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DANCE
American Ballet Theatre’s New Skunkworks
“In the studio we’re so often created on,” David Hallberg, the American Ballet Theater principal who dreamed up the workshop, said recently. “I really wanted to give the dancers a chance to have a more inclusive part in the creative process.” Mr. Hallberg first introduced the idea of a choreographic workshop in 2010, but after a few tries it didn’t stick and he was too busy with his international career (and a major injury) to help keep it going. Now, he’s determined to make the Incubator a yearly fixture at Ballet Theater. … [Read More...]
After Seven Seasons, Jessica Lang Dance To Shut Down
While Lang's career as a choreographer has been going well, things (mostly money) for her company have been as difficult as for any small, independent dance troupe. "You have to raise so much money, the smaller companies don't have enough staff, and Jessica was running the company for the last seven years without a day off," said Lang's manager. The group will disband in April, after completing a final tour. … [Read More...]
When A Curtain Breaks, The Ballet Cannot Go On
Australian Ballet audiences at the Sydney Opera House waited for half an hour to find out what was happening. Then the news came: ""We've tried everything to get it going, they've restarted the whole ... system. They have rung Europe to see if there's something they can do. Unfortunately nothing is working." … [Read More...]
The English National Ballet’s Artistic Director Says Ballet Is Changing With The MeToo Times
Tamara Rojo: "In the past, the ballet master was an almost godlike figure. You did what he said and there was no room for conversation. Certainly at the ENB, that’s not the case. We encourage dancers to have opinions, ask questions and contribute to the process. The work is good because it’s the work of everyone in the company." … [Read More...]
Opera Often Needs Choreographers, Not Just For Opera Ballets But For The Principals And Chorus
That's not without its challenges: "Directing singers is a very particular art: Try to make them move too precisely to the music, and some of them look like unmotivated marionettes, the more so if they have to share the stage with dancers." … [Read More...]
IDEAS
The Human Brain As Time Traveler
In just a few minutes of mental wandering, you have made several distinct round trips from past to future: forward a week to the important meeting, forward a year or more to the house in the new neighborhood, backward five hours to today’s meeting, forward six months, backward five years, forward a few weeks. You’ve built chains of cause and effect connecting those different moments; you’ve moved seamlessly from actual events to imagined ones. And as you’ve navigated through time, your brain and body’s emotional system has generated distinct responses to each situation, real and imagined. The whole sequence is a master class in temporal gymnastics. … [Read More...]
We’re Less Free, Less Creative When Someone Is Watching Us
We know that surveillance has a chilling effect on freedom. People change their behavior when they live their lives under surveillance. They are less likely to speak freely and act individually. They self-censor. They become conformist. This is obviously true for government surveillance, but is true for corporate surveillance as well. We simply aren’t as willing to be our individual selves when others are watching. … [Read More...]
Learning Our Relationships With Robots
The word “robot,” like the words “shalom” and “free-range chicken,” does not have a universally agreed-upon definition, but the usual criteria include autonomy, an ability to change its surroundings, intelligence, and the possession of a body. Then it gets trickier: How intelligent? Must a robot be mobile? Is a dishwasher a robot? According to the podcast “Robot or Not?” a self-driving car is not (you designate its destination), but a Roomba is (because it’s more in control of its path than you are). … [Read More...]
Pining For An Age Of Reason (And When Was That, Exactly?)
If we are to heal the divides of the contemporary historical moment, we should give away the fiction that reason alone has ever held the day. The present warrants criticism, but it will do no good if it’s based on a myth about some glorious, dispassionate past that never was. … [Read More...]
Turns Out Duolingo Is Good For Getting You To Do Duolingo, Not To Learn A Language
The challenge of Duo, with its addiction-causing rewards and points and treasure chests, is that it's trying to figure out both how to get people to learn - and how to get them to stay. The CEO: "We prefer to be more on the addictive side than the fast-learning side. ... If someone drops out, their rate of learning is zero." … [Read More...]
ISSUES
An Iconic Seattle Music Venue Under Development Threat
The Showbox is nothing special architecturally, but it has been home to a generation of music fans. Now the venue is in danger of being torn down for a highrise. “The city is now trying to say, ‘Oops we made a mistake,’ after people have invested and relied upon the zoning. Then this is what you get in response. You get lawsuits.” … [Read More...]
Miami’s Arsht Center Gets A New CEO
Johann Zietsman’s appointment comes at a pivotal point for the 12-year-old Arsht, which occupies the center of a neighborhood that’s belatedly but rapidly changing after years of stagnation that the facility was meant to help reverse. … [Read More...]
The Arts Have A Unique Role In Fighting Climate Change: Nicholas Serota
Writes the chair of Arts Council England, who was for three decades director of the Tate Galleries, "In 2012 we became the first cultural body in the world to include environmental reporting and action in our long-term funding agreements with arts organisations. ... Together we substantially increased understanding about the role of the sector in addressing environmental issues and associated social challenges. The findings of our Annual Report on Environmental Sustainability, published on Tuesday, prove the value of that intervention." … [Read More...]
Amazon’s HQ2 Will Not Be Good For New York’s Arts Community
"Some New York artists and art spaces may thrive in Amazon's shadow. But recent art history already provides ample illustration that the benefits of increasing inequality are not really shared equally, and tend to get eaten up by rising rent anyway — the latter being a much greater concern for the average person, artist or otherwise." For an example, look no further than the home of Amazon's original HQ, Seattle. … [Read More...]
What The Brexit Deal Would Mean For The Arts
May’s deal, which was revealed on November 14, essentially maintains the status quo until 2020, with the deal “not saying anything concrete” about what will happen after this. This would be effectively “postponing a leap into the dark” for the creative industries until 2020, with “all the important issues left up in the air”. … [Read More...]
MEDIA
MoMA Chairman Gives $40 Million For New Film Center…
"In recognition of the gift, MoMA will create the Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, spanning two floors of the museum's ... Lauder Building, which includes multimedia exhibition galleries and two theaters. The center will present film exhibitions and premieres with directors, actors, and other cinema experts." … [Read More...]
At China’s Academy Awards, Winner Calls For Independent Taiwan, And Screens Go Black…
"Documentary filmmaker Fu Yue called for Taiwan to be recognised as an 'independent entity' during her acceptance speech [at the Golden Horse awards], fighting back tears as she said, 'this is my biggest wish as a Taiwanese'. Her speech was quickly censored on Chinese television and streams, with the coverage going black." … [Read More...]
How Did The Golden Globes Become The Place To Advocate For Journalists And Their Protection?…
Meryl Streep, basically - and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, sponsors of the Golden Globes and, for years, in real need of burnishing their image. … [Read More...]
In A New, Oscar-Tipped Netflix Movie, The Writer And Director Got To Express The Absurdities Of Her Own Experience…
And that director, Tamara Jenkins, "is getting increasingly frustrated by its billing. 'It’s not just a women’s infertility comedy. It’s about survival. It’s about humanity. It’s about growing. It’s about mortality. It’s about gentrification.'" … [Read More...]
Nigerian Makeup Artists Get To Create Tons Of Gore For Some Of Nollywood’s Thousands Of Films A Year [VIDEO]…
Artist Hakeem Onilogbo - who says they call him "Hakeem Effects" on the set - says, "If you are the kind of person who can't stand blood touching your body, you can't do our job." … [Read More...]
MUSIC
‘We Want To Use Music To Create Better People’ — Philadelphia’s Project 440
"Project 440 is the brainchild of Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who often explains to people that yes, he does operate a music organization that doesn't teach music." Says Conyers, "The arts can play a pivotal role in underserved communities, giving kids opportunities, giving them things that they keep for the rest of their lives." … [Read More...]
At Work With The Ushers At The Metropolitan Opera
"As a shift begins, they pass into the cloakroom to put on their uniforms — tuxedos with burgundy lapels, worn shiny from use. Forty-two work any given performance, each at once a rule keeper, hand holder, problem solver, diplomat." … [Read More...]
Study: Trained Musicians Score Higher On Tests Of Thinking
Combining the results of all the tests, "musicians with extensive experience scored significantly higher than non-musicians and less-trained musicians," the researchers write in the journal Psychology of Music. Specifically, they did better on four of the five cognitive skills that the tests measured. … [Read More...]
100 Years Later: Debussy’s Legacy
The better we get to know Debussy, the stronger the contrast between the richness of his musical world and the sordidness of his personal life—and yet, in both music and life, he liked things to be beautiful, rich, and sensually pleasing, and he wanted these things without having to work too hard or too regularly. (Debussy admits that he suffered from a “sickness of delay…and this curious need to never finish” his pieces.) … [Read More...]
The Optics Of A Music Problem
New music has done very little to change the expected optics of classical music, which is why new music’s identity problem is what it is today. Moreover, despite the recent increase in conversation about female, non-binary, transgender, and BAME/ALAANA/diverse composers, the programming of these composers has not significantly increased. … [Read More...]