Los Angeles Chamber Ballet

The Orange County Philharmonic Society will present the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet's full-length production of "The Little Prince" for two performances next April 27 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa as part of the annual nationwide Imagination Celebration. The Imagination Celebration is an arts program for children founded by the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington.

'The running joke this week," says Raiford Rogers, co-artistic director of Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, "is our new slogan: 'Chamberettes Are Cool.' I remind the dancers that technique is important and expression's important, but what we really want is for you to be cool at all costs." Is he kidding? Absolutely. Well, sort of--he's laughing, but he's also seriously grappling with the cool concept, choreographing a jazz noir ballet.

Continuing the inaugural season in the theater of the new Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles on Oct. 22 is the joint presentation, by Theatre of Yugen of San Francisco and the Tiny Alice Theatre Company of Tokyo, of "The Climax of Salome." Subsequent attractions due at the 1,200-seat main theater include: "Black Choreographers Moving Toward the 21st Century" (Nov. 10-13); Los Angeles Chamber Ballet in its new "The Nutcracker Ballet" (Dec.

Continuing the inaugural season in the theater of the new Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles on Oct. 22 is the joint presentation, by Theatre of Yugen of San Francisco and the Tiny Alice Theatre Company of Tokyo, of "The Climax of Salome." Subsequent attractions due at the 1,200-seat main theater include: "Black Choreographers Moving Toward the 21st Century" (Nov. 10-13); Los Angeles Chamber Ballet in its new "The Nutcracker Ballet" (Dec.

In front of Mark Stock's atmospheric backdrop of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles, countertenor Dennis Parnell stands wearing a scarlet cape over a dark leather-and-metal-and-fabric costume that might have graced the Chorus in Shakespeare's "Henry V."

Before virtually every record company featured it on a "Greatest Baroque Hits" album and before the TV ad agencies for airlines and appliances got hold of it, the tender little tune known as Pachelbel's Canon in D languished in near obscurity. Not for Antony Tudor, though. Back in 1971 the British-born choreographer set a dance, "Continuo," to the now-beloved score that singularly earned the early Baroque composer a name in the 20th Century.

It could be a bowling alley or skating rink in 1957, with the bossa nova melodies, the harmonies of the Fleetwoods and the organ stylings of Walter Wanderly. Instead, it's the rehearsal room at Stanley Holden's dance academy in West Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet once again goes back to the future for inspiration. The work being rehearsed is "So Nice," billed as bossa nova meets Betty Crocker, Brylcreem and bowling balls.

The newest work by Los Angeles Chamber Ballet takes its cue from ancient ethnic dance forms in which even a finger movement can carry great significance. However, the emphasis on subtle gesture in the new dance is imposed less by choreographic tradition than by nature: "Wheels 2" is performed in part by disabled performers in wheelchairs. Saturday at El Camino College, six disabled performers and six able-bodied dancers will present the 33-minute ballet in an 8 p.m. mixed-bill program.

Lo-Cal Composers, the local music-writers collective now marking its 10th anniversary, has changed membership and shifted priorities constantly but gradually over an eventful first decade. But the seriousness, wit and exuberance that many admired at its debut concert in September, 1984, still remain.

What does Woody Allen have in common with avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau and romantic poet Theophile Gautier? With the premiere at the Japan America Theatre Thursday of "Dmitri," based on Allen's story of the same title, the American film auteur and famous funnyman joins the ranks of famous ballet librettists.

Lo-Cal Composers, the local music-writers collective now marking its 10th anniversary, has changed membership and shifted priorities constantly but gradually over an eventful first decade. But the seriousness, wit and exuberance that many admired at its debut concert in September, 1984, still remain.

Before virtually every record company featured it on a "Greatest Baroque Hits" album and before the TV ad agencies for airlines and appliances got hold of it, the tender little tune known as Pachelbel's Canon in D languished in near obscurity. Not for Antony Tudor, though. Back in 1971 the British-born choreographer set a dance, "Continuo," to the now-beloved score that singularly earned the early Baroque composer a name in the 20th Century.

Raiford Rogers and Victoria Koenig have dream jobs. They spend their days working with people they like and listening to their favorite music--in Rogers' case, these days, the "dream ballads" of Roy Orbison. The two artists are succeeding at something generally thought impossible: building a ballet company in Los Angeles.

It could be a bowling alley or skating rink in 1957, with the bossa nova melodies, the harmonies of the Fleetwoods and the organ stylings of Walter Wanderly. Instead, it's the rehearsal room at Stanley Holden's dance academy in West Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet once again goes back to the future for inspiration. The work being rehearsed is "So Nice," billed as bossa nova meets Betty Crocker, Brylcreem and bowling balls.

What does Woody Allen have in common with avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau and romantic poet Theophile Gautier? With the premiere at the Japan America Theatre Thursday of "Dmitri," based on Allen's story of the same title, the American film auteur and famous funnyman joins the ranks of famous ballet librettists.

In front of Mark Stock's atmospheric backdrop of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles, countertenor Dennis Parnell stands wearing a scarlet cape over a dark leather-and-metal-and-fabric costume that might have graced the Chorus in Shakespeare's "Henry V."

Raiford Rogers and Victoria Koenig have dream jobs. They spend their days working with people they like and listening to their favorite music--in Rogers' case, these days, the "dream ballads" of Roy Orbison. The two artists are succeeding at something generally thought impossible: building a ballet company in Los Angeles.

'The running joke this week," says Raiford Rogers, co-artistic director of Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, "is our new slogan: 'Chamberettes Are Cool.' I remind the dancers that technique is important and expression's important, but what we really want is for you to be cool at all costs." Is he kidding? Absolutely. Well, sort of--he's laughing, but he's also seriously grappling with the cool concept, choreographing a jazz noir ballet.

The Orange County Philharmonic Society will present the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet's full-length production of "The Little Prince" for two performances next April 27 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa as part of the annual nationwide Imagination Celebration. The Imagination Celebration is an arts program for children founded by the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington.

The newest work by Los Angeles Chamber Ballet takes its cue from ancient ethnic dance forms in which even a finger movement can carry great significance. However, the emphasis on subtle gesture in the new dance is imposed less by choreographic tradition than by nature: "Wheels 2" is performed in part by disabled performers in wheelchairs. Saturday at El Camino College, six disabled performers and six able-bodied dancers will present the 33-minute ballet in an 8 p.m. mixed-bill program.