“For more than half a century the choreographer Paul Taylor has inspired, enchanted and puzzled audiences with his dances onstage. Now fans can get a peek behind the curtain as his archives are opened to the public.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Testing The West End’s New High-Tech Theatre Seats
“Last month Ambassador Theatre Group, the UK’s biggest theatre operator, announced that it will be upgrading each and every one of its 49,000 seats, 11,000 of them in the West End.” The first of them are in place, and Matt Trueman is impressed.
Ai Weiwei Accepts Job In Germany – But Will China Let Him Go?
“The leading Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has accepted a teaching post at a Berlin university, a month after he was released from detention. But it is uncertain whether the Chinese authorities will allow him to leave because he remains under tight surveillance.”
Melbourne’s Second Orchestra Fears It May Be Cut In Half
“Rumours are circulating that Orchestra Victoria, which supports performances by opera and ballet companies in the Arts Centre, risks being cut in half because of continuing operating losses. … This would abandon the current program of regional touring and education programs by the orchestra.”
Last Pillar Standing: Will Artists Be Ireland’s Salvation?
With so many pillars of Irish society – the Church, the banks, the Fianna Fail government, the “Celtic Tiger” mystique – having crumbled, the country’s artists are, as filmmaker Neil Jordan says, “the one element of Irish life that hadn’t let people down. We hadn’t betrayed people.” (And the new government knows it.)
Jane Austen Manuscript Sells For £1 Million
“The heavily corrected manuscript from Austen’s uncompleted novel The Watsons, written in about 1804, fetched £993,250 at Sotheby’s to a round of applause. It had been expected to reach £200,000-£300,000.”
British Library Launches Campaign To Buy Europe’s Oldest Book
“A £9m appeal has been launched by the British Library to buy the oldest intact book in Europe, a palm-sized leather-bound copy of the gospels buried 1,300 years ago in the coffin of Saint Cuthbert.”
Asking Choreographers To Invent Notation For Their Work
Claudia LaRocco: “The idea seemed magical to me: invite intriguing dance artists to make a written score – whatever those two words might mean to each of them – and gather the results in this section. … Welcome to the Brooklyn Rail‘s first-ever On the Page dance festival.”
Crowdsourcing A Horror Movie
“In director D.J. Caruso’s new film Inside, a woman has been kidnapped, thrown into a prison-like cellar with nothing but a laptop, and the online audience is being challenged to help her escape. It’s a groundbreaking project being touted as the ‘first interactive social horror film experience’.”
Improv Powerhouse David Shore Shows Britain How To Make It All Up
“Your standup is the best in the world, but your improv scene is about 25 years behind us. In LA, you can’t meet a single writer or successful actor on a TV show who hasn’t at least taken a class … Every single writer on every show is an improviser. Over here – well, let’s just say you’ve got the talent. But you don’t have the direction.”