Dance film ‘RISE’ at American French Film Festival
Film director Cédric Klapisch, seen above in action mode directing Paris Opera Ballet premiere danseuse Marion Barbeau and contemporary choreographer Hofesh Shechter, continues his balletmania in rendering his latest dance film, RISE. The movie, augured to include marvelous footage of life behind the curtain at the Palais Garnier, is slated for its West Coast premiere ...
Staying safe at the movies with Chris Nichols, in 2021
Jan
15
2022
you have my avid attention — for an entire year! Some people spent 2021 doom-scrolling on their phones. Others, like my friend Chris, spent it watching movies. When Chris idly let drop that he saw 86 movies last year, I had to ask for the basis of that claim. Said Chris (he is also known ...
Quarantine blues, back-to-nature edition
There’s the walking blues, the talking blues, and now thanks to filmmaking collaborators Wade Robson and Tony Testa, there’s “DisInteGrated,” the dancing blues, filmed in Maui. Testa, looking like Gilligan in search of his island, convenes with nature — sand, sea, sky, forest, even planted!
Sane dance fans converge on Segerstrom for pleasing ‘Lines Ballet’ performance
It was the United States of Segerstrom last night when the nation’s Capital of COVID-Containment relocated (for just one night, Dr. Fauci) to Costa Mesa, California. There, the much-vaunted performing arts center at least somewhat righted the pandemic cataclysm by launching its season with a knockout dance performance. An upbeat cluster of up to 1,500 ...
Velaslavasay Panorama, at 20, makes electric Chinese connection
The Chinese connection involved here is not really diplomacy; it’s not an economic exchange; nor is it ‘high art.’ But in a way, it encompasses all of that. It’s about culture. And it’s a cultural stretch to step into the wonder-land Sara Velas has created over the past two decades on the grounds of a ...
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 ...
Blowing in the wind, in a COVID-era dance by Jody Sperling
Dec
7
2020
Don’t tell me just because I live in Los Angeles, I am plastic! The world is conspiring to make us all that way! As choreographer Jody Sperling notes, plastic is something we all share — in a bad way. We wear it, we swim in it, we ingest it, we even inhale it. We are in ...
German ballet & film worlds connect in age of COVID
Grand Pas de Deux from LE CORSAIRE: Iana Salenko, Daniil Simkin As we have said umpteen times — to the point of “We get it!” — doing the arts on line is not our first choice. We love going out, we miss it so much. Everyone does. But, wow, some creative things have been pouring ...
Kristina for king!
We already have a king. Some people feel we need a new one. Why not Kristina Wong? She’s nice. She’s funny. And she’s handy with a pandemic. When COVID-19 hit us with our proverbial pants down, she stepped into the breech, making face masks and using the radical route of the United States Postal Service ...
Breathe in, breathe out: Westside Ballet’s ‘Grace & Grit’ drive-in movie event
joy womack, for westside ballet Attention, all dance-deprived! A fun event, with a poignant underpinning, will be a pop-up drive-in movie evening of filmed dance offerings hosted by Westside Ballet in tandem with the Public Policy Institute of Santa Monica College. I like how it puts dance — and the determination to present dance — ...