The Scottsboro Boys – Minstrelsy Turned On Its Head

“This horrific chapter of American history – nine black teenagers pulled off a train and falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931, then subjected to Southern justice at its most criminally graphic – was far too serious to be presented in so cavalier and racially volatile a format, let alone by a white creative team.” Candace Allen – with reference to her grandmother and Aunt Billie, who remember the case – says that Kander & Ebb pulled it off.

Fired Bolshoi Superstar/Provocateur Gets Russia’s #1 Dance Education Job

Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who was terminated in June after more than a year of publicly campaigning for his bosses to be fired and himself to replace them (and who suggested that the acid attack on Sergei Filin was staged), has been appointed rector of St. Petersburg’s Vaganova Academy, founded in 1738 and considered one of the two or three best ballet schools in the world.

Why Tsiskaridze Being Named To Head The Vaganova Is Worrisome

“It’s hard to overstate the prestige of this position. … The Vaganova is revered as the cradle of Russian classicism. Giving over its direction to the controversial Tsiskaridze, therefore, has caused a sharp intake of breath among many in the ballet world.” Judith Mackrell analyzes the complex, difficult situation of the ballet academy that the volatile star has been given to run.