“Since retiring from the Royal Ballet and founding Acosta Danza in 2015 with the aim of fusing classic and contemporary ballet, the 44-year-old artist has brought the work of many renowned foreign choreographers like American Justin Peck to his Caribbean island. Some have created new pieces for the company.”
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Riots Greet Opening Of Bollywood Epic In India
“Violent mobs have rampaged through several Indian cities this week in a last-ditch effort to stop the film [Padmaavat], based on a five-century old poem about a Hindu queen, Padmini, who immolates herself rather than be captured by a conquering ruler. … The film crew has been attacked, sets have been vandalised, hardliners have threatened to mutilate the lead actor and Indian states have pleaded with the supreme court and prime minister to ban the film.”
Comedy ‘The Death Of Stalin’ Banned In Russia
The country’s Culture Ministry has revoked the distribution license for this English-language satire conceived and directed by Armando Ianucci – two days before the film’s release date and two months after culture minister Vladimir Medinsky insisted that it would be shown in Russia. After a special screening Monday night, one culture official called the film “blasphemous”; another described it as “vile, repugnant and insulting.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.24.18
Glowering at Lowry: MoMA Director’s Renegade Proposals for Collection Management
While supervising the Museum of Modern Art’s second major expansion during his 23-year tenure, director Glenn Lowry has been thinking about how his soon-to-be reconfigured institution should change with the times. If … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-24
Remembering Ursula K. Le Guin
There may be no contemporary writer who’s shaped me, and many of the authors of my generation, more than Ursula Le Guin, who died Monday. Even though she was nearing 90, Le Guin is the kind of person who seemed like she would live forever: … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-01-24
Neil Diamond Is Retiring Because He Has Parkinson’s. But Being A Musician Could Help His Treatment
Jessica Grahn’s research has focused on how and why the human body responds to music. She’s looked at Parkinson’s patients and found some very interesting therapeutic effects to cranking the music up that might help point to better lives for those like Diamond living with the disease, and even point to the evolutionary mystery of why music makes us move the way it does.
Berlin’s New Generation Of Maestros
While Daniel Barenboim, 75, remains the dean of the Berlin music scene, and another veteran, 77-year-old Christoph Eschenbach, arrives in 2019 to lead the Konzerthausorchester, many older maestros are passing the baton to a new crop of musical leaders. Here’s a look at several of the new arrivals injecting vitality into an already thriving landscape
The Distraction Factor (Good And Bad)
“The dichotomy between good attention and bad distraction is so fundamental that it is written into the very language we use to talk about attending. Consider the phrase “I pay attention.” It implies that attention is valuable, a type of currency we deliberately and consciously invest in. When I pay attention, I am in control of my action, and I am aware of its value. Now compare this with the phrase “I am distracted.” Suddenly we are dealing with a passive and vulnerable subject who suffers an experience without doing much to contribute to it.”
Foreign Galleries Are Expanding To Italy
The move makes some sense. Despite a fluctuating economy, Italy has a strong collecting tradition. François Chantala, a partner at Thomas Dane, says: “The scene in Italy has always been discreet, established and savvy—not dissimilar to Germany, Holland and Belgium in the 1960s and 70s.” But with little evidence the domestic market is expanding, does Italy have the critical mass of high-level collectors required to sustain these galleries, or is their arrival merely a symptom of the enduring appeal of la dolce vita?
State And Local Governments Take Up Efforts To Preserve Net Neutrality
Montana is the first state to take action to encourage broadband providers to follow the principles of net neutrality, but others, including California, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington are considering legislative action. Meanwhile, New York City officials published a request for information about how the city can best monitor the connection speeds and network performance of broadband providers. Mayor Bill de Blasio promised the city would do “everything within our power to keep the internet open and accessible for all” after the FCC voted to repeal its rules.
A Tech Backlash Is Building. But Let’s Be Careful…
“The smartphone is today’s emblem of whether one believes in progress or decline. It is a powerful tool, and any such tool has the capacity to do harm as well as great good. Finding balance has never been a human strong suit, but it has never been more needed.”