Sydney Dance Company star Simone Goldsmith, 29, retires from the company after a “glittering 10-year career. As always, the shy star, one of the country’s most critically acclaimed dancers, was keen to dodge the spotlight, but with tickets sold out last week in a rush from the public to witness her final performance, this was never on.”
Blog
Australian Ballet Lobbies For Expanding Sydney Opera House
The Australian Ballet welcomes news that the Sydney Opera House renovation has been postponed. Why? The company feels the stage must be expanded. Indeed, “expanding the stage is crucial, as it posed an occupational health and safety risk to dancers, who ‘were dancing into the walls, dancing into the wings’ every time they performed.”
Suing Over Who Gets To Sell Pooh
For 12 years a lawsuit has dragged on about who owns the rights to merchandising Winnie the Pooh. For Disney, which has been selling Pooh stuff for years, the stakes are huge. “The company earns about a billion dollars a year in Pooh-related revenues, and if the Slesingers win the case Disney estimates that it may be liable for several hundred million dollars.”
TV Going After The Gaming Audience
TV ratings are down this fall. And where did many viewers go? Computer games. So “top cable networks like Spike TV, MTV and Game Show Network are focusing on original programming that revolves around video games in an effort to regain the loyalty of an audience segment coveted by advertisers.”
American Immigration Bars Canadian Actor
After weeks of trying to get an important Canadian actor into the United States for an upcoming production, San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre finally gave up and recast locally. “Since the creation the Department of Homeland Security, it has been increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for foreign artists to get into this country. While we tend to hear more often about artists from ‘hostile’ nations, such as Cuba, having the door slammed in their faces, the policy is obviously affecting Canadian artists as well.”
Barenboim Threatens To Quit Berlin Opera Company
Berlin Staatsoper director Daniel Barenboim has threatened to quit the company if a planned city reorganization of Berlin’s three opera companies goes through. Barenboim told the German daily Die Zeit that “the federation would jeopardise his artistic integrity as it had the final say in determining the Staatsoper’s programme. ‘Without changing the titles, the three directors have been reduced to vice-directors, because suddenly there is someone above them who dictates what they can and cannot do. If I can’t perform something that is musically important to me, I will not continue this job.”
Saddam’s Novel Approach To Defence
“Saddam Hussein spent the final weeks before the war writing a novel predicting that he would lead an underground resistance movement to victory over the Americans, rather than planning the defence of his regime. As the war began and Saddam went into hiding 40,000 copies of Be Gone Demons! were rolling off the presses.”
Barenboim Apologizes (Sort Of) And Gets Prize
Daniel Barenboim will be awarded Israel’s Wolf Prize after all. “The education minister, Limor Livnat, had demanded that Mr. Barenboim apologize publicly for defying an unwritten Israeli ban on Wagner. Holocaust survivors still associate Wagner with the Nazis. In an interview on Tuesday with Israel Radio, Mr. Barenboim said he had no regrets about playing the work, but added, ‘If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don’t want to harm anyone’.”
Assistant To A Star
Being an assistant to a star is tough work. So now there’s a new association of assistants to ease the bumps. “Last week, the UK Association of Celebrity Assistants (UKACA) was unveiled at a low-key launch party in Belgravia. The guests were Moneypennys to megastars and, as you might expect, they were excruciatingly well-behaved and sober. Cards were exchanged, telephone numbers swapped and everyone left by 8.45. As the PAs of celebrities, these people are used to melting into the background, which is exactly what they did.”
The Power Of Images To Tell Stories
After a weekend of staring at images of the humiliated Saddam Hussein, Philip Kennicott ponders the power of images to change how we feel about something. “Images that emerge from photo ops unravel because people tug on the loose threads of their constructedness. His capture, without a fight, no doubt has extraordinary power for the Iraqis who hate him. But the great leader brought low is a more complex image than has yet to be acknowledged.”