Results tagged “dance”

A Noise Within is hosting White Russians and Discussions tonight following the 8 pm performance of a new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. The Russian-themed reception features guest speaker Ed Bacon, Rector for All Saints Church in Pasadena, who will discuss the story of Lazarus, and the ways in which its tale of rebirth intersects with the central figure in the play. Tickets: $44.

Two interesting sales going on today: Flutter in Pasadena hosts a Minnie Rose, Christopher Fischer, Eze Sur Mer and Tag Jeans Trunk Show today from 11 am-5 pm. And various showrooms at the California Market Center Downtown are opening their doors to the public today for pre-holiday sample sale shopping.

Lloyd Newson is bringing his radical DV8 Physical Theatre to UCLA for two shows this weekend. For those not familiar, Newson and his troupe create some of the most interesting dance performances out there today (check out these three amazing YouTube clips). This Friday and Saturday, they will bring the controversial “To Be Straight With You,” which explores tolerance, intolerance, religion and sexuality based on 85 interviews with the pious and apostate, straight and gay, activists, among others. It ultimately asks how modern society will reconcile faith and human rights.

              

If you were at LA Live on Halloween night, whether to see the Michael Jackson concert-documentary film This is It or just enjoy the evening out, you may have thought for a moment you'd stumbled onto the set of a horror film or a cemetery in full uproar thanks to the assembled dancers participating in yet another dance-along to the late pop icon's mega hit. Just one week earlier a record-breaking 22,923 people danced in 32 countries as part of the Thrill the World annual event; some of those performers were back among the undead to entertain the crowd at the Clippers game Saturday night.

MacArthur genius award winner and creative catalyst for this country’s contemporary dance and performance community, Bill T. Jones is bringing his highly acclaimed company to the Barclay Theater in Irvine for one outstanding night of performance this Friday.

Born in New Orleans forty-odd years ago, choreographer/performer Meg Stuart came to REDCAT last week with a lot under her belt. After spending her collegiate years at New York University, she danced with Trisha Brown alumnus Randy Warshaw’s company before being offered an opportunity to showcase and develop her own voice in Brussels, Belgium 15 years ago. Since this relocation, she has been afforded state support from the arts-aware nation where she lives, as well as commissions from international funders and collaborating artists and presenters.

Tonight Ghettogloss on Melrose presents artifacts from Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch, with Willis in person from 7-11 pm tonight. There will be specially created gourmet treats from Susan Feniger's Street, of which Allee is part owner; live auctions of kitsch masterpieces hand-picked by Allee herself; a first-time-ever public raffle to win a guided tour of Allee's exclusively private Willis Wonderland.

Amoeba holds its weekly Monday night series of music-related films in the courtyard of Space15Twenty. Tonight’s free screening is Trouble The Water, an award-winning look at Hurricane Katrina.Tia Lessin and Carl Deal tell the story of an aspiring rap artist and her husband who survive the storm and then take a chance for a new beginning. The DVD comes out tomorrow from Zeitgeist Films, and will be made available for early sale at the screening. The movie starts at 8 pm.

With all its hustle, the flips and fast paced jittering, swing dancing can be intimidating. But as lindy exhanges across the nation became bigger deals in the early part of this century, party goers danced and drunk their way into the night begetting a much slower, groovier and inebriated style. Enter blues dancing... the resurgence, at least.

You can thank Terence McFarland, the executive director of the Los Angeles Stage Alliance, for that fantastic quote about Sweaty Sundays (and Wet Wednesdays), a popular updated Richard Simmons dance exercise class " to a soundtrack of indie rock, techno, and 1980s new wave hits new wave" in Silver Lake. The New York Times takes an interest--"Silver Lake, a hipster neighborhood in Los Angeles"--while Gawker ponders if Williamsburg hipsters in Brooklyn can step up to the challenge.

The sixth annual three week New Original Works Festival ran its course this past weekend downtown at REDCAT. True to its mission, the series showcased new and emerging artists working in new genres as well as mid-career creators further exploring their art or collaborating with other experimenters in other media. Each of the three separate programs was a shared event and this final triptych went down as promised. To begin the evening, comic performer, writer and alumna of cable TV’s The Daily Show, Lauren Weedman presented Off.

For the third and final weekend of the 6th Annual New Original Works Festival at REDCAT, programmers have arranged for humor, incisive comment and other verbal and visual delights to share the stage.

X Games 15 started today and runs through Sunday at Staples Center and the Home Depot Center. Watch live 250 of the world’s best athletes competing in BMX freestyle, moto X, skateboard and rally car racing. Still on the bill this afternoon: Skateboard Vert Women's Final, Skateboard Street Women's Final, BMX Freestyle Park Elimination, Skateboard Big Air Final and Moto X Step Up Final. X Games events at the Staples Center require tickets ($20) for entry at 4 p.m. Home Depot tickets range from $10-$20 for all-day entry (starting at 10 a.m. daily). http://espn.go.com/action/news/story?id=4212508

Pioneering dance innovator Merce Cunningham died of natural causes this past Sunday at his home in New York City. At the age of ninety and having already influenced thousands of dancers and choreographers across the globe, the impact of his artistry will continue to be felt in his absence. The recipient of countless awards and international honors, the always forward-thinking creator only recently announced plans for his legacy to remain true to its origins. His iconoclastic dance technique, related to ballet but tilted, extended and re-imagined beyond ballet’s range, has been documented, codified and disseminated in the teachings of many of his previous company members and the many who trained at his studio in the West Village.

LEARN Blankspaces is holding the “Unintentional Entrepreneur Event” tonight from 6:30-8 pm. The event will feature successful, local entrepreneurs sharing tips and advice with those starting out or struggling with their existing business. Free beer and pizza, too. SHORT FILM The LA Shorts Fest opens tonight and runs through July 31. There’s a lot of star power at this year’s fest, which features more than 280 short films, music videos and commercials.

The 6th Annual New Original Works Festival opens this week and runs for three weekends at REDCAT, the theater at the basement of Disney Hall downtown. Programming an assortment of dance, theater, and music events to share a single performance, the festival’s history has been adventurous and the LA Weekly calls it "one of the city's more eclectic and vital performance festivals." The mission of the festival isn’t to get traditional and conventional work onto the LA stage, but to offer an opportunity for local artists to experiment and take some risks, using all the finery of this state of the art facility.

The Tattoo & Body Arts Expo takes place this weekend at the Fairplex in Pomona. The Expo features Mack 10 and Warren G, and more than 200 famous artists including Big Gus, Roman Abrego, Steve Soto, Tattoo Louie, Hori-Yen, Tommy Montoya among others. There's a Best Tattoo of the Day contest each day of the show. Admission is $25, and $50 for a three-day pass.

Since the Twilight Dance Series on the Santa Monica Pier began a couple weeks ago, the pier has gotten over capacity and has prompted extra police, says the Santa Monica Daily Press, noting that this is a first in its 25 year history for the weekly Thursday night summer event. Bigger crowds usually happen by the end of the summer, but not like this: "Franz-Knight attributed the big crowds to the economic downturn. 'We've had some great shows but I think people in a down economy are more excited and looking more for free events and community gathering spaces, and I think the concerts provide that,' he said."

From the minute one steps foot inside the Los Angeles State Historic Park, the site of Cirque Berzerk, no minute is left unstimulated. A small crew outfitted in pirate-like burlesque circus costumes greets entering cars. As you walk toward the entrance, distracted by the LA skyline that unfolds ahead, a burst of intense heat startles you and you instantly jump back 5-feet. It's easy to miss the enormous torch towering above; that is until it lets out this fire-breathing roar. Just when it seems like a good time to ask yourself "What the hell is going on?" a giant pale faced 'clown' on stilts drunkenly stumbles your way, looks down at you for a second and keeps going. And at intermission, the 1930's brass band, Vaud and the Villains, put on a show with so much energy, it's not only worth the price of admission, but they leave you tempted to hop on the next flight to New Orleans. One might imagine this is how David Berrent, Cirque Berzerk's executive producer and managing partner, felt when he attended the wedding of Cirque Berzerk's founder's Suzanne Bernel and Kevin Bourque prompting him to "quit his day job" as a TV-producer, and put everything into developing the current show, Beneath.

The art gallery Poketo and Royal/T are teaming up tonight for a Karaoke Dance Party from 8 pm-1 am at Royal/T. Dance or sing. The choice is yours. If you sign up for karaoke, there’s a chance you could be Poketo’s first Karaoke Idol -- and walk away with some pretty sweet prizes. Poketo’s pop-up shop open will be open all night as well as Royal/T’s cafe and bar, serving beer, wine, and Poketo's Japanese street food inspired menu throughout the evening. Come early for happy hour(s) from 8-10 pm. There’s no cover charge either. RSVP here.

The Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series kicks off tonight at 7 pm at the pier. Tonight’s free concert features the Playing for Change Band -- an Internet project that enlisted musicians from all over the world in a viral video and led to the creation of a CD that benefits street musicians and homeless populations. Also on the bill: Bushman (Jamaican Roots Reggae). So bring a picnic and your dancing shoes.

I think we all learned that the United States is a melting pot of people and cultures and that it began that way and continues in that direction, in spite of recent immigration hassles. Award winning choreographer/director Keith Glassman has taken off from that fact and created Far From Home, a multimedia, interdisciplinary evening length piece he will premiere this weekend at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica (June 26-27).

Apartment 3 is putting on a "Fancy Yard Sale" where you'll find over 500 unique pieces of vintage all under $20. Shop among tons and tons of women's wear (vintage dresses, swimsuits,shirts, skirts, mini sweaters, and tops and men's wear, too...all for under $20 each. Groove to summer jams by Djs Rockwell, Tommy B & Bruce Leroy, and enjoy Hot Dogs by Frankenstand, free cocktails and delicious lemonade all day. 1-6 p.m. @Apartment 3 (4634 Hollywood Blvd 90027).

                     

Cirque Berzerk's extended run at the Big Top in the park opened last night to ooh's and ahh's from the 1,750 circus-goers in attendance.

Before Live Aid, Farm Aid & Chef Aid came The Secret Policemen's Ball - which made the mold for the benefit concert, broke it, taped it back together, and ran with it. With a wealth of British comedy (including The Pythons, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry & Rowan Atkinson) and musical virtuosos (Pete Townshend, Sting, Eric Clapton & Phil Collins in then-unheard-of "unplugged" performances) donating their talents for Amnesty International, the show & tie-in albums, films & tapes, became a phenomenon

BENEFIT* Poketo Studio hosts a cancer benefit and silent art auction titled, “F%#k Cancer! We Love Justin!” tonight from 7-10 pm. 100% of proceeds will go directly to support medical treatment of artist Justin Van Hoy, who’s the art director for SWINDLE Magazine, and contributor of works for artists and brands such as OBEY, Roger Gastman, Cobra Snake and more. Contributing artists include Shepard Fairey, Tim Biskup, Saelee Oh, Jeana Sohn, Travis Millard, Mel Kadel, Marco Zamora, Ye Rin Mok, Josh Cochran, Caroline Hwang, Amanda Visell, David Weidman,Studio Number One, Sumi Ink Club, Chris Bettig, Sarajo Frieden, Kim Buzzelli and others

For the eighth year in a row, Dance Camera West will host the Dance Media Film Festival in multiple sites throughout the city from June 5-21. Beginning this Friday and Saturday with three programs screening 31 local and international short (and longer) films at REDCAT downtown, the highly acclaimed festival explores the intersection of cinematography and choreography. Chosen by Los Angeles Magazine as “Pick of the Month” (June 2008), DCW again partners with the city’s most prestigious venues in offering a global perspective on a new visual language through an amalgam of experimental shorts, documentaries, features, and symposiums with visiting international artists.

From the Taste of Avalon to Peddle Boat Race to a parade featuring Huell Howser, the 2nd Annual Flying Fish Festival in Catalina Island's main city, Avalon, is ready to pack a punch over the next four days. It begins tomorrow with a variety of activities including the Taste of Avalon where restaurants gather in the middle of town and dole out $1 or cheaper samples of their best dishes.

“Occupation Dreamer: The Photography of Moshe Brakha” is on display at the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE now through Aug. 9. The exhibit--the first one ever for the museum--includes 30 photographs of now-famous musicians taken by Brakha between 1976 and 1986 in New York, London, Beverly Hills, Dallas and Hollywood. Among the subjects: Madonna, The Beastie Boys, Black Flag, Miles Davis, Sting, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Madness, The Ramones, Run DMC, Sammy Hagar, Neil Young and The Thompson Twins.

What are you doing today? Cinco de Mayo related or not? Add to our list in the comments section below.