One of the iconic moments of the popular BBC4 documentary series Agony and Ecstasy was seeing the down-to-earth, sweet-natured Daria Klimentov´, aged 38, being yelled at and humiliated by choreographer Derek Deane. Less than two years later, Klimentov´ is dancing better than ever; she and her new onstage partner are drawing comparisons to Fonteyn and Nureyev.
Tag: 06.05.11
Gertrude Stein Was More, And Less, Than She Wanted Us To Think She Was
The popular image of Stein as hero of modernism, literary genius and gay icon – an image that Stein worked mightily for decades to cultivate – obscures both Stein’s actual writing and the history in which she took part. Holland Cotter looks at two exhibitions in San Francisco that illuminate the real Stein.
Edwin Honig, 91, Poet And Translator Of Great Spanish And Portuguese Literature
“As a translator, [he] helped bring the work of Fernando Pessoa, the great Portuguese poet of the early 20th century, to an English-speaking readership. He also translated the poetry of Federico GarcÃa Lorca” as well as poems and plays by Cervantes and Calderon de la Barca.”
New York Times Critics Defend ‘Slow And Boring’, Er, ‘Deliberate And Meditative’ Movies
A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis “discuss the lingering bias against movies that aspire to more than entertainment” – especially those that do so at a less-than-snappy pace.
‘Space Architects’ – Home Design For Other Planets
“They call themselves space architects, and although their numbers are pretty thin … they have big plans. [They] aim to be at the forefront of the most ambitious colonization project in human history, shaping it around not just what people need to survive in hostile alien environments, but what will help them feel human when they get there.”
Bollywood’s Top Soundtrack Singer, Now 81, Won’t Hear Of Retirement
Lata Mangeshkar, who has sung for more than 1,000 films and is one of two singers who dominate Bollywood song (the other is her younger sister, Asha Bhosle), has reacted angrily to a press report that she is retiring. “I believe that I was born to sing and will continue to do so as long as I live,” she Tweeted.
Getting Male Dancers And Long-Retired Ballerinas Into Pointe Shoes At ABT
Alexei Ratmansky’s comic ballet Bright Stream has travesti roles for young men (the Ballet Dancer) and senior women (the “Anxious-to-be-younger-than-she-is Dacha Dweller”). Martine van Hamel, now 65, tried on a pair of pointe shoes and “the bones in my feet said, ‘Ah! Don’t do that!” And poor Cory Stearns couldn’t even tell which of his shoes was left and which was right.
A Different Figaro Opera, This One With Two Figaros
“First The Barber of Seville, then The Marriage of Figaro. Then what? … On Friday the Whitsun edition of the Salzburg Festival” – under Riccardo Muti’s baton – “revives an opera that just might serve as the missing third panel: I Due Figaro (‘The Two Figaros’), by Saverio Mercadante.” (The second Figaro is none other than Cherubino, all grown up.)
Be a Broadway Star!, The Board Game
Yes, it’s an actual participatory board game created by producer Ken Davenport “that tests players’ knowledge of theater and their tolerance for self-abasement. There was singing. There was dancing. There was emoting. There were, thankfully, no injuries, except to pride and reputations.”