US high school students are competing in regional semifinals of “a national August Wilson Monologue Competition that will be held on Broadway later this spring.”
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What’s Good About Bunheads? It Depicts Ballet As More Than Cutthroat Torture
“Recent portrayals” of ballet in the popular media – Black Swan, Breaking Pointe – “have focused too much on the obstinacy, ambition, and perfectionism that fuels the enterprise of becoming a dancer. What makes it art, meanwhile, gets ignored.” But Bunheads “has found a way to bring ballet’s relevance – the meaning of the steps, the dancer’s feel for the movements – subtly but clearly to the fore.”
It May Be Funny, But It Isn’t Pretty: Shalom Auslander Accepts His First Literary Prize
“The judges can hardly have been surprised by a YouTube acceptance speech glinting with ill grace, after awarding the Wingate Jewish Quarterly prize to Shalom Auslander for Hope: A Tragedy. Anything milder wouldn’t really have been in keeping with the author.”
Cats On Broadway (Real Ones): Casting Breakfast At Tiffany’s
“It is not, thankfully, a speaking role. But the requirements are stiff. Just as Holly’s cat plays a key part in the Truman Capote novella, it does in this new Richard Greenberg adaptation. … [The] role requires not only an animal that can handle lights, microphones and an audience, but also one that can cross the stage, sit, stay and exit on cue. In short, it requires a dog.”
Margaret Bonds At 100 – Still That Rarity, A Black Female Classical Composer
“Margaret Bonds, who died in 1972, is perhaps near the top of the very short list of African-American female composers. Thanks to her partnerships with Langston Hughes and soprano Leontyne Price and others, she’s remembered in some circles as an important figure in American composition. But, mostly, she’s been forgotten.”
In Search Of The Real Harlem Shake
“Search YouTube for the Harlem Shake and more than 200,000 results pop up … The thing is, this worldwide dance contagion is not the Harlem Shake. The real Harlem Shake, a much more raw, technical, fluid, frenetic dance, was born in New York City more than 30 years ago.”
Flamenco’s Great Maverick
Israel Galván “maintains an ironic distance from the turkey-cock machismo of old-school dancers, yet the intensity of his performance is fired by pure duende. He’s clearly an experimentalist, yet in contrast to the high-concept productions of much new generation flamenco, aspects of his aesthetic seem close to the playful minimalism of the Judson choreographers of 1960s New York.”
Can U.S. Embassies Be Safe Without Being Ugly?
“Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, ‘We are building some of the ugliest embassies I’ve ever seen.’ But the choice between gardens and gates isn’t just academic for diplomats – it can affect the way they work.”
Greek Reality TV That Greeks Don’t Watch (Maybe For A Reason)
Hellenic Home Hunting “follows jet-setting prospects touring homes in search of the perfect pied-à-terre or villa” – at fire-sale prices in a country reeling from economic crises.
3D-Printing Pen Lets You Draw Sculptures
“The 3Doodle pen, developed by US start-up WobbleWorks, works much like a handheld 3D printer. It contains a mains-powered heater that melts the plastic beads used in such printers. … Lift the nib in the air and a length of plastic exudes from the nib and solidifies, allowing you to create 3D objects by building up multiple wispy strands of plastic.”