Pasadena Arts Council (PAC) is proud to announce AxS Festival 2014 | Curiosity, in diverse venues throughout the greater Pasadena area from Friday, September 19, 2014, through Sunday, October 5, 2014. AxS [ak-sis], produced by Pasadena Arts Council in partnership with numerous Pasadena arts and science institutions, is a two-week+ citywide festival spanning three weekends that explores the nexus of artistic and scientific inquiry, promoting experimentation and cross-fertilization between these disciplines. Programming is saturated with innovative visual art, theatre, dance, music, photography, history, science, literature, film, and architecture. The 2014 theme, Curiosity, was inspired by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-built Mars Rover, “Curiosity,” which is currently exploring the Martian surface some 50 million miles above us. The goal for the festival is to create audience experiences that bridge the boundary between art and science. Many events are free.  Read the rest of this entry »

Fishtown’s Highwire Gallery is pleased to present MicroCosmic, an exhibit of 2-dimensional works by Philadelphia artists Joshua Gabriel, Rochelle Marcus Dinkin, and Rachel Isaac, running from Friday, December 6, 2013 through Saturday, December 29, 2013.  Each of the three MicroCosmic artists uses intricate detail and layers to create their own worlds, inhabiting the space between memory, fantasy, history, and the galaxy.  MicroCosmic kicks off with an opening reception featuring wine, hors d’oeuvres, all three artists in attendance, and other treats on Friday, December 6, 2013 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm.  The reception will be part of Philly’s monthly First Friday art crawl.  This is a free event. Read the rest of this entry »

American Masters Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, premiering nationally Friday, December 28, 2012 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings), tells the story of the first quintessentially American dance company, the Joffrey Ballet. Founders Robert Joffrey (12/24/1930 – 3/25/1988) and Gerald Arpino (1/14/1923 – 10/29/2008) revolutionized American dance by combining modern with traditional ballet to create a new and daring art form. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award-winner Mandy Patinkin (Homeland), the 90-minute documentary is the first to chronicle the Joffrey Ballet’s pioneering dance philosophy. Award-winning filmmaker Bob Hercules traces the company’s struggles and triumphs: from its humble beginnings in 1956, touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon, to becoming one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) will transform Eagle Rock’s Welcome Inn into a six-hour tour through key moments in LA’s experimental music history withWelcome Inn Time Machine on Sunday, January 29, 2012.  Over a dozen concurrent micro concerts will transform individual motel rooms into venues for installations and live performances allowing key moments in Southern California sound and music history to be experienced simultaneously and sequentially in a single location. Welcome Inn Time Machineruns from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. The event is free.  The Welcome Inn is located at 1840 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90041.

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Joffrey Ballet founders Robert Joffrey & Gerald Arpino, early 1960's. Photo credit: unknown

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, the first film to chronicle the legendary Joffrey Ballet, is set to premiere in New York City in January 2012 at the Dance On Camera Festival. The feature length documentary takes a look at this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known a s the first truly American dance company. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin and directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man), the film documents how the Joffrey revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet, and setting it to pop and rock music scores. Following the North American premiere in late January, the film will embark on a theatrical tour to select cities in the U.S. Released through Hybrid Cinema, the documentary is expected to have a DVD release in the first quarter of 2012 as well.
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Photo Credit: Randall Montgomery

Award-winning actress and playwright Diz White is set to release her spine-tingling collection of true stories, Haunted Cotswolds, through The History Press this Halloween season. Set in what many consider the most beautiful part of England, White, a Los Angeles-based British expat, recounts the numerous paranormal events that have occurred in the region while simultaneously documenting the Cotswolds’ eerie architecture and fascinating history. Pieced together from both historic and present-day sources, the 96-page paperback book is filled with tales of ghosts, ghouls and the undead from every corner of the Cotswolds, the second most popular tourist destination in the UK. Included are stories of tortured headless kings, stark-raving mad butchering inn keepers, buried alive country squires, burned at the stake nuns, and other undead who walk among us. The author will discuss and sign copies of the book at a Samuel French reception in Studio City on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. (11963 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604; 818-762-0535; www.samuelfrench.com).

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