“The Margaret Jenkins Company’s ‘Thirty Years of Dance’ may turn out to be a West Coast reality check on where American dance has been as well as where it may be going.”
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Melder Of Dance Forms
“At 28, Akram Khan is the great new hope in the dance world. A third-generation British Asian, he brings vitality to cross-cultural expression, fusing Western contemporary dance with kathak, the Indian classical genre in which he trained from the age of seven. He is also renowned for building bridges between the disciplines.”
When Theory Gets You Shut Out Of Society’s Decisions
For much of the past 25 years, academic humanists have lived in a world of theory. But theory has had less and less impact on the direction of our culture, and some academics are wondering if a new direction is called for. So recently, an intellectual “town hall” was convened in Chicago to talk things over. “Has theory forsaken ‘sociopolitical engagement’ for a ‘therapeutic turn’ to ethics and the care of the psyche? Should humanists devote themselves to securing ‘some space for the aesthetic in the face of the overwhelming forces of mass culture and entertainment’? Have the Internet and biotechnology rendered both human nature and printed dissertations obsolete?”
Doing The Numbers
All five streams of financial support are down for Bay Area arts groups – corporate, government and individual donations, ticket sales and endowment income.
Hollywood – Land Of The Toga Pix
The new thing in Hollywood movies? Really old. “Beginning in the summer of 2004, a horde of ‘toga movies’ set in ancient times will be poised to invade local cineplexes. As befits the epic scale required by this new breed of old sagas, studios are spending big money on big directors and big stars.”
TV Generation – So That’s Where The Playwrights Are Going…
More and more playwrights are finding themselves writing for TV, as the lines between who works for stage and who works for screen get blurry. “For young playwrights, the new opportunities offer another way to make a living as the theater world is pummeled by a faltering economy. They move to Los Angeles, dividing their time between television and theater productions, writing plays and screenplays. And they do it without hearing the cries of ‘Sellout!’ that met earlier generations who charted similar paths.”
Bookstore Sales Down
Though retails sales in America rose 3.5 percent in February, bookstore sales fell 4.3 percent, to $1.07 billion. “For the first two months of the year, bookstore sales inched up 0.5%, to $3.32 billion, while sales for all of retail increased 4.6%.”
Milwaukee Schools Slashing Arts Education
Milwaukee’s public school district is having a budget crisis. So how does it propose solving it? In part, by decimating its arts programs. “Although the district’s financial officers will not submit a proposed budget to the School Board until May 1, a preliminary analysis shows that the district will likely lose 21 art instruction positions and 13 music positions. The cuts would reduce the district’s costs by more than $2.4 million. It seems pretty obvious to us right now that the arts are where there are going to be some big cuts.”
Can A Broadway Bomb Make It Big On The Road?
Seussical the musical was not a hit when it got to Broadway, and the critics were not kind. But after a $2 million makeover, wholesale tinkering from top to bottom, the remade show has been out on the road, and doing pretty well. “The reviews in other cities have been kinder than those of the original production, and the show has performed well at the box office, if a bit unevenly. And, of course, there’s a wide range of Seuss souvenirs raking in cash at intermission.”
Creativity On A Deadline (And Sometimes You Miss It)
“Creativity is hard to schedule. Yet orchestras today have to plan their seasons months, even years in advance. This leads to a disparity: on one hand, stringent deadlines; on the other, a process of creation that requires flexibility and can never quite be pinned down. For when you commission a piece, you’re never sure what you’re going to get — or when you’re going to get it.”