I woke up this morning wanting so desperately to find some inspiration in the day for myself…and then a video appeared in my box, posted by Ellison Ballet in NYC who The Model Critic covered in review. I had to share…
Featured here is 3rd Place Winner in the Classical Dance category, Yui Sugawara, age 19, who danced her piece called, “Exit,” at the 2013 Youth America Grand Prix which took place in Hartford, CT.
When it comes to dancing like a champion, there is no difference between costume and couture except for one element – Time. “I’ve been drawing my […] off for the last three days. In the Ballroom Dance world, we create a new line every single day.”
A visit to this year’s 2013 Emerald Ball held at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton was a sumptuous treat of eye-opening insight into what being a dress maker for high level competitive performers is really all about.
The Emerald Ball happens to be one of 5 events all year round where Dawn Smart showcases the full collection of her unique, stand out Dore Designs that are created and crafted at the “atelier” level. Here, clients pay a hefty sum (starting at $3500 and as much as $6000) for a show dress to begin with. But catering to her contest entry to pro/am division winner devotees, following THEM from event to event, is what has become the cornerstone of the Dore brand.
She’s very much a modern century couturier in the lines of Balmain, Givenchy or Dior, turning out custom drawn, designed, fitted and sewn gowns for each client in person, most of the time on the spot, during competition breaks, when dancers have precious moments to spare.
Dawn Smart of Dore Designs
Listening to her clients Dawn translates elaborately described illusions to material works of moving art. Painstaking patterning and penciling new gowns and dresses, from start to finish during private sessions and working on every detail: every pin, feather, sequin, and Swarovski crystal placement, every peep and coverup section, every slit, etc. is part of the “noticeable” edge that Dawn gives her star performers. And for as many days as a competition lasts, Dawn will sketch her fingers to the bone until the perfect raiment is envisioned.
In addition, Dawn provides what may be the ultimate resource for gown and dress making: bolts of European purchased silks that are completely dyed in a single color. There is never an occasion where she will mix and match color lots. Every finished design is uniform in each color block in pigment and shade from head to toe. She does however, make all of her garments here in the USA and overseas every detail, which is why her clients trust her utterly for flawless presentation.
Dawn also provides another completely unique service. For each dancer, a customized dressmaker form of her client’s measurements is created. So, should a lady with a truly demanding travel schedule or one with a last minute glitch, need a gown immediately, one can be shipped long distance without being fit in person. She won’t have to go through the distress of wondering whether or not she’ll be able to properly Waltz or Rumba in front of judges. A show woman can be confident that she will never experience an uncomfortable seam scratching against her body, fabric bulging in an odd place, losing a stitch and most of all not being able to shimmy or sache across the dance floor should a weight change have occurred.
It might sound like it is an incredible poo-pooing extravagance that most people cannot afford, but Dore Designs’ has a near cult following with fans around the globe. Plus her gowns have made numerous appearances on, “So You Think You Can Dance,” and New York Fashion Week. So strong is Dawn as a powerhouse of creativity, client hand-held support and even sponsorships on the circuit, she is now in preparation for Dore Designs appearances on several up and coming reality shows (which of course we can’t mention yet, even though we already have the “skinny” on one of them!). The power of competitive dance glamour! She’s a lady “On The Move” and we love her!
Real die hard glitterati will want her gowns for a night at the Opera, the Ballet, a Black-tie wedding or an elegant charity gala.
by Carlos Stafford, The Model Critic~.
Artistic Director Valentina Kozlova, the eminent former ballerina from the Bolshoi Ballet, offered her welcomed annual spring performance gala for students at Symphony Space, New York City, last last month.
In a smorgasbord of dances from the classical repertory, both tiny tots in leotards and tutus, to seasoned performances from professionals from ABT turned the evening into a special magic.
Kozlova’s Dance Conservatory Performance Project mission is “to foster classical dance and disseminate its education, both as a traditional value and everyday performance art form. Through classroom work, scholarships, performance presentation, the commissioning of new choreography, and its newest initiative, the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (VKIBC), formerly known as the Boston International Ballet Competition, (June 27-30: Registration currently open) DDPP strives to nurture, educate, and promote budding artists.”
Two very obvious standouts of this mission were exemplified in the beauty and grace of Veronika Verterich and Sara Steele–graduates who are off to the Dutch National Ballet and Tulsa, respectively. We wish them well, and hope to see more of them in the future.
Both Ms Verterich and Ms. Steele are equally adept in the classical repertory, as well as in contemporary dance modes. For Verterich, her Don Quixote Pas de Duex with ABT’s Alex Hammoudi was both fiery and well performed. An unusually gifted dancer with great dynamics, long line, and pliant body Verterich showed refined and confident ability once again with Cesar Reyes Lopez in Primera Vez, a contemporary piece. Ms Steele, dignified, with elegant charm, danced the Sleeping Beauty Pas de Duex with strong and attentive Craig Salstein, from ABT, to the familiar Tchaikovsky music, and closed the evening with a contemporary piece, Les Sabres du Paradis, where she displayed another dimension in her dramatic movement abilities in a dark, and apocalyptic piece by Nina Buisson and Cesar Reyes Lopez.
The evening was filled with great moments. Hannah Park and Choong Hoon Lee were flawless in the Le Corsaire Pas de Duex; Ms Park confident, graceful, and seemingly with ease captured the character of Medora, the slave girl, while Mr. Lee performed the iconic bravura dance, incidentally, the role Ethan Stiefel offered as his farewell piece at ABT last year, with concentrated commitment and artistic magic.
Jack Furlong and Darrah Brewster were winsome in Flames of Paris Pas de Duex, to the quick tempi of the music by Boris Asafiev, with Furlong showing strength, stamina and speed in this challanging piece, as well as his La Fille Mal Gardee, again danced beautifully with Brewster. Ms. Brewster showed a lot of promise with their abundant charm, daring, and fine line.
Lastly, Juex d’Eau choreographed by Nina Buisson and Olga Verterich was one of the most unusual and sensual pieces of the varied evening, in a word, beguiling. A contemporary dance with themes of water, waves and natural elements, and to music by Henri Torque and Tchaikovsky, proved to be a beautiful combination of lyrical and poetic movement patterns danced by the large and engaged cast of dancers.
The very talented students of VKDNYC showed what exposure to dedicated training can produce, as the two star graduates graced the stage.
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Ms Kozlova continues with her International Ballet Competition(VKIBC) in New York, June 27-30, showcasing dancers from around the world, and will no doubt be a grand event and great opportunity for emerging talent, and audiences alike.
Dance Conservatory Performance Project presented the students of VKDCNY in the Annual Spring Gala at Symphony Space on Saturday, April 20 Performances featured excerpts from Raymonda, Don Quixote, Flames of Paris, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty, La Fille Mal Gardée and a new contemporary ensemble piece choreographed by Nina Buisson.
The Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition will take place on June 27 to 30 New York City in the Concert Hall of LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, right behind Lincoln Center, home of American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet.
Posted in Dance, Media, Reviews, Theatre
Tagged @vkibc, Alex Hammoudi, Ballet, Carols Stafford The Model Critic, Cesar Reyes Lopez, Choong Hoon Lee, Craig Salstein, Darrah Brewster, Hannah Park, Jack Furlong, LaGuardia High School, Nina Buisson, Sara Steele, Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition, Veronika Verterich
RG Dance Projects presents We Fall Down, We Get Up featuring three pieces from choreographer and Artistic Director Rubén Graciani on May 17, 2013 at 8pm and May 18, 2013 at 3pm and 8pm at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance’s Studio Theater at Westbeth, 55 Bethune Street, 11th Floor, NYC. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students, seniors, and artists) and can be purchased here: 
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The evening will include two works from the repertory - Swing and a Miss set to music by Richard Danielpour and Rapture, a multi-media duet to the music of Debussy. The program culminates with the new work, We Fall Down, We Get Up - a larger work with 5 dancers, 24 singers from the Broadway Community Chorus, and a “living” set by Philip Treviño.
We Fall Down, We Get Up is an extension of a work begun at Skidmore College about the boundaries of identity. The new work is an exploration of one’s boundaries; both those we create for ourselves and those we inherit. The work questions how much control we have over the “performance” of our identity if some of those identifying markers are more or less inherited and permanent. The singers will be part of a “living” set to which they are tethered, demarking the stage space with tangible boundaries for the dancers to either work through or be constrained by. The singers are not only performing with the dancers, but also creating and changing the dynamics of the performance space as a living, breathing set piece.
Rubén Graciani has performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group (1994-1999), been a company member of the Kevin Wynn Collection, Company Stefanie Batten Bland, and the Joe Goode Performance Group, and has been a Guest Artist with the City Dance Ensemble and the Brian Brooks Moving Company, among many others. He holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, and an MFA from University of Maryland-College Park. His work in dance film was profiled in the November 2012 issue of Dance Magazine. He is currently an Associate Professor at Skidmore College, and a Dance Panelist for the New York Council on the Arts.
RG Dance Projects was loosely formed in 2009, and was formalized with debut performances in the DanceNow Raw Materials show in April of 2012. The company performed at the International Woodwind Festival in July of 2012 – cementing our commitment to collaborating with other artists on performance projects. The company performed in the DanceNow Joe’s Pub Festival in September of 2012, winning the Audience Favorite Award for our evening. In February 2013, the company debuted at the CoolNY Festival, and in March, the Current Sessions Festival premiered a dance film project. The company had a residency at DanceNow SILO in Pennsylvania as a result of our Joe’s Pub performance. RG Dance Projects is ecstatic to be able to begin work on a spring season with such a prestigious award. They have also been invited to perform their season at Saratoga ArtsFest in June of 2013.
For more information, please visit www.RubenGraciani.com.
“Botanicum Seedlings,” Theatricum Botanicum’s development series for playwrights, announced yesterday, the recipient of its 4th Annual “Izzy” Award. The winning play is Recipe by Michael Gene Sullivan.
First presented as part of last year’s spring playreadings, Sullivan’s comedy is about members of a vigilantly progressive baking circle who raise funds for revolutionary causes.
After its June playreading (directed by Jen Bloom and featuring company actors including Ellen Geer), Recipe was performed at Theatricum as a celebrity benefit. The August, 2012 staged reading was directed by Geer and starred Cloris Leachman, Amy Madigan, Wendie Malick, Jean Smart and Lisa Bonet.
The Izzy is named for Theatricum’s late dramaturg, Israel Baran, who passed away in 2007. To honor Israel’s keen mind, sharp tongue, and ear for language (despite the fact that he was frustratingly deaf), the Izzy was established to recognize the Seedlings play that “speaks to us the loudest.”
“This is quite an honor!” says Sullivan, a critically acclaimed playwright based in San Francisco. “First it was super-cool to have the script read and directed by such a talented group of women at a socially aware theater, but now winning this award is unexpected, and wonderful icing on the cake. Which is appropriate for a show called Recipe!”
Since its inception in 2002, Botanicum Seedlings has established itself as a vital resource for writers across the country. The series has been instrumental in the development of over 100 new plays, at least 25 of which have gone on to be published, win awards and receive major productions.
In addition to its public playreadings (scheduled later in the summer), now produced by John Maidman, Seedlings recently added new programs for playwrights: writing workshops and dramaturgy led by Theatricum playwright-in-residence Jennie Webb: The Seedlings Playwrights Workshop (the next session begins June 8; deadline is May 1 for playwrights to submit materials), Private Dramaturgy and Family Story Workshop.
Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with a year full of events. For more information on Botanicum Seedlings and new programs for playwrights call (310) 455-2322 or visit www.theatricum.com. Visit them on facebook:www.facebook.com/theatricum. Follow them on twitter: @theatricum.
Posted in Dance, Literature, Media, Shakespeare, Theatre, Writing
Tagged #LAThtr, @theatricum, Comedy, Izzy Award, Michael Gene Sullivan, playreading series, Recipe, Theatre, Theatricum Botanicum
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Seated at a small club table in the dark, inserted me right back into my early New York City gritty, speakeasy days, where live, storytelling was outlandish, the sky being the limit to an open imagination.
This time around was no different, except that The Lord’s Lover was in the room. Filling the space with its soulful sound, erotic, David Lynch like noir, blinking art and raw, beautiful burlesque, the Mad Hatter gathered all his wisdom and biting truth together to tell an awful satire about love and God, inspired by ancient myth.
The Lord’s Lover expressed the purely evocative through a gamut of lust, fantasy, shame, sourness, stasis and sarcasm. The devices of parody were curious and often had a carnival-like effect. But above all, this one performance, unlike any other, as I have not seen another of its kind in recent days, offered a wise fool’s impact.
A convoluted rondeau that involved text, poetry, live musical interludes and multi-media appealed purely to the senses. But then, they weren’t aiming to tell a linear tale; a benefit to the cast and a satisfying release for an audience who needed more than just theatre. This was theme driven high drama!
I honestly thought I was in for a “friendly, dirty comedy.” I was if fact astounded to be “falling down the rabbit hole” of often peak, perceptive wit, engulfed in a sort of theatre in the round, which used the entire second floor of Los Globos to engage its audiences.
There were a few dry spots in the purely spoken dialog. But this experience was well worth the ride and the ticket, I might add. The Lord’s Lover is written and directed as well as all music and lyrics written by Juliet Annerino goddess supreme of the Torch Ensemble and strongly supported by a troupe of unique players: Jim Bolt, Tori Amoscato, Ruben Maldonado, Rebecca Diamond, James Maverick, Stream Gardner, Skip Pipo, Ruman Kazi, Andrey Priadkin, Robert Walters and Morgan Schutte.
The musicians of the performance were a knock out!: Juliet Annerino, Vox; Jimmy Williams, guitar; Reggie Carson, bass; Tori Amoscato, vox harmony; Clinton Cameron, drums; Blaine McGurty, keyboards.
And kudos to special effects, video, make up sound, lighting, costumes, etc. for an effective blending of artistries that created all of the special for this event.
Whether it comes and goes, stays or makes a comeback, The Lords Lover leaves an indelible mark in the mind, body and soul. Who knows what will surface next.
“The truth? The truth has set them free. I let them go! Their on their own now. Cruel. Cruel! ” ~God
Playing every Wednesday until April 24th. Don’t miss the last performances. You will regret it!
WORTH THE TICKET!
Now playing in the downstairs room at 8pm Wednesdays through April 24th
40 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Call for tickets: 323-666-6669 or visit TheLordsLover.com
Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move, Departed actress
Posted in Dance, Media, Literature, Poetry, Art, Movies, Music, Theatre, Fashion, Reviews
Tagged cabaret, burlesque, The Lord's Lover, Los Globos, Juliet Annerino
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Walking up to the brand new, $20,000,000+, community supported, performing arts center, built for the students of Arcadia High School was an awesome experience. And that’s not merely modern “slanguage” i.e. cool or epic!; I mean that in the literal dictionary definition of stupendous, astonishing, stunning and sublime; in other words, inspiring awe.
I wouldn’t normally write an amatuer theatre review, as in this case for Arcadia High. However, a premiere performance mounted as a debut for a state of the art production facility, that rivals theatres such as the Broad or the Ahmanson, more than raises the bar for everyone involved including the viewing audience. And so the question now really is not so much as, “How did they do?” but instead, ”How will they live up to it?”
Years ago, I read an article about the film industry during a time when period pieces were making a comeback via such movies as Restoration with Robert Downey Jr. The article talked about the tough task faced by even the best, most talented, iconic actors to find their way through the increasingly grand visual “wow” factor that is “technically” possible today.
Because of the juxtaposition of age, talent and experience versus the new facility itself, the students of Arcadia High are much in the same position; at the cusp of theatrical greatness, heading into an ambitious adventure, where anything is possible, opening the field for potentially developing now, a real, verily distinct, Julliard-like performing arts curriculum.
This new addition to the city of Arcadia sets us up for much more than mere pleasure. It brings a higher community based value and expectation for the students and the city itself; in other words, undeniable and visible prestige. In some ways, “the pressure’s on.”
I voice this (as always from experience and deep respect) as a performer who spent many years, gifted by a National Endowment of the Arts scholarship at a college level performing arts school which included a comprehensive theatre, film and dance arts education, including regular main stage Broadway style musicals plus athletics and other categories. There was a lot to participate in. And at the same time, we were expected to endeavor our most professional efforts (even on my first year, at age 10). It was a “chunk!”
In this case, with the gift a professionally designed, modern 1200 seat theatre with side balconies and a fully equipped tech booth, the teachers, directors, set, wardrobe etc. and especially the actors have so much more than most artists with which to apply their craft. They also have much more responsibility to utilize the stage for top-tiered, crackerjack, amazing. Unequivocally challenging and utterly exciting!
So how did they do?
Well, the Arcadia High School players, for their first production decided to mount what has become one of the more popular old school spoof revivals from Broadway to LA, The Drowsy Chaperone. It’s a magnificently large show able to accommodate tons of actors, singers, dancers, musicians and a slew of back of house designers and crew ready for creativity (i.e. everyone gets a part).
Did they put on a seriously “sexy” show. No. It’s a high school. Hello. There are limits.
Was I wishing the student driven, costumes and choreography were a bit more glamourous. Well, sure. In a show like this, the sky’s the limited. But they did put their best, most colorful glitz forward and that was sparkle factor a’plenty.
Was I hoping for a few more high kicks by the lead actress in the the highlighted number of the show. Definitely. I mean, after having seen it done on Broadway in 2006 at the Marquis Theatre, I was anxious for the physically audacious “showing off” during the song, “I Don’t Want to Show Off,” which IS the comedy of the moment.
But what these kids did do, was outstanding. And the lead singer could sing! (as could the rest of the cast), vocally showing off by belting out the best numbers bringing the play home and the audience to its feet for a well-deserved standing ovation.
Arriving last minute because of a prior commitment and traffic, I showed up just before the top of the show and was most graciously given a front row seat just under the (totally exciting) footlights!
The curtain opened and the rest is truly history. The premiere performance of The Drowsey Chaperone provided a special treat for all complete with a dedicated and again, vocally, talented cast, throwing out a few spot on characters and fancy footwork, aided by the absolutely unique experience of un-canned music played backstage behind the curtain by the school’s outstanding band! The Arcadia Performing Arts Center is such an achievement that features so much promise. I can’t wait to see what these kids come up with next. BRAVO!
“As We Stumble Along”…
Words on Dance
“No other dance gives one’s felicity time to get happily under way.
It is when the music and the lights, and the colour and the thronging dancers, and the floor and the perfume and the rhythm and the four winds and the seven seas and the everlasting hills, and youth and hope and glory and desire, and pride and beauty and remembered joys are all fused in a singing, sliding, throbbing ecstacy of rosy mist, and one has forgotten time and death and the King’s taxes, that one realizes how life is life and that the waltz is it.
~Robert Blatchford
International Dance Day is April 29, 2013
National Dance Day is July 27th
February 10, 2013 marked the Lunar New Year, a major holiday in Asia and a major cultural event in Asian communities around the world, celebrated with music, food, and good company.
For its eighth year in a row, AsianInNY, New York’s premier online destination for multicultural networking and entertainment, will host its 2013 Lunar New Year celebration fashion show on February 23, 2013 from 6:00-10:00pm at New York Law School located at 185 West Broadway, New York.
*The first 100 people to arrive will receive free raffle tickets (amazing items including bags, wallets, bottled water, t-shirts and more.)
$20 online pre-event purchase* before Feb 22 midnight
$25 at the door
For tickets: http://www.asianinny.com/?p=26601
AsianInNY guests will enjoy an exciting line-up of comedy, music, fashion, dance, and food starting with MC for the event, the Godfather of Asian American comedy, Phil Nee. A native New Yorker, Nee appeared recently on “The Colbert Report,” headlined the Hong Kong Comedy Festival, and just completed filming a role in the upcoming movie “Chinese Puzzle.”
Raising the roof will be DJ Simon ‘Taiga’ Tai. Regularly mixing at the hottest clubs in NYC, he can be found spinning events for the likes of LVMH, Dior and Tag Heuer.
This year’s runway fashion show will spotlight Joy Hu, a NYC-based Canadian designer whose couture custom dresses have been worn by Miss Universe Natalie Glebova, Miss Jamaica Chantal Zaky, singer Anjulie, Jersey Shore’s, Angelina Pivarnick, and Model Latina Champion Jessica Caban, and will feature the new collections by other outstanding Asian designers.
Get in the groove early. Check Anjulie’s hit record, You and I.
Attendees can purchase all the featured items from the fashion shows with discounted rates on 247Features.com after the event where a portion of their profits will give to charity.
Asian models will be sporting TC Charton Eyewear by designer Alexandra Peng Charton, the first North American line created expressly for Asians. Hair and makeup will be done by Charles Lam’s hair salon and beauty spa MessLook. A top international stylist for more than 20 years, Lam’s clients include artists, singers, models and performers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The evening’s featured performers will include:
• KI-YO -Singer
• Shoko Tamai – Dancer
• United East Athletics Association – Lion Dance
• Takala Land – Dance Company
• ‘Nuf Said – Live Band
Read more about the performers on the AsianInNY blog.Sponsors: AriZona Beverages, Asian Real Estate Association of America, Bruce Cost Ginger Ale, Haruo Noro Salon, JOA Production, KOH COCONUT, Manhattan Portage, MessLook, Mika Japanese Cuisine and Bar, MusicDish China, New York Law School, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, TC Charton, Ty Ku, Well Luck Co., 247Features.com.
Join their Facebook FanPage to receive special announcements about exclusive offers and events: https://www.facebook.com/AsianInNYFans
TARANTELLA: SPIDER DANCE
by Tracey Paleo, Gia On the Move.
All fired up and melting the hearts of pre-teen girls everywhere [ah me, to be 12 again] rising boy band, IM5 took to the CHILL-Out! Main Stage on Sunday, January 6th, for the last night before the seasonal meltdown of the the Queen Mary’s Dome spectacular, The Ice Kingdom, a one-of-a-kind arctic gallery hand carved from 2 million pounds of ice!
Along with heartthrobs Cole, Gabe, Dana, Dalton and WillJay, the concert offered an all star line up that also featured The Disney Channels Pair of Kings, The Ochoa Brothers, YouTube instant starlets VanJess, Girl Squad and hit duo Brandon & Savannah, making the night a total hit that was crowded with tweens; screaming, crying, cheering, and rapping, iPhones in hand sophisticatedly video taping the show. (So much competition to get to the stage!)
And I just bet you were thinking, “What the heck am I going to do on a big boat?”
While floods of blue penguins of all shapes and sizes (myself included in our borrowed below freezing temps gear generously provided by the QM) waddled around the Ice Castles, Santa’s Village and Nativity displays among the many etchings, some ice
skated under a moonlit sky in the glittery shadow of the brightly decorated “Jewel of Long Beach” docked in the harbor.
The Queen Mary regularly features, all year round entertainment along with its rich, maritime, history, Art Deco decor, stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and signature restaurants including the awa
rd-winning Sir Winstons and The Chelsea Chowder House & Bar. From legends to ghosts, brunches to exhibits, The Queen Mary offers something for all ages, as the grandest ocean liner ever built. And it still boasts 312 fully up and running staterooms. All aboard!
Now, as I happen to be a big kid, on this night, I decided to tempt fate on the giant carved slide housed inside the Dome (secretly hoping of course that I wouldn’t get stuck in the middle going down like Homer Simpson in the Waterworld Tube).
“We only have two rules. Please don’t touch the ice and PLEASE don’t lick it!”
I’m sure I broke at least one of those rules. lol And mostly it was a Sunday night for kids. But I have to admit apart from the munchkins bouncing around – I had a great time! Looking forward to my next visit in the coming Spring and Summer months. Will keep you posted with the updates. 
Posted in Dance, Media, Music, Reviews
Tagged by Tracey Paleo Gia On The Move, ice skating, Queen Mary CHILL
Gia On The Move
