Savion Glover is a genius, a phenomenon. “Sometimes he rides the music; sometimes he becomes one of the instruments in the ensemble; sometimes he converts the score into a concerto in which he alternately plays solo and blends back seamlessly into the group. He’s his own choreographer, of course, and his invention is wide-ranging and seemingly inexhaustible.”
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British Theatre – Ready For Some Big Themes?
Last month’s Birmingham Rep Sikh protests proved that theatre still matters. But what to do with that energy? “New writing in British theatre seems at a real crossroads, facing a choice between bite-sized, narrative-dominated star vehicles or a renewal of the kind of large-scale statement that is thought to have perished under Mrs Thatcher’s tank tracks but has clearly re-emerged in the past 12 months. The re-creation of a culture of large-scale new writing in British theatre won’t just happen – without Monsterism, minimalism will triumph.”
First Post-Saddam Movie Opens
The first movie to come out of Iraq since 1979 has opened in London. “Directed by Bahman Ghobadi, a Kurd born in Iran, it is set in an Iraqi refugee camp and features as its protagonists a clutch of local children.”
Funding Australian Art In The 21st Century
Australia needs to reconsider how it funds the arts, writes the head of the Australian Council Jennifer Bott. “Australians now spend $10 billion annually on arts goods; 85 per cent of Australian adults attend cultural events or performances; 78 per cent read for pleasure on most days; and close to 30 per cent of Australia’s children are involved in after-school arts activities. All this builds a grid of new arts stakeholders whose needs must be considered by the Australia Council along with its more traditional areas of focus. The arts develop qualities that are the building blocks of the new economies shaping the world. Demand for the arts is growing but, by and large, funding is not.”
50,000 Protest Springer On BBC
Some 50,000 complaints have poured into the BBC about the airing of Jerry Springer, The Opera. The complaints make it the most-protested show in BBC history. “Critics say the broadcast has more than 400 swear words, and shows Jesus in a nappy admitting he is ‘a bit gay’. Bishop Michael Reid of the Pentecostal Church in Brentwood, Essex, who is leading the protest by an alliance of Christian groups, described the musical as ‘filth’.”
Between Madness And Art
“I’ve never believed there is anything more than a coincidental relationship between madness and making art. For every self-mutilating van Gogh, there’s a sane, mild-mannered Matisse. Artistic creativity arises from a variety of fluid inner equations; the old image of artists producing masterpieces in some sort of possessed frenzy is far more common in movies than in life. In actuality, making art is a respite from inner demons. Sanity is necessary for the strategy, planning, and trial and error needed to bring a good artistic idea to fruition.”
Rockwell On Dance
Longtime New York Times arts writer John Rockwell is preparing to take on a new position as the Grey Lady’s chief dance critic, and he sees much to recommend a corner of the arts world which seems always to be on the edge of fiscal collapse. “Dancers are paid less than other performing artists. Dance companies, even the big ballet troupes, must furiously run in place, like terpsichorean hamsters, just to sustain themselves. But that means dancers do it for love, not fame or fortune, though some are famous, and a very few earn modest fortunes. Dance critics can still cover any and all forms of dance without feeling that they’re sullying themselves.”
Writing For Hollywood: A Lesson In Art & Politics
John Logan is Hollywood’s hottest scriptwriter of the moment, “a true author who creates from scratch in an era of sequels and adaptations… As with much in Hollywood, however, the honors mask a more complicated reality, [with Logan standing] on the shoulders of others who contributed material and either received no credit or have had to fight for recognition in a dog-eat-dog scramble for a place on the film. And his rise to the top – in which Mr. Logan was caught up in a spat over his contributions to The Last Samurai – appears to illustrate a cardinal rule of contemporary film writing: success depends on the fine art of positioning, as well as a way with words.”
The Joy Of Painting
Painting became the unloved orphan child of the art world in the 20th century, derided by critics as passe and insufficiently adaptable in an age when everything in art had to be new and exciting. But these days, painting is hot again, to the extent that it seems absurd for anyone ever to have suggested its impending demise.
Breitweiser Gets Two Years
Art thief Stephane Breitweiser was sentenced to 26 months in prison this weekend, one day after attempting suicide in his jail cell. Breitweiser will have to pay significant damages for works ruined by his ax-wielding mother, who was also sentenced to prison.