it comes as little surprise that after years devoted to dance education, Steve wishes to spend more time mining his own creativity. ...

The sound of America, courtesy of MUSE/IQUE

Dance · Music
Enough of politicians yammering about being American! Let’s experience our national spirit in a much more intuitive manner, through art. Chamber-music series MUSE/IQUE is here to help. Established in 2011 by artistic director Rachael Worby (at left), the Pasadena-based MUSE/IQUE presents a three-concert summer lawn-festival across a dizzying array of genres — classical, ballet, jazz. ...

A chat with The Broad Stage’s new director Wiley Hausam

Dance · Music · Theater
Prominent in the crowded field of Los Angeles performing-arts houses is The Broad Stage, where a lively smorgasbord of arts offerings forged a high-profile presence since its debut — in an enviable Santa Monica location — in 2008. Wiley Hausam, a newcomer to Los Angeles, will soon take up the mantle of artistic and executive ...

Review: Under pink clouds, Music Center’s “Moves After Dark”

Dance · Reviews
by 
Dance critic Gillian Anne Renault contributes this review to arts·meme: As grey clouds turned pink Monday evening and a cool breeze dimpled the Mark Taper Forum pool, a powerful alto voice quieted the crowd for Moves After Dark, The Music Center’s inaugural, site-specific, mainly outdoor dance concert. The ambitious evening, well executed, proved a worthy ...

‘PillowNote’ for BODYTRAFFIC @ Jacob’s Pillow

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
Excerpt courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow: Of the companies vying for the attention of Los Angeles’s newly fervored dance audience, BODYTRAFFIC, making its second appearance at Jacob’s Pillow, naturally aspired to top prominence. Lately, however, co-artistic directors Lillian Barbeito and Tina Berkett have adjusted that goal. “When people thought of Los Angeles, we wanted to BODYTRAFFIC ...

September’s dance reckoning in Los Angeles

Dance
For kids, September means back to school; for Jews, it’s the High Holidays. For dance lovers, an impossible surplus — even a Sophie’s Choice — of hot hot hot dance performances one September weekend. All augur certain fun, and because we’re in southern California each option combines nicely with an outdoor picnic. Nettlesome choices for dance fans! Fri ...