50 Years Ago Disaster Struck Florence As The City Flooded, Damaging Priceless Art

“The flood was a pivotal moment in the history of conservation in terms of the development of new methods and techniques, key lessons learned, the formation of lasting relationships and, significantly, attracting a younger generation to the field. It is being marked by a series of events in Florence and Venice (which also sustained extensive damage).”

The Ballerina Who Got Away – From New York, From Seattle, From Ballet – Comes Back (For Now)

Carla Körbes became a professional at New York City Ballet, but left because she wanted a greater variety of repertoire; she went to Pacific Northwest Ballet and had a brilliant career, but retired at age 33. (“I wasn’t having fun anymore,” she says.) But up at Vail, Damian Woetzel got her back onstage, and she’s about to dance Martha Graham in New York.

The Lawsuit Over Broadway’s ‘Great Comet’ Is Officially Over (But The Adversaries Still Despise Each Other)

“The unusually ugly who-gets-how-much-credit-for-a-big-Broadway-musical battle was officially resolved on Wednesday, when the commercial producers of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 agreed to revise the show’s Playbill to give more specific credit to Ars Nova, the nonprofit theater that commissioned the show. … But it appears that hard feelings remain.”

America’s Most Un-Christian Church Came To Picket Juilliard, And Juilliard’s Students Rickrolled Them

“Protesters from the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church took a break from their regular pious activities – such as demonstrating at soldiers’ funerals and proclaiming ‘god hates f*gs’ – to picket Thursday morning in front of the Upper West Side’s Juilliard School in Lincoln Center.” (Their stated reasons are quaintly Calvinistic.) Dozens of the school’s young musicians responded by doing what they do best.