That’s obvious for anyone who has ever danced, but the two-year study dove deep on children and teens aged 10-20 from underserved populations in England. “Findings from the final report describe dance as a valuable way of empowering young people who live in deprived urban areas to be proactive in improving their health and well-being.”
Month: July 2018
Liliane Montevecchi, Who Fled American TV And Movies For The Stage (And Won A Tony), Has Died At 85
She was 50 when she was cast in Nine, which was based on Fellini’s movie 8 1/2. “The role of the movie producer had been written for a man, but the character was reworked so Ms. Montevecchi, who didn’t fit anywhere else in the show, could be cast. In ‘Folies Bergère,’ her big number, she reveled in the joys of the good old days of show business, stopped to chat flirtatiously with audience members and ended up gloriously wrapped in a 30-foot-long black feather boa.”
Turning A Cow Barn Into An Avant Garde Art Gallery
It takes a bit of work, and it flies in the face of art critics’ expectations. “Retired farmer Stephen Dale is challenging the assumption that modern art is best appreciated by city dwellers. A run of exhibitions staged by the 74-year-old at the free public art gallery he set up two years ago in Checkley, near Hereford, have now drawn big names from the art world and proved the scale of an appetite for the unexpected in the countryside.”
In Europe, Military Theatre Follows Americans To Their Many Bases – But It’s An Endangered Species
Theatre on and for military bases has a long history in the U.S. “‘Entertainment for the soldier, by the soldier’ has been part of the US military since the American Revolution. Following the camp shows of the Civil War, military-based theatre was borne during WWI with the involvement of Irving Berlin, who, as a soldier, wrote and performed in Yip Yip Yaphank, an all-soldier musical tribute to the Army. Berlin continued his support of the military during WWII with This Is the Army.” But can it survive in an era of streaming?
Musicians Who Boycott Israel Find Themselves Out Of Work In Germany
Germany, of course, is walking a tightrope of history. “As Germany struggles with increasing attacks on Jews and Israel is under pressure for killings of protesters along its border with Gaza, a growing clash over B.D.S. is spilling over into the cultural scene. It has divided art and music festivals that aim to foster cultural dialogue, and even sparked a feud between the mayor of Munich and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.”
‘CATS’ Choreographer Gillian Lynne Has Died At 92
Lynne began as a ballet dancer but became famous as a choreographer for the West End and Broadway, where she worked closely with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Cats and Phantom of the Opera. “Lloyd Webber paid tribute to Dame Gillian on Twitter, writing: ‘Farewell dearest Gillie, three generations of the British musical owe so much to you.'”
What’s It Like To Receive The NEA’s Top Honor For Folk Art?
Ofelia Esparza, an 86-year-old artist who has been making Day of the Dead altars for much of her life, became a National Heritage Fellow last week. She says “that for her, altar making goes beyond tradition. It’s an obligation, a show of respect for the loved ones who are no longer with us.”
The Woman Who Has Been Playing Piano For More Than A Century [VIDEO]
Colette Maze says people should stay loose and keep moving – and that “on the piano, there’s a kind of gymnastics.”
When A Show Called ‘Narcissus Garden’ Is Great For Selfies, What Does That Mean?
Yayoi Kusama’s newest exhibit brings attention to Hurricane Sandy-damaged Rockaway Beach, but also attracts the very people it’s (perhaps) making fun of.
An Oregon Theatre Must Swap Back A Gender-Swapped Character In ‘9 To 5’
Look, theatres … you have to get permission to gender-swap roles (or make any of a number of other changes). So now a woman is playing a role that was written as male – but as a man, not as a woman, which is how the actor started playing the role. “The problem is that in the contract, it says that we can’t change pronouns,” the theatre’s business manager said.