With its promises of assisting everyone with anything and everything, the mistake of the mindfulness movement is to present its impersonal mode of awareness as a superior or universally useful one. – Aeon
Tag: 07.24.19
Julia Farron, Longtime Star Of Britain’s Royal Ballet, Dead At 96
“In a 40-year stage career, mostly with the Royal Ballet, she created roles for a host of eminent choreographers, among them Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Robert Helpmann, Andrée Howard, Kenneth MacMillan, Léonide Massine and Ninette de Valois. … Ms. Farron also became known as an inspiring teacher at both the Royal Academy [of Dance, where she was director in the 1980s,] and the Royal Ballet School, helping to shape the careers of many future ballerinas.” – The New York Times
Study: How Artists Can Make An Impact On Climate Change
“We suggest that activist art, including environmental art, should move away from a dystopian way of depicting the problems of climate change,” they conclude. Rather, activist artists should keep in mind the power of “offering solutions, and emphasizing the beauty and interconnectedness of nature.” – Pacific Standard
Young People Have Given Up On TV News ‘Almost Entirely’, Says UK’s Broadcasting Regulator
“While the average person aged 65 and over watches 33 minutes of TV news a day, this falls to just two minutes among people aged 16-24, according [to OFCOM’s] annual news consumption report.” – The Guardian
Actor Rutger Hauer, 75
“[He was] a rugged Dutch actor who played Nazis, action heroes and bloodsucking vampires [in both movies and television], but who was best known as the android outlaw in the science-fiction thriller Blade Runner.” – The Washington Post
Faye Dunaway Fired From Broadway-Bound One-Woman Show After Assaulting Crew Members
Producers of Tea at Five, a solo show by Matthew Lombardo about Katherine Hepburn that had been in a pre-Broadway tryout in Boston, said that they had “terminated their relationship” with Dunaway and would take the show to London with a new star next year. If we can believe Michael Riedel’s report (seemingly confirmed by the playwright), Dunaway’s screaming at and slapping of backstage staff was part of a pattern of behavior reminiscent of soprano Kathleen Battle’s reign of terror in the 1990s. – New York Post
It’s Official: Alexander Neef Will Become General Director Of Paris Opera In 2021
“The news of [the Canadian Opera Co. director’s] return to the Opéra national, where he worked more than a decade ago, comes after the months of speculation in opera circles about Neef’s future, peaking with last month’s reporting from Le Figaro that Neef’s place at the helm of the Paris opera was a sure thing. … Neef’s new post also means he will relinquish his role as Santa Fe Opera’s artistic director, a job that he accepted just last year.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Study: Disadvantaged Students Don’t Have Access To Dance, Music Education
The study, from the University of Bath, shows young people for poor backgrounds are faced with cost barriers, access difficulties and a fear they won’t fit in. – Classic FM
Lang Lang Returns After Career-Threatening Injury As A Changed Man, He Says
Mr. Lang — who long maintained that his greatest fear was an injury that would leave him unable to play the piano, and therefore, as he once put it, “render me useless for life” — spent his forced sabbatical taking stock. “I used the time,” Mr. Lang said in an interview, “to rethink everything I do.” – The New York Times
Two Pianists, Miwa And Reitan
Yoko Miwa Trio, Keep Talkin’ (Ocean Blue Tear Music)
Greg Reitan, West 60th (Sunnyside)
– Doug Ramsey