Pina Bausch could “take you to a higher place that you didn’t even know existed. Not all the time and not every time, but she could do it. How? One way was by demanding that her performers dig deep within their own memories and feelings; famously, Bausch said that she was not interested in how people move, but in what moves them.” A clip-by-clip guide to her work.
Tag: 07.01.09
High School Musical Stars Find A New York Stage
“[T]he recent rise to prominence of several actors recognized by regional theaters for their high school-era performances is lending regional theaters credibility” even as “television shows like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘American Idol’ have also directed attention to young people in the performing arts.” Into this milieu step the Jimmy Awards, named for producer James M. Nederlander and honoring high school musical theatre performers from across the country.
As Richard & Judy Sign Off, Book World Prepares To Mourn
“There’s a certain thread running through a lot of novels that have sold well in the UK in the last few years. They share nothing so exact as a genre or type, but they have exotic titles, a powerful story and a literary bent. Oh, and a badge. A badge that says ‘Richard and Judy’.” Now the daytime-TV duo’s show is ending. What’s the publishing industry to do?
Do Critics Matter? Well, Yes And No.
“The critics spoke last Friday. ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is a Hindenberg of a movie. The audience responded: So freakin’ what? They forked over $215 million (and counting) to see the widely panned sequel about shape-shifting robots.” So Post critics in film, theatre, books, TV and pop music consider the question: Do their judgments matter? (Book critic Ron Charles: “When I want to feel more relevant, I lie and say I’m a haberdasher.”)
Reimagined, Lincoln Center Steps Down From Its Podium
Ada Louise Huxtable: “By design, Lincoln Center was isolated from its surroundings. In accordance with one of the more faulty modernist practices of the day, it was built on a platform, or ‘podium’ (a favorite buzz word), separating it from the city streets and dedicating it to access by car.” In rebuilding the 50-year-old complex, architects are breaking down that bunker mentality, “reuniting Lincoln Center with the city.”
New Artistic Director Hopes To Calm Troubled Opera Australia
“[Lyndon] Terracini is expected to bring stability to the national company and wants to mend bridges. He is keen to see OA’s former music director Simone Young return as a guest conductor when he programs his first season in 2012. He also plans to introduce Wagner’s Ring cycle into the repertory, commission new Australian work, forge closer ties with arts festivals and develop ‘a family’ of young composers.”
A Pina Bausch Naysayer Eulogizes Her Work
Alastair Macaulay: “What is scarcely diminished by Ms. Bausch’s death is the art of dance. There were good dance moments in her work, but they were usually of secondary interest and choreographically of no lasting import. Her big-scale dance episodes were mainly wild and vehement forms of not quite coherent expressionism. Another strange component of Ms. Bausch’s dance style was bad ballet. The way her performers would make a point of forcing themselves to do adagios, turns and jumps … was part of the extraordinary masochism she often placed onstage.”
Always Look On The Bright Side: The Life Of Brian, No Longer Banned In Glasgow
“When [the Monty Python film] was released 30 years ago it was described as a motion picture destined to offend nearly two-thirds of the civilised world and severely annoy the other third. In 1980, Glasgow councillors agreed and refused to allow it the 15 certificate agreed by the British Board of Film Censors. Instead they insisted it could only be shown as an X-rated adult movie, resulting in it never being screened in the city.”