i s & Entertainment About via 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