“So how does one plan for a tragedy? You really can’t. You plan for your organization’s response to one. That is to say, put in place the information, guidelines, training, and materials needed to help company leadership and staff deal with a most difficult and often chaotic time.”
Tag: 02.17.15
“Unscrambling An Egg” – Can A Dance Work Be Edited?
Judith Mackrell: “A couple of months ago I asked whether choreographers need editors and whether dance, like literature, might benefit from having some kind of inbuilt system of feedback, comment and control. It became clear that this was a question that others were asking. And a few weeks later, it was taken up by Rambert in their offer of a public debate.”
Florence Shuts Down Its Ballet Company – For The Second Time
Two years ago, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale, facing the same cash crises that afflict most Italian opera houses these days, announced that it could no longer afford to maintain its ballet company, called MaggioDanza. Supporters put together a private entity intended to maintain the troupe at the theater. It didn’t work (and they’re all suing each other), so MaggioDanza will close after all. (in Italian)
When Your Countrymen Turn On Your Best-Foreign-Language-Oscar-Nominated Film
Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida): “It’s not a nice feeling, and I also feel a bit embarrassed for my country, which I’m very proud of in most ways. When it happens, and they said Ida is an unpatriotic embarrassment, I think, ‘My movie’s not embarrassing. This is embarrassing.'”
A Different Sort Of Mardi Gras Tradition: Exploding Sledgehammers
“Brazilians celebrate the day before Lent with dancing samba in skimpy outfits. In New Orleans, revelers throw beads at Mardi Gras. In this dusty central Mexican town, they have a different kind of a blast. … Even amid the inexhaustible tally of quirky rituals that communities anywhere hold dear, the Fat Tuesday frenzy in San Juan de la Vega elicits awe.”
Tamara Rojo Programmed An Entire Evening Of New Ballet By Women Choreographers – But It Wasn’t Easy
“There are so many talented female choreographers out there, but they’re much less quick than men to accept work. Some of the women I approached had little children and decided it was too much to deal with. Some felt they were not ready for a big London commission. … There’s no shortage of men who want to experiment and put themselves forward, but we have to go out to find the women.”
Yes, We *Should* Fact-Check Movies About History
Edward Rothstein: “The historian is starting to be perceived as a pedant. And the ‘Gotcha Game’ – as one critic has called efforts to call out film inaccuracies – is being portrayed as a culturally philistine enterprise. … Actually, if these films didn’t make such claims on history, they would get considerably less attention. History, they insist, matters. But some also claim its mantle disingenuously, in order to give authority to their manipulations. Fact-checking is important because it helps disclose what is being changed and why.”
Wonder Woman Wins A History Book Prize
“America’s favorite female superhero has a new medal to pin on her Stars-and-Stripes bustier, thanks to the New-York Historical Society, which has awarded its annual American History Book Prize to Jill Lepore’s best-selling The Secret History of Wonder Woman.”
Even The Cheap Seats On Broadway And The West End Aren’t Cheap Anymore, And That’s A Serious Problem
Mark Shenton: “Every single seat, regardless of where in the house it is, is becoming an investment. And if you have to pause before you even book a ticket in the balcony, why bother? … It’s the poorer, younger theatregoers – and the theatregoing habit we hope they will gain, as I did, in the upper circle and balcony – that I hope aren’t priced out of the equation.”
Here’s Why Patricia Arquette Is Going To Win An Oscar
“Slate film critic Dana Stevens takes a closer look at Arquette’s remarkable performance as Olivia, the doughty single mother in [Boyhood,] Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making coming-of-age story.” (video)