“When Xander Parish was offered a job at the Mariinsky Ballet he thought it was a joke. And wouldn’t you? Audiences had barely registered the existence of this young English dancer, languishing in the Royal Ballet’s lower ranks, when Yuri Fateyev, the Mariinsky’s artistic director, suggested that he join the elite St Petersburg company, once home to Nijinsky, Nureyev and Baryshnikov. That was seven years ago, and even now Parish can’t quite believe his luck.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Going From Stardom In A Regional Ballet Company To The Corps In A Major One
Marina Harss talks to Betsy McBride, who left her longtime berth at Texas Ballet Theater for a contract with ABT, about why she made the change and what it’s been like.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.29.17
Interview with Ceri Dingle, director of Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Impact and Works of C.L.R. James
My column for June 28, 2017 at Inside Higher Ed The word went around a few years ago that someone in England was working on a documentary about the West Indian historian, revolutionary political theorist and pan-African eminence C. L. R. James (1901-1989). … read more
AJBlog: Quick Study Published 2017-06-29
French Band Air at the Greek Theatre
For reasons I can’t entirely figure out or explain, continental Europeans have not had much luck with rock music, not matter how you define the term. (And no, the Scorpions are not excepted.) … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-06-29
Great new jazz photography: Geri Allen by Sánta István Csaba
Pianist-composer Geri Allen, at age 60 a cancer victim, was photographed several times recently by Sánta István Csaba. He caught glimpses of her spirit and mourns her deeply. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-29
The chords that bind
There will be times when you feel an overpowering, almost physical urge to listen to a specific piece of it. Such a feeling came over me last night: I felt that if I couldn’t listen to the first movement of Charles Ives’ Third Symphony right away, I would be reduced to abject despair. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-29
The OED Has A New Last Word (And, Scrabble Players, It’s Worth 23 Points!)
Some other dictionaries have had the word before, but the Oxford English Dictionary has just admitted it. The definition? “a genus of tropical weevils (family Curculionidae) native to South America and typically found on or near palm trees.”
Mud, Sweat And Fears: The Year-Long Process Of Hand-Making An Oshima Silk Kimono
The island of Amami Oshima is renowned for its unique mud-dyed silk. The BBC documentary series Handmade in Japan follows the island’s artisans through the complex, meticulous steps required to produce the subtly patterned fabric and tailor it into a kimono. (text and video)
Ernest Hemingway, Chatty Sensualist
Adam Gopnik looks at Papa’s biography, writing style, and (yes) kinks, and finds that, for all the “stoical stance” in his prose and his persona, he had quite a sensual (if not quite hedonistic) side – and, what’s more, “he was naturally garrulous and jocose: indeed, by the time he was a celebrity he was so garrulous and jocose that it shocked people, though he was just being himself.”
Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad Returns To His First Vocation: Composer
“Mr. Abumrad, 44, is a lifelong pianist, and studied composition at Oberlin – where there were some ‘leftover lefties from the ’60s who were teaching 12-tone still, for some reason,’ he said in a recent interview … As [he] has become one of the most innovative radio producers of his generation, he continues to moonlight as a composer.”
Why Jon Hamm Hasn’t Become A Movie Star (Yet)
Angelica Jade Bastién analyzes Hamm’s post-Mad Men work and finds a possible reason why his particular gifts haven’t transferred so successfully onto the big screen – and looks at the new movie that may change this.
The Ballet That Helped Wreck Relations Between The USSR And Mao’s China
In a spirit of solidarity (or so they thought) with Communist rebels in Nationalist China, the Bolshoi developed The Red Poppy in 1927, and it became a huge hit all over the Soviet Union. When Mao and his delegation visited Moscow shortly after the Chinese Revolution, the Bolshoi enthusiastically revived The Red Poppy as a tribute. As writer Eveline Chao explains, the visitors from Beijing were not flattered.
‘Theater Audiences Are A Key Partner In The Work Of A Democracy,’ Says Director Diane Paulus
“The act of showing up is a civic ritual with great power. The ancient Greeks knew this. In their theaters, which seated over 10,000 people, audiences wrestled collectively with stories of utmost importance to the state. … However, I think that audiences’ most important political power stems from a slightly different concept. …”