Brooklyn-based choreographer Chris Elam and his company, Misnomer, are working to use the Web for dance the way music, film and video have. “Borrowing a page from indie-rock bands that have little means for marketing or distribution, he envisions Web sites with streaming video of rehearsals and viewer comments; live video chats with dancers and audiences; and user profiles that are maintained in a database.”
Tag: 11.24.08
Busting Taboos, Four Saudi Students Form Kingdom’s First Girl Group
The rock band The Accolade can’t perform in public or even rehearse openly, but their song “Pinocchio” has been downloaded by hundreds of young Saudis and they’re looking to start playing private gigs (the only kind in Saudi Arabia).
Egyptian Government And St. Louis Museum Struggle Over Ancient Mask
The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is now involved in a dispute over the Ka-Nefer-Nefer burial mask, a 3,200-year-old golden relic which was recorded in storage in Egypt in 1959 but somehow wound up being acquired – apparently legally – by the St. Louis Art Museum in 1998.
Conductor’s Boston Walkout Reverberates On The Canadian Prairie
The entire concept of the Edmonton Symphony’s program this weekend is now shot. “Kuerti: Father and Son” was to feature 32-year-old conductor Julian in collaboration with his renowned pianist father, Anton. But with Russian conducting legend Gennady Rozhdestvensky having walked out on the Boston Symphony because he didn’t get top billing, Julian, who’s the BSO’s assistant conductor, has to step in.
Looted Matisse Painting To Be Given To British Charity
“Finally, justice for Henri Matisse’s ‘Le Mur Rose.’ The oil painting, which was stolen from a rich German Jewish family sometime after 1937 and kept by a Nazi officer responsible for delivering poison gas to Auschwitz, is to be given Thursday to a British charity that supports medical rescue in Israel.”
Tribeca Film Fest Adds A Branch In Qatar
“New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, founded by actor Robert De Niro after the September 11 attacks, plans to stage a new festival in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar next year. Created as a way to rejuvenate lower Manhattan after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks, Tribeca has become a showcase for international films with a political edge, and organizers said the Tribeca Film Festival Doha would do the same.”
Museums, Beyond The ‘Boring’ Factor
“Despite any bad rap for being boring or undervalued, there are still 850 million people coming through the nation’s museums each year. Why? As Philippe de Montebello, former Metropolitan Museum of Art director, says simply, ‘A museum is the memory of mankind.'”
Bush May Not Be A Reader, But He’s Sure Sold Books
“Whether you loathed him, liked him, or merely tolerated his face in your peripheral vision, George W Bush was a success in one respect: at the American bookstore. Since the contested election of 2000, current events and political titles have helped prop up America’s sagging publishing industry, proving to be the fastest growing sellers at chain stores.” It’s a different game now for publishers and readers.
On-Screen Opera: An Art Form Unchanged
“Two years ago, Douglas McLennan wrote in the Los Angeles Times that, by broadcasting operas live to cinema screens in high definition video, the New York Metropolitan Opera had created a new art form,” Karen Fricker writes, begging to differ. “Although I share his enthusiasm – at least at the moment – it’s the delivery method that’s startlingly different, rather than the art form itself.”
Conductor Richard Hickox Dies At 60
“Leading British conductor Richard Hickox has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 60. Hickox, who was the musical director of Opera Australia as well as a regular conductor of major UK orchestras, died after a recording session in Wales.”