The end of the Israel Broadcasting Authority was not a total surprise: the plan, several years in the making and legislating, was to smoothly hand over the IBA’s radio and television stations next Monday (May 15) to the newly-created Israel Broadcasting Corporation (officially named Kan in Hebrew). But a decision was made – nobody’s saying by whom – late Tuesday to close the IBA immediately. Staffers on the country’s flagship TV news broadcast had to go on the air and announce that the show was cancelled and they had lost their jobs.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Louvre Abu Dhabi To Open (Finally!) In November
Some ten years after the contract was signed, after construction delays and controversies over conditions for the foreign workers building the place, the €1 billion museum, the Louvre’s first permanent branch overseas, should open sometime around American Thanksgiving, say sources.
Sergei Polunin Cancels His Return To London’s Royal Ballet
Two performances in Marguerite and Armand at Covent Garden in June were to be his first performances with the company – which trained him and where he became a principal at age 19 – since he walked away without warning five years ago.
Australian Ballet May Be Headed Toward Strike
The company’s dancers have reportedly notified both Australia’s labor commission and their union that they may begin a work stoppage if negotiations, which have continued for several months, grind to a halt. At issue is pay, which dancers say is too low for a workload that has risen to more than 250 performances a year.
Rio’s Orchestra And Opera Musicians, Unpaid For Months, Are Reduced To Food Drives And Playing In The Street
Members of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, along with the orchestra, chorus, and ballet company of the Teatro Municipal performed on the street in front of the opera house to draw public attention to the fact that they haven’t been paid since February – and to ask for donations of non-perishable food for the worst-off among them. The performers are yet more victims of the financial emergency in effect in Rio de Janeiro state since before last summer’s Olympic Games.
India Gets Its First Official Book Village, An Answer To Hay-On-Wye
Bhilar, a strawberry-farming mountain town of some 5,000 people about 150 miles southeast of Mumbai, has a particularly rich collection of rare books in the Marathi language (as well as works in Hindi and English), and the plan of the Maharashtra state government is to promote literary tourism and host book festivals in Bhilar along the lines of those in the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye.
Sydney Symphony Back In The Black After Near-Million-Dollar Deficit
For 2015, David Robertson’s other orchestra recorded a budget shortfall of A$896,811; this past year, the group bounced back with a surplus of A$785,984.
Melbourne Symphony Turns Its Financial Fortunes Around
The orchestra, where a new managing director recently joined chief conductor Andrew Davis, “post[ed] a surplus of A$761,000 for 2016. The result is significant, as the orchestra registered a deficit of A$577,653 in 2015, and the previous surplus in 2014 was only A$298,770.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 05.10.17
New York City Ballet premieres a New Ratmansky Work
Alexei Ratmansky’s Odessa for New York City Ballet.
New York City Ballet’s 2017 Spring Gala is a testament to the acumen acumen of the company’s supporters. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-05-10
Maybe Beauty And Pleasure In Animals Did Not Evolve Solely To Stimulate Reproduction
“Most [evolutionary biologists] see outrageous sexual traits” – say, beautiful plumage and elaborate mating rituals in birds – “as reliable advertisements. The logic goes that only the fittest manakins could coordinate their movements just so. Only the healthiest peacocks could afford to carry such a cumbersome tail. Their displays and dances hint at their good genes, allowing females to make adaptive decisions. But [ornithologist Richard] Prum says that view is poorly supported by years of research, and plainly makes no sense when you actually look at what birds do.”