A South African dance company plans “a double-pronged attack on existing Guinness World Records – the biggest ballet class ever taught and the most dancers to be on pointe together for one minute.” The company is recruiting 600 dancers for the attempt.
Tag: 02.21.06
TV While You Work
“We find ourselves in the midst of the long-anticipated convergence of Internet and television, and a weird thing is happening: people are watching television during the workday, in offices, at their computers, sitting up straight in unupholstered desk chairs. They’re watching fake ads or clips from “Saturday Night Live” that show up in e-mail in-boxes. And they’re watching with their fingers on keyboards, toggling between “Lost” or lusty Colin Farrell and Excel spreadsheets. No wonder, then, that the latest programmers — people trying to create sustainable, popular, commercial Internet television — are incorporating workday attitudes of diligence, can-doism, detail-orientation and, above all, procrastination into new shows.”
Zambello Trades Opera For Musical Theatre
Francesca Zambello is one of the top opera directors. But Zambello has decided the time is right to move from opera to musicals. “I’ve worked on a lot of world premieres in operas and found that it’s gratifying but frustrating because it doesn’t get done a lot. So I’ve started to shift quite recently into the musicals market, working with composers and lyricists. And ultimately I do want to work in my language.”
UK Heritage Battered By Climate Change
The UK’s historical buildings are being damaged by climate change. “Every decision we now make that hasn’t factored in climate change is a potential mistake that could cost us time and money to put right later on. This isn’t just to do with protecting an 18th-century house,” he adds. “It’s us saying: this is what our experience is telling us about the whole environment.”
Historian Irving Sentenced For Denying Holocaust
British historian David Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail for his statements denying the Holocaust. “Austria has Europe’s toughest law criminalising denial of the Holocaust. Irving went on trial for two speeches he delivered in the country almost 17 years ago. He was arrested in November last year after returning to Austria to deliver more speeches despite an arrest warrant against him and being barred from the country.”
Tate Britain’s Excellent Year
Tate Britain had the “highest rise in visitor numbers among the country’s leading tourist attractions. The total number of visitors that passed through the Millbank gallery was 1,733,120 – up 58 per cent in 12 months. By contrast, almost all other leading attractions in London slumped after the 7 July bombings. The National Gallery had 15 per cent fewer visitors, the London Eye was down 12 per cent and the Tower of London by 9 per cent.”