You have not experienced ballet like this unless you’ve been a ballet student (or the dutiful parent of a ballet student). There are numerous reasons to attend an American Contemporary Ballet presentation.

But first, let us get this out of the way: American Contemporary Ballet (ACB) is not a modern dance company. ACB founder and creative director Lincoln Jones refers to his work as “contemporary classical” ballet because he produces new works that strive for a classical aesthetic. He very much pursues the American tradition of George Balanchine, where ballet morphed from a theater-driven art form to a music-driven art form.

An ACB event is an up-close & personal, first-row education in ballet.  This is, in part, due to the studio setting (more on that in a moment). The usual curriculum is Lincoln Jones will describe a specific dance move or series of dance moves and has each dancer execute the moves. Jones will point out the real challenge of each move and point out each dancer’s strengths and weaknesses in the series. The dancers will then re-do the series with corrections. You truly get to see how each dancer leaps, lands, etc. in slightly different ways depending on the dancers’ individual strengths (and these are professional dancers near the top of their game). You also get to see just how challenging the moves are and how much the dancers sweat. You would not catch these differences in typical auditorium seating.

Continue reading “American Contemporary Ballet Presents Dancing School”

I am surprised and gratified by the arts events occurring at the community level. Most often, these events are due to the moving and shaking of determined individuals who have day jobs. My latest surprise along this line is The Rock’n Blues Concert Series in Huntington Beach. This series is the brainchild of Diane Adams, a Huntington Beach-based insurance agent and autism activist who fronts her own rock band Diane and the Deductibles.

The first show in the 2017 series is Grammy-nominated, award winning blues chanteuse Janiva Magness on February 18. Ms. Magness has 11 albums under her belt and shows no sign of slowing down. Indeed, Diane Adams shows no signs of slowing down either. She produced five shows in the 2016 Rock’n Blues Concert Series and three shows in the 2015 series. Her band was the warmup act for each show and will be warming up for Ms. Magness. A youtube search will give you a good feel for both Janiva Magness and Diane and The Deductibles.

What strikes me about this series is 1) it is intimate. It is held at the Huntington Beach Central Library’s 319 seat theater. 2) Everybody is a VIP. All attendees are invited to the post-show meet and greet with the artists. 3) Price. Tickets start at $32 ($29 plus $3 service fee).

So, for a low price, you get great seats, a world-class singer, no crowd/parking issues and you can rub elbows with like-minded people. Too often I bellyache about how the Internet and telecommuting wrought a loss of community. It is events like this that bring the community back!

There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Hershey Felder and his work. His one-man shows are a tour de force of acting, piano performance and the art of storytelling. Fortunately for us, he returns to Laguna with a new work: Our Great Tchaikovsky.

Engaging an audience in a one-man show is challenging enough, but Felder is an auteur’s auteur. He creates everything down to the set design and he’s done it for one-man shows on Beethoven, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Chopin and Liszt. He portrays the composer telling his life story.

This is fertile territory. All those composers were outliers. Their roots were humble, their struggles mighty, their fortunes mixed and their output prodigious, beautiful and game changing. Felder presents all of that engagingly in a two-hour package plus he plays the piano beautifully and sprinkles a bit of humor here and there. The audience gasps at his anecdotes. You will too!

I wish I could post an example of Felder’s work, but he is shy and his website is lean and out of date. The only performance clip I could find was this Irving Berlin snippet. On the brighter side, Felder does participate in interviews. This is the most comprehensive Felder interview available.

Our Great Tchaikovsky plays through March 26. As an added bonus, Felder will be holding three Great American Songbook singalong events. It will be interesting to see him as himself rather than a historic figure.

I haven’t made it to Fullerton in years because I was preoccupied with the art and culture events in the Newport-Mesa-Laguna-Irvine area. My bad! Fullerton is back on my map! Some of these events are world class and inexpensive.  Examples:

Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau at the Fullerton Museum Center

I imagine you’ve seen Mucha’s work in books and magazines. I am absolutely certain you’ve seen his influences in advertisements, especially during the Art Nouveau revival of the 1960’s (think rock concert posters and album covers).

What you may not have seen are the Mucha posters in their full size and rich colors. They are grand! The nice thing about Mucha is his work is accessible. If your friends and family squirm at the thought of art, they will be able to handle this.

Continue reading “Fullerton: Full of Fine Arts!”

I want to inspire people to explore the local arts. I try to accomplish this by 1) sharing the astonishing number of affordable and lesser known events in OC/LA and 2) provide some background and context to the art forms so that they are mentally accessible. The arts don’t have to be intimidating. Unfortunately, there are participants on the supply side who reinforce the intimidation factor. In other words, snobbery! This is not a tale about my delicate feelings. This is a cautionary tale about how venues perpetuate their worst stereotypes. But maybe they want to.

Continue reading “I was a victim of art snobbery!”

Cello Weekend in Laguna

I love the cello. There is something about those instruments in the lower register that I feel in my gut when I hear them live. Thanks to The Philharmonic Society and Laguna Beach Live, we have an entire weekend of cello in Laguna Beach. Not only that, we get to see young cellist virtuoso Johannes Moser in performance. His resume and his accolades are way too long to list here, but you can easily say this is like seeing a young Yo-Yo Ma in a smaller theater before he became a household name.

Continue reading “Cello Weekend in Laguna”

Two big reasons to attend the LA Fine Print Show:

1. Admission and parking are free!
2. You will see and touch hundreds of amazing works!

There are other, less obvious but more compelling reasons to consider owning fine prints. The fine print is such a versatile, affordable art form. Anybody who is looking to own something historic and original should peruse these offerings.

Consider the following:

Size. Most fine prints range from paperback-sized to about 12 square inches. They will fit anywhere, including your hip Airstream trailer.

Continue reading “Don’t Overlook The LA Fine Print Show!”