“From cat brains to dismembered tongues, the teams behind theatre’s bloodiest shows reveal how they made audiences shriek with horror and delight.” – The Guardian
Author: Matthew Westphal
Everything You Always Wanted To Know (Or Have Forgotten) About The Theremin
“The story of the theremin and its inventor has it all: drama, suspense, geopolitics, and, above all, tragedy. It’s a wonder Hollywood hasn’t yet made a movie about it.” – Quartz
When A Ballet Company Hires A Scholar-In-Residence, What Does She Do?
For The Washington Ballet, Dr. Natalie Rouland studies the history of great Russian story ballets such as Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, going all the way back to the written stage directions and Stepanov choreographic notation of the originals. – Dance Magazine
How Did Scholars Figure Out That Homer’s Epics Were Oral, Not Written, Literature?
In the late 19th century, few believed that anyone, literate or not, could have memorized something as long as the Iliad or Odyssey. (The main argument at the time was whether “Homer” was one person or many; the two sides were the Unitarians and the Analysts.) Who established that Homer’s verse was recited by heart? A clever Harvard professor, helped by some Bosnian bards. – JSTOR Daily
Fox Trot Mit Schlag: When Viennese Composers Met The Harlem Renaissance
“While jazz-inspired music by the likes of Stravinsky and Weill has never been forgotten, the similar efforts of dozens of other composers from the same period have fallen into obscurity. Now some of those experiments are enjoying a fresh hearing.” Seth Colter Walls has a listen. – The New York Times
All About Tights And Tutus
Where they came from in the first place, how they’re made (and laundered), and why they got Nijinsky fired. – The Stage
Pornhub Releases Its First-Ever Non-Porn Film — A High-Art Documentary, No Less
“The movie in question is the documentary Shakedown, from filmmaker and conceptual artist Leilah Weinraub. It hails from the upper echelons of the art world, where the project enjoyed a prestige rollout in exhibits at the Whitney Museum and MoMA over the last three years.” And what’s it about? Lesbian strip clubs in L.A. – Variety
Artist Pyotr Pavlensky Is In France As A Political Refugee, But He’s Burning Banks And Messing With Elections. What Is He Really Up To?
His various art “actions” (as he calls them), along with his apparently high pain threshold, have earned him international notoriety and a good deal of sympathy. Yet he seems to have squandered quite a bit of that sympathy in France, where his actions haven’t gone down so well. Valeria Costa-Kostritsky talks to associates and observers of Pavlensky in Russia and France and tries to unpack it all. – Apollo
Chicago’s Public Schools Have A Major Collection Of WPA Murals. Why Are People Calling For Them To Be Covered Up?
For essentially the same reasons that some people wanted the murals at George Washington High School in San Francisco to be covered over or removed. – Artnet
How Arts Orgs In California Are Handling Coronavirus Concerns
“The common line among museums and theaters is that they are monitoring the situation and planning to operate as usual, unless told otherwise by county or state health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization. Even though more than 3,000 have died from COVID-19 worldwide, health officials have not recommended closure of venues or the cancellation of public events in California because the immediate risk of transmission remains low.” – Los Angeles Times