These 16th-Century Table Knives Have Music For Saying Grace Engraved On Their Blades
The matched set of four pieces has ivory handles with inlay; wide, sharp blades; and the music and text – in four-part harmony, one voice per knife – for blessings before and after the meal, one on each side. (includes sound clip of one of the blessings)
Even Boys Who Study Dance When Young Tend To Drop Out In Their Teens – These Instructors Went To Find Out Why
Two staffers at London dance hub The Place write about what they learned when they asked young (and older) men why they stopped dancing – and how to keep the guys coming to class.
How Japanese Film Auteurs Riffed On The Tropes Of The Country’s ’70s Softcore
Mike Hale writes about the Roman Porno Reboot Project, in which the Nikkatsu studio asked five directors to put a contemporary spin on roman porno (short for “romantic pornography”), the rigidly formulaic genre that saved the studio when it hit hard times 46 years ago. (Among the results: Aroused by Gymnopédies – yes, the Satie piano pieces.)
Why Kent Nagano Would Want To Leave Montreal – And Why It Makes Sense
Arthur Kaptainis: “The [Orchestra symphonique de Montréal] wanted to extend his contract, and naturally enough. He still sells tickets. Why mess with success? Nagano noted in a statement that ‘following a decade and a half as music director, it seems like a natural transition point.’ Fair enough. … No conductor can lead an orchestra for more than a decade without incurring some sense of déjà vu. And no conductor in the world is less interested in repeating himself than Kent Nagano.”
Charging Theatres To Get Reviewed Is A Bad Idea That Was Probably Bound To Happen
“If readers are no longer paying for criticism by buying newspapers or paywall subscriptions, the Bitter Lemons and Edinburgh initiatives were an attempt to find someone else to pay for the review, namely the recipient of the opinion.” So the alternative, writes Mark Shenton, is (for now) to mostly have critics who can afford to work for free, with all that implies.
Should Theater Reviews Be Held Accountable From A Social Justice Viewpoint?
Howard Sherman on the (latest) Hedy Weiss controversy: “Many theatres are trying to address systemic racism in their practices, just as progressive activists are working vigorously to address that deep racial and ethnic inequality in society at large. So for artists committed to those goals who find their creative work viewed through a frequently dismissive perspective when it comes to social justice, who see a lack of empathy when it comes to racial topics, which I believe Weiss has displayed, it is unquestionably not just troubling, but painful.”
Why American Performing Artists Have Been Becoming Activists (It Isn’t Just The Election)
Arena Stage artistic director Molly Smith, choreographer Kyle Abraham, Washington National Opera artistic director Francesca Zambello, playwright James Ijames, and others from classical music, dance, and theater talk to Nelson Pressley about how they do and don’t work politics into their art.
How A Video Artist’s 20-Year-Old Work Got Dragged Into Pizzagate
Maria Marshall, whose work incorporated her children and treated many of parents’ deepest fears, was somehow discovered by the guy who runs the #Pizzagate YouTube channel – so now she has a pack of conspiracy theorists convinced she’s involved with pedophilia. Philip Kennicott talks to Marshall about the real intentions behind her videos and looks at how they get misinterpreted: “Marshall’s art may have succeeded all too well, agitating an anonymous art-phobic audience in almost the same way they are meant to agitate their intended audience in the cosmopolitan art world.”
Is The Decline Of Old-Style Rep Theatres Really Such A Terrible Thing?
Lyn Gardner: “It’s not surprising that there is a great deal of nostalgia from actors such as Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Simon Callow who were the beneficiaries of the old rep system. But the purpose of contemporary theatre is not just to train the stars and Dames and Knights of the future. It is there to serve a much wider community … and most of all it is there to serve the particular and unique needs of the locale where a theatre is situated.” (What’s more, “from where I sit in aisle seats across the country the standard of British acting gets better year by year.”)
Kent Nagano To Depart Montreal Symphony In 2020
“[He] came to the Montreal orchestra when it was emerging from shambles. The OSM had gone through four years of labour strife, money troubles and uncertainty after the sudden departure of legendary director Charles Dutoit in 2002 after nearly 25 years in the post [of music director]. Mr. Nagano leaves the orchestra in much better position with a new concert hall, a solid balance sheet and years of critical acclaim.”
How A Nobody From A Northern English Industrial Town Became A Star At The Mariinsky Ballet
“When Xander Parish was offered a job at the Mariinsky Ballet he thought it was a joke. And wouldn’t you? Audiences had barely registered the existence of this young English dancer, languishing in the Royal Ballet’s lower ranks, when Yuri Fateyev, the Mariinsky’s artistic director, suggested that he join the elite St Petersburg company, once home to Nijinsky, Nureyev and Baryshnikov. That was seven years ago, and even now Parish can’t quite believe his luck.”
Going From Stardom In A Regional Ballet Company To The Corps In A Major One
Marina Harss talks to Betsy McBride, who left her longtime berth at Texas Ballet Theater for a contract with ABT, about why she made the change and what it’s been like.
As Pride Month Ends, A Question: What Makes A Dance Queer?
Some answers arose in New York, where Explode! Queer Dance hosted a four-day academic and artistic festival. The goals were ambitious: “Explode! set out to tackle inextricable challenges of strengthening ties among queer dance artists and dismantling racism, sexism, classism, transphobia and white supremacy. A tall order, but why aim for less?”
The Art Of The Dollar Store
What happens when the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit asks artists to make work from items found where most of America shops, with a total budget of $99? “Just like stock in a dollar shop, there’s an astonishing range of quality: Some offerings appear perfunctory and flimsy, while other works — the true bargains — thoughtfully engage the assignment.”
The Book Clubs Of Resistance (Or, Why Women Are Barred From Reading In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’)
Book clubs are turning their focus to nonfiction and political fiction. “Reading groups have long served as spaces for kindred spirits to gather and talk their way through weighty issues; they also skew female, older, and educated — a prime ‘resistance’ cohort. It is hard to overstate how thoroughly the anti-Trump movement is driven by the energy of women in general.”
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What Is An Essay, And Why Is It So Hard To Define?
Maybe it’s easier to say what it isn’t than what it is. “There has been a strong tradition among the genre’s commentators to reject imposters and poor substitutes: genuine essays must not be confused with stories, and formulaic school writing … and worst of all, scholarly articles.”
Ai Weiwei Says Artists – And Everyone – Should Be (Part Of) The Change They Wish To See
Ai: “It’s not a strategy, it’s life itself. It’s like if you go in a room, you look for the light, for the window. You turn on light, you open the window.”
A Call For ‘Less Biased’ Theatre Criticism Resounds In The Theatrical Community
There’s a lot more to say about the way Lynn Nottage and Paula Vogel, and many other playwrights, get treated by an East Coast theatre establishment. “We know that the tension between minority playwrights and critics is not a new problem. It’s a very old problem, one made newly urgent by biased reviews of productions by women and playmakers of color this season.”
After A Long Legal Battle, An Austrian Court Has Ruled In Favor Of Franz West’s Children
In the hospital, West signed a document creating a foundation a few days before he died. “Those on the family’s side say that individuals with a financial stake in the estate, including Gagosian dealer Ealan Wingate, who was at the hospital during West’s final days, ‘wanted to make sure with the foundation that the heirs would not be in conflict’ with the gallery’s interests, Kerres says. As a result, ‘the lawyer did a rushed job, just writing something by hand and forgetting major parts of an agreement.'”
The OED Has A New Last Word (And, Scrabble Players, It’s Worth 23 Points!)
Some other dictionaries have had the word before, but the Oxford English Dictionary has just admitted it. The definition? “a genus of tropical weevils (family Curculionidae) native to South America and typically found on or near palm trees.”
The Academy – The ‘OscarsSoWhite’ One – Adds Hundreds Of People In An Attempt To Diversify Its Ranks
The Academy added The Rock, Jordan Peele (director of “Get Out”), Barry Jenkins (director of “Moonlight”), Gal Godot (um, Wonder Woman), and even Betty White (of “The Golden Girls,” which rather brings up a question of why she wasn’t in it before now). Good work, good work, but “even with the big names and numbers, the overall change in the demographics of the academy has been incremental.” Whoops.
Mud, Sweat And Fears: The Year-Long Process Of Hand-Making An Oshima Silk Kimono
The island of Amami Oshima is renowned for its unique mud-dyed silk. The BBC documentary series Handmade in Japan follows the island’s artisans through the complex, meticulous steps required to produce the subtly patterned fabric and tailor it into a kimono. (text and video)
The Way The Biscuit Crumbles: A British Journalist Explores ‘Semantic Colonialism’
Sure, “the wonderful thing about the English language is its sponge-like ability to absorb, use and discard un-English verbiage and still be vitally itself.” But wait! Americanisms invading British English means “Britain, and young Britain in particular, has handed over ‘control of its culture and vocabulary to Washington, New York and Los Angeles.’ It is, Engel argues, ‘self-imposed serfdom.'”
Ernest Hemingway, Chatty Sensualist
Adam Gopnik looks at Papa’s biography, writing style, and (yes) kinks, and finds that, for all the “stoical stance” in his prose and his persona, he had quite a sensual (if not quite hedonistic) side – and, what’s more, “he was naturally garrulous and jocose: indeed, by the time he was a celebrity he was so garrulous and jocose that it shocked people, though he was just being himself.”
Detecting Fake News, Lies, And Other Leavings Of A Bull
Basically? Watch out for rich people. Oh, OK, here are a few other things that will help: “Science of Us talked to a number of experts and compiled this advice about how to spot bullshit, how to avoid falling victim to it, and how to call it out online and in person.”