Jean Lenihan joins a group of ordinary folks learning and dancing in Tharp’s The One Hundreds in Los Angeles.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Dancing On Segways (It Had To Happen Eventually)
Okay, in this case they’re using hoverboards (basically Segways without the handlebars), but choreographer David Moore and his five dancers “manage to tackle a solid hip-hop routine by simply shifting their weight around.” (video)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.13.15
The Communal High of Twyla Tharp in Los Angeles
In advance of Twyla Tharp’s 4-day run at the Wallis Theater in Beverly Hills … a call went out for public volunteers to participate in a staging … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2015-10-13
Ethan Hawke As “Chet Baker”
This seems to be the season for a new round of films based, more or less, on the lives of jazz trumpet players. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-13
Little Miss Wolfsbane
Dawn Powell and I go back a long way. I wrote about her in the New York Times Book Review in 1995, asking the same question that everybody asks: why isn’t so deliciously witty a writer more popular? … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-13
“Overwhelmed by Art”: My WSJ Article on Wadsworth Atheneum’s Dazzling Transformation
Can the Wadsworth Atheneum regain its former reputation as a midsized museum with outsized importance? … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-13
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Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians Accept New Contract – For One Year
“Musicians of the negotiating committee did not formally recommend the proposal to the rank-and-file membership, and … released a statement warning that unless Philadelphia’s contract keeps pace with those at other top orchestras, the talent will go elsewhere.” Orchestra management expects a $5.8 million deficit for this season.
They’re Putting A Swimming Hole On Berlin’s Museum Island?
“A proposal under consideration here called the Flussbad (‘river pool’) would clean up a filthy canal, part of the River Spree, that flows around the tourist-mobbed Museum Island. The plan would add new wetlands and some place the public can literally dive into. Despite detractors who picture Berlin’s cultural center being upstaged by the equivalent of one long, riotous water-filled bouncy castle, the idea, which has been around for a while, is gaining momentum.”
The Gold-Leaf Modernist Mural Inside A Mountain
To see it, “you’ll need to make a 2½-hour train journey from Glasgow to the Highlands, drive 1km into the heart of a mountain and climb a flight of slippery steps on to a viewing platform before you can catch a glimpse: a 48ft x 12ft mural made of wood, plastic and gold leaf, sparkling away at the centre of a vast cave like some fairytale treasure. … Even the artist behind the work has never made the trek to see it in situ.”
Philadelphia City Paper Bought By Competitor And Closed Down
Last week, City Paper was “purchased by Broad Street Media, a small local media conglomerate that owns the city’s other alt-weekly, Philadelphia Weekly. The staff only learned that their publication, and their jobs, would soon cease to exist after other journalists started calling them for information.”
The Final Farewell Of Philadelphia City Paper
Editor Lillian Swanson: “But what I regret most is that Philly will be left without a real alternative voice, one that speaks truth to power and tells stories others have overlooked. Who will focus on writing the first serious ink about artists and singers who are on the way up? How will those who open independent theaters get the press they need to become viable? Who but CP will review more than 40 Fringe shows? Where else will you find a full-page comic?”
Using Greek Tragedy To Help War Vets Deal With Trauma
“Bryan Doerries is using Euripides and Sophocles to help soldiers, generals and drone pilots deal with the horrors of war – and actors from Martin Sheen to Jake Gyllenhaal are queueing up to take part.”
Why Composers Are Drawn To Write Symphonies, Even In 2015
James MacMillan: “The symphonic tradition, and Beethoven’s monumental impact on it, is an imposing legacy which looms like a giant ghost over the shoulder of any living composer foolhardy enough to consider adding to it. Some turn away in terror and even disdain … Others can’t help themselves. Perhaps not fully knowing what writing a symphony ‘means’ any more, some of us are drawn towards it like moths flapping around a candle flame. We might get burned.”