During a performance of Dave St-Pierre’s Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde!, one of the dozen or so nude men clambering over and through the audience approached Observer dance critic Luke Jennings, tried to grab his notebook from his hands, then took off Jennings’s glasses and hawked phlegm on them. Jennings recounts the experience here.
Tag: 06.03.11
Plays Holding Their Own At West End Box Office
“The share of attendances for plays last year was 26.2% – up 0.7% from 2009, the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said. It was already up 4.3% from 2008. The share for musicals was 59.5% – down 1.2% from 2009. It fell 4.4% from 2008 to 2009. Total attendances topped 14m.”
Adolfas Mekas, 85, Avant-Garde Filmmaker and Teacher
“Though Jonas Mekas, a prolific director and avant-garde film archivist, became the better-known sibling, Adolfas Mekas made a handful of films that endure as avant-garde landmarks. The best known of them, Hallelujah the Hills, … was among the critical and popular hits of the inaugural New York Film Festival in 1963.”
Met Museum Presents Its First Site-Specific Dance
“Now, for the first time, the museum’s concert series will host a site-specific dance performance within the sculpture-filled Engelhard Court. While performances have taken place in galleries before, choreographer Shen Wei is the first to design a work for a specific hall.”
South Korea Presents Its First Ballet Festival
“Riding the wave of the unprecedented ballet boom here, Korea’s four major ballet troupes” – Korea National Ballet, Universal Ballet Company, Seoul Ballet Theatre, and Gwangju City Ballet – “have gathered to host the first government-led ballet festival, starting June 12.”
New York City Ballet’s Latest Male Star-In-The-Making
“Ballet seasons are often identified with a dancer, and this spring City Ballet has been all about [Chase] Finlay, who is still a member of the corps de ballet. Naturally regal – his bearing is like that of a less uptight Mr. Darcy – he is the best thing to hit City Ballet” in several years.
Artists Outsourcing The Actual Artmaking (It’s Not Just Jeff Koons Anymore)
“Alexander Gorlizki is an up-and-coming artist, known for paintings that superimpose fanciful images over traditional Indian designs. … [He] lives in New York City. The paintings are done by seven artists who work for him in Jaipur, India.”