Just three years ago, the British dance world was arguing over “why an art form that used to boast a profusion of female talent had ended up with most of its high-profile choreographers being male … Things have begun to change. Partly, a crop of new work has appeared with xx chromosomes firmly embedded in it; partly, programmers have sharpened their focus.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The People Who Can Remember Everything
“Some people can recall what happened on almost every day of their lives. Unlocking their secrets could shed light on the way all our memories work.”
Twitter’s Founders Have A Project They Think Will Transform Web Publishing
“Anytime Biz Stone and Evan Williams have any sort of announcement, the tech world listens. Late Tuesday, via a blog post, Williams, one of Twitter’s co-founders, introduced the world to Medium, a new platform for online publishing” that is, at least superficially, like a Pinterest for books.
Andrew Upton Stays On At Helm Of Sydney Theatre Co. (Without Cate Blanchett)
“Upton’s appointment took theatre-watchers by surprise because he and Blanchett were due to step down from STC at the end of next year. … Upton will take the reins as artistic director from January 1 and Blanchett’s official role will taper off.”
Hammer Museum’s New $100,000 Mohn Award To Painter Meleko Mokgosi
The votes are in: Meleko Mokgosi, a 30-year-old painter who was born and raised in Botswana and is now based in Los Angeles, has become the first recipient of the Hammer Museum’s Mohn Award,” whose winner is “[c]hosen through an unusual combination of jury selection and popular vote.”
West Australian Ballet Names Belgian As Next Artistic Director
“Aurelien Scannella will take the reins at the company from January, having worked for several years as a freelance ballet master and rehearsal director in companies across Europe. He replaces [Ivan] Cavallari, an Italian dancer and choreographer who started with the WA Ballet in 2007.”
Opera Singers Don’t Need To Be Good Actors – They Just Need Charisma
Anne Midgette: “It’s perfectly true that a number of great stars of the past were not great actors (though some were very great actors) … Montserrat Caballé and Victoria de los Angeles, to name two. However: Caballé was an absolutely compelling presence on stage. She had personality in spades. She offered something that you wanted to see, hear, experience.”
‘Your Choice Is To Dance Or Pick Up A Gun’: A Company Springs From Rio’s Favelas
“Compagnie Kafig [is] a blast of hip-hop energy emanating from the streets of Rio de Janeiro, in which 11 well-muscled street dancers perform a fluid mash-up of break-dancing, capoeira and acrobatics, laced with samba influences.”
Comedienne Phyllis Diller, 95
“Diller worked steadily for decades, in nightclubs and on television. She built her stand-up act around the persona of the corner-cutting housewife (‘I bury a lot of my ironing in the backyard’) with bizarre looks, a wardrobe to match (by ‘Omar of Omaha’) and the faithful [husband] ‘Fang’.”
Why Phyllis Diller Was Great: She Didn’t Give A Damn
“The way she delivered the lines made it clear that although she was making a joke about herself, she was not making a joke of herself. In fact, the joke was the joke – it was funny to see her fretting about her looks, or her cooking, or her marriage, because it was so clear that she did not care, and neither, by the way, should you.”