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DANCE
On Balanchine’s ‘Apollo’ (Alastair Macaulay Is Back)
With observations from three New York City Ballet alumni who learned the title role from Mr. B himself, the recently-retired chief dance critic of The New York Times looks at what makes this ballet different from the rest of Balanchine's oeuvre. — The New York Times … [Read More...]
Carlos Acosta Named Director Of Birmingham Royal Ballet
The 45-year-old Cuban was one of the (London) Royal Ballet's most popular stars in his 17 years with the company, from which he retired about three years ago. He says he hopes to "look for choreographers that the Royal Ballet isn't looking at, people and ballets that might not be obvious." — The New York Times … [Read More...]
Ballet Specifically For TV As A Way To Get Kids Interested In Dance
Shot as 40-minute films in vibrant high-definition colours, the Bite-Sized Ballets series will kick off with an adaptation of the Tortoise & the Hare, to be followed by Elves & the Shoemaker and Three Little Pigs. At the start of each film, the story is narrated on screen and dance instructors show children how to do some of the moves to create a sort of dancealong. - The Guardian … [Read More...]
After His Anti-Gay Instagram Post, Sergei Polunin Gets Dropped By Paris Opera Ballet
It was only last Thursday that the company announced that Polunin would be making a guest appearance as Siegfried in Swan Lake. Saturday, artistic director Aurélie Dupont announced that he wouldn't be appearing after all, because of certain "public statements ... [that] didn't correspond to her values or to those of the institution she represents." — The New York Times … [Read More...]
An Ad Gone Viral Tells The Story Of Race And Ballet
The English National Ballet ad for Swan Lake stars a Black American dancer - but the show sure doesn't. "Ballet is interesting because it can be seen both as an enclave of whiteness and privilege, and as an outrunner of change." - Quartz … [Read More...]
IDEAS
Consider The Lowly Pushbutton – A Challenge To Our Humanity?
And yet, that's what some thought when push buttons first appeared on machines: "Do you not think that this prodigious diffusion of mechanism is likely to render the world terribly monotonous and fastidious? To deal no longer with men, but to be dependent on things!" Pushing buttons made life too easy, too simplistic, or too rote, when a single finger-action could conjure one’s desires. - Aeon … [Read More...]
New Psychological Studies Try To Answer Classic Questions About Art
"Today, experimental philosophers and philosophically inclined psychologists are designing experiments that can help to answer some of the big philosophical questions about the nature of art and how we experience it – questions that have puzzled people for centuries, such as: why do we prefer original works of art to forgeries? How do we decide what is good art? And does engaging with the arts make us better human beings?" - Aeon … [Read More...]
We Live In An Adversarial Culture. Historians At Their Best Offer A Different Approach
"The virtue of reading like a historian is that critique or disavowal is not the primary goal. On the contrary, reading historically provides something more destabilising: it requires the historian to put her own values in parentheses." - Aeon … [Read More...]
Intentional Forgetting May Be A Good Strategy For Remembering
"Traditionally, forgetting has been regarded as a passive decay over time of the information recorded and stored in the brain. But while some memories may simply fade away like ink on paper exposed to sunlight, recent research suggests that forgetting is often more intentional, with erasure orchestrated by elaborate cellular and molecular mechanisms." - The Atlantic … [Read More...]
Decisions, Decisions. Turns Out Many Of Us Aren’t Good At Triaging
One of the paradoxes of life is that our big decisions are often less calculated than our small ones are. We agonize over what to stream on Netflix, then let TV shows persuade us to move to New York; buying a new laptop may involve weeks of Internet research, but the deliberations behind a life-changing breakup could consist of a few bottles of wine. - The New Yorker … [Read More...]
ISSUES
Comedian Excluded From Performing At Montreal Club Because His Hair Style Is “Cultural Appropriation”
Even if the person wearing dreadlocks is not racist himself, the group says, the chosen hairstyle “conveys racism.” It calls cultural appropriation “a form of passive oppression, a privilege to be deconstructed and in particular a manifestation of ordinary racism.” - Toronto Star (CP) … [Read More...]
The Disney Princess Body Proportion Issue
"Disney princesses have extremely small waist-to-hip ratios that are nearly impossible to achieve naturally," write anthropologist Toe Aung of Pennsylvania State University and independent researcher Leah Williams. They argue that such characters "might heighten or reinforce our preference for lower waist-to-hip ratios, and the perception that physically attractive individuals with lower waist-to-hip ratios possess morally favorable qualities." - Pacific Standard … [Read More...]
Orange County Has Changed Politically. Its Stages Don’t Seem To Have Kept Up Demographically
"While our political transformation was reflected emphatically at the ballot box in 2016 and even more so in 2018, the effects of O.C.’s increasing diversity haven’t been felt everywhere. The local theater scene, for example, reflects only part of the new demographic reality." - Voice of Orange County … [Read More...]
Critics Talk About The Pleasures And Pains Of Extremely Bad Reviews
"Who are Extremely Bad Reviews written for? What do they hope to accomplish? Are they spiteful acts of vengeance, or more principled demands for justice? Are outright slams more prevalent now, or more effective now, or both, or neither? The answers change with the medium, and the target, and the reviewer in question." — The Ringer … [Read More...]
Anonymous Was A Woman And Its No-Longer-Anonymous Funder
"Last year, 77-year-old artist Susan Unterberg revealed that she's the patron behind this grantmaking outfit" — which selects ten female artists over 40 each year for $25,000 grants — "though the nominators and final award panel members will remain shrouded in mystery. … While supporting creative women constitutes a grantmaking niche, its focus on equity aligns well with the ongoing social justice trend in arts funding." — Inside Philanthropy … [Read More...]
MEDIA
Russian Filmmaker, Facing Censors And Vigilantes, Puts Comedy On YouTube Instead Of Cinema Screens…
When word got around that Aleksey Krasovskiy's Holiday was a comedy about the Siege of Leningrad, the outrage came thick and fast. So did the threats, all from people who hadn't seen the movie. So he gave up on distribution and put the film online — where viewers understood just what he was up to. — The New York Times … [Read More...]
Screen Actors Guild Accuses Academy Of ‘Intimidation’ Over Oscars…
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA [the actors' union] has claimed that an 'extraordinary and unwarranted pressure' is being placed on their members" — that is, that the Academy won't invite any actor who presents a trophy at the SAG Awards to be a presenter at the Oscars. — The Guardian … [Read More...]
Podcasters In Search Of A Business Model…
Audiences for podcasts are growing quickly. And the number of podcasts is also exploding. Podcasters are scrambling to find ways to support their work and business models that work. … [Read More...]
Is It Really A Good Idea To Demand That Only Gay Actors Play Gay Roles?…
Ryan Gilbey points out some of the unintended consequences beyond the usual "it's called acting for a reason" argument. As one out gay actor put it, "In the current cultural climate I am invited to participate only on the basis of my supposed oppression." — The Guardian … [Read More...]
The U.S. Poet Laureate Has A Podcast, And It’s Coming To Public Radio…
Tracy K. Smith, author of Life on Mars and Wade in the Water, started a podcast in November. Now it's moving up the podcast chain to the motherlode of podcasting success, public radio. - The New York Times … [Read More...]
MUSIC
Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto Faces Storms At Mexico’s National Symphony Orchestra
The 53-year-old Mexico City native, who is also music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic, is accused of paying exorbitant fees to foreign soloists, something both he and his manager insist is a currency conversion mistake. And musicians from the orchestra are reportedly urging Mexican officials to fire Prieto for poor leadership. — The New Orleans Advocate … [Read More...]
An Existential Threat To The Baltimore Symphony?
Gregory Tucker: "What has long been hailed as Baltimore’s 'other major league team' is about to risk losing its major-league status. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Directors, of which I was a member until this past June, has decided that Baltimore and Maryland can no longer afford a major league symphony orchestra, given what are real and persistent financial challenges. It is proposing cutting the season by 12 weeks." - Washington Post … [Read More...]
A String Bass That Actually Fits In A Manageable Travel Case
"The TravelBass breaks down into separate components for transport in a custom case, and is assembled for play when double bassists reach their destination. Its makers – out of Parma, Italy – reckon that roving musicians should be able to take it on aircraft as carry on luggage in a custom hard case … designed to survive life in the cargo hold." — New Atlas … [Read More...]
The Amazing Internet Radio Station With Almost Every Kind Of Music There Is
Joan Harvey sings the praises of the astounding variety of music to discover (and facts to learn) at Concertzender.nl. (We here at ArtsJournal can recommend it, too.) Yes, the site is in Dutch, but most of it is available in (sometimes quirky) English if you click on the tiny Union Jack in the upper right corner. — 3 Quarks Daily … [Read More...]
Why It Matters That The Met Opera’s Music Director Is Openly Gay
"While he hasn't wanted to make what he called 'a big fuss' about his relationship, [Yannick] Nézet-Séguin sees himself and [partner Pierre] Tourville as symbolic of a widening conception of what a conductor can be." — The New York Times … [Read More...]