Concert Review: “Tchaikovsky Spectacular”

It is the emotional range of Russian composer Tchaikovsky’s contributions to classical music that ensures the timelessness of his compositions ““ moving listeners to feel everything from the pain of doomed love to the grandiose patriotism of wartime. Similarly, it is the ingenuity of the Hollywood Bowl’s Tchaikovsky Spectacular that manages to keep the annual concert honoring the composer an inspiring event each and every year.

Dance group finds the spotlight

While the Bay Area of Northern California represents the invention of the Hyphy movement, originating in the late ’90s with rappers Keak Da Sneak and E-40, Los Angeles’ own hip-hop movement, jerk dancing, or “jerking,” is quickly becoming a nationwide fad. The UCLA Jerk Kings, a group of four jerk dancers (two of whom are actual UCLA students), have jerked their way to YouTube stardom.

Therapy through art: Imagine that

The razzle-dazzle and the drama of live theater has long moved audience members to escape into the stories of imaginary situations and characters ““ but what about the therapeutic effects of theatrical escapism on the actors themselves? The Imagination Workshop, an unconventional theater company comprised of professional theater artists and patients with mood disorders and other mental illnesses, seeks to explore this question.