“That neural circuitry is all subcortical; it’s not conscious. … The minute something is received as dangerous, or threatening, it invokes this defensive physical reaction. That’s the connection between snapping and threat detection, and that explains why we’re bewildered after we react in this way.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Trisha Brown’s Company, Without Trisha Brown
“For dance companies that seek to exist beyond their founding choreographer, there is the inevitable conundrum. How does a company exist without new works? The Merce Cunningham Dance Company disbanded when faced with that prospect; others, like the Martha Graham Dance Company, evolved into repertory groups. But the Brown company, which has seven members, is trying something different: remounting Ms. Brown’s works in site-specific locations all over the world.”
Michel Tournier, French Novelist Who Fused Myth and Philosophy, Dead at 91
“Mr. Tournier, a failed philosopher, came late to literature – his first novel, Friday, was published in 1967, when he was 43 – but got off to a running start. The Académie Française awarded its grand prize to that novel, his retelling of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe … Ogre (published in England as The Erl-King), the twisting story of a French prisoner of war who ends up procuring boys for an elite Hitler youth camp, won France’s top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, in 1970.”
How Art Star Mark Grotjahn Became Art Star Mark Grotjahn: By Repainting Signs For Local Mom-And-Pop Stores In L.A.
Jerry Saltz: “As a fan who’s never spoken to Grotjahn, I’ve often wondered where this Los Angeles-based artist’s work comes from, especially since he started making his abstract paintings when such paintings were entirely out of style.”
Two Of The Missing Hong Kong Booksellers Mysteriously Surface In China
“One man appeared on state-run Chinese TV saying he’d voluntarily returned to the mainland to face justice in a 2003 drunk-driving case. Meanwhile, the wife of another said she had received a handwritten letter, purportedly from her husband, reiterating that he too had returned to the mainland of his own volition to assist with ‘investigations.’ Both of the men hold European passports.”
Taking Real Action – Meaning Real Auditions – To Increase The Ranks Of Minority Ballerinas
On Sunday, the International Association of Blacks in Dance “is holding auditions for minority women seeking contracts with American companies – the group’s first such event. Ballet Memphis, Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Washington Ballet, among others, are sending representatives.” Here’s a Q&A with IABD chair Denise Saunders Thompson about the project.
Fort Worth Symphony Musicians Authorize Strike; Management Makes Final Offer
Management’s plan, which they say they will implement unilaterally if musicians don’t approve it on Friday, “cuts musician pay by 8.4 percent and trims vacation and weeks of work, but won’t reduce the number of concerts in a season. Members say they took 13.5 percent cuts five years ago and shouldn’t face more because the city and economy are growing again.”
What Went Wrong At The Fort Worth Symphony
“About 15 years ago, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra underwent a dramatic transformation. It hired a new music director, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. It launched the Millennium campaign, which eventually raised $28 million for an orchestra endowment. … And then the recession hit during the 2008-09 symphony season.” And while the stock market and the economy, nationally and locally, have bounced back since 2009, the FWSO’s endowment and annual revenues have not, despite increased ticket sales and new contributors.
Filmmaker Ettore Scola Dead At 84
“[He was] a painstaking and passionate chronicler of Italian society whose unforgettable masterpieces featured global stars like Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. … He leaves behind a wide-ranging oeuvre portraying the dark years of Italy under fascism and its identity crisis in the early half of the 21st century.”
Another Big Cable Merger Faces Rising Opposition
“Comcast’s failed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable collapsed last year under pressure from regulators, who found that the combined company would have had both the power and incentive to inhibit the future of streaming video. Now, as rival Charter Communications seeks approval for its $67.1 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, critics point to the same potential for harm.”