“One of the biggest issues we struggled with as a committee was involving the company dancers in the process. It was a fine line because things tended to get personal. What some dancers failed to recognize was the search committee had a lot of information the dancers were not privy to. It is great to involve everyone in the organization in the process but know where you have to draw the line.”
Tag: 10.21.14
“Saturday Night Live” Just Ain’t What It Used To Be – Never Was, Not Even In 1975
“Matters of time have never been simple for fans, enemies, and frenemies of S.N.L. It is one of the few TV programs that people care about long after they’ve stopped watching it. People still talk about John Belushi as though it’d all been crap since then. Younger people do that with Dana Carvey or Will Ferrell.”
Yes To The Bessies: This Year’s NY Dance Awards
The ceremony, produced with Dance/NYC, was a lot like last year’s: haphazard, fun and occasionally mystifying.
Study: Playing Lots Of Chess Will Shrink Your Brain
“The idea that localised brain shrinkage isn’t necessarily bad is brought home wonderfully by a new brain scanning study of elite chess players.”
London Theatre Critic Loses Unfair Dismissal Case
“Mark Shenton, former theatre critic of the Sunday Express, has lost his employment tribunal against the paper for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination.” The panel ruled that Shenton was, under UK employment law, a freelancer rather than an employee.
Backstage Workers’ Union To London’s West End: Make A Better Offer Within Ten Days Or We Strike
“BECTU has been in talks with the Society of London Theatre since July over pay, and wants a deal that includes London living wage – £8.80 – as a minimum for workers on three pay grades that are below that rate, with a 6% rise for all of its other members.” The theatres’ latest offer, a 1.8% raise, was rejected by 97.8% of voters.
How Countess Tolstoy Answered Her Husband’s Most Notorious Novella
“There are two novellas by Sofiya: Whose Fault?, the story of a jealous husband who murders his innocent wife, and Song Without Words, about a depressed married woman who becomes obsessed with a composer and his music, and eventually checks herself into a ‘nerve clinic.’ Song Without Words is a response to The Kreutzer Sonata; Whose Fault? is a systematic rebuttal.”
An Arab, Two Jews, And A Copy-Editor See “The Death Of Klinghoffer” Together
Literature professor Moustafa Bayoumi, social media producer and Orthodox Jew Kayla Epstein, cartoonist Eli Valley, and Guardian copy editor Alan Yuhas give their verdicts on the opera – and the sound and fury surrounding it. (Spoiler alert: none of them think it glorifies terrorists.)
Musicians Protest, But Rome Opera Refuses To Reconsider Mass Firings
“The first night of the opera Rigoletto was due to go ahead at the Rome Opera Theatre Tuesday but performers planned to read a message to the audience protesting the mass sacking of 182 orchestra and choir members … Earlier the troubled opera house’s personnel manager, Stefano Bottaro, … rejected a request to rescind the sackings in return for a discussion over productivity levels and costs.”
Orlando’s New Arts Center: As Opening Nears, Plans For Symphony/Opera Stage Are Still On Hold
“That theater is supposed to be the crown jewel of the center. For many, the center won’t be complete without [it]. … It converts hydraulically from an opera house to a symphony hall and the seats can turn upside down into a flat floor. … But the center needs another $40 million in private donations before it can continue with [that phase] of the project.”