As Dancap Productions prepares for the closing of its two current musicals, Jersey Boys and South Pacific, the company has made redundant more than 30 staff members, mostly in sales. Because Dancap has not yet announced any shows for the upcoming season, said the company’s publicist, “there’s nothing to sell.”
Tag: 07.24.10
What’s With All These ’80s Pop Culture Remakes?
“We who lived through ’80s pop culture the first time knew that much of it was bad – overhyped, hokey, formulaic. … Whether these [new] retreads turn out well or badly, they’re going to keep coming, because my generation has been brainwashed to believe that we’re the most important consumers of pop culture ever, and we can’t let go of our feelings of primacy.”
How a Language’s Verb Forms Shape The Way Its Speakers Perceive the World
It might seem self-evident (Noam Chomsky’s doctrine of “universal grammar” notwithstanding) that the way a language is used shapes how its users think. Recent research is revealing just how deeply this effect goes: grammar affects the way we perceive such basic things as spatial relationships and the passage of time.
The Sculpture of Arabia (Yes, There Was Plenty of It)
“Forget about Arabia as a land without figural representation. It was already there in the fourth millennium B.C.” and continued ruight up to the advent of Islam, as a new exhibition at the Louvre shows.
In India, Choreography Is a ‘Lucrative Career Option'(!)
“‘One’s options are no longer limited to Bollywood. We have reality shows on television, and there’s a great demand for choreographers for wedding performances, theatre shows, and even college festivals,’ said choreographer Sandip Soparrkar.”
Scotland’s Major Arts Companies Face £2M in Cuts
“SNP ministers have asked the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera to prepare for cuts of up to 10 per cent.”
TV Dance Competitions Are Good Business for Australian Dance Troupes
“In direct response to the popularity of TV’s So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars, it is boom time at the nation’s leading dance schools. At Sydney Dance Company, 20 per cent of turnover is now generated by public dance classes … In Melbourne, Chunky Move experienced a 10 per cent increase in business when … SYTYCD began screening in 2008.”
In Russia, Rap as Resistance
“In the Soviet Union during the last decades of communist rule, dissidents listened to the Beatles and admired guitar-strumming bards like Vladimir Vysotsky, whose bitter lyrics contrasted sharply with the cheeriness of official propaganda. Nowadays, dissenters … have found a new source of musical inspiration: a homegrown version of Tupac Shakur and Public Enemy.”