Durante Verzola, isolating with his family in Kansas City, has set on four dancers in Miami City Ballet a new piece titled A Dance for Heroes, commissioned by MCB artistic director Lourdes Lopez (out of her own pocket) to honor the front-line workers in the corona-crisis. – The Palm Beach Post
Tag: 05.06.20
What Are The Implications Of Offering Free Dance Online?
“As dancers, we are taught to problem solve in real-time, so it came as no surprise when,” once the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of almost all live dance, “streamed performances and classes began popping up almost immediately. Dance Magazine asked six voices from our national dance community to share their thoughts regarding the swift distribution of online content.” – Dance Magazine
Hay Festival Director Explains How He Moved This Year’s Entire Event Online
Peter Florence: “In the last three weeks we’ve reshaped the programme we’d been planning for the last 18 months into just 80 online events and we’ve been experimenting with tech platforms to keep that conversation going. I doubt we could ever have assembled the cast who’ll launch our Wordsworth 250 celebrations in real life.” – The Guardian
Florian Schneider, Co-Founder Of Kraftwerk, Dead At 73
“Formed in 1970 by Mr. Schneider and Ralf Hütter, Kraftwerk was credited with bringing synthesizers, drum machines, preprogrammed tapes and sequences to the fore, developing a sonic template that was used in genres as varied as rock, pop, hip-hop and disco. Kraftwerk’s music, techno pioneer Juan Atkins once said, ‘sounded like the future.'” – The Washington Post
Tony Awards May Not Happen At All This Year, Even Online
On top of the obvious difficulties of staging a televised ceremony to promote Broadway shows when theaters are closed until god-knows-when, there may be no fair way, at this point, to vote for winners. – Variety
French President Announces Emergency Rescue Plans For Arts And Culture Workers
Among the key elements of the proposal outlined by President Macron are a full-year extension of unemployment insurance for gig workers in the performing arts (known as “intermittents du spectacle“), allowing authors to receive the monthly support payments available to small business owners and the self-employed, and indemnification and loan guarantees for cancelled film productions and small festivals. – The Local (France)
Pandemic Is Spurring Operatic Innovation
The covid-19 crisis has forced a sacrifice of so much of what makes opera so powerful — the massive casts, booming orchestras, elaborate staging and singular thrill of being present to experience it all. But it also presents an unlikely opportunity for the form itself to get more intimate and accessible, reach new audiences and evolve in different directions. It’s an art form in survival mode, and it may well come back stronger. – Washington Post
Movie Theatres Can’t Reopen Yet, So They’re Finding Novel Ways To Connect
“The Music Box in Chicago has a kind of tip-line where people can call in and describe what streaming services they have and their programmers will recommend what to watch. It’s been wildly popular and it’s so funny,” she says. “The Brattle in Cambridge, Mass., had a movie trivia night to support them, which became an opportunity for people from all over the country to join each other. Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, N.Y., has been working with their audience to care for them. Calling them on the phone just to make sure they’re doing all right.” – NPR
Broadway Ponders The Scope Of Issues Before Shows Can Reopen
Actors’ Equity Association is rethinking almost every direction: How can more space be added to dressing rooms? Which costume fabrics resist the virus better? How many people need to touch a prop in a 10-minute period and how can that prop be cleaned? They’ve hired David Michaels, who ran the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under President Barack Obama, to advise. – AP
Martin Lovett, Cellist Of Amadeus String Quartet, Dead Of COVID At 93
“When the playing of his three colleagues – all Austrian exiles – threatened to become too sweet, Lovett could be relied on to bring them back to the right side of good taste with a finely drawn phrase from his Stradivarius instrument.” – The Guardian