“Her longstanding partner fell to his knees in devoted homage before Tina LeBlanc during the extended, celebratory curtain calls, and one could sense the entire audience collectively joining in that spirit, as San Francisco Ballet said farewell to this most distinctive, exuberantly American ballerina Saturday night.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Chapman University Receives $25M Challenge Grant For PAC
“With the donation, [the Orange County, California university] will be able to move forward with plans to build a performing arts center to showcase its growing College of Performing Arts, which has more than 700 students. Currently, students studying music, theater and dance perform in an 88-year-old auditorium that was originally built for Orange High School.”
Evgenios Spatharis, 85, Greece’s Master Of Shadow Puppetry
“He was well-known throughout Greece for his puppet theater stories revolving around the hunchbacked character Karagiozi, who came to represent the virtues and vices of the average Greek. Cunning and rebellious, Karagiozi was often shown as a liar and petty thief who wormed his way out of difficult situations.”
The Secret To An Underdog’s Victory
Malcolm Gladwell: “David’s victory over Goliath, in the Biblical account, is held to be an anomaly. It was not. Davids win all the time. The political scientist Ivan ArreguÃn-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years … in which one side was at least ten times as powerful – in terms of armed might and population – as its opponent, and even in those lopsided contests the underdog won almost a third of the time.”
Billy Elliot Racks Up More Prizes At Outer Critics Circle
The working-class-boy-does-ballet juggernaut took top honors for new Broadway musical, new score, direction, choreography, featured actor and actress (musical) and lighting design, as well as a special citation for the three young men alternating in the title role.
Is The Recession Turning New Yorkers Into Minnesotans?
“[M]oney primes people to be ‘self-insulating,’ … or prone to burrow deep within themselves, whether for self-protection or self-aggrandizement. And where else in the country are people such a powerful amalgam of self-involvement and motivation? […] The city that once revolved around the dollar has been temporarily tapped off its axis … How does a city in withdrawal behave?”
Daniel Barenboim, Perpetual-Motion Mensch
Justin Davidson: “There are many people – and Daniel Barenboim is probably among them – who consider Daniel Barenboim the world’s most significant classical musician. The conductor and pianist projects three distinct impressions: that he is used to being the most distinguished person in the room; that he has something at once profound and self-evident to say; and that, having said it, he has to leave urgently.”
Internet Pirates Find Their Next Target: Books
“‘I thought, who do these people think they are?’ [Ursula K.] Le Guin said. ‘Why do they think they can violate my copyright and get away with it?’ This would all sound familiar to filmmakers and musicians who fought similar battles – with varying degrees of success – over the last decade. But to authors and their publishers in the age of Kindle, it’s new and frightening territory.”
The Uses Of Apocalypse
Whenever the Christian calendar approaches a millennium, a certain set of people begin to expect the end of the world. “[Z]ealous forms of religion [spring up] – the sort of religion that thrives when people see little virtue in marrying, breeding or building up private property.” And the sort of religion of which the canny and powerful can take advantage.
Fire At Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House
For the second time this year, flames and smoke have damaged one of China’s high-profile new architectural landmarks. According to a statement from Hadid’s firm, no one was injured in the blaze and the structure of the building appears to be intact; it’s not yet clear if the opening date this fall will have to be postponed.