“He’s just completed a residency at the Belhaven University Dance Department in Jackson, Mississippi, and teaches ballet around the state, where he resides in a small town outside Hattiesburg.” (Yes, he drives himself.) The Today show pays Danton a visit. – NBC News
Tag: 09.11.19
Who Cares Where The Money Comes From If It’s Given Anonymously? Well…
“Giving money to higher education amplifies a billionaire’s legacy. The money greases hiring decisions and shapes curriculums, and it can ricochet across the wider culture for decades, even after the billionaire himself has shuffled off this mortal coil.” – The New York Times
The Rebel Conductor With A New Vision For Classical Music
Musicians say that his uncompromising approach to music — he is famous for marathon rehearsals and recording sessions, and for late-night salons where guests recite poetry, play music and talk until all hours — has almost mystical effects. – The New York Times
How Urban Dictionary Went From Treasure Trove To Cesspit
Aaron Peckham started the site back in 1999 at least partly as a joke, but it quickly became a genuinely valuable reference, with users constantly submitting and updating definitions for slang expressions and explanations of memes. What happened? – Wired
This Off-Broadway Play Was So Fraught, It Hired Post-Show Counselors For The Audience. Now It’s Headed To Broadway — Can Broadway Handle It?
Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play “often funny and pervasively unsettling, examines that lingering wound [of American slavery] through the frustrated sex lives, and taboo sexual fantasies, of three contemporary interracial couples. … An internet-based backlash, seemingly fueled by people who had not seen the play, was threatening enough to require stepped-up security” for its Off-Broadway run. “Many of the participants still can’t quite believe this play, on Broadway, is happening.” – The New York Times
Drought Reveals Ancient Long-Hidden “Spanish Stonehenge”
This past summer, an extreme drought in the Extremadura area of Spain that caused the Valdecañas Reservoir’s water levels to plummet has revealed a series of megalithic stones. – artnet
African-American Is New Chief Conductor Of BBC National Orchestra Of Wales
Ryan Bancroft, a 29-year-old native of Long Beach who studied at CalArts, discovered classical music through a one-minute clip of Beethoven pre-loaded on his family’s first computer, and he cites as a chief influence Ghanaian dancing. – The Telegraph (UK)
Conductor Anthony Parnther Knows The Effect Seeing A Black Person On The Podium Can Have
“I’ve seen it many times when I’m conducting, and I see young children of various colors sitting in the front three or four rows,” says the new music director of the San Bernardino Symphony in California and the conductor of the historically Black orchestra Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles. “You can just tell, it’s like: ‘Wow, that’s not what I was expecting to see come around the corner.'” – Los Angeles Times
Do We Have No Choice But To Stan? How Fan Culture Is Swallowing Democracy
“We are witnessing a great convergence between politics and culture, citizenship and commerce, ideology and aesthetics. Civic participation has been converted seamlessly into consumer practice. … Elizabeth Warren is cast as a Harry Potter character and Kamala Harris is sliced into a reaction GIF. … It is democracy reimagined as fandom, and it is now a dominant mode of experiencing politics.” An essay in nine parts. – The New York Times
Film Festivals Cost Their Host Cities A Lot — Are They Worth It?
From Cannes to Shanghai to Park City to Toronto, these events bring in visitors, create jobs, build a city’s brand, and nurture culture. On the other hand, they can drive up prices, strain the environment (Venice), and attract interference from the authorities. On yet another hand, they can put a spotlight on important issues and provide a lifeline for minorities (as with the queer film fest in Jakarta). – The Guardian