Month: April 2007
ONSTAGE: Dancing with backbone
Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Theatre UCSB’s spring dance concert features the work of faculty choreographers and cream-of-the-crop seniors in its six parts. At left is a scene from “Bone Whispers,” choreographed by Tonia Shimin. PHOTO COURTESY OF THEATRE UCSB
April 13, 2007 9:37 AM
Looking at the title of Theatre UCSB’s spring dance concert, “From the Backbone Forward” — opening tonight at UCSB — one might wonder where the phrase comes from. It’s not from a choreographer’s advice or a movement technique, oh no.
“I thought that was a good way to describe all these pieces,” artistic director Stephanie Nugent says. “In one way, we’re all moving forward (artistically). But it’s also a way of talking about the movement of a dancer through space.”
Themes of birth, development, and heritage flow through the six pieces comprising “Backbone.”
I Love to Singa
This song was stuck in my head this morning. Wikipedia + Google + YouTube helped me track it down. It originally comes from an Al Jolson movie of the same year (1936), where he sings it, as well as Cab Calloway. But that’s not out on DVD or VHS. I dare say that most people know the song from the cartoon version!
Paavo Jãrvi – Conducting Electricity
Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 13, 2007 12:00 AM
It could be argued that the Estonian capital of Tallinn should evoke the same response in music lovers as Prague or Vienna. The Tallinn Conservatory gave the world at least one famous living composer, Arvo Pãrt. The city also produced the musical Jãrvi family, including Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conductor Paavo Jãrvi, who brings his baton to the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday night, in an event sponsored by CAMA.
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 12, 2007 9:08 AM
Choreographer Ohad Naharin provides a spectrum through which we watch the world anew. In his dances, the pedestrian and even the private and unconscious become poetry, leading to equal parts laughter and rapt silence. Behind it all, there’s an intelligence in the career-spanning “best of” work “Minus One.” Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de MontrËal brought this 90-minute piece to Arlington Theatre on Monday night.
Santa Barbara has seen some of these works before, performed by other companies in other years. But they have usually been one piece among other choreographers’ work. “Minus One” gave us a full evening to explore Israel-born Naharin’s world, and never once did the man repeat himself or repeatedly hammer themes. This time, too much was a good thing.
Grindhouse
1) Let’s hear it for Buellton! The car chase was shot just over the hill here in the Santa Ynez Valley.
2) As Tarantino gets older, he begins to look like Bill O’Reilly
3) Eli Roth’s preview was the worst. He’s the true inheritor of Hershell Gordon Lewis, misogyny on down.
4) “Machete” was the best preview, in tone and feel. Runner up was Edgar Wright’s “Don’t”
5) Loved the “Missing Reel”s
6) Zoe the stuntperson transcends the film. She’s truly kick-ass.
Big Electric Cat
Adrian Belew’s “Big Electric Cat” video from 1982. Loved this when this came out, check out the totally retro computer graphics. Woo!
Clear Direction
Led by artistic director Gradimir Pankov, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens debuts Monday at Arlington Theatre with a reimagined version of Ohad Naharin’s ‘Minus One’
Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 6, 2007 9:52 AM
‘If a dance is good, then it will be appreciated,” says Gradimir Pankov, artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. “It’s that simple.”
After 50 years in the dance world, Pankov has returned to the most basic of philosophies. But it’s a thought he says he shares with Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, whose “Minus One” comes to the Arlington on Monday.
Hot Fuzz
I saw this as part of a sneak preview press screening at the Plaza de Awful I mean Oro.
Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
