The Stuttgart Ballet is performing a program of solos, duos, a trio, and a socially distanced adaptation of Maurice Béjart’s Bolero for 249 people in the theatre and 1,000 cars at a drive-in. The Parc de la Villette in Paris is making its stage available as a large-scale studio/workshop for various companies, with audience members (with limited, timed tickets) able to watch. In Prague last month, they managed to put on a complete contemporary dance festival. Sanjoy Roy reports. – The Guardian
Tag: 07.16.20
The Extremely Cold Case Of Hans Holbein’s Bones
London: “Emptied out by coronavirus during lockdown, the City was the perfect place for socially distanced, government-mandated walks. And beneath its streets are the bodies of innumerable plague victims. One in particular haunts me. Holbein died in London, almost certainly of plague, in 1543. The long shadow of bubonic plague permeates his art, in its danse macabre of corpses and skeletons. It seemed appropriate to seek out this master of pestilence in a time of pandemic.” – The Guardian (UK)
Longing For Outdoor Theatre, Yes, Including Bugs And Rain
OK, we just miss it. A lot. “It’s a different absence than the loss of indoor theater, partly because of how fondly we cherish summer traditions. But as the director Anne Bogart said in a phone interview, outdoor performance by its nature involves a fuller embrace of life, and of accidents.” – The New York Times
Falling (Back) In Love With Jazz Dance
A new streaming documentary does a lot more than set jazz dance into context – it asks the ballet and dance communities to restructure what they consider “foundational.” – Dance Magazine
Vanta-Fish — Turns Out Nature Made An Ultra-Black Pigment Before The Nanotech Guys Did
Eat your heart out, Anish Kapoor. At least sixteen species of deep-sea creatures “have evolved a different and devilishly clever way of going ultra-black with incredible efficiency: One species the researchers found absorbs 99.956 percent of the light that hits it, making it nearly as black as … Vantablack, the famous human-made material that absorbs almost all the light you shine at it.” – Wired
In Hollywood, Some LGB Representation Is Up, But What Happened To Trans Rep?
Truly embarrassing themselves again, major studios released 118 films in 2019 and, well, they all got low grades from GLAAD. “Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, United Artists Releasing and Universal Pictures were marked as ‘insufficient’ by GLAAD, while Sony Pictures Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios received ‘poor’ grades and STX Films was slapped with a ‘failing’ grade as it had no LGBTQ representation in its 2019 film slate.” But they all failed at trans representation. – The Hollywood Reporter
Battle Over Hirshhorn Museum’s Plans To Redo Its Modernist Gardens
Although the museum calls Hiroshi Sugimoto’s design a “revitalization” of the sculpture garden, its critics feel it is much more than that. They are especially concerned with the proposed changes to the core of the garden, the portion with the reflecting pool. Under the current plan, the pool would be replaced with one more than double its size with a stage at its center. – The New York Times
Pilobolus Meets Augmented Reality (Mm, Isn’t This Like Pokemon Go?)
“[There’s] a new class of augmented reality (AR) technologies like the Magic Leap, a headset that allows users to superimpose digital media atop their seen reality, innovatively combining recorded dance with real space. Director and founder of the MAP Design Lab Melissa Painter recently collaborated with Pilobolus to produce a bonkers AR choreography called YouDanceWeDance. This project, which began its life on the Magic Leap, allows viewers to use their smartphones to observe (from any angle, and anywhere) Pilobolus dancers moving according to selectable emotional themes.” – Dance Magazine
Reckoning On Race In Classical Music
“The systemic racism that runs like rot through the structures of the classical music world exists somewhere between broad statistical data and intimate personal disclosure. And right now, in what seems like a promising turn, a range of responses to it — individual, artistic and institutional — feels, at long last, audible.” – Washington Post
The Weird Conspiracy Theories Around The Art At Denver’s Airport
“You may have heard of the Blue Mustang, the infamous giant blue equine sculpture outside Denver International Airport. But the Blue Mustang is only one of many conspiracy theories circling the DIA’s artwork. When Leo Tanguma painted a series of murals for the Denver International Airport, he had no idea that they would become a lightning rod for conspiracy theories and controversy over the murals’ perceived meaning; despite his attempts to explain the true meaning behind the murals, the firestorm of negative conjecture continues to roll on.” – Atlas Obscura via YouTube