In 2014, he was a genuine ballet celebrity, admired enough to become the first American ever invited to become a principal at the Bolshoi Ballet. Then he suffered a complex ankle injury, and a year later, he was ready to give up dancing entirely. (And he was already getting offers to direct companies.) But ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie convinced him not to abandon the stage just yet. Candice Thompson has the story of how Hallberg struggled through a surprisingly difficult recovery, reworked his technique and returned to performing.
Tag: 05.22.17
Meet Christopher Wheeldon’s Right-Hand Man
“While still in the corps of New York City Ballet, Jason Fowler was drawn to the role of répétiteur. … So it comes as little surprise that 20 years later, Fowler is a primary stager of Christopher Wheeldon’s ballets around the globe.”
Claim: On The West Coast Women Are Getting More Visibility In Opera
“First and foremost, if you ask little girls what a scientist looks like, it’s Einstein. If you ask adults what does a composer look like, they would think of men – like Mozart. And if you look in the seasons of the major orchestras and opera houses, it’s not some big secret. There is music by women composers, but you have to ask the programmers, the people hiring, the commissioners: Why aren’t they seeking out more women? I don’t know why.”
Dense American Cities Are Becoming Denser. Less Dense Cities Are Becoming Less Dense
There’s a clear pattern in which metro areas are becoming more urban: Dense metros are getting denser. Meanwhile, sprawling metro areas are spreading out further. It’s another example of a polarized America, of places becoming more unlike each other: not only with respect to income inequality and politics, but also with growth patterns.
How A Colorado Arts Center Collapsed, As Warnings Were Ignored Or Deflected
Beginning two years ago, not long after a new executive director arrived, staffers and some board members at the Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts began discovering serious financial shenanigans: multiple bank accounts, paid-for items that had never been ordered or delivered, paychecks bouncing. The executive director kept saying things were under control; city officials, repeatedly warned, insisted they could do nothing. Now the exec is gone, the Center is broke and may close, and the police are involved. How did it get to this point? Ryan Summerlin reports.
Happiness Is All About Control
“Do you want to win that tennis match? It is outside of your control. But to play the best game you can is under your control. Do you want your partner to love you? It is outside of your control. But there are plenty of ways you can choose to show your love to your partner – and that is under your control. Do you want a particular political party to win the election? It is outside of your control (unless you’re Vladimir Putin!) But you can choose to engage in political activism, and you can vote.”
‘One Hundred Years Of Solitude’ Was Not An Instant Classic
“Fifty years after the book’s publication, it may be tempting to believe its success was as inevitable as the fate of the Buendía family at the story’s center.” It wasn’t – it had many detractors in its first years, including some who dismissed it as traditionalist and anachronistic.
Why The ‘Conceptual Penis’ Hoax Is Pretty Much A Flop
Philosopher Peter Boghossian and mathematician James Lindsay clearly hoped that their fake gender-studies paper, “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct,” would go down in history as an Alan Sokal-style triumph. Phil Torres explains why their hoax proves a lot less than they’d like to think it does (and proves one thing they’d probably rather it didn’t).
How Two Guys Built A Successful Opera Festival From Scratch In A London Park
“The essence, I think, is as little bullshit as possible – an emotional approach but with real seriousness. We agree that the audience comes first and that you carry them with you rather than forcing things down their throats.” Reporter George Hall talks to Michael Volpe and James Clutton about Opera Holland Park, which puts on up to half a dozen productions every summer.
Why TV Revivals Are Everywhere Now
“It has become glaringly obvious that mainstream TV is awash in reboots, remakes and revivals. The reasons for this trend are many and complex. It’s not that everybody in the TV racket has run out of ideas. There is a lot of new and original TV being made. One reason is simply business – in a time of so much TV, a familiar title and concept will get more attention than an entirely new story.”