Longest Strike In Paris Opera Ballet’s History Shows No Sign Of Ending

“Paris Opera has lost more than 12 million euros ($13.3 million) in a month-long strike by ballet dancers fighting to cling onto pension rights that date back to [King] Louis XIV. … While the opera has seen plenty of strikes by stagehands, it is almost unheard of to have dancers downing tutus. Their decision to take to the streets for the first time in the opera’s 350-year existence made international headlines.” – Yahoo! (AFP)

Does Freezing Dance Works In Their Original Form Doom Them?

It’s true that dance history is particularly hard to preserve, and the desire to stay true to a choreographer’s original intention when restaging their work is a valid one. But treating these works like museum pieces can backfire. In the effort to stay painstakingly authentic to an original artist’s work, are we missing some of the spark that made it so exciting when it premiered, and losing the element that made it a classic in the first place? Are we preventing these works from resonating with new audiences? – Dance Magazine

Strip Down? De-Clutter? The False Promise Of Minimalism

The average American household possesses more than 300,000 items. In the UK, one study found that children have on average 238 toys, but only play with 12 of them on a daily basis. We are addicted to accumulation. The minimalist lifestyle seems like a conscientious way of approaching the world now that we have realised that materialism, accelerating since the industrial revolution, is literally destroying the planet. Yet my gut reaction to Kondo and the Minimalists was that it all seemed a little too convenient: just sort through your house or listen to a podcast, and happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind could all be yours. – The Guardian

What The State Of London’s National Theatre Says About The UK

The questions facing the National Theatre reflect the broader themes of British politics right now: elitism, identity, diversity. In the half century since it was founded, the National has always commissioned plays that represent the “state of the nation,” tackling everything from the privatization of the railways to the Iraq War. “The National Theatre repertoire is a time capsule for the socioeconomic condition of Britain at any moment.” – The Atlantic

Canadian Poet Cancels Talk About Indigenous Poets Because Of His Advocacy For Murderer Of An Indigenous Woman

George Elliott Clarke’s talk at the University of Regina was supposed to be about the murdered and missing Indigenous women of Canada, and poets who wrote about them. But his original refusal to say he wouldn’t read a poem by Stephen Brown, a convicted murderer of an Indigenous woman, and Clarke’s friend, caused enough controversy that he eventually canceled entirely. – Globe and Mail (Canada)

An Architect Says The Building Industry Pollutes The World, And Must Change

Stephanie Carlisle: “While architects are not fully responsible for steel manufacturing or concrete production per se, there is a direct line from the material specifications that architects write to the steel mills of China, the coal mines of Appalachia, the brick kilns of India, or clear-cut forests in the Pacific Northwest or the Amazon.” She says the design industry has to change, and quickly. – Fast Company