To Live and Dance In L.A.

By Victoria Looseleaf

It’s no secret that we cover all the arts, but we do have a particular fondness for dance. And we’ve had quite the spring season.

One weekend in May we did a pre-concert talk with the fabulous Colleen Neary, co-artistic director of Los Angeles Ballet (above photo by Lawrence K. Ho), before taking our seats to watch the troupe perform three glorious Balanchine works as part of its Balanchine Festival (click here for our New York Times story on the great choreographer’s time in L.A.).

The next day we found ourselves at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s wondrous production of The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by our favorite maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, with costumes by Azzedine Alaïa. (Click here for our review of Ballet Preljocaj’s Les Nuits, the connection being Alaïa also did the costumes for Angelin’s latest work that bowed in Aix-en-Provence.)

We then rushed out of Disney Hall to make it to the El Portal Theatre in time to live tweet the red carpet arrivals for Shaping Sound Dance Company before taking in the concert. Click here for our Dance Magazine review of the surprisingly good work, with choreography by Travis Wall, et al. (Left: Teddy Forance and Jaimie Goodwin, photo by Charley Gallay)

We then did two more pre-concert talks with Ms. Neary and also wrote our first story for KCET’s ARTBOUND about the brilliant young troupe, American Contemporary Ballet (also part of our NYT story), that posted May 29, the 100-year anniversary of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. (Below: ACB’s Theresa Farrell; photo by Lauren Ward)

And though we love nothing more than being in the studio watching rehearsals (we’ve been making forays to the Brewery to check up on Jacques Heim and Diavolo, whose Fluid Infinities debuts at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Phil in September), we gotta admit, we’re really looking forward to ACB’s concerts this weekend, June 14 and 15. We’ll also be reviewing Bodytraffic for the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, so stay tuned…

Also: In between going to all of these great dance (and music) events, we saw two terrific plays at the Music Center – Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and The Scottsboro Boys – and caught L.A. Opera’s riveting production of Tosca (also at the Center), our favorite PMS opera (don’t ask, just trust us).

And trust us when we say it’s going to be a great summer in L.A., where the arts are very much alive and well!

About Victoria Looseleaf

Victoria Looseleaf is an award winning arts journalist and regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, KUSC-FM radio, Dance Magazine, Performances Magazine and other outlets. She roams the world covering dance, music, theater, film, food and architecture. Have pen - and iPad - will travel! Her latest book, "Isn't It Rich? A Novella In Verse" is now available on Amazon. Thank you for reading! Cheers...
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