A New Dance Company For San Jose

sjDANCEco is a new Bay Area modern dance company featuring work by area choreographers. The company – whose focus incorporates other kinds of dance besides modern – was formed in 2002 to organize San Jose’s Dancin’ Downtown festival, which in May showcased dozens of South Bay companies on an outdoor stage. The group has been evolving ever since and now is preparing applications for non-profit status.”

Study: Brain Forms Maps To Make Sense Of Music

New studies of the brain show that mental “maps” to make sense of what you hear in music begin to form within minutes of studying an instrument. “In professional musicians at least, recent brain imaging studies have shown that the different ways they respond to sound and finger movements seem paradoxical: when they hear a sound it activates areas of the brain that process movement, but when they silently tap out musical phrases it evokes brain activity in areas involved in hearing.”

Will Gov. Schwarzenegger Help Movie Biz?

Will California Governor-elect Schwarzenegger create some incentives for movie producers to film in California? “Tax breaks, labor credits and other sweeteners are considered by many to be crucial if California is to compete more aggressively with lower-cost foreign locations such as Canada, Australia, Britain and Eastern Europe, as well as states offering incentives such as Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico.”

Art Market Downturn

The new Art Sales Index reveals a downturn in art sales in the past year. “This massive annual worldwide survey shows that the international art auction market shrank by 10 per cent from £1.63 billion to £1.45 billion in the 12-month period that ended in August. In the US auction turnover was down by 11.7 per cent, while in Britain the decrease was 18 per cent.”

Japan’s New Modern Art Palace (Atop A Bank Building)

Tokyo’s new Mori Museum could reinvent the Japanese modern art world. “The 30,000 sq ft museum covers two floors at the top of the 54-storey Mori Tower. To help lure visitors, the £8 admission charge includes access to the observation floor, which commands staggering views all the way to Mount Fuji. The challenge is to get visitors as interested in the art as the scenery. The Japanese public remains wary of contemporary art and has traditionally been interested only in the big names of Western art: Monet, Manet, Renoir, Picasso.”

Naked Butts Draw Crowds

An exhibition of photographs of 600 human posteriors has caused a stir in Argentina. The “Carne de Identidad” (a play on the Spanish words for “identity card” – “carnet de identidad” and “flesh of identity” – “carne de identidad”) exhibition has been drawing in the crowds in Buenos Aires. Its next stop is Chile and then, if the civil unrest there dies down, Bolivia.

Governor General Lit Nominations

Margaret Atwood is nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award, adding to her Giller and Booker nominations this year. “Otherwise, there was no overlap between the Giller and the Governor General’s awards in the fiction category. Elizabeth Hay of Ottawa received a nomination for Garbo Laughs, as did Edeet Ravel of Montreal for Ten Thousand Lovers. Two expatriates are also on the list: Jean McNeil, formerly of Nova Scotia and Toronto, and now living in Britain, for Private View, and Douglas Glover, an Ontarian who resides in Wilton, N.Y., for Elle.”

Disney Hall – Worth Waiting For

After 16 years and $274 million, Disney Hall is opening this week in LA> “Is the long-delayed Disney Hall, then, just a consolation prize for Los Angeles? Does one of the biggest cities in the world find itself in the odd position of playing second fiddle to a Basque regional capital with a population under 400,000? Not exactly. The building is a fantastic piece of architecture—assured and vibrant and worth waiting for. It has its own personality, instead of being anything close to a Bilbao rehash. And surprisingly enough, it turns out that all of those postponements and budget battles have been a boon for the hall’s design.”

Charge: Microsoft Manipulating Online Music Buyers

Is Microsoft forcing computer users to buy music only by using its browser? “Lawyers for the Justice Department and 19 state attorneys general have formally complained to a federal judge about a design feature of Windows that compels consumers who buy music online to use only Microsoft’s Internet browser and steers them to a website operated by the company.”