Ballet For The Blind In Mexico

“Teachers and advocates say Psicoballet, like most forms of dance, improves balance, posture and mobility, while also boosting self-esteem and reducing anxiety and depression. According to estimates, the Cuban dance therapy has benefited over 20,000 people in the last four decades and has spread to 17 nations, including Mexico, where it arrived in 1984.”

‘Why We Never Die’: An Atheist Philosopher Explains How He Realized That Death Is Not The End Of Existence

Gabriel Rockhill: “Since I recognized eternal transcendence as nothing more than a comforting illusion, the only thing left was my finite life in the here and now, which was destined to disappear forever in an instantaneous blackout. It is now patently unclear to me, however, that we ever actually die in this way. Our existence has numerous dimensions, and they each live according to different times.”

In The Live Storytelling Scene, The Storytellers Are The Last To Get Paid

“Mortified, like The Moth, Upright Citizens Brigade, and even TED Talks, is one of the hundreds of live events around the world that have sprouted up during an era in which experiential entertainment, or the IRL economy, were supposed to grow more cherished (and more lucrative) … [But] live events exist in the same way many independent publishers exist – on a shoestring budget in which the performer is usually the last to be paid.”

She’s Only The Fourth Living Writer To Be Published By The Library Of America

“The Library of America usually restricts itself to Melville, Twain, Hawthorne and the other distinguished dead. But a handful of times it has been so sure of a novelist’s importance that its austere black volumes started appearing while the writer was still alive. Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth got the call. Ursula K. Le Guin is now on this very short list.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.29.16

In The Church Of Big Data, Artistic Judgment Is Just A Data Point
Lately we’re seeing a steady stream of stories at ArtsJournal about attempts to algorithmatize creativity. But that’s merely the frontier of the data-driven gospel, the idea that algorithms and intelligent machines will more efficiently be able to create the things we want. The mainstream orthodoxy of Big Data, though, is … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-29

The “Scoop” that Wasn’t: Fisher Collection’s 75%-25% Rule at SFMOMA Exposed Six Years Ago
In my previous post about the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s deal to display the coveted Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, I took the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Charles Desmarais at his word and … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-29

Thrice more unto the breach
The Mosaic Theater Company’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, which began previews last Thursday, opens tonight in Washington, D.C. This is, unlikely as it may sound, Satchmo’s twelfth staging to date.read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-29

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Gene Wilder, 83

The comic actor, who was twice Oscar nominated, for his role in “The Producers” and for co-penning “Young Frankenstein” with Mel Brooks, usually portrayed a neurotic who veered between total hysteria and dewy-eyed tenderness. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.”

America’s Newsrooms Don’t Reflect Diversity Of The Country. Here’s Why It Increasingly Matters

“If the minority population is growing steadily, then common sense would say news organizations should be doing everything they can to attract minority audiences and better explain the complex issues America faces. But in a 2014 study by the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 25 percent of African-Americans and 33 percent of Hispanics said they felt the media accurately reflected their community.”

Counting Up The Art Damages From Italian Quake

“No artworks with the cachet of a Leonardo, Michelangelo or Giotto are among those lost in the quake. But art historians stress that local art of whatever pedigree helps to explain the cultural and artistic contexts that inspired the great masters. And just as importantly, local pride over this artistic heritage in churches or piazzas binds these centuries-old towns to their past.”

Have We Lost Interest In Old Masters Art?

“At a time when contemporary art is all the rage among collectors, viewers and donors, many experts are questioning whether old master artwork — once the most coveted — can stay relevant at auction houses, galleries and museums. Having struggled with shrinking inventory and elusive profits, auction houses appear to be devoting most of their attention and resources to contemporary art, the most popular area of their business.”