Is Naharin’s “Venezuela” about Venezuela?
Mar
10
2019
photo: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times Rarely does dance put its proverbial toe into a tempest, but if there was a choreographer to do so, it would be Ohad Naharin, in his dance swan-song for Batsheva Dance Company, soon at Royce Hall, entitled “Venezuela.” Once Latin America’s richest country and one of its ...
Batsheva Dance Company at Royce Hall: A must. Go.
Mar
7
2019
The sound of the Kyrie, eleison juxtaposed with the word ‘Venezuela’ pierces my heart. And I didn’t even cross the threshold into Royce Hall’s cathedral-like lobby yet. That’s how affecting a performance by the game-changing Israeli dance maker, Ohad Naharin, can be. Israel’s esteemed dance company, Batsheva, returns to Royce with a new evening-length work, ...
Weather report: It’s raining female artists in Los Angeles
Feb
15
2019
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in live performance with PussyRiot at The Broad Stage, photo by Ben Gibbs We’ve had some crazy tumultuous storms lately in Los Angeles, a weather pattern augured to continue as women are seizing the stages of the city’s performing arts centers. For a mighty wind of female fabulousness — and fury — has ...
REVIEW: ‘Bobbi Jene,’ life-and-love in contemporary-dance lane
Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber in “Bobbi Jene” Tropes and customs of the world of contemporary dance are on view in the new dance-documentary, Bobbi Jene, soon to open in Los Angeles. Rarefied and bizarre rituals, notably a naked dancer, that would be the titular Bobbi Jene, masturbating against a sandbag before a roomful of ...
Ana Laguna brings wisdom, depth to ‘Juliet & Romeo’ @ Segerstrom 1
Relatively unknown in the U.S., Ana Laguna is a legend in Europe — as a dancer, choreographer, and muse of pioneering choreographer Mats Ek, also her husband. At age 61, she’ll dance the role of the Nurse in the Royal Swedish Ballet’s “Juliet and Romeo” on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 at Segerstrom ...
Oh Samuel Lee Roberts, you beautiful Alvin Ailey dancer
Apr
16
2015
The pleasure of watching the splendid and just-gorgeous dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the company’s opening night performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion drove home how much time I have been spending looking at images of dancers on a computer. And how that is not the real deal. To get the full ...
Review: L-E-V’s “House” of dance invention @ REDCAT
Not since Dawn of the Dead did as stricken a posse of emaciated weirdos tromp before your eyes — all the better to experience, in real time, at REDCAT performance space. The stalwart black-box theater is rendered even darker by Avi Yona Bueno’s gorgeously murky lighting design for “House,” choreographer Sharon Eyal’s futuristic ballet for ...
Review: Ohad Naharin’s masterful “Sadeh21” @ CAP UCLA
Days after watching Batsheva Dance Company bring choreographer Ohad Naharin’s splendid full-evening work, “Sadeh21,” to vivid life in its U.S. premiere at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, I am struck by the inadequacy of still photography in capturing the dance’s essence. The benign ring-around-the-rosy image, above, does not represent the multi-chaptered ...
‘Solo for Two’ in steady preparation at Segerstrom Center
Jul
17
2014
It’s a pretty big stage — that’s why we love watching the great ballet companies of the world bourée and jeté across it. So let’s see how two of our best, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, succeed in riveting our attention over their full-evening performance “Solo for Two.” The showcase by the diminutive Russian duo, ...
At CAP UCLA, the ‘B’s have it!
To be or not to be, that was the question Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA artistic director Kristy Edmunds pondered in fashioning her arts-forward performance series for the 2014-15 season. So much so that the curator tilted in one direction: toward artists with names starting with the letter ‘B.’ Yes, a barrage ...