The character as passed down from the Diaghilev Ballets Russes original is not only painted in outlandish blackface makeup, he is, as Wendy Perron puts it, “mean and aggressive [and] prodigiously stupid.” In the ’90s, the Oakland and then San Francisco Ballets decided to make the character’s face blue (“the Avatar solution”), and both Perron and Michel Fokine’s granddaughter (and Petrouchka rights holder) Isabelle had thought that was an excellent solution. But Perron’s dance history students at Juilliard last semester would not have it: they found the character grotesque, offensive and irredeemable. Perron and the class reached out to Isabelle, and Perron tells us how things came out. – Dance Magazine
Tag: 07.15.20
Toward An Anti-Racist American Theatre
“This moment and movement did not come out of nowhere but emerges from longstanding frustration among BIPOC theatremakers … [who] have never truly felt welcome in an industry geared toward and run by white theatremakers and audiences, into which they have only fitfully been invited to do work, and even then under terms that have been variously exploitive, unequal, and harmful.” – American Theatre
The Detroit Institute Of Arts Borrowed An El Greco From The Director’s Father-In-Law. Ethics Violation?
Because the display of a painting in a prestigious museum can increase its value, the loan can be seen as breaking conflict-of-interest and self-dealing rules and a complaint was filed with the IRS and the Michigan attorney general. The director says that all procedures were properly followed, being shown at the museum wouldn’t really affect the value of an Old Master, and, basically, if you can get the long-term loan of an El Greco, why wouldn’t you? – The New York Times
Joanna Cole, Author Of ‘Magic School Bus’ Series, Dead At 75
“She originally created The Magic School Bus in 1986 with illustrator Bruce Degen. The core idea of a sweet and nerdy crew of schoolchildren taking field trips into scientific concepts, bodily parts, into space and back to the age of dinosaurs — and always led by their teacher, the intrepid Ms. Frizzle — eventually spun out into dozens of tie-ins and more than 93 million copies in print, plus a beloved television show that aired for 18 years in more than 100 countries.” – NPR
How The Met Museum’s Reopening Will Work
The Fifth Avenue flagship will welcome visitors — only those with masks, and only up to a quarter of the building’s regular capacity — five days a week beginning Aug. 29. The Cloisters will reopen in September. – The New York Times
A Comparison Of What Governments Around The World Are Doing To Help Rescue Culture
Stimulus packages for the arts and culture range from the £1.57bn package announced by the UK this week to smaller packages in countries such as Zimbabwe, Estonia and Costa Rica. – The Guardian
Making Dance Students’ Year-End Recitals Happen, Virus Or No Virus
“Among students of dance, the recital is much more than just a performance. It’s the culmination of a year’s work and a social event: … When the pandemic hit, some studios made swift decisions to cancel their performances, while others held virtual ones they knew could not compare to the adrenaline-filled, sequin-covered excitement of the real thing. But others dug in their heels and resolved to find some way to put on their biggest show of the year.” Here’s how a few of them pulled it off. – The New York Times