For The Washington Ballet, Dr. Natalie Rouland studies the history of great Russian story ballets such as Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, going all the way back to the written stage directions and Stepanov choreographic notation of the originals. – Dance Magazine
Blog
London Book Fair Canceled Over COVID Fears
The event was already set to be a ghost town when it opened its doors, after publishers and rights agencies began withdrawing en masse over the last week. Some of the world’s biggest, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Hachette had already pulled out, as had Amazon and a host of literary agencies including Curtis Brown. – The Guardian
How Did Scholars Figure Out That Homer’s Epics Were Oral, Not Written, Literature?
In the late 19th century, few believed that anyone, literate or not, could have memorized something as long as the Iliad or Odyssey. (The main argument at the time was whether “Homer” was one person or many; the two sides were the Unitarians and the Analysts.) Who established that Homer’s verse was recited by heart? A clever Harvard professor, helped by some Bosnian bards. – JSTOR Daily
Misplaced Priorities? We’re Studying “The Brain” But Not People
The more we learn about genetics and the brain, the more impossibly complicated both reveal themselves to be. We have picked no low-hanging fruit after three decades and $50 billion because there simply is no low-hanging fruit to pick. The human brain has around 86 billion neurons, each communicating with thousands of others via hundreds of chemical modulators, leading to trillions of potential connections. No wonder it reveals its secrets only very gradually and in piecemeal fashion. – Aeon
Fox Trot Mit Schlag: When Viennese Composers Met The Harlem Renaissance
“While jazz-inspired music by the likes of Stravinsky and Weill has never been forgotten, the similar efforts of dozens of other composers from the same period have fallen into obscurity. Now some of those experiments are enjoying a fresh hearing.” Seth Colter Walls has a listen. – The New York Times
All About Tights And Tutus
Where they came from in the first place, how they’re made (and laundered), and why they got Nijinsky fired. – The Stage
Pornhub Releases Its First-Ever Non-Porn Film — A High-Art Documentary, No Less
“The movie in question is the documentary Shakedown, from filmmaker and conceptual artist Leilah Weinraub. It hails from the upper echelons of the art world, where the project enjoyed a prestige rollout in exhibits at the Whitney Museum and MoMA over the last three years.” And what’s it about? Lesbian strip clubs in L.A. – Variety
Artist Pyotr Pavlensky Is In France As A Political Refugee, But He’s Burning Banks And Messing With Elections. What Is He Really Up To?
His various art “actions” (as he calls them), along with his apparently high pain threshold, have earned him international notoriety and a good deal of sympathy. Yet he seems to have squandered quite a bit of that sympathy in France, where his actions haven’t gone down so well. Valeria Costa-Kostritsky talks to associates and observers of Pavlensky in Russia and France and tries to unpack it all. – Apollo
Chicago’s Public Schools Have A Major Collection Of WPA Murals. Why Are People Calling For Them To Be Covered Up?
For essentially the same reasons that some people wanted the murals at George Washington High School in San Francisco to be covered over or removed. – Artnet
How Arts Orgs In California Are Handling Coronavirus Concerns
“The common line among museums and theaters is that they are monitoring the situation and planning to operate as usual, unless told otherwise by county or state health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization. Even though more than 3,000 have died from COVID-19 worldwide, health officials have not recommended closure of venues or the cancellation of public events in California because the immediate risk of transmission remains low.” – Los Angeles Times