Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean and Mark Morris talk about the relationship between modern dance and classical ballet – and about working with companies of each type.
Tag: 07.05.09
African Drama Takes The British Stage
“A slew of award-winning and critically acclaimed plays with their roots in that continent is shaking up Britain’s theatre stages with vibrant tales of death, rebellion and escaped moose.”
Beethoven’s Ninth: In Japan, It’s Bigger Than Hello Kitty
“An amateur pastime in Japan for more than 50 years, [the symphony] is often performed around the holiday season in venues across the country, occasioning the coming together of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of choristers of all ages and levels of vocal training. ‘Ode to Joy’ serves as a popular ringtone for cellphones as well as a ubiquitous selection at karaoke bars.” Says one observer: “Someone told me that it’s the only time that Japanese women are allowed to scream.”
Charmed, And Conned, By A Beijing Opera Singer/International Man Of Mystery
Joyce Wadler: “I was working as a reporter at People magazine, back in 1988, when I saw the Broadway show the case inspired, David Henry Hwang’s wonderful M. Butterfly, and it raised many questions: How could a guy make love to another guy for months and not know? Where had the kid come from? How could I get to Paris, where the two men were now living after spending time in prison, on somebody else’s dime?”
How Will Timothy Rub Run The Philadelphia Museum?
“Perhaps it is more accurate to say that Rub is like a kid who has just been given the candy shop. Lured from the Cleveland Museum of Art, he arrives in Philadelphia this fall to succeed the late Anne d’Harnoncourt as director and chief executive officer of the Art Museum – a move many art leaders view as a bit of inevitable justice.”
Dallas Symphony Blooms Under Jaap Van Zweden’s First Year
“By general assent, the 48-year-old Amsterdam native has transformed the orchestra in both sound and skill. Virtually unknown in the U.S. before his dramatic 2006 DSO debut, van Zweden now is sparking intense interest.”
An Ambitious Cultural Olympics For Asia
“Australia and Japan are developing together a Utopia Project that would present an arts Olympics every two years in an Asia-Pacific centre. They have enlisted the potential support of eight other countries in planning to stage non-competitive arts shows that would include artists, works and performances from across the region.”
Suburban Arts Groups Struggle As Economy Worsens
“Orchestras, theaters, museums and other arts organizations in the nation’s suburbs face the challenge to attract customers — and donors — from the same population going to the Chicago Symphony, the Smithsonian or Broadway plays. With the recession cutting into corporate and government funding and making Americans cautious about their spending, the groups are working harder to promote their small-town advantages — especially an easier commute and cheaper ticket prices.”
South African Dance “Endangered” By American Hip Hop
“Pantsula is the language of the township. Complicated rhythmic formations, gangster swagger and tsotsitaal (scamto) make up the vocabulary of this edgy dance form. … ‘The American influence is like wild fire, destroying everything South African,’ says [Bongani] Linda. Hip hop, he says, is becoming increasingly popular and this is leading to the downfall of ‘pure’ pantsula.”
New Turkish Game Show Tries To Convert Atheists
“The prize for converts will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion — Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists. But religious authorities in Muslim but secular Turkey are not amused by the twist on the popular reality game show format and the Religious Affairs Directorate is refusing to provide an imam for the show.”