This past Tuesday marked the return of Ángel Corella to New York City Center with his dance company Barcelona Ballet, which until recently was known as Corella Ballet. This year we find the primier danseur and his troupe doing things a bit differently than their 2010 appearance, most notably with the world premiere of the third and final set, Pálpito.

Choreographed by Spanish dancers Á�ngel Rojas and Carlos Rodríguez, Pálpito is a mixture of several traditional Spanish styles of dance infused with a classical ballet influence. Set to a score by Héctor González, the performance is haunting and driving at the same time, filled with eerie flamenco vocals and magical tango rhythm and strings, a mixture of Spanish heartbeats with striking and ornate Spanish flavored costumes by Vicente Soler. Pálpito also marks Ángel Corella’s only appearance of the evening and it is well worth the wait. With each twist and turn Corella shows strength, stamina, and grace as his energy practically erupts from the stage during his intense and contemporary solo.

Its final viewing tonight, Barcelona Ballet with a new name, a new style, and new choreography shows that its artistic growth and development continues as this young company vies to establish it self further as Spain's only classical ballet company.

PRIMA DONNA
A LOVE SONG TO OPERA

This Saturday marks the final night of New York City Opera's Prima Donna at the Bam Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn. Written by singer-songwriter, Rufus Wainwright, and directed by Tim Albery, Prima Donna is “a meditation on the fine line between fame and failure” depicting the grueling yet engrossing emotional trek of facing fear of a haunted past, finding and losing love, and meeting rejection and abandonment, all to discover the true value of relationships.

The Prima Donna herself is played by Melody Moore, “a rising star … who received accolades for her performance in last season’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon.” Set in 1970's Paris and preformed in French, Prima Donna promises no shortage of emotion and drama, with strong vocal performances, and stylishly beautiful shifting backdrops.

Final Performance, Saturday, February 25th, 7:30 p.m. at  BAM

This absolutely fabulous program explores costume and fashion in European and American cinema by focusing on episodes in cinema history which distinctly portray costume, adornment, and styling to create an eye pleasing sense of visual delight. Though the program had some what of a bumpy start it's opening night last week, the festival quickly picked up steam the rest of the weekend, with sumptuous screenings of silent films Secrets of the Orient, Male and Female, Kenneth Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, and the dream like Pink Narcissus.

This weekend looks to be just as delicious– full of visual displays of glamour and utter decadence. Kicking off tonight, the festival continues with a gender bending Steven Arnold Special, followed later this weekend with screenings of 1940's Cobra Woman and the program Drag Glamour. A must see. Check out this weekends programs at BIRDS OF PARADISE.

ANDY WARHOL / MOTION PICTURES
AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

via MoMA / Among Warhol’s cinematic oeuvre, the black-and-white silent films are the most daring and experimental in their selection of subject and theme, psychological acuity, rhythmic pacing, and sheer beauty of form. Although these films were originally shot at sound-film speed (twenty-four frames per second), Warhol specified that prints be projected at a slower speed of sixteen frames per second, a rate used in the projection of silent films from the 1890s through the 1920s. For this exhibition, a selection of Warhol’s films made between 1963 and 1966 has been transferred from 16mm film to DVD at the speed of sixteen frames per second, and projected onto screens and monitors in a gallery setting. Thus it is again possible to see the works as Warhol intended, and to appreciate the ways in which he challenged and provoked both subject and viewer in his manipulation of moving images. On view through March 21, 2011.

THE RETURN OF WILLIAM CASTLE
AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 6
AT THE / FILM FORUM

“Without a doubt, the greatest showman of our time. King
of the Gimmicks. William Castle was the best."

FUEGO / THE FILMS OF ISABEL "COCA" SARLI
AT / FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
THROUGH / AUGUST 6-8 2010

“Isabel Sarli squeezes more sexual frisson into the space between breathing in and breathing out than most of us could spread over a lifetime of ordinary love-making,” wrote The New York Times of the Argentine actress and celebrated sex symbol. This extraordinary selection presents her sultry, funny, and censored films from the 60s and 70s — a wham-bam sampling of 100% Coca that’s nearly impossible to see anywhere else.

After the jump– a relatively short list of films on our radar.
Keep in mind– there's something for everyone.

A triptych of female desire with GIALLO written all over it, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s French language film, Amer (2009), pans in on three different interludes in Ana’s sexual evolution-- childhood (Cassandra Forêt), adolescence (Charlotte Eugène Guibeaud), and womanhood (Marie Bos).  In the first act of this kaleidoscopic, erotic vision, we see her trying to negotiate a childhood chock-full of sex and violence (complete with a particularly sweaty rendering of the primal scene) that she can’t yet comprehend. In the following two acts, we witness her slowly grasping, and eventually paying the price for, her own carnality (culminating in a striking scene of bathtub onanism with a comb).

In this super-sensory space, the sound design and camerawork are expert and there are eyes everywhere—peeping through keyholes, blinking, rolling, and even brushing with fates that would make DALI and BUÑUEL cringe. This generous helping of visual organs reminds us of the eye of the camera, but also of our own widened peepers devouring its product, rendering us complicit in all this voyeurism.

NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS 2010

"No New York festival introduces excellent filmmakers
more consistently than MoMA and the Film Society
of Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films."

After the jump– the films on our must list
  for the duration of the festival– through April 4th, 2010.

NEW YORK CITY OPERA 2010

"George Steel is bringing an excitement to City Opera
after two years of hiatus that shows just how Opera
is related to all art forms and how exciting Opera
performances can be for all audiences. "

– Paul Kellogg, General & Artistic Director, City Opera 1997-2007

MoMA CELEBRATES FILM FORUM 40TH ANNIVERSARY
INVITES KAREN COOPER TO CURATE MoMA FILMS

Karen Cooper took over the two-year old Film Forum in 1972 when it was a "little hole-in-the wall on West 88th Street."  Decades and a few moves later,  Cooper is still at the helm of one of the city's finest film houses. To celebrate the Film Forum's 40th anniversary MoMA invited Cooper to curate an exhibition of nonfiction films that premiered at the Film Forum.  The series runs from February 3–20, 2010. Details and schedule via MoMA after the jump.