“What happens when the founding genius, the original voice, is gone? Martha Graham died in 1991, but her troupe survives, thanks to “contextual” presentations and new works by living choreographers; Paul Taylor, still actively producing work, is 85. His company, too, is making moves to widen its repertory. But the dance world often overlooks another company that has quietly gone about its business for decades in the absence of its founding choreographer, José Limón.”
Tag: 09.30.15
Kansas City Symphony Signs Music Director Michael Stern For Another Five Years
“Our symphony audiences have never been larger, and our financial position has never been stronger. The Kansas City community has embraced Michael, and he has returned the affection with energetic and entertaining performances of the highest quality.”
Grand Rapids’ Art Prize, In Its Seventh Year, Is Finding Its Voice
The targeted investments, impressive lineup of jurors and new curatorial initiatives are attracting higher-level artists and creating more trenchant thematic exhibitions that exist like self-contained planets within the ArtPrize universe.
Study: Watching Quality TV Can Improve Emotional Intelligence
Two years ago, groundbreaking research revealed that reading literary fiction can help us understand the inner lives of others. Now, a newly published paper finds watching quality television drama can do the same thing.
Public Arts Funding Leads To Self-Censorship, Says Leader Of Famed Dissident Underground Theater
Natalia Kaliada, co-founder of Belarus Free Theatre: “Creative conformism is blooming in democratic countries, and so you have to ask whether the only way to secure funding today is to create safe art … I paid the price, and my family paid the price, for speaking our minds freely while living under a dictatorship. Now, living in a democracy, I start to develop a fear of speaking freely in our shows in case we will lose our funding.”
Strong Female Leads Make Audiences Uncomfortable, Says Leading Director
Vicky Featherstone, artistic director of London’s Royal Court Theatre: “We haven’t seen a female King Lear, we haven’t seen a female Willy Loman, we haven’t seen a female Hamlet. People haven’t written those plays yet. And when they do write them, or when they try …, people don’t receive the play very positively.”
Do Strong Female Leads Really Put Audiences Off? Ask Rosalind, Lady Bracknell, And Mama Rose
“Does Vicky Featherstone speak for us all when she says ‘we don’t know whether we’re very good yet at watching a female narrative’? Audiences who queued up for and gave standing ovations to Gillian Anderson’s Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Imelda Staunton in Gypsy, or Kristin Scott Thomas’s Electra might disagree.”
World Ballet Day Is Here: 24 Hours Of Free Live Streaming On Oct. 1
“For the second year, five top ballet companies from around the world” – Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and San Francisco Ballet (plus pre-recorded half-hour programs by Houston Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet) – “are joining for a day of free live streaming of their work, rehearsals, and performances.”
To Attract Millennials, Oregon Ballet Theatre Partners With Hipsters’ Favorite Beer
“Oregon Ballet Theatre’s latest marketing campaign features a bare-chested, on-pointe ballet dancer sharing the stage with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon in full efface derriere. The sales pitch: ‘Come watch ballet. We’ll give you a beer.’ Too obvious?”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.30.15
Farmer and the Cowman Redux
Three years ago I published a post titled The Farmer and the Cowman in which I acknowledged an epiphany about the relationship between arts marketing and community engagement. In the past six months … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-09-29
The Pope, the music and the evacuation
A pope without music is like a ship without a flag. It’s part of the papal aura – but, unlike incense, it doesn’t send your sinuses into spasms. At the Festival of Families Saturday night … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2015-09-30
October Blues: Line-Dance Clicks
“Owing to the Greeks” – Tom McCartney on historical roots of the European Union fiscal crisis. “Do we mistake inaccessibility for brilliance?” – Leslie Jamison in NYT’s Bookends column (turkey headline), August 30 … read more
AJBlog: blog riley Published 2015-09-30
Diffident Leviathan
Accordionist Veli Kujala did a lovely job on my piece Reticent Behemoth for his quarter-tone accordion. Here’s the recording from the world premiere last Thursday in Turku, Finland (duration five and a half minutes). … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-09-30
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