Alessa Rogers of Atlanta Ballet: “I see you. I know who you are. If you think you are hiding your self-loathing, you are deceiving only yourself. It is time to stop. … Don’t be seduced by the feeling that berating yourself makes you a better artist. I know you are trying to protect yourself by saying self-judgmental things so that it won’t sting if others do. But putting yourself down will not endear you to the people in the front of the studio.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Star Ballerina Who’s Making A Real Career As An Actress
Irina Dvorovenko retired from ABT in 2013, and since then she’s had roles in two major dramatic television series. She tells Gia Kourlas how it happened.
What Other States Can Learn From Rhode Island’s Arts Incentives
“While Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the country, [it] has become a powerhouse when it comes to attracting artists and art lovers to its shores. And the method by which state leaders have leveraged Rhode Island’s tax code to benefit the creative community could serve as a model for other states looking to cultivate a stronger arts economy.”
Agent Who Conned Friends Into Investing In Non-Existent Play Pleads Guilty To Larceny
Roland Scahill claimed to have purchased the rights to soprano Kathleen Battle’s life story and that he was producing a one-woman show starring Lupita Nyong’o about Battle’s firing from the Metropolitan Opera.
For First Time Ever, Met Museum Chooses Choreographer As Artist-In-Residence
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been seriously getting into dance lately. But now it’s taking its love affair one step further: Gallim Dance director/choreographer Andrea Miller was just named the museum’s artist in residence for the 2017-18 season – the first dance artist ever chosen for that distinction! We caught up with Miller to find out exactly what this means.”
What The Two French Presidential Candidates Propose For The Arts
“[Emmanuel] Macron … has declared his intention to maintain the cultural budget in exchange for greater efficiency. He wants all schoolchildren to have access to cultural and artistic education, and has proposed a €500 annual ‘culture pass’ for young people. … [Marine] Le Pen, meanwhile, … has made no overall budget commitment. However, as part of her focus on French patrimony, she wants to increase funds for heritage and conservation by 25%. She also wants to stop the sale of national buildings and palaces to foreigners and the private sector.”
Ban On Indian Movie For Being ‘Lady-Oriented’ Overturned
“Lipstick Under My Burkha, a drama that explores the sexual awakenings and personal struggles of four small-town Indian women, was initially denied classification [by the Central Board of Film Certification] … On Wednesday an appeals board overturned that decision, saying … ‘There cannot be any embargo on a film being women oriented or containing sexual fantasies and expression of the inner desires of women.'”
Brand-New Music Director Quits Oslo’s Opera House Because He (And Everyone Else) Can’t Get Along With Artistic Director
“Karl-Heinz Steffens announced that he’s already decided to leave his post next year. Steffens was popular and had been viewed as a unifying force in an organization riddled with conflict, but he claims he simply hasn’t found a good tone with the Opera’s incoming and embattled Artistic Director, Annilese Miskimmon.”
Performing ‘Hamlet’ In A Sandstorm At A Syrian Refugee Camp
Dominic Dromgoole, the former director of Shakespeare’s Globe and godfather of the company’s every-country-on-earth tour of Hamlet, writes about the tour’s visit to Amman, Jordan, and to the Zaatari settlement for refugees near the Jordanian-Syrian border.
Novel About Medieval Sufi Mystic Wins International Prize For Arabic Fiction
Mohammed Hasan Alwan’s A Small Death retells the life of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240), considered by some the greatest of Sufis and by others (conservative Muslims) an apostate, and his journeys across the breadth of the Islamic world. The award includes $50,000 for the author and another $50,000 toward the costs of translation into English.