Paul Taylor has legions of fans. “Taking his cue from Martha Graham, once his teacher and mentor, he has generally continued the modern-dance project of unchaining dance from rigid balletic constraints. But unlike more radical figures such as Merce Cunningham, he has also shied away from pure abstraction and has generally retained figurative elements, narrative and lyricism. The result is a highly personal style charged with energy and humour.”
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Broadway Hit Closes In London’s West End
Is it because the war kept tourists away from London’s West End? That’s one theory why “Contact” – expected to run for a year or more – is closing after only six months. “Contact came to the West End with an apparently gilt-edged pedigree. It was devised by choreographer Susan Stroman, and John Weldman, and was a smash hit on Broadway, where it won a string of awards, including a Tony.”
Iraq Museum Looting Overstated?
Was the extent of the looting of the National Museum in Baghdad overstated? “Thanks to Iraqi preparations before the war, it seems the worst has been avoided. Donny George, the director-general of restoration at the Iraqi Antiquities Department, Wednesday said his staff had preserved the museum’s most important treasures, including the kings’ graves of Ur and the Assyrian bulls. These objects were hidden in vaults that haven’t been violated by looters. Most of the things were removed. ‘We knew a war was coming, so it was our duty to protect everything. We thought there would be some sort of bombing at the museum. We never thought it could be looted’.”
Mix Tapes – Mixing For Trouble
Mix tapes/CDs are hot. “Mix tapes are the creations of local DJs who take hits, rarities, the works of up-and-coming rappers or all of the above, and use them to turn a blank CD into a highly personal jukebox. There is intense competition among those DJs to get the freshest material, and because the formal music industry has long viewed the whole scene as a copyright nightmare, a spirit of pirate radio pervades.”
Is National Mall Being Memorialized To death?
The National Mall in Washington DC is one of America’s most important public spaces. And space is the key, writes Christopher Knight. But Congress seems intent on cluttering it up with ever more memorials and tributes, which will certainly ruin a grand place. “Approved or proposed Mall additions now include memorials to President Reagan, Martin Luther King Jr., terrorist victims, Native Americans and soldiers lost in peacekeeping missions. Then there’s the network of tunnels, underground security checkpoints and surveillance cameras newly suggested for the Washington Monument. Like other burgeoning examples of a post-Sept. 11 ‘architecture of fear,’ these schemes would destroy the monument in order to save it.”
What Happened To Warnings About Iraq Museums?
Before the war on Iraq, warnings were sent to the Britsh and American governments about protecting Iraq’s cultural treasures. “They were completely ignored by the British government, who failed to acknowledge letters sent to them. That was unspeakably terrible. But meetings did take place with the Pentagon, who were given lists of endangered sites. They made contact with some of the appropriate experts, and assurances were given. But I think they were not prepared for what happened in Baghdad – for any of it. The looting of hospitals, for instance – just the scale of it all. I don’t think anybody foresaw that there would be a disaster on this scale. The letters that were written were not very specific. They probably did not mention possible looting in the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad. It hadn’t crossed my mind that that would even be possible.”
Madonna, Writer Of Children’s Books, Critic
Madonna says the children’s books she’s writing will be “moral tales based on the cabbala”. “She condemned the shallow nature of most children’s books, explaining that the suggestion for her project came from the teacher with whom she has been studying the cabbala for seven years. She spotted the lack of moral children’s books when reading to her first child, Lourdes. ‘Now I’m starting to read to my son, but I couldn’t believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were’.”
America’s Top 20 – All About Product Placement
Of the 20 songs on the American Top 20 list last week, ten of them plugged products in the songs. “Stars love plugging. Brands love getting plugged. But someday the slightly murky relationship of product placement and what initiates that product being placed in a song might have to change. If you were a sandals-wearing, lead-the-people-through-great-hardship kind of a guy, you might say that this was because it was in some kind of fundamental way “wrong” or something like that. If you’re slightly less amazed in these days of ‘created brand relevance that doesn’t appear orchestrated’, then you might just say it’s because it’s all getting a bit boring.”
Andre Breton’s Estate Broken Up, Sold
Surrealist André Breton’s personal art collection has been sold at auction. It brought in €46m (£31.8m), twice the pre-sale estimate. “The auctions, which went on late into the night to accommodate telephone bidders from the US, were disturbed by opponents of the state’s refusal to buy Breton’s rented flat near Pigalle, in the north of Paris, where the surrealist manifesto was drawn up in 1924.”
The Dictator And His (Bad) Art
“In light of the atrocities committed against the Iraqi people and other unfortunates over the past 30 years, it is undoubtedly beside the point to criticize Saddam Hussein for his aesthetics. Still, one of the more tantalizing discoveries of the last few days, as we peel back the onion layers of his regime, has been the revelation of the dictator’s taste is art…”