Why is modern American dance abstract while European dance is largely narrative, asks Joan Acocella? “For the most part, our choreographers have been modernists, in the Clement Greenbergian sense. Their primary concern has been their medium, dance. While all that was coalescing over here, people in Europe were voting huge subsidies for the arts, which were part of their national pride. They were also living lives different from ours. In the First and Second World Wars, the Europeans saw their universe laid waste, as we did not. Consequently, I believe, many of them could not give up representation, narration. They had to keep talking about the modern world, trying to figure out how it turned out the way it did.”
Tag: 05.03.04
Creative Aging?
“Creativity, some scientists say, may play an important role in healthy aging – conversely, the ill can shed extraordinary light on just how the brain perceives art. Even though our brains age, it doesn’t diminish our ability to create. The big question, as arts projects become more common in retirement and nursing homes, is whether tapping elders’ creativity truly brings them physical health benefits as well as joy. And if so, what works best?”
The Unrest Behind France’s Arts Workers
“When the wheels fell off a French government program designed to help guarantee the livelihood of a certain number of artists and musicians, it caused a ruckus which is still echoing in the corridors of power.”
British Culture Minister: Art For Art’s Sake
Tessa Jowell, the British Secretary of State for Culture, will “pledge tomorrow to roll back decades of Whitehall antipathy by asserting that culture and the arts are fundamental human rights. In a reversal of the post-war obsession with using culture as a tool of social policy – in tackling crime, boosting educational standards and regenerating rundown cities – Ms Jowell will make a surprising plea for art for art’s sake.”
US Loses Ground In Brain Power
The United States is losing its dominance in basic research. “Even analysts worried by the trend concede that an expansion of the world’s brain trust, with new approaches, could invigorate the fight against disease, develop new sources of energy and wrestle with knotty environmental problems. But profits from the breakthroughs are likely to stay overseas, and this country will face competition for things like hiring scientific talent and getting space to showcase its work in top journals.”
Brits Buy More Art Books Than Americans
Although the American book-buying public is considerably larger that that of Great Britain, it buys fewer books about art than the British.”
World Tour Poetry By Helicopter
Publishing mogul Felix Dennis is on a crusade for poetry (at least as he defines it). “In his newest chapter, the British multimillionaire is on a crusade to challenge the obscurity of modern poetry, by reclaiming old-fashioned values of rhyme and meter. His flair for marketing, and his bankroll, are giving him unusual success. His first volume of poetry, “A Glass Half Full” got barely any attention from serious reviewers but sold all 10,000 copies printed in Britain.
Of Illness And Conductors
So James Levine has a medical condition that weakens him. “Before Met fans or administrators panic, some perspective is called for. Although conducting requires mental and physical stamina, the job is hardly limited to those who fit the standard image of the kinetic and charismatic wizard of the podium, like the young Finnish firebrand Esa-Pekka Salonen of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Some of the greatest conducting of the last 100 years was done by aging and physically enfeebled maestros who still inspired orchestras through their insights and uncanny abilities to convey intention with economical hand gestures, facial expressions and sheer presence.”
Big Dig Artifacts Could Be Lost
More than a million artifacts unearthed in Boston’s Big Dig project are in danger of being lost. “The archeology for the Big Dig was probably the largest archeological project ever conducted in Massachusetts. But the actual discoveries — the sites and their contents — were even more significant because, for the most part, they predated the Revolutionary War. The farther back you go in time, the fewer written documents exist to describe what life was like. We really got an intimate look at the lives of many colonists and Native Americans.”
Shakespeare – Washed Up At 40 (400 Years Ago Today)
“So, 400 years ago today Shakespeare turned 40. The theatre is not kind to ageing talent. Contrasting his own autumnal face with the cruel energy of spring, middle-aged Shakespeare must have wondered whether he had passed his prime. In fact, he had. Shakespeare at 40 was already, like the Julian calendar, conspicuously behind the times.”