Blog

A San Francisco Ballet Principal Makes Connections By Cutting The Hair Of Unhoused People In His City

Benjamin Freemantle started cutting his own, and his friends’, hair out of necessity when they were all lowly, and low-paid, dance students. Then he grew into both dance and haircutting, and eventually, after extending that skill to a guy who slept in his alley, “‘I had the idea—it was a little scary—to go into the Tenderloin, which is our homeless district,”‘he says. He brought a stool, his haircutting set—basic shears from Amazon, combs, a brush and a spray bottle—and a sign that read ‘Need a Haircut?'” – Dance Magazine

Is Audience Weariness With CGI Leading To More Danger – And Death – For Stunt Performers?

It’s not just a desire for more “realistic” performances; it’s a massive increase in the demand for stunt performers – and little regulation, at least in the US. But “there are signs the US industry is adopting a more British approach. In 2018, SAG-AFTRA introduced new standards and practices for stunt coordinators, including mandatory basic training requirements, and a register of professionals who have carried out a minimum number of days of work. However, risk is still very much part of the territory.” – The Guardian (UK)

Seven Dancers, A Beatboxer, And One Minute Of Tap Dance

One dancer says it’s a lot more work than it might seem: “The footwork is all flatfooting, which looks kind of easy, but when it’s at a higher tempo you can feel crazy. You have to have your weight in the back of your heels, and you have to be relaxed. It’s very simple, but the combination of things can trip you up. Like you can trip.” – The New York Times

For Those Who Listened, The Fall Of The Facebook-Dependent News Site Mic Sounded An Alarm

As founders bragged about round after round of funding, those doing the actual work of providing content were getting fed up – and exploited. Millennials who were watching took nervous note. “Like its cousins BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Vice, Mic at times relied on its young and diverse staff to churn out content, respond nimbly to every change in the Facebook algorithm and sometimes even mine their personal pain for clicks in the pursuit of blistering traffic growth.” – HuffPost

The Opening Of Ghana’s First Subscription-Model Library Changed Lives, But The Founder Says It’s Not Enough

The founder of Libreria Ghana opened with 1300 volumes in 2018, but she soon learned that having a cozy library wasn’t enough for her, or for her country. She doesn’t want to be seen as a hero. “To deny the feeling of pleasure and, indeed, self-satisfaction that comes from knowing you’ve made a difference to an individual, a community and, by extension, a society, would be to deny being human. After all, the payoff of self-sacrifice is often self-fulfillment. There are no saviors, not even Black ones.” – LitHub

The New ‘Lion King’ Used A Kind Of Virtual Reality That May Dramatically Change Movie-Making

Interest in virtual reality has waned after its original investment and excitement; people just aren’t that into it. “But for Hollywood directors and digital effects experts, VR holds more promise as an advanced production tool. The ability to film scenes and scout locations in virtual reality could have benefits for multiple productions.” – Los Angeles Times

Times Are Changing In Music’s Race And Gender Diversity, But Classical Music Fests Haven’t Caught Up

Consider the BBC Proms: “The Proms run for eight weeks, with two or three concerts a day, but you’ll have to listen carefully for music composed by anyone other than a white male – in total there will be less than four hours of it, and less than 20 minutes from black and minority ethnic composers, throughout the whole season.” That can be fixed next year and in the future – but where’s the will to do it? – The Guardian (UK)

Why Are The ‘Harry Potter In Concert’ Programs So Popular?

Sometimes, you have to let a SyFy reviewer explain: “The Harry Potter in Concert series not only provides an opportunity to visually watch each individual instrumental sound take shape on the stage in front of you, but allows the viewer to line it up with the film as you watch it. This offers a whole new appreciation for productions in the arts. You might even be inspired to pick up a flute or learn to play the harp yourself.”- SyFy Wire