[The Los Angeles Times originally ran this review.] Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, touring for the first time under new artistic director Robert Battle, delivered a heady, reverberating concoction of pieces -- including the company premiere of Paul Taylor’s Baroque pure-dance classic “Arden Court” (1981) and the California premiere of hip-hop … [Read more...]
Pilobolus Gets a Grammy Nod
[This ran first on the LA Times' Culture blog. And sadly, Adele's Grammy sweep included a win in this category] As the leadership team of Pilobolus Dance Theater readies itself to fly to Los Angeles for Sunday’s Grammy Awards -– the group is nominated for best short form music video for “All Is Not Lost” –- the dance troupe’s co-executive director … [Read more...]
La La La Human Steps Premieres Opera-hued “New Work” in U.S.
[This ran in the L.A. Times.] Thirty-plus years after founding La La La Human Steps, Montreal-based choreographer-director Édouard Lock has become a sort of philosopher-king for the fierce and intelligent abstract dance made popular in the 1980s. While other members of that chic choreographic wave (Bill T. Jones, Karole Armitage) have since … [Read more...]
My Lunch with a Billion-Dollar Tour Director
[This article originally ran in the LA Times.] In a dark booth at the Polo Lounge, just down the street from his Beverly Hills home, tour director extraordinaire Jamie King struggles to recall the day he hung up his dance shoes for good. Though his management badly wants this interview to stay on the topic of his current feats as the … [Read more...]
Los Angeles Ballet Has Kick
[This review originally written for the LA Times.] Continuing to establish itself as a spirited and sophisticated -- if itinerant -- ballet company, Los Angeles Ballet opened its 2011-12 season over the weekend at the Alex Theatre in Glendale with a memorable cast for its distinctive, inspired “The Nutcracker.” As helmed by artistic directors … [Read more...]
Bring it On!
[This piece first ran in the Los Angeles Times.] At the pre-show warm-up for "Bring It On: The Musical," performers in their 20s are stretching and assuming yoga postures, others are jumping rope or jogging softly in place. It's what you might expect from any cast of a musical. Then suddenly, downstage right, there's a complicated, unfamiliar … [Read more...]
Hofesh Shechter’s “Political Mother”
[This piece originally ran in the L.A. Times.] In a week of dramatic Mideast news, including the release of Sgt. 1st Class Gilad Shalit and the death of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, Royce Hall audiences who caught the United States premiere of Israeli-born choreographer/composer Hofesh Shechter’s “Political Mother” traveled beyond these … [Read more...]
Ho-Hum “Footloose”
[This piece initially ran in the Los Angeles Times.] By one measure, director Craig Brewer’s 2011 restraint and careful focus in the retelling of “Footloose” appear a success for Paramount, and a boon for the propulsion of American dance. With heralded performances by its young leads and critical appreciation of its punched-up energy, Brewer’s … [Read more...]
Alvin Ailey on 24-City Tour
How to institutionalize the extraordinary? There is a lesson to be learned from the amazing success and vitality of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, now in its 53rd year. Their current tour is packed with choreography to inspire and dancers to full-on worship. I reviewed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the Seattle Times. The next … [Read more...]
Billy Elliot in Spades
The film “Billy Elliot” is a masterpiece of storytelling economy. Alongside its most famous thread — a young boy’s discovery of ballet — Lee Hall portrayed the impotent rage of a redundant working-class population (it’s set during the year-long strike of the British National Union of Mineworkers), the insularity and conformity of small-town England … [Read more...]