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Battles At Miami City Ballet Over Villella's (Apparently Forced) Retirement
The company "is being split by controversy over founder and artistic director Edward Villella's earlier-than-expected retirement, announced last September in a way that shocked company members and the dance world. ... [Some] board members, major donors and dancers are questioning the decision and contend he was forced out at the apex of his career." The Miami Herald 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@12:04AM

In Today's AJ Blogs

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visual
Another Eclectic Reinstallation Even The National Gallery Of Art Is Using Themes, Not Art History, In Its New 19th C French Hang... - Real Clear Arts

ideas
Funny, Catchy and Not Too Challenging, or "At some point, you're just an elitist f*ck." Why do we vilify "theatre for the masses?" Where has that gotten us?... - New Beans

music
Good news from Toronto The Toronto Symphony has a strikingly young audience.... - Sandow

culture
Pop-Ups Cool tools for engagement from the visual arts and museum worlds.... - Engaging Matters

music
Reveille On being awakened by Ravel's Concerto in G to the beauty at the heart of things.... - About Last Night

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Today's AJVideo

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How 3D Printers Will Change The World

Today's AJ Stories

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Ideas

Your Brain: Jolted Into Remembering
"Researchers have found that sending an electrical jolt to a part of the brain that plays a key role in memory improved people's ability to learn -- and remember -- their way across an unfamiliar landscape." - Los Angeles Times 02/09/12

You Know What The Trouble Is With Confidence?
It's "a completely unreliable guide to decision making. ... [We're] often confident in our intuitive judgments even when we have no idea what we're doing. And to make matters worse, we tend to evaluate the reliability of other people's decision making on the same basis - if they're confident, they must know what they're talking about." - Big Think 02/09/12 (includes video)

Good Urban Design Makes People Happy (Social Science Says So)
From a study of polling data published last year in Urban Affairs Review: "We find that ... [cities] that provide easy access to convenient public transportation and to cultural and leisure amenities promote happiness. Cities that are affordable and serve as good places to raise children also have happier residents." - The Atlantic 02/02/12

Dance

Battles At Miami City Ballet Over Villella's (Apparently Forced) Retirement
The company "is being split by controversy over founder and artistic director Edward Villella's earlier-than-expected retirement, announced last September in a way that shocked company members and the dance world. ... [Some] board members, major donors and dancers are questioning the decision and contend he was forced out at the apex of his career." - The Miami Herald 02/08/12

Anorexia? There's No Anorexia Here, Say La Scala Dancers
"The ballet company at Milan's famous La Scala opera house fought back Wednesday, after one of their leading dancers was fired for giving interviews in which she said the industry has an anorexia problem. ... 'There is no anorexia emergency, and whoever is part of our world knows that well,' said the company." - Agence France-Presse 02/08/12

Issues

Hungarian Government Cracks Down On The Arts
"The government, led by Viktor Orban, stands accused of systematically replacing key figures in cultural institutions, staging pro-government exhibitions, rethinking permanent museum displays and replacing historic statues to fit its political agenda." - The Art Newspaper 02/08/12

Is Education Really A Public Good?
"While higher education is generally regarded as a good (mainly because folks with college degrees make more than folks who lack such degrees), there has been considerable debate in the United States as to whether or not higher education is a public good" (and thus deserving of funding by taxpayers). A look at a few of the arguments pro and con. - The Philosophers' Magazine 02/08/12

Media

Canadian Movie Box Office Down Slightly In 2011
"Gross box-office revenue in Canada for the year totalled $1.001-billion, a 3 per cent decline from 2010. Canadian films accounted for about 3 per cent of that, grossing $28.3-million in total, down 16 per cent from the $33.5-million tallied in 2010." - The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/09/12

America's Global Blockbusters Are No Longer Set In America
"Last year's top five had one film, the fourth Twilight, with a US setting; two, if you count the last Transformers, which really belongs to the multimillion-dollar globetrotters that rule the roost now. The new orthodoxy is: if a film is set in America, with strong American themes, the less chance it stands in the new globalised mainstream." - The Guardian (UK) 02/08/12

Foreign Countries Ban American Movies For The Darnedest Reasons
Sure, it makes sense that India would forbid The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - all that rape and violence. But Burma/Myanmar banned The Simpsons Movie over pigment, the French government cut the entire second half of an African art documentary, Ireland banned the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business for anarchy, and China blocks all films depicting time travel. - The Atlantic (Flavorwire) 02/06/12

Music

Why Is It Taking So Long For Women Composers To Be Heard?
"For some reason, it's taking a lot longer than in literature and the visual arts to reach equilibrium. It was deemed (just about) acceptable by the 19th century for female writers to be published, yet it's only in the last couple of decades that female composers have really emerged, blinking, out of their garrets and into publishing houses and record label offices; so, without a little helping hand, there might be a long way to go yet. So wherefore the imbalance?" - The Guardian (UK) 02/09/12

Melbourne's No. 2 Orchestra Tries To Raise Its Profile
"Orchestra Victoria spends most of its time in the pit at the State Theatre supporting performances of the national ballet and opera companies. But after a year marked by tense industrial negotiations and uncertainty about its future, the orchestra has announced a program designed to raise its profile around the state." - The Age (Melbourne) 02/08/12

Why Is It So Hard For New Musical Instruments To Catch On These Days?
"It's hard to overstate the importance of new musical instruments in history. The piano's dynamic range allowed for a subtlety in composition previously unimagined. The modern drum set paved the way for jazz. Rock and roll would not have happened without the electric guitar. ... So what happened? Why has there been such a drought of [successful] new instruments - especially in rock and pop, which thrive on novelty?" - The Atlantic 02/07/12

Classical Music Cruise Goes Belly Up, Leaving Fans In Lurch
A retired Chicago Public School teacher gets feisty after being robbed of a classical music cruise - Chicago Reader 02/08/12

People

Charles Dickens Was Obsessed With Theatre (Who Knew?)
The novelist "originally wanted to be an actor. ... He was an avid theatregoer, joined the Garrick Club at the age of 25 and had many theatrical friends ... He visited circuses and melodrama houses; his periodical writings covered vents and 'grimacers', waxworks, freak shows, actors, gaslight fairies and clowns." - The Guardian (UK) 02/08/12

The Real Star Of The Artist - Uggie The Dog - Retires Due To Illness
"Now it's been revealed that the 10-year-old Jack Russell, who will retire from feature film-making after the Academy Awards ceremony, is leaving the biz due to a mystery illness that has baffled experts and cost his trainer thousands of dollars in vets' bills." - The Guardian (UK) 02/07/12

Publishing

Self-Published E-Book Tops Best-seller List
"A self-published author has beaten names including Lee Child, James Patterson and Stieg Larsson to become the bestselling ebook author on Amazon.co.uk for the last three months of 2011, the online retailer said on Wednesday." - The Guardian (UK) 02/08/12

Opposition To Amazon Mounts Among Booksellers
"The cold war between north American booksellers and Amazon has hotted up this week, with the booksellers joining together to announce that they will not be selling any of the titles published by the online retailer." - The Guardian (UK) 02/09/12

How Science Fiction Has Changed The Real World
"If the scientific community wants to engage and inform the public, science fiction is an excellent strategy. Stories captivate people, they survive the test of time, and they become part of the popular culture." - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 02/08/12

Romance Writing Contest Bars Same-Sex Entries - And Suffers The Consequences
The 'More than Magic' competition, run by the Tulsa chapter of the Romance Writers of America, this year for the first time declined to accept any gay- or lesbian-themed entries. (Sex with vampires, werewolves and aliens is fine.) The backlash was so swift and fierce that organizers have now cancelled the event. - Galleycat 02/08/12

Theatre

Visual

Dismal Penn Station - Time To Rethink Public Space
"To pass through Grand Central Terminal, one of New York's exalted public spaces, is an ennobling experience, a gift. To commute via the bowels of Penn Station, just a few blocks away, is a humiliation. What is the value of architecture? It can be measured, culturally, humanely and historically, in the gulf between these two places." - The New York Times 02/08/12

Pop Art - Just An Expensive Way Not To Think?
"When, then, did pop art become mind candy, bubblegum, an uncritical adoration of bright lights and synthetic colours? Probably when money got involved, and Warhol was shot, never again to be as brave as he was in the 60s, or when Jeff Koons gave Reaganomics its art, or when Damien Hirst made his tenth million. Who knows? The moment when pop art sank from radical criticism to bland adulation is impossible to pinpoint." - The Guardian (UK) 02/09/12

Is The Art Market Out Of Control? (At Least It Needs Some Supervision)
"As the art business continues to globalise, its growth depends upon making scholarship reliable and accessible. Because, in the end, the experts are the only candidates who can provide the adult supervision the market desperately craves." - The Art Newspaper 02/08/12

Is This Africa's Art Deco Capital?
Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, still has a collection of Art Deco and Italian Modernist buildings that were constructed when Mussolini's Italy controlled the country. Present-day Asmarans now seem to consider these landmarks part of Eritrean culture and heritage, rather than colonial impositions. - The Atlantic 02/08/12