“Anastasia Volochkova, who was infamously fired from the Bolshoi in 2003 for being ‘too fat’, has claimed on television and in a radio interview that the theatre forced female dancers to sleep with its wealthy patrons.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
For Putin’s Regime, Has The Bolshoi Ballet Become More Trouble Than It’s Worth?
“But from the state’s point of view, the Bolshoi has become a Soviet agent that has largely outlived its usefulness – it’s still important within the Russian cultural landscape, and a fine place to take visiting dignitaries, but the Cold War prerogative to showcase it as high cultural achievement is gone.”
Covent Garden Taps Tate Gallery Exec To Be Next Chief
“Alex Beard, deputy director of the Tate, has been announced as the new chief executive of the Royal Opera House, succeeding Tony Hall who will become director general of the BBC next month.”
New Arts Council England Chief Says Culture Is Crucial For Regional Growth
“In his first speech as chair of Arts Council England, broadcaster Peter Bazalgette will say that the Heseltine plan for regional growth should centre on culture, and those pitching for money to ‘unlock the potential of their region’ ought to ‘put the arts at the hearts of their bid’.”
Sarasota Opera Abandons American Works Project
“Launched with great fanfare in 2011, Sarasota Opera is pulling the plug on its American Classics Series after just three years. Despite critical acclaim and much nationwide praise for the company’s adventurous initiative, Sarasota Opera’s new executive director Richard Russell says that local audiences have not embraced the American project.”
Lily Tomlin On Making Her Own Career
“You didn’t make that much money on Laugh-In. What were you going to do the other half of the year? By the time I got well-known, I had an act, I would go up at the Improv or wherever I could get a spot. I could create specials for myself. I was lucky I recognized what it was that was possible: With not a lot of forethought I found a way to work all the time.”
Lilly Poetry Prize, Worth $100K, To Marie Ponsot
“Poet Marie Ponsot will be awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in June, it was announced Monday. The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which comes with an award of $100,000, is given to a poet for lifetime achievement. Ponsot’s career began in the 1950s; her book True Minds was the first thing City Lights published after Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.”
In 2013, Romance Novels Are Feminist
“Despite a major shift in the genre in the late 1980s and early 1990s that saw the near-disappearance of rape and the emergence of much stronger, more modern heroines, the idea remains that feminists and romance readers exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. This is not the case.”
Enda Walsh On How He Ended Up Writing A Musical (That Would Be Once)
“We don’t do musicals in Ireland. Well, not much. We like to keep our actors and musicians separate at all times. In separate counties, even. There is possibly a musical theatre company hidden on Sherkin Island doing a production of Wicked right now, but they haven’t been found yet. And when they do find them, it will be a heavy dose of Samuel Beckett for those grinning fools.”
Why Are There So Few Female Magicians?
It’s not just because it’s hard to hide a rabbit in a little black dress. There’s some real historical baggage here.