Norwegian dancemaker Jo Stromgren’s local premiere of “Necessity Again” was the night’s wryly surreal romp in philosophical terrain. A voice-over by French philosopher Jacques Derrida discussed presence, necessity and death, as a troupe of bee-hived, suited youth dragged and strung up lines from which blank paper hung. Meanwhile, French crooner Charles Aznavour sang about love, loss, the beach, and muscadet. It might have been titled “Against Necessity,” because with no intellectual pretensions but gobs of off-kilter wit, it refused to be a dance we had to recognize, while every element in it was recognizable. Blank paper — metaphor for empty words, the unknowable, the effluvium of our efforts to understand —— was the main character, the dancers life’s pawns. Sex and instinct, including the hilarious vibrations that seized Matthew Rich’s pelvis like a force from outer space, snaked through everything.
At Sue’s Performing Stars Dance Studio, students aged 2 through 82, learn tap, jazz, hip hop and ballet, Sue teaches tap and jazz, Her ballet teacher is Claudia Montgomery and Gina Benedetti teaches, tap, jazz and hip hop, Gina started as a tap and jazz student at Sue’s Performing Stars when she was 8, The school has one big annual show in June and they always march in the Fog Fest parade, This year’s show, “Looking Back 30 Years,” was held last weekend, She also held a 30th anniversary barbeque in San ivory satin flower girl shoe 23 colors, ivory baby ballet flat toddler ballet slipper, girls ivory wedding shoe, summer wedding, Pedro Valley Park..
Carolina Lugo and Carole Acuna’s Ballet Flamenco: 7 p.m. Dec. 22, 23, 29, 30, pena Pachamama, 1630 Powell St., San Francisco. A Spanish night of footwork, song, castanets, syncopated hand clapping and guitar showcases this true Spanish art form. https://bit.ly/2DMh8Wi. Book Launch Event “Leonardo’s Knots”: 6 p.m. Dec. 18, 14414B Oak St., Saratoga. This event centers around Caroline Cocciardi’s book about Leonardo da Vinci’s passion for interlocking knots and codes, which he placed in such iconic paintings as “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”. Free. Reservations: 408-666-4050. www.leonardosknots.com.
It was a meat and potatoes program at the California Theatre — Haydn and Beethoven were its bookends — and the performances were top-notch, I attended Sunday’s concert (the program ivory satin flower girl shoe 23 colors, ivory baby ballet flat toddler ballet slipper, girls ivory wedding shoe, summer wedding, had opened Saturday night), and was struck again and again by the rapport Cleve enjoys with the orchestra, many of whose members have played with him for decades, Haydn’s Symphony No, 100 in G major, nicknamed “Military,” opened the program, It immediately registered as “authentic”: Haydn’s lilting rhythms felt so natural, as did the first movement’s stormier textures, driven by rich strings and foreshadowing Beethoven’s tempests..
Contact Sally Mecham at 925-684-3505 or mechamrs@pacbell.net to volunteer or for more details. Master gardener Trish Clifford will give the free presentation 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 21 at Los Medanos Community Garden at East Leland and Loveridge roads, Pittsburg. For more information, call 925-754-3156. Freedom Art Boosters is holding its third online auction in October to raise money for the Visual and Performing Arts department and needs items such as new electronics equipment, baked treats, gift baskets, sports memorabilia and collectibles for others to bid on.
