“In [the dance style called] footwork, an individual, usually a boy, strides out into the centre of a group and starts jittering with his feet in fluid slides and taps, sometimes jabbing forwards to provoke an opponent. With the music usually played at aggressive tempos of 155-165 bpm, footwork is an exercise in speed. Dancers’ feet blur beneath their static torsos, keeping balance in hypnotic burst of rhythm.”
Tag: 05.27.10
Garrison Keillor: Publishing Is At The Abyss
“Back in the day, we became writers through the laying on of hands. Some teacher who we worshipped touched our shoulder, and this benediction saw us through a hundred defeats. And then an editor smiled on us and wrote us a check and our babies got shoes. But in the New Era, writers will be self-anointed. No passing of the torch.”
What’s The Deadline For Proving An Arts Leader’s Success?
“Is a year enough? How about five years? Or a dozen years? Should there be a 90-day evaluation? It make have taken God only seven days to create the universe. But it took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.”
Public Theatre Makes New Royalties Deal With Playwrights
The Public Theater and the Dramatists Guild have reached a new agreement on subsidiary rights, which will allow playwrights to keep a larger portion of the royalties generated by their work.
Qaddafi’s Son Turns To Hollywood
“Saadi, a former professional footballer of sorts … has decided to invest in Hollywood movies, kicking off with a cool $100m investment in a movie fund, whose first production will be a remake of a German thriller called Isolation.“
The Man Who’s Opening New Japanese Theater To The West
Modern Japanese cinema, literature and dance (notably butoh) are familiar to culture lovers the world over. “But contemporary Japanese theater remains by and large terra incognita. … That is beginning to change with the translation into English and other languages of recent works by … the playwright and director Shu Matsui.”
Meet South Africa’s Young Arts Stars
“As South Africa prepares to welcome the world to the greatest show on turf, Times writers talk to the country’s stars of tomorrow – in everything but football.”
Dance Troupe Targeted In Russian Terrorist Attack
“Authorities said a remote or timer-controlled bomb went off outside the House of Culture and Sport, near the [Stavropol] city center, shortly before the start of a concert by a dance company linked with Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.”
What Recession? Australian Ballet’s Box Office Up 12%
“The Australian Ballet had a 12 per cent surge at the box office last year, thanks to increased ticket prices and an additional 15,000 tickets sold in the tough economic climate.” Audiences increased by 5% in Sydney and 10% in Melbourne.
Why Our Brains Are Susceptible To Celebrity Endorsements
“A new study suggests the answer involves superstar-specific happy memories stored in our cerebral cortex. Using brain-scan technology, researchers found those positive emotions get transferred from the personality to the product, producing a more positive impression of the item in question and, presumably, a greater probability of purchasing it.”