The fired-then-reinstated New York City Ballet principal was a figure in the company’s recent #MeToo scandal (and accompanying lawsuit). While City Ballet’s dancers and the company of West Side Story seem willing (at least publicly) to let Ramasar redeem himself, a number of others — including lawsuit plaintiff Alexandra Waterbury — are calling on audience members to boo him until the producers fire him from the show. – The Guardian
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Indiana Jones Of Art World’ Locates Stolen 15th-Century Persian Manuscript Worth €1 Million
Arthur Brand has recovered one of the oldest surviving copies of the Divan of Hafez, one of the most important and beloved works in all of Persian literature. The volume was the only still-missing item from a collection of manuscripts stolen in 2007 from the estate of a collector in Munich; the rest had been found, along with their thief, in 2011. – artnet
Feds Reject Ancient Rock Art Sites In Utah For National Register Of Historic Places
Reversing an earlier decision, the National Park Service has now denied an omnibus petition for 199 sites on public land near Moab, Utah to be listed in the National Register. The NPS agrees that the ancient petroglyphs are significant, but it now wants individual applications for each of the sites. – The Salt Lake Tribune
The Quicksand Of Cultural Politics In Russia: The Case Of Kirill Serebrennikov
“Serebrennikov was a particularly Russian type of rebel: one who sought, and attained, mainstream success, often with the blessing and support of the state.” Until, that is, his sudden arrest in 2017 on charges of embezzlement widely believed to be trumped-up — and his unexpected release last year. “Just as your downfall may come with no warning or explanation, so, too, can your redemption.” An excerpt from Joshua Yaffa’s Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia. – The Guardian
Beware Arrogance
There exists in the hearts and minds of at least some in the nonprofit arts sector a sense that the work they present is superior to most or all popular culture — and that those who patronize such culture are inferior. This sets up a monumental barrier to connecting with new communities. And even if it is unconscious and unspoken, the attitude itself is easy for people to spot when it is directed at them. – Doug Borwick
Allan Bloom, Identity Politics, and “Closed Minds”
After many years, I recently re-opened The Closing of the American Mind and discovered that Allan Bloom was prophetic. In effect, he prophesied identity politics and political rectitude – and closed minds and “impoverished souls.” – Joseph Horowitz
The Hot-Button Issue In ‘Slave Play’ That People Aren’t Talking About
“I am also interested in consent, by far the least attended to aspect of the play, which we encounter in the especially difficult junction between sexuality and trauma. At this strained intersection, consent is revealed at its most impotent, impossible to help clearly adjudicate desire.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
How The Franco Regime Ruined Zarzuela And Flamenco Music For Many Spaniards
“But as is the case with other musical genres indigenous to Spain, they initially developed with no ties to one political ideology over another. Zarzuela is nowadays perceived in the national imagination as an integral part of musical life under the Franco regime and, as such, outdated and conservative. … More than classical music and zarzuela, flamenco was perhaps the genre that suffered the most from Franco’s cultural policies.” – JSTOR Daily
Keeping Indonesia’s Traditional Drag Dance Alive
“Rianto, is a master of the Lengger Lanang, a traditional [Javanese] dance performed by men dressed as women. But Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has seen rising intolerance in recent years towards the LBGT community. And there are fears it could affect this traditional art form.” (video) – BBC
Linda Shaver-Gleason, The Internet’s Favorite Musicologist, ‘Assassinated By Cancer’ At 36
“Writing on her blog, Not Another Music History Cliche!, and standing as a pillar of classical music’s niche on Twitter, Linda elegantly deployed her encyclopedic knowledge, research skills, and quick wit to cut through common classical music anecdote-myths, such as The Rite of Spring provoking a riot at its premiere. Not content to simply explain the truth and leave it there, she also delved several layers deeper to analyze why the myths persisted, and urged her readers to think critically about the information they were fed by advertising and clickbait.” Zoë Madonna pays tribute. – VAN