# arts•meme

> dance, film, urban arts

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## Posts

- [Unusual book cover captures quintessence of ballet visionary Arthur Mitchell](https://artsmeme.com/2026/10/13/unusual-book-cover-captures-quintessence-of-ballet-visionary-arthur-mitchell/): We have Dance Theatre of Harlem heading our way in Southern California, lucky us. The performance, at The Soraya at Cal State, Northridge, on November 14, coincides with an exciting event in the publishing world: the arrival of Arthur Mitchell: The Extraordinary Life of Harlem’s Ballet Visionary, the first-ever biography of DTH’s founding artistic director,
- [For love of Luminario: 'Le Ballet Jazz Noir,' a gala for grownups](https://artsmeme.com/2026/10/06/for-love-of-luminario-le-ballet-jazz-noir-a-gala-for-grownups/): A lavish evening of dining, drinking, schmoozing and socializing, perusing gifts on offer, and then eyeing a cabaret-style show at the Avalon Theatre in Hollywood is my idea of a good time. Thankfully, that's precisely what Luminario Ballet Executive and Artistic Director Judith FLEX Helle and her able Co-Artistic Director Damien Diaz have in store
- [Let's watch YouTube reactions to Jack Cole's 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/14/lets-watch-india-react-to-jack-coles-diamonds-are-a-girls-best-friend/): Well, I've studied it, screened it, spooled it, summarized it, synopsized it. I've analyzed, advocated, argued and addressed it. Glowed and kvelled over it, enjoyed and celebrated it. So it's fun, for a change, to let YouTube queen, "India Reacts" take the reins as she watches (her first time, ever) a video of "Diamonds Are
- [Lil Buck pays back James Brown](https://artsmeme.com/2014/08/11/james-browns-the-payback-paid-back-perfectly/): JB's immensely funky riff from 1973, "The Payback" given amazing dance interpretation today.
- [Jack Cole biography, 'Jazzed,' spurs public conversations](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/22/jack-cole-biography-jazzed-spurs-public-conversations/): The biography, written by artsmeme's Debra Levine, was recently released by University Press of Kentucky to across-the-board excellent reviews in print. But in the realm of the spoken word, the book's colorful evocation of bygone worlds of arts-and-entertainment is also sparking conversations. And that matters! That is why we wrote the book, proclaims the royal
- [Put the blame on Jack Cole: 'GILDA' to glisten again at 'Noir City DC'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/28/put-the-blame-on-jack-cole-gilda-to-shimmer-at-noir-city-dc-festival/): First, she's wicked cold. Then, she's sizzling hot. She's Gilda, unmatched as the titular temptress of the 1946 film noir directed by Charles Vidor and produced by Virginia Van Upp at Columbia Pictures -- a vehicle created for Rita Hayworth, the queen of the Columbia lot. It concerns a man and woman running from their
- ['Fatherland' to fete 20th anniversary German Currents Film Festival in Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/21/fatherland-to-open-20th-annual-german-currents-film-festival-in-los-angeles/): An enduring cultural landmark galvanizing community in Los Angeles for two decades, GERMAN CURRENTS FILM FESTIVAL has connected audiences with outstanding German cinema and fostered cultural exchange through film. The upcoming 20th anniversary edition emphasizes the festival’s mission of building empathy and understanding through storytelling, especially in a polarized world. Of the twelve screenings on
- [Hooray for the Houstonians! Segerstrom Center to open dance season with Houston Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/21/hooray-for-the-houstonians-segerstrom-center-to-open-dance-season-with-houston-ballet/): When we think of Houston Ballet, our thoughts go to Sir Ben Stevenson, who, as the company's artistic leader from 1976 to 2003, expanded a regional troupe into an acclaimed ensemble. Sir Ben, he of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, just passed away in March of this year. While Stevenson's forte was story ballets (he
- [Sweet sonic renderings of Mozart by Angela Hewitt to soothe, stimulate, elevate audience](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/18/sweet-sonic-mozartian-renderings-by-angela-hewitt-to-soothe-stimulate/): We are frazzled, ferklempt, fed up, fatigued. The notion of an eye-sparkling, brain-tickling, ear-massaging all-Mozart program in comfortable Zipper Hall of the Colburn School seems made to order. So ... why deny yourself a good thing? Let L.A. Chamber Orchestra's careful pairing of dueling soloists, tickle your fancy and elevate your spirit. Mozart’s music can
- [Learn with Wendy Perron at the Pillow via Zoom!](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/17/learn-with-wendy-perron-at-the-pillow-via-zoom/): Jacob's Pillow is again offering a course in Dance History. Entitled Dance History 201 (101 was offered last year) the online course is taught by dance critic and author Wendy Perron, known to many as the former editor of DANCE Magazine and a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.). The online course comprises conversations with guests William Forsythe,
- [A map of Cali life: from Disneyland to Forest Lawn](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/11/a-map-of-cali-life-from-disneyland-to-forest-lawn/): "California Visionaries: The Lives and Legacies of Walt Disney and Hubert Eaton," a soon-open exhibit in the art gallery high atop the Glendale hill where sits Forest Lawn Memorial Park, explores the personal and creative relationship between Walt Disney and Forest Lawn founder Hubert Eaton. It highlights the philosophical and artistic parallels that shaped their
- [Gold, guilt, and Ethan Hawke carry 'The Weight'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/10/gold-guilt-and-ethan-hawke-carry-the-weight/): With ambitions that never exceed its reach, The Weight—presented by Vertical and directed by Padraic McKinley—delivers nearly two hours of cinematic adventure and suspense. McKinley, an experienced film editor making an impressive feature debut, anchors the film with focused performances from an exceptional cast. Set in Oregon in 1933, four years into the Great Depression,
- [Remarkable Miami concert by Juanes sparks memories, time travel, generational pass-thru](https://artsmeme.com/2026/09/08/juanes-in-miami-concert-sparking-memories-a-return-and-pass-along-to-next-gen/): ed. note: artsmeme is delighted to publish a special story contributed by arts journalist jordan levin writing from miami. I took my daughter, Romina, to Friday night’s concert by Juanes at Miami’s Kaseya Center, a wonderful and nearly overwhelming experience that took me back to some of my most exhilarating moments as Latin music critic
- [Pulling out the stops: Vail Dance Fest livestreams dozen world premieres in 2026 closing night](https://artsmeme.com/2026/08/11/pulling-out-all-stops-vail-dance-fest-livestreams-dozen-world-premieres-in-2026-closing-night/): Chloe Misseldine and Ryan Tomash in rehearsal with Alexei Ratmansky for his new work at the 2026 Vail Dance Festival wet to premiere on Monday, August 10. Photo by Chris Kendig. The annual two-week Vail Dance Festival is always an intense burst of creative and collaborative energy, but this year’s programs and casts have been
- [Major Los Angeles roll-out for 'Jazzed,' long-awaited Jack Cole biography](https://artsmeme.com/2026/07/06/major-los-angeles-roll-out-for-jazzed-long-awaited-jack-cole-biography/): Just as its subject did in real life, JAZZED: Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance, the biography of the dancer/choreographer Jack Cole, is hitting the ground running in Los Angeles. The options for attending book events are numerous. We welcome you to join us any and all of them. Please purchase JAZZED at one of
- [REVIEW: If it gets too real … Hollywood, horror, and desire at Camp Miasma](https://artsmeme.com/2026/07/29/review-if-it-gets-too-real-hollywood-horror-and-desire-at-camp-miasma/): Wait a minute. You thought the slasher reboot had nothing left to say? Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun and distributed by MUBI, begs to differ. Starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder in two trenchant, beguiling roles, the film is a dense, cerebral feast—richly layered, occasionally exhausting, hard
- [REVIEW: New York City Ballet disappoints in mixed-rep evening at the Chandler](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/26/review-new-york-city-ballet-disappoints-in-mixed-rep-evening-at-the-chandler/): It was very strange. New York City Ballet, in its first visit to Los Angeles in supposedly twenty years (by my count it's longer) delivered an opening performance (Program "A") bearing just faint traces of the noble house of classical ballet that for seventy-five years has occupied the highest perch of our nation's performing arts
- [A cuisine deeply immersed in the natural world: 'Washoku' exhibit at Japan House](https://artsmeme.com/2026/07/20/a-cuisine-deeply-immersed-in-the-natural-world-washoku-exhibit-at-japan-house/): What is washoku? Well, for a society (ours, in America) that spawned food as a commodity, viz, the McDonald's hamburger, it's nearly too subtle a concept to grasp. Much more than its literal translation as “Japanese food,” washoku is a unique culinary tradition shaped by the distinctive environment of the Japanese archipelago, thousands of years
- [Man on the run, in summer 2026 staycation fun, 'North by Northwest' at the Old Globe in San Diego](https://artsmeme.com/2026/07/09/on-the-run-in-summer-2026-staycation-fun-north-by-northwest-at-the-globe-in-san-diego/): A very fun day trip, even consider traveling south by train. British theater legend Emma Rice brings to the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego's Balboa Park her inventive take on the Alfred Hitchcock classic North by Northwest in a production hailed as “an undoubted triumph” (WhatsOnStage). When ad man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for
- [Catch that train! Choo-Choo Revue at Bob Baker Marionette Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2026/07/01/catch-that-train-choo-choo-revue-at-bob-baker-marionette-theatre/): This gorgeous puppet at left, a train conductor from Ye Olden Daze, will be your tour guide as children off all ages (including Debra and Jackie, once very-young ladies) gear up for a trip on a locomotive in the newest and latest original show presented by the creative folk at Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. Nothing
- [REVIEW: New York City Ballet dances afresh at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/29/review-new-york-city-ballet-dances-afresh-at-the-dorothy-chandler-pavilion/): The last time New York City Ballet performed at the Los Angeles Music Center, in October 2004, three programs of repertory were on offer: Program A: Who Cares?, Agon, Symphony in C (all Balanchine) Program B: Concerto Barocco (Balanchine), Hallelujah Junction (Peter Martins), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine), I'm Old Fashioned (Robbins) Program C: Serenade (Balanchine), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Balanchine) and Carnival
- [Voyage into humanity: Diavolo's 'Escape' in final performance days](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/07/voyage-into-humanity-diavolos-escape-in-final-performance-days/): The word is oft-used to the point of cliche: a performance piece described as a 'journey,' or a 'voyage.' And yet, in the cozy confines of Diavolo's sauna-like performance space (L'Espace) impresario Jacques Heim's extraordinary spectacle, "Escape," offers precisely that. For indeed, there's the train, there's the space pod, there's the wagon wheel, and there's
- [REVIEW: 'Force of Nature' Natalia Osipova brings music/dance ecstasy to Carmel, California](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/01/force-of-nature-natalia-osipova-brings-the-ecstasy-of-dance-and-music-to-carmel-california/): Natalia Osipova, the Russian-born Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet who crossed one ocean and a full continent to share her woman-led “Force of Nature” at Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea, brought tears to eyes in one work of a rich mixed-repertory program -- and it was a surprise. Rather than her excursions as "Giselle" in
- [Jack Cole/Marilyn Monroe pairing captured in new Cole biography 'JAZZED' writes Forbes journalist](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/09/forbes-lauds-jack-cole-marilyn-monroe-pairing-captured-in-new-cole-biography-jazzed/): Ed. note: On May 27, 2026, Forbes magazine contributor, R. Daniel Foster, a Los Angeles arts journalist, ventured where few other writers did in celebrating the birth centenary of Marilyn Monroe . He revealed the actress's six motion picture relationship with the choreographer Jack Cole and in doing so, announced the forthcoming Jack Cole biography,
- [Shopping spree! New York City Ballet at the Los Angeles Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/05/shopping-spree-new-york-city-ballet-at-the-los-angeles-music-center/): It's been quite a run in the local arts community of late. We have a stunning new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the squiggly protoplasm of a structure that is the love child of LACMA director Michael Govan in tandem with architect/designer Peter Zumpthor. We have an exciting new conductor/music director of the Los
- [TCM Fest 2026: a memorable tour of classic movies in Chinese Multiplex #4](https://artsmeme.com/2026/06/03/tcm-fest-2026-a-memorable-tour-of-classic-movies-in-chinese-multiplex-4/): The "campus" of TCM Fest, which just wrapped its 17th outing for 2026, is circumscribed by the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Egyptian Theatre, and all movie-theater points in between. That includes the majestic TCL Chinese Theater, where no matter where you sit the images bouncing from a massive screen will find your eyes and
- ['Miss You, Love You': Not your mother's 'Mommy Dearest'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/05/26/film-review-not-your-mothers-mommy-dearest/): Allison Janney’s embittered widow in Miss You, Love You, ‘Diane Patterson,’ may be an unlikely candidate for Ms. Congeniality 2026. But Janney’s powerful performance in the new HBO film should prove a serious contender at the Emmys this fall. Indeed, it’s one of three potential nominations for Janney this year for her TV work, including
- [Bassist Henry Franklin recognized as Jazz Journalists Assn 'Jazz Hero'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/05/18/bassist-henry-franklin-recognized-as-jja-jazz-hero/): On Friday May 15, in that corner of our city that has become a hallowed spot for live jazz performances, artsmeme jazz writer Kirk Silsbee presented bassist Henry Franklin with the Jazz Journalists Association's 2026 Jazz Hero Award. For the occasion, Silsbee shared his appreciation of Franklin with artsmeme. They call bassist Henry Franklin 'The
- [Film review: 'Silent Friend' mines the roots of human connection](https://artsmeme.com/2026/05/12/film-review-silent-friend-mines-the-roots-of-human-connection/): At the center of Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend stands a majestic, centuries-old, ginkgo tree. Located in the provincial botanic gardens of Marburg University in Germany, it bears witness to the lives of three people across three generations who attempt to connect with the natural world around them. More than a linking device anchoring their stories
- [As eternal as the tree: Redwood Room still reigns at Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/27/as-eternal-as-the-tree-redwood-room-still-reigns-at-clift-royal-sonesta-hotel/): Conservationist and Sierra Club founder John Muir famously said, “Come to the forest, for here is rest.” It is not known whether Muir sagely followed with, “After your rest, journey to the Redwood Room at the Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel for a custom cocktail." We jest, and yet we don’t. Ever since its inauguration, literally
- [Symphonic Jazz Orchestra 'Salute to Maurice White' includes world premiere of elusive composition](https://artsmeme.com/2026/05/05/symphonic-jazz-orchestra-salute-to-maurice-white-includes-world-premiere-of-elusive-composition/): We cannot resist the allure of Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO)'s “Salute to Maurice White” showcases this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday evenings. The 68-member Symphonic Jazz Orchestra conducted by Mitch Glickman has in store an evening honoring the legacy of Earth, Wind & Fire founder. As though song covers were not enough fun as delivered
- [Through the doors of Abbey Road Studios -- at The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/01/through-the-doors-of-abbey-road-studios-at-the-wallis/): Remember the famous shot ...? Taken a few seconds after this one? The crosswalk photo of the Beatles crossing in London's St John’s Wood before their recording session at Abbey Road Studios, in which the image of a barefooted Paul McCartney spawned a crazed conspiracy theory that Paul was dead? And that John Lennon's subterfuging
- [What is Alonzo King's 'Deep River' ?](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/18/what-is-alonzo-kings-deep-river/): It's a rare circumstance that we in Southern California have two viewing possibilities of an artistic-and-timely, multi-disciplinary work uniting a top-notch dance company with jazz artists, also of the highest caliber. Deep River by the San Francisco-based Alonzo King LINES Ballet features a score by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran, and in
- [REVIEW: BODYTRAFFIC's Wallis residency opens strongly](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/01/review-company-in-residence-bodytraffic-the-wallis/): 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, BODYTRAFFIC, Company-in-Residence at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, found the middle ground in
- [When modern dance forged a powerful Zeitgeist: 'Dancing With Bob' at The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2026/05/04/when-modern-dance-forged-a-powerful-zeitgeist-dancing-with-bob-at-the-wallis/): The excitement of the era was palpable, and that's my true memory -- not just because I was then young but because it was good. And now we hope to encounter it once more, in the rear view mirror. For in the sixties and seventies, modern dance stood at the epicenter of all in American
- [MJ dances](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/10/mj-dances/): In consideration of Michael Jackson's dancing.
- [California Jazz Foundation fetes two decades of jazz giving](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/20/california-jazz-foundation-fetes-two-decades-of-jazz-giving/): California Jazz Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration | The OMNI Hotel, Los Angeles | April 11 Twenty years ago, attorney Edythe Bronston heard about a destitute Northern California jazz musician. She called some friends together and, around her dinner table, passed the hat. The California Jazz Foundation was born that night. Bronston began the long process
- ['Letty Lynton' enters the 21st century at TCM Fest 2026](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/20/letty-lynton-enters-the-21st-century-at-tcm-fest-2026/): The movie had its last public screening in January 1936. Ninety years later we're so looking forward to a screening of Letty Lynton (1932) at this year's TCM Classic Film Festival, which artsmeme attends annually. It's a lethal tale of a Manhattan socialite, her fiance and her vindictive ex-lover, and somehow, somehow, this insidious, risque
- [Let's rally 'round DIAVOLO, Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/08/lets-rally-round-diavolo-los-angeles/): When all the jungle gyms, cages, blocks, ramps, and roller balls are disassembled, loaded into trucks, and stored off site -- then what? Put up the feet, crack open a beer, and feel fantastic -- then head home to collapse, exhilarated but exhausted. The next morning, in trickle the dancers to the studio, to quietly
- [Masterful new work, 'Legacy,' brings Alonzo King painterly choreography to fore](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/15/masterful-new-work-legacy-brings-alonzo-king-painterly-choreography-to-fore/): The great Broadway dancer Gwen Verdon said of her mentor, the film choreographer Jack Cole, “He was a painter.” Naturally Ms. Verdon meant that Mr. Cole painted in space with bodies. That analogy sprang to mind while watching “Legacy,” an impressively coherent and mature new work performed by Alonzo King LINES Ballet in its much-anticipated
- [Meet Natalie Portman's evil twin, body double Kimberly Prosa](https://artsmeme.com/2010/11/21/meet-natalie-portmans-evil-twin-body-double-kimberly-prosa/): I enjoyed a chat with dancer Kimberly Prosa, who acted as body double for Natalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN.
- [Sip & learn: fun cocktail-hour speaker series at Royal Clift Sonesta Hotel Redwood Room](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/12/sip-learn-fun-cocktail-hour-speaker-series-at-royal-clift-sonesta-hotel-redwood-room/): At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.9 struck along the San Andreas Fault, violently shaking San Francisco and the surrounding region. Buildings collapsed, streets split open, and gas lines ruptured. In the hours that followed, fires ignited across the city and burned for three days, destroying more than
- [Triggered, in a good way, by Roy Rogers](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/22/triggered-in-a-good-way-by-roy-rogers/): The last thing on earth I thought I would bring so much joy was a Roy Rogers and Trigger movie, seen yesterday at the excellent Cinecon Classic Film Festival pop-up fundraiser at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo. But it was so fresh! An array of wholesome good guys plagued by nefarious bad
- [American street strife & struggle rendered as art by painter Cole Case](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/20/american-street-strife-rendered-innocuous-by-cole-case-2/): Call it agit-prop, call it hyperreal, or street art, whatever label you prefer. These provocative paintings by artist Cole Case (b. 1961) scream how quickly the trappings of authoritarianism have taken hold and normalized under the Trump administration. And how inured we are by the sight of them. Frozen moments of extreme violence between fellow
- [A lotta 'ham' in delicious SPAMALOT, at the Pantages](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/03/a-lotta-ham-in-delicious-spamalot-at-the-pantages/): Yes, there's food to go around in Monty Python's SPAMALOT, now on at the Pantages Theater through April 12, presented by Broadway-in-Hollywood. Naturally (rather, unnaturally) there is the titular Spam in a can, in oversized display. (Nothing in this campy, outre, show is discreet.) The Frenchies bring baguettes-et-fromage, and even a nasty rabbit, with which
- [Dance scholars recognized with awards in New York](https://artsmeme.com/2016/11/04/thinkers-of-dance-honored/): Two of our smartest and best ... and nicest ... dance scholars are being honored in New York City this fall. On November 21, the Martha Hill Dance Fund will grant a Lifetime Achievement Award recipients to author/critic Deborah Jowitt at the Manhattan Penthouse in New York City. Journalist/critic Deborah Jowitt began to write a regular
- [Faded Los Angeles beauty to get a facelift: Lasky-DeMille Barn](https://artsmeme.com/2012/03/22/lasky-demille-barn-latest-faded-los-angeles-beauty-to-get-facelift/): We all reach the day when we need a beauty treatment. Luckily, Paramount Pictures is heeding the call of the old girl herself, the Lasky DeMille Barn.
- [The 'Barn' has a 125th birthday!](https://artsmeme.com/2026/04/02/the-barn-has-a-birthday/): Well, the movies were so much better, for starters. But the town was also fresh, infinitely less populated and untrammeled. It had a functioning mass transportation system, the Red Car. By night, the perfume of orange blossoms lingered; and by day, an array of creatives contributed to the manufacture of a commercial art product on
- [Remembering Republic Pictures](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/23/remembering-republic-pictures/): Yet another fun and educational "Evening at the Barn" from Hollywood Heritage: a salute to feisty film studio, Republic Pictures.
- [The George & Barrie show at the Barn](https://artsmeme.com/2017/01/05/the-george-barrie-show-at-the-barn-jan-11/): We call it "The Barn." Only in Los Angeles could a barn occupy dead center of a huge city! It's the home of Hollywood Heritage, the esteemed group of film aficionados who gather in the historic structure where Cecil B. DeMille and his partner, Jesse Lasky, shot Hollywood's first feature film, "The Squaw Man" circa
- [At Jacob's Pillow, with dance writers](https://artsmeme.com/2011/08/13/at-jacobs-pillow-with-dance-writers/): Drawn to the Berkshires by an touching inter-generational mix of post-modern-dance artistry, it was a full house of dance writers at Jacob's Pillow tonight.
- [CARMEN.maquia's hybrid story-ballet for the 21st century](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/21/carmen-maquia-a-hybrid-story-ballet-for-the-21st-century/): The story of an unfettered, wildly flirtatious, seemingly destructive young woman ruled by her emotions and sex appeal has deep cultural roots. Carmen was originally published as a novella by French writer Prosper Mérimée in 1845. Then, in 1875 (exactly 150 years ago), Georges Bizet’s vastly popular opera premiered in Paris. In 2012, the Spanish
- [Lafftime: Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch](https://artsmeme.com/2009/09/25/monty-pythons-dead-parrot-sketch/): It's bleeding demised. It's not pining... It's passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolic processes are now
- [Musical melange: 'Moulin Rouge' at Pantages](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/11/moulins-musical-mayhem-at-the-pantages/): It packs a wallop. But gosh, getting walloped this way is so much fun. I experienced a nearly constant state of joy witnessing the ballistic pageant of song, dance, and bombast better as Moulin Rouge: The Musical, now on at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Not since the ornate theater's vaudeville days has its gilded
- [Hippies invade Hollywood!](https://artsmeme.com/2011/01/22/hippies-invade-hollywood/): It was an invasion of hippies at the Pantages Theater on Friday night when the weird cult dedicated to peace, flowers, freedom and happiness took over the vintage Hollywood Boulevard theater. No cell phones or computers were allowed at this be-in.
- [Where art meets science in the brain: 'UnRavelled' at The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/29/where-art-meets-science-in-the-brain-unravelled-at-the-wallis/): UnRavelled is based on the true-life story about the remarkable link between biologist/painter Dr. Anne Adams (1940–2007) and French composer Maurice Ravel 1875–1937), both of whom lived with the same brain disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), almost 100 years apart. Anne abandons her prestigious career in science after becoming inexplicably consumed by a desire to paint.
- [FILM REVIEW: Future fast-forward in 'The AI Doc'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/23/future-fast-forward-in-the-ai-doc-film-review/): The future ain’t what it used to be. For one thing, it’s closer. Certainly a lot closer than when Arthur C. Clarke predicted, in 1964, that the nascent computers of his day would evolve from “high speed morons” to machines that would “completely outthink their makers.” That future, for co-directors Daniel Roher (Navalny) and Charlie
- ['Global warming' in a good way: road trip to San Diego includes Old Globe's 'Noises Off'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/15/global-warming-in-a-good-way-road-trip-to-san-diego-includes-old-globes-noises-off/): If, for whatever reason, we go to San Diego, the first thing we do is check what's on at The Old Globe -- if only because the bustling and buzzing Plaza patio is such a nice place to be with people and enjoy a cold beer before the performance. Nestled in the corner of Balboa
- [Mr. Chalamet, come on down](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/11/mr-chalamet-come-on-down/): “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive,’ even though no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there …" A note from artsmeme's founder/publisher/editor: Any incursion into freedom of speech, coupled with mob beat-up on the Internet,
- [Unquestionably 'Q': MUSE/ique's homage to the great Quincy Jones](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/07/unquestionably-q-muse-iques-homage-to-the-great-quincy-jones/): Boy, we had fun at The Wallis last night at MUSE/ique’s QUINCY’S WORLD, celebrating the great conductor/composer/arranger/horn player known and beloved as “Q,” in his decades-long, so-influential career essentially reshaping American popular music. MUSE/ique founder and charming curator/host Rachel Worby culled selections from no less than Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne and,
- [Restored rarity, 'House of Strangers,' to culminate one-day CINECON Pop-Up fundraiser](https://artsmeme.com/2026/03/14/restored-rarity-house-of-strangers-to-culminate-one-day-cinecon-pop-up-fundraiser/): We all need a break; we all need time out. And thanks to the savvy programmers of the valued annual classic film festival, CINECON, upcoming in its 62nd year, we don't have to wait till Labor Day to get one. CINECON'S annual four-day dawn-till-dark festival is having an amuse-bouche in the form of a single
- ["Fly out!" cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died.](https://artsmeme.com/2012/04/27/fly-out-miriam-rochlin-the-los-angeles-dancer-and-dance-teacher-has-died/): A wonderful woman and a strong contributor to Los Angeles dance has passed away, Miriam Rochlin.
- [Lourdes Lopez to succeed Edward Villella at Miami City Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2012/04/03/lourdes-lopez-to-succeed-edward-villella-as-artistic-director-of-miami-city-ballet/): Announcing the new artistic director of Miami City Ballet, Lourdes Lopez.
- [To south of France, for 'Montpellier Danse'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/24/artsmeme-to-south-of-france-for-montpellier-danse/): Launching in its 44th year is a summer dance festival known for edgy, forward-looking content in an ancient, historic city: Montpellier Danse. France’s eighth-largest city, gleams with Mediterranean sun bathing its beautiful, walkable historic center. For the first time ever, artsmeme will attend the dance festival. At right, from choreographer Dimitri Chamblas's 'takemehome' The festival
- [Olivia de Havilland: still fighting “Feuds” at 101](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/03/olivia-de-havilland-still-fighting-feuds-at-101/): Revelations of predatory behavior against women first exposed in the film industry have spread to other corridors of power. The headlines have overshadowed a parallel story involving the shameless disrespect of an iconic figure of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She fought for, and changed, the way the entertainment business is conducted. That woman, now 101 years
- [Mystifying admiration for 'It Was Just an Accident'](https://artsmeme.com/2026/01/15/mystifying-admiration-for-it-was-just-an-accident/): I don't enjoy movies that depict human torture. Even if gussied up as black comedy -- the intended genre of It Was Just an Accident a movie-du-moment made on the sly by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Replete with predictable, cliched plot twists, awkward staging, and gauche, non-professional performances, Accident won the Palme d'Or at the
- [Northward-bound ... for San Francisco Ballet 'NEXT@90' anniversary celeb](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/25/northward-bound-for-san-francisco-ballet-next90/): I'm heading north -- to attend a friend's birthday party. That is, San Francisco Ballet, the oldest extant classical-ballet company in our nation. Established in 1933 by Adolf Bolm, and developed artistically and institutionally by three ballet brothers, Willam, Lew and Harold Christensen, the SFB staged the first full-length American productions of Coppélia (1938) and Swan Lake (1940).
- [Strangers-on-a-Tram meet at Montpellier's Hotel 'Richer de Belleval'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/09/strangers-on-a-tram-meet-at-montpelliers-hotel-richer-de-belleval/): You've heard of the Hitchcock thriller, Strangers on a Train (1951), in French, L'Inconnu du Nord-Express, starring Robert Walker and Farley Granger, based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. But have you heard of "Strangers on a Tram"? I hadn't either, not until my visit to the beautiful, historic and aesthetic city of Montpellier in
- [Alice Coltrane meets Alonzo King](https://artsmeme.com/2026/01/27/alice-coltrane-jason-moran-meet-alonzo-king-at-the-soraya/): As The Soraya’s fifth annual Jazz at Naz Festival draws near, the first jazz moves will come courtesy of a sister art form, dance. The debut performance of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Saturday, Feb. 21, will feature the acclaimed San Francisco-based contemporary-classical ballet company in a very new work by Artistic Director Alonzo King. The choreographer’s Ode
- [Moving pictures! Oscar's Best Animated Feature films appreciated](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/26/moving-pictures-oscar-nominees-for-best-animated-feature-films/): Netflix’s top movie of the year? Frankenstein? Jay Kelly? Knives Out 3? Nope, nope, and still, nope. With apologies to Guillermo del Toro, George Clooney and Detective Benoit Blanc, it turns out the animated feature KPop Demon Hunters was not only Netflix’s most popular film of 2025, but now ranks as the most-watched movie in
- [Everything happened to Art Pepper, a jazz lamentation](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/25/everything-happened-to-art-pepper-a-jazz-lamentation/): Los Angeles in the 1950s was awash in jazz alto saxophone talent. Art Pepper, Sonny Criss, Bud Shank, Herb Geller, Joe Maini, Sonny Stitt (for a time), Frank Morgan, Buddy Collette, Charlie Mariano, Vi Redd, Ornette Coleman, Henry Pryor, Anthony Ortega, Eric Dolphy, Sweetpea Robinson, Lennie Niehaus, Don Hill, Earl Anderza, Jimmy Woods, Lenny Hambro,
- [Carmel's natural beauty to be enhanced in Osipova visit](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/13/carmels-natural-beauty-to-be-enhanced-in-osipova-visit/): It's the small-town gem of the Monterey Peninsula, one of the most gorgeous of natural environments in a state, California, that has them a-plenty. And she? Well she is the Russian-born, Bolshoi-trained prima ballerina, now a principal dancer with London's Royal Ballet, who, for decades, has occupied the tip-top rung on the international ballet pecking
- [Oscars gone global: nominated feature films in overview](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/12/oscars-gone-global-nominated-feature-films-in-overview/): Like no other film this year, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s neo-noir political thriller, The Secret Agent,conjures a time and place with immersive, and utterly absorbing detail. The time: 1977. The place: Recife, a steaming city in northeastern Brazil. The military dictatorship is at the height of its power. Carnival is in full swing – with the
- [REVIEW: 'Mayerling''s tornado at the Chandler](https://artsmeme.com/2019/07/06/tornado-at-the-chandler/): Last night, at 8:20 pm, most of Los Angeles experienced a 7.1-magnitude earthquake. But those viewing Kenneth McMillan's sprawling historic dance-drama, Mayerling, performed by the Royal Ballet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center, had to settle for a tornado. For on opening night of the Royal's rare visit to Los
- [Message from Rachel Moore, Music Center chief executive in response to Kennedy Center closure](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/04/message-from-rachel-moore-music-center-chief-executive-in-response-to-kennedy-center-closure/): The recent announcement regarding the temporary closure of the newly named Trump Kennedy Center for a minimum of two years has understandably raised concern across the cultural landscape. As leaders, artists, administrators, educators and community members, we must consider both the immediate consequences of this decision and its broader implications for the arts in our
- [Back to the '80s: TCM's pop-up screenings and celebrity talks at 92NY](https://artsmeme.com/2026/02/02/back-to-the-80s-tcms-pop-up-screenings-and-celebrity-talks-at-92ny/): On a sunny but bitterly cold and wintry Saturday I had the fun assignment of covering the TCM Classic Film Festival Pop-Up x 92NY in the Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street "Y." There, I joined several hundred fellow New Yorkers in shrugging off the tundra for an afternoon of conversation coupled with screenings.
- [Scintillating screening of Shirley Clarke shorts at Dance Camera West](https://artsmeme.com/2026/01/28/scintillating-screening-of-shirley-clarke-shorts-at-dance-camera-west/): Like many exigent artists of the era, Clarke was said to wield a strong personality untethered. And yet, what a steady hand she operated with her camera. Clarke also challenged the structures of filmmaking away from the camera and co-founded the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative (with Jonas Mekas) and then the New York Film-Makers’ Distribution
- [Dark Iranian roads, dark Iranian memories: 'It Was Just an Accident'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/10/dark-iranian-roads-dark-iranian-memories-it-was-just-an-accident/): On the outskirts of Tehran, a young couple with their precocious daughter in tow reaches out to a local mechanic late one night after experiencing car trouble on a dimly lit road. What ensues is an unexpected comedy of errors-cum-spotlight on Iranian’s authoritarian regime as the bumbling mechanic, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), becomes convinced that the
- [FILM REVIEW: 'The President's Cake,' a young heart's perilous journey](https://artsmeme.com/2026/01/15/film-review-a-young-hearts-perilous-journey-the-presidents-cake/): From the opening scenes of The President's Cake, presented by Sony Pictures Classics and written and directed by Hasan Hadi in his first full-length feature, peril permeates every scene. The film returns us to Iraq in 1990, when the United States was waging war and aerial bombardment had become a daily fact of life. The
- [Sergei Polunin's glowing moment in Southern California](https://artsmeme.com/2016/08/23/sergei-polunin-southern-california/): Ballet wunderkind Sergei Polunin arrives to our world, on stage and in film.
- [Memories of Lorenz Hart, Ann Sothern friendship sparked by Linklater 'BLUE MOON'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/12/17/memories-of-ann-sothern-lorenz-hart-friendship-sparked-by-linklater-blue-moon/): Lorenz Hart's rhythms and lyrics had a distinctive timing that an almost unrecognizable Ethan Hawke miraculously transforms into the legendary lyricist in BLUE MOON, director Richard Linklater's exploration of the complex wordsmith. The film takes place in Sardi's, Broadway's renowned restaurant, on the night of the premiere of OKLAHOMA!, a massive musical hit for composer Richard
- [Searing rave dancing gives SIRAT its human pleasure at Avalon screening](https://artsmeme.com/2026/01/08/searing-rave-dancing-gives-sirat-its-human-pleasure/): When invited to a screening of Spain’s nominee for an Academy Award, SIRĀT, I was promised an immersive live score-to-picture accompaniment by the film’s Oscar-nominated Kangking Ray, an experimental electronic musician. I anticipated if not the L.A. Phil, then, at minimum, a chamber orchestra. When arriving to Hollywood's Avalon Theater to find evidence of no
- [Luminario Ballet on high meets LedZAerial in the orchestra pit](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/04/luminario-ballet-on-high-meets-ledzaerial-symphony-in-the-orchestra-pit/): I find watching the superb aerial-ballet artists of Luminario Ballet at a chill venue like The Avalon of Hollywood to be one of the more fun experiences of my annual arts calendar. An upcoming gala/fundraiser event November 3 is billed as an "immersive dance journey via contemporary ballet en pointe, acrobatics, and aerial dance in
- ['Love Always' by air and by ground from Luminario Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/24/love-always-by-air-and-by-ground-from-luminario-ballet/): Judith Flex Helle, the longtime creative force behind Luminario Ballet, along with co-director Damien Diaz, put on a wonderful, festive, engaging show. For their annual gala this year, the theme is “Amor Siempré - Love Always.” I enjoy the selection of venue, the Avalon Hollywood, a roomy, high-ceiling'ed hotspot that can accommodate all viewing experiences,
- [Heartwarming 'Nutcracker' from Inland Pacific Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2025/12/22/heartwarming-nutcracker-from-inland-pacific-ballet/): We're so lucky in Southern California to have a major staging like American Ballet Theatre's "The Nutcracker" at Segerstrom Center for the Arts -- a production blessed by live symphonic accompaniment of the performance. But there's every reason to support local "Nutcracker"s as well -- ABT would certainly concur. My first viewing of Inland Pacific
- ['Ballets With a Twist' leads the way in reaching new audiences](https://artsmeme.com/2018/12/17/ballets-with-a-twist-reaches-new-audiences/): It doesn't feel like they do it to fulfill a foundation, or government, or 'outreach' grant -- although they certainly deserve one. They seem to do it by instinct, by coupling brains, creativity, and talent with a genuine desire to connect and entertain. That's why I applaud boutique ballet company 'Ballets With a Twist' for
- [Timely documentary, 'SHUFFLE,' depicts shortfalls of addiction treatment industry](https://artsmeme.com/2025/12/17/timely-documentary-shuffle-depicts-shortfalls-of-addiction-treatment-industry/): It's not just those of us in Los Angeles who feel shattered by a pair of heinous murders, one coming directly after the other in a confluence so notable that the second could be a copycat event. People around the world are registering sorrow at the human depravity so viciously enacted in our fair city
- [Albert Finney, a renegade who influenced a generation of actors](https://artsmeme.com/2019/02/20/albert-finney-actor-remembered-feted/): Our very good friend of arts·meme, Mike Kaplan, sends a heartfelt tribute to the great English actor who passed away on February 7, 2019. Writes Mike, Albert Finney (1936-2019) was a giant talent. His vibrant, unpredictable, mischievous, challenging presence was as seismic a change for a generation of actors as Marlon Brando was years prior.
- [The new American intolerance: Gish Film Theater shorn of name](https://artsmeme.com/2019/06/24/the-new-american-intolerance-gish-film-theater-shorn-of-name/): ed. note: With a heavy heart, we publish words submitted by Mike Kaplan, a friend of artsmeme whose peerless collection of dance movie posters now hangs at the National Dance Museum in Saratoga Springs. Mike, the producer of 'The Whales of August' (1987) starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish, is at the forefront of controversy
- [FILM REVIEW: Timothee Chalamet triumphs in ping-pong tale 'Marty Supreme'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/12/15/pinging-the-academy-late-entry-marty-supreme/): Against the odds, A24’s late entry to the Oscar race, Marty Supreme, has quickly positioned itself amongst this year’s awards season frontrunners, sidling alongside Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, for pole position. On paper, it should be a non-starter. The saga of a professional ping pong
- [Rolling Broadway home with 'Merrily'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/12/14/rolling-broadway-home-with-merrily/): Merrily We Roll Along, presented by Sony Pictures Classics, is a holiday treat for those who missed the recent Tony Award-winning revival in New York City—and wish they hadn’t. This film falls into the category of works that record live performances without any added documentary content, much like the filmed version of Hamilton, which lets
- [REVIEW: Brendan Fraser, aka 'Sad American,' finds joy in RENTAL FAMILY](https://artsmeme.com/2025/11/18/review-brendan-fraser-as-the-sad-american-gives-joy-in-rental-family/): Rental Family, which premiered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, is a charming tale of human connection drawing inspiration from one of the more offbeat sidebars of contemporary Japanese culture. First described in a 2018 New Yorker article (and more skeptically considered by Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC in 2019), the new dramedy from Japanese
- [A masterpiece of dance on film: Jack Cole's "Happy Ending"](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/26/a-masterpiece-of-dance-on-film-jack-coles-happy-endings/): Jack Cole had it going on in so much of his work, but never more so than in "Happy Ending" from ON THE RIVIERA (1951).
- [Jack Cole dancer George Martin dies](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/14/jack-cole-dancer-george-martin-dies/): George Martin, who along with his wife Ethel, were key members of Jack Cole's dance group based at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, who also toured with Cole in nightclubs, and performed in his shows on Broadway, died in Atlanta. Martin kept the flame burning for Cole over the past decades and we are grateful.
- [Ethel Merman: Take her out to the ballgame](https://artsmeme.com/2025/11/10/ethel-merman-on-broadway-and-in-ballparks/): Ed. note: Friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.) Mike Kaplan shared this special memory that gives a taste of Broadway diva Ethel Merman's un-diva-like behavior. It also illustrates a bright stroke by Gypsy director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. If 'Ethel Merman only gave her best on opening night," as the late Arthur Laurents attested to Terry Gross on FRESH
- [Connoisseur collection of dance-movie posters grace Barnsdall exhibit](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/19/connoisseur-collection-of-dance-film-movie-posters-grace-barnsdall-park-exhibit/): The vintage posters of collector Mike Kaplan, beautifully hung throughout the lobby area of the basement theater of Barnsdall Park in East Hollywood, focus on dance films.
- [Preeminent dance movie posters @ Barnsdall](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/21/mike-kaplans-dance-movie-posters-on-display-barnsdall-receptio/): An opening reception for a world-class dance movie poster collection April 30, 2013.
- [The dancing Douglases](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/13/the-dancing-douglases/): Love of dance runs in families ... in this case the granddaughter of actor Melvyn Douglas discovers her dance gene.
- [Let Anniversary Classics entertain you ... with GYPSY](https://artsmeme.com/2017/09/05/let-anniversary-classics-entertain-you-with-gypsy/): Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 55th anniversary screening of GYPSY, the 1962 film adaptation of one of the masterworks of the American musical theater, renowned for its hummable Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne score. The film version stars Natalie Wood as burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee, Rosalind Russell as Momma Rose, the ultimate
- [Trey McIntyre, the pride of Boise and beyond](https://artsmeme.com/2012/11/22/trey-mcintyre-the-pride-of-boise-and-beyond/): Introduces our interview with Trey McIntyre for the Los Angeles Times on Thanksgiving Day, 2012.
- [Taking A.I.M, at the Carpenter Center, with Kyle Abraham, Jermaine Spivey](https://artsmeme.com/2025/11/16/taking-a-i-m-at-the-carpenter-center-kyle-abraham-jermaine-spivey/): Our man Kyle Abraham, the handsome and quietly charismatic artistic director of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, popped onto a Zoom call fresh from LAX—if such a thing is possible. The heralded choreographer, 48, had just flown in from New York where, two nights prior, he stood on a Lincoln Center stage behind his gal pal,
- [Female-driven cinema in strong showing at The American French Film Festival 2025](https://artsmeme.com/2025/11/06/female-driven-cinema-in-strong-showing-at-the-american-french-film-festival-2025/): While across town industry women were gathering at a luncheon at the Motion Picture Academy to bemoan the regression in acceding to the top levels of American film-making, in marched The American French Film Festival 2025, as it does annually, at no less than the Director's Guild of America, an office tower that is rapidly
- [Film review: 'Nuremberg,' many voices in a struggle for cohesion](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/30/nuremberg-many-voices-in-a-struggle-for-cohesion/): I had such high hopes for Nuremberg, presented by Sony Pictures Classics. The trailer immediately piqued my interest and set the stage for what promised to be an “important” film about a crucial turning point in history. Directed by James Vanderbilt—whose only previous directing credit is Truth (2015), a drama about the Dan Rather army
- [Notes on a ghoulish October: Dance goes for the jugular](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/28/notes-on-a-ghoulish-october-dance-goes-for-the-jugular/): In three consecutive dance programs over the past month -- respectively Noche Flamenca at Pepperdine University Center for the Arts in Malibu, San Francisco Ballet at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa, and Martha Graham Dance Company, in its centennial celebration at The Soraya in Northridge -- we saw unusually harrowing displays of dance theater.
- [From Vienna via New York, Kallir gems of Austrian Expressionism gifted to LACMA](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/27/kallir-gems-of-austrian-expressionism-gifted-to-lacma/): The Louvre lost jewels. But we gained some, more than 130 works of art of which 100 are drawings. I've long since loved the County Museum's collection of German Expressionist art. Now, to expand on those core holdings, a major klatch of Austrian-based Expressionist art will join us in Los Angeles thanks to a gift
- [Proto Sly & The Family Stone: 'This is soul!'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/24/proto-sly-the-family-stone-this-is-soul/): Sly and the Family Stone’s first Epic Records hit, “Dance to the Music,” stormed up the charts and flooded dance floors in November 1967. The sound was new: psychedelic funk, propelled by rock ‘n soul drums and slashed by tight horn fusillades, driven by the leader’s foundational organ grooves and testifying singing, augmented by rhythmic
- [History from the heart: David Roussève’s 'Becoming Daddy AF'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/24/history-from-the-heart-david-rousseves-becoming-daddy-af/): His open smile. His bright presence. His arms articulating with fluid precision, threading together fragments of life, of many lives. His voice impeccably phrasing and interweaving histories in a complex skein. David Roussève's latest solo Becoming Daddy AF is one hundred minutes of grace, boldness, and virtuosic performance. After premiering in Pittsburgh last September, it
- [Melissa Hayden hops a train -- just as she hopped into the arms of Jacques d'Amboise](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/26/melissa-hayden-hops-a-train/): Melissa Hayden, one of the great eccentrics of New York City Ballet, hops a train while on tour with NYCB in Europe.
- [Diavolo's 'ESCAPE' reaches new heights of virtuosity and verve](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/21/reaching-new-heights-of-virtuosity-and-verve-in-diavolos-escape/): Diavolo’s newest dance-in-architecture showcase, “ESCAPE,” a compendium of the virtuosic troupe's action-throttling, supercharged choreography is the triumph of a three-decade pursuit of a single idea. It is the contention of Jacques Heim, Diavolo's clever-and-determined French-born Founder and Creative Director, that the human body moving in-extremis synergizes in fascinating ways with a built theatrical superstructure. The
- [REVIEW: A loving reunion for three Tharp ballets at American Ballet Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/24/review-a-loving-reunion-for-three-tharp-ballets-at-american-ballet-theatre/): American Ballet Theatre made a wise choice in opening its three-week season with a program celebrating Twyla Tharp’s sixty years as a choreographer. Tharp, who has created 16 works for the company, has always challenged ABT’s dancers to heroic heights, showcasing their individuality and technical strengths. Her three pieces on this program -- with a
- [Time has finally come today. The Chambers Bros at Levitt Pavilion](https://artsmeme.com/2017/07/26/time-has-really-come-today-the-chambers-bros-at-levitt-pavilion/): The Chambers Brothers are an American soul band, best known for its eleven ­minute long 1968 hit “Time Has Come Today”. The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements. Like their West Coast contemporaries Sly and the Family Stone, the
- [Dance review: 'FOG,' a duo of dances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/01/dance-review-fog-a-duo-of-dances-at-the-kirk-douglas-theatre/): It was a nice thing to attend a dance concert on the cusp of the fall season, nearly minutes before our major players for dance presentation in Southern California— the Music Center, Segerstrom Center, CAP-UCLA, Soraya, Carpenter Center, Broad Stage, and the Wallis—move into blast-off mode. Dance has trod a rocky road lately. A month
- [L.A. dance programmers add to U.S. trade deficit with tempting imports](https://artsmeme.com/2011/05/13/l-a-dance-programmers-add-to-u-s-trade-deficit/): A preview of the 2011-2012 Los Angeles dance season, not that the 2010-2011 season is over yet!
- [REVIEW: A well-heeded call for community: DIAVOLO's 'Existencia'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/23/existencias-call-for-community-binding-diavolo/): We all knew why we were there. We were there to remember and commemorate -- most of us having lived through it. We were there to ruminate, and then, to thank our lucky stars. For, in the ashes of the January 17, 1994 Northridge Earthquake, a 6.7-magnitude tumbler that overturned the campus of Cal State
- [Apply now! Seeking new artistic director, L.A. Dance Project](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/27/apply-now-seeking-new-artistic-director-l-a-dance-project/): arts·meme got an advance copy of the application for the newly opened position heading up L.A. Dance Project. This time 'round, they're getting it right; they are going local!
- [The Kennedy Center 2025-26 dance season that displeased Donald](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/27/kennedy-center-2025-26-dance-season-displeases-american-king/): We thought it might interest readers to see the components of The Kennedy Center's upcoming dance season, 2025-26, that ostensibly led to the firing of a three-personal professional team that curated it. Jane Rabinowitz Raleigh and her staff were preemptively fired this week, Raleigh after some twelve years in her position. But there's no doubt
- [Pas-de-genius: 'Bojangles' meets Bob Baker](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/08/pas-de-genius-bojangles-meets-bob-baker/): The great Los Angeles puppeteer, Bob Baker, channels the great dance man, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who, as he runs through his distinctive repertory of tap-dance vernacular, calls out the clever names of his invented (and inherited) steps. You're watching a charming evocation of a dance master, as brought to life by a master puppeteer. As
- [Complexions brings 'now' dances to Long Beach](https://artsmeme.com/2019/09/19/complexions-brings-dances-for-now-to-long-beach/): Complexions Contemporary Ballet continues to prod, provoke, and entertain. When choreographer Dwight Rhoden and dance-superstar Desmond Richardson co-founded their rainbow coalition of a ballet troupe in 1994, it took hold. Spurred by their mentor Alvin Ailey, the two men staked their claim on the power of dance diversity. Twenty-five years later, mainstream ballet is still
- [A dancer and an actress: Martha Graham as Jocasta in 'Night Journey'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/29/martha-graham-as-jocasta-in-night-journey-soon-at-the-soraya/): Gwen Verdon used to tell a story concerning her post-dance career. When auditioning for dramatic roles, casting agents would say, "You're a dancer. You're not an actress." Verdon bore great frustration if not resentment hearing those words. Dancers act. For a proof point, get a ticket for Martha Graham Dance Company at The Soraya this
- [Bags of cash and cinematic fancy: the return of GERMAN CURRENTS FILM FESTIVAL](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/03/bags-of-cash-and-more-from-german-filmmakers-german-currents-film-festival/): In its 19th edition, GERMAN CURRENTS 2025 returns this fall, bringing to the eyes, ears, and attention of Los Angeles and Southern California audiences the best-of-the-best of new German cinema. GERMAN CURRENTS 2025 takes place from October 17–21, with screenings at iconic venues including the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, the Los Feliz
- [arts∙meme movie round-up](https://artsmeme.com/2025/10/06/arts∙meme-movie-round-up/): Escape is more alluring than ever. Some people go to Joshua Tree and stare at a cactus. I go to the movies. Not to put too fine a point on it, but those hours in the dark are among the few waking ones in which my phone goes "off" and gets put it away. (I
- [Journeying with Martha Graham’s masterly ‘Night Journey’ at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/25/journeying-with-martha-graham/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine was commissioned the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts. Somewhere around 429 B.C., Sophocles, a titan of Greek drama, produced a knotted tale of human fate, Oedipus Rex, as a theatrical text. A saga of self-discovery, its dramatic arc hinges on two mortal taboos: murder and
- [Merce lives](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/23/merce-lives/): Merce Cunningham dances being staged around the world is a good thing.
- [Film review: 'In Balanchine's Classroom,' a dance documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/15/film-review-in-balanchines-classroom-dance-documentary/): Watching In Balanchine's Classroom, the new dance documentary directed by Connie Hochman, you wait and hope for a movie about a significant, if rarefied, subject to add up to more than the sum of its parts. But while it includes an abundance of fascinating archival photos and filmed excerpts of George Balanchine teaching and rehearsing
- [Rauschenberg a pawn in Cold War politics, asserts new doc TAKING VENICE](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/24/rauschenberg-a-pawn-in-cold-war-politics-examined-in-new-doc-taking-venice/): A new documentary that addresses a seminal moment in which the art world came mano-a-mano with political intrigue is director Amei Wallach's TAKING VENICE , from Zeitgeist Films, which opens tonight at the Laemmle Royal theatre in West Los Angeles, followed by a Q/A with the director. The doc examines the rumors that the 1964 Venice
- [Köln 75: the film ballad of Vera Brandes (and Keith Jarrett)](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/27/koln-75-the-film-ballad-of-vera-brandes-and-keith-jarrett/): Director Ido Fluk's Köln 75, distributed by Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber, is a dynamic backstage drama that navigates two worlds. It is a coming-of-age story about a young woman overcoming formidable obstacles—ageism, gender bias, and the constraints of class (in this case, her privileged upper-class background). On another level, it is a
- [John Waters celebrates Johnny Mathis](https://artsmeme.com/2010/06/09/johnny-mathis-week/): Cult film director John Waters describes his lifelong affection for singer Johnny Mathis in a book reading in Los Angeles.
- [Show some respect! for Martha Graham ... and Jack Cole](https://artsmeme.com/2020/06/27/show-some-respect-for-martha-graham-and-jack-cole/): I was intrigued to learn, while doing research, that Jack Cole, a great dance pedagogue, instructed his pupils as follows: "Jack asked us to stand when he entered the dance studio, like Martha Graham's students," one of Cole's late-life students at UCLA told me in an interview. Cole was long an admirer of Graham with
- [arts•meme selects: NYPL dance-history events](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/14/zoom-on-artsmemey-dance-history-events/): Event sharing by Zoom is kind of a miracle. For those of us outside New York it allows dance events hosted by the Dance Division of the New York Public Library to be attended and shared. I've chosen two such events that may be of interest to like-minded people. The Dance Historian Is In: Tommy
- [A martini with Jane Fonda](https://artsmeme.com/2011/02/26/martini-with-jane-fonda/): With all respect to Atlanta, there's something fitting about having Jane Fonda around our little village. Jane did a great curtain talk on Valentine's Day at LACMA.
- [Tidbits from Robert Redford at the AARP Awards](https://artsmeme.com/2011/02/12/tidbits-robert-redford-aarp-awards/): Redford is an ambiguous player in this town. His support of independent film -- which could be perceived as turning his back on Hollywood -- has in fact proven a boon to the movie industry across markets. The American iconoclast was honored by his peers at the AARP Awards with respect, and even affection.
- [Alter kockers we love](https://artsmeme.com/2011/02/09/alter-kockers-we-love/): Life was sweet Monday night when I got to meet and interview two lovely actors at the AARP "Grown-up Movies" award ceremony.
- [Loud bodies in solidarity: Italy's Santarcangelo Festival 2025](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/13/loud-bodies-in-solidarity-at-italys-santarcangelo-festival-2025/): Santarcangelo Festival, July 4-13, 2025Santarcangelo di Romagna, Rimini, Italyvisited on July 4-6, 2025 Amid ongoing global political turmoil and violence, the 55th edition of Italy's Santarcangelo Festival—directed for the fourth year by Tomasz Kireńczuk—once again presents a dense and international program that functions as ‘a call to action’ against the micro and macro systems producing
- [Candles, challah, and a corpse make for a 'Bad Shabbos' at the movies](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/13/candles-challah-and-a-corpse-make-for-a-bad-shabbos-at-the-movies/): Bad Shabbos, from Menemsha Films, nails New York City from the jump. The opening montage tours iconic Upper West Side spots -- brownstones, street carts, Lincoln Center, Zabar's -- before settling into the legendary Barney Greengrass deli. (The owner even pops in for a wry cameo.) It's clear that director Daniel Robbins wants to establish
- [With French divas at free outdoor screening of Ozon '8 Women'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/12/with-french-divas-at-picnic-screening-of-ozon-8-women/): You can have a burger, you can have a crepe. Both will arrive by food truck to Montecillo de Leo Politi Park in Dodger Stadium's Elysian Park vicinity, so you can have both. Or bring your own picnic, and a blankie. Get thee to a fun outdoor screening of 8 Women by François Ozon — a musical
- [To bolster ABT's financial health](https://artsmeme.com/2025/09/02/to-strengthen-the-financial-underpinning-of-american-ballet-theatre/): On artsmeme, we write about art. That generally means writing about artists, in the case of dance, dancers and choreographers. But in the harrowing times in which we live: an increasingly rickety economy; politics from both right and left wings bombarding arts administrators with their agendas; and the nation's coffers preferring weapons of war to
- [An amusing trip to director Ron Howard's gnarly EDEN](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/16/a-trip-to-director-ron-howards-eden/): Thinking of buying a one-way ticket to Timbuktu, tossing the cellphone and U.S. passport overboard to lead a simpler existence off the grid?? Think again! Director Ron Howard, in his newest effort, EDEN, tells a cautionary tale in an exotic locale, on the faraway Galapagos Islands staged in the late 1920s. There, a disparate klatch
- ["F" is for a fantastic fall season](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/23/fine-flurry-of-f-bombs-fall-season/): artsmeme is fortunate to find fruit in the fascinating fol-de-rol fielded every fall. Frankly few offerings foray far from the letter "F." The "F" bomb finds new definition in these fulsome, fascinating, fabulous affairs. May we foist a few of the finest, favorite festivities? Flick ... er, Click, on the banners below, for info~! "F"
- [LA Jazz Society November concert augurs sizzling tributes to Christian McBride, Patrice Rushen](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/18/la-jazz-society-november-concert-christian-mcbride-patrice-rushen/): It's still early. We're in August and it's happening on November 1. But there's no harm in saving the date. It's the Los Angeles Jazz Society's annual tribute concert that raises funds funds for the Society's education programs - Jazz in Schools, Bill Green Mentorship, and Jeff Clayton New Note Award. This is a worthy
- [DANCE REVIEW: Tiler Peck's Robbins•thon at the Joyce Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/21/dance-review-tiler-pecks-robbinsthon-at-the-joyce-theater/): Program A: Four Bagatelles, A Suite of Dances, Dances at a Gathering (excerpts)Program B: Rondo, Concertino, Other Dances, In the Night To close out its season, the Joyce Theater, in association with the Jerome Robbins Foundation , presented an exhilarating week celebrating the great choreographer. As multi-faceted as Robbins was over his more than 50
- [Film review: A Rose is a Rose is a Colman & Cumberbatch](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/26/film-review-a-rose-colman-cumberbatch/): daily life: cumberbatch/kate mckinnon & colman/sunita mani/ncuti gatwa On the surface, everything’s peachy for overachieving expats Ivy and Theo Rose (Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch), living in marital bliss with their two young children in the breathtaking paradise of Mendocino. Unfortunately, that enviable veneer, along with the fabric of their lives, begins to unravel when
- [Beloved and versatile, soon honored at Cinecon: Ann-Margret](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/26/beloved-and-versatile-soon-honored-at-cinecon-ann-margret/): Actress-singer-dancer Ann-Margret was born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland County, Sweden, and came to America at age 6. She studied at Northwestern University and left for Las Vegas to pursue a career as a singer. Ann-Margret was discovered by comedian George Burns and soon afterward landed both a record deal at RCA and a film contract at
- [Must reading: Balanchine meets Baryshnikov (who meets Ratmansky)](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/19/must-reading-on-balanchine-and-baryshnikov-and-ratmansky/): An artistic encounter hiding in plain sight in the world of late twentieth century classical ballet -- the brief time frame during which Mikhail Baryshnikov danced for ballet master George Balanchine at New York City Ballet -- is the topic of a fascinating and insightful essay in The Hudson Review. The author, dance critic Marina
- ['Medicine for the moment' in a cinematic offering from the Dalai Lama at 90](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/14/medicine-for-the-moment-dalai-lama-at-90/): Even those among us who are not Buddhists may wish to spend some screen time learning about the tenets of an outstanding world citizen among us. WISDOM OF HAPPINESS is medicine for the moment — a survival guide for navigating our traumatic world that feels more fractured and uncertain than ever. It is being called
- [Vail Dance Festival offers livestream of premieres program through](https://artsmeme.com/2025/08/03/vail-dance-festival-offers-livestream-of-premieres-program-through/): melissa toogood, christopher duggan photo lil buck photo by christopher duggan justin peck, patricia delgado, christopher duggan photo melissa toogood, christopher duggan photo Creative ferment, collaboration and spontaneity are the hallmarks of the esteemed Vail Dance Festival, which each year manages to bring together a more wide-ranging and diverse array of dancers and choreographers. The
- [Phoenix arisen: visiting Venice's historic La Fenice opera house](https://artsmeme.com/2014/07/02/phoenix-rerisen-visit-historic-la-fenice-opera-house/): A wonderful baroque music concert at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy.
- [Frutti di danza italiano](https://artsmeme.com/2014/06/26/frutti-di-danza-italiano/): A menu listing of the delicious dance on offer at BIENNALE DANCE 2014.
- [Peggy's place](https://artsmeme.com/2015/11/10/peggys-place/): A disappointing film about a great life in art, that of Peggy Guggenheim.
- [Preparing our Letters of Transit for TCM Classic Cruise](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/05/preparing-our-letters-of-transport-for-tcm-classic-cruise/): Preparing for TCM Classic Cruise means organizing our Letters of Transport!
- [Prepping for TCM Classic Cruise, departs Port of Miami Thursday](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/06/prepping-for-tcm-cruise-departs-port-of-miami-thursday/): We're getting geared for our stateroom on TCM Cruise.
- [Remembering last December's TCM Cruise](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/11/remembering-last-decembers-tcm-cruise/): The diversity of attendees' ages and ethnicity, thought-provoking programming, and uplifting atmosphere stemming from TCM's constant chorus of audience appreciation created a charming adventure and a huge home run for the Atlanta-based firm.
- [Merrily TCM Classic Cruise rolled along . . .](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/14/merrily-tcm-classic-cruise-rolled-along/): Links to Debra Levine's story about TCM Classic Cruise on The Huffington Post.
- [La Barbra at Academy Bergman tribute](https://artsmeme.com/2009/05/29/la-barbra-at-bergman-tribute-in-bevhills/): Barbra Streisand is still a very big star. This was extremely evident at last night's Alan & Marilyn Bergman tribute at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Wilshire Boulevard outpost. The tribute opened with a film clip of Barbra ogling Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack's The Way We Were (1973). It closed with Babs, ten years later,
- [REVIEW: 'Sylvia' returns, her glories intact, to American Ballet Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2025/07/18/review-sylvia-returns-her-glories-intact-to-american-ballet-theatre/): Among the highlights of Kevin McKenzie’s three-decade tenure as American Ballet Theatre’s artistic director was his inclusion, and nurturing, of touchstone Frederick Ashton ballets. None was more revelatory and glorious than the production of Ashton’s Sylvia (1952) that entered ABT’s repertory exactly 20 years ago. It has returned only sporadically, since it’s not exactly a
- [Culture clash: Graffiti is desecration, we all feel this intrinsically](https://artsmeme.com/2025/07/17/culture-clash-graffiti-is-desecration-we-all-feel-this-intrinsically/): A message arrived this weekend from the SoCal Arbeter Ring, the Worker's Circle, a leftist society devoted to preserving and perpetuating the gone-missing culture and language of Jewish Eastern Europe, itself the object of annihilation that Palestinians would hope to avoid., "Our Mural Defaced – Again!" came the Arbeter Ring's anguished plea. Over the weekend,
- [Onward to August: movie openings keep coming!](https://artsmeme.com/2025/07/08/onward-to-august-movie-openings-keep-coming/): AUGUST 1: THE NAKED GUN Liam Neeson takes a big swing at comedy with The Naked Gun. Judging from the first trailer, he connects big time as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of the legendary, Frank Sr. (the late, great, Leslie Nielson). While Paramount is keeping the plot under wraps, playing opposite Neesom, is Pamela
- [Summer super movies queued for July!](https://artsmeme.com/2025/06/03/july-is-for-summer-movies/): While it may not hit the heights of "Barbenheimer," summer movie season 2025 promises to be a big one. Officially, it all kicked off Memorial Day weekend with Tom Cruise in the final chapter of Mission Impossible. Unofficially, it started with the April 4 release of Minecraft and its $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales
- [Generation-to-generation, Santa Monica's Westside Ballet prevails and thrives](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/28/generation-to-generation-santa-monicas-westside-ballet-thrives/): The art of classical ballet is born out body-to-body, and there's no going around that. Personal involvement has always been at the heart of the pedagogy practiced at one of Southern California's finest training academies, that of the Westside Ballet of Santa Monica. The company's co-founders, Yvonne Mounsey (New York City Ballet) and Rosemary Valaire
- [Jayne Mansfield, we hardly knew ye](https://artsmeme.com/2025/06/03/jayne-mansfield-we-hardly-knew-ye/): Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning actress and filmmaker Mariska Hargitay was three years old when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, tragically died in a car accident at age 34—leaving behind five children. The HBO Original documentary MY MOM JAYNE, directed by Hargitay and debuting on Friday June 27, explores the complexities behind Jayne Mansfield's public persona, a
- [Rock impresario Ron Delsener: New York was his town](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/29/rocks-ron-delsener-new-york-was-his-town/): “Ron Delsener was ubiquitous and New York was his town,” says Paul Simon, one of the talking heads in RON DELSENER PRESENTS, a just-opening rock documentary directed by Jake Sumner and distributed by Abramorama. It's a big, fun, nostalgic movie-tour for baby boomers who lived the era. The doc's subject, of course, is the self-made,
- [A continuum of life, literature & film: 'Living' reviewed](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/15/living-a-continuum-of-life-literature-film/): What do you get when you combine British reserve and Japanese restraint with a dash of Russian pathos? A film experience that melds with our collective need for year-end contemplation, the exquisitely directed, acted, and written Living. The movie from Sony Pictures Classics opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 23, followed by
- [REVIEW: Brandon Cronenberg's 'Infinity Pool' ... with a limit](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/24/film-review-infinity-pool-with-a-limit/): Film directors for screens large and small are taking delight in skewering the 1% for everything they’ve bestowed on the rest of us during our dark and mostly unfunny times. Infinity Pool, written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor, Antiviral), follows this trend -- set by hugely successful comedy-dramas like those by Mark Mylod (The
- [REVIEW: 'Champions' wins at 'all the feels' ](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/06/champions-wins-at-all-the-feels/): As a feel-good movie, Champions, the winsome new basketball comedy directed by Bobby Farrelly and starring Woody Harrelson, does its job; it consistently dispenses good feelings. Presented by Focus Features with a screenplay by Mark Rizzo, it’s a remake of the celebrated 2018 Spanish film Campeones by Javier Fesser. This American version (I have yet
- [How to blow up a pipeline – and blow your mind](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/03/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-and-blow-your-mind/): What end justifies the means? If the end is radical environmental change and the survival of our planet, can violence be justified? In actions against private property, what if life is lost? How To Blow Up a Pipeline, the new eco-political film from Neon, directed and co-written by Daniel Goldhaber (whose last film was the
- [REVIEW: 'Rise': dance film earnestly misses its pointe](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/22/review-rise-pretty-but-misses-its-pointe/): The French film En Corps, curiously translated as Rise and presented by Blue Fox Entertainment, is a well-made, earnest, and thoroughly innocuous movie. It will interest anyone who watched Natalie Portman in Black Swan and railed to the heavens, “Why didn’t they cast a real dancer in the role!?” This new film will more than
- [REVIEW: Hanging out with 'The Holdovers'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/17/review-hanging-out-with-the-holdovers/): "There are certain movies that you hang out with the characters so much that they actually become your friends. Those movies are usually quite long, because it actually takes that long of a time to get past a movie character where you actually feel that you know the person and you like them." That now-famous
- [FILM REVIEW: 'Eileen,' a movie to haunt you on a cold night](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/02/film-review-eileen-to-haunt-you-on-cold-night/): One of the rewards of watching Eileen, directed with a pitch-perfect noir sensibility by William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth) and presented by Neon, is embracing the unknown. Are we watching a prison break film with an unlikely accomplice? A repressed lesbian love story set in the 1960s? Or is it a violent revenge fantasy fueled by
- [Mini-movie review: Michael Mann's 'Ferrari'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/21/mini-movie-review-michael-manns-ferrari/): If all you want for Christmas is excellent acting and heart-pounding race-car chases in a complex drama-filled love triangle, then master action movie-maker Michael Mann’s Ferrari (presented by NEON) is waiting in a cinema near you. The excellent Adam Driver heads the cast, channeling Enzo Ferrari’s smoldering intensity while working overtime to master the proper
- [REVIEW: Easily distracted? Hopelessly romantic? Try 'Touch.'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/10/review-easily-distracted-hopelessly-romantic-try-touch/): What? You’ve not heard of Touch? You're not sure it's a movie for you? Here are ten reasons to enjoy the new Icelandic film about an elderly widower journeying to find his first love before it's too late. The movie opens this Friday July 12 and is presented by Focus Features: 1. In a world
- ['The Instigators': a watchable star-studded misfire](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/02/the-instigators-a-watchable-star-studded-misfire/): The first twenty minutes of The Instigators, a new movie by director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, Mr and Mrs. Smith, Swingers), presented by Apple Originals, is a delight. Each new scene introduces great actors to a story with unique characters navigating a time-worn yet always suspenseful plot (a heist). Who can quibble with this
- [Film review: 'Meanwhile on Earth,' a celestial odyssey of grief & hope](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/21/film-review-meanwhile-on-earth-a-celestial-odyssey-of-grief-and-hope/): French writer/director/animator Jérémy Clapin's first live-action film, Meanwhile on Earth, presented by Metrograph Pictures, is a cinematic gem that defies genre expectations. It's actually a science-fiction movie for the science-fiction averse. The film blends realism with celestial wonder, crafting a haunting, familiar, and profound alien world. This intimate film, penned by Clapin, unfolds as a
- [FILM REVIEW: 'Conclave,' as cardinals clash](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/04/film-review-conclave-as-cardinals-clash/): Let's face it, movies based on books can totally flop. Think Bonfire of the Vanities. Some surpass the book—The Godfather. And some make you want to read the book. Conclave, adapted from Robert Harris's bestselling novel, presented by Focus Features and directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), falls in that category.
- [Unexpected catapult to stardom, Clive Owen's rare journey with 'Croupier' in 25th anniversary screening](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/22/unexpected-catapult-to-stardom-clive-owens-rare-journey-with-croupier-in-25th-anniversary-screening/): Remember video rental stores? Just another blip in the fast-paced technological "advances" we have lived through. And yet, I used to enjoy walking to the video place on Hyperion Avenue, a second floor, full scale retail shop, with movies lovingly organized by genre, and staffed by human beings who were ready to recommend rentals to
- ['The space between us all': Mark Morris's 'PEPPERLAND' in fetching revival](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/18/the-space-between-us-all-mark-morriss-pepperland-in-fetching-revival/): When this Fab Four configuration of Mark Morris dancers made a 90-degree turn to march directly toward the audience in the culminating moments of 'Pepperland,' the much-heralded choreographer Mark Morris's brilliant dance-and-music homage to the Beatles' culture-bending "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," album of 1967, I laughed. It was so funny. But my heartstrings
- [The one and only Billy Shears! Mark Morris's 'Pepperland' at The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/14/the-one-and-only-billy-shears-in-mark-morriss-pepperland-at-the-wallis/): When I first saw Mark Morris's bullseye-hitting "Pepperland" oh so many years ago at Segerstrom Center in Orange County, I was so ebullient through the entire thing that after the show, I clambered backstage to congratulate Mr. Morris in person. I don't typically do that. I'm a dance critic. I felt I had to, I
- [I get by with a little help from Gwen Verdon](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/20/i-get-by-with-a-little-help-from-gwen-verdon/): Dateline Nov 20: It's been a wretched week. A crazy person, with "a little help" from his equally crazy friends, is foisting a coup d'etat on our democracy; the very air of my neighborhood has become a dicey thing to breathe; and the Doris Duke Theatre where over two contiguous years I gave pre-performance talks
- [A visit to the dentist for Charles Moulton, choreographer & artist](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/13/a-visit-to-the-dentist-for-choreographer-artist-charles-moulton/): He who made this grand opera of minimal nuttiness mixed with finesse, "Ballet Passing" (above), the choreographer/visual artist/film man Charles Moulton, staged his master work on a grand scale in 2017. But it was just a passing phase! Because by March 2025, the former Merce Cunningham Dance Company dancer and choreographer of mind/body whimsical works,
- [Summer is for hanging from helicopters. It's also for movies. Our critic's preview for May/June '25.](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/11/summer-is-for-hanging-off-helicopters-its-also-for-movies-our-critics-week-by-week-preview-for-summer-25/): While it may not hit the heights of "Barbenheimer," summer movie season 2025 promises to be a big one. Officially, it all kicks off Memorial Day weekend with Tom Cruise in the final chapter of Mission Impossible. Unofficially, it has already started. That was on the April 4 release of Minecraft and its $1 billion
- [Our Brazilian dance-friends, GRUPO CORPO, hit the Music Center stage](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/09/our-brazilian-dance-friends-grupo-corpo-hit-the-dorothy-chandler-stage/): It was a thrilling sight as a string of dancers in yellow unitards filtered onto the stage of the Ahmanson Theater, in a veritable chorus line. The work, "21," by veteran choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras, created in 1992 has become the international calling card of the wonderfully athletic Brazilian dance company, GRUPO CORPO. In a fitting
- [My TCM Fest: critic's choices for Friday April 25, 2025](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/21/my-tcm-fest-friday-april-25-2025/): Well, it's that time again. It's time for cinephiles from across the country to converge on Hollywood Boulevard in the stretch between our three mighty houses of cinema, respectively, the Chinese, the El Capitain, and the Egyptian Theatres, and bask in the rich movie programming offered in TCM Classic Film Festival. The Festival, in its
- [British Film Institute brings impressive wares to TCM Fest 2025](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/29/british-film-institute-brings-impressive-wares-to-tcm-fest/): One of the highlights of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival was a tribute to the British Film Institute’s remarkable preservation program, now celebrating its 90th year. The tribute included 6 movies, all presented in pristine 35mm prints, and they represented an extraordinary range—from a 50th anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster, Jaws, to less
- [Overwhelming! Two mega-movies, HEAT & RHAPSODY IN BLUE, light up TCM Fest 2025](https://artsmeme.com/2025/05/01/overwhelming-two-mega-movies-heat-rhapsody-in-blue-light-up-tcm-fest-2025/): There's something lacking in the much-bantered trope, "You have to see it on the big screen." And yet, those very words motivate film fans from across the country to converge on a densely populated corner of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles once a year, for TCM Classic Film Festival. This event, which we have attended
- [Baby-boomer must-see: 'One to One, John & Yoko'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/17/baby-boomer-must-see-one-to-one-john-yoko/): This poster may only serve to reignite the unsubsiding loathing for Yoko Ono but the documentary, which had musical oversight by the couple's son Sean, actually counters that view. It reveals an amazingly beautiful relationship between an unlikely pairing, two artists. I recommend it highly. I couldn’t even move from my seat for a good
- [Wonderful world of Allee Willis now in fun pop-up book](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/23/wonderful-world-of-allee-willis-now-in-fun-pop-up-book/): One of Hollywood’s most legendary homes—where every room bursts with color, music, and an eye-popping collection of American kitsch —is that of the Grammy, Tony, and Emmy-winning Hall of Fame songwriter, the late Allee Willis. The hit songwriter co-wrote Earth, Wind & Fire’s "September" and "Boogie Wonderland," as well as, among many many other songs, the theme
- ['Early Sounds of Jewish Music' to resonate at UCLA Herb Alpert School](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/23/early-sounds-of-jewish-music-to-resonate-at-ucla-herb-alpert-school/): Early Sounds of Jewish Music is an afternoon symposium and evening concert celebrating the rarely-heard musical traditions of Jewish communities from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. 1:00 pm Symposium led by internationally recognized scholars and musicians, through talks, communal singing, and roundtable discussions will uncover the music that animated Jewish life in early modern Europe
- [Get off that couch! Come celebrate Grupo Corpo at 'Dance at the Music Center'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/18/get-off-that-couch-come-celebrate-grupo-corpo-at-dance-at-the-music-center/): Most of us can relate. Last Saturday night, April 5, as the clock ticked toward curtain time for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, I was wavering. A cloud of despair over the state of our nation weighed me down. The couch looked good. A glass of rose wine beckoned. Hell, I had half a bottle!
- [Andrea Miller's 'YEAR' for A.I.M meets 'The White Lotus'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/15/review-the-white-lotus-meets-andrea-millers-year-for-abraham-in-motion/): We're not suggesting that choreographer Andrea Miller's "YEAR" (2024) for A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, is literally "The White Lotus" in dance. No way! But somehow, Miller's ingenious, mesmerizing, tribal, thirty-minute ballet goes for the jugular in a way that syncs with the neurotic energy with which the HBO series wrapped up its Thailand adventure. The
- [Susan Jaffe presents: casting for ABT 'The Nutcracker' two-week run opening at Segerstrom tonight](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/08/susan-jaffe-presents-casting-for-abt-the-nutcracker/): Appointed to her post as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre over a year ago, Susan Jaffe is very much in the drivers' seat. A transition ensued following the 30-year tenure of Kevin McKenzie with whom she danced in the course of her 22 years as among the company's most sparkling principal dancers. Seguing into
- [Ken Russell & Dr. Kildare tackle Tchaikovsky](https://artsmeme.com/2010/08/23/ken-russell-chamberlain-tackle-tchaikovsky/): We enjoyed the American Cinematheque's Ken Russell homage at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. Both the feisty British director, now in his 80s, and the star of the film, Richard Chamberlain participated in a q&a.
- [Wheeldon's wonderful world of Shakespeare: 'The Winter's Tale' for ABT at Segerstrom](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/24/wheeldons-world-of-shakespeare-the-winters-tale-for-abt-at-segerstrom/): Springtime in Southern California brings big, full-evening ballets to Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in Costa Mesa. We last experienced Christopher Wheeldon's work with American Ballet Theatre in his Like Water for Chocolate in 2023. Now again, the British choreographer draws inspiration from yet another literary source: a Shakespearean comedy: The Winter's Tale in
- [Weaving magic to the Bard: The Royal Ballet in "The Winter's Tale"](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/24/weaving-magic-to-the-bard-the-royal-ballet-in-the-winters-tale/): Reviews The Royal Ballet's new production of Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale" now at Covent Garden.
- [New doc 'One to One: John & Yoko' on arts couple's Greenwich Village life slated to open](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/02/new-doc-one-to-one-john-yoko-on-arts-couples-greenwich-village-life-slated-to-open/): We're seeing it next week. But no harm to view the trailer. "One to One: John & Yoko" concerns an eighteen-month window in 1971 in which the controversial couple, newly arrived in the United States, lived in a tiny apartment in the Village where, among other things, they watched gobs of American television. Living through
- [To listen, ponder & stargaze:  'Night of Ideas' at Wende Museum](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/02/to-listen-ponder-stargaze-night-of-ideas-at-wende-museum/): Life on Planet Earth and in this country has become kind of complicated, have you noticed? There is a lot to discuss, and yet most of us exchange ideas in driblets on social media or in text messaging and images. That's why the annual free event, Night of Ideas, hosted by the Villa Albertine, which
- [Ailey guys fly](https://artsmeme.com/2009/03/23/old-friends/): Alvin Ailey Dance Theater dancers are all extraordinary. But the men have a special pizazz.
- [This week! Ailey Company in two rich, vital programs at The Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2025/04/01/this-week-ailey-company-in-two-vital-rich-programs-at-the-music-center/): We're spoiled rotten! Springtime at the Los Angeles Music Center brings an annual visit of our resident dance company, no less than Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "Gorgeous," "stellar" and body-beautiful" does not begin to describe the dancers of this historically important dance company, a beacon of Black excellence and pride. (Parenthetically, AAADT has always
- [Into the woods, with French movie-thriller  'Misericordia'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/18/into-the-woods-with-french-movie-thriller-misericordia/): It's no news to anyone -- we've known it since "Hansel & Gretel." Bad things happen in the woods. To prove that that essential truth has gone unchanged since the days of Grimm's fairy-tales, the woods are the chosen terrain in which auteur Alain Guiraudie stages the central plot turn of his latest movie, Misericordia
- [Death of a dancer: the great Christian Holder (1949-2025)](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/16/death-of-a-dancer-the-great-christian-holder-1949-2025/): ed. note: With permission of the author, artsmeme is very proud to republish William Whitener's marvelous obituary of a F.O.A.M. (Friend of Arts Meme), Christian Holder, who passed away, too soon! too soon!, at his home in London recently. How we loved this Renaissance man of the dance. Whitener's homage, which Dance Magazine originally published
- [DANCE REVIEW: Twyla Tharp talks](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/26/review-twyla-tharp-talks/): Dance critics like to use the word “language” in describing the identifiable steps, movement chains, and tonality associated with choreographers of stature. At sight, you know it is Balanchine, Taylor, or Cunningham. You know it’s Fosse or Cole. But that metaphor does not often move to the next level, viz., whether (or not) in drawing
- [In month of March, 'A Week of French Language Cinema'!](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/11/a-week-of-french-language-cinema-is-a-good-week/): We all have to find our bliss anymore, don't we. For me, it's watching motion pictures to the sound of "la belle langue." It's the dulcet tone of francais in your ears -- if only for a few hours. A Week of French Language Cinema, an annual West Los Angeles event of francophonia + cinemaphilia,
- [Film review: THE SUBSTANCE, a triumph of the insubstantial](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/26/film-review-the-substance-a-triumph-of-the-insubstantial/): Ed note: This review, written in August 2024, is belatedly published, thus the wishful reference to a woman president in its last paragraph. The director is French, which I found surprising. And she cannot be called young. That was my second shock, for, in watching her movie, THE SUBSTANCE, I would have sworn it was
- [An aural 'fountain of tears': 'Ainadamar,' soon at L.A. Opera](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/07/ainadamars-aural-dreamscape-a-fountain-of-tears-soon-at-l-a-opera/): It's special if only because it will be conducted by Lina González-Granados, who will lead the LA Opera Orchestra premiere of the Grammy Award-winning opera Ainadamar by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The opera, dating from 2003, traces the life and work of poet-playwright Federico García Lorca (a trouser role by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack), who was assassinated for his socialist politics
- [Road trip with Neil Young, April 17, via new doc 'Coastal'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/11/road-trip-with-neil-young-via-new-doc-coastal/): He's so interesting -- and so worth it. He's truly an artist of our collective lifetime. I saw him in concert in the summer of 2023 at the Greek Theatre. His show was a fascinating melange of devoted musicianship helmed by, well, a rather awkward, odd fellow. (To be clear, I loved it. My review
- [The French named it ... let's see how they do it ... film noir](https://artsmeme.com/2015/06/19/french-film-noir-aero/): Learn about it from the experts -- French film noir series at the Aero.
- [La vache! French moooo-vies with cows @ COLCOA](https://artsmeme.com/2018/04/28/la-vache-french-moooo-vies-with-cows/): Fans of French movies are familiar with seeing scenes from the nation's rural paysage, the countryside to which Parisians repair for weekends and summer holidays. The usual trope is the stone country-home where, seated 'round big outdoor tables, city dwellers slurp soupe, quaff wine, and discuss in non sequitors the meaning of it all. There they
- [Bienvenue, COLCOA 2019!](https://artsmeme.com/2019/09/20/bienvenue-colcoa/): Our yearly reminder that life is worth living -- because the French are still making movies -- arrives Monday, Sept 23, 2019. That's when the 22nd annual COLCOA French Film Festival pops the cork not on Prosecco, not on Cava nor sparkling wine, but real Champagne. It happens at the crazy, hobnobbing opening-night reception that
- [So long, Alain Delon, at The American-French Film Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/07/so-long-alain-delon-at-the-american-french-film-festival/): One of the most charismatic leading men to grace the silver screen, Alain Delon appeared in 107 films, starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and ’70s, and worked with many of the most celebrated directors of his time. While there’s no denying his iconic beauty, nor his on-screen charm
- [Bertrand Blier to Gérard Depardieu: 'Trop gros pour moi!'](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/15/bertrand-blier-on-gerard-depardieu-at-colcoa/): Bertrand Blier, who has made eight films with the big guy, chatted about his favorite lead actor, Gerard Depardieu, at COLCOA French Film Festival today.
- [Canapes and CLOCLO made COL*COA cool](https://artsmeme.com/2012/04/23/canapes-and-clo-clo-make-colcoa-cool/): My rundown of COLCOA, the French film festival in Los Angeles, 2012.
- [Paris arrives at L.A.'s doorstep for COL*COA @ the DGA](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/17/colcoa-annual-french-film-festival/): This Friday at COL*COA, a special screening of a 50th anniversary restoration of a classic film, BAY OF ANGELS (La Baie des Anges) (1963), a film noir written and directed by Jacques Demy.
- [Strong female film characters on parade @ COL*COA](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/21/strong-female-characters-colcoa-french-film-festival/): An overview of strong female roles in several new French films.
- [COL·COA tickets still available this weekend, says Francois Truffart](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/24/tickets-for-colcoa-francois-truffart/): N'ayez pas peur! Tickets are still available for COLCOA French film festival now on at the DGA.
- [Classics of COL*COA 2015](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/21/classics-of-colcoa-2015/): Among the contemporary French films that constitute COL*COA, gems from the past.
- [Film maestro Claude Lelouch's visual symphony, "Un + Une"](https://artsmeme.com/2016/04/23/film-maestro-claude-lelouchs-visual-symphony-un-plus-une-colcoa/): Claude Lelouch brings his latest film to the French film festival in Los Angeles, COLCOA.
- [Humor, love of life power Claude Lelouch's 'Chacun Sa Vie'](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/30/claude-lelouch-humor-love-of-life-powers-chacun-sa-vie/): I just loved the opening-night feature film of COLCOA, the French film festival in Los Angeles. Everyone’s Life, blessed by a French title, Chacun sa vie had its north American premiere with its master-director, Claude Lelouch, in the house. It's a great title -- and so apt isn't it? Because in the end (asserts Lelouch, the
- [Dance film 'RISE' at American French Film Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/12/dance-film-rise-at-american-french-film-festival-now/): 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
- [New Patrice Leconte comedy splendid Sunday attraction @ COLCOA](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/24/new-patrice-leconte-comedy-colcoa/): Snappy dialogue and a masterly touch figure in Patrice LeConte's new comedy, "Do Not Disturb" this weekend at COLCOA.
- [Delon and Gabin crime story a highlight of COLCOA Classics](https://artsmeme.com/2015/05/01/delon-and-gabin-crime-story-a-highlight-of-colcoa-classics/): Reviews "Deux Hommes dans la Vie" (1973), featured at COLCOA last week.
- [French swashbuckling powers "On Guard" @ COLCOA Classics](https://artsmeme.com/2016/04/18/french-swashbuckling-powers-on-guard-colcoa-classics/): The funnest and Frenchiest film festival powers up tonight with COLCOA. One of the classic films on offer is "On Guard," a 17th century swashbuckler newly restored.
- [French music hall revisited with "Monsieur Chocolat" @ COLCOA](https://artsmeme.com/2016/04/19/french-music-hall-revisited-with-monsieur-chocolat-colcoa/): Reaction to the French film "Monsieur Chocolat" shown on opening night at COLCOA 2016.
- [Worldly actress Jacqueline Bisset honored at COLCOA](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/30/wordly-actress-jacqueline-bisset-honored-at-colcoa-french-film-festival/): A gorgeous crystal vase and heartfelt congratulations to the British-born actress Jacqueline Bisset, bilingual, bicultural, and in every way a screen stunner. Bisset was honored with the 2017 Prix Alliance Française presented by Christophe Lemoine Consul General of France in Los Angeles on April 27, 2017. The ceremony took place at the annual COLCOA French film
- [Brush up your franglais! It's time for COLCOA.](https://artsmeme.com/2018/04/20/get-out-your-franglais-its-time-for-colcoa/): Not Coca-Cola©, but COLCOA, the annual French film festival in Hollywood that joins the City of Lights and the City of Angels at the cinematic-hip. 2018 COLCOA French Film Festival launches next Monday evening at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, and features 86 films, television series, digital series and VR programs. An exclusive
- [ABT Studio Company will 'love you two times' in Pepperdine showcase](https://artsmeme.com/2025/03/07/abt-studio-company-will-love-you-two-times-in-pepperdine-showcase/): ABT Studio Company, the junior company of American Ballet Theatre, is comprised of future stars of the ballet world ages 17 through 21. They hail from all over the world. Nearly 80 percent of current dancers in American Ballet Theatre are alumni of ABT Studio Company, including eight soloists and 14 principal dancers—among them Misty
- [BEST IN SHOW: A tour of Oscar-nominated international movies of 2024](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/25/best-in-show-a-tour-of-2024s-oscar-nominated-international-feature-films/): Each year it’s the best of world cinema, delivered to your doorstep. The competition for Best International Feature Film is my personal favorite part of awards season, and the crop of films released in 2024 did not disappoint. Depending on your tastes and preferences, any of the five movies up for Oscar gold in this
- [Out of the blue, an accident: Margot Rose's 'Unconditional' at Skylight Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/23/out-of-the-blue-an-accident-margot-roses-unconditional-at-skylight-theatre/): Some people transmit their profound life experiences in autobiographies. Others, in memoirs. Playwright/performer Margot Rose has fashioned a proprietary genre, a "musical memoir," as a live-theater experience. The one-act show's title, "Unconditional," ostensibly refers to the quality of unbound love that she tapped, in real life, as the parent of twins. Parenthood had extra meaning
- [Free tix! Twyla Tharp, Sunday at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/18/twyla-soraya-free-tickets-2/): Yeppie, it's Twyla. Twyla's back and The Soraya's got her. First at the Segerstrom Center and then, this coming weekend at the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, February 22 and 23, Tharp is hitting the stage with fourteen best-in-class dancers in a 60th anniversary of her career as a choreographer. Here's what
- [Ratmansky rocks the classical ballet form, in 'Paquita' for New York City Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/15/alexei-ratmansky-rocks-the-classical-ballet-form-in-paquita-for-new-york-city-ballet/): We're all about high-quality dance. And while we weren't at the performances, thanks to the vivid writing of dance critic Marina Harss, and the superlative dance photography of Erin Baiano, we can experience Alexei Ratmansky's restaging of Petipa's "Paquita" (1881) vicariously. According to Harss, Ratmansky infuses this warhorse ballet to music by Minkus with his
- [Oscar-nominated designers in 15th annual costume panel at the Egyptian](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/17/oscar-nominated-designers-in-15th-annual-costume-panel-at-the-egyptian/): It's such a fascinating "way in" when considering the different elements that go into making a successful feature film -- via the vision and craftsmanship of the artists who create the costumes. Just consider one of them. Arianne Phillips, nominated for A Complete Unknown, has garnered prior nominations for Academy Award for Best Costume Design
- [High fliers in Brooklyn: STREB's 'Do Not Try This At Home'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/16/flying-over-the-radar-strebs-do-not-try-this-at-home-in-brooklyn/): High-octane and daring. Action-packed and gravity defying. Surely we’re describing Hollywood stunt work, right? Wrong! We're talking about rarefied choreography of extreme physicality, innovation, and near-misses that have made Elizabeth Streb a genre leader in this limit-pushing display of human action. Others in this niche of dance that we have written about are Mehmet Sander
- [Twyla Tharp, irrepressible, meets Beethoven, Philip Glass, for Jubilee Tour](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/27/twyla-tharp-irrepressible-meets-beethoven-philip-glass-for-jubilee-tour/): Ed. note: This story by Susan Reiter, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. Twyla Tharp: The name is distinctive and memorable. So, too, are the accolades the choreographer has accumulated over decades in the creative artist’s lane. Now, at 83, the Tony/MacArthur/Primetime Emmy/Kennedy Center/Guggenheim
- [Rarefied air: Justin Peck's new work at New York City Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/03/rarefied-air-justin-pecks-new-work-at-new-york-city-ballet/): The symmetry is uncanny. Almost exactly eight years ago, on January 26, 2017 – six days after an impactful inauguration -- Justin Peck delivered a robustly explosive, invigorating ballet, The Times Are Racing. Set to four sections of Dan Deacon’s 2012 album “America,” it throbbed with pent-up frustration, and seemed to celebrate chaos and defiance.
- [REVIEW: Twyla's back and Herman's got her, in ABT's 'A Gathering of Ghosts'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/17/review-twylas-back-and-hermans-got-her-in-abts-a-gathering-of-ghosts/): Twyla Tharp is back working with American Ballet Theatre. So for at least one evening -- Wednesday's much-anticipated premiere of her new ballet at the David Koch Theater -- all seemed right with the world. Her prior work for the company dates to 2008; the ambitious and intriguing Rabbit and Rogue to a commissioned Danny
- [Fascinating: Dances by Charles Weidman](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/20/fascinating-dances-by-charles-weidman/): It was a triumvirate. The brilliant second-generation offspring of Denishawn, the pioneering American modern-dance company comprised a trio of names: Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. A fourth post-Denishawn great was Jack Cole, but Cole came to the party after that first fabulous threesome had departed. I have listed the names of Graham, Humphrey,
- [Digging & dining: 'Groundhog Day' at Alamo Drafthouse](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/26/digging-dininggroundhog-day-at-alamo-drafthouse/): We need fun! We need fun! There. I've said it twice --- because I mean it doubly. Also because it's in keeping with the time warp of repetition proffered by a very funny movie along that theme. Groundhog Day (1993) tells the tale of an egotistical Pittsburgh teevee weather guy, Phil Connors (Bill Murray), who
- [Only the screen was small: Ida Lupino television work at UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/25/only-the-screen-was-small-ida-lupino-television-work-at-ucla-film-television-archive/): It bodes one of those great-but-long evenings at UCLA Film and Television Archive, where we have produced several film events, in the Billy Wilder Theater at UCLA's Hammer Museum. I want to go. Why? Because Ida Lupino was so cool. She was a really good actress who brought credibility to the weakest of scripts; and,
- [Haunting new Vivaldi opera a cautionary tale at Guggenheim 'Works & Process'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/27/haunting-new-vivaldi-opera-in-development-a-cautionary-tale-at-the-guggenheim/): In these cataclysmic times it sometimes seems that, if we're looking for leadership out of an existential crisis, we need artists more than we do politicians. That thought occurred to me two weeks ago, while wildfires ravaged Los Angeles and New York shivered through an Arctic vortex, and I sat in the auditorium of the
- [Merce Cunningham goddess Carolyn Brown enters modern-dance eternity](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/13/merce-cunningham-goddess-carolyn-brown-enters-modern-dance-eternity/): It's all in the photo. An unusual pose, but Merce Cunningham rolled that way ... unusual. With the early female Cunningham dancers -- Viola Farber and Sandra Neels come to mind, each an iconoclastic dancer -- Carolyn Brown formed a threesome. But let's face it, Carolyn Brown (1927-2025), who passed away recently, was the High
- [Devastated by the Pacific Palisades Fire: publisher of works of Arnold Schoenberg](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/14/devastated-by-the-pacific-palisades-fire-publisher-of-works-of-arnold-schoenberg/): ed. note: We learned of the brutal fate of Belmont Publishing from the grandson of Arnold Schoenberg, a friend of artsmeme, Randol Schoenberg. This sad story we publish here while offering the Schoenberg family our deepest condolences The fire that ravaged the Pacific Palisades community in early January left a trail of devastation, and unfortunately,
- [Colman Domingo's star power galvanizes new film, 'Sing Sing'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/13/a-blast-of-star-power-transforms-sing-sing/): Following his Oscar-nominated turn as the civil rights leader in Rustin (2023), Colman Domingo is back in the awards spotlight this year with Sing Sing. The critically acclaimed film from A24 (in theaters for a limited run from Friday, January 17), is as much the celebration of a remarkable prison-based theater-arts rehabilitation program, as it
- [Clothes make the man, in 'Monte Cristo' & 'West Side Story'](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/07/clothes-make-the-man-even-more-so-in-the-movies/): If clothes make the man in real life, then it's only more so in the movies. That's when an audience is maximally focused and alert, and processing quick information about characters. I found myself repeatedly distracted, in an awesome way, by the stunning men's wear in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (2024), which I recently
- ['The Brutalist' leads crop of Oscar hopefuls exploring Jewish-American experience](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/02/the-brutalist-leads-crop-of-oscar-hopefuls-exploring-jewish-american-experience/): As awards season heats up in Los Angeles, The Brutalist seems to be a likely (arguably, the likely) frontrunner for Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars on March 2, certainly for those who’ve seen it. But that last bit is an important caveat. For, with a running time of three hours, twenty minutes (and a
- [Doubling down: MOMO, major Naharin work for Batsheva Dance Company, soon at Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2025/01/07/doubling-down-momo-major-naharin-work-for-batsheva-dance-music-center/): "Sorrow and beauty" forms a bittersweet promise augured in Batsheva Dance Company's upcoming performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, February 14-16, in which a challenging-looking full-evening work dating to 2022 by choreographer Ohad Naharin, MOMO, will have its North American premiere. It is the first time the groundbreaking and influential national dance company of Israel
- [REVIEW: Nickel Boys' immersion-cinema rings true in sadness](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/09/review-nickel-boys-immersion-cinema-rings-true-in-sadness/): They look innocent, right? And why shouldn't they? Two young guys growing up in the late '50s to early '60s contemporaneous to the launch of the U.S. space program -- where the sky was literally the limit -- shouldn't look any other way. But things on the ground were very different for some. Innocence was
- [Best of 2024, arts•meme movie picks!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/23/best-of-2024-artsmeme-movie-picks/): We'll leave THE BRUTALIST, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie descending the staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House in a St. Laurent cape, possibly confusing herself with the diva she played in MARIA. Leave all that to others. Can we say a polite "no thank you" to the horrifying THE SUBSTANCE? As for ANORA, a wild movie
- ['Once Upon a Mattress' at Ahmanson: from Carol Burnett to Sutton Foster](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/22/once-upon-a-mattress-soon-at-the-ahmanson-from-carol-burnett-to-sutton-foster/): Well, she certainly passed OUR "sensitivity test." The adorable, kooky, brave and prodigiously talented triple-threat performer, Sutton Foster, commandeered the barn-like Ahmanson Theatre from a royal roost atop twenty mattresses in Once Upon a Mattress, a vastly entertaining re staging of the goofball classic musical-comedy treatment of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Princess and
- [Stirring farewell to 'Dancing Spirit' Judith Jamison at New York City Center](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/17/dancing-spirit-judith-jamison-celebrated/): There was a vast family gathering at New York City Center on Wednesday December 11, and it felt like a warm embrace encompassed everyone in the theater. While there were no blood relatives of Judith Jamison speaking from the stage at this superbly and lovingly produced tribute, the Alvin Ailey family was out in full
- [Jeremy Denk's profound encounter with 'crazy uncle' Charles Ives at 92nd & Lex](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/17/jeremy-denks-latest-profound-encounter-with-americas-crazy-music-uncle-charles-ives-at-92nd-lex/): Jeremy Denk, one of our leading classical pianists, winner of a MacArthur fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, originally dismissed the gnarly genius Charles Ives as "the crazy uncle of American music, weaving familiar tunes—hymns, ragtime, marches—into unsettling quilts." But over time Denk has evolved into one of the composer's most discerning interpreters, and on
- [Film review: In bracing black/white, photography by George Platt Lynes](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/30/review-bracing-black-white-photography-by-george-platt-lynes/): The life of the singular, visionary photographer George Platt Lynes (1907-55) was a brief, intense, whirlwind. Lynes packed a lot into his 47 years—working, partying, boldly living an openly gay life, creating a remarkable archive of work—and then apparently destroying portions of it. He interacted with a fascinating array of notable, seminal figures in arts-and-literary
- [Joey Luft to fete Mother in MGM 'Meet Me in St. Louis'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/10/joey-luft-feting-meet-me-in-st-louis-in-festive-hollywood-heritage-event/): Our friends at Hollywood Heritage have invited us to attend an event at the Lasky-DeMille historic film-making "barn" on Highland Avenue, across from the Hollywood Bowl. They entreat us to join them at the Fair - the 1903 Louisiana Purchase Exposition that is - Wednesday night offering up Old Hollywood holiday cheer celebrating Judy Garland
- [Special big-screen viewing of 'BRUTALIST' in New York/Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/06/special-big-screen-viewing-of-brutalist-in-n-y-l-a/): It's really nice that film distributor A24 is going to extra effort to make sure THE BRUTALIST, shot by director Brady Corbet in 70 mm film format, can be seen not just by elites but by a wide-spreading audience projected on the big screen as intended. This emphasis on cinematic scale and spectacle, Sarah Atkinson,
- [To historic Sierra Madre Playhouse, for 'Bob Baker's Nutcracker'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/12/10/to-sierra-madre-for-bob-bakers-nutcracker/): We're heading into the beauty time in Southern California, the holiday season when the air grows nippier, the sun seems more yellow and warming than ever, and white caps of snow decorate the San Gabriel Mountains as you venture east toward the desert. And what better stopover than the charming Sierra Madre Playhouse, where this
- [Go ahead, Clint, make our day](https://artsmeme.com/2010/05/11/what-happened-clint/): "And I know they want to increase the film program here and I think it's great, because Hollywood and Los Angeles being sort of the center of American films, it deserves to have the attention. I know there are going to have some great programs here in the coming months. And Terry Semel at Warner Bros and all the people who have donated time to LACMA. I think it is terrific and I'm going to reach in my pocket too."
- [Lizabeth Scott @ the Academy](https://artsmeme.com/2010/06/29/lizabeth-scott-appears-the-academy/): 87-year-old film noir femme fatale lizabeth scott in an in-person appearance at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles in tandem with a screening of "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers" during the Academy's summer 2010 film noir festival.
- [Pauline Wagner, 100, remembers James Cagney](https://artsmeme.com/2010/09/02/pauline-wagner-remembers-james-cagney/): 100-year-old Warner Bros. contract actress Pauline Wagner remembers her friend Jimmy Cagney at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
- [Dance critic's TCM Fest 2015](https://artsmeme.com/2015/03/25/dance-critics-tcm-fest-2015/): Among TCM Fest 2015's rich offerings, a couple of attractive dance films.
- ['Showgirl' dances once more, at Film Forum](https://artsmeme.com/2016/09/27/showgirl-1928-dances-once-again-at-the-film-forum/): In 1928 Alice White, First National Pictures' blonde answer to Clara Bow, starred in the movie musical Show Girl. She plays Dixie Dugan, an aspiring dancer who fakes her own kidnapping as a publicity stunt. Based on popular writer J.P. McEvoy’s Dixie Dugan character, Show Girl was the first starring vehicle for White. Long thought
- [Busby Berkeley brings it to Bette Davis in 'Fashions of 1934'](https://artsmeme.com/2016/12/16/busby-berkeley-brings-it-to-bette-davis-in-fashions-of-1934/): A great dance movie starring Bette Davis. Who knew? Apparently Film Forum director of repertory programming, Bruce Goldstein, did. He programmed FASHIONS OF 1934, smart and smashing in a 35mm print and preserved by Library of Congress, as part of Film Forum's recent nine-day Busby Berkeley festival. It's a really good movie, well acted and
- [Hollywood's cross-genre master Michael Curtiz gets biography](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/05/hollywoods-cross-genre-master-michael-curtiz-gets-biography/): Academy Award–winning director Michael Curtiz (1886–1962)—whose best-known films include Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945) and White Christmas (1954)—was in many ways the anti-auteur. During his 27-year tenure at Warner Bros., Curtiz directed swashbuckling adventures, westerns, musicals, war epics, romances, historical dramas, horror films, tearjerkers, melodramas, comedies, and film noir masterpieces. The
- [Curtain-up on Curtiz retrospective @ UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2018/01/05/curtain-up-on-curtiz-retrospective-ucla-film-television-archive/): Academy Award-winning director Michael Curtiz (1886-1962) whose best-known films include Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945) directed over 180 films — 94 of them during more than a quarter-century at Warner Bros. He helmed tearjerkers, swashbuckling adventures, westerns, musicals, war epics, historical dramas, horror films, melodramas and film noir. Curtiz’s protean
- [My father John Garfield: a portrait by Julie Garfield](https://artsmeme.com/2018/01/08/my-father-john-garfield-a-portrait-by-julie-garfield/): This wrenching portrait of actor John Garfield recently won a 'red dot' award at The Art Students League. The facial expression is imagined -- as the artist Julie Garfield has only distant and vague memories of her father. He perished when she was just six years old. John Garfield, who was hounded by HUAC and
- [Connie Corleone to tell-all at 'The Godfather' 50th-anniv screening](https://artsmeme.com/2022/09/12/connie-corleone-to-tell-all-at-the-godfather-50th-anniversary-screening/): She was a member of la famiglia. So hewing to the family code, she was tight-lipped. Like Michael. (And unlike the blowhard, Sonny). But the code had fine print. Apparently, if and when THE GODFATHER (1972) were to reach its fiftieth anniversary, Constanzia "Connie" Corleone had clearance to spill the beans. You know -- where
- [Be a Yankee Doodle Dandy with BalletX -- and call it 'Macaroni.'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/10/yankee-doodle-dandy-ballet-x-macaroni/): Two distinct takes on Yankee Doodle's 'Macaroni' We all sang it as kids, didn't we, and we loved it -- the borderline-bombastic patriotic song with oom-pah-pah rhythm and funny lyrics. The alliterative "doodle-dandy" pays no rent in our ears ad infinitum. The opening stanza is custom made for those who don't question the deep meaning
- [Our day with Doris: June 5 at Laemmle Anniversary Classics](https://artsmeme.com/2019/06/01/our-day-with-doris-june-5-at-laemmle-anniversary-classics/): From our friends at Laemmle Theatres Anniversary Classics, a tribute to America’s most spirited sweetheart, Doris Day, who died on May 13 at the age of 97. A double feature of two of her very best musical films—the Western romp 'Calamity Jane' and the dramatic story of 1920s torch singer Ruth Etting, 'Love Me Or
- [Sin in style! High-fashion pre-Code double-bill at The Egyptian](https://artsmeme.com/2019/12/04/sin-in-style-high-fashion-pre-code-double-bill-at-the-egyptian/): Made between 1930, when the restrictive Production Code was adopted, and 1934, when it was in full effect, “pre-Code” films are beloved for their provocative content and risqué style. A Sunday double-bill screening program devoted to pre-Code films is hosted by the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. The afternoon begins at one p.m. with
- [Smashingly trashy: John Waters retrospective at AMPAS Museum](https://artsmeme.com/2023/08/08/smashingly-trashy-john-waters-retrospective-at-the-academy-museum/): John Waters: Pope of Trash, the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the eponymous artist’s contributions to cinema, opens at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 17, 2023. The exhibition will trace the grotesque, daring, tacky, hilarious, and salacious elements that recur throughout Waters’s sixty-year career of filmmaking and reveal how his movies have
- [TCM: Turner Classic Mishpocha](https://artsmeme.com/2024/02/19/turner-classic-mishpocha/): Mishpocha, in Yiddish, means "family." One was struck, in attending Turner Classic Movies' 30th anniversary gathering, January 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel, that, beyond the beautiful food and drinks; beyond seeing TCM's cadre of impressive new advisors, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Martin Scorsese (in absentia); beyond meeting, and photographing,
- [Westside Ballet of Santa Monica stages vibrant 'Nutcracker' starring Tiler Peck, Roman Mejia](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/23/westside-ballet-of-santa-monica-launches-vibrant-nutcracker-starring-tiler-peck-roman-mejia/): An invitation to attend a holiday production of "The Nutcracker" -- that of Westside Ballet of Santa Monica, with live music from the Santa Monica College Symphony Orchestra, and starring New York City Ballet principal dancers Tiler Peck & Roman Mejia -- is an offer a ballet fan finds hard to refuse. Peck is at
- [Sugar Plums for the ages, in ABT's 'The Nutcracker' at Segerstrom Center](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/26/abts-sugar-plum-over-time/): Her name is Antonietta Dell'Era (1861-1945), and, as legend goes, in 1892 she was the first to dance to Tchaikovsky's magical foray on the celesta as the Sugar Plum Fairy. That music the brilliant composer concocted to give aural evocation of "drops of water shooting from a fountain." Ms. Dell'Era's first performance received good reviews,
- ['Fifth Beatle' Billy Preston in impressive, heartfelt documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/19/fifth-beatle-billy-preston-in-impressive-heartfelt-documentary/): There are many documentaries and docudramas about performing artists lately. So much so that people are joking that everyone is getting one. Soon to open will be Maria, starring Angelina Jolie playing the Italian coloratura/diva. But a gripping new documentary, That's the Way God Planned It: Billy Preston, about the great, nearly gone-missing, Los Angeles-born
- [Joy of Jewishness in Hanukah double bill](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/15/joy-of-jewishness-in-chanukah-double-bill/): What can we do about world events this holiday season? What about this: let it go for a night and experience joy through music. A two-for-one sale of klezmer rock, otherwise known as "Ashkenazi Jewish Roots Music" is on tap at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. For nearly 40 years, the Grammy Award-winning “Jewish
- [Portrait of an Artist – the many roles of Medhi Walerski](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/12/portrait-of-an-artist-the-many-roles-of-medhi-walerski/): ed. note: This story written in advance of a November 23 performance by Ballet BC in Los Angeles was commissioned and first published by The Soraya on November 8 2024. It is reprinted with permission. Soft-spoken but emphatic, Medhi Walerski, at 45, is a ballet prince with piercing eyes, a crown of clipped curls, and
- [Death of a dancer: Vladimir Shklyarov](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/18/death-of-a-dancer-vladamir-shklyarov/): Thanks to the Internet, balletomania is a global phenomenon. YouTube viewing of classical dance from such far-flung spots as St. Petersburg is a boon to fans across the universe -- equally, it aids dance critics and scholars. So when word spread that Vladimir Shklyarov, 39, had tumbled from a balcony five floors to his death
- [Don't freak out! Unless you're at ZAPPADAN!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/20/dont-freak-out-well-do-at-zappadan/): Our Los Angeles rock-and-roll-and revolution tour-guide, Dominic Priore, author of "Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood.", shares with us news of his impending illustrated lecture, "Freak Out Hot Spots!," a symposium filled with photos and super-rare footage of all the locations on Frank Zappa's 1966 map of Sunset Strip hangouts.
- [Box of sixty bon-bons: The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) starts Oct 29](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/07/box-of-sixty-bon-bons-the-american-french-film-festival-tafff-starts-oct-29/): In the run-up to The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) at the end of October, we picked through a box of "chocolat" to select a few of the yummier-looking titles of the sixty films that will be on offer at the Director's Guild of America, October 29 thru November 3, 2024. This Festival is among
- [French animated films, avec baguette](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/10/french-animated-movies-with-wine-cheese/): Animation Fest at TRK, a compilation of 13 short French animated films created by young film makers from renowned French animation schools, contains themes best digested by adults -- the richness and variety of the proposed selection tackle eclectic themes and current issues, turning a critical gaze on modern society using the power of animation.
- [On International Animation Day, French short subjects at Theatre Raymond Kabbaz](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/08/on-international-animation-day-french-short-subjects/): Pierre Leloup, artistic director of Theatre Raymond Kabbaz appreciates film animation and doesn't believe it should just be for kids: “Animated film is an art form in its own on right," says Pierre, adding that these marvelous, hand-crafted movies "efficiently introducing challenging topics in a visually compelling way, leaving plenty of room for symbolism, fantasy,
- [Down in the dumps about democracy? Try an evening of French animated shorts at The Kabbaz](https://artsmeme.com/2024/11/14/down-in-the-dumps-democrats-try-an-evening-of-french-animated-short-movies-at-the-kabbaz/): Feeling deflated, depleted, depressed, and disappointed? Somewhat disoriented, downhearted, down in the dumps, or demoralized? Get thee to the cozy Theatre Raymond Kabbaz on Pico Boulevard for a singular foray through fantasy, futurism and fun. It's the Kabbaz's annual French Animation Festival, and, attending last year, we came out smiling from ear to ear. But,
- [Conrad Tao & Clayton-Hamilton to jointly wish "Rhapsody" a Happy Hundredth](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/25/conrad-tao-clayton-hamilton-to-send-joint-centenary-wish-to-gershwin-masterwork/): Ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya in advance of Conrad Tao & The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: Rhapsody in Blue on Saturday March 16. It is re-published with permission. The February 12, 1924 premiere of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” was a musical earthquake. When the young prodigy
- [On Hallo•meme, be bewitching, like 'Gilda'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/30/on-hallomeme-be-the-bewitching-gilda/): I was thinking about my costume for this Halloween. Who better to embody than Rita Hayworth in her hallowed role as a film-noir temptress in the movie of the same name, Gilda (1945), from Columbia Pictures? Here she is in her nightclub number in the movie, "Put the Blame on Mame." Rita was dressed in
- [Notes from the peanut gallery: London Philharmonic Orchestra @ The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/22/notes-from-the-peanut-gallery-london-philharmonic-orchestra-the-soraya/): This season, which marked the heralded London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO)'s first American tour in ten years led by its Principal Conductor Edward Gardner, had as an artistic high point an October 10, concert in Northridge, California! Sandwiched into four California stops (Davis, Costa Mesa, Santa Barbara), the LPO graced our beautiful sound-worthy hall at The Soraya with
- [Bernardo forever, aka George Chakiris at 92](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/26/happy-92nd-bernardo-aka-george-chakiris/): I've spent a good deal of time watching the multiple Academy Award-winning West Side Story (1961), and have reached certain conclusions — you may have your own. First, if you haven't seen West Side (as insiders shorten it) on a big screen, you haven't seen it. This movie-musical is an operatic experience that needs total
- [Remembering George Romero as Halloween draws nigh](https://artsmeme.com/2017/10/17/director-george-romero-remembered-feted-as-halloween-approaches/): Join the close friends and family of director George A. Romero in a celebration of the life and career of the legendary horror filmmaker, who passed away on July 16, 2017, at the age of 77. Too young! Romero, who pioneered the zombie film genre with the 1968 feature, Night of the Living Dead, made
- [Puppets to bow out after Bob Baker 'Spooktacular'](https://artsmeme.com/2018/09/05/puppets-bow-out-for-now-halloween-spooktacular-bob-baker/): The final show (and we hope and pray the spookiest) at the longtime home of Bob Baker Marionette Theater will enjoy a loooong run -- scaring the heck out of a lot of Los Angeles kids throughout the season-'o-ghoulishness. Soon thereafter, the puppet theater that has occupied its charming digs beneath the First Street Bridge
- [Hollywood Heritage's Halloween hangout with 'glamour ghoul' Vampira](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/07/hollywood-heritages-halloween-hangout-with-glamour-ghoul-vampira/): She was born Maila Nurmi, which seems ghoulish enough. But she went by the mononym, Vampira. For those of us who did not grow up in Los Angeles watching this strange, mysterious lady host horror movies on late-night television (I grew up in Pittsburgh, where our Vampira was not nearly as sexy: "Chilly Billie" Cardille,
- [Wild! 'Silent Disco' at Segerstrom Center](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/22/wild-silent-disco-at-segerstrom-center/): Yeah, it's spooky. A bunch of people zoned-out and twitching like Night of the Living Dead zombies, only, more or less, to a beat. Kick off next "Halloweekend" with a round of bootie-shaking at a silent disco. And help our planet have less noise pollution! It's happening on the friendly public square at Segerstrom Center
- [Lurch on, Universal monsters!](https://artsmeme.com/2012/10/17/lurch-on-universal-monsters-scary-centennial-series-halloween/): Midway through October, 2012, we recommend a great celebration of monster movies, "A Monstrous Centennial" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
- [Ed Wood's 'Plan 9' joins forces with marionette 'Spooktacular'](https://artsmeme.com/2016/10/16/ed-woods-plan-9-joins-forces-with-marionette-spooktacular/): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ukRYsYPmo Director/auteur Ed Wood’s low-budget classic, Plan 9 From Outer Space, was loathed by critics upon release. It became a cult classic. The cast of the film included Maila Nurmi, credited as Vampira, and Bela Lugosi, who famously died during production and was replaced by Ed Wood's chiropractor, Dr. Tom Mason. The making of Plan 9
- ['Variety' got it dead wrong: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)](https://artsmeme.com/2017/10/28/variety-gets-it-wrong-on-night-of-the-living-dead/): On the occasion of the hugely talented, innovative and original filmmaker George Romero receiving his star on Hollywood Boulevard (the auteur director died in July) and the wonderful tribute event we attended (screening Romero's marvelous and underrated CREEPSHOW) this past week, we sense that Romero's pioneering in the horror genre can't have been easy. A tough
- [House of Laemmle presents 'House of Wax' in 65th anniv screening](https://artsmeme.com/2018/10/08/house-of-laemmle-presents-house-of-wax-in-65th-anniv-screening/): In the photo, Mitch McConnell (Vincent Price) crates up Dr. Blaisey-Ford's brain and sends it, and her, packing, back to Palo Alto. Her frozen, stunned expression captures her shock that truth-seeking holds little water for half of the population. For many, we're living a national horror show -- in a new America. To better adjust,
- ['Get up and vote!' Engaged dancers urge pals to use their power](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/17/get-up-and-vote-engaged-dancers-urge-pals-to-use-their-power/): It's high energy and upbeat; it's scrupulously non-partisan, and it creates a positive model for civic involvement. It's the brainchild and passion project of dance-community stalwart, the agent and co-founder of MSA Agency in Hollywood, Julie McDonald. Along with a partner, Pamela Cooper, and a technology maven, Emmy Frevele, "Dance for the Vote" just went
- [Golden-voiced Jack Jones, a golden performer](https://artsmeme.com/2017/10/31/golden-voiced-golden-performer-jack-jones-irvine-barclay/): Irvine Barclay Theatre, where we have enjoyed so many wonderful dance performances, hosted a super-special treat Saturday evening, a show by the master pop and jazz song stylist, Jack Jones. Jones was in his living room. A boffo performer, the guy settled into the theater's intimate quarters with an ease and control that reflected his
- [Notes on 'Dance Reflections' by Van Cleef & Arpels in Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/03/notes-on-dance-reflections-by-van-cleef-arpels-in-los-angeles/): It was quite an evening. As part of an elite, invited audience hosted by France's sui generis luxury jewelry purveyor, Van Cleef & Arpels, I attended a specially curated program delivered under the rubric of "Dance Reflections," the retailer's newish dance initiative. (It had a big rollout in London this past spring.) The evening took
- [Admittedly smitten: JazzAntiqua at 30](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/18/admittedly-smitten-jazzantiqua-at-30/): The "smitten" party would be me. I'm smitten by a dance company -- JazzAntiqua Dance & Music Ensemble, as it stages its thirtieth-anniversary celebration in an aptly named event, RITUAL OF RHYTHM. For anyone familiar with the choreography of Artistic Director Pat Taylor, the evening, produced in association with Ebony Repertory Theatre and Dance@theHolden, augurs
- [Storming the Sixties: From Teen Dance Shows to Shindig!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/08/storming-the-sixties-from-teen-dance-shows-to-shindig/): Ed. note: artsmeme is delighted to share with readers the third of three excerpts from author Julie Malnig's Dancing Black, Dancing White: Rock ‘n’ Roll, Race, and Youth Culture of the 1950s and 1960s (Oxford University Press, May 2023) explores the highly popular phenomenon of televised teen dance programs, incubators of new styles of social
- [New book links American teen culture of 50s/60s to local televised dance programs](https://artsmeme.com/2023/07/18/new-book-traces-american-teen-culture-televised-dance-programs/): Ed. note: artsmeme is delighted to share with readers the first of three excerpts from an exciting new book by author Julie Malnig. Dancing Black, Dancing White: Rock ‘n’ Roll, Race, and Youth Culture of the 1950s and 1960s (Oxford University Press, May 2023) explores the highly popular phenomenon of televised teen dance programs, incubators
- ['Dancin' as Danson: tango man Jordi Caballero](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/18/dancin-as-danson-tango-maestro-jordi-caballero/): Jordi Caballero, a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.), who moves from one amazing project to another with jolting speed, came up with a plum about a month ago. He was invited to be comic-actor Ted Danson's dance-double, in the very cute commercial for Consumer Cellular, above. The Portland-based provider of cellphones, no-contract cellphone plans, and accessories
- [Rocking the aerial ballet: Luminario's 'LedZAerial'](https://artsmeme.com/2016/03/15/rocking-the-aerial-ballet-luminario-ledzaerial/): Let's sound that out: led-zair-ee-yall. Otherwise entitled LedZAerial, Luminario Ballet's massively fun ballet-and-aerial dance pageant which throbs to the music of Led Zeppelin, including the ever popular Kashmir. Kind of the Ravel Bolero of our time. Luminario artistic director Judith FLEX Helle clearly takes instructions from the rock world's seminal heavy-metal band literally. She's created a
- [Female filmmakers find voice at German Currents Film Festival 2024](https://artsmeme.com/2024/10/01/female-filmmakers-find-voice-at-german-currents-film-festival-2024/): The German Currents Film Festival in the year 2024 has a surprising surfeit of films directed by women. The Festival opens on October 11 with a Los Angeles premiere of a comedy/drama by a multi-award-winning woman writer-director Sonja Heiss. It's the German box office and festival favorite, WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER
- [REVIEW: Teatro Grattacielo's operatic 'Beyond The Horizon,' angst by Eugene O'Neill](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/17/angst-by-oneill-teatro-grattacielos-operatic-beyond-the-horizon/): BEYOND THE HORIZONOpera in Three ActsMusic by Nicolas FlagelloLibretto by Nicolas Flagello and Walter SimmonsOrchestration by Anthony SbordoniPresented by Teatro Grattacielo at LA MAMA Shares, 66 East 4th Street, New York NYSunday, September 15, 2024 Eugene O'Neill is the most operatic of American playwrights — think of those conflict-ridden families, those soaring and searching soliloquies
- [To Pyotr, with love: A conversation with Tchaikovsky biographer Simon Morrison](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/16/to-pyotr-with-love-a-conversation-with-tchaikovsky-biographer-simon-morrison/): Ed. note: We're honored at artsmeme to share a conversation between arts journalist Marina Harss with author Simon Morrison, whose recent biography, "Tchaikovsky's Empire," is receiving critical kudos. In Morrison's book, writes Harss, he "takes a fresh, humanizing approach, debunking myths like the composer’s supposed suicide, and focusing on the beauty and craft of his
- [Going! Panorama's Mexico City screening-series continues with 'Tivoli'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/15/network-of-streetcars-at-mexico-citys-heart-subject-of-luis-bunuel-film-in-saturday-screenings-2/): A legendary vaudeville and burlesque theatre in Mexico City is slated to be torn down by developers, so a troupe of dancers, novelty performers and operators promiscuously mobilize to save their beloved theatre from demolition. That's the subject of this cool documentary which will be screening Saturday September 28 at the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los
- ['Slow down the clock' ... chants Timur in nightmarish 'Black Lodge' @ CAP-UCLA](https://artsmeme.com/2024/09/10/slow-down-the-clock-chants-timur-nightmarish-black-lodge/): For a few years after COVID, I had no patience -- squirming in my theater seat and super judgy at things that did make immediate sense. Often walking out! But somehow, I anticipate that in the dark confines of the very cool United Theatre on Broadway, the 1,600-seat legacy movie palace which, for an extended
- [Leaping Jerry Robbins via Buzz Miller](https://artsmeme.com/2018/10/13/leaping-jerome-robbins/): His birthday is over so it is back to business. To admire the work of Jerome Robbins (he is currently being deified, similar to Balanchine) is to stumble upon his borrowings, and lack of crediting of others. This is so sensitive -- and it's a difficult-to-discern thin line of how the artistic process happens. Again
- [Shelley Duvall's special dance as Olive Oyl, in 'Popeye'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/12/a-dance-for-shelley-duvall-as-olive-oyl/): Seen above, a personal photo published with permission. It is a beatific pose by the recently deceased actress Shelley Duvall dancing as Olive Oyl in director Robert Altman's "Popeye" (1980). Duvall (1949-2024), who recently passed away, led a long and memorable career primarily as a character actress, but in this case she played a full
- [Mexico City streetcars at heart of Buñuel film in Saturday screenings](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/20/network-of-streetcars-at-mexico-citys-heart-subject-of-luis-bunuel-film-in-saturday-screenings/): It's a film by Luis Buñuel, minus the eye-slicing; it's Illusion Travels by Streetcar (1954) by the Spanish cinema master of surrealist films, but this time, a beautifully made neo-realist black-and-white drama of peripatetic ur ban existence rolling the streets of Mexico City. A trio of friends who care for a streetcar soon to be
- [Let's roll with new book, 'Bowlarama'!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/26/123430/): Did your mother belong to a bowling league? Mine did, in suburban Pittsburgh where I grew up. The co-authors of Bowlarama: The Architecture of Mid-Century Bowling—Chris Nichols of Los Angeles Magazine and founder of the Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee, with Adriene Biondo, a preservationist/activist, author of five books, and the reason Johnie's Broiler still
- [Top this, Hollywood! The making of 'Top Hat' (1935)](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/25/top-this-hollywood-the-making-of-top-hat-1935/): artsmeme is lucky to have good friends who collect fabulous Hollywood dance photos like the one above, given to us by Bison Archive's Marc Wanamaker. It's a soundstage shot of the making of the superlative movie-musical from RKO, "Top Hat" (1935). In our photo, director Mark Sandrich, in his own swank chapeau, directs a brief
- [To Cucamonga, with Joan Didion](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/26/to-cucamonga-with-joan-didion/): Ed. note: Writer Joan Didion's recent death sparked a memory for an unexpected author on these pages. It is Kent Bulza, otherwise known as artsmeme's tech and SEO specialist. Thank you, Kent! In my freshman literature class I was handed a standard-issue Borzoi College Reader filled with all sorts of names of authors I’d never
- [Richard Wyatt, Los Angeles muralist, leaves mark of humanity on city](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/19/richard-wyatt-los-angeles-muralist-leaves-mark-of-humanity-on-city/): If you've lived in Los Angeles and its environs for any length of time, there's a very good chance you've been touched by the work of Richard Wyatt Jr. (1955-2024). He was one of the most prolific and high-profile of Southern California muralists, supplying large-scale images that told the town's stories in the faces and
- [Death of a dance critic](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/06/death-of-a-dance-critic/): George Jackson, a renowned dance critic, dance historian, author, and parasitologist died in his sleep in New York Monday August 5, 2024. I was his reader, and George read artsmeme, too, clicking on the occasional link, and perusing. I once received a balletomane's note from him, in 2017, kind of complaining that our critic, "apparently
- [Twin titans of terror to add Festival shivers at Cinecon 60](https://artsmeme.com/2024/08/08/twin-titans-of-terror-to-add-labor-day-shivers-at-cinecon-60/): Labor Day could mean lazing around, eating hot dogs, and reading the funny papers -- all pleasures of the working man and woman's holiday. But for the past sixty years, cinephiles have gathered on this end-of-summer weekend for a five-day "deep dive" -- and that means morning-till-night -- to imbibe a banquet of rarely seen
- [Capitol Records "Hollywood Jazz" mural celebrated](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/02/hollywood-jazz-mural-capitol-records-building/): May 5th is Cinco de Mayo. To celebrate, enjoy some great Latin jazz by Louie Cruz Beltran and a get a gander at a newly restored jazz mural at the Capitol Records Building.
- [artsmeme endorsement: We're with the dancer!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/25/artsmeme-endorsement-were-with-the-dancer/): Harris in 2024 | Donate here.
- [John Waters, son of P.T. Barnum](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/22/john-waters-son-of-p-t-barnum/): He was irrepressible. In 1959, filmmaker John Waters posted announcements on telephone poles of his Baltimore neighborhood. From the start, he was both a creator and a P.T. Barnum impresario. Culled from the costumes, props, handwritten scripts, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, film clips, and more, included in "John Waters, Pope of Trash," the major exhibition dedicated
- [Dance finds 'sea legs' at Montpellier Danse 2024](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/15/dance-finds-sea-legs-at-montpellier-danse-2024/): The expression, to "find your sea legs" feels apt for dance right now. The term refers to the human body's struggle to adjust to the pitching-and-rocking of a ship in motion. It's a jolting loss of balance; it's the absence of terra firma. Four years after the onset of a global pandemic, it doesn't seem
- [A shuffle away from democracy in prescient 'Shiraz' at Montpellier Danse](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/04/a-shuffle-away-from-democracy-suggested-in-prescient-shiraz-at-montpellier-danse/): It is nothing less than a confounding political moment in which to write about “Shiraz,” a dauntingly brilliant dance performance seen last night at Montpellier Danse’s Hanger Theatre performed by a troupe directed by a young choreographer, Armin Hokmi. The Iranian-born, Berlin-based dance maker made very clear that his work was inspired by the suppressed
- [Mexican-born, American-trained Isaac Hernandez to join ABT as Principal Dancer](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/11/mexican-born-american-trained-isaac-hernandez-to-join-abt-as-principal-dancer/): Our friends at American Ballet Theatre, which under the guidance and decision-making of new Artistic Director Susan Jaffe seem to have awakened from a long Sleeping Beauty-like slumber, have stirring news to share. The company's highest ranks will have a new addition. It's a long, slim, classically trained dancer of Mexican origin -- and that
- [Antiseptic dance antics for our era: Steve Koplowitz at The Wooden Floor](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/19/antiseptic-dance-antics-for-our-era-steve-koplowitz-at-the-wooden-floor/): The cool kids who attend dance class at The Wooden Floor, the renowned-and-respected Orange County-based program that enhances youth development through dance, are not among the bummed-out performers sidelined by COVID-19. Heck no! They traded in the closed-off dance studio for an asphalt parking lot. Under the command of a veritable P.T. Barnum of site-specific
- [Nice's Windsor Hotel -- jungle refuge for traveling arts lovers](https://artsmeme.com/2024/07/06/nices-windsor-hotel-artists-and-art-lovers/): The artist's hotel, a venerable tradition, is alive and well in France's golden Cote d'Azure, aka The Riviera. For three nights prior to attending Montpellier Danse, we recovered from jet-lag in Nice -- the sun-dappled, seaside city on the Mediterranean. Our home base was the centrally located, warm and charming Windsor Hotel (its English name
- [Northward bound, for Lake Tahoe Dance Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2023/07/21/northward-bound-for-lake-tahoe-dance-festival/): It's a well-kept secret, except for ballet aficionados. One of the most beautiful and natural environments in our nation, Lake Tahoe, California, the massive freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada straddling the border between California and Nevada, is home to an engaging dance festival that marked its tenth anniversary last year, and enters its eleventh,
- [In Tahoe, for Dance Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2023/07/26/in-tahoe-for-dance-festival/): "There will be bears in Tahoe," Festival intern Summer Hatcher warned me — a dance writer who has never lived beyond a five-mile radius from a performing arts center. As we departed Reno Airport, she explained that I should wave arms at the creatures. Summer was navigating Interstate 80's sweeping curves with exponentially stunning vistas
- [Mesmerizing balletic ode to Virginia Woolf new signature work for American Ballet Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/15/mesmerizing-balletic-ode-to-virginia-woolf-new-signature-work-for-american-ballet-theatre/): American Ballet Theatre, now in its eighth decade, reclaims its mantle as a font of top international repertoire with "Woolf Works," a theatrical evocation of three novellas written by the most poetic of 20th century authors, Virginia Woolf. The ambitious full-evening ballet has contemporary-classical choreography by Briton Wayne McGregor to a moody and rambunctious original
- [Critic's notes: In Pasadena, Jammin' with Jelly Roll Morton](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/07/critics-notes-in-pasadena-jammin-with-jelly-roll-morton/): It doesn't get more rollicking than the scene in the photo above, a trio of triple-threat red-hot mamas bumping and grinding in their bawdy-house skivvies in Dell Howlett's well-crafted choreography for Jelly's Last Jam, now on at the venerable Pasadena Playhouse. The historic bulwark of live theater in Los Angeles, the Playhouse is on the
- [Don't be superstitious! Buy Jeff Beck-tribute guitar.](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/24/not-superstitious-buy-jeff-beck-tribute-guitar/): Jeff Beck (1944 - 2023) is considered one of the best guitarists in history, and to my ear the most soulful of the British rockers. A trailblazing guitarist, Beck recorded with everyone from Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy to Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. Beck got his start with The Yardbirds, making groundbreaking music on
- [USC librarian Ned Comstock, beloved by film scholars, is no more](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/20/usc-librarian-ned-comstock-beloved-by-film-scholars-is-no-more/): The material would arrive unannounced—by email attachment. Lengthy, well-organized PDF documents of pages scanned from books, bundled, as complete packages with title pages, footnotes and relevant index pages. They were every researcher’s dream. They were culled from the depths of USC Cinematic Arts Library by a knowledgeable, passionate, and brilliant, really, librarian, Ned Comstock (1955-2024).
- [It's been 'a hard day's night' -- for sixty years!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/19/its-been-a-hard-days-night-for-sixty-years/): What's amusing about that funny-yet-familiar song title, "A Hard Day's Night," is its disingenuity. When the song hit Planet Earth with a sonic boom, the four moptop Beatles, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, delivered their "woooo"s as though they've never had a hard day's anything in their lives. And talk about "hummable." A full encyclopedia
- [Lyrics of love, loss, longing in Mark Sebastian's new 'A Trick of the Light'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/11/122550/): From time to time, singer/songwriter Mark Sebastian’s well-meaning comperes have cautioned him about the lyrical content of some of his songs. Sebastian’s literate and sophisticated songs explore the romantic battleground between men and women. He crafts exceedingly poetic evocations of love, loss and longing. The title track contains some of the best contemporary writing you’re liable to
- [Dear Academy Museum, please stop trying to divide us](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/29/dear-academy-museum-please-stop-dividing-us/): Dear Academy Museum, The Nicholas Brothers were great dancers not 'Black' dancers For an institution tripping over itself in an effort to evince sensitivity toward every sector, segment, and demographic that ever walked Planet Earth for the past 3,000 years -- a real mission impossible, guys -- you keep insulting my demographic! Sirs and madams,
- [He's just Ken. But, Ryan Gosling and Mandy Moore, Jack Cole has a name too.](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/13/say-his-name-ryan-gosling-and-mandy-moore-just-say-his-name/): Nineteen million people watched, on Sunday night, when, at the 96th Oscar Award ceremony, actor Ryan Gosling, looking hot in hot pink ("Barbie pink," as it has come to be known), sashayed onto the stage of the Dolby Theater, mike in hand, and charmed the room in a rousing round of Oscar-nominated song, "I'm Just
- [The indomitable 'Thelma' rolls into your local theater](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/03/the-indomitable-thelma-rolls-into-your-local-theater/): She's a little old lady not from Pasadena, but rather Encino, or thereabouts. June Squibb plays the title role not as a doddering oldster, but a defiantly independent one even as the vagaries of cellphones, Facebook, and online-banking seem to be colluding against her. Yes, THELMA (2024), out at month's end from Magnolia Pictures, is
- [Swirling in motion & color with Blue13 Dance Company](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/31/swirling-in-motion-and-color-with-blue13-dance-company/): Over an unsually chilly weekend in Los Angeles, a large posse of creatives -- Blue13 Dance Company -- lived up to its colorful name, staging a site-specific work masterminded by choreographer Achinta McDaniel, a large snippet of which we enjoyed in dress rehearsal. In a small city comprised of eight Victorian homes of Heritage Square
- [Fantastic: new generation discovers Jack Cole, launches 'homage' nightclub act in his name](https://artsmeme.com/2024/06/03/new-generation-jack-cole-launches-homage-nightclub-act/): I could not be more delighted. In my upcoming biography of the dancer/choreographer Jack Cole, which is completed but awaits publication, I have written extensively about the three outlets in which Cole choreographed and performed: on the Broadway stage, on screens of Hollywood, and in nightclub stage shows. All three bear witness to his dance
- [Headlining at the Rainbow Room: Jack Cole and his Dancers](https://artsmeme.com/2011/09/14/rainbow-room-headliners-jack-cole-and-his-dancers/): Recreates the atmosphere, and quotes from a review, from Jack Cole's nightclub days at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room, 1942.
- [Frederick Wiseman's love letter to ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2009/10/28/frederick-wisemans-love-letter-to-ballet/): Wiseman’s 38th film, “La Danse,” about Paris Opera Ballet, caps a long and distinguished career as the dean of the most uncompromising form of documentary filmmaking, direct cinema.
- [Shtetl shport](https://artsmeme.com/2009/11/19/shtetl-shport/): In a talk at the Yiddish Cultural Institute, Strom shared his research into "muscular Judaism" -- the unexpected idea that Jewish society of pre-World War II Europe was steeped in a culture of healthy body building.
- ["The Art of the Steal" @ LACMA](https://artsmeme.com/2010/02/26/the-art-of-the-steal-lacma/): arts•meme recommends the upcoming screening of "The Art of the Steal" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art March 9 at 7:30 pm.
- ["Je ne suis pas contente de tout," says Claude Bessy.](https://artsmeme.com/2011/07/24/je-ne-suis-pas-contente-de-tout-disait-claude-bessy/): Claude Bessy's discipline, seriousness, her punitiveness and high standards -- followed by a big wink, a dose of love, affection, and caring -- strike me as very French.
- [MJ, not dying, not depressed, in "This is It"](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/21/mj-not-dying-not-depressed-in-this-is-it/): Ruminating on Michael Jackson in "This is It" which I only had the ability to watch tonight.
- [Between "Pina" and a hard place](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/09/between-pina-and-a-hard-place-2/): Review of Wim Wenders's dance film, "Pina"
- [Recommended: "Never Stand Still" on Great Performances Friday night](https://artsmeme.com/2013/07/24/never-stand-still-on-great-performances/): National television broadcast of a PBS documentary film on the history and importance of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Friday July 26, 2013.
- [Stones still rolling fifty years later, on HBO](https://artsmeme.com/2012/11/08/stones-still-rolling-fifty-years-later/): Concerns the HBO documentary, "Crossfire Hurricane" which gives a visceral historic tour of the Rolling Stones.
- [Review: Quirky master-photog Bert Stern captured in doc](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/01/master-photographer-bert-stern-original-mad-man/): Reviews the documentary "Bert Stern: Original Mad Man" soon to open in Los Angeles.
- [Ricky Jay's magical existence examined in "Deceptive Practice"](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/14/ricky-jays-magical-and-real-existence-examined-in-deceptive-practice/): Reviews "Deceptive Practice" a new documentary about magician Ricky Jay.
- [Back-up singers to the fore in "Twenty Feet From Stardom"](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/07/back-up-singers-brought-to-fore-in-twenty-feet-from-stardom/): “Twenty Feet from Stardom,” an unfortunately titled but otherwise smashing documentary about a great subject: the art & struggle of the pop music back-up singer.
- [Remembering Rudi](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/30/remembering-rudi/): Describes Fabrice Herrault's new film on Rudolf Nureyev.
- ["La Passion Noureev" to premiere in Los Angeles for Dance Camera West](https://artsmeme.com/2013/11/25/la-passion-noureev-to-premiere-in-los-angeles-for-dance-camera-west/): A premiere of a ballet documentary, "La Passion Noureev," will benefit Dance Camera West in Los Angeles.
- [Story of Tanaquil](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/02/story-of-tanaquil/): Greatly anticipates Dance Camera West's Los Angeles premiere of "Afternoon of a Faun," a documentary devoted to the story of New York City Ballet's iconic ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq.
- [Los Angeles talent highlighted in "A Ballerina's Tale"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/10/15/los-angeles-talent-part-of-a-ballerinas-tale-community/): Misty Copeland grew up in Los Angeles. So did Robyn Gardenhire and both are beautiful black ballerinas.
- [Remembering Mia Slavenska](https://artsmeme.com/2016/04/26/calarts-remembers-mia-slavenska/): This simply spectacular photo memorializes a tremendous dancer of the twentieth century, the great Croatia-born prima ballerina Mia Slavenska. The rock solid legs, the startling physical intensity, the blazing eyes, all Slavenska. Following her career with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Slavenska's long and winding road led, in the 1970s, to teaching classical ballet
- [A b*stard by any other name: Robert Cenedella](https://artsmeme.com/2016/06/13/a-bstard-by-any-other-name-robert-cenedella/): The painter of the work above, Robert Cenedella, is the subject of a new documentary, ART BASTARD, soon to open in Los Angeles. Film is touted as the tale of a rebel at odds with today's art world. Directed by Victor Kanefsky, "Bastard" is a portrait of New York artist, a contemporary of Andy Warhol who
- [Bujones blazes again, in new Herrault doc](https://artsmeme.com/2017/03/28/bujones-blazes-again-in-new-herrault-doc/): If footage of the late Fernando Bujones (1955-2005) partnering Cynthia Gregory in Grand pas Classique, music by Daniel-Francois Auber, does not represent a pinnacle in American ballet, then what does? This outstanding pas de deux is on view [see 13:09] in a new online documentary about the amazing male dancer whose absence is still conspicuously
- [Greek tragedy in Alphabet City: the death of Lee Morgan](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/03/greek-tragedy-in-the-bronx-the-death-of-lee-morgan/): Trumpeters have the most tragic lineage of any instrument in jazz history. Car accidents, mental illness, congenital defects, drugs and alcohol have claimed some of the greatest players. But the murder of trumpeter Lee Morgan in 1972 was a laceration on the music that never healed. That a great but floundering musician regained his footing
- ['Rebels on Pointe,' a film about the pursuit of human happiness](https://artsmeme.com/2017/11/29/rebels-on-pointe-a-film-about-the-pursuit-of-human-happiness/): "I can be myself. I can wear tutus. Why not?" asks the Cuban-born ballet dancer. Carlos Hopuy, in a matter-of-fact tone. He adds, "Those little things change the world." Hopuy voices these comments with the candor of a liberated person -- he's one of the members of the male-travestie troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte
- [Robert Dornhelm, who directed two prominent dance docs, to get award](https://artsmeme.com/2018/04/18/robert-dornhelm-who-helmed-two-prominent-dance-docs-to-get-award/): ​ The Children of Theatre Street chronicles the lives of the young students of the Kirov Ballet and was nominated for an Academy Award, while She Dances Alone tells the story of Kyra Nijinsky, daughter of Nijinsky. As part of his honoring by SEEFest, the festival will screen Dornhelm’s 2006 historic drama, The Crown Prince,
- [Trailblazing fashionista/journo Andre Leon Talley in doc](https://artsmeme.com/2018/05/25/trailblazing-fashionista-andre-leon-talley-in-new-doc/): An unlikely fashionista except by virtue of his own brilliance, assiduous self-education in fashion history, and raging ambition to be in the middle of it all is the fascinating figure, André Leon Talley. This quintessential tastemaker, a contributor to Women’s Wear Daily, W, and Vogue, is the subject of a touching new documentary directed by Kate
- [A neighborly day in this beautywood with Fred Rogers](https://artsmeme.com/2018/06/02/a-neighborly-day-in-this-beautywood-spend-time-with-fred-rogers/): All that was missing was my blankie and a pacifier. Then I would hunker down all night with "Won't You Be My Neighbor," the latest documentary from Morgan Neville. Neville, whose Twenty Feet from Stardom shone a thrilling light on the unheralded talent of backup singers, in this new doc shifts focus to yet another
- [To be young, gifted & Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul in 'Amazing Grace'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/01/24/to-be-young-gifted-and-aretha-franklin-queen-of-soul-in-amazing-grace/): “Amazing Grace," with two-million vinyl discs exiting record stores, was the top-selling gospel record of all time and Aretha Franklin's top-selling album. Released in June 1972, the album coincided with the very same month I graduated from an all-white high school in suburban Pittsburgh. Right around that time, on Sunday afternoons, I used my new
- [Remembering Rita Guerrero](https://artsmeme.com/2019/05/06/96623/): RITA, THE DOCUMENTARY, an intimate and music-fueled documentary by Arturo Díaz Santana that captures the energy and artistry of the brilliant lead singer of Santa Sabina, Rita Guerrero (1964-2011), will screen at the Hola Mexico Film Festival on Thursday, June 6 at The Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood. Santa Sabina, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, will perform following the
- [Merce's marvelous movie](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/03/merces-marvelous-movie/): Seen yesterday in Cunningham, the new Merce Cunningham documentary shot in 3-D by writer/director Alla Kovgan: imagery and brief excepts from "Summerspace," the choreographer's legendary 'no-center' ballet dating from 1958 and performed in Robert Rauschenberg's pointillist costumes/decor to music by Morton Feldman. The film, which may bring the rarefied artist his most widespread exposure with
- [Meet director Roselynde LeBlanc of 'Can You Bring It,' Bill T. Jones doc](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/19/meet-director-roselynde-leblanc-of-can-you-bring-it-bill-t-jones-doc/): This most compelling image is from a dance work dating from 1989, Bill T. Jones's "D-Man in the Water," which was a tour de force group work Jones fashioned in response to the AIDs epidemic. So why does that matter now? We have a new pandemic to worry about! In fact, it matters a lot.
- [Review: 'Ailey,' the choreographer, the man, the figurehead, in PBS American Masters doc](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/11/review-ailey-the-man-the-dance-company-in-pbs-american-masters-doc/): The opening moments of Ailey—Jamila Wignot’s deeply rewarding documentary about Alvin Ailey's life, work and company—show the choreographer receiving a huge ovation as a Kennedy Center Honoree. Cicely Tyson speaks movingly about the depth of his achievements; his company performs a fervent finale from Revelations as he takes evident pride in watching them. Ailey, 57,
- [Lewitzky doc to open Dance Camera West at Barnsdall Art Park](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/13/lewitzky-documentary-to-open-dance-camera-west-at-barnsdall-art-park/): I was delighted to learn that the annual DANCE CAMERA WEST festival will take place this year, the weekend of January 19, in the cozy underground theater of Barnsdall Art Park, one of the truly happy places of our fair city. The urban-rustic setting fits well with the California theme of the Festival's opening film,
- [The Stone who stopped rolling: Nick Broomfield doc about Brian Jones](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/16/the-stone-who-stopped-rolling-new-doc-about-brian-jones/): As a schoolboy aged 14, Nick Broomfield, later a British filmmaker and award-winning documentarian, met Brian Jones, by chance, on a train. Jones was at the height of his success. Six years later he would be dead. Nick Broomfield’s new documentary THE STONES & BRIAN JONES explores the legacy of Brian Jones, who, in this
- [Oh, to be as 'Driven' as Tony Pearson](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/17/oh-to-be-as-driven-as-tony-pearson/): I very much enjoyed Driven: The Tony Pearson Story, a documentary that is the labor of love of its director Andrew Menjivar. It details the life and career of legendary bodybuilder Tony Pearson, a product of several seminal training gyms up to and including Venice’s Muscle Beach and Gold’s Gym, where, ahem, I am a new member~!
- [Superlative studio musicians of '70s rock revealed in 'Immediate Family' doc](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/14/superlative-studio-musicians-of-70s-rock-immediate-family-doc/): This is the portrait of an artist. Don't recognize him? His name is Waddy Wachtel. Never heard of him? That's intentional. Wachtel, whom Keith Richards calls a "natural maestro," made a life decision -- to become, and remain, a top-notch, back-of-house studio musician. Playing behind front-line artists like Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Keith
- [A sensory feast as 'Queen' 1981 rock concert gets IMAX revisit](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/16/imaxs-sensory-feast-as-queen-1981-concert-gets-revisit/): A fleeting window into rock's pantheon opens from January 18th to 21st, as IMAX presents Queen Rock Montreal, a visceral document of the band's incandescent live energy and artistry. Queen's deep respect and unwavering generosity toward their audience shines through every frame and every note of this documentary film that captures two nights of performances
- [Fred Wiseman, documentary film's wise man](https://artsmeme.com/2010/10/04/fred-wiseman-documentary-films-wise-man/): Frederick Wiseman, the documentary filmmaker will give a talk at Loyola Marymount University Oct 15 in West Los Angeles.
- [The subtle art of the New Yorker cartoon in an HBO documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2015/11/16/the-subtle-art-of-the-new-yorker-cartoon-in-an-hbo-documentary/): Whether they leave readers amused, inspired or baffled, the iconic single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker magazine have been a cultural touchstone over the past 90 years. They power not on a laugh out loud, but on a brain-tickling smile. VERY SEMI-SERIOUS, a film directed by Leah Wolchok that glimpses the process behind publishing the
- [Charles Lummis, Los Angeles city founder, sprung to life in dance & documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2016/06/01/charles-lummis-los-angeles-city-founder-sprung-to-life-in-dance-documentary/): Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre will bring its site-specific brand of immersive performance, this weekend, to the historic Southwest Museum building. The performance, "143 Days," is part of a commission by the Autry Museum of the American West and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dance company will present a modern retelling of the pioneering American
- [Review: ballerina Wendy Whelan in new documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2016/10/17/review-ballerina-wendy-whelan-doc/): We all have problems, right? In the case of Wendy Whelan, the equivalent of a prima ballerina assoluta if only New York City Ballet had that designation, the problem in dance season 2013-14 was how to gracefully exit the stage and transition to civilian life. For thirty years, the reed-thin, Kentucky-born ballet-thoroughbred reigned as the
- [Marsha Hunt's nobility, talent and patriotism on view in documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2018/07/06/marsha-hunts-nobility-talent-and-patriotism-on-view-in-documentary/): In 1935, 17-year-old aspiring actress Marsha Hunt signed with Paramount Pictures and went on to a flourishing career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She made 54 films in 17 years, notably Pride and Prejudice (1940) and Raw Deal (1948). Then she was blacklisted. After that rude life-and-career interruption, she championed humanitarian causes as one of Hollywood’s first celebrity activists. A documentary,
- [Nureyev - the man, the dancer - in a stimulating documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2019/04/10/nureyev-the-man-the-dancer-in-a-stimulating-documentary/): A rich companion piece to the soon-opening feature film, The White Crow (our review here), is the cleverly constructed new documentary, Nureyev, co-directed by BAFTA-nominated directors Jacqui Morris and David Morris. This doc, with its very unusual structure, was made with the support of the Nureyev Foundation. Released by CineLife Entertainment, Nureyev is a reworking
- [Straight outta Ukraine: authentic klezmer music in documentary film](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/13/straight-outta-ukraine-authentic-klezmer-music-in-documentary-film/): You want Ukraine? We'll give you Ukraine! But the good stuff, music, not the gnarly political-football stuff. A documentary, The Last Klezmer, that celebrates the infectious Jewish soul music, written and directed by artsmeme friend Yale Strom, is having a 25th anniversary screening at Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts Theatre. It is such an important occasion,
- [Real, fake, honest, or corrupt? UCLA Film & Television Archive's clever 'Quiz Show' program](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/25/real-fake-honest-corrupt-quiz-show-program/): An exceptional double bill this Saturday night, June 1, at UCLA Film & Television Archive, where film programs are screened at the Billy Wilder Theater of the Hammer Museum. This one bears particular tongue in cheek, as part of the Archive's "Small Screen/Big Screen" series. It's a clever pairing of a feature film, QUIZ SHOW
- [What is this man thinking? Go see 'Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn'](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/12/what-is-this-man-thinking-loony-porn/): He resembles an Every Man, doesn't he? Someone Bertolt Brecht might portray in a play -- set in the good old days, the 1930s. He is the contemporary Romanian film director, Radu Jude, who, borrowing from Brecht for his edgy new movie, BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN, puts his audience's nose right in it.
- [arts•meme glimpses Francis Ford Coppola's soon-coming 'Megalopolis'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/30/artsmeme-glimpses-francis-ford-coppolas-soon-coming-megalopolis/): Our first glimpse, in single photo, above, of Megalopolis, a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined modern America, a soon-coming motion picture directed, written, produced by Francis Ford Coppola. It goes like this, or so it is said to: The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist
- [Revisiting 'Seven New Dances' as a periscope to Paul Taylor's future, at 92NY](https://artsmeme.com/2024/05/07/seven-new-dances-as-a-periscope-to-paul-taylors-future-at-92ny/): It has become a celebrated and notorious moment in modern dance history: Paul Taylor’s Seven New Dances, the evening of purposely un-dancey pieces that inspired the now-famous blank newspaper review by Louis Horst. On May 13, reconstructions of works from that evening will take the stage of Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y,
- [Pas-de-deux in perpetuity: Travolta & Thurman in 'Pulp Fiction,' at TCM Fest 2024](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/21/pas-de-deux-in-perpetuity-travolta-thurman-in-pulp-fiction-at-tcm-fest-2024/): At the conclusion of the witty dance duet between Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), on the dance floor of a kooky retro coffee-shop-style restaurant, the full auditorium of TCM Fest 2024's opening night gala at the TCL Chinese Theatre broke into spontaneous applause. The occasion was the screening of Pulp Fiction
- [Melvin Kaminsky lives. [slideshow]](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/29/melvin-kaminsky-lives/): Melvin Kaminsky (born June 28, 1926) aka Mel Brooks was in fine fettle interviewed at age 97 by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz during the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival in its 15th annual staging in Hollywood, California. He explained to an audience gathered at TCL Chinese Theatre for a screening of "Spaceballs" (1987)
- [Rosie, her cat Buttermilk, and her creator Maurice Sendak, at Skirball Center](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/28/sendak-retrospective-skirball/): Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) is much known as the artist/creator of acclaimed children’s books Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside Over There (1980). Sendak, who is enjoying a retrospective of his work, Wild Things Are Happening, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, was known to have said,
- [Hilarious! Quentin Tarantino directs 'Pulp Fiction' dance number](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/25/hilarious-quentin-tarantino-directs-pulp-fiction-dance-number/): An on-set devil captured footage as Quentin Tarantino directed Uma Thurman and John Travolta in their iconic twist to a Chuck Berry song. It does beg the question: Is that how John Ford directed? Tarantino demonstrated on a British talk show host his inspiration for the choreography. artsmeme interviews a dancer/choreographer who did not do
- [R&B today, in Los Angeles festival](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/16/rb-today-in-los-angeles-festival/): Smooth sounds and infectious beats of rhythm and blues music, shortcode R&B, will fill the Los Angeles skyline in a one-day extravaganza for music enthusiasts. The line up of R&B royalty will include artists Ashanti, Ja Rule, Omarion, and Bow Wow, joined by a plethora of R&B sensations including Pretty Ricky, Fabolous, Ginuwine, Mya, Keri Hilson, Lloyd, Ray J,
- [John Clayton’s jazz continuum prospers](https://artsmeme.com/2016/03/10/john-claytons-jazz-continuum-feted-at-gala/): above: jazz musicians John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Jeff Clayton The California Jazz Foundation has been investing in the jazz community for a decade, with a generous track record of financial, counseling and material aid to 200 musicians in need. The Foundation doesn't take its role, especially as an aid organization, lightly. "Give the Band a
- [Gerald Clayton, Gretchen Parlato set to open 'Jazz at Naz' weekend @ The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/10/gerald-clayton-gretchen-parlato-open-jazz-at-naz-weekend-at-the-soraya/): A trio of cutting-edge Jazz at Naz intimate concerts takes jazz’s temperature and points to the art form’s future. Hungry for the potent experience live music brings, jazz fans (safely distanced and masked) will encounter, over the course of one weekend, a blazing sextet, a sensual vocalist, and a scintillating up-and-coming pianist from Havana. The
- [REVIEW: Chilly Nimoy night warmed by jazz duo Goldings & Koonse](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/07/review-nimoy-night-warmed-by-jazz-duo-goldings-koonse/): It’s a quiet Saturday night on Westwood Boulevard, and all that’s left of the latest rainstorm is a light mist. The Nimoy Theater marquee is the brightest thing on the street, and it draws some people inside. Organist Larry Goldings and guitarist Larry Koonse are playing jazz duets tonight, under the aegis of Ruth Price.
- [Broadbent & Mancio, a musical partnership by intuition & osmosis](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/29/broadbent-mancio-a-musical-partnership-by-intuition-osmosis/): One of the most sublime vocal albums of this, or any recent, year was released a few months ago. London-based singer and lyricist Georgia Mancio and pianist Alan Broadbent committed duets of nine of their own songs onto Quiet Is The Star (Roomspin). The collaboration is one of the all-too-rare instances where voice, text, piano
- [Hooray for the 'Discoveries': lesser-known gems of TCM Fest 2024](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/16/hooray-for-the-discoveries-lesser-known-gems-of-tcm-fest-2024/): When the TCM Classic Film Festival opens its 15th year in Hollywood this week, you may well choose to see some of the high-profile events at the festival—the star-studded opening night screening of Pulp Fiction, Lady Sings the Blues with co-star Billy Dee Williams in person, North by Northwest introduced by filmmaker Nancy Meyers, or
- [Poised for paw prints at TCM Classic Film Fest 2024: Jodie Foster](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/21/poised-for-paw-prints-on-tcl-chinese-theatre-patio-jodie-foster/): Hollywood has special affection for kid actors. The best of them are survivors, and craftspeople for whom the presence of a a movie camera is nearly an extension of their own selves. And that well describes the natural way that Jodie Foster, grabbed attention at age ten in her first movie, Alice Doesn't Live Here
- [Neutra's quiet revolution in residential design: Silverlake's Ohara House (1959)](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/25/neutras-quiet-revolution-in-residential-design-silverlakes-ohara-house-1959/): Los Angeles is a living museum of mid-Century modern architectural design, those notably pared- down geometrically driven homes that interact copacetically in nature. So the house on view here is one of many. But it's special. It's historic. It's one of the nine homes built on the edge of Silver Lake as a "Neutra Colony,"
- [Attend New York City Ballet -- in a sensitive way](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/24/going-to-the-ballet-in-a-sensitive-way-at-new-york-city-ballet/): On a day when five highly sensitive creatures -- a cluster of the British monarchy's beautifully bred military horses -- got "spooked" (an actual term for when horses react and skitter and scamper) and proceeded to throw their riders and gallop around London causing havoc, it's time for human beings face the limits of our
- [Pre-Code movies rediscovered in Los Angeles (TCM Fest) & New York (MoMA)](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/25/pre-production-code-era-movies-rediscovered/): At the fifteen annual Turner Classic Movies TCM Fest, just completed in Hollywood, we most enjoyed two marvelous movies, Only Yesterday (1933) in which Margaret Sullavan bucks the stigma of her single motherhood and The Good Fairy (1935) with Sullavan, again, playing a young innocent entangling with marital norms, this time with the always wonderful
- [Four-year residency for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater completes first lap at Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/25/four-year-residency-for-alvin-ailey-american-dance-theatre-completes-first-lap-at-music-center/): The hyper-popular Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater closed a seven-performance run, March 20-24, 2024, at the Los Angeles Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion yesterday -- kind of a new post-COVID booking-high in southern California -- bringing immense joy to myriad audience members in live performances. Los Angeles has always been a prime outpost of the
- [Koehler on Cinema: The Salinger Spectacle](https://artsmeme.com/2013/09/06/salinger-spectacle-koehle/): Robert Koehler reviews SALINGER, a new film that perpetuates the enigmatic writer's myth.
- [Koehler on Cinema: Love in Texas, Wandering in Vienna](https://artsmeme.com/2013/08/17/love-texas-wandering-vienna-koehler/): Robert Koehler reviews two new independent films of exceptional interest.
- [A la française: food & fashion films](https://artsmeme.com/2013/09/19/a-la-francaise-food-fashion-films/): Unlike the U.S., French filmmakers and distributors think audiences will be interested in movies about strong successful women.
- [Michael Hayden neon sculpture to pop once more on Pershing Square](https://artsmeme.com/2015/01/20/michael-hayden-neon-sculpture-to-pop-once-more-on-pershing-square/): A return to our cityscape, a neon sculpture by Michael Hayden to be "re-lit" on January 22, 2015.
- [Film museum ... or oil refinery?](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/02/film-museum-or-oil-refinery/): Everyone thinks that the Academy Museum at Wilshire and Fairfax, was a repurposed May Company department store, but as a story in Curbed L.A. demonstrates, it was inspired by an oil refinery. We've been living around them forever! And to prove it, the Museum is staging a new exhibition featuring the kinds of clothes people
- ['Komorebi' connects us to natural world in two recent Japanese movies](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/03/komorebi-connects-us-to-natural-world-in-two-recent-japanese-movies/): We noticed it right away. Evil Does Not Exist, the new film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of Academy Award-winning DRIVE MY CAR opens with a long montage of treetops in a forest. Hey! We just saw something very similar in Wim Wenders' Academy Award-nominated movie, Perfect Days (2023). This marvelous film, an artsmeme favorite, also had
- [Japanese cinema-viewing art, 'benshi,' in global tour, soon in Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/27/japanese-cinema-viewing-art-benshi-in-global-tour-soon-in-los-angeles/): There are all kinds of ways that presenters of silent movies augment their films, or not, ranging from a rinky-dink upright piano with a guy pounding it out at the side of the screen, to the kinds of full orchestral accompaniment we have enjoyed in recent years. But the Japanese tradition, Benshi, is something new
- [What's in ABT's 'Woolf Works,' soon at Segerstrom?](https://artsmeme.com/2024/04/03/whats-in-abts-woolf-works-soon-at-segerstrom/): We've been seeing intriguing images, not to mention advertisements, including ones running here on artsmeme, for American Ballet Theatre's new production of Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works, playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in five performances, April 11 - 14. Inspired by the writings of Virginia Woolf -- an author this woman writer so greatly
- [Three 'wows' and ten years of arts leadership from Thor Steingraber](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/12/three-wows-and-ten-years-of-arts-leadership-from-thor-steingraber/): “Three wows” sold Thor Steingraber on The Soraya. Steingraber’s long interview process in the fall of 2013 and winter of 2014 to become top executive of Cal State Northridge’s newish theater culminated in a site visit. As he marks ten years as The Soraya’s executive and artistic director, he remembers this moment as his first
- [Standing ovation for Salonen from San Francisco Symphony players](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/28/standing-ovation-for-salonen-from-san-francisco-players/): An unusual scene on view by a quick-witted photographer taken at curtain call after a concert by San Francisco Symphony conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen -- this moment coming only days after his startling announcement that at the completion of his five-year contract, in June 2025, he would depart his post. Concurrent to the announcement was
- [Jacaranda's lovely musical edge](https://artsmeme.com/2011/08/03/jacarandas-lovely-musical-edge/): Jacaranda, the contemporary chamber music series, is a passionate group of really friendly people with excellent taste in music and wine.
- [Something's coming ... tonight at Grauman's Chinese Theater, "West Side Story" 50th birthday party](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/15/somethings-coming-tonight-at-graumans-chinese-theater-west-side-story-50th-birthday-party/): It's going to be love-in tonight at Grauman's, where "West Side Story"debuted fifty years ago in 1961. The movie is still great.
- [Chakiris, Tamblyn, Moreno cement their memories @ Grauman's](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/16/chakiris-tamblyn-moreno-cement-their-memories-graumans/): A touching trio of memories left behind at Grauman's Chinese Theater on November 15, 2011, as three of the great stars of "West Side Story" gathered to join in Hollywood's great sidewalk ritual. Vive les danseurs!
- ["LA Rebellion" filmmakers featured at UCLA Film & Television Archive series](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/18/la-rebellion-ucla-film-television-archive/): The "L.A. Rebellion" screening series at the Hammer Museum, part of Pacific Standard Time, the Getty initiative to highlight creative arts activity in Los Angeles from 1948 - 1980.
- [The Greatest at his best, courtesy of photographer Michael Brennan](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/21/the-greatest-at-his-best-muhammad-ali-michael-brennan/): The greatest at his best, Michael Brennan's iconic photos of Muhammad Ali on view now in Pasadena.
- [Janet Jackson, queen of the desert, thrills fans @ McCallum Theatre gala](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/02/janet-jackson-queen-of-the-desert-thrills-fans-mccallum-theatre-gala/): Janet Jackson's much anticipated "Numbers Ones: Up Close and Personal" performance Thursday night at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, rocked the house pleasing an audience spanning the age and socioeconomic spectrum.
- [Twentieth century's greatest male dancers](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/19/twentieth-centurys-greatest-male-dancers/): My pick of the four greatest male dancers of the 20th century. I gave this a LOT of thought!
- [Odette/Odile for a discerning audience -- kids](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/22/odetteodile-for-a-discerning-audience-kids/): You live or die in front of an audience like this -- London schoolkids watching a lecture demonstration of Swan Lake. Because unlike adults they don't fake being interested.
- [Lula Washington's "tutu raffia" bids 2011 adieu](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/31/lula-washingtons-kwanzaa-tutu/): A highlight of the blistering Kwanzaa show staged by Lula Washington Dance Theatre at the Nate Holden Theater this weekend was a sinewy solo by Haniyyah Tahirah bedecked in what Washington calls a "tutu raffia."
- [Dueling bio-pics: right-wing ladies on parade](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/14/dueling-bio-pics-right-wing-babes-on-parade/): Recommending actress Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan in "The Reagans."
- [Julian Stanczak's op art at the L.A. Art Show](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/20/julian-stanczaks-op-art-at-the-l-a-art-show/): The work of Julian Stanczak, the Polish-born artist now living in Cleveland, caught my eye at the L.A. Art Show opening last night. A skilled practitioner of optical art, Stanczak has an amazing biography.
- [Where industry meets the arts](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/22/where-industry-meets-the-arts/): Two striking photographs from 1928, 1934 bear a similar theme.
- [What makes a Balanchine ballerina? Meet Carol Sumner.](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/25/what-makes-a-balanchine-ballerina-meet-carol-sumner/): Meet a quintessential Balanchine ballerina - short torso, strong straight back, super long legs -- Carol Sumner.
- [Sculpture meets photography in Peter Schlesinger's L.A. homecoming show](https://artsmeme.com/2012/01/29/peter-schlesinger-sculpture-and-photography/): Homeboy and artist Peter Schlesinger, who swung in London in the sixties, comes back to L.A. with a tasty show at Duke & Duke Gallery.
- [Cleopatra, CEO, comes to rule Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/05/cleopatra-ceo-comes-to-rule-los-angeles/): Concerns the upcoming performances of "Cleopatra, CEO" by Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre.
- [Pauline Wagner's fateful Santa Monica beach encounter with Marion Davies](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/10/pauline-wagners-fateful-beach-encounter-with-marion-davies-recalled-in-santa-monica/): A fun dress-up party for adults. The January 8. 2012 birthday party for actress Marion Davies at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica.
- [Anthony Slide on Hollywood fanzine cover art @ Hollywood Heritage](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/10/anthony-slide-presents-hollywood-fanzine-cover-art-hollywood-heritage/): Concerns a slide show of magnificent cover art of the Hollywood fan magazines, from a presentation by author Anthony Slide, produced by Susan Slutsky.
- [New live-performance hall for music in downtown L.A.](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/13/new-music-performance-hall-downtown-la/): Concerns the refurbished 500-seat auditorium for music performances in downtown Los Angeles -- the AT&T Center Theatre, located in a cool mid-century-modern classic skyscraper.
- [Classical Underground rocks](https://artsmeme.com/2012/02/16/classical-underground-rocks/): When have you returned home from a classical music concert at 12:30 am, kind of worn out and ecstatic? Try Classical Underground.
- [Claire Falkenstein book talk at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts](https://artsmeme.com/2012/03/14/claire-falkenstein-book-talk-at-jack-rutberg-fine-arts/): A gallery show and book talk concerning the prolific California artist Claire Falkenstein.
- [The great Graham](https://artsmeme.com/2012/03/20/the-great-graham/): Scattered thoughts about a decidedly unscattered artist -- the great Martha Graham.
- [Stars light up Hollywood Boulevard, once more, at TCM Fest](https://artsmeme.com/2012/04/17/tcm_fest/): Slide show of stars featured at TCM's Classic Film Festival 2012.
- [Tribeca Film Festival off to the races with "Ballets With A Twist"](https://artsmeme.com/2012/04/23/tribeca-film-festival-off-to-the-races-with-ballets-with-a-twist/): Choreographer Marilyn Klaus's "Ballets With A Twist" to premiere a new piece, "Mint Julep" at the upcoming street fair of the Tribeca Film Festival. Music by Steve Gaboury.
- ["In Wonderland" closing soon, wish it could live at LACMA permanently](https://artsmeme.com/2012/05/01/in-wonderland-closing-soon/): "In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States" closes, unfortunately, on May 6, 2012. Would that it were a permanent exhibit at LACMA.
- [Investing in artists: winners of the 2012 Alpert Awards](https://artsmeme.com/2012/05/13/investing-in-artists-choreographer-nora-chipaumire-and-her-fellow-winners-of-the-2012-alpert-awards/): A quick chat with the 2012 Alpert Award winner for dance Nora Chipaumire
- [arts•meme, stripped to skivvies, prepares for new look](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/10/artsmeme-stripped-prepares-for-new-look/): Announcing the imminent new look of our arts blog.
- [Dances for a Variable Population occupies Times Square](https://artsmeme.com/2012/05/18/dances-for-a-variable-population-occupies-times-square/): You've heard of Occupy Wall Street. Well, this is Occupy Times Square -- with dance.
- [The great Mitzi Gaynor recalls Jack Cole, courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2012/08/06/the-great-mitzi-gaynor-recalls-jack-cole-courtesy-of-ucla-film-television-archive/): A wild night at the Hammer Museum as Mitzi Gaynor appeared at a screening of THE I DON'T CARE GIRL, a film she made at Twentieth Century Fox studios at the age of 20.
- [California's designing women unfurled](https://artsmeme.com/2012/08/09/californias-designing-women-unfurled/): A group of great woman artists gathered for the opening of California's Designing Women, 1896–1986 at the Autry Museum.
- [Keith Glassman & Dancers in the shadow of LAX](https://artsmeme.com/2012/08/22/keith-glassman-dancers-in-the-shadow-of-lax/): Crazy in the air, calm and even beautiful on the ground thanks to choreographer Keith Glassman.
- [Jerry Lewis, amped on technology](https://artsmeme.com/2012/09/14/technology-amped-up-jerry-lewis/): In a rare and wonderful evening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the great comedian Jerry Lewis talked about his use of film technology to amp up his considerable personal humor.
- [Kwanzaa madness at Lula Washington Dance Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/03/kwanzaa-madness-at-lula-washington-dance-theatre/): The 2012 Kwanzaa Celebration at Lula Washington Dance Theatre was not only fun and entertaining, but rocked to the wicked sound of live African drumming.
- [How the Stones rolled through L.A.](https://artsmeme.com/2012/09/17/how-the-stones-rolled-through-l-a/): Found photos capture the Rolling Stones on tour in Los Angeles in 1964 ... the glaring southern California sun in their eyes.
- [Sleaze as art: 'Camera Night at the Ivar' @ Drkrm Gallery](https://artsmeme.com/2012/10/16/camera-night-at-the-ivar-opens-soon-at-dkrm-gallery/): A disturbing photography show memorializes "Camera Night" at the Ivar Theater, where male photogs captured freaky exhibitionist acts at the notorious strip club.
- [Paul Taylor garners prestigious arts award](https://artsmeme.com/2012/10/21/paul-taylor-prestigious-arts-award/): New York's Lotus Club granted their prestigious arts award, the Medal of Merit to one of the greats -- Paul Taylor.
- [Filmmaker John Smith recovers "Lost Sound" @ L.A. Filmforum](https://artsmeme.com/2012/11/19/filmmaker-john-smith-recovers-lost-sound/): An outstanding retrospective of experimental film artist John Smith, at Los Angeles FilmForum.
- [Carole Bayer Sager's splendid nosherai @ William Turner Gallery](https://artsmeme.com/2012/11/29/carol-bayer-sager-offers-her-nosherai-thru-dec-15-william-turner-gallery/): Announcing the extension of a fun pop-art show by multi-talented songwriting diva Carole Bayer Sager.
- [Enjoy a Pall-Mall courtesy of commercial artist Mary Blair](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/13/enjoy-a-pall-mall-mary-blair/): If ever we were to select a cigarette brand, then these sketches and the final advertisement by commercial artist Mary Blair dating from approximately 1959 would influence our decision.
- [Doug Varone & Dancers flash fun, finesse in O.C.](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/28/doug-varone-dancers-at-segerstrom/): A stellar evening -- smart, sassy, instructive and beautifully danced by Doug Varone & Dancers in Orange County. Bravo, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, for bringing this dance troupe to Southern California.
- [A happy ceremony for La Cérémonie (1995) at Laemmle Anniversary Classics](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/29/a-ceremony-for-la-ceremonie-1995-at-laemmle-anniversary-classics/): ed. note: To mark the 30th anniversary of French auteur Claude Chabrol's dark masterpiece, La Cérémonie (1994), Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classic Series present a special screening of the film followed by a with a conversation between host Stephen Farber and actress Jacqueline Bisset, in person, at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in Santa Monica.
- [Paula Abdul honored at Choreographer's Carnival](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/07/paula-abdul-honored-at-choreographers-carnival/): Paula Abdul, a career-long dancer / singer /choreographer received a lot of love as well as an award at the annual Choreographer's Carnival last week. In tribute to Paula, her dance video "Cold Hearted Snake" was recreated step by step (and you thought the restaging of "The Rite of Spring" was historic!)
- [Lula Washington dance touches Elizabeth Eckford of Little Rock Nine](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/12/lula-washingtons-dance-touches-elizabeth-eckford-one-of-the-little-rock-nine/): Elizabeth Eckford, one of the original Little Rock Nine, was on hand January 31 at Stuttgart, Arkansas’ Grand Prairie Center when Lula Washington Dance Theatre performed its dance suite about the nine high school students who integrated Central High School in 1957.
- [A garden of creativity on "Project Runway"](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/15/garden-creativity-on-project-runway/): I very much enjoyed the exquisite results of the 'special challenge' on last night's "Project Runway": the assignment was to meld purchases from a hardware store and a flower shop into couture.
- [Koplowitz driven underground with "Red Line Time"](https://artsmeme.com/2013/03/27/koplowitz-driven-underground-with-red-line-time/): A dance happening in the Los Angeles Metro system, a site specific dance piece created by choreographer Stephan Koplowitz.
- [Trisha Brown's "Roof Piece" (1971) to be staged @ Getty](https://artsmeme.com/2013/03/31/roof-piece-1971-restaged-getty-museum/): Trisha Brown's "Roof Piece," an historic dance work, the mother of all site-specific dances, to be restaged in Los Angeles on April 6, 2013, at the Getty Museum.
- [The new Academy Museum gets a launch party at LACMA](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/14/academy-museum-launch-lacma/): Super fun party on April 11 2013 to launch the AMPAS film museum project in the former May Company building on Wilshire Blvd.
- [We love the women of TCM Classic Film Festival 2013](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/28/we-love-the-women-of-tcm-classic-film-festival-2013/): Another TCM Fest, another year celebrating the strong, great women of the classic film community.
- [welcome to arts•meme's new look](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/12/our-new-look/): Introducing the new arts•meme, our first redesign of the fine arts blog in five years!
- [At "Oscars Outdoors," gentlemen still prefer blondes](https://artsmeme.com/2013/08/07/sixty-years-later-at-oscars-outdoors-gentlemen-still-prefer-blondes/): The 60th anniversary screening of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at "Oscars Outdoors" featured a special emphasis on dance.
- [Catskills University, educating Jewish comics](https://artsmeme.com/2013/08/14/catskills-university-jewish-comics/): Recommends When Comedy Went to School, a new documentary about the development of Jewish stand up comedy in the Catskill resorts.
- [Love for Henry in Orange County](https://artsmeme.com/2013/10/12/love-for-henry-in-orange-county/): Photos: Assouline Publishing's launch party for coffeetable book honoring Orange County arts magnate, Henry Segerstrom.
- [See you @ CU! Classical Underground opens its season](https://artsmeme.com/2013/10/16/see-you-cu-classical-underground-opens-its-season/): artsmeme enjoys Monday night classical music series
- [Duckler's 'The Groundskeepers' in historic Boyle Heights](https://artsmeme.com/2013/10/24/heidi-ducklers-the-groundskeepers-in-historic-boyle-heights/): Where is choreographer/director Heidi Duckler going to lead us on a wild arts experience next? LInda Vista Hospital in historic Boyle Heights.
- ["An Evening with George Chakiris" passes beautifully @ UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2013/11/19/evening-with-george-chakiris/): November 16, 2014, UCLA Film & Television Archive featured "An Evening with George Chakiris."
- ["Russian Los Angeles" dance exhibition opens in St. Petersburg](https://artsmeme.com/2013/11/25/russian-los-angeles-st-petersburg/): A museum exhibition first mounted in Los Angeles has opened in St. Petersburg.
- [Nureyev returns to Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2013/12/12/nureyev-returns-to-los-angeles/): It takes a village to bring back a prince. And that happened recently at Dance Camera West's Nureyev tribute in Los Angeles.
- [Step aside, Sugar Plum Fairy! Enter the Kwanzaa Kween.](https://artsmeme.com/2013/12/30/step-aside-sugar-plum-fairy-enter-the-kwanzaa-kween/): Yes, we love Tchaikovsky's perky celesta chimes. But we also like the African-tinged ballerina solo in Lula Washington Dance Theatre's annual Kwanzaa Celebration.
- [A six-year "tradition": Laemmle Theatres "Fiddler" fest](https://artsmeme.com/2013/12/31/six-year-tradition-laemmle-theatres-fiddler-fest/): A moving experience, viewing "Fiddler on the Roof" on a big screen, free to singalong with the wonderful music.
- [An artist embraced: Carmen de Lavallade](https://artsmeme.com/2014/01/11/carmen-de-lavallade-embraced-caam/): An opening reception for "A Memoir in Movement" made ever so special by the presence of an Empress of Dance: Carmen de Lavallade.
- [Meet Fanchon, a successful Los Angeles woman of dance](https://artsmeme.com/2014/02/24/meet-fanchon-a-successful-los-angeles-woman-of-dance/): A beguiling but little known Los Angeles dance mogul ... Fanchon.
- [Gracious Gainsborough sparks vivid Timken-UCLA design competition](https://artsmeme.com/2014/02/02/gracious-gainsborough-sparks-costume-design/): Artists connect across centuries as contemporary costume designers derive inspiration from an 18th century work by Gainsborough.
- [Gang warfare quelled by dancer love -- backstage at Miami City Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2014/02/18/gang-warfare-quelled-miami-city-ballet/): On stage, it was gang warfare but backstage, a love-fest of dancers -- when generations crossed around "West Side Story Suite."
- [L.A. Dance Project reinvigorates United Artists movie palace](https://artsmeme.com/2014/02/20/l-a-dance-project-former-united-artists-movie-palace/): A big weekend for L.A. Dance Project with "5 Exceptional Performances" in a former United Artists movie palace.
- ["Twin Visions" Witkin brothers @ Jack Rutberg Fine Arts](https://artsmeme.com/2014/03/02/twin-visions-witkin-brothers-exhibition-jack-rutberg-fine-arts/): An intriguing gallery show at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts showcases constrasting works by two identical twins, Jerome and Joel-Peter Witkin.
- [Les Ballets de Monte Carlo plunges anew into "Swan Lake"](https://artsmeme.com/2014/03/02/lac-revisits-swan-lake/): "Swan Lake," ballet's beloved tome contrasting the sacred and the profane, revisited by choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot.
- [Review: Danielle Agami's "EXHIBITa" @ Celebrate Dance](https://artsmeme.com/2014/03/09/danielle-agamis-exhibita-at-celebrate-dance/): Reviews a new work by talented female choreographer Danielle Agami.
- [Come fly with artist Dan Reisinger](https://artsmeme.com/2014/03/28/come-fly-with-dan-reisinger-the-skirball-center/): Love the display of vintage El Al posters by Dan Reisinger (b. 1934), one of Israel’s design pioneers, known internationally for his innovative use of symbols and vibrant visual language. The entire Reisinger exhibition spans fifty years of iconic posters including ones of social and political protest (1963–1993); but the cream of the crop are
- [Let's go bowling with Chris Nichols](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/16/lets-go-bowling-with-chris-nichols/): Anticipates a bowling architecture talk by Chris NIchols, tangential to his "Bowlerama" show now on at the A + D Museum.
- [TCM Fest: The rise and rise of digital restoration](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/19/tcm-fest-rise-of-digital-restoration/): We're living through a historic transition, as 35mm film gives way to digital cinema. TCM Fest 2014 made strong contributions to the conversation, exhibiting several stunning restorations at Hollywood Boulevard movie palaces.
- [Choreographers stump for art form @ Television Academy](https://artsmeme.com/2014/05/03/top-hollywood-choreographers-academy-of-television-arts-sciences/): A sunny Saturday morning at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences saw a video shoot for a good cause -- choreography!
- [Dance giants shmooze @ "Tappin' Thru Life" opening night](https://artsmeme.com/2014/05/12/dance-giants-shmooze-maurice-hines-is-tappin-thru-life/): After a great dance evening, more dance love amidst the veterans, in the lobby of The Wallis.
- [ENO 'Cosi' conjured at Coney Island](https://artsmeme.com/2014/05/21/cosis-coney-island-conjuring-the-eno/): It's a Coney Island "Cosi Fan Tutte," at the ENO, soon to transfer to the Met.
- [Glorya Kaufman joins Bernardo for the dance at the gym](https://artsmeme.com/2014/06/16/glorya-kaufman-joins-bernardo-at-the-dance-at-the-gym/): A beautiful evening at the "Last Remaining Seats" as one audience member is one of America's biggest dance patrons, Glorya Kaufman.
- [Steve Paxton lionized in Venice](https://artsmeme.com/2014/06/28/steve-paxton-lionized-in-venice/): American dancer/choreographer Steve Paxton receives respect, accolades in Venice.
- ['Solo for Two' in steady preparation at Segerstrom Center](https://artsmeme.com/2014/07/17/solo-for-two-in-steady-preparation-at-segerstrom-center/): Anticipates a full evening of duets by two Russian greats, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev.
- [Strong women of European dance at Biennale Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2014/07/20/italys-strong-women-biennale-dance-2014/): Slideshow/overview of Biennale Dance 2014 focusing on the women in the Festival.
- [Los Angeles (architecture) in the looking glass](https://artsmeme.com/2014/07/21/los-angeles-in-the-looking-glass/): Anticipates an architecture talk by Daniel Paul on high-tech glass architecture of the seventies.
- [Review: Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre's "Dancing at Dunbar"](https://artsmeme.com/2014/09/09/review-heidi-duckler-dance-theatres-dancing-at-the-dunbar/): Reviews Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre "Dancing at Dunbar"
- [Ted VanCleave's tough photographic vision of Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2014/09/19/ted-vancleave-photographic-take-on-l-a/): A new series of photographs configures Los Angeles as a concrete jungle, not the city's usual image.
- [From Bernardo to "Bebo's Girl": George Chakiris tribute @ MoMA](https://artsmeme.com/2014/10/30/from-bernardo-to-bebos-girl-george-chakiris-tribute-at-moma/): A wide-ranging interview that attempted to capture a decades-long entertainment career for Oscar-winning dancer George Chakiris at The Museum of Modern Art.
- [Queen Liz gorgeously garbed in 'Hollywood Costume'](https://artsmeme.com/2014/11/03/queen-liz-gorgeous-costumes-academyies-hollywood-costume/): The high point of 'Hollywood Costume' has a royal flair.
- [Classical music meets Burmese art courtesy of Jacaranda](https://artsmeme.com/2014/11/23/classical-music-meets-burmese-art-courtesy-of-jacaranda/): A beautiful fundraiser had an unusual focus when Jacaranda, the decade-old Los Angeles contemporary classical music series, hosted an exquisite program of chamber music in a super-cool private home on a recent autumnal Sunday. Rarely viewed works of contemporary Burmese art lent visual, cultural, even political, impact to the event. Jacaranda board chairman Thomas Aujero
- ['Moonlit Modern' photography captures eerie Palm Springs](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/03/moonlit-modern-casts-an-eerie-spell-on-palm-springs/): A new perspective on a now-familiar subject, mid-century modern architecture in Palm Springs California.
- [Stones still rolling @ Taschen's](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/06/taschens-rolling-stones-photo-show/): You can't miss the building, stark white with hot-pink lettering. Taschen Books' Rolling Stones photo show, a must-see.
- [Thom Andersen, thinking with images](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/16/thom-andersen-thinking-with-images/): A film deity for "Los Angeles Plays Itself" reveals his new work March 6 at REDCAT.
- [Forceful Mamet patois bolstered in Deaf West Theatre "American Buffalo"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/23/forceful-mamet-patois-bolstered-in-deaf-west-theatre-american-buffalo/): Muses on the importance or lack of it, of spoken word, in "American Buffalo," by Deaf West Theatre.
- [Oscar party a la francaise](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/24/oscar-party-a-la-francaise/): A beautiful reception for the Francophone filmmakers who were Academy Award nominees or winners at the Oscars 2015.
- [Gone fishing](https://artsmeme.com/2015/03/18/gone-fishing/): Ballet pose, the fishdive, seen in classical and contemporary modes.
- [To Ann Arbor for Merce Cunningham concert](https://artsmeme.com/2011/02/11/artsmeme-to-ann-arbor-for-merce-cunningham-concert/): We're flying to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to enjoy a performance on the Cunningham company Legacy Tour.
- [Out came the stars @ TCM Fest 2015](https://artsmeme.com/2015/03/29/out-came-the-stars-tcm-fest-2015/): Hollywood stars are out for TCM Fest 2015.
- [Catch fresh, new musicals as they emerge ... at "Musi-Cal"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/02/catch-new-musicals-musi-cal/): A fun and brilliant showcase of emerging musical theater projects on view at ROCKWELL restaurant.
- [George Chakiris brings "West Side Story" to the wild west](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/13/west-side-story-unfurls-in-the-american-west/): A reach to the Wild West for West Side Story, as the movie's star George Chakiris hosts the film in Montana.
- [Cyd Charisse at the ballet barre, in full flush of Technicolor](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/29/cyd-charisse-full-flush-technicolor-at-the-ballet-barre/): In opening moments of director Henry Koster's The Unfinished Dance (1947), the audience gets the distinct pleasure of peering in as ballerina Mlle Bouchet (Cyd Charisse) does her daily warm-up. The gorgeous burnt-yellow tutu Cyd wears is the vision of costume designer Helen Rose. The color-saturated image -- the yellow costume, Cyd's red-red lipstick against
- [Jacaranda's summer party supreme](https://artsmeme.com/2015/06/28/jacarandas-summer-party-supreme/): Great chamber music, great hors d'ouevres, great people -- the Jacaranda annual summer party.
- [She's our Yankee Doodle Dandy: Misty Copeland](https://artsmeme.com/2015/07/01/yankee-doodle-dandy-misty-copeland/): Fourth of July headline! ABT named an American-born dancer as a principal dancer in our national company.
- [Spectral ballet studios by Ruth Weisberg](https://artsmeme.com/2015/07/06/ruth-weisberg-spectral-ballet-studios/): An evocative image of a ballet studio part of the career retrospective of Ruth Weisberg at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts.
- [David Hockney, choreographer of the canvas](https://artsmeme.com/2015/07/22/david-hockney-choreographer-of-the-canvas/): David Hockney's latest works are reminiscent of an avant-garde dance concert.
- [Washington family affair: dance by Lula, music by Kamasi](https://artsmeme.com/2015/08/18/washington-family-affair-dance-lula-music-kamasi/): Live jazz accompaniment by sax player Kamasi Washington will highlight Lula Washington Dance Theatre performances in Las Vegas.
- [Schindler's list: Vienna influences on the Los Angeles architect](https://artsmeme.com/2015/08/25/schindlers-list-vienna-influences-on-the-los-angeles-architect/): Yes, we love having architectural treasure Schindler House in our midst in West Hollywood. But what are its European roots?
- [Meanwhile, in Milan, Virgilio Sieni's "Atlas of Gesture"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/09/12/meanwhile-in-milano-virgilio-sienis-atlas-of-gesture/): Do you think dance is a form of communication? The Italian choreographer Virgilio Sieni does, through his rigorous exploration of human gesture underlying our performing art.
- [Splashing with Steve Koplowitz at San Diego's "Trolley Dances"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/09/18/splashing-with-steve-koplowitz-in-san-diego/): Site specific choreographer-guru Steve Koplowitz heads up a six-choreographer roster in San Diego's "Trolley Dances."
- [Sir Ken Robinson on the arts, at TedX Fulbright conference](https://artsmeme.com/2015/09/30/sir-ken-robinson-on-the-arts-at-tedx-fulbright-conference/): Parrying as an event host with the estimable educational thought-leader Sir Ken Robinson at the recent TedXFulbright Conference at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica (Sept, 26, 2015), I so enjoyed Sir Ken's thoughtful and inspiring words about the arts: I talk a lot about creativity, but I’m very keen not to conflate creativity with
- [Alex Hubbard's massive 'canvases' stud new Maccarone Gallery](https://artsmeme.com/2015/10/12/alex-hubbard-massive-canvases-stud-maccarone-gallery/): An impressive new gallery in Boyle Heights filled with spendid oversized works by Alex Hubbard.
- [Girlz n the hood hang out with Misty Copeland](https://artsmeme.com/2015/10/21/girlz-n-the-hood-hang-out-with-misty-copeland/): Women in particular can appreciate Misty Copeland's struggle as she scaled the heights of the classical ballet world, overcoming many obstacles.
- [Costumes! Vivid colors bump up Cirque KURIOS charm](https://artsmeme.com/2015/12/16/vivid-costumes-bump-up-cirque-kurios-charm/): Stunning costumes, in gorgeous hues, contribute only one of many memorable production elements of Cirque du Soleil’s KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities, written and directed by Michel Laprise. A terrific holiday outing for the family, the two-act show is now on view in the old-tyme Grand Chapiteau erected in the big old parking lot of
- [Barrie Chase meets Fred Astaire once again](https://artsmeme.com/2016/01/23/barrie-chase-meets-fred-astaire-once-more/): Hollywood dancer/actress Barrie Chase, in New York for appearances at "All That Jack (Cole)," the historic film-retrospective now on offer at The Museum of Modern Art, burst into a spontaneous expression of physical joy at the sight of the Fred Astaire caricature in Ed Sorel's mural at The Monkey Bar on East 54th Street. Barrie,
- [Valentine to "All That Jack (Cole)"](https://artsmeme.com/2016/02/14/a-valentine-to-all-that-jack-cole-talent/): A Valentine to all the top dance talent gathered at MoMA to celebrate Jack Cole.
- [Zsigmond's "McCabe" cinematography revisited](https://artsmeme.com/2016/02/19/vilmos-zsigmonds-renowned-cinematography-for-mccabe-revisited/): A rare chance to honor the acclaimed cinematographer of '70s cinema with a big-screen presentation of "McCabe & Mrs. Miller"
- [Merce at Black Mountain, revisited by L.A. Dance Project @ the Hammer](https://artsmeme.com/2016/02/29/merce-at-black-mountain-revisited-by-l-a-dance-project-the-hammer/): The Hammer Museum took on a Merce-ish mood, February 20, when L..A. Dance Project revitalized a classic Cunningham event to mark the opening of a new exhibition, Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933 - ­1957. [In the photos, "Project" dancers Anthony Bryant and Lilja Rúriksdóttir.] Cunningham, along with artistic collaborator and life partner
- [Fred of our dreams](https://artsmeme.com/2016/03/31/fred-dreams/): The great Fred Astaire in motion, courtesy of photographer Andre de Dienes.
- ["Baby Jane" never better than at poolside screening, TCM Fest](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/08/baby-jane-never-better-than-at-poolside-screening-tcm-fest/): The highlight of our first day of this, our eighth TCM Turner Classic Film Festival, was hands down WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1964) screened poolside of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We so enjoyed viewing the Gothic horror movie so smartly directed by Robert Aldrich and graced by the outre performance of Bette Davis and
- [Pre-tax pleasure: 'Starring George Chakiris' April 14](https://artsmeme.com/2016/03/28/pre-tax-pleasure-starring-george-chakiris-tcm-april-14/): Four films featured in 'Starring George Chakiris' April 14 on Turner Classic Movies.
- [So chic: Azzedine Alaïa costumes for 'Shahrazad'](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/21/so-spiffy-so-chic-azzedine-alaia-costumes-for-bokaer-shahrazad/): Well who wouldn't want to dress the gorgeous bodies of the Royal Ballet of Flanders? Couture master Azzadeine Alaia did so, to great effect, for the December 2016 premier of choreographer Jonah Bokaer's 'Shahrazad.' In dressing this ballet, Alaia stepped into the rather massive footprint of Ballets Russes designer Léon Bakst whose ornate Orientalia, in
- [Seeking Nijinsky's unrealized 'Sarabande' ballet at Turocy workshop](https://artsmeme.com/2017/07/05/seeking-nijinskys-unrealized-sarabande-ballet-turocy/): Nijinsky left behind the seeds of an unfinished ballet he began in 1913. That was the rather infamous year in which the dancer/choreographer unveiled his provocative The Rite of Spring to the shock and awe of le tout Paris. He also premiered Jeux, an overtly sensual ballet for three—a love triangle—that subtly foreshadowed the oncoming
- [Do clothes make the woman? Check with Jane Szabo @ MOAH.](https://artsmeme.com/2016/04/21/clothes-make-woman-jane-szabo/): “Artist as Subject,” an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Art and History (MOAH) in Lancaster, California, expands upon the traditional self-portrait by exposing the artist's inner state, body, history or habits of daily life. Featured in MOAH's show is photography by Los Angeles artist Jane Szabo, who explores the outward ways in which women
- ['West Side Story' feted, dissected, appreciated at the Academy](https://artsmeme.com/2016/07/19/west-side-feted-dissected-appreciated/): Fascinating film lore revealed by producer Walter Mirisch, at Monday's panel discussion prior to a special screening of West Side Story (1961) at the Academy. Apparently Jerome Robbins, WSS's creator/co-director, was extremely resistant to the location shooting, in New York City, of the "Prologue" -- the movie's brilliant opening minutes when an overhead shot drills into
- [Gypsy dancer shop-talk at the Academy](https://artsmeme.com/2016/07/25/dancer-shop-talk-at-the-academy/): It was a night of dance chatter at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. A highly vaunted circle, including veteran gypsy dancers, a choreographer for the camera, and an Oscar-winning actor, gathered at AMPAS prior to a screening of "West Side Story" Monday July 18, 2016. In the photo, Maria Jimenez, who danced
- [Rebecca Bruno's walk around time at the Norton Simon Museum](https://artsmeme.com/2016/08/10/rebecca-bruno-walk-around-time-once-more-at-the-norton-simon-museum/): A beautifully produced dance work incorporating wonderful costume design at the Norton Simon.
- [Barbie art - fall sale](https://artsmeme.com/2016/10/16/barbie-art-fall-sale/): arts•meme friend Judy Ragagli, the creator of this Barbie art, is running a fall sale, with discounts and free shipping of her oil paintings, in celebration of the autumn season. Barbie art fall sale | for special prices email JRagagli@mac.com
- [Ticket to dance, courtesy of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2016/12/03/ticket-to-dance-courtesy-of-alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/): During the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's winter season in New York, ticketed dancegoers should hang onto their ducats! For 60 days following the Ailey performance you attend, your stub will be good for one free class at the Ailey Extension program. Those classes happen in the company's glam, window-walled, mid-Manhattan building. You'll get to
- [Los Angeles in freeze frame, courtesy of photographer Michael Grecco](https://artsmeme.com/2017/01/18/los-angeles-in-freeze-frame-courtesy-of-photographer-michael-grecco/): Michael Grecco, an award-winning purveyor of commercial photography, fashion spreads and film direction is exhibiting, as part of LA's month of photography, a new body of fine-art photography at the Leica Store LA. Printed larger than life, the viewer feels as though they can step into the photographs, and thus, into another realm into Los
- [It's Savion time ... at the spanking new Ford Amphitheatre](https://artsmeme.com/2017/07/10/its-savion-time-at-the-spanking-new-ford-amphitheatre/): Saturday night there's only one place to be. That's at the much loved, super historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, fully renovated after its multi-phase expansion. We've been clued in that the Ford's $75 million re-do is nothing less than "gorgeous." A real stunning gift to our little hamlet of Los Angeles. Breaking in the stage
- [Awake to the world, with Jacaranda](https://artsmeme.com/2017/10/11/awake-to-the-world-jacaranda/): The onslaught of bad, breaking news has us numbed. Howling winds, gushing waters, marauding mass murderers, predators of pretty movie stars, all pummel our sensitive souls. That's where the artistic director of Jacaranda music has stepped into the breach. In launching AWAKE, Jacaranda’s 15th season, Patrick Scott is pushing back against the bad noise, and replacing
- [Juan Bastos: California Portraits: people, places & pets](https://artsmeme.com/2017/11/03/people-places-and-pets-juan-bastos-california-portraits/): Valerie Sobel, Juan Bastos Valerie-Sobel, Juan-Bastos, Lynn Rothman Marco Valverde, Michelle Nielsen Moretti, Juan Bastos, Carla Ortiz, Bernardo Pena Juan Bastos, Lawrence Platt Juan Bastos, HRH Princess Michael of Kent, Valerie Sobel Juan Bastos, Carol Shapiro Beverly Denenberg, Juan Bastos, Nehama Jacobs Juan Bastos, Audrey Bahr Hutton Wilkinson, Juan Bastos Bernardo Pena, Carla Ortiz, Juan
- [Shepard Fairey DAMAGED: vast, beautiful, unsettling](https://artsmeme.com/2017/11/10/shepard-fairey-damaged-vast-beautiful-unsettling/): Ed. note: Guest contributor Dana Ross covers a new mega-show in downtown Los Angeles, providing photos & text. DAMAGED, Shepard Fairey's new exhibit in Los Angeles, is vast and beautiful. His graphic sensibilities and social commentary rattle the bars on the cage and give us the strength to break out. Fairey is most famous for
- [Agnes Varda's Oscar picnic](https://artsmeme.com/2017/11/17/agness-oscar-picnic-felicitations-chere-agnes/): Flowers and an Oscar? What more could a woman want? These mementos so richly deserved by the French woman of cinema, Agnes Varda. On Nov. 11, 2017, at the 9th annual Governors Awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Varda received an honorary Oscar. Varda's artful, thought-provoking, highly personal auteur
- [Yes, ABT, we like sugar plums. But also 'Nutcracker' cookies!](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/11/yes-sugar-plums-but-also-nutcracker-cookies/): Where cookies are concerned, we discreetly morph from 'fussy critic' to the more relaxed mode of 'indiscriminate gobbler.' Gosh, these ballet-themed cookies (photos mixed with those of our favorite ABT dancers) make our mouths water. They are the charming creation of Blackmarket Bakery whose award-winning chef Rachel Klemek celebrates American Ballet Theatre's production of "The
- ['Darkest Hour': Churchill again smokes cigars on The Queen Mary](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/15/darkest-hour-party-churchill-again-smokes-cigars-on-the-queen-mary/): In WWII's most harrowing days, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made several cross-Atlantic forays to convene with allies on our side of the pond. From the proverbial bowels of the noble Queen Mary, which now rests in retirement in the Port of Long Beach, Churchill persisted in running his war strategy. A party celebrating Darkest Hour,
- [Low-key & tasty: Kenny Burrell's swinging guitar a generation ago today](https://artsmeme.com/2018/01/05/low-key-tasty-kenny-burrells-swinging-guitar-a-generation-ago-today/): Ed. note: Universal Music continues to mine the Verve catalog for jazz treasures. arts·meme jazz writer Kirk Silsbee shares his liner notes for‘'A Generation Ago Today.’ When Kenny Burrell’s A Generation Ago Today was released in the spring of 1967, a debate was raging in jazz. It was the dawn of the Age of Aquarius,
- [Peter Sellars 'Lagrime di San Pietro' goes on the road](https://artsmeme.com/2018/03/23/peter-sellars-lagrime-di-san-pietro-takes-to-the-road/): It's mournfully sad, very beautiful, music. But, for many, these are sad times. And we all need more beauty. That was my takeaway after a 75-minute submersion of ears and soul in the exquisite rapture of Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter), a stunning swathe of a capella choral music by Orlando di
- [Dear, departed Donald McKayle](https://artsmeme.com/2018/04/09/departed-donald-mckayle-remembered/): Touching tribute photos of the beloved DONALD MCKAYLE (1930 - 2018), legendary dancer, choreographer, director and consummate teacher and mentor who perished aged 87 after a lengthy illness, April 7, 2018 -- in Irvine, California.
- [Grauman's Chinese Theatre buried in chazzerai at TCM Fest](https://artsmeme.com/2018/05/17/graumans-chinese-theatre-lost-in-footprint-ceremony/): It's still going, more or less. The quaint tradition begun by showman Sid Grauman at his Chinese Theatre (which by some miracle, still stands): hands, feet, and autographs plonked into a square of still-wet cement. The photo above was taken from across Hollywood Boulevard looking toward the footprint ceremony for Cicely Tyson at TCM Fest
- [The look of jazz: Warhol-designed album covers](https://artsmeme.com/2018/07/01/the-look-of-jazz-warhol-designed-album-covers/): Before he became the king of pop art, Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol moved to New York to make it. Warhol wanted to be part of the elite strata inhabited by Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and other sanctioned artists. He didn't have what it took to be admitted to those circles but he did
- [Dance-movie delirium, as vibrant posters invade Pillow](https://artsmeme.com/2018/07/16/dance-movie-delirium-as-vibrant-posters-invade-pillows-blakes-barn/): Four years have passed since Mike Kaplan, an art director, marketing strategist, film producer and friend of arts·meme (FOAM), shared his hugely popular collection of dance movie posters at Jacob's Pillow, GOTTA DANCE. Now, in certified Hollywood tradition, that exhibition has spawned a sequel. GOTTA DANCE TOO now hangs in the Pillow's Blake's Barn, displaying
- [Excuse me, Mr. Lipschitz's sculpture, could you kindly move over?](https://artsmeme.com/2018/07/30/excuse-me-mr-sculpture/): You walk your dog, right? And you lug your groceries from the market to the car. So why shouldn't the Los Angeles Music Center, as part of its $40 million Plaza renovation project, take its Jacques Lipschitz "Peace on Earth" sculpture for a little stroll as well? It's been sitting in the same spot since
- ['Monsters' invade Burbank!](https://artsmeme.com/2018/08/02/monsters-invade-burbank/): It's hardly a new way of moving; it's been around for, what, thirty years? But what's new about hip-hop is that it has become a teachable, replicable, and codified dance technique. And it holds an electric grip, especially, on young aspiring commercial dancers for whom it is the fresh, evolving, go-to dance language. I enjoy
- [O, Jackie! Mrs. K-O goes to the ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2018/10/24/o-jackie-mrs-k-o-goes-to-the-ballet/): It is the stuff paparazzi's dreams are made of: Jackie O, balletomane. Here we see Mrs. Bouvier-Kennedy-Onassis, posing, giggling, and shmoozing, on sidewalks, at banquets, and backstage with Rudik and Misha. Jerry Robbins is in there too. They are but a few of samples of the 50 works of the super "Rudolph Nureyev - Mikhail
- [REVIEW: Heidi Duckler Dance's fully 'Loaded' dock-dance at the Ford](https://artsmeme.com/2018/11/02/heidi-duckler-dances-fully-loaded-dock-dance-at-the-ford/): A distant, pulsing whir of ambient music accompanies the sight of a peculiar, tall figure as he rambles toward us. We spy him (or is it a she?) through the half-closed gate (or it a gate 'half-open'?) at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre's loading dock. This creature, dressed in unisex coveralls like a hip garbage
- ['When I say freedom, you say jazz': JazzAntiqua @ 25](https://artsmeme.com/2018/12/03/when-i-say-freedom-you-say-jazz-jazzantiqua-at-25/): Folk flooding toward the theater half an hour before showtime gave the first indication that something special was on tap at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on Saturday night. In Los Angeles, traffic-frazzled late arrivals are the norm. The faithful flocked to a special, nearly familial, celebration: JazzAntiqua Dance & Music Ensemble's big 25th
- ['Wall art' a child can understand](https://artsmeme.com/2019/01/05/wall-art-a-child-can-understand/): "Enough with the memes," griped Senator Charles Schumer to Donald Trump on Twitter. Luckily, Sen. Schumer did not tweet, "Enough with the arts memes." That leaves us free and clear to share our collection of 'wall art' for the eggification, sorry! edification of America's 'Chief Egg-zecutive.' Spanning the centuries, artists have illustrated the nursery rhyme
- [Standout artist round-robin](https://artsmeme.com/2019/01/28/standout-artists-of-the-week-round-robin/)
- ['Cher'-ing West Side Story](https://artsmeme.com/2019/03/04/cher-ing-west-side-story/): I like her as George Chakiris. Others prefer her as Rita Moreno. (Hey, different strokes for different folks.) She also plays Russ Tamblyn and Natalie Wood. In this gender-bending, cross-dressing, stage-hogging, scene-stealing, performance-arting, one-woman show-ing, television tour-de-force, Cher does it all. Never a shrinking violet, she bursts forth as Tony/Maria/Bernardo/Anita in a West Side Story
- [Ouchy! on jitterbugger Matt's neck](https://artsmeme.com/2019/03/21/ouchy-on-matts-neck/)
- [Gwen Verdon to critic: Don't overlook my choreographer](https://artsmeme.com/2019/04/01/gwen-verdon-to-critic/): Gwen Verdon, a woman with values, in a handwritten note from September 1958, mildly protests to Los Angeles Times film critic John L. Scott about a crazy oversight in his review of the film Damn Yankees. [Hover to pause the slide show for easier reading.] Scott was sufficiently impressed by Verdon's message that he saved
- ['Buy local' defines 2019/20 dance season at The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2019/05/02/buy-local-defines-2019-20-dance-season-at-the-wallis/): 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
- [Dance finale, dance party & dance season to come, all @ CAP](https://artsmeme.com/2019/06/01/dance-finale-at-cap-followed-by-dance-party-and-season-to-come/): Oh the seasons, they come and they go. That's easy enough for us mortals to say. But for a monster-scaled live-arts presenter like the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, it takes both brains and brawn to pull off a full season. You live it, breathe it, push it, pamper it, and promote
- [Love for Yvonne & a bright future for Westside Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2019/06/12/love-for-yvonne/): It was an evening of beaming smiles, prodigious effort, community love, and some real artistry last Saturday at the Broad Stage, as the Westside Ballet staged a impressive Gala fundraising event. Visiting "etoiles," stars from companies as esteemed as New York City Ballet, Smuin Ballet, The Joffrey, and Miami City Ballet, studded the program, bringing
- [Where are we heading? Ask artist Eric Nash](https://artsmeme.com/2019/09/03/painter-eric-nash-gives-needed-direction/): We seem to be going sideways ... some people think we are going down! So it's nice of painter Eric Nash, in his soon-opening show at Skidmore Contemporary Art, to lend some much-needed direction. Eric Nash began his career in Chicago as an advertising art director, thus his interest in universal and iconic imagery. He
- [Dame Helen rules, in new HBO drama "Catherine the Great"](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/21/dame-helen-rules-in-new-hbo-drama-catherine-the-great/): The face that launched a thousand ships. Good old Helen! Wait, wait ... that was Helen of Troy. Our Helen, Dame Helen Mirren, equally regal as squired by her husband, the director Taylor Hackford, looked simply spectacular in an ensemble custom-designed by Badgely Mischka for a launch party for her new miniseries, "Catherine the Great."
- [The many moods of Engelbert](https://artsmeme.com/2019/12/02/the-many-moods-of-engelbert-humperdinck/): Our man in Las Vegas, Chris Nichols, reports back to artsmeme World Headquarters with this photo essay of a recent club performance by Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey, 2 May 1936). Nichols attended the 83-year-old crooner's Dec 1, 2019 show at the Orleans Showroom in Vegas. Accompanying his photo essay, Nichols reduced the show
- [On Misty Copeland, gold is the new pink](https://artsmeme.com/2020/05/13/on-misty-copeland-gold-is-the-new-pink/): What 'ballet pink' has been for more than a century has gone redefined. It is high time. Enough of that insipid shade. Enter a new theme, dusky gold, the color magnificently worn in these photos by the glorious, triumphant ballerina and principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland. Seen sculpting space in the skyscraper
- [How Cali staves off COVID: by reviving the drive-in](https://artsmeme.com/2020/07/13/how-cali-staves-off-covid-reviving-the-drive-in/): Dateline: Downey, California July 11 2020 There is a certain group of go-go people in Los Angeles that even COVID-19 cannot keep down. They are F.O.C.s, also known as "Friends of Chris." The man of the evening (he hosted the event), Chris Nichols, is a modern-day town crier, a staff journalist at Los Angeles Magazine,
- ['GET OUT' becomes 'Get Outside' @ Cali-Covid drive-in movie](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/13/get-out-becomes-get-outside-cali-covid-drive-in-movie/): It was a fabulous way to convene with others -- well, at least our cars had a nice get together. But we too so enjoyed our evening in Paramount, California, at a special "plein air" screening of director/auteur Jordan Peele's 'cultural' horror picture, GET OUT (2017). The highly influential movie, projected on a super big
- [Watch this! Launching our new summer streaming video](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/17/watch-this-launching-our-new-summer-streaming-video/): The COVID quarantine persists. Stuff we used to do in person, with other people, is offered to us on line. Now this is understandable. The concept is, we should not think that our local theaters have just gone poof! and disappeared. We are cajoled to watch ballet on line, attend a film festival on line,
- [Guggenheim 'Works & Process' spurs artists in limbo](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/17/guggenheim-works-process-spurs-artists-in-limbo/): When performance venues shut down abruptly in mid-March, innumerable planned events were put on hold. That included the Guggenheim's modest but high-profile “Works & Process” series, midway through its spring season which featured a mix of dance, theater and music events. Launched in 1984, the adventurous series “explores artistic creation through stimulating conversation and performance.”
- [Ballet & blistering jazz-dance collide in Paris](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/03/ballet-blistering-jazz-dance-collide-in-paris/): Youtube, you've done it again! And again and again. That's how many times I have watched this wonderful newsreel clip, clearly an excerpt from a longer British Pathe story concerning ... la danse. It takes place in Paris, which is always an excellent start. The cameraman seems be following a haughty prima ballerina, Ludmilla Tcherina,
- [Sister cities to the rescue! French Riviera Film Fest held stateside, at Beverly Hills Hotel](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/25/sister-cities-to-the-rescue-french-riviera-film-fest-held-stateside-at-beverly-hills-hotel/): French Riviera Film Festival co-founders Nicole Muj and Gotham Chandna were in a quandary. Every link in the chain of staging their second annual film festival in the south of France concurrent to the Cannes Film Festival was disrupted. “Due to the pandemic, we couldn't hold our festival and awards this year live in Cannes,”
- [Getting back to where we once belonged: Karole Armitage at New York Live Arts](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/24/getting-back-to-where-we-once-belonged-armitage-gone-rich-program-at-ny-live-arts/): When I perused a press release of the program choreographer Karole Armitage and her performance troupe, Armitage Gone! Dance, intend to present at New York Live Arts in March, it stunned me. She's calling the evening of dances "A Pandemic Notebook." But no one seems to have informed the now 60-something dance adventuress (yes, the
- [Ballet Monte-Carlo's good-looking 'Romeo & Juliet, soon at Segerstrom](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/29/ballet-monte-carlo-rj-in-the-oc-looks-special/): Choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot's Roméo et Juliette (1996) created for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 1996 may not be a new production, but boy does it look swankily danced, and designed, by some stunning dancers in these photos. So we're going. Maillot has been artistic director of the company since 1993. The ballet is staged to
- ['Honey, I'm home!': the movie mating-game of Nicole Kidman](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/13/honey-im-home-the-movie-mating-game-of-nicole-kidman/): Seriously. What's a woman to do? She tried hard, so very hard. She tried for her kids and she tried for herself -- because she loved the guy. But Ricky Ricardo's serial womanizing accrued to such a degree that it caused a rupture in Lucy & Desi's fine romance. This story is told in a
- [Cementing mitts and memories: Lily Tomlin honored at TCM Fest 2022](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/26/cementing-mitts-and-memories-lily-tomlins-well-deserved-tribute-at-tcm-fest-2022/): The range is surprising once you see it in print. It spans from television to film to theater to streaming content to a much acclaimed one-woman show. Noted TCM primetime anchor and official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival, Ben Mankiewicz, of the woman this year's festival honored with the Grauman's footprint ceremony (she
- [Summer salsa 'stravaganza swarms Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/28/summer-salsa-stravaganza-swarms-the-music-center/): There's quite a bit of 'competition' out there. Los Angeles has performing arts centers in abundance--in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Costa Mesa, Northridge, and Malibu. But there's only one mothership, and that is the Los Angeles Music Center, a cultural anchor in our city since 1964. Home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson
- [Italy's Santarcangelo Festival counters apocalyptic narratives through dance](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/23/italys-santarcangelo-festival-counters-todays-apocalyptic-narratives-through-dance/): Every July since 1971 the Italian borgo of Santarcangelo di Romagna, a town in the Apennines, six miles from the Adriatic Sea, becomes the European hub for cutting-edge performance. The summer 2022 edition of the Santarcangelo Festival, “Can you feel your own voice,” thankfully does not allude to pandemic nightmares (i.e., one's own echoing voice
- [The many modes of Chita Rivera](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/01/the-many-modes-of-chita-rivera-1933-2024/): Let's watch this great dancer/entertainer, Chita Rivera (1933-2024), do her thing in her 2005 show "The Dancer's Life," in which she pays homage to her choreographers, Jack Cole, Peter Gennaro, Bob Fosse, and Jerome Robbins. It is a brilliant montage impeccably performed. Rivera found this luminous path to continue to share her gifts well into
- [From Fahey-Klein, Agnes Varda photography](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/05/from-fahey-klein-agnes-varda-photography/): Desire to See | Agnes Varda photography | Fahey-Klein Gallery | thru April 13
- [Key ingredient in Ebony Rep's STEW? Family!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/12/key-ingredient-in-ebony-reps-stew-family/): She's equal parts Mildred Pierce, Julia Child, and Danai Gurira. She's in her muu-muu with house slippers. Her hair is wrapped, and she's cooking. She's Greta Oblesby, playing "Mama," in a marvelous, alive production of Zora Howard's Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted play, STEW. Newly produced by Ebony Repertory Theater and directed by Jade King Carroll, it's now
- [REVIEW: Under The Nicholas's watchful eyes: Dance @ The Holden](https://artsmeme.com/2023/06/18/under-the-nicholass-watchful-eye-dance-the-holden-reviewed/): The community feeling at the Nate Holden Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday night was so comfortable that at key moments, often in dead silence, an infant in the house gave salient dance shout-outs. It was the second evening of 'Dance@The Holden,' a mini-festival curated by choreographer Pat Taylor, an event that, one would
- ['Color me modern!' cries clever new dance book on Intl Women's Day](https://artsmeme.com/2021/03/08/color-me-modern-cries-clever-new-book-perfect-for-intl-womens-day/): Today is International Women's Day, the most sacrosanct date in March, which is Women's History Month. But ... just for a moment, ladies: Think GIRL! Each of us started as one -- packing roller skates, Oreo cookies, and crayolas. So, get into a girlish mood, and crack open Modern Women: 21st Century DANCE, a fun,
- [What a woman! Josephine Baker struts her stuff in "Bananas"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/03/12/what-a-woman-josephine-baker-struts-her-stuff-in-bananas/): A one-woman show about a real woman, the great Josephine Baker, channeled by actress Sloan Robinson.
- [Spend National Women's Month in the dunes](https://artsmeme.com/2024/03/08/national-womens-month-in-the-dunes-courtesy-of-laemmle-theatres/): Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Oscar-nominated erotic drama, Woman in the Dunes, to be screened in multiple Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles. Actually, the film was nominated in two separate years. In 1964, when it won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, it was one of the
- [Dorrance Dance to fill Segerstrom Hall with tap funk & noise](https://artsmeme.com/2019/04/29/dorrance-dance-to-fill-segerstrom-hall-with-tap-funk-noise/): It’s all based on a single idea, a profound one; it’s the notion that tap dancers are also musicians. And upon that premise the acclaimed tap dancer/choreographer Michelle Dorrance is prepared to ‘double down.’ She'll aptly illustrate her point while dancing amidst her company, Dorrance Dance, in “ETM: Double Down” on the hallowed stage at
- [Exiled Ukrainian dancers to unite ballet fans in Ratmansky 'Giselle' at Segerstrom](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/08/ratmansky-giselle-by-exiled-ukrainian-dancers-to-unite-ballet-fans-at-segerstrom/): In a glorious summer classical-ballet event, a great patron of the arts, Elizabeth Segerstrom, in honoring the centenary of her late husband, Henry T. Segerstrom (1923-2015), Orange County's peerless titan of business, philanthropy and the arts, is presenting the United Ukrainian Ballet in its West Coast debut at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The four-performance
- [Debra Winger asks, "Do you know what a meme is?"](https://artsmeme.com/2008/06/20/debra-winger-asks-do-you-know-what-a-meme-is/): editor's note: this post dating from 2008 is a golden-oldie of the blog and one of the first blog items we published. enjoy ~! I went to see Debra Winger give a book talk (she wrote one) at the Los Angeles Central Library Wednesday night. I've always liked Debra Winger's performances, especially in three films: Shadowlands, The Sheltering
- [Pina Bausch, Matthew Bourne in dance takeover of Bunker Hill](https://artsmeme.com/2024/02/10/critical-jottings-dance-takeover-of-bunker-hill/): It warmed my dance critic's heart to see swarms of Angelenos flocking onto the Plaza of the Los Angeles Music Center to enjoy two impressive and complex dance showcases, both running, separately, at the stalwart performing arts center's active houses. The 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theater is mid-run in an exclusive weeks-long engagement of director-choreographer Matthew Bourne's
- [A closer look: "Worker and Machine" (1928) at The Huntington](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/29/a-closer-look-worker-and-machine-1928-at-the-huntington/): Hugo Gellert, Worker and Machine, 1928, oil on board, 30 1/2 × 30 7/8 in. Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra The anonymous working man in this painting, "Worker and Machine" (1928) by Hungarian-born artist Hugo Gellert, is one of nineteen striking canvases exhibited in “Art for the People,” a boutique collection of paintings, a
- [Artist George Evans: Native son in perpetual motion](https://artsmeme.com/2024/02/14/artist-george-evans-a-native-son-in-perpetual-motion/): If you walked into the intimate Matter Studio Gallery and were told nothing about the current exhibit, you’d be forgiven for wondering what unites the group of artists represented. Large neon figure slashes dance through space over dark brown-magenta grounds. Brilliant photographic prints capture big-sky panoramas with low horizon lines. Muted watercolors of figures and
- [Musica Angelica to honor Richard Colburn with mighty Bach St Matthew Passion performance](https://artsmeme.com/2024/02/19/musica-angelica-mighty-bach-st-matthew-passion/): Last month we visited the welcoming campus of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles for a rousing and very spiritual rendition of Yuval Ron's "Rumi's Wedding," an inspiring mashup of Jewish, Christian and Muslim music and dance. Now the esteemed church will host a performance of the life-affirming Baroque music-masterpiece, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion,
- [Middle Eastern cultures to convene in peace at Yuval Ron's 'Rumi's Wedding'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/04/middle-east-convenes-peace-yumis-wedding/): We're in faraway Los Angeles. But here's guessing peoples in every corner of our hurting world would love nothing more for our Middle East brethren to enjoy a resplendent Sunday evening of Arabic/Sufi/Israel culture at Rumi’s Wedding Night Celebration. The December 17 concert features acclaimed world music artist and peace activist Yuval Ron and his
- [A still-timely revisit to TMB's 'Tiny Little Town'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/02/07/critical-jottings-tiny-little-town-from-tmb-2/): When I saw it in a workshop production in July 2022, I immensely enjoyed "Tiny Little Town, A New Musical" by the witty folk who comprise Theatre Movement Bazaar. A thinly veiled allegory to our own society's serious malaise rendered laughable in the guise of theater, the show gives a reprieve by hinting that our
- [Radical reading room: Shepard Fairey at Glendale Central Library](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/26/radical-reading-room-shepard-fairey-at-glendale-central-library/): Well we love libraries. And don't you sense they are coming back? It was wonderful, the other night, to see scores of people milling about, chatting, in the grand-scaled lobby of Glendale Central Library ... a safe public space. The reason for their visit was "Peace is Radical", a solo exhibition by renowned street artist
- [Choreographers are writers, said Bob Fosse](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/17/choreographers-are-writers-said-bob-fosse-in-his-era/): Fosse, in a 1978 interview, ruminates on the isolation and deprecation of the choreographer's function in musical theater.
- [A rousing banquet of New Orleans jazz: Delfeayo Marsalis at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/27/banquet-of-new-orleans-jazz-delfeayo-marsalis-at-the-soraya/): ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya in advance of Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra on Wednesday February 7. It is published with permission. Brass bands smear the air with unbridled exuberance. A second line of dancers swagger-and-cut in their wake, goosed by the popping rhythms
- [Jazz/pop superstars Herb Alpert, Lani Hall to open Soraya jazz festival](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/06/pop-jazz-superstars-herb-alpert-lani-hall-to-open-soraya-jazz-festival/): ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya in advance of "A Golden Anniversary," in the upcoming Jazz at Naz Festival January 27. It is published with permission. Few trumpet voices in history generate the kind of instant recognition as that of Herb Alpert. His short, pungent phrasing and
- [Dance of death and renewal by Pina Bausch at The Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/22/dance-of-death-and-renewal-by-pina-bausch-at-the-music-center/): How would you dance, if you knew you were going to die? This is the central question the late choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009) asked of her dancers in 1975 when she created her seminal work The Rite of Spring. The work examines an unyielding ritual in which the sacrifice of a “chosen one” changes the
- [Mad for Mads in Denmark's 'The Promised Land'](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/07/mad-for-mads-in-denmarks-the-promised-land/): On the face of it, perhaps a not-very-scintillating tale. A bunch of guys fighting over a piece of land. Mads Mikkelsen plays Ludvig Kahlen -- a real historic figure -- a beat-up, 18th century army captain who seeks to fulfill the King’s hoped-for habitation of an inclement swathe of dreary Danish terrain. With the love
- ['Perfect Days’: Wenders' cinematic diary of dappled light & shadow](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/08/perfect-days-wenders-daily-drama-of-dappled-light-and-shadow/): Soon after the pandemic, acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders was invited to witness Tokyo's award-winning urban renewal project, The Tokyo Toilet, in which renowned designers reimagined the typical urban public restroom. Wenders, who is also a celebrated documentarian (Buena Vista Social Club, Pina, and the new Anselm), was expected to craft short films about each
- [Django-jazz at The Kabbaz(z) redux~!](https://artsmeme.com/2024/01/04/stephane-wrembel-all-that-django-jazz-at-the-kabbaz/): The French guitar wizard and Django Reinhardt specialist, Stephane Wrembel (center), whose infectious playing and stage Gemütlichkeit leave audiences wanting more, is heading West. His upcoming California tour culminates in three nights at Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, where Wrembel brings the second edition of his signature “Django a Go Go” festival. The learning-and-jamming event, which he instituted
- [Big music by Sánchez/Alexa for big 'Existencia' choreography at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/23/sanchez-alexa-existencia-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine was commissioned the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts. The spasms of explosive percussion that jump off the screen of Birdman, the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 2014, are the work of a brilliant and innovative musician: the Mexican-born drummer Antonio Sánchez. In the decade since that
- [To the Tetons with Lear: loving memories of Christopher McHale](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/18/to-the-tetons-with-lear-loving-memories-of-christopher-mchale/): It was April 2008, and a glorious time to be in the region of the Grand Teton mountains of Utah. I was there, of course, for the majestic scenery but also to hunker down, indoors, in a dark theater, watching my longtime friend Chris McHale (1954-2023) scale his own high peak playing the titular role
- [Glitches and snafus: arts-writing errata that drives us crazy](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/12/glitches-and-snafus-arts-writing-errata-that-drives-us-crazy/): As the Internet has expanded opportunities for all kinds of people to be published (including riff-raff like artsmeme!) with bylines, so too has spread misinformation, glitches, and snafus, the kinds of mistakes that an editor used to safeguard from readers. I myself am in this situation; I self-publish without editorial oversight. I am always grateful
- ['Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad' with Barrie Chase in person](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/18/mad-mad-with-barrie-chase-in-person/): It's a macabre but nonetheless resolute fact --- and it came directly, unprompted, from Chase, a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.). (She is also one of artsmeme's favorite subjects.) Barrie Chase, one of Hollywood's most precious jewels as a dancer, now 90 and fit as a fiddle, admitted it herself. Speaking of It's a Mad, Mad,
- [Enjoying life at 98: Dick Van Dyke](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/19/dick-van-dyke-enjoying-life-at-98/): I cannot say more, or in a truer fashion, about the jaunty 98-year-old than did the man who took these photos of Dick Van Dyke, and then wrote about him in Los Angeles Magazine. Chris Nichols, a friend of artsmeme (F.O.A.M.) took these candid shots in conjunction with Moments in Time, an exhibit photographic portraiture
- [This Thursday at Cathedral St. John in New York: rare John Adams oratorio](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/19/this-thursday-at-cathedral-st-john-in-new-york-rare-john-adams-opera/): It's very short notice but those of you in New York may want to amble by for music in a majestic space. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine presents contemporary composer John Adams’ El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered, an American Modern Opera Company production, with libretto by Peter Sellars and concept by AMOC member, Julia
- [Splendid early film choreography by Jack Cole for 'Kismet' (MGM, 1944)](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/16/splendid-early-film-choreography-by-jack-cole-for-kismet-1944/): This YouTube bundling of two lengthy harem numbers choreographed by Jack Cole for KISMET (MGM, 1944) displays the young choreographer’s mature grasp of his craft in staging, and in creating beautifull and unusual framing of dance for the eye of the camera. The first sequence has rare footage of The Kraft Sisters, in particular Beatrice
- [Shaken but not deterred, Diavolo dancers to commemorate Northridge earthquake](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/05/shaken-but-not-deterred-diavolo-dancers-to-hearken-northridge-earthquake/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is republished with permission. On January 17, 1994, slumberers across the city of Los Angeles were awakened by a heaving jolt. It was 4:31 a.m. (This writer was hurled from bed to floor.) A 6.7-magnitude earthquake put much
- ["Mary Poppins, step in time!" cries Van Dyke to Breaux & Wood choreography](https://artsmeme.com/2019/01/07/mary-poppins-step-in-time-cries-dvd-to-breaux-wood-chor/): Kick the knees up! Step in time Votes for women! Step in time It's the master! Step in time Step in time. As we enter movie theaters in anticipation of the fun and joy director Rob Marshall and his choreography partner, John DeLuca, have in store for Mary Poppins Returns, let's step in time ...
- [An omelet with Juliette Binoche: 'The Taste of Things'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/17/an-omelet-with-the-taste-of-things-frances-oscar-nominated-foreign-film/): Juliette Binoche is a film goddess. That we know from her 86-plus movie credits in which her luminous presence -- think Garbo -- is but a point of departure for a vast range of fascinating performances. But did you know she makes a mean omelet? You'll learn that while watching La Binoche, as Eugénie, an
- [Mini-Review: Wedding bells for PRISCILLA](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/03/mini-review-wedding-bells-for-priscilla/): arts•meme recommends Leave it to filmmaker Sofia Coppola to make a woman’s story with a foil who is half moving target/half stick in the mud. That is Jacob Elordi playing the charmingly dumb, thick on the empathy, maddeningly faithful until he’s not, and meltingly sexy Elvis Presley, in the marvelous new bio-pic, PRISCILLA. Actress Cailee
- [KONTRAPUNKTUS: sounds of English Baroque to start a new year](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/30/english-baroque-to-start-a-new-year/): KONTRAPUNKTUS, with artistic direction by Artistic Direction by Osheen Manukyan and Hannah White, returns this January with THE LONDONERS: An English Baroque Salute, which features the brilliant musical artistry of the late 17th/early 18th century London music scene during the Baroque era, including George Frideric Handel, William Boyce, Charles Avison, Carl Friedrich Abel, and Henry
- [FILM NOTE: Finland's delicate, deep and droll 'Fallen Leaves' up for Oscar](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/02/film-note-finlands-delicate-deep-and-droll-fallen-leaves-up-for-oscar/): A very affecting movie is Finland’s official entry for Best International Feature at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards, FALLEN LEAVES. In his seventeenth feature film, Director/Auteur Aki Kaurismäki, a master of distanced and deadpanned but ultimately humanistic storytelling, shines a light on working-class people struggling to live with dignity in a world set up to
- [Step into the holidays ... with Trinity Irish Dance Company](https://artsmeme.com/2023/12/04/step-into-the-holidays-with-trinity-irish-dance-company/): Ed. note: This story by Mindy Aloff, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. During the 1960s and ‘70s, two young Irish step dancers growing up in Chicago proved to be outstanding champions in the rigorous world of dance competitions. Both studied at the
- [Trio of 'Priscilla' female creatives take time-out from The King at movie opening](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/17/trio-of-priscilla-female-creatives-take-pause-from-the-king-at-movie-opening/): Last night at the Academy Museum’s Ted Mann Theater, film distributor A24 hosted the Los Angeles premiere screening of Priscilla, starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi. Writer/director Sofia Coppola and executive producer Priscilla Presley were in attendance. The plot of the movie, written and directed by Sofia Coppola, goes like this: When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu
- [REVIEW: 'La Binoche' swaps partners, melts down, in 'Both Sides of the Blade'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/06/review-la-binoche-swaps-partners-melts-down-in-both-sides-of-the-blade/): Why does a movie stick in your head and haunt you for days after viewing? That was my experience with director Claire Denis’ latest, BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE (2022), opening in theaters July 8 and streaming July 23. It surely has to do with the shattering intimacy of Juliette Binoche's beautifully modulated performance as
- [To rise again in Rome: Malcolm McDowell & pals in 'Caligula'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/07/to-rise-again-in-rome-malcolm-mcdowell-pals-in-caligula/): Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) is an anxious young man. He seems to have lost his moral compass. But that's understandable. He's seen his family murdered; then, he himself adds to the bloodshed by offing his adoptive grandfather, the mad emperor Tiberius (Peter O'Toole). He's conducting an unsavory relationship with his fetching sister Drusilla (Theresa Ann Savoy),
- [REVIEW: 'Pal Joey' presses ahead, at New York City Center 'Encores'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/07/review-pal-joey-presses-ahead-at-new-york-city-center-encores/): My introduction to Pal Joey came at New York City Center in 1995, when the then-new "Encores" series presented the iconic Rodgers and Hart's 1940 musical with its original Hans Spialek orchestrations restored. The music – which included an old-fashioned overture and a five-minute ballet (a Richard Rodgers specialty in those vintage early musicals) to
- [For the love of trees: Jody Sperling's ecological dance at NY Society for Ethical Culture](https://artsmeme.com/2023/11/06/for-the-love-of-trees-jody-sperlings-ecological-dance-at-ny-society-for-ethical-culture/): The New York Society for Ethical Culture presents the world premiere of Arbor, a free evening of ecologically themed works by its Eco-Artist-in-Residence, dancer-choreographer Jody Sperling, and her Time Lapse Dance ensemble. The residency is a unique and timely collaboration between the Society—whose mission is to encourage respect for humanity and nature and to create
- [New York City Ballet on your teevee, by way of Madrid](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/25/new-york-city-ballet-on-your-television-by-way-of-madrid/): Once upon a time, USA television viewers could take for granted that the nation’s leading dance companies be showcased on television, thanks to the seminal Dance in America series on PBS. It was great while it lasted, but eventually dance programming became a rarity on PBS. Their Great Performances series broadcasts ten or more of
- [Imani Winds to bring breezy, jazzy, dancey woodwind sound to 92nd St 'Y'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/10/imani-winds-woodwind-sounds-92nd-st-y/): In a chamber music program that can only be described as scintillating, the trailblazing wind-instrument quintet, Imani Winds, will make their first 92NY appearance with acclaimed pianist Terrence Wilson in a program conceived around rhythm and dance. Repertoire includes Paquito D’Rivera’s take on the Venezuelan joropo, Fleur de Cayenne, Imani hornist Jeff Scott’s arrangement of
- [What would Pavlova do? Ask Tiler Peck, soon at The Soraya!](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/17/what-would-pavlova-do-ask-tiler-peck-soon-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. The similarities are uncanny. By 1913, Anna Pavlova, the eternal exemplar of classical-ballet artistry, having danced with the Russian Imperial Ballet and, briefly, with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, took a handful
- [Anoushka Shankar, virtuoso of ancient sitar, in artsmeme interview for The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/11/anoushka-shankar-virtuoso-of-ancient-sitar-in-artsmeme-interview-for-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. It’s a just-released “mini-album” from a first-rate artist who’s trailing a maximal career. Anoushka Shankar, the acclaimed virtuoso of sitar, music producer, and composer, will wind up a three-week, fifteen-U.S.-city
- [A Martha Graham/Agnes de Mille meet-up in the 21st century](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/05/a-martha-graham-agnes-de-mille-meet-up-in-the-21st-century/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. During the Second World War, with American men losing their lives in the overseas fight against fascism, Agnes de Mille and Martha Graham, in New York, found their own patriotic
- [Call in The Police! Stewart Copeland & Re-Collective Orchestra in 'derangements'](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/31/calling-the-police-stewart-copeland-re-collective-orchestra-in-derangements/): ed. note: This story by music writer Kirk Silsbee was commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts. Excerpted with permission. No band electrified audiences in the 1970s and ‘80s like The Police. Omnipresent on the airwaves, they had arenas pulsing across the globe. Punk energy unpinned by jazz
- [Ella and Basie, reunited by Basie band & Lizz Wright at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/10/ella-and-basie-reunited-by-basie-band-lizz-wright-at-the-soraya/): ed. note: This story by music writer Kirk Silsbee, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, has been excerpted with permission. The Count Basie Orchestra band has not just outlived the big band era, it has thrived. This is no ghost band; its last album, “All About That
- [Vancouver's 'Ballet BC,' resident dance company of The Soraya, to perform](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/21/vancouvers-ballet-bc-resident-dance-company-of-the-soraya-to-perform/): ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. When the effervescent contemporary ballet troupe Ballet BC last appeared at The Soraya, it was indeed “BC”—Before Covid. The stellar dancers captivated the audience in choreographer Medhi Walerski’s
- [Cubanísimo! at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/03/cubanisimo-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. The havoc Hurricane Ian wreaked on the Caribbean and Florida, in an indirect way, nearly extended all the way to The Soraya’s stage. The endearing Cuban dancers, Malpaso
- [SoUNDz' of Savion, at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/21/soundz-of-savion/): Ed. note: This story by Susan Reiter, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. Savion Glover has been in the spotlight on stage and screen since an impossibly young age. In his third appearance at The Soraya, on October 7, the one-of-a-kind tap virtuoso brings
- [Gifted Cuban pianist López-Nussa to bring Soraya jazz fest to smoking finale](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/14/gifted-cuban-pianist-lopez-nussa-to-bring-soraya-jazz-festival-to-smoking-close/): ed. note: The trio of concerts over a single weekend—Gerald Clayton Sextet (Feb 17), Gretchen Parlato (Feb 18), and the Harold López-Nussa Trio (Feb 19)—are the grand finale of the Soraya’s jazz festival, Jazz at Naz. This interview, conducted by artsmeme jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya and first appeared on the
- [German Currents Film Festival a glimpse into latest & best European cinema](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/25/german-currents-film-festival/): We are fans and supporters of the Goethe-Institut's spectrum of wonderful German/American cultural activities in Los Angeles, but since it’s Los Angeles we especially love the movies. That's why we so anticipate a fun weekend at the annual German Currents Film Festival, lively ads for which you see posted on artsmeme now. Click on 'em
- [Karel Zeman's 'painted cinema': wondrous, playful, intriguing films @ The Panorama](https://artsmeme.com/2023/10/02/karel-zemans-painted-cinema-wondrous-playful-intriguing-films-the-panorama/): Live action, special effects, painted backdrops, puppets and animation are all ingeniously combined in the fantastic films of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman. 50 years after the earliest days of cinema, Zeman returned to the magical techniques of Georges Mélies to create films of unmatched beauty. Now, courtesy of the Velaslavasay Panorama, in collaboration with the
- [artsmeme to glimpse CAP-UCLA 'Nimoy' the erstwhile Crest Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/20/artsmeme-to-glimpse-cap-ucla-nimoy-the-erstwhile-crest-theatre/): Named in honor of artist, actor, director and philanthropist Leonard Nimoy, The Nimoy is a reimagining of Westwood's historic Crest Theatre, acquired by UCLA in 2018 and since renovated into a flexible 300-seat off-campus performing arts space. The show artsmeme will attend features performances by Grammy Award-winning poet, spoken word artist and songwriter J. Ivy
- [Made in Los Angeles: dance-manufacturing by Raiford Rogers, Tony Testa](https://artsmeme.com/2023/08/29/made-in-los-angeles-dance-manufacturing-by-raiford-rogers-tony-testa/): Los Angeles has long been an industrial hub; over this city's relatively youthful history, we've been a maker of stuff: first oranges and lemons; then a film industry begun on a wooden platform under the noonday sun; next, aerospace and widget manufacturing to prosecute a world war and man's first step on the moon; then
- [REVIEW: When opposites attract, Bridgewater & Charlap at CAP UCLA](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/25/review-bridgewater-charlap-cap-ucla/): It was a provocative entry to a fall jazz season: singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and pianist Bill Charlap, performing in a duo format at Royce Hall for UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance. Like a pro wrestling match between a pile-driving heel and a gymnast babyface, it was a potential mismatch too tantalizing to
- [Boy, uninterrupted: Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky in new biography](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/22/choreographer-alexei-ratmansky-in-new-biography/): The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet, Marina Harss’s biography of one of the world’s most active choreographers, is just exactly that: a beautifully written, close examination of the many ways in which the 55-year-old artist’s work and life are intertwined. Moreover, her meticulous descriptions of his work inform those of us who haven’t
- [Anton Dolin, a rapturous partner to Irina Baronova](https://artsmeme.com/2015/05/31/anton-dolin-partner-irina-baronova/): Throughout a long career that began as a 'baby ballerina,' Irina Baronova had many male partners. Her preferred partner was Anton Dolin.
- [Movin’ & groovin’: Black teen dance shows of '50s, early '60s](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/19/movin-groovin-black-teen-dance-shows-julie-malnig/): Ed. note: artsmeme is delighted to share the second of three excerpts from an marvelous new book by author Julie Malnig. Dancing Black, Dancing White: Rock ‘n’ Roll, Race, and Youth Culture of the 1950s and 1960s (Oxford University Press, May 2023) explores the highly popular phenomenon of televised teen dance programs, incubators of new
- [Opening the floodgates of early-cinema disaster movies at Laemmle Theatres](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/18/early-cinema-disaster-movies/): Irving Cummings' THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD (1926), a pioneering disaster and special effects movie, starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien, re-creates one of the greatest disasters in American history, when, in 1889, over 2,000 people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, lost their lives. In her first major role, Gaynor plays a teenage girl smitten with dashing engineer O'Brien,
- [Home to world-class museums now address of Jack Rutberg Fine Arts](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/09/home-to-world-class-museums-now-address-of-jack-rutberg-fine-arts/): ed. note: Longtime admirers of Jack Rutberg, among Los Angeles's most esteemed gallerists, we've been following news of his new location, on Lake Avenue, one of Pasadena's grand commercial boulevards. With permission from Pasadena Now, artsmeme is excerpting a story by Eddie Rivera, Editor of the Weekndr Magazine. Settling into Pasadena after nearly four decades
- [Meet Ernest Belcher's prize pupil, Pola Negri](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/02/meet-ernest-belchers-prize-pupil-pola-negri/): News of the digital restoration of The Spanish Dancer (1923) by Milestone Film & Video and the Eye Film Museum caught our fancy for several reasons. The silent movie is promoted as a "great romance epic," and gosh, you can never get enough of that, right? In its making, director Herbert Brenon employed a "cast
- [A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, in third foray to Long Beach's Carpenter Center](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/06/a-i-m-by-kyle-abraham-in-third-foray-to-long-beachs-carpenter-center/): That the MacArthur Genius Award-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham could bring his dance wares to any stage in Los Angeles -- as he has in the past -- is an understatement. We've seen him at UCLA; last year at The Soraya; and at The Wallis. This season, on Saturday September 30, it's Long Beach. But it
- [Who's behind arts•meme?](https://artsmeme.com/2013/09/06/whos-behind-artsmeme/): Yes, we've survived for five years. But who the heck are we? We are arts•meme.com!
- [A 'Hungry Ghost,' satiated, at Skylight Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/05/a-hungry-ghost-semi-satiated-at-skylight-theatre/): It's everyone's nightmare ... to have a very weird white man, a hermit who lives in the woods, pry apart your sliding-glass doors and invade your crib, your private space, your digs, your boite, your last-ditch barrier of bricks-and-mortar against ... people like him. And yet, that's exactly what happens in Hungry Ghost, a new
- [Second star to the right ...](https://artsmeme.com/2010/07/01/second-star-to-the-right/): The beautiful silent film version of "Peter Pan" (1924) at the Orpheum Theater came care of the Los Angeles Conservancy's "Last Remaining Seats." Maestro Robert Israel was at the Wurlitzer.
- [Even in 1924 Peter Pan wouldn't grow up](https://artsmeme.com/2010/05/16/even-in-1924-peter-pan-wouldnt-grow-up/): Looks forward to seeing the silent film version of PETER PAN.
- [Cowgirl lassos Metropolitan Opera House](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/03/cowgirl-lassos-metropolitan-opera-house/): In 1942, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which, during the European war, toured in exile extensively across the American heartland, en route picked up marvelous dancers and dances. Following the success of Eugene Loring’s Billy the Kid (1938) for Ballet Caravan, the Ballet Russe invited Agnes de Mille to create yet another Americana-themed work,
- [Rock mogul Lou Adler in WeHo convo](https://artsmeme.com/2023/09/01/rock-mogul-lou-adler-in-weho-convo/): The City of West Hollywood presents Lou Adler and Nic Adler in conversation for the City’s Artists & Icons series. Adler, of course, is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. He developed and produced, among others, The Grass Roots, Jan & Dean, The Mamas &
- [Chamber music on high -- in sync with science & nature](https://artsmeme.com/2023/08/14/chamber-music-on-high-with-nature-science/): It was so fantastic. I had never made the climb up Mt. Wilson, but rectified that mid-day Sunday urging my 2003 Honda Civic through the ricocheting twists and turns of Angeles Crest Highway toward my destination. The draw? Impresario Cécilia Tsan's "Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome," a six-year running classical chamber music series that
- [The 'Beauty' of Disney-100 Thursdays](https://artsmeme.com/2023/08/28/the-beauty-of-disney-100-thursdays/): We don't have kids, so somehow lived through the 1990s (and beyond) without seeing Beauty and the Beast (1991). It was a great delight to make up for lost time. Last Thursday evening, we attended a centenary celebration of the Walt Disney Company at the marvelous El Capitan Theatre -- to be enchanted and entertained
- [The lucidity of Lucinda Childs](https://artsmeme.com/2011/05/08/the-lucidity-of-lucinda-childs/): Kudos to choreographer Lucinda Childs, whose pure and rigorously beautiful "Dance," from the late 70s -- a glorious work of minimalist art -- we enjoyed at Royce Hall Friday night.
- [Traffic getting heavy near Mulholland Drive. BodyTraffic on board!](https://artsmeme.com/2012/05/27/bodytraffic-traffic-getting-heavy/): A fun pre-tour event when Los Angeles dancers, BODYTRAFFIC, stop the flow of cars on the 405 freeway with contemporary dance!
- [Two'fer at Edward Cella gallery speaks with  prescience to today's world](https://artsmeme.com/2023/06/20/twofer-at-edward-cella-gallery-speaks-with-prescience-to-todays-world/): ed. note: I was much smitten by a visit to gallerist Edward Cella's paired exhibition for two fine artists, Chris Trueman, a longtime practitioner based in northern California, and Jennifer Bannert, a younger, Germany-based artist whom Cella had in residence at his bright new digs on La Brea Avenue along a commercial business section of
- [JazzAntiqua lives, with live music @ Nate Holden Center Nov 15](https://artsmeme.com/2014/11/03/jazzantiqua-lives-with-live-music/): Anticipates a performance of JazzAntiqua with live jazz accompaniment on November 15.
- [For the kid in you! Saturdays with Max Fleischer cartoons at The Panorama](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/19/for-the-kid-in-you-saturdays-with-max-fleischer-cartoons-at-the-panorama/): The great Polish-American animator Max Fleischer (1883-1972) and his production studios created iconic animations with characters like Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Felix the Cat, Popeye the Sailorman, Superman and more. In 1926, Fleischer released the first cartoon with synchronized sound, My Old Kentucky Home. His love of jazz led to cartoons (live action &
- [At the Three Deuces with Art Tatum](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/18/at-the-three-deuces-with-art-tatum/): Well, he was a genius. But that didn't stop the yahoos in the audience from talking and smoking and drinking while he was playing. Here's a chance to get a front-row seat on the great Art Tatum, as, in all good cheer, he pulverizes a little ditty with his inimitable rollicking harmonic deconstruction. 43/12/5, NYC.,
- [Feel it. Set your body on 'vibrate' at ambient bass-guitar concert](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/23/feel-it-john-von-seggerns-ambient-bass-guitar-concert-in-los-feliz/): I'm up for a bath. Any kind of bath -- I'm dirty!!! But an 'ambient soundbath' particularly rings my chime. That's what's on offer at bassist and electronic producer John von Seggern's immersive audiovisual experience, a concert held in a structure of fascination on Los Feliz Boulevard -- the one that houses the Philosophical Research
- [Jerry Robbins to be remembered on 'Meaningful Monday' at cool shul](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/21/jerry-robbins-to-be-remembered-on-meaningful-monday-at-cool-shul/): They call it the Actor's Temple. They also call it the "cool shul." Both names work for artsmeme! Douglas J. Cohen and Carol Ostrow present an special event celebrating the Broadway career of the Broadway director and choreographer Jerome Robbins; well as honoring Tony winner actor Jason Alexander on his Broadway debut as director of The Cottage. It happens as part
- [REVIEW: Paul Taylor repertory a miss in Music Center dance-season opener](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/29/review-paul-taylor-repertory-a-miss-in-music-center-showcase/): Who signed off on the venerable Paul Taylor Dance Company’s repertory-mix shared with fans at the Los Angeles Music Center this weekend? What should have been a joyous Los Angeles reunion with one of the nation’s longest-lasting dance companies (it dates from 1954!) felt like modern-dance homework. This show, in its totality, did not connect.
- [At The Actors' Gang, watching '(Im)migrants of the State,' in mutual migration](https://artsmeme.com/2023/05/02/at-the-actors-gang-joined-in-mutual-migration-watching-immigrants-of-the-state/): It packs a wallop. So seeing it on a Sunday matinee was a nice way to go. After being intensely swept into a theatricalized showcase created and performed by a compelling chorus of the formerly incarcerated, I felt blessed to walk freely into the late-afternoon sun. It's (Im)migrants of the State, a workshop-style production at
- [Sane dance fans converge on Segerstrom for pleasing 'Lines Ballet' performance](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/12/sane-dance-fans-converge-on-segerstrom-for-pleasing-alonzo-king-lines-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
- [Two new ‘now’ ballets in world premieres by Ballet BC at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/24/two-new-now-ballets-in-world-premieres-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. It is a big, hopeful, nervous-making, celebratory event when a ballet has its world premiere. The preparation is immense, with many moving parts to orchestrate: choreography and rehearsals, of course, but
- [Movie-viewing happiness @ The Montalbán](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/25/movie-viewing-happiness-the-montalban/): When I like something, I like it. And, lately, I like the summer movie-viewing series high atop the venerable Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, aka The Montalbán, located dead center of Hollywood, on Vine Street just south of Hollywood Boulevard. The above image of director Quentin Tarantino's single-card credit for his kick-butt KILL BILL, VOL II (2004),
- [Sam Francis at LACMA: a California original goes global](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/11/sam-francis-lamca/): Though his last productive years were spent in a Santa Monica studio, art fanciers with a taste for the color-laden Sam Francis (1923-1994) paintings had to search out isolated canvases at a couple of local museum installations. With “Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing” (through July 16 at LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of
- [Baroque musicians/dancers to prance & Zoom thru time](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/23/baroque-musicians-dancers-move-zoom-thru-time/): The Julliard School's primary period-instrument ensemble, Juilliard415, Robert Mealy, Director, has scheduled a time-traveling performance enhanced by students from Juilliard Dance and baroque dancers. That means that added to the frolicking among woodwinds and strings, there will be prancing, high-stepping, posing, bourréeing, sissoning, and throw in a contretemps. All of that is coming your way
- [Jack Cole danced in Pittsburgh](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/30/jack-cole-danced-in-pittsburgh/): A vintage program from 1935, a performance of an Austrian operetta by Robert Stolz, "Venus in Satin," and Jack Cole danced in it.
- [Emanuel Gat, cool choreographer](https://artsmeme.com/2009/06/24/emanuel-gat-cool-choreographer/): Dance review of Emanuel Gat, cool Israeli choreographer.
- [Up on the roof: summer movies at The Montalbán](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/10/up-on-the-roof-summer-movies-at-the-montalban/): It's a fun and cool thing to do. It's Rooftop Movies at The Montalbán where a summer screening series kicked off the other night with The Greatest Showman, the Hugh Jackman/Michelle Williams movie-musical we had never seen. We had a ball. You can have one too. It goes like this. Find your way to the vaunted
- [Lauren Lovette 'Dreamachine' for Paul Taylor Dance Company soon at Music Center](https://artsmeme.com/2023/04/10/lauren-lovette-dreamachine-for-paul-taylor-dance-company-soon-at-music-center/): One piece of the esteemed Paul Taylor Dance Company's three-work program at the Los Angeles Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion the final weekend of April has our special interest. It's a world premiere, first of all. That's a big deal -- and an honor for Los Angeles. But it's the creator about whom we are
- [To a 'Babalu'ish 2023!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/27/to-a-babaluish-new-year-2023/): There's always the guy who did it first -- and did it great. Then there's the guy who 'covers' the song, as did Desi Arnaz on October 19, 1946, recording this marvelous, if somewhat tamped down, version of Babalú years after the seductive anthem was associated with the original “Mr. Babalú," Miguelito Valdés. What on
- [A sculptor's inner life: Michelle Williams in Kelly Reichardt's 'Showing Up'](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/20/michelle-williams-in-reichardts-showing-up-displays-sculptors-patience/): I was entranced by the generically titled, but otherwise awfully good example of 'slow cinema,' Showing Up, directed by down-to-earth filmmaker Kelly Reichardt. This movie, opening April 7, is made by a woman artist; it concerns a woman artist, who is played by Michelle Williams, one of the foremost actresses of our time, in her
- [Jonathan Baker’s lively Oscars viewing party 2023 honors Paul Sorvino](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/15/jonathan-bakers-lively-oscars-viewing-party-2023-honors-paul-sorvino/): Jonathan Baker’s Annual Oscar Viewing Party, presented in collaboration with French Riviera Film Festival and Indie Entertainment Media was held on the eve of March 12 at Baker Manor in Beverly Hills -- a stunning estate once home to Warren Beatty. The party, attended by artsmeme, was a very lively, highly social event. Everyone enjoyed
- [When Sally gave Marilyn (Monroe) her jazz pants](https://artsmeme.com/2018/02/15/when-sally-gave-marilyn-monroe-her-jazz-pants/): We all remember when Harry met Sally. But what about when Sally gave Marilyn her pair of jazz pants? This happened! A jaw-dropping moment when Sally Goldin told me, "I gave Marilyn Monroe a pair of my jazz pants." Uh, okay, Sally. That Marilyn? You gave Marilyn Monroe your JAZZ PANTS?? "Oh, yes," shot Sally
- [Charming 'Moving On' cast has celebratory premiere-party](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/17/charming-moving-on-cast-has-celebratory-premiere-party/): The new comedy from Roadside Attractions, produced, written, and directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy; executive producer of Pinocchio) concerns Claire (Jane Fonda) and Evelyn (Lily Tomlin), two estranged friends who meet at the funeral of a third. The two ladies cart decades of baggage -- and its not by Louis Vuitton. It's gnarly.
- [Charles Lloyd’s ecstatic melody on his 85th](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/16/charles-lloyds-ecstatic-melody-at-the-soraya/): On the cusp of Charles Lloyd’s 85th birthday—we’ll join the master in celebration at Saturday’s live performance at The Soraya—the acclaimed tenor saxophonist and flutist stands at the summit of jazz. A master improviser whose musical ethos was forged in the crucible of 1960s musical freedom, Lloyd has been a restless and unpredictable explorer on
- [Blacklisted! America's dalliance in pernicious censorship](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/06/on-oscar-sunday-blacklisted/): In anticipation of the major show, Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare which opens May 4 at The Skirball Cultural Center for the summer, comes a screening event, with guests, at the Hollywood Heritage Barn on Highland Avenue. It's an "Afternoon at the Barn" screening of a one-hour-long film, Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist, directed by
- [Wheeldon doubles-down in Southern California events of fascination](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/07/wheeldon-doubles-down-in-southern-california-events-of-fascination/): It's a veritable festival of choreography by the Briton Christopher Wheeldon in the next weeks in Southern California. Neatly, the presentations will all spool under the watchful eyes of female artistic directors, Melissa Barak at the Los Angeles Ballet and Susan Jaffe at American Ballet Theatre. That fact alone is marvelous. One of the most
- [Within her delicacy, strength: Raven Wilkinson appreciated](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/23/114223/): Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018) broke as rigid a color barrier as could be found in the mid-fifties, when she was hired, in 1955, to join the all-white corps de ballet of Sergei Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She went on to dance with the Dutch National Ballet as a soloist, and (similar to Janet Collins,
- [Let's get this party started! Memphis jookin' with Lil Buck at Carpenter Center in Long Beach](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/28/lets-get-this-party-started-memphis-jookin-with-lil-buck-at-carpenter-center-in-long-beach/): As a dance writer and historian, I'm completely fascinated -- and on board -- with the seemingly inexhaustible supply of witty, innovative new dance forms that arise from the streets of our society. A crash course in one such form will be on tap at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, with the entertaining showcase,
- [Sunday evening at the Pasadena Playhouse with Seurat & Sondheim](https://artsmeme.com/2023/03/06/sunday-evening-at-pasadena-playhouse-with-georges-seurat-stephen-sondheim/): Can you accept a gift? Then give yourself one, and ticket up for Sunday in the Park With George -- the first main-stage production of Pasadena Playhouse's six-month festival celebrating Stephen Sondheim. The theatrical genius whose pedigree connects him directly to the great, preceding generation (he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein), Sondheim, who left our
- [Double Grammy-awardee Samara Joy to front Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/24/double-grammy-awardee-samara-joy-to-front-clayton-hamilton-jazz-orchestra-at-soraya/): Best wishes poured in from all around the world. But a special frisson of joy came from The Soraya Stage in Los Angeles. That's because Sunday March 26 at 7 pm, the 23-year-old Wonder Woman Samara Joy, @samarajoysings), who (how can we put this calmly?) killed at the GRAMMY® Awards a month ago 🎉 will
- [Fabulous. Bruce Lee appreciation, via UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/22/fabulous-bruce-lee-appreciation-by-ucla-film-archive/): Admired for his incomparable martial arts skills, Bruce Lee's philosophies of self-actualization equally inspire his fans worldwide. A special screening at UCLA Film Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater celebrates Lee as a thinker and instructor: ABC TV's Longstreet: “The Way of the Intercepting Fist” (1972) co-stars Lee as a martial artist and life coach
- [artsmeme to abraham: let's talk 'requiem: fire in the air of the earth'!](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/17/artsmeme-to-abraham-lets-talk-requiem-fire-in-the-air-of-the-earth/): artsmeme founder debra levine recently enjoyed a zoom conversation with the very talented kyle abraham, who has been a choreographer 'du-moment' for nearly 15 years. this interview was commissioned, and first published, by the soraya, where a.i.m. by kyle abraham will perform his 'requiem: fire at the center of the earth' this saturday night february
- [A very cool cat: Burt Bacharach](https://artsmeme.com/2009/04/19/a-very-cool-cat-burt-bacharach/): Four strong singers pour forth the 30+ Bacharach/David songs in a close approximation of sixties innocence. They arrived to my ears like joyful love letters.
- [REVIEW: Aaron Copland meets the 21st at New York City Ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/02/aaron-copland-meets-the-21st-at-new-york-city-ballet/): There is so much that is invigorating and innovative about Copland Dance Episodes, Justin Peck's major new full-evening work for New York City Ballet in its world premiere on January 26. Yet it also connects with, and alludes to, traditions and earlier works. It's bracingly fresh and new – a ballet that sharpens your vision
- [REVIEW: Cécile McLorin Salvant's singular jazz style, at Royce Hall](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/29/review-cecile-mclorin-salvant-plays-royce-hall/): While she’s no stranger to Southern California audiences, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant’s show presented by CAP UCLA's Royce Hall on January 26 reinforced her status as a one-of-a-kind singer. Through her idiosyncratic artistry, willingness to indulge the moment, and her genial manner, Salvant charmed and thrilled the near capacity of Royce’s floor. In the broader
- [Flying high! Luminario Ballet's aerial dance-art to The Wallis](https://artsmeme.com/2023/02/06/flying-high-luminario-ballets-aerial-art-to-the-wallis/): An exciting occasion for one of Los Angeles's most fun and resilient dance companies is its debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts, aka The Wallis, in mid-February. Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles. is a repertory ballet, aerial, and modern dance troupe founded in 2009. A hearty crew, it has trod all channels
- [British diva, Dame Shirley Bassey, to appear on Oscars](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/10/british-diva-dame-shirley-bassey-to-appear-on-oscars/): Dame Shirley Bassey will make a special appearance on the Oscars® show broadcast on Oscar Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center.
- [An Oscar cookie for the New York dance world](https://artsmeme.com/2020/02/10/an-oscar-for-the-new-york-dance-world/): Contrary to popular belief, when artsmeme is not excavating the coal mines of library archives for factoids to tickle your fancy, or cajoling you to attend the latest cool performance, she has a social life! This gathering on Oscar Sunday in New York included some of the most interesting thinkers, doers, researchers, authors, shakers, and
- [Being alive, with Special Oscar honoree Liv Ullmann](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/25/being-alive-with-special-oscar-honoree-liv-ullmann/): She speaks hesitantly; listening, you wonder if there is a problem, perhaps a cognitive disorder. She meanders, and seems vague and scattered. But if you take the time, just eight minutes, to experience this beautiful set of remarks delivered by actress Liv Ullmann, on the weekend she is receiving a Special Oscar at the Awards
- [Hélène Grimaud, with Wild Up & wild wolves](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/16/helene-grimaud-with-wild-up-wild-wolves/): Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. As a child growing up in Aix-En-Provence, the French-born piano virtuoso, Hélène Grimaud, was rambunctious. Her parents, both professors, clambered to channel her energy. Lessons in martial arts, tennis, and ballet
- [Good listening: rare one-acts by Albee, Pinter at Pacific Resident Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/05/good-listening-rare-one-acts-by-albee-pinter-at-pacific-resident-theater/): Way too much aural gobbledygook has littered our tender ears of late: Take, for example, these pithy words spoken by the aspiring* Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy: This word salad tossed in diesel fuel reflects the immense decline in the quality of American public discourse, giving only one reason to run screaming
- [Jeff Beck: Death of a great guitarist. Maiming of his marquee by Orpheum Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/11/orpheums-changeable-lettering-in-jeopardy/): ed. note: The heartbreaking and unwelcome news of the death of legendary rock guitarist, Jeff Beck, sent us careening to an earlier time and place. But for a theater full of his Los Angeles fans, that time and place was the Orpheum Theatre just two months ago, where on November 6, 2022, they saw him
- [1927 was a very good year](https://artsmeme.com/2010/04/29/1927-a-very-good-year/): Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS with 25 minutes of lost footage restored and live accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra: a huge event for cinephiles. It was the penultimate closing-night event of TCM Classic Film Festival.
- [Please do not discriminate.](https://artsmeme.com/2011/01/04/no-discrimination/): "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" spurred an unusual protest movement.
- [Something's comin', I dunno what it is, but it is, gonna be great!](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/18/somethings-comin-i-dunno-what-it-is-but-it-is-gonna-be-great/): In advance of the celebration of the premiere of West Side Story fifty years ago at Grauman's Chinese Theater, a photo of Jerry Robbins's exigent ballet class.
- [Hollywood royalty, the Fonda family](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/28/fondas-hollywood-royalty/): A new set of hands and paws got embedded this weekend at the erstwhile Grauman's Chinese Theatre: those of Jane Fonda.
- [3-D Wizard of Oz at the Chinese](https://artsmeme.com/2013/09/22/3-d-wizard-oz-horak/): Jan-Christopher Horak, Director of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, ruminates on the pros and cons of the remastered 3-D "The Wizard of Oz" for the iconic film's 75th anniversary.
- [Our critic's game plan for TCM Fest 2014](https://artsmeme.com/2014/04/10/critics-game-plan-for-tcm-fest/): TCM Fest 2014: tough decisions by critic Robert Koehler
- [Academy Film Museum 'Regeneration Summit' to include music & dance](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/14/academy-film-museum-regeneration-summit-to-include-music-dance/): Hooray! It's a regeneration summit! Not really sure what that is, but we'll all find out soon enough February 3-5, at the onset of Black History Month, when The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures's Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema, kicks off a three-day event with the grand mission of exploring the history of
- [REVIEW: Vertigo Dance Company's time to heal & time to dance](https://artsmeme.com/2023/01/15/review-vertigo-dance-companys-time-to-heal-time-to-dance/): The Vertigo Dance Company returned to New York’s Baryshnikov Arts Center this past weekend (Jan 12-14) with a timely new work, “Pardes.” The choreographic creations and dancing of this vibrant company from Israel continue to be an immersive, affecting experience. Founded thirty years ago by the wife and husband team, dancers Noa Wertheim and Adi
- [Time to reassess Lewitzky?](https://artsmeme.com/2019/07/01/time-to-re-examine-lewitsky/): That was my takeaway after viewing Luminario Ballet's wonderful performance, Sunday June 23 at the Skirball Cultural Center, of two absorbing works by choreographer Bella Lewitzky. Pictured are excerpts from "Inscape" (1976). The work is driven by its marvelous costumes -- stretch "duotards" designed by Rudi Gernreich, who, prior to his vigorous career as a
- [Rudi Gernreich stunner: 'The Swan' for Lewitzky Dance in 1976](https://artsmeme.com/2019/05/14/rudi-gernreichs-stunner-the-swan-for-lewitzky-dance-company-in-1976/): We're just starting to dig into the rich content of "Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich," the exhibition now up and running at the Skirball Cultural Center, with its stimulating mix of design, gender, fine art, and social issues. All those elements came crashing together, in a sixties kind of way, in the work of the adventurous
- [Strong women of early L.A. dance highlighted in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion exhibition](https://artsmeme.com/2013/01/31/strong-women-of-early-los-angeles-dance/): A stirring, marvelous dance-history exhibit accompanies the Joffrey Ballet performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It may represent a watershed moment for Los Angeles dance.
- [Death of a dancer: Gary Bates](https://artsmeme.com/2017/04/16/death-of-a-dancer-gary-bates/): In this image from the Los Angeles dance troupe, Eyes Wide Open Dance Theater, Fred Strickler (top) and Gary Bates (bottom) appear in "Don Quixote," choreographed by Bates to the music of Steve Reich. Bates, who was a cornerstone member of the Los Angeles dance community, passed away on April 15, 2017. Bates' contribution to
- [On sacred ground: Step Afrika! @ The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2020/02/05/on-sacred-ground-step-afrika-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya. It is republished on artsmeme with permission. In a return visit to The Soraya on Sunday, February 23, Step Afrika!, the distinguished Washington, D.C.-based performance troupe, will bring its latest creative project to Los Angeles. Drumfolk, a special Black History Month presentation, lends
- [Our pick for Black History month: Lena Horne tributes](https://artsmeme.com/2019/02/05/our-pick-for-black-history-month-lena-horne-tributes/): Author James Gavin, who penned "Stormy Weather: The Life Of Lena Horne" will explore the life and career of a legendary superstar as part of Black History month February 13. The fun and informative event will take place at The Barn, with all the barn animals. Lena Horne was one of the great entertainers of
- ['Tecnologia Filosofica,' Italian contemp dancers at Theatre Raymond Kabbaz](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/20/looks-interesting-tecnologia-filosofica-italian-contemporary-dancers-at-theater-raymond-kabbaz/): Concerns the U.S. premiere performance of one of Italy's leading contemporary dance troupes, Tecnologia Filosofica.
- [Julianne Moore, actress of our times, in 'When You Stop Saving the World'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/23/julianne-moore-actress-of-our-times-in-when-you-stop-saving-the-world/): Some guys have all the luck. Take Jesse Eisenberg, for example. As an actor he has inherited the mantle of stammering Jewish neurotic as a surrogate for Woody Allen, who is now in retreat. In his feature-film directorial debut, "When You Stop Saving the World," he has a marvelous motor to his somewhat schematic movie:
- [Movie picks: by, for, and about grown women](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/05/movie-reccos-for-by-and-about-grown-women/): The fascinating actress, Tilda Swinton, gives a pitch-perfect performance that traverses the wide-ranging emotions — tenderness, sadness, yearning, powerlessness, regret — of the mother-daughter relationship. The Eternal Daughter, the latest in a series of artistic collaborations between Swinton and director Joanna Hogg (prior forays, The Souvenir, Parts I & II), never jars as it moves
- [Pilobolus at Pepperdine: Dance's Favorite Fungus Turns Fifty](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/27/pilobolus-at-pepperdine-dances-favorite-fungus-turns-fifty/): Fifteen times performing at Pepperdine University in Malibu! Pilobolus approaches that benchmark, bringing a show on January 25 entitled "Big Five Oh," in celebration of the beloved acrobatic dance troupe's fiftieth birthday. With seven diverse works presented on stage, it should be a party. Musing on this occasion, I found myself wondering about the company's
- [Just say yes! to 'Dr. No'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/26/just-say-yes-to-dr-no/): The film opened in London in October 1962 and launched the most successful franchise in motion picture history, still going strong today. The following spring, 1963, American audiences first enjoyed one of the most memorable introductory lines in movie history: “Bond. James Bond.” This adaptation of one of the spy novels penned by former British intelligence officer
- [Arts separatism for sale](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/05/arts-separatism-for-sale/): The latest 'merch' from the Los Angeles County of Museum, the erstwhile color-blind LACMA, got our attention. What on earth is BLACMA? Let's look into the teeshirt's backstory. This shirt was made to commemorate the establishment of LACMA’s Black/African American Employee Resource Group (BLACMA) in 2021. This internal group of employees supports each other personally
- [Divas of our lifetime! Dionne Warwick, Chita Rivera on stage](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/05/divas-of-our-lifetime-in-performance-dionne-warwick-chita-rivera/): She's a beloved American cultural icon. She's beautiful and well preserved. AND she has a new movie, a documentary. Dionne Warwick began singing professionally in 1961. Discovered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the marvelous songbird went on to record 18 consecutive Top 100 singles (Don’t Make Me Over, Walk On By, Say A Little Prayer, A House
- [While in Moscow, California dreamin': ABT's Ivan Vasiliev](https://artsmeme.com/2013/07/10/moscow-california-dreamin-ivan-vasiliev/): He's not terrible, he's wonderful. Ivan the Wonderful ... and he's performing at the Music Center this weekend.
- [Buy one now! BLACK SWAN teeshirts!](https://artsmeme.com/2010/12/09/buy-one-now-black-swan-teeshirts/): arts•meme special offer for your BLACK SWAN survivor's group! buy one now!
- [Ruth St. Denis sightings](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/05/diva-devotion-ruth-st-denis-sightings/): As time marches on, the figureheads of the 20th century dance fall from our reach. But a surprising number of dance devotees in Los Angeles had contact, however minimally, with the great modern-dance pioneer, Ruth St. Denis. Forever known as "Miss Ruth," she spent her final decades in our city. First up is Albert Reid,
- [Warmth, beauty, diversity: ABT's 'The Nutcracker' at Segerstrom Center](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/02/warmth-beauty-diversity-abt-nutcracker-at-segerstrom/): The world has started to feel at tad more normal, right? One key way that is so important for us all, but especially for our children is the return to the theater. Yes, the careful among us still wear face masks -- totally fine. Some theaters require them. But overall, the best way to enjoy
- [Blake Edwards cool neo-noir 'Experiment in Terror' in 60th anniv screening](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/01/blake-edwards-cool-neo-noir-experiment-in-terror-in-60th-anniv-screening/): Movie director Blake Edwards, known primarily as a comedy specialist, followed the biggest hit of his early career, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with a complete change of pace, the neo-noir thriller, Experiment in Terror. In this a taut suspenser released in 1962, Edwards utilized a full range of stylistic flourishes, superbly assisted in exploring the neo-noir
- [An infusion of 'now' into Trisha Brown Dance Company](https://artsmeme.com/2022/12/01/an-infusion-of-now-into-trisha-brown-dance-company/): Interesting news from Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) in New York: the 50+ year-old dance company has announced its first creative commission since the death of its founding choreographer Trisha Brown in 2017. Cuban-born choreographer Judith Sánchez Ruíz, who was a TBDC member from 2006 to 2009, has been the first artist to receive such
- [Composer Inon Zur: symphonic scores for video games](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/15/composer-inon-zur-of-video-games-music/): When The Grammys™ added a brand-new category earlier this year—‘Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media’—it was in acknowledgment of musical excellence. But it also had to do with business. Big business. In 2022, video gaming is primed to attract over three billion players worldwide. And the users are not just kids.
- [Elizabeth! OC arts patron honors exiled Russian ballet dancers in Segerstrom gala](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/15/elizabeth-oc-arts-patron-honors-exiled-russian-ballet-dancers-in-segerstrom-gala/): “Reunited in Dance,” was a gala so glorious, so glamorous, so grand that it would normally take a village to produce. But perhaps you haven't met Elizabeth Segerstrom. A Polish-born, Russian-speaking dynamo who holds a doctoral degree in psychology, she is an accomplished entrepreneur and published author. Elizabeth (everyone calls her that) threw a ballet
- [Jacopo Tisi nails grand jete in 'Corsaire,' part of 'Reunited in Dance'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/15/jacopo-tisi-hits-his-mark-in-corsaire-part-of-reunited-in-dance/): That's a grand jete that packs a wallop. Just sensational. Every element of the Italian-born danseur noble Jacopo Tisi's position is proper. His legs are equally rotated outward in his hip joints; his feet are fully stretched; the arcing curve in his spine that finishes at the top of his head is sublime; his arms
- [The joy of 'Nutcracker' puppetry, courtesy of Bob Baker Marionettes](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/14/going-nuts-go-see-a-nutcracker/): Where puppet-theater is concerned, the "fun for kids of all ages" slogan is almost a cliche. And yet, it really applies. I am enchanted by the stringed shenanigans that are standard fare at Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Cuz, you get two shows in one, right? You get to watch the cleverly coiffed-and-garbed herky-jerky puppets …
- [Tyrone Power, still vital in his movies](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/10/tyrone-power-gone-too-soon-remembered-by-fans/): Hey, he was Ty Power. The dashing, dark-eyed actor, who descended from a long line of them, and whose name, in 1939, nearly topped the list of Twentieth Century-Fox's biggest box-office earners, starred in dozens of movies, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known titles include The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of
- [John Scofield jazz combo at cozy Theatre Raymond Kabbaz](https://artsmeme.com/2018/10/05/john-scofield-jazz-combo-at-theater-raymond-kabbaz/): 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
- ['Expo'-nentially 'Googie'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/07/expo-nentially-googie/): ed. note: We recently heard from Friend of Arts Meme (FOAM), Chris Nichols, fresh off his annual Halloween 'Spooky Tour,' now rarin' to go with a massive, global-scaled, and far-reaching event, GOOGIE WORLD EXPO, on a Sunday afternoon. It all happens in GOOGIE world headquarters (for a day) in Van Nuys, CA. The Googie World
- [A 'Titan'ic debut for the Israel Philharmonic at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2022/11/07/a-titanic-debut-for-the-israel-philharmonic-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This story by arts journalist and artsmeme founder Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. An invitation to perform at the Berlin Festival is an unassailable honor for a symphony orchestra. But in 1971, it caused heated internal debate at
- [Paul Taylor Dance Company in San Francisco](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/02/in-san-francisco-to-see-paul-taylor-dance-company/): Friday, April 1: Orbs (1966), a reconstruction of an early full-evening work in which Taylor, as a young choreographer, explores the pull of natural forces on human relationships. A highly formal work set to exquisite late Beethoven string quartets. Brief Encounters (2009), to "Le Coin des Enfants," by Debussy, a mysterious and beautiful work for
- ['Hustling' at the Guggenheim Museum](https://artsmeme.com/2022/09/11/hustling-at-the-guggenheim-museum/): Seems like an odd fit, right? Yes, it's a fabulous idea to honor "The Hustle" in its 50th anniversary. The fast-paced, stepping social dance has a name conducive to the city from which it emerged: New York, a place that is full of it, and by that we mean hustle. But to throw a birthday
- [REVIEW: A look at Mark Morris's 'The Look of Love'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/23/review-message-to-mark-morris/): The tenderness, the tenacity, the yearning, and the joy burnished in the lilting melodies composed by Burt Bacharach, so perfectly paired with the high-flown romance of Hal David's lyrics, formed the basis for "The Look of Love," a new hour-long dance work that had its world premiere this weekend at the Broad Stage in Santa
- [Tarantino & Toni](https://artsmeme.com/2019/08/06/tarantino-toni/): LOS ANGELES — When Toni Basil’s agent told her that an anonymous filmmaker from an unidentified production company wanted to chat, she was intrigued. It was something about the 1960s, she was told, so she mopped her dance-studio floor in case she’d have to teach the boogaloo or the watusi. She signed a nondisclosure agreement.
- [Body size, the final frontier, subject of 'The Whale'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/17/body-size-the-final-frontier/): From Darren Aronofsky comes The Whale, the story of a reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption. Starring Brendan Fraser and based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter, the film opens December 9. I am hoping for compassion
- [Farruquito, flamenco master, brings troupe to The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2019/10/25/farruquito-flamenco-master-at-the-soraya/): Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya for Farruquito's November 9, 2019 performance there. It is reprinted on artsmeme with permission. The brilliance was there from the start. At age 11, Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, the reigning superstar of flamenco who performs under the sobriquet of Farruquito, appeared in Carlos
- [Back to Jefferson High School for Central Avenue jazz, with MUSE/ique](https://artsmeme.com/2022/09/20/back-to-jefferson-high-school-for-central-avenue-jazz-with-muse-ique/): They got their high school diplomas and hit the ground running. By living adjacent to the rich cultural offerings of Central Avenue in South Los Angeles in its heyday, the kids of Jefferson High School discovered the arts in the classroom and in the neighborhood. They made careers, big ones. A recent thrilling Sunday-afternoon showcase
- [Long live the leggy Ann Reinking](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/21/long-live-the-long-legged-ann-reinking/): Why oh why couldn't God make an exception? An exception to the rule that we all must die. Shouldn't great dancers be exempt? Because it hurts so much when they pass away. In the video that follows, we see Ann Reinking, an Empress of Broadway -- she died last week, way too young at 71
- [Rusha career retrospective coming to MoMA, then LACMA](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/20/rusha-career-retrospective-coming-to-moma-then-lacma/): The Oklahoma-born, Los Angeles-based artist Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) will enjoy his largest retrospective and his first solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in the fall and winter of next year. Appropriately enough, the exhibit, ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, co-curated by MoMA and LACMA, will travel thereafter to the
- [A rose is a Jacqueline Bisset, in new movie 'Loren and Rose'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/17/a-rose-is-a-jacqueline-bisset-in-loren-and-rose/): It's not Jacqueline Bisset. That's the first thing you need to know. It seems to be; it's tempting to think it is, but no. Even though we see Ms. Bisset at her most vulnerable and fierce, the new movie starring this enduring lady of the cinema is neither autobiographical nor a documentary. She's playing a
- [REVIEW: A 'Royal' August at the Joyce Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2019/08/08/review-a-royal-august-at-the-joyce-theater/): The Royal Ballet has come to town – or rather, a small but potent ensemble of eight Royal Ballet dancers, who have taken up residence at the intimate Joyce Theater for the first of four Joyce Ballet Festival programs. Curated by RB artistic director Kevin O'Hare and blandly titled “An Evening of Solos and Duets,”
- [Happy string-pulling: Bob Baker Marionette Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2022/09/30/sixty-years-bob-baker-marionette-theater/): Bob Baker Marionette Theater: 60 Years of Joy & Wonder is a retrospective exhibition that examines the beauty and history of a beloved Los Angeles institution. Approximately 100 artifacts belonging to the theater and its founder are included in the exhibit, including udes hand-crafted marionettes, original concept art, archival photographs, an animatronic band, and more. Bob
- [Diavolo's skateboard escapade, part of Pacific Standard Time](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/04/diavolos-skateboard-escapade-part-of-pacific-standard-time/): Diavolo Dance Theater, the Los Angeles based dance company led by artistic director Jacques Heim, will have a residency with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center as part of the 2011-2012 season, to create “Transit Space,” a new work inspired by skateboard culture -- a sport and an art form invented in Southern California in the 1950s.
- [Holiday picks: Joffrey 'Nutcracker' & Lula Washington 'Kwanzaa'](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/29/holiday-dance-picks-the-joffreys-nutcracker-lula-washington-dance-theatres-kwanzaa-celebration/): Concerns The Joffrey Ballet's "The Nutcracker" opening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion December 1,and Lula Washington Dance Theatre's Kwanzaa show on the 28-29 December.
- [Southwest Chamber Music's plein air concert at The Huntington](https://artsmeme.com/2012/07/30/southwest-chamber-musics-plein-air-concert-at-the-huntington/): Southwest Chamber Music just celebrated its 25th anniversary season. The two-time Grammy award winner (seven time nominee) puts on beautiful weekend plein air concerts at The Huntington Gallery in San Marino.
- [South Los Angeles dance warriors visit Shaolin Temple monks](https://artsmeme.com/2011/06/04/shaolin-temple-warriors-from-south-los-angeles/): A leaping, skipping and jumping tribe of urban warriors hip-hopped their way across Henan Province. Climbing the hills of Shaolin, they visited the local Buddhist monastery.
- [Met @ Jacob's Pillow: post-modern dance pioneer Trisha Brown](https://artsmeme.com/2011/08/21/met-jacobs-pillow-post-modern-dance-pioneer-trisha-brown/): What a thrill to meet the lovely, graceful, immeasurably influential choreographer Trisha Brown while at Jacob's Pillow.
- [The divine meets the dogged: Tippi Hedren & Edith Head reunite](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/11/the-divine-meets-the-dogged-tippi-hedren-edith-head-reunite-for-a-conversation-with-edith-head/): Through the magic of make-believe, the enduring Edith Head springs back to life to meet the living legend, Tippi Hedren, at the opening night of a one-woman play about the dogged designer, "A Conversation with Edith Head."
- [Cirque du Soleil's swell Hollywood opening night party](https://artsmeme.com/2011/09/26/cirque-du-soleils-swell-hollywood-blvd-opening-night-party/): It was a wild ride, circling in a Ferris wheel above Hollyweird Boulevard at the Cirque du Soleil "Iris" opening party.
- [Cultures collide, collaborate, in Xucheng, P.R.C.](https://artsmeme.com/2011/06/02/cultures-collide-collaborate-in-xucheng-p-r-c/): In the arts funding world, they call it "cultural exchange." In the real world, we call it the love and mutual respect that flows between artists. Here, where the bare foot meets the marley floor, artists mash up and collaborate. Two Chinese choreographers, Ma Bin from Hainan Island and Tong Wei from Hebei, put their
- [arts·meme exclusive: Ronni Chasen first anniversary murder slideshow](https://artsmeme.com/2011/11/14/arts·meme-exclusive-ronni-chasen-first-anniversary-murder-slideshow/): One year ago this week, a crazy chapter in the long tradition of Los Angeles noir: the murder of publicist Ronni Chasen, followed by her alleged bicyclist-murderer's suicide.
- [Golden State murals, endangered treasures, on view Saturday](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/18/endangered-golden-state-murals-on-public-view-this-saturday/): A rare opportunity to view the beautiful, intricately detailed murals that grace the lobby of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building, located at the corner of Adams and Western, in the heart of Historic West Adams.
- [David Dorfman's late-hour conversation with Sly Stone saves "Prophets of Funk" performance](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/24/david-dorfmans-late-hour-conversation-with-sly-stone-saves-prophets-of-funk-performance/): A last-minute glitch put the performance of "Prophets of Funk," by David Dorfman Dance Company into jeopardy. The rights to use Sly & the Family Stone music were not secured. But, au derniere moment, the show went on!
- [The American French Film Festival 2022 on fire!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/04/the-american-french-film-festival-2022-on-fire/): It stumbled, but prevailed, through COVID. It's been on line, it had a date change (it used to happen in April). Then it got a name change that no one overly loves. But nothing will put us off. We're going to join the 26th annual joyous gathering of French-movie-loving film geeks in the generous lobby
- [Dance world on fire, at Jacob's Pillow](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/19/dance-world-on-fire-at-jacobs-pillow/): The dance world responded with shock and sorrow on Tuesday to the news that an early-morning fire had completely destroyed the Doris Duke Theater at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Located on a bucolic 220-acre campus in the Berkshire area of Massachusetts, the internationally-known Festival had added the more intimate Duke – a flexible space
- [The people's Peabo, at Pepperdine](https://artsmeme.com/2022/10/03/the-peoples-peabo-at-pepperdine/): He's right up there -- one of the big seventies crooners-- along with Al Green, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass, and Luther Vandross. These heartthrob-inducing balladeers sent soulful glissandos down our spines in densely produced R&B recordings of the 1970s. So I am delighted that Peabo Bryson ("Feel The Fire, "I'm So Into You") will appear
- ['Dance Masters' Chakiris & Chase in 'An Evening at the Barn'](https://artsmeme.com/2016/11/29/dance-masters-chakiris-chase-in-an-evening-at-the-barn/): Two great dancers. Two beautiful people. Both with Los Angeles dance roots. Both gypsy dancers in the great decade of movie-musicals, the 1950s. Between them, their titles include: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, There’s No Business Like Show Business, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Meet Me in Las Vegas, The I Don’t Care Girl, Daddy Long
- ['People-wearing-color' honor composer Allee Willis @ 'Night of Wonders'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/09/30/allee-willis-night-wonders/): It was all kinds of people, of all kinds of colors, wearing all kinds of colors -- notably hot pink, fiery orange, neon chartreuse, and Princely purple -- mixed into the same outfit. This passel of arty party people wended their way to Valentine in the Los Angeles arts district on September 21, for a
- [The sound of America, courtesy of MUSE/IQUE](https://artsmeme.com/2016/08/03/the-sound-of-america-courtesy-of-museique/): Politicians, shut up! Let's listen to the real sound of American, authentic American music.
- ["Ballets With a Twist" serves drinks all around](https://artsmeme.com/2010/09/14/ballets-with-a-twist-serves-drinks-all-around/): In a location as romantic as its name - Rustic Canyon - the New York-based "Ballets with a Twist" made its Los Angeles debut Friday evening.
- [The perils of Pauline Schindler](https://artsmeme.com/2013/10/15/perils-of-pauline/): Reviews a new opera "Pauline," performed on Oct 13. 2013 at Schindler House on Kings Road.
- [Killing us softly: Roberta Flack in concert @ Pepperdine](https://artsmeme.com/2015/01/17/roberta-flack-in-concert-pepperdine/): She has collaborated with Peabo Bryson, performed with live orchestras, toured Japan twice with Miles Davis and the Crusaders, toured sold-out performances in South Africa, performed at the Toronto Jazz Festivals again with Miles Davis, and headlined a series of tours with Patrice Rushen and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. She has collaborated, as well, with
- [Motown magic to Malibu: Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves @ Pepperdine](https://artsmeme.com/2017/09/17/motown-magic-to-malibu-mary-wilson-martha-reeves-pepperdine/): It’s difficult to witness the decay of present-day Detroit and reckon that the city was a booming factory town in the 1960s. While Detroit’s auto manufacturers put America in the driver’s seat, Motown Records flooded dance floors and came as close to dominating Top 40 radio as any domestic record label in history. Berry Gordy,
- [Rhoden's RISE revisited](https://artsmeme.com/2013/10/30/rhodens-rise-revisited/): Notes on a wonderful dance work, Dwight Rhoden's RISE for Complexions.
- [Danny Ezralow opens hearts, minds through dance around the world](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/24/danny-ezralow-opens-hearts-minds-through-dance-around-the-world/): Choreographer Daniel Ezralow is a global citizen. The Los Angeles native speaks fluent Italian, and a smattering of Russian and Japanese, having directed and choreographed projects in all three countries -- the massive 2015 Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony and Japanese Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics among them. He’s currently a judge on a new Italian TV talent
- [Weather report: It's raining female artists in Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2019/02/15/its-raining-female-artists-in-los-angeles/): 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 landed in Los Angeles and it's not going anywhere for a long time. Speak up,
- [Last call: Jessica Lang Dance @ Pepperdine](https://artsmeme.com/2019/04/29/last-call-jessica-lang-dance-pepperdine/): Yes, it's sad. It's a sad moment. The closure of a boutique dance company, a precious organism, is depressing especially if it is for just one reason: it's too hard to keep it going. That is the difficult decision choreographer Jessica Lang reached after seven years running her well-respected Jessica Lang Dance (JDL). Los Angeles
- [John Sebastian's Greenwich Village memories](https://artsmeme.com/2018/12/29/john-sebastian-brings-greenwich-village-memories-songs-to-malibu/): John Sebastian’s songs for the Lovin’ Spoonful placed him firmly in the elite 1960s songwriting fraternity that helped turn rock from entertainment to an art form. Like Paul Simon, John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Sebastian was one of the prime architects of folk-rock. That crop of folk
- [Diva in concert: Darlene Love at Pepperdine](https://artsmeme.com/2019/09/07/diva-in-concert-darlene-love-at-pepperdine/): A recent hot theater ticket in San Diego was the trial run of the historic rock musical, “House of Dreams,” that told the story of Hollywood's fabled Gold Star Studio. Over a hundred hit songs were recorded there in the 1960s -- from “Rockin’ Robin” to “Good Vibrations” to “Cherry Bomb.” Owner/engineer and sound innovator
- [Millepied's disjunctive 'I fall...' exposes choreographer's weakness](https://artsmeme.com/2019/01/17/millepieds-i-fall-exposes-choreographers-weakness/): A harrowing drive across dark, slick, and unmarked Washington Boulevard in pelting rain went unrewarded by enduring Benjamin Millepied’s “I Fall, I Flow, I Melt,” a 75-minute, intermission-less dance performance by L.A. Dance Project performed in the round at the company’s newish headquarters named for its address, ‘2245.’ The choreography for this random and soulless
- [John Jasperse tells his truth ... at REDCAT](https://artsmeme.com/2010/04/16/john-jasperse-tells-his-truth-at-redcat/): New York choreographer John Jasperse's engaging dance work with the coy name, "Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful Thinking, and Flat-out Lies," confirms the obvious. And that is that of the many wonderful outposts for dance in Los Angeles, REDCAT is the most happening. Highlights of the REDCAT dance season included the re-staging of Anna Halprin's "Parades
- [Re-awakening the wonderland of Allee Willis](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/30/re-awakening-the-wonderland-of-allee-willis/): Allee Willis. Heard of her? She was a woman of color in so many ways. Born to a Jewish family in Detroit, she grew up loving Black music. Not too many years later, Willis made an awfully lot of people happy as the composer, or co-composer, of marvelous, burbling, and dance-able pop tunes of irrepressible
- [To Untermyer Gardens with Duncan dancers!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/29/to-untermyer-gardens-with-duncan-dancers/): The dancers trained in the technique and philosophy of modern-dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (1878 – 1927) already danced at Untermyer Gardens! Having missed both opportunities (first in 1922, then in 1932), I'm so grateful to be attending an update of this essential American modern-dance history on Labor Day weekend. That's this Sunday evening at six
- [Cinecon 58: Stars of yore to twinkle once more Labor Day weekend](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/26/cinecon-58-stars-of-yore-twinkle-once-more-labor-day-weekend/): I'm in New York having a ball -- except for the sob sessions that I won't be in Los Angeles over Labor Day weekend when the annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival blasts off Thursday September 1. Gracing the Fest in its celebratory 58th year (a return to 'in person' with masks encouraged) will be the
- [Dancer's ploy for getting on Ed Sullivan Show](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/30/dancers-ploy-for-getting-on-ed-sullivan-show/): You want to dance on Ed Sullivan, right? So why not make a dance about ... Ed Sullivan? The creators used this ultimate ploy to tickle a narcissist's fancy and also entertain the public. This tidy dance number, which echoes Bob Fosse's "Rich Man's Frug" in many ways, is the work of two choreographers, Hal
- [Italy’s Kilowatt Festival: dancing an ‘ethic of living’](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/17/italys-kilowatt-festival-dancing-an-ethic-of-living/): In the hometown of Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca, the Tuscan borgo of Sansepolcro, the Kilowatt Festival, in its 20th year, examines how contemporary performance can foster “urban regeneration.” This year’s theme, “Excess of Reality,” entrusts performance with reformulating “a forgotten ethic of living.” The stakes are high—as they should. Although some established artists seemed
- [Rejoicing to be Joyce'ing!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/08/rejoicing-to-be-joyceing/): Who in their right mind comes to New York in August? Well, that would be your friend artsmeme. Yes, it is a blazing inferno here. But that doesn't stop the dance presentation. We're mostly "off" season, but there's still so much to see. There's a three-part program presented at Lincoln Center on a neat out-of-door
- [To unfold once more! My Miyake](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/11/to-unfold-once-more-my-miyake/): Ed. note: It's not every woman who can rock a high-fashion ensemble like the one above designed by Issey Miyake (1938-2022), whose immense trail of creativity left our world this past week. One lady who can is the London-based author and arts journalist Candace Allen, who writes about the inimitable look here: I’d been gifted
- [Plethora of Vail Dance Festival ballet premieres livestreamed](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/05/plethora-of-vail-dance-festival-ballet-premieres-livestreamed/): The bountiful convergence that is the Vail Dance Festival is now in high gear, and along with forming new partnerships and taking on new roles (Roman Mejia performing Jose Limon's Chaconne was one of this year's intriguing expansions of a major dancer's range), an eye-catching list of today's dance luminaries are busy preparing an entire
- [artsmeme newsletter will see you in september!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/08/01/artsmeme-newsletter-will-see-you-in-september/): artsmeme newsletter will see you in September! As we approach out 15th anniversary (that's next May 2023) we're saving all our energy to report on the coolest and funnest arts happenings when the season opens -- in September. Just like our pal Mlle Bardot, above, we do have our eye on the ball. It's just
- [Critical jottings: "Tiny Little Town" from TMB](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/27/critical-jottings-tiny-little-town-from-tmb/): Summertime and the living is meant to be easy .... so why doesn't it feel that way? Not really loving the Congressional Hearings? Spending $120 at Trader Joe's for a bag of stuff that recently cost half that much? Is it the fact that COVID just won't stop -- and even Anthony Fauci has had
- [Movie mini-review, with a 'Vengeance'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/22/mini-review-with-a-vengeance/): Brooklyn wokel meets Texas yokel in VENGEANCE, a cultural bake-off that hinges on the narrow premise of a savvy New Yorker getting pulled into the mysterious postmortem of Abilene Shaw (Lio Tipton), a young lady he claims he barely knew. (He only 'serial-dated' her. But she seems to have fallen hard.) Traveling to the dusty
- [Marilyn could play comedy, or drama, according to her directors](https://artsmeme.com/2018/12/10/marilyn-in-comedy-marilyn-in-tragedy-according-to-her-directors/): Henry Hathaway, on MM and high drama: I think her whole life might have changed in Darryl Zanuck would have let her ... I wanted to do Of Human Bondage with Marilyn and Jimmy Dean way back then ... because after I did that picture with her [Niagra] I found her marvelous to work with,
- ['Ivan the Wonderful' fans the "Flames of Paris"](https://artsmeme.com/2014/11/29/ivan-the-wonderful-fans-the-flames-of-paris/): "The Flames of Paris" considerably heated up by Ivan Vasiliev's bravura dancing.
- [Dudamel to lead stars of Paris Opera Ballet at Hollywood Bowl](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/07/dudamel-leads-stars-of-paris-opera-ballet-at-bowl/): Our man at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, who was recently named Music Director of the Paris Opera, has invited a few of his new-found friends, stars of the Paris Opera Ballet ("etoiles") to perform classic and contemporary ballet repertoire on the Hollywood Bowl stage for the first time. Preeminent dancers
- [Michael Musto: musings on 'Elvis'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/08/michael-mustos-musings-on-elvis/): ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to publish the pithy thoughts of journalist Michael Musto on Baz Luhrmann's runaway hit movie, Elvis, now on screens nationwide. Musto's long presence in cultural reporting beyond qualify him for his musings about The King. His longtime column in The Village Voice, La Dolce Musto, a compendium of gossip, nightlife,
- [Pianist Jamael Dean, jazz virtuoso, to tap spiritual vein @ Piano Spheres](https://artsmeme.com/2022/07/05/jamael-dean-pianist-virtuoso-tapping-spiritual-vein-piano-spheres/): 'Sick.' "Dig.' 'Respect.' 'Space Music.' 'Wow.' 'Just Wow.' 'Lovely.' 'Jamael is a beast.' 'That drummer is on fire.' These and other laudatory comments are posted on youtubecom in response to a 2020 video, "Kronos" streaming above. The man behind this music, the keyboard cat in the long braids, is Jamael Dean, a jazz prodigy whose
- [Gloria Cheng's solo flight @ Piano Spheres](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/17/gloria-chengs-solo-flight-pianospheres/): A great contemporary pianist who lives in Los Angeles, Gloria Cheng, offers a solo concert.
- [Four (special) hands better than two @ Piano Spheres](https://artsmeme.com/2015/08/10/four-special-hands-better-than-two-pianospheres/): Piano Spheres, the new-music presentation series devoted to showcasing contemporary works for the piano, offers as the opener to its 22nd season a double-barreled send-off, "Two Pianos, Four Hands." The recital features a world premiere and performances by two leading lights of contemporary music.
- [What a week! Los Angeles blossoms in the fine arts](https://artsmeme.com/2015/09/24/los-angeles-blossoms-in-the-fine-arts/): I've lived here since 1989. In the performing and visual arts, this was the week that was.
- [Pianissimo to the max: Terry Riley, Gloria Cheng in concert](https://artsmeme.com/2018/03/02/pianissimo-to-the-max-terry-riley-gloria-cheng-in-concert/): What a pairing. Virtuoso contemporary pianist Gloria Cheng playing the works of pioneering minimalist composer Terry Riley -- and then the duo playing together. At the cozy, comfortable and acoustically pristine Zipper Hall presented by our friends at Pianospheres. A rare experience. So, go. Program: RILEY: Two Pieces for Piano (1958/1959) RILEY: The Walrus in
- [Gloria Cheng's garlands for new music in Los Angeles](https://artsmeme.com/2018/11/12/gloria-chengs-garlands-for-new-music-in-los-angeles/): It could be said that Los Angeles has conspired, by countless means and for many decades, to make itself into as hospitable an environment for new music as possible. L.A. has had a freewheeling attitude from its inception. As early as 1925, around the time when John Cage was about to enter Los Angeles High
- [Can Kahane? Yes he can!](https://artsmeme.com/2019/05/13/can-kahane-yes-he-can/): In a rare Southern California solo recital appearance, Jeffrey Kahane has designed a special program for the presenter Pianospheres in its 25th season. Kahane, of course, is an acclaimed pianist, conductor, music director laureate of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and educator. Gabriel Kahane,Works on PaperTimo Andres Bewegt, from "Moving Etudes"Robert Schumann KreislerianaAaron Copland Piano Fantasy
- [Get serious, Los Angeles!](https://artsmeme.com/2020/01/08/get-serious-los-angeles-audiences/): It's January. So, no excuses. Clear the eggnog out of your noggin -- and get ready for some serious art. In Los Angeles, it's all around us. Artists and their presenters are hitting the new decade afresh, and with force. It does not get headier than the L.A. Phil's just-announced Weimar Republic: Germany 1918-1933, a
- [Chatting with Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies host](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/10/chatting-with-robert-osborne-turner-classic-movies-host-about-why-audiences-feel-so-comfortable-with-him/): An in-person chat with Robert Osborne, the genial and highly popular host of Turner Classic Movies.
- [Setting sail! The gang poses for launch photo @ TCM Classic Cruise](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/13/setting-sail-the-whole-gang-poses-for-a-launch-photo-tcm-classic-cruise/): Last Thursday afternoon, December 8, 2011, punctually at 4:30 pm, a boatload of movie nuts set sail on the first ever TCM Classic Cruise. What a party!
- ['Mozart of Modern Dance' visits Santa Monica's Broad Stage](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/01/mozart-of-modern-dance-visits-santa-monicas-broad-stage/): It is problematic calling yourself "the Mozart of ..." anything. And yet, that's how the choreographer Mark Morris, in his press materials, chooses to frame his creativity -- as the "Mozart of Modern Dance." Morris, 65, whose 42-year-old Mark Morris Dance Group will present four performances of his 2006 creation, "Mozart Dances," at Santa Monica's
- [Al Hirschfeld draws a dancin' man](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/20/al-hirschfeld-draws-a-dancin-man/): Everyone knows that arts journalist Al Hirschfeld, whose theatrical caricatures accompanied Sunday New York Times feature articles about Broadway openings, was a genius. But The Line King's rendering of Bob Fosse in 1978, on the occasion of the opening of his no-book, all-dance musical Dancin', got my attention. I can't stop looking at ... ...
- [Happy Queen's Jubilee from the Commonwealth's indigenous artists](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/21/happy-queens-jubilee-from-the-commonwealths-indigenous-artists/): A vibrant-looking, good humored show from an unusual clutch of artists -- Vincent Namatjira, Kaylene Whiskey, and Tiger Yaltangki, three leading members of the indigenous Indulkana Community in the northwestern region of South Australia -- soon opens at the Fort Gansevoort art gallery in New York. Iwantja Rock n Roll, a group exhibition of their
- [Love as a one-way street at the Panorama](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/06/a-one-way-ticket-to-love-at-the-panorama/): She won't stop writing to me — e-mails, letters, texts, cards — but it's not merely because I hardly know her that I no longer reply. It is the increasingly demanding tone, and the fact that a romance is gaining momentum without my needing to be involved. -Unrequited Love, by Gregory Dart You've heard of
- ['Garden of Alla's theatrical delights](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/17/garden-of-allas-delights/): Joni Mitchell, a resident in nearby Laurel Canyon, said it best: "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." She was referencing, in song, the demolition of a 2.5 acre property at the south-west corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, a site that is yet again under construction. But starting in 1927 gracing
- ['Pride month' salutes film producer Harriet Parsons at UCLA Film Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/03/pride-month-salutes-film-producer-harriet-parsons-at-ucla-film-archive/): Along with Virginia Van Upp at Columbia Pictures and Joan Harrison at Universal, Harriet Parsons (1906-1983) was one of the very few women to make her mark in the industry as a feature film producer in the 1940s. Parsons got her start at Columbia creating myriad uncredited newsreel-like “documentary” shorts in the 1930s. She then
- [Von Sternberg silent movie, a trove of great early-cinema collaborators, @UCLA Film Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/09/rare-von-sternberg-silent-movie-a-trove-of-great-early-cinema-collaborators/): A double bill of early movies directed by Josef Von Sternburg is set to spool for an in-person audience in January, and it looks particularly luscious. One picture is the director's final extant silent movie; the second, his first using sound. Set almost entirely in a seedy portside tavern where the doomed and desperate carouse,
- [Act out your photographic fantasies: LACMA's 'Acting Out' cabinet-card show](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/23/act-out-your-photographic-fantasies-lacmas-acting-out-cabinet-card-show/): This is fabulous. I love to 'act out.' (Just ask my family.) Now there is an entire exhibition dedicated to that proposition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aka LACMA. It illustrates one of the few ways people in the late 19th Century could indulge their little dramatic fantasies -- by visiting the
- ['Apples': clever Greek film probes universal pandemic experience](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/17/apples-clever-greek-film-probes-universal-pandemic-experience/): Who among us has not suffered mal-effects of isolation and removal from normal public existence in the aftermath of a two-year pandemic shutdown? Episodes of confusion, mixing the days of the week, forgetting appointments, losing and misplacing objects. These obfuscations are happening way too often as we reconstitute our lives prior to COVID-19. The profundity
- [Grotesqueries courtesy of Spanish performance artist Marta Carrasco](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/13/grotesqueries-courtesy-of-washington-d-c-and-performance-artist-marta-carrasco/): An intriguing woman artist from Spain is being presented in multiple performances by the Latino Theater Company at the L.A. Theater Center downtown. It's the dancer, choreographer and performance artist Marta Carrasco, in a show with an equally intriguing title, Perra de Nadie (“Nobody's Bitch”). Well, that's a nice girly name. [We last saw her
- [Writhing & wriggling Gwen Verdon elicits yawns in "David and Bathsheba"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/02/17/gwen-verdon-david-and-bathsheba/): She wriggles and she writhes, but it's all for naught. Two 20th Century-Fox bit players barely react to the incredible Ms. Verdon in "David and Bathsheba."
- [PST: Guy Dill's seventies art at Leslie Sacks Contemporary](https://artsmeme.com/2011/10/27/pst-guy-dills-seventies-art-at-leslie-sacks-contemporary/): Another intriguing entry of Pacific Standard Time, cool environmental sculptor, Guy Dill, from the seventies.
- [Dance photog Christopher Duggan shoots Lar Lubovitch Dance Company](https://artsmeme.com/2011/07/23/dance-photog-christopher-duggan-shoots-lar-lubovitch-dance-company/): New York based dance photographer Christopher Duggan snapped these amazing rehearsal photos of Lar Lubovitch Dance Company performing this weekend at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
- [Bring Your Own Glue (BYOG) to New Puppy Gallery's street-art show](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/12/bring-your-own-glue-byog-to-new-puppy-gallerys-street-art-show/): Street arts gets its Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval this weekend as MOCA opens a gargantuan, eye-filling retrospective dedicated to the scrappy artform. But a smaller gallery, New Puppy, ten minutes from downtown, also has a street art show.
- [Shades of blackness ... in full blasts of great dancing](https://artsmeme.com/2011/03/24/shades-of-blackness-in-full-blasts-of-great-dancing/): Two recent dance performances slipped below the radar in Los Angeles and both were exceptionally excellent: Balé Folclório de Bahia and Philadanco.
- [Rita Hayworth's stardom on staircases](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/25/rita-hayworths-stardom-on-staircases/): ed. note: Do you know what "press books" were in the movie industry of high Hollywood? We didn't either, until a nice librarian at USC named Ned Comstock introduced the press book from the 1946 film noir, Gilda. Columbia Pictures, where the movie originated, employed public relations people to create little compendia of story ideas
- [So good! Classic cartoons on Hollywood Legion Theater big screen](https://artsmeme.com/2022/06/01/so-good-classic-cartoons-on-hollywood-legion-theater-big-screen/): So good! The 10th edition of the Alex Film Society's The Greatest Cartoons Ever! to spool at the most wonderful new single screen theater in Los Angeles, the refurbished the Hollywood Legion Theater on Highland Avenue, where truly there is not a bad seat in the house. The afternoon screening features tributes to animation pioneers
- [Jack Cole 'discovered' Steve Reeves](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/20/jack-cole-discovered-steve-reeves/): As you see from the above "information sheet" for "Theatre World" magazine, Steve Reeves, the astonishingly buff muscle guy in his first creative foray worked for the choreographer Jack Cole in Kismet on Broadway. Reeves played the "Wazir" [chief of police]'s guard. Reeves (not to be confused with George Reeves, television's "Superman") was big on
- [Letter from Uvalde](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/25/letter-from-uvalde/): "The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves: 'What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state and neighborhood tomorrow?"
- [Bijayini Satpathy animates Met Museum galleries with her dance](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/12/bijayini-satpathys-dance-metropolitan-museum-of-art-galleries/): When Odissi dancer Bijayini Satpathy was selected as the MetLiveArts Artist in Residence for 2021-22, she contemplated how to use the much-coveted opportunity─a year-long association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its superlative architecture and collections. Satpathy was still in the nascent stages of exploring her own choreographic voice when she was awarded this
- [Peace for Ukraine: the paintings of Leonid Steele](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/09/peace-for-ukraine-the-paintings-of-leonid-steele/): ed. note: We are pleased to share images of the work of Leonid Steele shared by his son Alexey Steele, who himself is a painter of great force, a host of Classical Underground, and a friend of artsmeme (FOAM). Alexey and his wife Olya have organized a group in Los Angeles, Peace in Ukraine; as
- ['Comb-out' cat fight in MGM hair salon](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/09/a-comb-out-by-mgms-sydney-guilaroff/): Memories of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio's early-morning hair-and-makeup ritual as described by one of the era's leading girls-with-curls, Leslie Caron. EXCERPTED FROM: Donald Knox, “The Magic Factory: How MGM Made An American in Paris” (New York: Praeger Publishers) 1973 One of the biggest fights between the ladies was in hairdressing. Sydney Guilaroff was the king of
- [A festive fourteenth for arts•meme! Happy birthday, blog](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/03/a-festive-fourteenth-for-artsmeme-happy-birthday-blog/): Look at Judy Garland. She was different. Not one of the glamour girls. But, oh, that voice. And at fourteen years-old, she was already belting like a torch singer, crooning like a warbler, and cooing like a nightingale. She was even Stompin' at the Savoy! The happiest of 14th birthdays to you, dear blog. Your
- [Girl, you're a woman now: arts·meme at 13](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/17/girl-youre-a-woman-now-arts·meme-at-13/): While you were all watching Netflix, arts·meme celebrated her 13th birthday. Since I was also watching Netflix on May 24, I missed it as well. But hey, now that things are opening back up, ... er... what's that? We're closing down again? Opening again? No more masks! Wait, what? Masks back on? What is it
- [Best of: Guggenheim's 'Works & Process' artist videos](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/02/best-of-the-best-guggenheims-works-process-artist-videos/): Ed. note: We've been tracking the rollout of virtual (video) commissions by artists reacting to life in a new abnormal -- a global pandemic. As part of her previous story about the commissioning of these works by the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process, writer Susan Reiter carefully selected "best of best" videos with commentaries, which
- ["Loves of a Blonde," Milos Forman's low-key masterpiece,@ UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://artsmeme.com/2012/11/26/loves-of-a-blonde-milos-forman-ucla/): "Four by Forman" celebrates the early career of a multi-Academy Award winning film director, Milos Forman by screening four Czech films.
- [Tales of neuroses from Roz Chast](https://artsmeme.com/2017/09/08/tales-of-new-york-neurosis-from-roz-chast-aloud/): New Yorker magazine cartoonist Roz Chast has a new book. That makes me anxious. It's not that I'm jealous. I would be totally fine, but I couldn't sleep last night. I think the waiter at that restaurant was looking at me funny. Then my neighbors were keeping me up ... argh! Chast's new book, Going
- [Blonde on blonde @ Hollywood Heritage](https://artsmeme.com/2021/03/05/blonde-on-blonde-hollywood-heritage/): Mitzi Gaynor, who worked at Twentieth Century-Fox in the '50s (The I Don't Care Girl, Golden Girl) knew what color her hair should be. Looking back at movies in which she appears in (her natural) mousy brown locks, she commented dryly, "Oh, that was before my hair grew in blonde." We are in anticipation of
- [David Crosby's 'freak flag' flies in new documentary](https://artsmeme.com/2019/07/19/david-crosbys-flourishing-freak-flag-flies-in-new-doc/): David Crosby, who almost cut his hair but didn't, ended up having it shorn in a Texas state prison. After serving time for drug possession, he exited the big house as a drab-looking middle-aged, balding man of no particular distinction. Then he grew back his hair. Now he's the star of his own documentary. Telling
- [On Esa-Pekka envy & the glory of Ory Shihor](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/09/on-esa-pekka-envy-the-glory-of-ory-shihor/): Classical music notes ... Esa-Pekka Salonen's departure after "helming" the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 17 years was sad. I'm not over it! But at least he's been tucked away, out of range, in faraway London. Now, in a shock to the classical music world and a great coup for the city of San Francisco, he
- [Red hair, red shoes](https://artsmeme.com/2009/10/12/red-hair-red-shoes/): The Red Shoes' huge blast of technicolor transforms red-headed Moira Shearer into an unspeakably firey, unearthly creature ... her neat figure, fair complexion, and carrot top adding to her uber-deliciousness as a dance-besotted ballerina-heroine.
- [Bicoastal Jack Cole cross-fertilizes crazy hair Broadway-to-Hollywood](https://artsmeme.com/2015/10/25/bicoastal-jack-cole-cross-fertilizes-broadway-to-hollywood-with-crazy-hair/): A fabulous headpiece pops up at the same time in New York and Los Angeles, courtesy of Jack Cole.
- [Writer revered! Leonard Maltin at roundtable prior to Robert Osborne Award](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/05/writer-revered-leonard-maltin-at-roundtable-prior-to-robert-osborne-award/): It was a special occasion, April 23, 2022, and an honor, to be among the writers, all drawn to TCM Classic Film Festival 2022 by a shared interest in Hollywood history, and all in admiration of the modest gentleman at the end of a long table -- he who wrote the film bible, Leonard Maltin's
- [Smart women talkin' dance-books](https://artsmeme.com/2022/05/02/smart-women-talkin-dance-books/): A study of sibling rivalry? Or shared dance DNA? Lynn Garafola uncovers the astonishing life of the choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, long overshadowed by her brother, Vaslav Nijinsky, and yet long deserving of attention as one of the most notable choreographers of ballet modernism. Garafola constructs Nijinska’s world across three continents and multiple languages in a
- [TCM Classic Film Festival brings subterfuge feminism to 2022 Fest](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/18/subterfuge-feminism-emerges-at-tcm-classic-film-festival-2022/): ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to have steve farber back to its team coverage of tcm fest. steve offers some of his picks for the 2022 festival. After a full three years away, I look forward to returning to this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival . The program looks enticing. Hollywood stars and directors will
- [To San Diego, for Fosse's Dancin'!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/15/to-san-diego-for-fosses-dancin/): It will be a reckoning. I have been researching Bob Fosse through his several biographies and of course, critically, through his movies. So, the advent of a major revival of Dancin' the original Broadway production created, directed, and choreographed by Fosse, this time directed and staged by a wonderful dancer/choreographer and original Dancin' cast member,
- [Talent in the room! Limón Company commissions new works for 75th anniversary season](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/19/talent-in-the-room-limon-company-commissions-new-works-for-75th-anniversary-season/): Some may have missed the moment when Dante Puleio assumed the helm of Limón Dance Company as Artistic Director. It happened during the summer of 2020. The world was in pandemic lockdown, and the dance universe faced one of the most difficult periods in its history. Yet somehow, Puleio, a former Limón company member, has
- [Modern-dance greats recognized with Martha Hill awards](https://artsmeme.com/2020/01/21/modern-dance-greats-recognized-with-martha-hill-awards/): As the Hollywood award season advances, the dance world, too, honors its luminaries, last November 29 granting Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Awards to a trio of greats, each a member of the second and third generation of American modern dance. These leading lights include: Carolyn Adams, the sparkling, inimitable lead dancer of Paul Taylor Dance
- [Tatum O'Neal's face in "Paper Moon"](https://artsmeme.com/2012/06/01/tatum-oneals-face-in-paper-moon-1973/): An extraordinary performance by a child star, Tatum O'Neal in Peter Bogdanovich's brilliant "Paper Moon."
- [REVIEW: Three diverse dancers, a crow, and a ritual](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/15/review-three-diverse-dancers-a-crow-and-a-ritual/): Ashwini Ramaswamy charted her own distinct course onstage at the Baryshnikov Arts Center with an experimental Bharatanatyam (classical dance form of South India) work Let the Crows Come. After a two-year pandemic delay, the bold and refreshing work had its New York premiere and it proved worth the wait. Ramaswamy, the youngest family member
- [‘Rivers of Sound’: From the Euphrates to The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/13/rivers-of-sound-from-the-euphrates-to-the-soraya/): ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya and first appeared on the theater’s blogsite. Composer Amir ElSaffar, the innovative jazz trumpeter and director of the Rivers of Sound Orchestra, is calling his latest new work “a sonic embrace.” ElSaffar penned the expression to describe Emergence, a sound experience
- [Lustful doings: Barcelona Flamenco Ballet @ The Alex](https://artsmeme.com/2022/04/07/lustful-doings-barcelona-flamenco-ballet-the-alex/): Suspense, intrigue, sex, scandal, love. That sounds like a pretty typical Saturday night in Glendale, California. But the town's lustful doings will notch up to a new level Saturday April 16, when the historic Alex Theatre presents Luxurîa (“Lust”), a flamenco dance-theater sensation from Spain’s internationally renowned Barcelona Flamenco Ballet. Barcelona Flamenco Ballet artistic directors,
- [Marilyn to have succeeded Bette in 'Of Human Bondage'?](https://artsmeme.com/2018/03/12/marilyn-to-have-succeeded-bette-in-of-human-bondage/): jane russell quote source: "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: Interviews with Stars From Hollywood's Golden Era."
- [Death of a dancer: Kenneth Rinker](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/22/death-of-a-dancer-kenneth-rinker/): ed. note: artsmeme wishes to especially thank dance writer Susan Reiter for her humanity in contributing this appreciation of the marvelous modern dancer/choreographer Ken Rinker. You may experience a taste of Kenneth in motion in this film'ed excerpt from "The Bix Pieces." On a September evening in 1972, I had a dance epiphany that has
- ['Long live Sondheim,' pianist Anthony de Mare soon to pronounce at Royce](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/25/long-live-sondheim-pronounces-pianist-anthony-de-mare-soon-playing-royce-hall/): It sounds so intriguing doesn't it? In 2007, Anthony de Mare, a champion of contemporary music and devotee of the musical theater genius of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) embarked on a project that has proven enduring. His big idea was to commission leading composers in jazz, film, theater and classical music, and the pop world,
- [Doing the monster mash at Malibou Lake](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/13/doing-the-monster-mash-at-malibou-lake/): An edgy, even freaky, scene between Boris Karloff as the sensitive monster Frankenstein and a cute little girl was filmed at a place called Malibou Lake, north of Los Angeles.
- [James Dean, moody, on location in Griffith Park](https://artsmeme.com/2011/02/20/james-dean-moody-on-location-in-griffith-park/): A yummy new book "Location Filming in Los Angeles," written by arts·meme pal, Marc Wanamaker in collaboration with Karie Bible and Harry Medved, provides a delicious historic photo-tour of location shooting all around our fair city, including a rare shot of James Dean, filming "Rebel Without a Cause."
- ['She asks me why, I'm just a hairy guy'](https://artsmeme.com/2011/01/21/she-asks-me-why-im-just-a-hairy-guy/): HAIR has roots in Hollywood. In 1968, the West Coast premiere production opened on Sunset Boulevard, just two blocks from the Pantages, about six months following the production’s Broadway opening. The Aquarius Theatre, re-named in honor of one of the show’s hit songs, would be HAIR’s home for two years.
- [Dance memories stored in a jewelry bag, a gift from Yuriko](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/16/dance-memories-contained-in-a-jewelry-bag-a-gift-from-yuriko/): A short time after Paul Taylor Dance Company founding member Sharon Kinney left Taylor’s company and had her first child, a son, she got a call for work. Calling was Yuriko (1920-2022), the great, fleeting exponent, and leading light, of Martha Graham Dance Company. It was the late sixties, and the Japanese-American dancer, transitioning from
- [Nasty women, nasty men dance with 'Two Hags' sculpture: Susan Marshall & Co.](https://artsmeme.com/2016/10/27/nasty-women-nasty-men-dance-with-two-hags-sculpture-susan-marshall-co/): An upright metal grid of cut steel pipe bisects a table, and steel rods — sharpened to a spike — are prepared in rows. The dancers of Susan Marshall & Company pay careful attention to speed, force, and precision, while navigating dangerously sharp edges of Martha Friedman's new sculpture, Some Hags. The spikes are pushed into
- [An influential woman still and always: Gena Rowlands](https://artsmeme.com/2014/05/24/an-influential-woman-still-and-always-gena-rowlands/): An in person appearance by courgeous film actress Gena Rowlands at screening of "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974)
- [Worldly woman shocks small-town America! Pola Negri, you go girl.](https://artsmeme.com/2016/07/14/worldly-woman-shocks-small-town-america-pola-negri-you-go-girl/): "A Woman of the World" (1925) stars Pola Negri in a comedy about a sophisticated European countess (do they make 'em unsophisticated?) who encounters culture shock during her visit to small-town America. Her continental freedoms -- she smokes in public, she wears flashy makeup -- clash with local morals. A crusading District Attorney enters the
- [Bring Your Own Brie ... to the French Riviera Film Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/14/bring-your-own-brie-to-the-french-riviera-film-festival/): Close your eyes. Don't cheat ... close 'em! Now ... pretend you are on the French Riviera. Now open your eyes. Guess what? You're not! You're still hunkered down in your apartment hiding from a deadly pandemic! It's ruined everyone's movie-going fun, but COVID-19 is no joke. It is an easily transmitted virus that has
- [REVIEW: Karole Armitage’s ‘A Pandemic Notebook’ at New York Live Arts](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/18/review-covid-has-been-drastic-too-karole-armitages-a-pandemic-notebook/): There they were, two luminaries of the 1980s NYC dance scene, facing us 40 years later, Karole Armitage and Jock Soto, in simple black and grey outfits. Armitage got everyone's attention with Drastic Classicism (1981), a fierce, high-gloss, visually and sonically arresting work that shook up ballet conventions with outrageous costuming and ear-shattering sound by
- [Paul Taylor American Modern Dance's timely staging of Kurt Jooss classic 'The Green Table'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/01/paul-taylor-companys-timely-restaging-of-kurt-jooss-classic-the-green-table/): In 2014, Paul Taylor, who died in 2018, expanded his company's repertory to include a new initiative, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, through which major historic works from the modern dance canon were included during the company's annual three-week New York City seasons. Launching the project with two matriarchs, Taylor selected Doris Humphrey's Passacaglia and
- [Eiko & Koma's 'Water,' in a frigid lily pond](https://artsmeme.com/2011/09/12/eiko-komas-water-skirball-center/): Eiko & Koma's special and intimate outdoor performance of "Water" Sunday night at the Skirball Center is captured in this series of haunting and true photographs by photographer Myra Vides.
- [Martha Graham's ode to nature, ‘Canticle,’ re-imagined for 21st-C](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/07/martha-grahams-ode-to-mother-nature-canticle-re-imagined-for-the-21st-c/): ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. When Martha Graham premiered a new, full-company work with a poetic title, “Canticle for Innocent Comedians,” it was the Spring of 1952. John Martin, dance critic for the New
- ['S.O.S.' cries Diavolo's timely 'The Veterans Project'](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/19/s-o-s-cries-diavolos-timely-veterans-project/): When Jacques Heim, founder/choreographer/director of Diavolo Dance Theater and one of the most consistently engaging of Los Angeles creative talents, launched The Veterans Project in 2016, hearing of it, I thought of it as an ambitious and laudable community outreach program. Partnering with the "V.A.," the Veterans Administration, Heim and his dancers have led hundreds
- [Bernstein's gripping 'Waterfront' score to surge thru The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2018/01/29/leonard-bernsteins-gripping-waterfront-score-to-surge-through-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
- [Waaaah Ricky, our movie's terrible!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/04/waaaah-ricky-our-movies-terrible/): So, count them, there are two movies now available, and curiously, both are streaming on Prime video. The first to be released was the biopic written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Being The Ricardos. My notes written shortly after viewing here: Well, it's not fun. That's for starters. The biopic/docudrama/dress-up-like-real-people-of-the-past movie, so greatly anticipated for
- [What is the pointe? Let's ask Ballet22.](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/24/what-is-the-pointe-lets-ask-ballet22/): Shoes matter. There are things -- physical things -- a dancer can do in pointe shoes that are simply not possible on "flat," either in barefoot or in soft slippers. It's about spin and speed. Balance and bravura. Line and elongation. Everyone in dance knows that -- and yet, the only real opportunity for male
- [George Chakiris: Riff before Bernardo](https://artsmeme.com/2022/03/01/george-chakiris-riff-before-bernardo/): It's one of those fascinating show-biz factoids. For fourteen months, circa 1959, George Chakiris, a good friend of artsmeme, performed in the London company of West Side Story, at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End theater district. What is little known is that the actor/dancer who brought home an Oscar in Spring 1962 for
- [Hollywood harassment nothing new, says Barrie Chase](https://artsmeme.com/2017/10/12/sexual-harassment-in-high-hollywood-by-mgm-freed-unit-boss/): The brouhaha over movie producer Harvey Weinstein's decades of inappropriate sexual aggression with actresses brought back sixty-year-old memories from Barrie Chase, one of the most superb dancers to work in film and television. Her story concerns Arthur Freed, the renowned MGM producer of an A-list of movie-musical titles, a revered high-quality player -- oddly similar
- [REVIEW: No)one. Art House presented by Saint Heron](https://artsmeme.com/2017/02/04/review-noone-art-house-presented-by-saint-heron/): There was nowhere to park - zero spots - at Friday evening’s Immersive Dance Theater by No)One.Art House, an event sponsored by Saint Heron at an off-the-beaten track performance space in West Adams. And yet, scores popped up in the residential neighborhood, dropped by Uber or carpool. Once inside purchasing cocktails, the attendees, mostly
- [Nijinska's heartstrings to Ukraine recalled by biographer Garafola](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/24/nijinskas-heartstrings-to-ukraine-recalled-by-biographer-garafola/): ed. note: We are nearly paralyzed with concern for Ukraine, which has played such a vital role in dance and the arts, and is now under Russian attack. Giving us courage is a reminiscence of the deep connection felt by choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, a tale shared with artsmeme readers by Lynn Garafola, Nijinska's biographer. As
- [Swept away by 'Mimi' 50 years later: Laemmle Anniversary Classics salutes Lina Wertmuller](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/22/swept-away-by-the-seduction-of-mimi-50-years-later-anniversary-classics-salutes-lina-wertmuller/): Ed. note: We celebrate woman artists on artsmeme, and that's why Italian director Lina Wertmüller's sexy, impish, outrageous, passionate ouevre of movies mixing sex, love and politics belongs on the blog. Our guest contributor is the host of Laemmle Theatre's "Anniversary Screenings" series, Stephen Farber. To launch its Anniversary Classics series in 2022, and during
- [REVIEW: Back to New York City Ballet -- with sets and intermissions!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/08/review-back-to-city-ballet-now-with-sets-and-intermissions/): Scenery! Intermissions! One takes these for granted – or used to. But experiencing them as part of New York City Ballet's opening night marked another step toward normalcy, after the company's fall repertory season consisted of intermissionless programs featuring ballets that require no time-consuming scenic installations. Fortunately, NYCB's repertory includes an abundance of works in
- [To San Francisco for 'Mrs. Robinson' the ballet, and more](https://artsmeme.com/2022/02/02/to-san-francisco-for-mrs-robinson-the-ballet-and-more/): Coo coo ca choo, Mrs. Robinson! So go the whimsical lyrics of the buoyant-yet-melancholic Simon & Garfunkel song that burbles behind The Graduate, the seminal film 1967 film directed by Mike Nichols that introduced Dustin Hoffman to the world. Playing the 21-year-old recent college graduate, Benjamin Braddock, Hoffman can't exactly decide his next step. That
- [Carmen de Lavallade remembers Rudi Gernreich, Lester Horton dancer](https://artsmeme.com/2019/07/28/carmen-de-lavallade-remembers-rudi-gernreich-lester-horton-dancer/): artsmeme's exclusive interview with the peerless modern dancer The establishment, in May 1948, of a 4,000 square-foot duel school-and- performance space on Melrose Avenue called Lester Horton Dance Theater was a watershed event in American modern dance. The Horton company had roots to the mid-'30s, but getting bricks and mortar marked its apex. Those were
- [Saturday February 5th: Just say 'no' to Netflix!](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/24/february-5-just-say-no-to-netflix/): As we bumble our way down the primrose path formerly known as real life, many have grown a tad too comfortable passing our evenings looking for love on streaming teevee services. I get it! #metoo! Guilty as charged! But don'cha think maybe the couch routine has outlasted its usefulness? And that the time has come
- [Where the Bronx meets Orange County:  Chazz Palminteri's one-man show](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/21/where-the-bronx-meets-orange-county-chazz-palminteri-in-a-bronx-tale/): In 1988, before it became a hit Broadway musical or a feature film co-starring Robert DeNiro, Chazz Palminteri wrote and performed in A Bronx Tale— bringing 18 characters to vivid life in a gripping tale of his rough childhood on the Bronx streets. The powerful play depicts his bruising youthful experiences in great detail --
- [Staying safe at the movies with Chris Nichols, in 2021](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/15/at-the-movies-with-chris-nichols-2021/): 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 to his readers in Los Angeles Magazine as "Ask Chris"),
- [Flowers from John Lautner](https://artsmeme.com/2019/03/11/discovery-a-bouquet-from-architect-john-lautner/): In October 2017 our friend the architectural historian Alan Hess, author of The Architecture of John Lautner, felt a frisson comparable to how ladies feel when receiving a big unexpected flower bouquet. Ding dong, Alan's architectural preservationist sidekick/friend, Adriene Biondo, was reporting from the streets of Burbank, California. Adriene, a bloodhound, an aesthete, and long
- [The satin sound of Johnny Mercer](https://artsmeme.com/2010/06/03/johnny-mercer-poet-of-song/): While I was recovering from knee surgery, my buddy S.V. brought me recuperation DVDs -- among them "The Dream's On Me," documentarian Bruce Ricker's film homage to lyricist/composer Johnny Mercer. [The documentary, executive-produced by Clint Eastwood, airs from time to time on TCM.] Mercer, a tireless music maker of the highest order (by the way,
- [Satchmo sings "Stardust"](https://artsmeme.com/2010/01/25/satchmo-sings-stardust/): Book review, "Pops," by Terry Teachout
- [Now that Macheath's back in town ...](https://artsmeme.com/2009/12/17/now-that-macheaths-back-in-town/): Louis Armstrong sings Mack the Knife in London 1956.
- [My date with Julius Shulman](https://artsmeme.com/2008/08/22/my-date-with-julius-shulman/): My fun evening escorting the feisty 98-year-old architectural photographer Julius Shulman.
- [I met Yves St. Laurent](https://artsmeme.com/2008/06/17/meeting-yves-st-laurent-in-beijing-1985-visiting-andy-warhols-grave-in-pittsburgh-2008/): The death of fashion designer Yves St. Laurent June 1 reminded me of the time I met him in Beijing. The year was 1985. I was working for the French bank, Banque Paribas, based in Hong Kong. During one of my business trips to Beijing, the French cultural commission staged a retrospective of Yves St. Laurent's haute
- [In Pittsburgh, with Andy Warhol](https://artsmeme.com/2012/07/18/in-pittsburgh-with-andy-warhol/): Hello to my homeboy Andy Warhol.
- [Julius](https://artsmeme.com/2009/07/17/julius/): Architectural photographer Julius Shulman died in Los Angeles yesterday. His photography of L.A.'s mid-century modern architecture allures with its simple power, revealing L.A.'s hidden beauty. As a human being, Julius startled and amused with his engaging, quarrelsome, and highly curious personality. They broke the mold when they made Julius.
- [Chita & 'chicas': WSS's original 'America' dance crew](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/03/chita-rivera-friends-original-wss-america-dance-crew/): "Chita was so incredible as Anita," our friend George Chakiris told the audience when I interviewed him in 2015. He played "Riff" in the London production of West Side Story circa 1958/59. Doing that meant keeping up with the tornado playing the girlfriend of his theatrical rival Bernardo. That was Anita -- Chita Rivera. In
- [Cover girl. The great Chita Rivera.](https://artsmeme.com/2022/01/04/cover-girl-the-great-chita-rivera/): West Side Story opened on Broadway in September 1957. By November, DANCE Magazine had a new cover girl.
- [Hendrix, Sunset Strip, 1969 -- part 2](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/20/hendrix-in-los-angeles-1969-part-2/): ed note: This excerpt from "Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child" by Harvey Kubernik & Kenneth Kubernik, Sterling Books (2021) is published with permission of the authors. Part one is here. Part two is below. Wendy Weatherford believes: “What happened there was entirely different from what happened at the Whisky and the other clubs. You went to
- [Beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater stays safe on stage & screen](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/23/stay-safe-beloved-alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater-on-stage-and-on-screen/): On December 1, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned triumphantly to New York City Center – its home base in the city for 50 years – having foregone its 2020 season (and a great deal of touring) during the brutal pandemic shutdown of performance venues. The 30-member Ailey troupe, I would propose, is one
- [Jimi Hendrix, Los Angeles, 1969](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/04/jimi-hendrix-in-los-angeles-1969/): ed note: This excerpt from "Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child" by Harvey Kubernik & Kenneth Kubernik, Sterling Books (2021) is published with permission of the authors. In 1960s rock royalty, none wore the mantel of rock god like Jimi Hendrix. He was an unparalleled guitar virtuoso, metaphysical lyricist, musical explorer, studio innovator, and top box office
- ['I can't dance,' signals Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball in 'Being The Ricardos'](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/09/i-cant-dance-signals-nicole-kidman-as-lucille-ball-in-being-the-ricardos/): It's no spoiler to share that in one scene of BEING THE RICARDOS, a cultural cataclysm heading our way December 10 in theatres and on Amazon PRIME, Nicole Kidman, as Lucille Ball, lets drop that her sexy boyfriend Desi Arnaz (Javiar Bardem) is going to teach her how to rumba. The embarrassing display that follows
- [Ornette was fantastic. Frances Davis was also fantastic.](https://artsmeme.com/2010/11/04/ornette-was-fantastic-frances-davis-was-also-fantastic/): En route to UCLA for a fantastic Ornette Coleman concert, we had an unexpected encounter with jazz history.
- [A flash of modernism: E.O. Hoppé meets The Firebird](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/07/a-flash-of-modernism-e-o-hoppe-meets-the-firebird/): A moment of silence, please, for this splendid photograph, a capture of choreographer Michel Fokine's "The Firebird," a ballet created to Igor Stravinsky's stirring score for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Dancing in their originating roles are Tamara Karsavina and Adolph Bolm. Yes, it's a sensational, dance historic moment. But this frozen sculptural moment, seen through the
- [From our Washington D.C. correspondent, Toni Basil](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/14/from-our-washington-d-c-correspondent-toni-basil/): Toni, who choreographed multiple of Midler's ornate staged pageants, writes on Facebook: So proud to have been with my incredible, long-time friend, Bette Midler, to watch her receive her lifetime achievement award for artistic achievement at The Kennedy Center Honors. Other honorees included Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels, Justino Diaz, and Joni Mitchell. You can watch
- [Love is Love: Pride Night at ABT 'Nutcracker' December 15](https://artsmeme.com/2021/12/08/love-is-love-pride-night-at-abt-nutcracker-performance-december-15/): In the video above, Hee Seo, rehearses for opening night of American Ballet Theatre's "The Nutcracker"Friday night at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The video displays what an exquisite ballerina she is. There is no doubt that every night at the ballet is a pride night for gay men and women. That's indicated by the
- [Jamison, Battle, and Ailey dancers feted by L.A. community](https://artsmeme.com/2011/04/09/jamison-battle-and-ailey-dancers-feted-by-l-a-community/): artsmeme had the great good fortune to meet Ailey dancers as well as their artistic director Judith Jamison and artistic director designee Robert Battle at a cool party Thursday night.
- [Martha Graham Dance Company, dancing through time](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/16/martha-graham-dance-company-dancing-through-time/): ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. When Martha Graham placed a single bare foot—famously small, her feet had enviable high arches—on the stage of New York’s 48th Street Theater in her 1926 debut as
- [Los Angeles, California, home to two choreographer-goddesses](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/23/los-angeles-california-home-to-two-female-dance-goddesses/): It's exciting. For awhile there, things were looking bad. We seemed to be losing the female voice in the contemporary dance space, as men, holding the reins of most operating companies, naturally meted out sparse commissions and jobs to guy-pals. Female dance leaders, critics and scholars sounded the alarm. Foundations, universities, and commissioning repertory dance
- [REVIEW: Count Basie Orchestra swingin' at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/22/review-count-basie-orchestra-swingin-at-the-soraya/): When the Count Basie Orchestra concert at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts was cancelled for the COVID shutdown in March 2020, it was a bitter pill. When the cloud lifted, Soraya director Thor Steingraber declared that the match would no longer be postponed—the Basie band was one of his first
- [Quarantine blues, back-to-nature edition](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/22/quarantine-blues-back-to-nature-chapter/): 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!
- [Pre-Thanksgiving ballet weight gain @ Segerstrom Center](https://artsmeme.com/2014/11/19/early-thanksgiving-weight-gain-as-segerstrom-center-adds-ballet-offerings/): The Orange County arts center, the premier on the West Coast for classical ballet, gains weight from tasty ballet offerings.
- [REVIEW: Julia Child, warbly kitchen warrior near to our hearts, in new doc](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/11/review-julia-child-warbly-kitchen-warrior-near-to-our-hearts-in-new-doc/): The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu is 'said' to have said, “When the student is ready, the master will appear.” American homemakers didn't realize it in the post-World War II decade, but Julia Child was the master they awaited – a down-to-earth cookery guru to guide them away from pre-made mixes, frozen variety trays, and the
- [The Huntington's people of color: the Blue Boys](https://artsmeme.com/2021/11/01/the-huntingtons-people-of-color-the-blue-boys/): Funny ... they don't look Blueish. But both are dandies. And there they are, well hung, in Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Garden's Thornton Portrait Gallery. Two young gents, eye-balling each other (flirting?) Bear in mind that Thomas Gainsborough’s iconic painting, The Blue Boy (ca. 1770), has hardly been lonely. Ever since railroad tycoon
- [At Zardi's in Hollywood ... with Ella Fitzgerald](https://artsmeme.com/2017/12/19/at-zardis-in-hollywood-with-ella-fitzgerald/): Norman Granz immediately began by recording Fitzgerald during a three-week stint at Zardi’s Jazzland in Hollywood. On February 2, 1956, he captured her in what is essentially Verve’s first live recording.
- [Still burning bright: Paul Taylor Dance Company & 'Fantasia,' both to Bach](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/28/still-burning-bright-paul-taylor-dance-company/): The light illuminating the dancers in the photo above is the result of a myriad micro-decisions made by a great theatrical artist of our time. Jennifer Tipton, the acclaimed lighting designer and longtime collaborator of the choreographer Paul Taylor (1930-2018), is slated for much-deserved recognition as an honoree in an upcoming virtual gala benefiting Paul
- [Highwire jazz interplay: Branford Marsalis Quartet soon at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/25/highwire-jazz-interplay-branford-marsalis-quartet-soon-at-the-soraya/): ed. note: This story by jazz writer Kirk Silsbee was commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts. Excerpted with permission. The timeless swing of the Count Basie Orchestra, the pure vocals of Lizz Wright, and the vibrant interplay of the Branford Marsalis Quartet represent three of the most
- [The lion sleeps tonight. Then he roars. Then he dances.](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/22/the-lion-sleeps-tonight-then-he-roars-then-he-dances/): Tough times bring out the beast. There were lion viewings on both Coasts two weekends ago. On the Left Coast, the lion roars in a new installation at recently re-re-furbished Clifton's Republic, the erstwhile Clifton's Cafeteria. (I am not sure why there is a lion at Clifton's, but there is one.) On the East Coast,
- [Looks so good! Opening-night movie as GERMAN CURRENTS Film Festival returns](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/12/looks-so-good-opening-night-movie-as-german-currents-film-festival-returns/): Los Angeles is somewhat unsteadily getting back onto its feet as the international capital of film that it is. And here comes the German Currents Film Festival. We're electrified! The return of in-personal screenings (there is also a virtual option for stay-at-homes) is frankly joyful. German Currents has been a mainstay of Los Angeles' cultural
- [REVIEW: Modern dance's vivid origins in St. Denis/Shawn historic restagings](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/08/review-vivid-origins-of-modern-dance-in-st-denis-shawn-historic-restagings/): DANCES BY RUTH ST. DENIS & TED SHAWN September 30 - October 3, 2021The Theatre at St. Jean's 150 East 76th St, New York City Of the eloquent, elegantly presented sampling of choreography by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn on view in a special concert in New York last weekend, the most recent dances
- [More than a 'mogul': 20th C-Fox's Darryl Zanuck in new Eyman book and on TCM](https://artsmeme.com/2021/10/04/more-than-a-mogul-20th-c-foxs-darryl-zanuck/): The respected and feared Darryl F. Zanuck ran his studio, Twentieth Century-Fox, like a Swiss watch and devised entertainment for the masses, including bright musicals starring Fox blondes Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, even Shirley Temple. He commandeered technologically innovative epics (The Robe, the movies’ first CinemaScope production), combined with serious dramas about beleaguered
- [Ida Rubinstein, diva/dancer/actress of fascination, in new Holder play](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/20/ida-rubinstein-dance-diva-femme-fatale-impresario-subject-of-holder-play/): A new show opens this week in London: It's a theatrical presentation about "dance's forgotten diva." Which ... I always thought ... was me! But in the reality-based universe, our friend, Christian Holder, has another dance diva in mind. Holder, the great former star principal dancer with The Joffrey Ballet and a Renaissance man, following
- [In loving memory of Emma Lewis Thomas, a champion of Los Angeles dance](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/19/in-loving-memory-of-emma-lewis-thomas-a-champion-of-los-angeles-dance/): ed. note: Emma Lewis Thomas, a beloved dance professional, a university professor, and woman of humor and true grit, died last Thursday at her home in Montana. A few words of loving memory of Lew here. Please feel free to add comments to the post. Please drop me a line if you would like to
- [Jazz trombone man, Richard Nash, in conversation](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/06/jazz-trombone-man-richard-nash-in-conversation/): One of the most sought-after trombone players in Hollywood, Dick Nash played with Henry Mancini, Billy May, Lalo Schifrin, Pete Rugolo, Quincy Jones, and the list goes on. Most associated with swing and big band music, he is admired by the best trombone players all over the world. Richard Taylor Nash is celebrating his 93rd year.
- [You go, Ruth & Ted! Denishawn revisited](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/19/you-go-ruth-ted-denishawn-revisited/): It's time to show some respect to Mom and Dad. In the lovable, but mildly dysfunctional family that is American modern dance, we kids all descend from the same parents. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn were two brave souls who saw, then sought, a world beyond their respective birthplaces in rural New Jersey and
- [Don't bug out! Go to 'Bug Therapy'](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/14/dont-bug-out-go-to-bug-therapy/): You think you have problems? What about our psychotherapists? They have to listen to other people's problems (OPP) all day long. These wretched folk must be ready to jump out the window. But, luckily, according to Bug Therapy, a new animated light-comedy that's premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, they may have
- [Ornithology, at Piano Spheres special season-opener](https://artsmeme.com/2021/09/11/ornithology-at-piano-spheres-special-season-opener/): ed. note: We are pleased to re-enter life as we knew it, and feature, in this special post, writing by Kirk Silsbee and photography by Mark Levine As performing-arts presenters take tentative steps toward resuming full programming, the prudent path would mandate familiar fare to reconnect with cautious audiences. Piano Spheres is having nothing of
- [Before 'Redhead': 'Gentlemen Chase Redheads'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/02/04/before-redhead-redheads/): She starred, in a peak moment of her Broadway fame, in the Tony Award-winning musical, Redhead, which opened at the 46th Street Theater on February 5, 1959. Her director/choreographer was Mr. Fosse. The show, a murder mystery in the vein of KNIVES OUT but set in a London wax museum of the 1880s (thus costuming
- [Gene Kelly's witty number in "It's Always Fair Weather"](https://artsmeme.com/2013/07/02/gene-kelly-dolores-gray-always-fair-weather/): Your dance detective at work. Who choreographed Dolores Gray's wonderful number in "It's Always Fair Weather"? Gene Kelly!
- [You're invited: Blue13's Bollywood 'shaadi'](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/26/youre-invited-blue13s-bollywood-shaadi/): It's immersive, it's outdoors, and baby, it's Bollywood-style. When did you get a better wedding invitation than that? Blue13 Dance Company's 'Shaadi' (Hindi for 'wedding) will be a happening thing at Heritage Square Museum, a cluster of preserved Victorian homes in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. If Blue13's ebullient artistic director and choreographer
- ['Hygiene theater,' a good show at Segerstrom, others](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/30/hygiene-theater-a-good-show-at-segerstrom-others/): There are copious stories in the New York Times and The Atlanta Monthly calling for the end to "hygiene theater," that is the fake, fruitless, labor intensive, time-and-money consuming practice of keeping our shared public spaces scrupulously clean. Even the Centers for Disease Control is emphasizing that COVID-19 is spread is primarily through respiratory means
- [A little Fosse-Verdon will do 'ya!](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/30/a-little-fosse-verdon-will-do-ya/): In the six or so years she danced for Jack Cole, Gwen Verdon was 'artiste.' But with Fosse, it was hot dogs, carnie, Vaudeville, Americana, rubber-legs, cigars, straw and bowler hats. And what they were selling, the public was buying. "Bob and I grew up at the same time, where everybody learned to do everything.
- [Curtain up for 'Bayadère' rehearsal at Palais Garnier](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/08/curtain-up-front-row-seats-at-paris-opera-ballet/): Front-row seats in a live, costumed performance would be better. But, for second best, watch this video'ed répétition, (rehearsal) of an Act Three duet from La Bayadère danced by these two full-bodied, gorgeously trained grands étoiles of Paris Opera Ballet: Amandine Albisson, as Nikiya, partnered by the hunky-but-sleek dreamboat, Hugo Marchand, as Solor. The rehearsal
- [For cinephiles, Francophiles, feminists: 'Young French Cinema'!](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/15/for-cinephiles-francophiles-feminists-young-french-cinema/): If you fit one, or all, of the categories -- cinephile, Francophile, feminist -- as do I (all three) then Wednesday night, December 16, Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz has something in store for you! It's a new documentary, Delphine and Carole, slated to open a new, COVID-averse film festival, "Young French Cinema." The friendship between screen
- [Ticket to happiness: 'Le Bonheur' turns 55 at Laemmle Theatres](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/16/ticket-to-happiness-le-bonheur-turns-55-at-laemmle-theatres/): It's a personal favorite and a beautiful film, if only for its score. But it is also a visual feast. Shot in the suburbs of Paris, Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur opens with an idyllic scene of a perfect little French "famille" tripping the light fantastic of a country outing together. This perfect bliss is interrupted
- [Live performance lives! at Vail Dance Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/16/live-performance-lives-at-vail-dance-festival/): As New York City's dance venues gear up to re-open next month, in early August a heady mix of the city's finest dancers brought the thrill of live dance to the Vail Dance Festival. This annual gathering, which assembles an array of luminaries as well as on-the-verge newer talents, had to cancel its 2020 festival,
- [Dance Detective: Who chor'ed 'An Occasional Man' in 'The Girl Rush' (1955)?](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/09/dance-detective-who-chored-an-occasional-man-in-the-girl-rush1955/): From Bob Boross: From the film "The Girl Rush" starring Rosalind Russell, Fernando Lamas, Gloria DeHaven, and Eddie Albert. Matt Mattox is a leading dancer in the film's four dances. The choreographer is Robert Alton, although Matt told me that he choreographed the film. After examining the dances, it looks as if Matt provided his
- [Gwen Verdon sighting: 'Drink your prune juice!'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/05/24/gwen-verdon-sighting-drink-your-prune-juice/): You're a contract dancer at Twentieth Century-Fox, and you're lazing around the studio with the guys, killing time. No assignment. All of a sudden into the rehearsal hall strides Jack Cole, hurriedly. He impatiently assembles a sage bit of choreography on you. Growling orders at Matt Mattox and Frank Radcliffe (aka "Jumbo" because of his
- [Review: 'West Side' Video](https://artsmeme.com/2020/03/10/west-side-video/): Broadway’s current revival of West Side Story—the groundbreaking 1957 musical by Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim whose dramatic power has long been associated with kinetic energy and eloquently focused movement opens simply. The Jets saunter to the front of the vast, bare Broadway Theater stage and stare out defiantly. The first
- [Anatomy of a cancellation: Heidi Duckler Dance illuminates 'The Chandelier'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/04/27/anatomy-of-a-cancellation-heidi-duckler-dance-illuminates-the-chandelier/): 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. Paul Crewes, artistic director of Beverly Hills-based
- [Afternoon of a Tramp](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/01/afternoon-of-a-chaplin/): The nymph dance in the dream sequence of the 30-minute short film Sunnyside (Charles Chaplin, 1919) has been recognized as a tribute to the ballet. Charlie met Nijinsky in December 1916. Charlie met Anna Pavlova in 1922.
- [Velaslavasay Panorama, at 20, makes electric Chinese connection](https://artsmeme.com/2021/08/09/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
- [Jack Cole invites you to a ball](https://artsmeme.com/2011/12/25/jack-cole-invites-you-to-a-ball/): Our Christmas gift to the world, a sparkling Jack Cole waltz sequence from "The Merry Widow" (MGM, 1952).
- [Dig it! Betty Grable in 'Diga Diga Do'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/09/05/dig-it-betty-grable-in-digga-digga-do/): A fabulous YouTube find, a compendium of song-and-dance numbers performed by Betty Grable, in 1954, during a live television broadcast: the premier edition of Chrysler "Shower of Stars" on CBS. Opening the video is Grable in a sizzling demonstration of how song and dance were integrated during the period -- in "Diga Do," a specialty
- [Vaslav & the Tramp](https://artsmeme.com/2014/10/03/vaslav-the-tramp/): We love how the Russian ballet dancers made their visits to Hollywood.
- [The Tramp meets the Dying Swan](https://artsmeme.com/2012/10/08/the-tramp-meets-the-dying-swan/): A beautiful encounter between two great movement artists captured in this 1922 photograph. Charlie Chaplin and Anna Pavlova.
- ['United States of Abstraction': a nice way of putting it](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/16/united-states-of-abstraction-a-nice-way-of-putting-it/): So that is what we have going on here ... abstraction! Life certainly feels abstract lately. When you untether from science, reason, and truth, and when the ravings of a mad man are considered worthy of the public square, never mind that children hear his rants, things are drifting "out there." But the French always
- [Inspiring & relevant: 'José Limón: A Life Beyond Words' at 49th Dance Film Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/13/inspiring-relevant-jose-limon-a-life-beyond-words-at-49th-dance-film-festival/): It was time very well spent, in my living room, viewing one of the many attractive offerings of the Dance Film Festival, ihat kicks off July 16 (in person, bring a mask) at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. But, wait, world citizens, the Festival features streaming fodder as well. One film, “José Limón,
- [Un sueño de baile de Cuba](https://artsmeme.com/2021/07/16/un-sueo-de-baile-de-cuba/): Sensual and smooth. Seamless, seductive and sexy. Sublime! Sliding to the silken 'son Cubano,' the Cuban sound. Sleek and sensational! Dancing in a Havana dream -- un sueño. The man is Victor Zapata, the lady unidentified. Tremendous dancers. In solidarity with the struggle of the Cuban people, our neighbors, our friends.
- [Don Martin, 80, instructs youngsters in Lester Horton technique](https://artsmeme.com/2010/12/15/don-martin-80-instructs-youngsters-in-lester-horton-technique/): Saturday's showcase of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts (LACHSA) dance program, which included marvelous snippets of Jiri Kylian choreography and more, featured a serene demonstration of Lester Horton technique, as taught to high school kids by master instructor, Don Martin.
- [arts•meme's formidable flock of female facebook friends](https://artsmeme.com/2012/03/31/arts•memes-formidable-female-facebook-friends/): Lately, we've attracted a very cool group of new "likes" on arts•meme's Facebook fan page. -- all impressive women working in the arts.
- [arts·meme a cunning urchin of four](https://artsmeme.com/2012/05/23/arts·meme-four/): This young & arty lady moves from strength to strength.
- [New York Times honors Jack Cole & dance critic](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/19/jack-cole-debra-levine-new-york-times/): We're awfully proud to get a shout-out from highly respected film critic Dave Kehr in today's New York Times.
- [Happy birthday, arts·meme! The little lady turns five.](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/23/happy-birthday-arts·meme-five-years-old/): We've been blogging since May 24, 2008. Happy fifth birthday to us.
- [arts·meme turns six](https://artsmeme.com/2014/05/20/arts·meme-turns-six/): A sparkling 'Shirley Temple' for arts·meme, the Los Angeles arts blog that came into existence on May 24, 2008. The young lady, having formally entered café society, here hoists a cocktail in commemoration of her sixth birthday. Happy birthday, arts·meme! Kudos and hugs around to arts·meme technology guru, Beijing-based Mark Levine; Heap Big Technology Friend
- [Hey, arts·meme people ~ we made it to ten!](https://artsmeme.com/2018/05/23/hey-arts·meme-people-we-made-it-to-ten/): It's our tenth birthday. On May 24, 2008 we were hanging around with nothing to do. We'd finished our homework, played with our Barbies, chewed some gum, kicked the can down the road. We were bored stiff! So we starting scribbling on a Word Press blog-template custom-created by Mark Levine. Topics: all kinds of arts
- [arts·meme reveals all at age twelve](https://artsmeme.com/2020/05/24/arts·meme-reveals-all-12/): At twelve, she's a little lady. A proper one. But sometimes she lets it all hang out -- just like Tamara Toumanova in this photo with bad boy Danny Kaye. arts·meme is getting up there in the pre-teen category. Twelve years old today ~ May 24, 2020! Please have fun with our annual birthday posts.
- [Francisco Zuniga at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts - opens June 1](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/30/francisco-zuniga-at-jack-rutberg-fine-arts-opens-june-1/): Smells good in the kitchen! A rich stew of arts activity is simmering at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts for a opening party on June 1, 2013.
- [Party on, arts·meme people!](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/02/party-on-artsmeme-people/): Photos of arts·meme's fifth birthday party at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts on June 1, 2013.
- [arts·meme turns eight, expresses self](https://artsmeme.com/2016/05/23/arts·meme-turns-eight-expresses-self/): Getting to be a quite big girl, little arts·meme expresses herself.
- [arts·meme at nine, an industrious arts builder](https://artsmeme.com/2017/05/24/arts·meme-at-nine-an-industrious-builder-of-the-arts/): Happy birthday dear arts·meme, happy birthday to you~! On May 24, 2008, we launched your favorite arts blog. We've been assiduously building ever since. Brick by brick, story by story, we have accrued a steady pile of nearly 2,000 blog posts. It's all interwoven, as we like to feature artistic mash-ups, mostly in dance and
- ['arts·meme nation' fetes the nation's holiday](https://artsmeme.com/2018/07/04/arts·meme-nation-feted-on-the-national-holiday/): A July 2 gathering of creative Angelenos was first and foremost a super-fun 'blog party.' But lurking at the periphery was uncertainty. In an unsettling situation for our country, truths assumed to be self evident are revealed to not be universally held. Those values have been shaken give the incursions -- philosophical, commercial, even life-threatening --
- [arts·meme enters the terrible twos](https://artsmeme.com/2010/05/24/baby-artsmeme-enters-the-terrible-twos/): "You should be blogging," my brother Mark first said to me sometime around 2005. I succumbed on May 24, 2008 when arts·meme went live.
- [arts•meme at seven: confident, independent](https://artsmeme.com/2015/05/19/artsmeme-at-seven-confident/): Happy birthday to our arts blog, seven years old.
- [The world capitol of 'colorblind'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/04/the-world-capitol-of-colorblind/): According to the myth, that's Paris. And we don't mean Paris, Texas. For more than a century, Black artists, authors, musicians and others have crossed the ocean to leave behind the racism of the United States. What made these African-Americans choose Paris? Why were the French fascinated by the newcomers? And to what extent was,
- [Merle Oberon's terpsichorean trepidation](https://artsmeme.com/2020/01/06/a-tale-of-cafe-society-at-the-st-regis-2/): For those who recently watched THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934) on Turner Classic Movies, a special Jack Cole connection has come to mind from 86 years ago. Our story involves the film's glamorous stars, Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. The duo, co-stars of "Pimpernel" were on a touring junket tied to the movie’s release on December
- [COVID making you 'coo-coo'? Watch Bob Baker's marionettes](https://artsmeme.com/2021/01/11/enter-the-bob-baker-marionette-theaters-coo-coo-bead-men/): 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. Songwriters: Bill Louborough / David WheatCoo
- [Our New Year's Baby, Christian Holder, with tail](https://artsmeme.com/2021/01/02/our-new-years-baby-christian-holder-with-tail/): Well he couldn't be cuter, could he? A New Year's Baby -- with a tail! A very good tale accompanies this photo ... Christian Holder was born in a trunk, but not in Pocatello, Idaho; rather, in the faraway island of Trinidad. Moving to his mother's native London while still an infant, as part of
- [Beautiful work, Miriam Nelson, in 'Picnic' (1955)](https://artsmeme.com/2021/01/05/beautiful-work-miriam-nelson-in-picnic-1955/): It was a delight to learn, after checking credits ("Who did this?") on this sexy dance between William Holden and Kim Novak in PICNIC (1955), a YouTube phenomenon, that the choreographer was our good friend Miriam Nelson who died in 2018 at age 98. Deliciously done, Miriam. It was my honor to share a meal
- [Tenor-sax somersaults & trampolines: Sonny Rollins in 1967](https://artsmeme.com/2021/01/04/tenor-somersaults-trampolines-sonny-rollins-in-holland/): Each December, the marketplace offers up some must-have jazz-related item. A newly-minted LP collection, a CD or DVD box, or doorstop book—something that pushes aside everything around it. In 2020, that was unquestionably Sonny Rollins in Holland (Resonance). The two-CD compilation of previously unissued live performances by the tenor saxophone giant is culled from a
- [Maria Tallchief, who trained in Los Angeles, dies](https://artsmeme.com/2013/04/12/maria-tallchief-trained-in-los-angeles-die/): Maria Tallchief, prima ballerina (1925 - 2013)
- [Enter early Los Angeles ballet instructors Kosloff & Rasch](https://artsmeme.com/2020/03/22/early-los-angeles-ballet-instructors-kosloff-and-rasch/): ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to publish a two-part excerpt, from a new book, Ballet Class: An American History by Melissa R. Klapper (Oxford University Press, March 2020). Our Los Angeles-based blog requested writing from Ms. Klapper that focuses on the early history of ballet training in our city. Part two below! The Russian
- [Hollywood New Year's babies to convene @ The Barn](https://artsmeme.com/2019/12/17/join-new-years-baby-cora-sue-collins-pals-the-barn/): A bunch of New Year's babies will start our Super-Dooper Double-Double-Digit calendar year (hey! remember 1919?) at the Hollywood Heritage Museum with a very cool program, the latest "Evening at the Barn." It's Cora Sue Collins Hollywood Reunion Party! hosted by Hollywood Heritage and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Wednesday, January 8th. On September 7th,
- [Bravo~! to the boyz of ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2019/12/09/bravo-to-the-ballet-boys/): Former Joffrey Ballet dancer, costume designer, and choreographer Christian Holder, based in London, is a renaissance man of the arts in a way reminiscent of his very famous uncle Geoffrey Holder. It was my pleasure to see the indelible Holder dance with the Joffrey Ballet. And he has many further accolades beyond dancer: as a
- [Moira Shearer in Ashton's Cinderella](https://artsmeme.com/2010/01/13/moira-shearer-in-ashtons-cinderella/): I've been researching "Cinderella," Frederick Ashton's fairy tale ballet for adults choreographed for Sadlers Wells Ballet (precursor to the Royal Ballet) based on Prokofiev's score. The Joffrey Ballet is bringing its production of this gem to Los Angeles at the end of January. "Cinderella" was the first full-evening ballet Ashton, or any British-born dance maker, created. He made the work
- [John Cusack, ballet fan](https://artsmeme.com/2013/02/03/john-cusack-ballet-fan/): Hollywood meets the arts when John Cusack showed up at the Joffrey Ballet last night.
- [How George Martin found first dance job -- in the Yellow Pages](https://artsmeme.com/2017/09/25/how-a-feisty-new-yorker-got-george-martin-his-first-dance-gig/): dancers: Rod Alexander, Jack Cole, George Martin A wonderful sliver of dance history sourced at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts concerns Jack Cole dancer George Martin. Said Martin, in an interview, apropos the start of his dance career: "My mother took me to see Top Hat, whatever that year was, in the
- [Alvin Ailey in 1984: I'll pass on Black 'My Fair Lady'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/20/alvin-ailey-passes-on-black-my-fair-lady-in-1984/): Alvin Ailey, the renowned dancer/choreographer and founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was interviewed in 1984 for a televised series called "Dance On" hosted by jazz-dance specialist Billie Mahoney. Ms. Mahoney started the series at the height of the "dance boom" on a New York City cable access channel in 1980. She interviewed dozens
- [Santa, please put Cary Grant under the tree!](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/21/santa-please-put-cary-grant-under-the-tree/): He was just so gorgeous right? And so very, very Cary Grant. That elocution, that accent: Cockney base, polished overlay. His comic timing, his dramatic line-readings. His credibility. His love-making, both on-screen and off. His pratfalls! His haberdashery. Everything under control; everything perfect. But then you would hear things to the contrary. That he was
- [Blowing in the wind, in a COVID-era dance by Jody Sperling](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/07/blowing-in-the-wind-in-a-covid-era-dance-by-jody-sperling/): 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
- [Ailey rep line-up for O.C. lacks work by female choreographer](https://artsmeme.com/2012/03/04/ailey-visit-lacks-work-by-femal-choreographer/): The pro-American repertory to be shown in the upcoming seven-show run of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts lacks one component, a work by a female choreographer.
- [Oh Samuel Lee Roberts, you beautiful Alvin Ailey dancer](https://artsmeme.com/2015/04/16/samuel-lee-roberts-beautiful-alvin-ailey-dancer/): All the Ailey dancers are gorgeous troupers. But one called out beyond the rest, Samuel Lee Roberts.
- [Buy Bobo, support Bob Baker Marionette Theater](https://artsmeme.com/2020/12/01/buy-bobo-support-bob-baker-marionette-theater/): In 1945, the only clown out of eight manufactured marionettes coming down the Bob Baker assembly line was Coco. One day Bob Baker decided to create a new character from the scraps and discards left on the cutting tables and floor. Bobo was born. Bobo, in his day, was a success. Thousands of Bobos were
- ['Give in!' Buy Gwen Verdon portrait at Bonhams auction](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/30/give-in-buy-portrait-of-the-great-gwen-verdon-at-bonhams-auction/): As "Lola" in Damn Yankees, Gwen Verdon brought down the house with her powerhouse performance and her inimitable version of "Whatever Lola Wants," performing the role over 1,000 times. She began both a working and personal relationship with choreographer Bob Fosse as a result of that production, a partnership recently chronicled in the TV mini-series,
- [David Winters 'Cool' solo, in 'West Side Story'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/30/rare-footage-david-winters-cool-solo-in-wss-courtesy-of-toni-basil/): In an interview with Toni Basil that includes rare footage of the original Broadway cast of West Side Story, Jerome Robbins protege David Winters (1939 - 2019) explains how he conjured his unusual solo in the role of "Baby John" in 1957. When it came time for the making of the movie, Winters had grown
- [The Hollywood Hills are alive ... with 'The Sound of Music'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/28/the-hollywood-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music/): It's the holiday season and we're all nearly croaking of isolation in our cobbled, separated, lonely, despairing but well-worn nests at home. There's one remaining way to go out and safely be with others. No, not a walk in mother nature. Rather, a big spin on a cinematic mountain-top with Julie Andrews yodeling in The
- [Drive-in movie for the angels](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/29/drive-in-movie-for-the-angels/): We don't need no suburban drive-in movie. We have the Hollywood Legion Drive In, a very urban one inside the wee village of Los Angeles. It's the "first-ever drive in in the heart of Hollywood." And here's how it looks at night! Tonight, the hills are alive with a special screening of THE SOUND OF
- [The wow factor: Paul Steffen Dancers in Italy, 1964](https://artsmeme.com/2018/01/07/the-wow-factor-paul-steffen-dancers-in-italy-1964/): After a European tour circa 1950, Jack Cole dancer Paul Steffen -- a member of Cole's resident dance company at Columbia Pictures who performed in Cole's Rita Hayworth pictures and more -- settled in Italy for the rest of his life. There he made this work -- a great youtube 'find' for this researcher. The
- [Class! John Pizzarelli's Sinatra tribute at Valley Performing Arts Center](https://artsmeme.com/2015/12/13/class-john-pizzerellis-sinatra-tribute-at-valley-performing-arts-center/): Frank Sinatra's swellegant birthday tribute at VPAC.
- ['Sittin' In' at golden-era jazz clubs](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/23/sittin-in-golden-era-jazz-clubs-feted-in-new-book/): These days, every self-respecting college and civic performing arts center has a subscription jazz series. It’s no surprise, then, that many people see jazz as concert music. But it wasn’t always so. 1930s and ‘40s jazz musicians mostly worked in ballrooms with dance bands, but they stretched out and jammed in nightclubs and after-hours spots.
- [Searching for Nina(s), with coffee & Al Hirschfeld](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/09/searching-for-ninas-with-al-hirschfeld/): I don't quite agree with the exhibition title that calls 'looking for Ninas' "a "national insanity." Donald Trump has a lock on that. But apparently that was how the late great caricaturist/arts journalist Al Hirschfeld, whose charming shtick of inserting his daughter's name into his cartoons in the Sunday New York Times Arts & Leisure
- [Vera-Ellen's teensy steak dinner recalled by dance coach](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/06/vera-ellens-chubby-cheeks-and-skinny-legs/): Turning the conversation to Vera-Ellen, I asked Joan Bayley who worked with the Hollywood dancer on White Christmas, if she was a nice girl. "Yes, she was," replied Joan. "She was not an exciting personality, but she was friendly and sweet." I expressed my opinion that Vera-Ellen's dancing is not my favorite, as something feels
- [Singalong Saturday: He's gone where the goblins go](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/07/singalong-saturday-hes-gone-where-the-goblins-go/): As mayor of the Munchkin CityIn the County of the Land of OzI welcome you mostly regally(But we’ve got to verify if legally)To see … If she …Is morally, ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably DEAD As Coroner, I must aver, I’ve thoroughly examined herAnd she is not merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead.
- [Looks beautiful: Christian Petzold's 'Undine' at German Currents Film Festival](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/09/looks-beautiful-christian-petzolds-undine-at-german-currents-film-festival/): One of Germany’s most celebrated film auteurs, Christian Petzold, brings a Los Angeles premiere to the German Currents Film Festival which kicks off today. Petzold's UNDINE is a retelling, updated, of the myth of a water-nymph who marries a mortal. The story is set in modern-day Berlin. Told through Petzold’s precise visual style, the film
- [Election Day 2020: 'De-polarize for democracy,' says dancer Dana Caspersen](https://artsmeme.com/2020/11/03/election-day-2020-de-polarize-for-democracy-says-dancer-dana-caspersen/): It seems pretty obvious. We need to tamp down the political polarization in this country. But how do we do that? "They" won't listen. Let's put our bodies into it. Assuring us that "We Are Not Doomed," conflict specialist Dana Caspersen, also a former dancer, has created a special "score," or physical/mindful exercise, in honor
- [German ballet & film worlds connect in age of COVID](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/29/german-ballet-film-worlds-connect-in-age-of-covid/): 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 forth from the Zoom link. Just yesterday, two of our European
- [Errol Flynn could dance, insists Julie Newmar](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/19/errol-flynn-could-dance-insists-julie-newmar/): Beyond his many physical gifts that made him the most derring-do of screen actors to famously do his own stuntwork, the long-legged Aussie-born movie star, Erroll Flynn (1909-1959) could also dance. Who knew? It was a gem of a factoid shared in an interview with dancer/Cat Woman, Julie Newmar. She is someone who would know;
- [Ballet's finest execs discuss challenges to female leadership in art form](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/15/ballets-rare-female-leaders-discuss-women-in-ballet/): The moderator convened this on-line discussion during "a pivotal moment in our history and so much challenge for ballet." That's according to Kathryn Roszak, Artistic Director of Danse Lumière and a former artist with San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet, in leading a pithy discussion that illuminates a trend we have lived through in
- [Debunked! Bunker Hill, unblemished, in new book](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/16/debunked-the-return-of-bunker-hill-in-new-book/): By day, it wasn't an 'urban underbelly.' It was Anytown USA, a hustle-bustle neighborhood of oversized Victorian homes with porticoes and porch swings; corner grocery stores, playgrounds and bus stops. It was the terminus of the charming funicular, Angel's Flight, that shuttled workers to and from their downtown Los Angeles jobs. By day, the flattish
- [A Martha Graham x-ray of Trump's COVID medical team](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/05/dance-critics-corner-trump-covid-medical-team-learn-from-martha-graham/): "The body never lies." This aphorism is taught to every student of Dance History 101. It comes from Martha Graham, who received it from her father, Dr. George Graham, a neurological physician. "Martha, you must never lie to me, because movement never lies, and when I see your body I'll know you are lying." Dr.
- [Kristina for king!](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/15/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
- [Book review: Post-modern vaudeville ... from The Grand Union](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/13/post-modern-vaudeville-from-the-grand-union/): Ed. note: Guest author Elizabeth Zimmer contributes this review of Wendy Perron's new book, The Grand Union: Accidental Anarchists of Downtown Dance, 1970-1976. If you miss dance in our time of pandemic-related deprivation, get this book. Wendy Perron, a near-contemporary and sometime colleague of members of the Grand Union, was uniquely qualified to write it:
- [Happy birthday, Barrie Chase!](https://artsmeme.com/2016/10/20/happy-birthday-barrie-chase/): Wishing a wonderful birthday to a leggy lady, the great Hollywood dancer Barrie Chase. She not only graced Fred Astaire as his final partner, she brought her own strong, vixen presence as a solo dancer (on view in the video, dancing to "The Girl from Ipanema") to millions of American television viewers in the 1960s.
- [Don't just sit there ... jive with your hands!](https://artsmeme.com/2020/06/30/dont-just-sit-there-jive-with-your-hands/): Ed. note: We're pleased to feature a fun item contributed by an expert in American popular dance, Julie Malnig. Take it away, Julie! The Hand Jive was one of the most popular rock and roll group dances of the late 1950s and became a hit on televised teen dance programs of the era such as
- [Sean Spicer can't dance? Sez you!](https://artsmeme.com/2019/11/07/sean-spicer-cant-dance-sez-you/): The last person on earth I thought I'd ever defend is the former flame-throwing, feisty-and-fuming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, now a television celebrity bursting from his lycra costume on "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC. [update: Spicer was eliminated 11-11-2019] However ... we are compelled to respond to New York Times chief dance
- [Hollywood 1952: Jack Cole's ethnic dance includes voodoo & waltz](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/25/1952-jack-coles-ethnic-dance-discovery-encompassed-voodoo-waltz/): In the summer and fall of 1951, the dance maker Jack Cole undertook two major new choreographies, one each at the two leading film studios of the era. He staged and danced the lead role in a voodoo ceremonial-rite for Lydia Bailey, at Twentieth Century Fox, and choreographed a sumptuous ‘grand valse' for The Merry Widow
- [Jack Cole's pinnacle, "Ladies in Waiting"](https://artsmeme.com/2015/11/22/jack-coles-pinnacle-ladies-in-waiting/): That by 1957 Jack Cole was the top creative gun in Hollywood choreography is readily apparent in "Ladies in Waiting" from LES GIRLS.
- [Marsha Hunt's wartime Saturday nights at the Hollywood Canteen](https://artsmeme.com/2013/05/09/marsha-hunts-wartime-saturday-nights-at-the-hollywood-canteen/): An extraordinary evening at the American Legion Hall featured a shared program with Hollywood Heritage about the Hollywood Canteen (1942 - 1945).
- [Breathe in, breathe out: Westside Ballet's 'Grace & Grit' drive-in movie event](https://artsmeme.com/2020/10/05/breathe-in-breathe-out-westside-ballets-grace-grit-drive-in-movie-event/): 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 -- right at the locus of
- [Still stimulating: 'The Grand Union' in 50th anniversary conversation](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/28/the-grand-union-at-50-still-edgy-still-stimulating/): A special on-line convocation of a dance-talk series hosted by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Place in New York's East Village, Conversation Without Walls, will take place November 21. Participants include weighty women of the arts, the dancer and Danspace co-founder, Barbara Dilley, and artist, Yvonne Rainer, and writer, Wendy Perron. To mark the 50th
- ['Kinetic Los Angeles' heralds impact of Russian ballet in California](https://artsmeme.com/2015/01/18/kinetic-los-angeles-usc-journal-of-russian-ballet-influence-in-los-angeles/): A groundbreaking volume of essays, "Experiment," that highlight the influence on exiled Russian dance artists in Southern California has been published by the University of Southern California.
- [The two Georges: Balanchine & Chakiris](https://artsmeme.com/2017/01/22/the-two-georges-balanchine-chakiris/): Okay, it's a stretch! But bend-and-stretch is what dance is all about, isn't it? Still, we were delighted to trip upon an amazing comparison, in a book review/essay by one of our premier dance writers, Joan Acocella. Publishing in The New Yorker magazine ("Balanchine Teaching" January 11, 2017), the critic/dance historian, in describing George Balanchine's
- [Make 'em laff, virtually! Palm Springs International Comedy Festival 2020](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/28/make-em-laff-virtually-palm-springs-international-comedy-festival-2020/): For those of you having trouble eking out a grin behind a face mask, we have just the solution. Laff, guffaw, giggle, chuckle, and bray like a hyena in your mask-free living room from October 11 - 18. That's when the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival offers a reprieve from the grim realities of life
- [Jazz serendipity: Alan Broadbent Trio's 'Trio in Motion'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/28/jazz-serendipity-alan-broadbent-trios-trio-in-motion/): The longstanding professional relationships of the Alan Broadbent Trio might indicate that the recording at hand is the result of a comfy, well-worn process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each selection of their new album, Trio in Motion (Savant) is a journey, and the performances are travelogues that sometimes surprise the musicians as much
- [Fighting the virus of discouragement -- with ballet](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/11/fighting-the-virus-of-discouragement-with-ballet/): Ed. note: It is a an honor to share words written by dance educator and director of the Anaheim Ballet, Larry Rosenberg. Larry is expressing feelings and ideas shared by dance educators and company directors world wide. Larry writes as follows: COVID-19 is dangerous and relentless, a real virus. But the virus of discouragement is
- [L.A.'s greatest filmmakers revealed, on 'Home Movie Day'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/22/l-a-s-greatest-filmmakers-revealed-on-home-movie-day/): You're already at home. So why not be very meta and watch home movies? From the tidal wave of on-line screenings and events, this one popped out. It's such a COVID-clever idea: a compilation of submitted movies starring your cigar-smoking Uncle Sam, pet parakeet, sister's Bat Mitzvah, new lawn mower, first dive into a swimming
- [Luise Rainer @ 100](https://artsmeme.com/2010/04/25/tcm-fest-luise-rainer-100/): Luise Rainer makes an appearance at TCM Fest 2010.
- [What a dump! Kidhood drive-in movie theater exposed by day](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/07/what-a-dump-kidhood-drive-in-movie-theater-by-day/): Really? That mound of dirt on the uphill side of a crud Western Pennsylvania road? That was it? The pleasure dome we entered, exalted, five of us in a red Chevy station wagon? The car's "back-back" piled with pillows and blankets? My father, captain of the ship, adroitly steering to a "just-so" spot? My mother
- [In 'jazz quarantine' with Josh Nelson Trio](https://artsmeme.com/2020/09/08/in-jazz-quarantine-with-the-josh-nelson-trio/): For jazz musicians and their audience, the spring and summer months of 2020 have been, to paraphrase the rebel leader Don Jose in The Wild Bunch, the months of sadness. Musicians need to communicate, exchange, and create with each other. And most thrive before an audience. As clubs and music spaces shutter due to the
- [A minute + five years: 'A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham' to Long Beach](https://artsmeme.com/2019/12/19/a-minute-five-years-a-i-m-by-kyle-abraham-to-long-beach/): It’s been a minute since Kyle Abraham’s velvety, street-smart choreography hit the dance-friendly stage of the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. In 2015 at the Center, Abraham was one of four choreographers to partner ballet goddess Wendy Whelan in the much-heralded “Restless Creature." That minute has now extended to five years. On January 25, audiences from
- [Flamenco's furor to blaze in Deborah Lawlor tribute @ Ford Theatre](https://artsmeme.com/2013/06/10/flamenco-ford-deborah-lawlor-tribute/): Recommends two flamenco events in Los Angeles: "Forever Flamenco" at the Ford amphitheater and "Heart Song" at the Fountain Theatre.
- [Ford Theatre's magical August dance-weekend adds intimacy](https://artsmeme.com/2018/08/09/ford-theatres-magical-august-dance-weekend-adds-intimacy/): Unicorns and moonbeams! That magical stuff will spool at the Ford Amphitheatre when the beloved outdoor stage winds toward summer's-end 2018. Lending unusual piquancy in a special dance-weekend are full-evening works by up-and-coming choreographers: Marjani Forté-Saunders (Aug 24, 25) and Stephanie Zaletel (Aug 26 only). To accommodate the intimate, experimental nature of these dance performances,
- [A 'Romeo + Juliet' for 2020 soon at The Soraya](https://artsmeme.com/2020/02/25/a-romeo-juliet-for-2020-from-ballet-bc-soon-at-the-soraya/): As reviews and reactions to the just-opened Broadway production of West Side Story (based of course on the Romeo and Juliet myth) zing back and forth like gang warfare, a new Romeo + Juliet by Ballet BC, the nearly 35-year-old Vancouver-based contemporary ballet troupe, heads to The Soraya for two performances. The production is en
- ['Mea culpa,' says Yuval Sharon of 'The Industry'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/07/23/mea-culpa-says-yuval-sharon-of-the-industry/): In an act of public self-berating right out of the Chinese Communist Party 'Cultural Revolution' playbook, Yuval Sharon, the wunderkind MacArthur 'Genius' Award-winning director of the Los Angeles on-site opera troupe, 'The Industry,' has shared a decision. After weeks of pondering the weighty issues of American racism and police brutality (as are we all), he
- [Jerry's kids, and grandkids, revel in 'Jerome Robbins' Broadway'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/02/27/jerrys-kids-and-grand-kids-revel-in-jerome-robbins-broadway/): "Jerome Robbins' Broadway 30th Anniversary Celebration," a lovingly assembled, heartfelt 90-minute program presented in the Guggenheim Museum's "Works & Process" series, was several events bundled into one. It was a loving coda to the Jerome Robbins Centennial; an enthusiastic alumni reunion; and a celebration of a landmark Broadway production exactly 30 years after its opening
- [More on Alton's 'Choreography' from WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/14/more-on-robert-altons-choreography-from-white-christmas-1954/): Above, an interesting shot of Vera-Ellen's "cute" entry into the Danny Kaye-starring "Choreography" number from WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954). You don't see the dancer's full descent in the final film. You just see her legs. Nor in the black-and-white photo is it possible to imagine the fuchsia color Vera-Ellen is wearing -- a color made possible
- ['America's Fright Factory!' Epi 2: Mrs. McGreevy](https://artsmeme.com/2020/07/30/americas-fright-factory-epi-2-mrs-mcgreevy/): WELCOME BACKto“AMERICA’S FRIGHT FACTORY!” ANNOUNCER: And now it’s back to “AMERICA’S FRIGHT FACTORY!” [Canned applause and whistles as the camera pans across to empty space, and then down to where a gray-haired old woman sits in her wheelchair, her knees covered with a plaid wool blanket.] RIBEYE: Welcome to “America’s Fright Factory!” Mrs. McGreevy! McGREEVY:
- ['America's Fright Factory!' Epi 3: Jeffrey](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/07/americas-fright-factory-epi-3-jeffrey/): WELCOME BACKto"AMERICA’S FRIGHT FACTORY!" ANNOUNCER: And now it’s back to “AMERICA’S FRIGHT FACTORY!” [Canned applause and whistles as the camera pans across the set, where workers in Haz-mat suits are setting up the third TRIAL.] RIBEYE: And here’s our final contestant! Welcome to “America’s Fright Factory!”, Jeffrey! JEFFREY: It’s an honor to be on “America’s
- [Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner, still kings of comedy](https://artsmeme.com/2010/07/25/kings-of-comedy-mel-brooks-carl-reiner/): “I like 'Family Guy,' admitted Mel Brooks in an inimitable in-person appearance with longtime colleague Carl Reiner at the Egyptian Theater Friday night.
- [Drift away! at the movies, with 'Floating Cinema'](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/17/drift-away-at-the-movies-with-floating-cinema/): You know how your attention drifts away when you're at the movies? And you find yourself thinking about how bad the film is, or how much you rather be sitting at a lunch counter eating a hamburger? Well ... now your entire body can drift away -- cuz ... you're gonna be watching a movie
- [A 'hands-on' choreographer, Helen Tamiris](https://artsmeme.com/2020/08/16/a-hands-on-choreographer-helen-tamiris/): When I was a dance student, it was perfectly normal to be utterly terrified of certain instructors. But they didn't often man-handle you. Two generations ago, however, this was not the case. A student of Jack Cole described him banging her head on the ground as she stretched on the floor in second position. Banging
- [Marvelous Marvin Hamlisch picks up Pasadena Pops baton](https://artsmeme.com/2011/03/16/marvelous-marvin-hamlisch-takes-up-the-pasadena-pops-baton/): An afternoon concert with newly appointed Pasadena Pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch.
- ['America's Fright Factory!' Episode 1: Tiffany](https://artsmeme.com/2020/07/20/streaming-on-artsmeme-americas-fright-factory/): Ed. note: Netflix has nothing on us. We have streaming serialized television 'content' too! We are pleased to present author Robert Johnson's latest script for his new (ahem, his first) hit series ... we're publishing it in three parts. First episode here! WELCOME TO 'AMERICA'S FRIGHT FACTORY!' Today’s premiere episode is hosted by world-renowned survival
- [It's Jack Cole time Tuesday on FX's 'Fosse/Verdon'](https://artsmeme.com/2019/04/22/its-jack-cole-time-on-verdon-fosse-on-fx/): Actor Christopher Tocco, above, plays Jack Cole in a backstage scene with the young Gwen Verdon in FX’s blockbuster eight-episode docu-drama, “Fosse/Verdon.” "Fosse/Verdon"'s backstage scene between Verdon and her mentor Jack Cole is preceded by a Jack Cole jazz number vividly choreographed by "Hamilton" choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, who is a co-producer of this series. Out with

## Pages

- [about debra levine](https://artsmeme.com/about/): professional bio of the dance critic debra levine
- [CARMEN.maquia, danced by Ballet Hispanico New York](https://artsmeme.com/carmen-maquia-danced-by-ballet-hispanico-new-york/): Ballet Synopsis The ballet opens with a tableau: Don José, writhing in agony, his wrenching movement reenacting a trauma. Then the action commences at the town’s cigarette factory where gypsy workers in filmy white dresses chit-chat. Enter a beautiful gypsy woman, Carmen. Her black dress and red lipstick set her apart. Flirting with the factory
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- [Talks & interviews curated/hosted by Debra Levine](https://artsmeme.com/debra-levine-screenings-lectures-events/): Laemmle Theatres/Kino-Lorber Films | July 25, 2021 Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters | Interview/q&a moderator with director Roselynde LeBlanc Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Perf Arts | March 2, 2019 Graham Gears Up: How America's Legacy Company Advances Dance, interviewing Pam Tanowitz, Janet Eilber, Christopher Rountree
- [Jack Cole speaks! Rare glimpse of choreographer interviewed](https://artsmeme.com/jack-cole-talks-a-rare-glimpse-of-my-subject-interviewed-courtesy-of-cba/): I am writing a new biography of the choreographer Jack Cole. Naturally, over time, I hoped to see film footage of Cole himself speaking. Despite deep digging, till now, none has surfaced. Cole plays a speaking role in MGM's "Designing Woman" (1957), co-starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall. And I have one lengthy interview of
- [arts journalism](https://artsmeme.com/dance-writings/): I've written about the arts -- primarily dance -- for many years. Please enjoy a selection of my published work: My 2016 essay on the choreographer Jack Cole for the Dance Heritage Coalition is here. Kyle Abraham's "The Radio Show" Los Angeles Times, 16 October 2011 "The Radio Show" mourns the loss of a central
- [Richard Wyatt Jr iconic 'Jazz in Hollywood' mural gains permanence in 2012](https://artsmeme.com/richard-wyatt-jr-iconic-jazz-in-hollywood-mural-gains-permanence-in-2012/): Precious little in Hollywood outwardly signifies its glorious jazz history and circumscribed jazz present. Catalina Bar & Grill, the last remaining Hollywood jazz club, isn’t even visible from Sunset Boulevard. The Hollywood Bowl, site of the Playboy Jazz Festival and a summer series, hosts all kinds of music, not just jazz. Since 1990, though, Capitol
- [what's a <em>"meme"</em>?](https://artsmeme.com/whats-a-meme/): According to Merriam-Webster: Main Entry: meme Pronunciation: \ˈmēm\Function: noun Etymology: lteration of mimeme, from mim- (as in mimesis) + -eme Date:1976 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture Dictionary.com defines it a bit differently: meme [meem] - noun a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition
- [arts·meme 5th anniversary party pictures here!](https://artsmeme.com/arts·meme-party-pictures-here/): dated: june 2013photos by Dana Rossthank you ariel zuniga, jack rutberg for permission to publish images of francisco zuniga
- [arts·meme 10th anniversary party photos here!](https://artsmeme.com/arts·meme-10th-anniversary-party-pictures-here/): dated: 2 july 2018photos by Dana Ross
- [Academy honors dance genius of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"](https://artsmeme.com/oscars-outdoors-gentlemen-prefer-blondes/): All photos by Dana Ross.
- ['Last Remaining Seats' honors George Chakiris, Bernardo, in 'West Side Story'](https://artsmeme.com/last-remaining-seats-honors-george-chakiris-bernardo-in-west-side-story/): A screening of "West Side Story" hosted by the Los Angeles Conservancy's "Last Remaining Seats" series on June 14, 2014. Slideshow photos by Dana Ross.
- [In memorium: Chris McHale](https://artsmeme.com/in-memorium-chris-mchale/): Christopher Ian McHale (b. March 30, 1954) passed away suddenly of heart disease at home in the East Village of Manhattan on September 12, 2023. He was an actor from early in his life to nearly its end. While he appeared occasionally in movies (The Devil's Own, Sunset Park, F/X, The Seduction of Joe Tynan)
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- [Kosloff & DeMille Meet Madam Satan](https://artsmeme.com/kpcc-audio/): They were not just close colleagues but good friends. Cecil B. DeMille and ballet dancer Theodore Kosloff.Duration: 6 min, 39 sec. KPCC "Off Ramp" March 8, 2014

## Events

- [Dance Hall of Fame 2026](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/dance-hall-of-fame/): Broad Stage, Santa Monica
- [Palm Desert Choreography Festival 2026](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/palm-desert-choreography-festival-2026/): McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert CA
- [When a Modern Dancer Ruled American Nightclubs as 'King [Jack] Cole'](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/jack-cole-nightclub-talk/): Speculative Choreographies, Dance Studies Assn conference
- [From Denishawn to Marilyn Monroe: Jack Cole Revealed!](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/from-denishawn-to-marilyn-monroe-jack-cole-revealed/): Studio Series, Martha Graham Dance Center, New York, New York
- [Kafka’s Letter to His Father](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/kafkas-letter-to-his-father/): Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, The Nimoy
- [IN WAVES](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/the-american-french-film-festival/): 30th Anniversary opening night screening, The American French Film Festival
- [Le Ballet Jazz Noir](https://artsmeme.com/events/event/le-ballet-jazz-noir/): Gala evening, Luminario Dance Company, Avalon Theatre, Hollywood CA

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- [bergen wheeler](https://artsmeme.com/tag/bergen-wheeler/)
- [jacob's pillow dance festival](https://artsmeme.com/tag/jacobs-pillow-dance-festival/)
- [a chorus line](https://artsmeme.com/tag/a-chorus-line/)
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- [robert redford](https://artsmeme.com/tag/robert-redford/)
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- [terrance mcknight](https://artsmeme.com/tag/terrance-mcknight/)
- [merce cunningham dance company](https://artsmeme.com/tag/merce-cunningham-dance-company/)
- [aarp grown up movies awards](https://artsmeme.com/tag/aarp-grown-up-movies-awards/)
- [donald sutherland](https://artsmeme.com/tag/donald-sutherland/)
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- [LAMAG](https://artsmeme.com/tag/lamag/)
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- [james dean](https://artsmeme.com/tag/james-dean/)
- [griffith park observatory](https://artsmeme.com/tag/griffith-park-observatory/)
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- [aline barnsdall](https://artsmeme.com/tag/aline-barnsdall/)
- [celebrity autobiography](https://artsmeme.com/tag/celebrity-autobiography/)
- [illeana douglas](https://artsmeme.com/tag/illeana-douglas/)
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- [walt disney concert hall](https://artsmeme.com/tag/walt-disney-concert-hall/)
- [hollywood heritage](https://artsmeme.com/tag/hollywood-heritage/)
- [mary pickford](https://artsmeme.com/tag/mary-pickford/)
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- [national medal of arts](https://artsmeme.com/tag/national-medal-of-arts/)
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- [artsmeme](https://artsmeme.com/tag/artsmeme/)
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- [undina](https://artsmeme.com/tag/undina/)
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- [lelia goldoni](https://artsmeme.com/tag/lelia-goldoni/)
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- [shila tirabassi](https://artsmeme.com/tag/shila-tirabassi/)
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- [marvin hamlisch](https://artsmeme.com/tag/marvin-hamlisch/)
- [pasadena pops](https://artsmeme.com/tag/pasadena-pops/)
- [george gershwin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/george-gershwin/)
- [irving berlin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/irving-berlin/)
- [scott joplin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/scott-joplin/)
- [spectre de la rose](https://artsmeme.com/tag/spectre-de-la-rose/)
- [boston ballet](https://artsmeme.com/tag/boston-ballet/)
- [national portrait gallery](https://artsmeme.com/tag/national-portrait-gallery/)
- [scheherazade](https://artsmeme.com/tag/scheherazade/)
- [kenyon theater](https://artsmeme.com/tag/kenyon-theater/)
- [santonio holmes](https://artsmeme.com/tag/santonio-holmes/)
- [walker arts center](https://artsmeme.com/tag/walker-arts-center/)
- [john cage](https://artsmeme.com/tag/john-cage/)
- [robert rauschenberg](https://artsmeme.com/tag/robert-rauschenberg/)
- [philadanco](https://artsmeme.com/tag/philadanco/)
- [cinefamily](https://artsmeme.com/tag/cinefamily/)
- [charles mingus](https://artsmeme.com/tag/charles-mingus/)
- [gustavo dudamel](https://artsmeme.com/tag/gustavo-dudamel/)
- [tennessee williams](https://artsmeme.com/tag/tennessee-williams/)
- [fountain theatre](https://artsmeme.com/tag/fountain-theatre/)
- [a noise within](https://artsmeme.com/tag/a-noise-within/)
- [a house not meant to stand](https://artsmeme.com/tag/a-house-not-meant-to-stand/)
- [the eccentricities of a nightingale](https://artsmeme.com/tag/the-eccentricities-of-a-nightingale/)
- [elizabeth taylor](https://artsmeme.com/tag/elizabeth-taylor/)
- [richard burton](https://artsmeme.com/tag/richard-burton/)
- [christopher huggins](https://artsmeme.com/tag/christopher-huggins/)
- [aszure barton](https://artsmeme.com/tag/aszure-barton/)
- [tcm](https://artsmeme.com/tag/tcm/)
- [clara bow](https://artsmeme.com/tag/clara-bow/)
- [edward villella](https://artsmeme.com/tag/edward-villella/)
- [david dorfman dance](https://artsmeme.com/tag/david-dorfman-dance/)
- [sly stone](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sly-stone/)
- [sly & the family stone](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sly-the-family-stone/)
- [levitt pavilion](https://artsmeme.com/tag/levitt-pavilion/)
- [pierre boulez](https://artsmeme.com/tag/pierre-boulez/)
- [sur incises](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sur-incises/)
- [art in the streets](https://artsmeme.com/tag/art-in-the-streets/)
- [paul taylor](https://artsmeme.com/tag/paul-taylor/)
- [paul taylor dance company](https://artsmeme.com/tag/paul-taylor-dance-company/)
- [soraya nazarian](https://artsmeme.com/tag/soraya-nazarian/)
- [kristy edmunds](https://artsmeme.com/tag/kristy-edmunds/)
- [ucla live](https://artsmeme.com/tag/ucla-live/)
- [michael heizer](https://artsmeme.com/tag/michael-heizer/)
- [levitated/slot mass](https://artsmeme.com/tag/levitatedslot-mass/)
- [save film at lacma](https://artsmeme.com/tag/save-film-at-lacma/)
- [gwen verdon](https://artsmeme.com/tag/gwen-verdon/)
- [matthew rushing](https://artsmeme.com/tag/matthew-rushing/)
- [alvin ailey american dance theater](https://artsmeme.com/tag/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/)
- [robert battle](https://artsmeme.com/tag/robert-battle/)
- [annamaria mazzini](https://artsmeme.com/tag/annamaria-mazzini/)
- [james whale](https://artsmeme.com/tag/james-whale/)
- [boris karloff](https://artsmeme.com/tag/boris-karloff/)
- [frankenstein](https://artsmeme.com/tag/frankenstein/)
- [malibou lake](https://artsmeme.com/tag/malibou-lake/)
- [sara karloff](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sara-karloff/)
- [larry edmunds bookshop](https://artsmeme.com/tag/larry-edmunds-bookshop/)
- [george martin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/george-martin/)
- [ethel martin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/ethel-martin/)
- [bertrand blier](https://artsmeme.com/tag/bertrand-blier/)
- [gerard depardieu](https://artsmeme.com/tag/gerard-depardieu/)
- [richard patterson](https://artsmeme.com/tag/richard-patterson/)
- [bert schneider](https://artsmeme.com/tag/bert-schneider/)
- [the gentleman tramp](https://artsmeme.com/tag/the-gentleman-tramp/)
- [peter bogdanovich](https://artsmeme.com/tag/peter-bogdanovich/)
- [monger](https://artsmeme.com/tag/monger/)
- [krystian zimerman](https://artsmeme.com/tag/krystian-zimerman/)
- [herb alpert foundation](https://artsmeme.com/tag/herb-alpert-foundation/)
- [herbie hancock](https://artsmeme.com/tag/herbie-hancock/)
- [kenny burrell](https://artsmeme.com/tag/kenny-burrell/)
- [steve oney](https://artsmeme.com/tag/steve-oney/)
- [law & order](https://artsmeme.com/tag/law-order/)
- [isadora duncan](https://artsmeme.com/tag/isadora-duncan/)
- [aspen santa fe ballet](https://artsmeme.com/tag/aspen-santa-fe-ballet/)
- [jack rutberg fine arts](https://artsmeme.com/tag/jack-rutberg-fine-arts/)
- [jack pierce](https://artsmeme.com/tag/jack-pierce/)
- [michelle roberge](https://artsmeme.com/tag/michelle-roberge/)
- [david dorfman](https://artsmeme.com/tag/david-dorfman/)
- [richard & karen carpenter performing arts center](https://artsmeme.com/tag/carpenter-performing-arts-center/)
- [melissa hayden](https://artsmeme.com/tag/melissa-hayden/)
- [rod alexander](https://artsmeme.com/tag/rod-alexander/)
- [michael kidd](https://artsmeme.com/tag/michael-kidd/)
- [stanley donen](https://artsmeme.com/tag/stanley-donen/)
- [boris eifman](https://artsmeme.com/tag/boris-eifman/)
- [tour de force II](https://artsmeme.com/tag/tour-de-force-ii/)
- [some like it hot](https://artsmeme.com/tag/some-like-it-hot/)
- [houdini: arts and magic](https://artsmeme.com/tag/houdini-arts-and-magic/)
- [linda dishman](https://artsmeme.com/tag/linda-dishman/)
- [los angeles conservancy](https://artsmeme.com/tag/los-angeles-conservancy/)
- [sunset boulevard](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sunset-boulevard/)
- [seven brides for seven brothers](https://artsmeme.com/tag/seven-brides-for-seven-brothers/)
- [matt mattox](https://artsmeme.com/tag/matt-mattox/)
- [george chakiris](https://artsmeme.com/tag/george-chakiris/)
- [west side story](https://artsmeme.com/tag/west-side-story/)
- [gilda](https://artsmeme.com/tag/gilda/)
- [damn yankees](https://artsmeme.com/tag/damn-yankees/)
- [billly crystal](https://artsmeme.com/tag/billly-crystal/)
- [sophia loren](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sophia-loren/)
- [mack the knife](https://artsmeme.com/tag/mack-the-knife/)
- [kurt weill](https://artsmeme.com/tag/kurt-weill/)
- [mark morris](https://artsmeme.com/tag/mark-morris/)
- [l'allegro](https://artsmeme.com/tag/lallegro/)
- [dorothy chandler pavilion](https://artsmeme.com/tag/dorothy-chandler-pavilion/)
- [sol lewitt](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sol-lewitt/)
- [kimberly brooks](https://artsmeme.com/tag/kimberly-brooks/)
- [larry rohter](https://artsmeme.com/tag/larry-rohter/)
- [chicago footwork](https://artsmeme.com/tag/chicago-footwork/)
- [NPR](https://artsmeme.com/tag/npr/)
- [wills glasspiegel](https://artsmeme.com/tag/wills-glasspiegel/)
- [hofesh shechter](https://artsmeme.com/tag/hofesh-shechter/)
- [richard move](https://artsmeme.com/tag/richard-move/)
- [the firebird](https://artsmeme.com/tag/the-firebird/)
- [scottish ballet](https://artsmeme.com/tag/scottish-ballet/)
- [diavolo](https://artsmeme.com/tag/diavolo/)
- [ballet preljocaj](https://artsmeme.com/tag/ballet-preljocaj/)
- [helgi tomasson](https://artsmeme.com/tag/helgi-tomasson/)
- [nycb](https://artsmeme.com/tag/nycb/)
- [edith brozak mcmann](https://artsmeme.com/tag/edith-brozak-mcmann/)
- [gloria govrin](https://artsmeme.com/tag/gloria-govrin/)
- [carol sumner](https://artsmeme.com/tag/carol-sumner/)
- [george fernandez](https://artsmeme.com/tag/george-fernandez/)
- [the greek theatre](https://artsmeme.com/tag/the-greek-theatre/)
- [griffith park](https://artsmeme.com/tag/griffith-park/)
- [jane rigney](https://artsmeme.com/tag/jane-rigney/)
- [shawn chen](https://artsmeme.com/tag/shawn-chen/)
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- [micah moch](https://artsmeme.com/tag/micah-moch/)
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- [judith chazin-bennahum](https://artsmeme.com/tag/judith-chazin-bennahum/)
- [ballets russes de monte-carlo](https://artsmeme.com/tag/ballets-russes-de-monte-carlo/)
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- [leon blum](https://artsmeme.com/tag/leon-blum/)
- [natalie krassovska](https://artsmeme.com/tag/natalie-krassovska/)
- [mia slavenska](https://artsmeme.com/tag/mia-slavenska/)
- [nini theilade](https://artsmeme.com/tag/nini-theilade/)
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- [alicia markova](https://artsmeme.com/tag/alicia-markova/)
- [alexandra danilova](https://artsmeme.com/tag/alexandra-danilova/)
- [jack nicholson](https://artsmeme.com/tag/jack-nicholson/)
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- [sarah vaughan](https://artsmeme.com/tag/sarah-vaughan/)
- [pierre bonnard](https://artsmeme.com/tag/pierre-bonnard/)
- [cuban national ballet](https://artsmeme.com/tag/cuban-national-ballet/)
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