“You feel like crap, you’re exhausted, you may be sick, you may have a cold. I’ve got arthritis everywhere. … But it all disappears the minute the lights come up and you start walking down a small dark hallway or climbing down into this tunnel. I have no idea what the attraction is. I cannot tell you how many times a day I say to myself, ‘Why am I doing this? Why do I have to go there?’ I have no answer for it.”
Meet The Healer To The Stars Of Ballet
“Since founding her practice in 2008, Rodriguez has become the go-to physical therapist for much of the ballet world’s elite talent, treating marquee dancers like Benjamin Millepied and Wendy Whelan, as well as members of companies including the New York City Ballet, the Alvin Ailey school and France’s Paris Opera Ballet.”
Milwaukee Symphony MD Edo de Waart To Step Down
When his current contract expires in 2017, the Dutch maestro will be 76. He will continue to take guest-conducting work.
Advice For Brian Williams From Someone Who’s Been There – Mike Daisey
“Right now Brian Williams is receiving the scorn and contempt of the world at large, which, I can tell you, feels like thousands of bloodthirsty strangers cutting you with tiny invisible knives. I know it has to hurt. I remember clearly how tempting it was to hide. I didn’t, and from the other side of it, all I can say is that it is one of the first good decisions I made.”
The Frank Lloyd Wright House That Has Survived Earthquakes And Is Now Reopened To The Public
Hollyhock House’s curator: “Within the context of Wright’s career, it’s the first house of his second period — post Prairie-style period. It’s also his first house in Los Angeles. That means it’s the first time he gets to experiment with Japanese-inspired ideas of dissolving the walls between the exterior and the interior. Here, he’s got a climate he can do that in.”
As Marijuana Becomes More (And More) Legal, Television Is Embracing The Change
“Ten years ago, the pay channel Showtime broke ground with ‘Weeds,’ about a mom who builds a clandestine pot business. Now more shows are incorporating plots about the pot trade as it evolves in the real-world.”
Matinees Are Just Better, Or At Least More Pleasant, Than Evening Shows
“What’s not to like about a show in the early or late afternoon? Matinees are sometimes cheaper, frequently easier to secure a ticket for when a show is popular, and the transport options are often easier, too.”
Making A Living With Flamenco In Its Most Iconic City
“Juan Ramírez’s days begin and end with flamenco – the iconic, traditional form of folk music from Andalusia in Spain that emphasises percussive guitar, powerful singing, fierce dancing and, above all, potent emotion.”
Here’s What It Takes To Program A Dancing Robot (Amazing)
“Technically, the performance is astonishing. The robot itself required a full four months of on-site programming and rehearsal. That most demanding and conspicuous technical element makes the hour-long performance’s lighting seem elementary by comparison, but it is similarly high-tech and essential to the piece’s sleek, minimalist aesthetic.”
Four Arts Leaders Killed In Car Crash In Saskatchewan
The arts communities in Regina and Calgary are in shock with the news that four of their own have been killed in a devastating highway crash in Saskatchewan. Emotional tributes about the four artists poured out on social media Wednesday.
Rallying Cry: Teach Everyone To Code! (But Should We?)
“My advice? Don’t teach everyone how to code. Teach them how to identify and understand needs, as well as how to visually express logic. Teach them how technology works, so they can understand the realm of possibility and then envision game-changing innovations. And then create an environment where they don’t even have to think about writing code — where building great apps is as easy as using iTunes. Just drag and drop.”
Miami’s New Contemporary Art Museum Loses Its Director After Five Months
Suzanne Weaver’s departure follows the news that Thom Collins, the director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, which opened in a Herzog & de Meuron-designed waterfront building in December 2013, is to leave the institution for the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia after five years. Meanwhile, the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach has been without a director for nearly a year following the departure last April of Cathy Leff.
Who Owns Lincoln’s Papers? (And Should They?)
“The idea of owning history may thrill those who trade in exclusivity. But when collectors do not afford scholars and the public access to important documents, private ownership conflicts with democratic values.”
French Embassy Plants Its Flag In Bookstores Across America
“The cultural services of the French Embassy in New York has been signing up independent bookstores across the United States to create special sections, called French Corners, to display French works in the original and in translation. The goal, a spokeswoman for the embassy said, is to plant the French flag in one bookstore in every major city in the United States, other than New York.”
The Dancer As Athlete. Okay. But Is That Really The Highest Compliment?
The highest praise for a dancer these days is to call her “an athlete.” What is wrong with “artist”? Why prolong the inferiority complex about art?
It’s All In The Framing (In Art And Politics)
“Frames are used as a metaphor in normal life. But it does make a huge difference to how a work of art is perceived.”
The Movie Business Must Be Good: Warner To Boost Spending On Content To $19 Billion
“Warner Bros. could well set a profit record in 2015 and would be able to grow its earnings over the coming years.”
A First: Music Streams Will Now Be Counted In UK Music Charts
“If the chart is to be a true barometer of what music is most popular in the UK, it can no longer look solely at purchases – it must also take into account individual listens. Downloads were fully integrated into the singles chart in 2007, but that part of the market has started to plateau while streaming has surged forward. At the start of 2014, the OCC was tracking an average of 192m streams per week; at the start of this year, that had jumped to 360m per week.”
Who Might Miss Jon Stewart Most? Authors
“Getting an author booked on ‘The Daily Show’ was often the Holy Grail for book publicists,” says Kate Lloyd, Scribner’s associate director of publicity. Her authors loved Stewart, she says, because “his audience is made up of smart, book-buying readers who respond to the thoughtful treatment and authentic passion he customarily expresses for the books he features.”
Iconic Japanese Designer Kenji Ekuan, 85
“Mr. Ekuan was a prolific and widely lauded designer whose work shaped products closely associated with modern Japan, including Yamaha motorcycles and a bullet train used in the country’s Shinkansen high-speed rail network. He was also an evangelist for a potent national ethos, combining pacifism and materialism, which Japan embraced after the devastation of World War II.”
An Ugly (And Dangerous?) New Turn In Arts And Politics
“Protesters shouting down concertgoers; musicians silenced by hecklers; agitators taking the stages of our performances. All this represents a new turn in the relationship between arts and politics. There’s even the whiff of a new blacklist.”
Latest Blow For English National Opera: Arts Council Threatens Funding
“No one is doubting that ENO is capable of extraordinary artistic work, but we have serious concerns about their governance and business model and we expect them to improve or they could face the removal of our funding.”
Idiosyncracies And Obsessions And Perfection: The Musicians Of The L.A. Phil
“[Bass clarinetist David] Howard, 59, practices yoga to strengthen his lungs. Timpanist Joseph Pereira stretches damp calfskins across drums and fashions mallets out of wine corks and felt. Thomas Hooten … runs trumpet scales late into the night. And Christopher Hanulik, who calls his 25-pound bass ‘the beast,’ guards against strained ligaments and tendinitis: ‘I’ve got to be nimble, my muscles quick.'”