“Given the high stakes, and the potential to exert unwanted influence on these fragile languages, researchers have been arguing for years about how to handle them.” Some follow a “prime directive,” trying not to have any effect whatsoever; others argue that keeping deaf villagers isolated from a national sign language smothers their prospects, keeoping them poor and isolated. It turns out, Michael Erard reports, that these languages aren’t really so fragile. – Digg
Blog
Orlando Ballet Will Stop Charging Dancers To Audition
Executive director Shane Jewell, responding to a previous Dance Magazine post: “Sara’s argument that it’s unfair that dancers are the only members of the company that have to pay for a job interview is a valid one. As she suggests, Orlando Ballet did not charge me $30 when I interviewed for the role of executive director last year. … But issues with charging dancers to audition go much deeper.” – Dance Magazine
A Million New Visitors Have Come To National Portrait Gallery To See Paintings Of Barack And Michelle Obama
“The Obama portraits have catapulted the Smithsonian museum to the top tier of the city’s attractions by dramatically increasing attendance. The Old Patent Office Building — the historic home to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum — had a record-breaking 2.3 million visitors in 2018, about a million more than in 2017.” – The Washington Post
Makers Of ‘Fortnite’ Sued Over Yet Another Dance, This One By Basketball Players
“The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in Maryland, accuses Epic Games Inc. of unfairly profiting from the ‘Running Man Challenge’ dance that Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley performed in social media videos and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2016. … [Other artists] also have sued Epic Games over other dances depicted in the shooting game. Celebratory dances in Fortnite are called ’emotes.'” – Yahoo! (AP)
Pit Violist’s Hearing-Loss Case Against Royal Opera House Has Industry Worried
Most complaints from orchestral musicians about hearing loss deal with gradual damage; this one involves “acoustic shock,” sudden damage caused, in this case, by a blast from the trumpets right behind the plaintiff during a rehearsal of Wagner’s Ring. A court found the ROH liable, though management is appealing; if the verdict is upheld, no one is quite sure how the industry can address the problem. Tim Bano looks into the issues. – The Stage
Ethel Ennis, 86, ‘Baltimore’s First Lady Of Jazz’, Who Walked Away From Fame
“She recorded for major labels in the late 1950s and the ’60s; toured Europe with Benny Goodman; performed onstage alongside Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong; and appeared on television with Duke Ellington [and] Arthur Godfrey. … But she soon grew disillusioned with the demands placed on young divas, and she eschewed national celebrity for a quieter life in her hometown.” – The New York Times
Artist Zehra Doğan Freed After More Than Two Years In Turkish Prison
The Turkish-Kurdish painter and journalist was jailed for a watercolor she made depicting a Kurdish town destroyed by the Turkish military. The charge: “spreading terrorist propaganda.” (The painting was made from an official military photograph.) Her cause was taken up by artists in the West, with Banksy putting up a mural in New York counting the days she was imprisoned. – Hyperallergic
Russian Choir In Cathedral Sings About Nuking America To Dust; Viral Video Causes Consternation
In a performance at the city’s St. Isaac’s Cathedral on Feb. 23, “Defend the Fatherland Day,” the St. Petersburg Concert Choir sang a cheerful little ditty about a submarine headed toward D.C. with “a dozen hundred-megaton payloads.” (A few days earlier, state TV had shown a map of the U.S. marking possible nuclear targets.) Said ditty was written in 1980 by a Soviet dissident and was intended (then) as a parody of militaristic propaganda; its reappearance now has causes a minor uproar. – Global Voices
Choreographer Angie Pittman On Dance As A Community Experience
“I used to look up line dancing videos on YouTube and learn them in my living room by myself. And I was like, that’s one way to do it, but also, this form is meant to be done in community, so you should go do it in community.” – The New York Times
Canadian Comedians Fear Collapse As Canadian Comedy Channel Shifts Focus
The blowback has been brewing online among comedians, many of whom rely heavily on the royalties and exposure provided by the station to make ends meet, says the Canadian Association of Stand-Up Comedians. “For some people, this is their primary source of income,” said Sandra Battaglini, a Toronto comic and head of the two-year-old association. “It’s devastating for people, because these changes have already started happening, and people have stopped being played.” – CBC