“‘You’re not stretching your face enough’, explains Crystal Pite, patiently. She demonstrates with a lop-sided grimace that distorts her rather beautiful, open features into a kind of agitated question mark. It’s not the standard rehearsal note from a choreographer to their dancers, but the eight men and women in the studio mimic Pite’s expression as they dance, and an unsettling new energy comes into their bodies. You can feel a shift in the atmosphere of the room.”
Tag: 05.12.16
What It Means When All Of Our Experts Are Wrong
“History’s roster of morons, you begin to realize, bears a worrisome resemblance to its roster of geniuses. Whomever you happen to rely on for your present stable perch—John Oliver, Elizabeth Kolbert, the Freakonomics guys — you can’t help but begin to feel the chair-legs wobble. Wrongness, now and forever, is an equal-opportunity affliction.”
An International Glossary Of Happiness
“Could understanding other cultures’ concepts of joy and well-being help us reshape our own? The Positive Lexicography Project aims to catalogue foreign terms for happiness that have no direct English translation.”
Public Radio Station Manager Drops ‘This American Life’ Because Ira Glass Put It On Pandora – And Ira Fights Back
Mike Savage, general manager of WBAA in West Lafayette, Indiana, made the announcement on LinkedIn’s Pulse; in the comments, Ira Glass, TAL reporter Ben Calhoun, Audible.com SVP Eric Nuzum, and several other public radio execs debate the issue.
More Stolen Old Master Paintings Discovered In Ukraine – Hidden In The Bushes
The canvases by Tintoretto, Mantegna, Rubens, and Pisanello were stolen from the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona in November; 13 suspects were arrested for the thefts in March. (Last month, a different set of old masterworks, taken from a Dutch museum ten years ago and held for ransom by a Ukrainian militia, were recovered.)
Historic African-American Theater ‘Automatically’ Loses Tax-Exempt Status
“The behind-the-scenes tumult [t Karamu House] has elements of tragedy, mystery and a touch of dark comedy. If it were a play, it would be titled ‘Finagle’s Law: Anything That Can Go Wrong, Will – And at the Worst Possible Moment.'”
In A Snapchat World, Does Queer Poetry Still Matter?
“Queerness was present in poetry long before queer was queer or gay was gay.”
The Deal With How We Forget American Writers (The Women, That Is)
“Women’s literary ambitions are not a recent phenomenon. [Woolson] was a writer who aimed for and reached the heights of literary recognition, despite even greater obstacles than those facing women writers today. The fact that Woolson has been buried under decades of critical neglect should matter to anyone who is concerned about the VIDA count and the reputations of women writers.”
What Jodie Foster Has Learned From Her (Weirdly Slow) Life As A Director
“Foster formed a production company, Egg, and entered into a deal with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, a studio that eventually merged with Universal. ‘Failed moguldom!’ she said with a loud laugh. ‘I was following a path, and — I can’t say I think it was a mistake? But it was a lot of energy output, and I think the energy would have been better spent in other places. When you’re young, you try things.'”
Why Women In Dance Aren’t Encouraged To Be Mavericks
“When you’re a young boy wanting to study ballet you’re already a kind of rebel, someone who is thinking outside the box, so you’re more likely to end up making work or running a company. Girls are less likely to be prized for being a maverick, they’re more likely to be encouraged to look and dance like everyone else – which means that a lot of the creative women will end up in contemporary dance.”