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DANCE
NBA Teams Are Creating Dance Squads For Dancers Over 50
This season, the Washington Wizards introduced the Wizdom, a 20-member squad, all women 50 and older, who dance during timeouts. The crowd loves them. And a dozen other teams in the league have similar squads of older adult dancers. - The Washington Post … [Read More...]
This Is Why Columbus Dance Theatre’s Founding Director ‘Resigned’ Last Fall
Veach, who founded CDT in 1998, quietly stepped down in October, and he told the press in January that the reason was health-related. In fact, he was accused of "improper behavior" with two underage dance students and was formally charged by police with (and subsequently convicted of) serving alcohol to a minor. - The Columbus Dispatch … [Read More...]
All It Really Takes To Become A Dancer
Marisa Meltzer: "Choreography, as something that isn’t normally part of my life, is incredibly hard to remember and appears to use a part of my brain that has gone dormant. It took so much concentration that I couldn’t think of anything else, which was liberating." - The New York Times … [Read More...]
Ballet Musicals Are Rare, And Super Demanding
We don't mean Oklahoma! either, though, yes, there's a ballet in it. This is something different: "It’s very difficult to cast a ballet musical; the Marie ensemble requires dancers with a strong background in classical ballet, but also the ability to sing — while on pointe! — and act. 'They’re rare,' said Stroman, 'but it makes them even more special.'" - Seattle Times … [Read More...]
Batsheva Dance Company And Ohad Naharin At The Turning Point
"Last September, after nearly 30 years as the company's artistic director, [Naharin] handed the reins to Gili Navot, a former dancer with the company, while he assumed the position of house choreographer. In that role, Mr. Naharin will continue to create new work, while Ms. Navot will be responsible for the daily decision-making and long-term direction of the company. Is this the beginning of a new era or just an administrative reorganization?" Brian Schaefer talks to them both to find out. - The New York Times … [Read More...]
IDEAS
Quality Versus Quantity: Has “Engagement” Become A Meaningless Measure?
The quantity-vs.-quality debate is now meaningless. Quality is in the eyes of the beholder. We may yearn for a narrative to explain how and why, but that’s not how the digital world works. The algorithmic curation that controls what you do or do not see on every social media company’s newsfeed isn’t programmed to provide you with an emotionally satisfying narrative; it is continuously tuned to keep you engaged and clicking or tapping. So if your key metric is engagement or completed views, “5 Ways to Bounce a Quarter Off of Kim Kardashian’s Butt” or a video of a horrible disaster will always outperform less clickbaity titles or subjects. - Shelly Palmer … [Read More...]
Why We Procrastinate
It's not about self-control. Instead, it's more like (not very good) emotion management. "Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond." - The New York Times … [Read More...]
How Can We Put Theory And Context Behind Video Games And The Worlds Of Gaming? [AUDIO]
Yep, videogames, gamers, and their lives online need to be placed into context by ... well ... folklorists, of course. Says one, a gamer and a writer: "We all want to be part of a community, we want to be accepted and find people who are like us, and Ultima Online was kind of the start of that." - Wired … [Read More...]
Winner-Take-All Urbanism (Hey, Amazon HQ) Leaves A Lot Of Cities Behind
What can be done for the non-New Yorks, the non-San Franciscos, the non-Seattles? "Left to their own fate, state and local policymakers often end up shoveling money at companies in the hope of attracting future investment. It isn’t working. For today’s left-behind communities to bounce back, the federal government has to act." - The Atlantic … [Read More...]
The Most Expensive Thing To Buy Now Is Human Interaction
The poor and middle-class can't escape screens, and the data they hoover up both mindlessly and with (scary) intention. But the rich can, and do. - The New York Times … [Read More...]
ISSUES
Why Arts Orgs’ Boycott Of Sackler Money Makes A Difference
Philip Kennicott: "What matters is that sometimes lightning strikes, and there is hell to pay, and suddenly a name is blackened forever. That kind of justice may be terrifying and swift and inconsistent, but it sends a blunt message: When the world finally learns that what you have done is loathsome, it may not be possible to undo the damage through the miraculous scrubbing power of cultural detergent." - The Washington Post … [Read More...]
Are We Now To Subject Every Major Arts Donor To A Moral Purity Test?
Mark Lawson: "What would count as an acceptable way of having become rich enough to have some spare to dish out to the arts? Sponsorship by BP and Nestlé has been questioned because of environmental or ethical concerns about the nature of the patrons' business. Airlines, which have consistently been generous to the arts, are now on the wrong side of history, as, in a post-crash era queasy about capitalism, are most makers of money. … And if the funding of buildings and exhibitions is subject to ethical scrutiny, then why not their content as well?" - The Guardian … [Read More...]
Those Kids Whose Rich Parents Bribe Their Way Into Elite Colleges? Here’s What It’s Like To Teach Them
"I know, because I teach at an elite American university – one of the oldest and best-known … In this setting, where teaching quality is at a premium and students expect faculty to give them extensive personal attention, the presence of unqualified students admitted through corrupt practices is an unmitigated disaster." - The Guardian … [Read More...]
A Revolution In Foodie Culture
Josephine Livingstone: "I am not a foodie. I don’t even know the difference between a meuniere and a mirepoix. But from the outside looking in, it’s clear that foodie culture is roiling with a new awareness of social politics, undermining some of that culture’s unspoken tenets: that taste and pleasure are neutral, universal concepts; that the kitchen is an apolitical zone. Being a foodie now, in 2019, requires thinking with more than your tongue." - The New Republic … [Read More...]
Artificial Intelligence Can Now Write Fiction. Should Novelists Be Worried?
Maybe not, not yet. Garbage in (this AI was fed a lot of Reddit recommendations, ahem), garbage out: "Right now, novelists don’t seem to have much to fear. Fed the opening line of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four – 'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen' – the machine continued the narrative as follows: 'I was in my car on my way to a new job in Seattle. I put the gas in, put the key in, and then I let it run. I just imagined what the day would be like. A hundred years from now. In 2045, I was a teacher in some school in a poor part of rural China. I started with Chinese history and history of science.'" - The Guardian (UK) … [Read More...]
MEDIA
China Allows Cinemas To Screen ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, But Only With The Gay Parts Removed…
"Several minutes of footage were edited out of the film, including scenes of two men kissing and the word 'gay'. There has been significant reaction to the film's release online. … Though some [social media] users complained of 'half watching and half guessing' as a result of the deleted scenes, others were pleased the film had been released at all." - BBC … [Read More...]
Growing Complaints: Too Many Streaming Services To Choose From…
For the first time in many years, there's growth in online piracy of film and TV. Some experts say it may be because fans are getting sick of paying for yet another streaming service. - NPR … [Read More...]
What Happens To Sets From Movies? One Non-Profit Figured Out How To Get It To People Who Need It…
Movie productions require lots of household items to fill their sets. But then the movie is over and where does all that stuff go? It's a headache for the production team to get rid of it. A Massachusetts organization offers a service to quickly break down the sets and make them available to families in need, working with 400+ social workers. - WGBH … [Read More...]
The Disney/Fox Merger Has Forever Changed Hollywood…
Disney and Netflix offer the two clearest visions of Hollywood’s future. The former is a media company that’s as old-fashioned as they come, trying to make movies that will pull audiences en masse to the theater. The latter is a tech company that’s largely uninterested in the theater business but has won subscriber loyalty by offering a wealth of viewing options. As the cinema business continues to evolve, perhaps only the biggest films will survive as in-theater experiences, with streaming becoming an equally profitable venue. - The Atlantic … [Read More...]
How Video Game Addiction Works…
Many gamers seemed to struggle to find their place in society. “In our modern meritocratic society, you don’t have an obvious place in the way people used to have. You have to create it for yourself. That’s complicated. Fleeing into the more regulated world of the game—a Manichaean populist worldview—is an easy way out.” - The Atlantic … [Read More...]
MUSIC
Where Classical Music Has Become An Obsession
Inna Faliks: "Seventy-five percent of my students at UCLA are Chinese or Chinese American. Pianists from China, after graduating from the best music schools in Europe and the United States, return home to pass on classical music traditions in their own distinct ways. This musical exchange is exponentially growing. Concert halls may remain empty in our nation’s cities, especially when traditional classical recitals are offered by a non-household name, but in China, playing a Beethoven or Chopin program is not boring or unhip. Chinese audiences are hungry for more." - Washington Post … [Read More...]
A Scandal Engulfing The Shiny World Of Korean Pop Music May Transform The Country
Yes, it's about sex tapes. But in a music world of K-Pop dominance, it's time for a reckoning: "The Burning Sun scandal, as it’s been called, comes in the midst of a national conversation about misogyny and power — as well as spy-camera porn epidemic — and the momentum behind it has the potential to dramatically transform Korean society, or at least put several powerful men in serious legal trouble." - Vulture … [Read More...]
Trend: Symphonies Playing New, Non-Film Music By Film Composers
Sure, you've got your Harry Potter scores and your Star Wars celebrations (that's all John Williams, of course), but the real hot trend with film composers now is getting their non-film work into symphony halls. "Adventurous programmers are seeking new works by established film composers in hopes that audiences have developed a thirst for similarly melodic, even exciting, music by names they recognize even if there are no images to accompany them." - Variety … [Read More...]
San Francisco Symphony Musicians Announce Their Support For Striking Colleagues In Chicago
They are supposed to perform in Chicago on Tuesday, but they say they "will join striking Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians on the picket line if the labor conflict hasn’t been settled by then." (They already sent a letter of support, but this is a bit more direct.) - Chicago Tribune … [Read More...]
Birmingham’s Young, Popular, Fiery Conductor Says British Orchestras Don’t Have An Easy Life
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla became the music director for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2016. She says, "British orchestras, the CBSO included, don’t have an easy life. They work very hard, very fast. They don’t have the government support you get in, say, Germany or Austria or elsewhere. Or the rehearsal time." - The Observer (UK) … [Read More...]