Email Author Nirmala Nataraj

2007 Stories by Nirmala Nataraj

• And You, Too?

  published December 26, 2007

  Sharon McNight proves you don't need smoke, mirrors, or a yen for ego-bruising to be a world-class diva. With her smoky eyes, arch expression, and... More >>

• Open Your Eyes

  published December 26, 2007

  When we were kids, it was way easier to be hoodwinked into addressing our wish lists to Santa and seeing stars around shopping malls, but the... More >>

• Aah-OOO-Gah!

  published December 19, 2007

  There's something refreshingly indelicate about the new burlesque movement. Accordingly, the Hubba Hubba Revue Holiday Spectacular revels... More >>

• David Sedaris: Grinch?

  published December 12, 2007

  Forget the nutcrackers, the miracles on 42nd Street, and other seasonal boilerplates. Instead, celebrate some good old-fashioned holiday angst.... More >>

• Sugarplums Danced

  published December 12, 2007

  If ever there was a time to dress up and get crazy, it's … well, right about now. You can join the rest of the gothic drag queens, vaudeville... More >>

• Fun Naked People

  published December 5, 2007

  Holiday parties are rather predictable -- a little mistletoe here, an indiscreet coworker there, and some strong libations to stave off the... More >>

• Nuts to You

  published December 5, 2007

  There's no fantasy quite as befuddling and beloved as E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Tchaikovsky's ballet version,... More >>

• Peace Out

  published November 28, 2007

  For many, the Dalai Lama is the incarnation of all things good: a veritable bodhisattva of wisdom and compassion, a glowing example of pious... More >>

• A Country Misled

  published November 7, 2007

  Lies can be disconcertingly easy to swallow, especially when they take the form of seemingly innocuous stories recited by kindly-looking men on... More >>

• Air Dance

  published October 31, 2007

  Most dancers glide, but others fly. At least that's how it is with the sky-borne performers who comprise SkyDancers: Women Who Fly Through the... More >>

• King Taps Zakir

  published October 31, 2007

  Alonzo King's LINES Ballet has taken a circuitous, strange, yet ultimately inevitable road toward greatness. King, an innovator of modern dance,... More >>

• Dance Revolution

  published October 17, 2007

  Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's Chapel/Chapter is a haunting, deeply intimate work that blends media hype, song, and... More >>

• Modern-Day Joan

  published October 3, 2007

  Theatrical renderings of ancient women are ubiquitous, especially if said women are misunderstood hussies, larger than life goddesses, or... More >>

• Black Night

  published September 26, 2007

  It's not the warmest September on record, but who cares when you can cozy up to your honey and watch a movie outdoors? The San Francisco Film... More >>

• Fun with 'El Funi'

  published September 19, 2007

  Sultry-voiced cantadors, dancers with skirts that fan out like fire, and lots of staccato clapping are the stuff flamenco is made of. That,... More >>

• The Zero Effect

  published September 19, 2007

  Choreographer Keith Hennessy and his performance troupe, Circo Zero, are known for "intimate spectacular circus," a style that mixes a... More >>

• Don't Get In The Way

  published September 19, 2007

  Back in 1977, Allan B. Estes Jr. helped produce one of San Francisco's earliest examples of queer theater, The West Street Gang, staged at... More >>

• Give Me Your Number

  published September 12, 2007

  Erika Shuch is a choreographer as comfortable with metaphors as she is with everyday life. The poetics of the extraordinary and the familiar often... More >>

• Pants On Fire

  published September 12, 2007

  Lies have many permutations: little white ones you tell your loved ones to avoid hurting feelings, more dicey lies with which you delude yourself... More >>

• Sprinkle Art

  published August 29, 2007

  In this era of cynicism, war mongering, and bigotry disguised as morality, injecting a little love and sex into all the stuffed-shirt piety seems... More >>

• Off the Cuff

  published August 29, 2007

  Rafe Chase and Gerri Lawlor are two of the most celebrated figures on the San Francisco improv scene today. Chase's name, sober good... More >>

• Be Good

  published August 29, 2007

  What kind of kid reads fairy tales anymore, when cautionary fables abound via the Internet and spectacles like To Catch a Predator? All the... More >>

• No Nick. Just Nora.

  published August 29, 2007

  Nora Chipaumire cuts a stunning figure when she's doing her thing. The statuesque Zimbabwean dancer/choreographer and featured performer with the... More >>

• Shake Your Little Tush

  published August 22, 2007

  How to define San Francisco style? Well, first of all, don't believe the naysayers who talk trash about our meager fashion lexicon. Truth be told,... More >>

• Liberating Dance

  published August 22, 2007

  As transcendental and life-affirming as a lissome silhouette rippling across a stage can be, dance in the abstract could benefit from a little... More >>