Fame or Famine

I missed another opportunity this weekend–I had been hoping to see the Blushing Poppy productions show at Links Hall. Alas, between schedules and money a day trip down to Chicago was not in the cards; however, as Nicole Legette, the director/curator, is based in Chicago, I’m sure I will eventually get to see them.
The lack of funding made me think about a discussion I had with a fellow artist a while back at a retreat. She was talking about how a theatre she’d worked at had set aside blocks of tickets for poor people to be able to attend. "Nobody …read more

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Writing about the arts is hard. I mean, we’re trying to use an extremely flawed language system to describe events that truly can only be experienced.
Which is why it brings me such joy to read well-rendered prose that makes me feel like I know exactly what they’re talking about:

"At Blues Alley on Wednesday night, Sumlin played a Gibson Goldtop guitar in trademark, rural, two-finger style — his thumb generating plenty of rhythmic bounce, his index finger juxtaposing skittish single-note runs, swiped chords and octave-leaping exclamations."– Gail Wein

Ah, to be able to listen to G.E. Smith & his trio and see …read more

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I mentioned a couple of posts ago that there were two shows that I’d been looking forward to that were flailing and not doing too well. While I went on and on about The Times They Are A-Changin’, I didn’t mention the other one.
The writers of Miss Saigon and Les Miserables had teamed up to produce a very eagerly anticipated epic called “the Pirate Queen”. Visions of “Pirates-of-the-Caribbean meets Riverdance” were floating around, and the luscious billboards going up around Chicago almost made you hear the uilean pipes as you floundered through yet another confusing interchange…
Apparently, not so much. Reviews …read more

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That quote from Apollinaire Scherr is part of an interesting dialogue with another dance blogger, Dan Fox. I’m not sure that the mitutiae would be as fascinating to most readers of this blog as it is to me (I was weaned on dance crit and interactive theory, and reading their exchange is like coming home, in a way).
However, one particular part does have some direct relevance to the popular cultural performing arts this blog covers. Dan conveys the idea that watching a dance is a passive activity, and wonders how more "participatory culture" would enhance an audience’s experience. Scherr responds, …read more

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Two events that I was truly looking forward to seem to be sinking fast.
The worse of the two is Twyla Tharp’s interpretation of the songs of Bob Dylan, The Times They are a’Changin’. Aside from what I consider to be far too many apostrophes in the title, this should have been a great work. I’ve loved Twyla since I first was exposed to her choreography set on Mikhail Baryshnikov in White Nights. Her last effort, a performative interpretation of Billy Joel’s body of work entitled Movin’ Out (eek, another apostrophe!) got rave reviews and was generally credited with reviving the …read more

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I am awestruck by the audacity and beauty of the Iraqi National Folklore Group.
From the NYT:

"…each turn of the hip and dip at the waist in their choreographed pieces has become weighted with a dangerous new reality, even as they wait for the chaos around them to subside so they can perform again. In today’s Iraq, with conservative religious parties and radical militias exerting growing influence over every aspect of life, even dancing is an act of bravery."

How many of us have something that they care so passionately about, are so devoted to that we would literally risk our …read more

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If you’re not familiar with the story behind the creation of the musical "RENT", you should look it up.

"For every burst of applause and prestigious award, there is the reminder that its creator is not here to share in its glory. In fact, it was only one week before Rent’s first preview that Jonathan Larson felt the first thump of the aortic aneurysm that would take him away…"
–From the official  site.

And while his work has garnered many wonderful reviews, brought joy to many people and more than that, comfort where needed, I’m especially glad to hear that the Library of …read more

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I have kind of a love-hate relationship with butoh. I am fascinated by it, and admire the physical demands of it. The Japanese aesthetic has always been something I’ve loved, from kabuki through calligraphy through kinbaku, and so butoh is simply another aspect of that.
But…butoh is something different, too. Born out of the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is a screaming, painful aspect to Butoh that hurts to watch, even as you are spellbound. But while the performers could play on the pity and sorrow, or even the regret of a nationalist policy that led to disaster for their …read more

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Thanks to some help from my wrangler, I’ve been able to figure out some more interesting aspects of this particular blog. For example, I can add links…ok, so that’s kind of obvious. What self-respecting blog doesn’t have a blogroll on their page.
Up until recently, this one, apparently.
However, that’s being fixed. And special cheers and thanks go to Doug Fox over at the Dance Blog at Great Dance. He seems to focus on dance and technology, a subject always near and dear to my heart.
It’s nice to make my first friend in the online performing arts blog community…
First benefit: He mentioned …read more

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She insists that I should review this performance:

That’s right. He’s walking a cabbage. It’s quite an impressive cabbage, really, much bigger than the bourgeois cabbage I’ve experienced here in the states. I’m also impressed with the care and attention he is giving his cabbage. Note how his head is turned with concern for its welfare as he turns around the corner; none of that capitalist selfish disregard for others in his mien! Speaking of mien, it almost rhymes with bing, which is his name: Han Bing. His work will be showing in Shanghai until November 19.
Those Chinese artists. What will …read more

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