No, we can’t all have random dance partners this year, so let’s go with a throwback to 1908. “The waltz may have a reputation as the ultimate social dance for partners — the way it is traditionally performed at the balls — but there is another interpretation, one that resonates in this pandemic year of physical distancing. More than a century ago, the Viennese dancer Grete Wiesenthal transformed the waltz into a powerful form of solo movement.” – The New York Times
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Jamie Foxx Is The Voice Of Pixar’s First Black-Led Film
But Pixar did a lot more, Foxx says, than just hire a Black man to be the lead character. “The filmmakers enlisted a host of A-list cultural, music and faith consultants — including Ryan Coogler, Kenya Barris, Quincy Jones and Yo-Yo Ma — to lend their expertise and perspective to the film’s story, in addition to the artisans who worked on the film directly, like Jon Batiste (who composed original music for the film) or Daveed Diggs and Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson (who voiced characters Paul and Curley in the film, while also consulting on the story).” – Variety
How Realistic Is Netflix’s Ballet Drama Series?
Tiny Pretty Things is about as realistic as you might expect on every level … except dance. The show “may have outrageous levels of drama, mystery and murder, but the ballet is undoubtedly the best part of the show. That’s likely because nearly every actor playing a ballerina in the show is a trained dancer in real life. Those dancers’ influences are what make the portrayal of ballet so realistic in the show.” – CBR
The Generosity Of A Playwright Who Earned Some Unexpected Money
This isn’t exactly a normal year for any playwright, and indeed, Jeremy O. Harris of the multiple-Tony-nominated Slave Play has earned little from his plays. But fashion collaborations and HBO came through – and Harris is coming through for others in return, including numerous “microgrants” to 152 U.S.-based playwrights. “In dire times, he believes, everyone should be committed to ‘protecting, uplifting and sharing,’ adding: ‘Some might call it philanthropy, but I call it upkeep or maintenance.'” – The New York Times
What Was The Best Movie Of 2020?
Let the Slate Movie Club kickstart that conversation (and perhaps explain where to find all of these so-called best movies of a year when we mostly couldn’t go to the cinema). Start here, and work forward, for discussion of everything from First Cow to Beanpole to Bacarau and so many more. – Slate
Just Because A Book Is ‘Literary’ Doesn’t Mean It Needs To Be Dull
Kiley Reid, the author of Such a Fun Age, published a year ago to strong sales and a spot on the Booker longlist, is helping change publishing’s mind, she believes. Talking to another writer, she found out that “she was saying that she’s used my novel to point out to editors that if this person is doing humour that is literary fiction, why can’t I do it too? The premise that literary fiction has to be a drag – it’s just so silly.” – The Observer (UK)
Please Keep Your Hands, Feet, And Breath Inside The Car While At The Museum
That’s 2020 for you, and it’s also a clever way to deal with distancing. In Mexico City, “Objects In the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear (Los objetos en el espejo están más cerca de lo que parece, in Spanish) … brings together over 30 works by more than 20 contemporary artists, from sculpture to video works and LED installations, across three floors of a commercial parking garage in the city’s Polanco neighborhood.” – Hyperallergic
The Weird Case Of The Hallmark Channel’s Jewish Christmas Movies
There’s the 23andMe email telling a Christmas-obsessed woman that she’s 50 percent Jewish; there’s the central character who is an outsider to Judaism; there is the “We’re just like you!” theme, and then there are the many, many, many, many, MANY Hanukkah decorations. “The trend is an assimilationist project which tests the meaning of the increasingly buzzword-y, amorphous concepts of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion.’ Do Jews really want or need to see themselves in Christmas Movie World?” – HuffPost
Will Publishers Continue To Benefit From The Trump Bump?
More than a thousand books have been published about the 45th president during his ruinous four years in office. Now, “publishers are racing to acquire news-breaking works about his final days in office, as well as comprehensive historical accounts of the Trump era, sober expositions examining how he has changed the Republican Party and the country, and gossipy insider accounts of what really went on in the White House.” – The New York Times
Look, Buildings Of Any Tradition Can Be Beautiful
Seriously. We’re having this discussion because the U.S. president is determined to damage as much as possible before he’s forced to leave, but: “America has beautiful and popular non-traditional structures – the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles – and it has crude and soulless classical buildings.” – The Guardian (UK)