Ann Haskins

Drawn from four different tap troupes, this remarkable concert spotlights performances by the best and brightest of the upcoming generation of tappers, interspersed with solos by some not-so-elder masters and contributions from 13 celebrated choreographers. Jazz Tap Ensemble’s Caravan Project has long been a finishing school for up-and-comers, and here......

Since bursting onto the Southern California scene a scant three years ago, choreographer Jennifer Backhaus and her Orange County–based company have established themselves as a formidable presence. A win in the 2003 McCallum Theater choreography competition in Palm Desert and a fistful of Lester Horton awards and nominations for choreography,......

Just as the musical West Side Story captured the crosscultural rip tides of immigrants flooding into New York City, East Side Story reflects those currents in Turkey, setting the iconic Romeo and Juliet plot in Istanbul during the 1970s. The only city in the world to straddle two continents, Istanbul......

Looks like Spain is the country on everyone’s mind this summer. A flamenco festival just concluded in Orange County. Closer in, Pacifico Dance Company devoted a concert to choreography reflecting the influence of traditional Spanish dance forms on the Mexican folkloric movement. Ballet takes its turn as Southern California’s fascination......

Esther SegoviaTravel without leaving L.A. this summer, using as your passport a ticket to the Ford Amphitheater, where performers from around the world arrive with the regularity of planes landing at LAX. This week marks the return of last summer’s sold-out celebration of Argentine culture. The music of urban Buenos......

UCLA’s annual cross-cultural experiment brings together an array of traditional dancers, musicians and other performing artists for several weeks each summer. APPEX honors masterful practitioners of Asian art forms while encouraging multiethnic and interdisciplinary collaborations. The first salon performances several weeks ago showcased classical performances of various Asian performing arts,......

The last flight of aviatrix Amelia Earhart intrigues Mira Kingsley, while political and personal sleight of hand fascinates Marisa Carnesky, and Victoria Marks is obsessed with the potentialities of highly trained dancers with movement flirting with warp speed. The three share the stage in the second installment of CalArts’ three-week......

La Danserie began in 1997 with three main choreographers working in highly distinctive styles, and over time it evolved into a chamber ballet company primarily articulating choreography by its founding artistic director, Patrick Frantz. While the company name and the title of many of its danceworks reflect Frantz’s French influence......

The name says it all, capturing the irreverent playfulness and physical audacity that Anne and Jeff Grimaldo apply to the art of dance making. Alums of postmodern icon Rudy Perez’s ensemble, the two established their own identity in 1993 as Naked With Shoes. Their work extends Perez’s fearless explorations of......

As a dancer for George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet, Edward Villella quixotically combined acutely sensitive musicality with the swaggering physicality of New York street moxie. Over two decades, Villella has embued MCB with a similar combination of in-your-face energy and attention to the nuances of the company’s......