“With the current explosive rate of technology we will all find ourselves, at some point in time, in the place of the record labels in the face of illegal downloading. They were just one of the canaries in the coal mine.”
Choreographing the Opening Ceremony in Sochi
Veteran Hollywood choreographer Daniel Ezralow talks about how he handled his highest-profile show ever – and its loaded theme, nothing less than Russian history through the 20th century.
‘Emotionally, It’s a Demolition Job’: What It’s Like to Play Miss Julie
Louise Brealey (Sherlock): “This kitchen is a very dangerous place. What happens between John and Julie is horrifying – something putatively domestic suddenly feels like Greek tragedy.”
Dead Sea Scrolls 2.0: A Hugely Expanded Digital Archive
“The upgraded website includes 10,000 new multispectral images, extra manuscript descriptions, content translated into Russian and German in addition to the current languages, a faster search engine, and easy access from the site to the Facebook page and to Twitter.”
Why Isn’t Hollywood Engaging The Big Issues Of Our Time?
So why, besides the usual Hollywood shallowness, are we not getting films that match the frustration many Americans still feel, or that capture the lives they’re living? And will we ever get them?
The Technology That Really Fixes Concert Hall Acoustics
“Does it represent the new paradigm of concert hall sonics, or does it spell the death of “live” acoustic sound as we have grown to know it?”
The Structures Of Stuff? Turns Out It’s Similar To The Structures Of Music
“Essentially, music is just one example of a hierarchical system, where patterns are nested within larger patterns – similar to the way characters form words, which form sentences, then chapters and eventually a novel.”
Will Live Theatre Cinemacasts Help Local Playhouses or Displace Them?
One producer wonders if there’s a risk that cash-strapped regional arts centres might simply decide that the National Theatre’s broadcasts would constitute its (much cheaper) theatre programme.
How Lighting Design and Technology Transform Dance
“Lighting designers used to be faceless backstage figures. Now the hottest choreographers can’t work without them. Judith Mackrell meets the new wave of trailblazers.”
Jean Babilée, 90, Postwar Ballet’s Great Rebel
“[He] gained instant stardom in French ballet as the violent chair-throwing youth in Roland Petit’s Le Jeune Homme et la Mort in 1946 … His extraordinary technique, soaring leaps and masculine power were matched by a pantherlike pounce and a jarring poetic presence.”
Mind Meld: The Genius of Swarm Thinking
“Researchers are starting to see swarms as living entities with senses, motivations and evolved behaviour. … This does not simply tell us about flocking birds, shoaling fish, swarming locusts, and the like. It has implications for how we understand all sorts of collective action.”
Last Weekend’s Worldwide Box Office Champion: You Probably Haven’t Even Heard of It
And if you’re in the States, you can’t see it until next fall. Yet it took in $46 million its opening weekend and will probably make a lot more just this month.
The Balanchine Muse Struck Down by Polio
Leonard Lopate interviews the director of a new documentary about Tanaquil Le Clercq, the New York City Ballet star who inspired George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins (and married Mr. B.), only to be paralyzed by polio at age 27.
The Wrong Way to Talk About Violence in Movies
“Harvey Weinstein wants less carnage in films. But ‘less’ and ‘more’ aren’t helpful terms when answering questions of how on-screen mayhem influences real-world mayhem.”
Are There Only Four Basic Emotions?
The existing scientific consensus has been that there are six, but a new study based on facial expressions suggests that there are only four, with the remaining two products of the others. Yet some observers, including commenters on this article, question the entire basis of the new research.
Dallas Museum Gets Major Collection of Islamic Art
“The Keir Collection, amassed over decades in Britain by Edmund de Unger, a Hungarian real-estate magnate who died in 2011, will go to Dallas for at least 15 years beginning in May, under an unusual long-term renewable loan that will give the museum the right to lend pieces to other institutions.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.04.14
Pushing Into the Upper Room
Source: Dancebeat | Published on 2014-02-04
Pete Seeger, Llewyn Davis, and Sisyphus
Source: CultureCrash | Published on 2014-02-04
‘Dirt Always Wins’ (Part Three) — The White Goddess
Source: Out There | Published on 2014-02-04
Essential Viewing: Ethan Stiefel’s “Giselle” for Royal New Zealand Ballet
Source: Fresh Pencil | Published on 2014-02-04
Prominent Russian pianist, 48, is found dead on the street near his home
Source: Slipped Disc | Published on 2014-02-04
In This Exhibition, Technology Really Works
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2014-02-04
[ssba_hide]
Study Refutes Paul Ryan’s Unsubstantiated Claim Against Public Arts Funding
“Rep. Paul Ryan grabbed headlines last year when the House budget committee he chairs released a report claiming NEA grants are a “wealth transfer” from the poor to the rich.” A new study finds that this is not true.
The Chinese Art Market Doesn’t Add Up (Where’s The Money?)
“Money-laundering, tax evasion and the illicit transfer of cultural heritage objects could be factors explaining large discrepancies that have emerged in an analysis of art shipments between China and the US.”
Love The Artist, Not The Man?
“Whether separating art from artist is right or wrong is a question that provokes too many headaches to answer succinctly—but the ability and proclivity to do so is an inevitability of participating in modern culture.”
Detroit Institute Of Art Gave Raises To Its Execs In The Past Four Years (And This Is Important Because…)
“The DIA’s tax filings indicate salaries and compensation for top executives have climbed 17 percent since 2010. That’s somewhat greater than increases at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, and substantially greater than at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Neither of those institutions is getting rescue money.”
Philip Roth: I’m Done With Fiction
“I did what I did and it’s done. There’s more to life than writing and publishing fiction. There is another way entirely, amazed as I am to discover it at this late date.”
Study: Music Genres Can Influence What You Buy
“Music played on websites can evoke memories and feelings that affect purchases and choices visitors make on the site, suggests a study in the current issue of the Psychology of Music.”
Charge: There’s A Climate Of Institutionalized Sexism In Classical Music
“Good looks have long helped to compensate for a lack of talent across the entire music industry. But the sexualised marketing of young women, particularly, in classical music has also now become normalised.”
Portugal Selling Major Bank’s Large Miro Collection After Bank Fails
“The state took over the artworks as part of the assets of Portugal’s BPN bank, which was nationalised during the financial crisis in 2008. A court in Portugal earlier rejected an injunction by opposition politicians attempting to block the sale.”