First Position, the ballet documentary that I wrote about in the Spring, is finally available on DVD and Netflix streaming! With over 80 minutes of extras, the DVD is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers. If you can’t wait a day or two for Amazon to deliver the film to your door, read my interview with director Bess Kargman to tide you over.
Click here for an MTA map that outlines limited subway service that opened this morning at 6 am.
Possibly the largest gift ever to a public park, $100 million dollars is being given to the Central Park Conservancy by hedge fund billionaire John A. Paulson. At a press conference today at Bethesda Fountain, Paulson announced the gift and said, “Walking through the park in different seasons, it kept coming back that in my mind Central Park is the most deserving of all of New York’s cultural institutions. And I wanted the amount to make a difference. The park is very large, and its endowment is relatively small.” Read more at NY Times
Just in time for the Jewish new year, Off Broadway show OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES is giving away the Ultimate Old Jews… Prize Package. All you have to do is “Like” their Facebook page, and you’re eligible to win four tickets to see the show, dinner at 54 Below, some OLD JEWS merchandise, and a meet-and-greet with the cast after the show. But hurry! The contest ends October 1st.
Check out a video below of cast member Audrey Lynn Weston searching for the meaning of Gefilte Fish in Times Square.
On a Friday morning three years ago, two close friends and I were walking past Grace Church on Broadway and East 10th Street when we heard the distinct voice of a unique individual: the originator of the New York City Cruise, Speed Levitch. He was filming a TV pilot with a small crew including director Richard Linklater. Tonight, I happened upon the final product of that sunny day’s happenings. Up to Speed is the Hulu original series that follows Speed around the country as he cruises such locals as San Francisco, the Middle of the Middle of the Midwest, and (of course) New York City. Added bonus: the episodes I’ve watched have all ended with an improvised spoken word musical performance by the zany lyricist.
Last night, I saw American Ballet Theatre’s production of La Bayadere at Lincoln Center. It was the second time this month that I’d seen the Solor variation performed. ABT cast 33-year-old Denis Matvienko from Ukraine as the love lorne warrior. But as far as Matvienko’s leaps stretched and as many times as his head whipped around to spot his pirouettes, his variation could not top the rendition that I saw two weeks ago. In footage from the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix, I saw 12-year-old Aran Bell give the performance of his life on a stage just one theater over from where a Principal dancer danced the same choreography last night at Lincoln Center.
Aran Bell is just one of the young athletes whose path to the Grand Prix is chronicled in Bess Kargman’s award winning documentary First Position. Bess told me during a phone interview that she made the film, which premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, with the purpose of discrediting ballet stereotypes. (Yes, you will see a successful black ballerina, a straight male dancer, and thin girls who aren’t starving themselves). It also breaks the mold of “dance movies,” which are generally thought of as niche films—only appealing to women or former dancers.
The six central characters are all training for and trying to make it to the final round in the the largest youth ballet competition in the world. The Youth America Grand Prix which is held each year in New York City and has awarded over $2 million in scholarships to competitors over its 13 seasons.
In 2009, then-journalist Bess Kargman was living in the city and walked past Lincoln Center, where she noticed a banner for the Grand Prix. She snuck inside and was awestruck by an 11-year-old girl who had taken charge of the massive stage. At that moment, Bess says she decided to make the dance documentary. And the girl on stage, Miko Fogarty, would be the first dancer cast in the film.
