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Dance Pioneer
In her 96 years on earth, Martha Graham
revolutionized the world of modern dance.
She choreographed
almost 200 dances,
performed the principal
parts in many of those
dances, invented a new
dance vocabulary and,
Martha
in 1926, founded the
Graham
Martha Graham Dance
Company. The follow-
ing year, she created the Martha Graham
School of Contemporary Dance, where she
trained many of the greatest dancers and
choreographers of the 20th century.
One of Graham's students was heiress
Bethsabee de Rothschild, with whom she
became close friends. When Rothschild
moved to Israel and established the
Batsheva Dance Company in 1965,
Graham became the company's first direc-
tor, groomed its first generation of danc-
ers and created works for it.
Graham's unique movement style
— widely recognized for its principle of
contraction and release — and imagery
reflected the modern art of the times. "I
wanted to begin not with characters or
ideas, but with movements. ... I wanted
significant movement. I did not want it
to be beautiful or fluid. I wanted it to be
fraught with inner meaning, with excite-
ment and surge," she
once said.
In 1936, Graham
refused to attend
the Olympic Games in Berlin. Instead, she
created Chronicle, a statement against
imperialism. In 1944, she choreographed
one of her greatest works, Appalachian
Spring, a radiant re-creation of a pioneer
wedding, to the music of Jewish composer
Aaron Copland.
Both of those works will be among
those featured at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14,
when the University Musical Society hosts
the Martha Graham Dance Company
at the Power Center in Ann Arbor. The
ensemble also will perform, in a different
program, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, and in a
one-hour family performance at 1 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 14.
Tickets are $20-$48 for evening perfor-
mances and $16 adults, $8 children for the
family performance. For detailed informa-
tion and tickets, call (734) 764-2538 or go
to www.ums.org .
Amazing Matt
With technique to burn and perform-
ing more than 100 concerts per season
around the world for the last several years,
Jewish cellist Matt Haimovitz is one of
the few classical artists regularly selling
out — not only concert
and recital halls but
rock 'n' roll venues as
well. His latest record-
ing, Goulash, received rave reviews and
appeared for weeks as a bestseller on
Billboard's charts.
Born in Israel in 1970, Haimovitz is
now based in the U.S. and in Canada,
where he is a pro-
fessor of cello at
McGill University
in Montreal. He
is sought after for
master classes and
outreach activities
wherever he goes.
Matt Haimovitz
That's because
Haimovitz is deter-
mined to put classical music back into
the mainstream of Western culture rather
than seeing it disappear. So he blazes trails
to new audiences, plays in nontraditional
venues and pursues almost every kind
of repertory in existence. Perhaps that is
what has earned him the moniker "cellist
without borders!'
"I certainly don't shy away from chal-
lenges',' he says. "I always like to explore
new possibilities and take risks, so, yes, I
believe in life without borders!'
Michiganders will have the opportunity
to see this exciting young cellist at several
upcoming performances:
At 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the
Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, he'll
perform with the Ann Arbor Symphony
Orchestra in a program that includes
Dvorak's Cello Concerto and Vivaldi's
Concerto for Two Cellos (with Israeli-
born Maestro Arie Lipsky). $10-$42, with
discounts to seniors and students. (734)
994-4801 or www.a2so.com . (Earlier in the
day, from 2-4 p.m., Haimovitz will conduct
a master class at Great Lakes Performing
Artists Associates in Ann Arbor; (734)
665-4029.)
At 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, he'll give a
solo cello performance, featuring works
by Bach, Ligeti and Kodaly, as well as
contemporary pieces, in Grand Rapids at
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 134 Division
Ave. (616) 526-8587 or
www.stmarksepiscopalchurch.org .
At 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, the cel-
list will perform in a Birmingham Temple
Vivace Music Series concert with pianist
Micah Yui. The program will include
works by Beethoven, Shostakovich and
Ligeti. The temple is located at 28611 W.
12 Mile Road in Farmington Hills. An
afterglow with the performers follows the
concert. $21 general admission; $18 stu-
dents and seniors. For tickets, call (248)
788-9338 or (248) 661-1348.
FYI: For Arts related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to: Gail Zimmerman, JN Out
& About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com . Notice must be received at least three weeks before the scheduled
event. Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Peet Weds
Amanda Peet, 34, the co-star of TV's
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, mar-
ried David Benioff, 36, on Saturday
evening, Sept. 30. It was the first
marriage for both members of this
very good-looking couple.
Peet disclosed she was pregnant
early in September. The producers
of her TV show said:
"Everyone is thrilled to
learn we will have a baby
on set. We extend our
love and best wishes.
If it's a boy, [one of her
co-stars] has agreed to
perform the bris."
Benioff, a novelist and
Amanda Peet
screenwriter,
has made
and David
millions
penning
movie
Benioff
56
October 12 • 2006
scripts, and so he doesn't have to
rely on his dad, the former head of
Goldman-Sachs. On his Web site, he
mentions traveling home for Passover.
Peet is the daughter of a Quaker
father and a Jewish mother, and she
has described her upbringing as a "lit-
tle bit Quaker and a little bit Jewish."
The wedding ceremony was held
at Peet's alma mater, a Manhattan
Quaker-affiliated prep school that
is virtually nondenominational and
attracts many Jewish students.
People magazine reports the couple
had a "traditional Jewish wedding"
and were married under a beauti-
ful embroidered white chuppah. The
reception was held at the Chelsea Art
Museum.
Guests included Farmington Hills
native Elizabeth Berkley and her hus-
band, artist Greg Lauren, the nephew
of designer Ralph Lauren.
For A Good Cause
Jon Stewart will host Night of Too
Many Stars, a benefit for autism edu-
cation, live on Comedy Central 8 p.m.
Sunday, Oct.15; it will be simulcast on
comedycentral.com ,
with some Internet
extras.
The Jewish per-
formers on the
special include Jack
Black, David Cross,
Paul Rudd, Adam
Sandler, Ben Stiller,
Jon Stewart
Sacha Baron Cohen
and Robert Smigel as the voice of
the hand puppet, Triumph, the Insult
Comic Dog.
Queen Esther
A few years ago, an evangelical
Christian film company made One
Night with the King. A fairly lay-
ish production based on the story
of Queen Esther, it stars an almost
unknown actress (Tiffany Dupont) as
Esther and Peter O'Toole and Omar
Sharif in supporting parts.
The film sat in the can until 20th
Century Fox recently started up a new
company, Fox Faith, to
appeal to the Christian
film market. Fox Faith
has arranged to open
One Night in more than
800 theaters, includ-
ing Detroit-area loca-
Rabbi Daniel
tions, on Friday, Oct.13.
Lapin
Christian ministers are
being implored to send
their congregants, and there has been
outreach to the Jewish media.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, who is very
close to evangelicals, says there is
nothing in the film to upset Jewish
audiences. An Anti-Defamation