Murray Louis had quite the eclectic upbringing in the dance world, and his dizzying array of experiences made him one of the late 20th century’s most intriguing choreographers. Along with his personal and professional partner, Alwin Nikolais, “he evolved a distinct choreographic signature that came out of the movement technique he and Mr. Nikolais developed. Most choreographers, including George Balanchine and Martha Graham, would extend a dance vocabulary through their choreography and then bring the ‘new’ movement to classroom training. Mr. Nikolais and Mr. Louis did the reverse.” Still, he fears for the future of the form: “Creatively strong leaders are not coming out of dance… There is a lot of splintering.”
Tag: 12.17.05
Hollywood Wants You(r Butts In Its Seats)
With moviegoers fast becoming a valuable (and comparatively rare) commodity, the film industry is mounting a campaign to get Americans back in the theatres, in part by (finally) addressing longstanding consumer complaints. Cell phone rings interrupting the screening? We’ll ban ’em. Screeching children? We’ll restrict ’em to daylight hours. Pre-show ads? We’ll make ’em less intrusive. Ticket prices? Ummmm, well… how about a snazzy new PR blitz all about the glories of going out to the movies?
Art Theft Writ Large
It can’t be easy to make off with a bronze sculpture that measures 3.5 meters long, and better than one meter high. But that’s exactly what someone (or, more accurately, three someones and a crane) have done with a Henry Moore sculpture north of London. The theft took place Thursday night, and officials at the Henry Moore Foundation are afraid that the thieves could be planning to melt the work down to sell as scrap metal, since it would be difficult if not impossible to sell as is. The sculpture, entitled “A Reclining Figure,” is valued at $5.3 million.
You Never Give Me Your Money
The surviving Beatles (and the heirs of the non-surviving ones) are suing the EMI recording company in an effort to recover what they claim are $53 million in unpaid royalties.
Screaming From Birth
A new biography of Edvard Munch suggests that the painter’s tortured childhood went a long way towards shaping the ghoulish style he would bring to his art. “Art enabled Munch to sidestep the claims of family, religion, sexuality and prevailing local attitudes to aesthetics… without simply repudiating his experiences. So it’s no wonder so many of Munch’s paintings are filled with smoke and smokers, tantalising and infecting at once. Often the world itself turns to heavy, poisonous smoke under his brush. Sick, dying and dead children melt into nothingness; predatory women with tangled red hair present themselves to the gaze; family trees become gibbets on which all the generations to come will swing.”