Comments on: Career Opportunities

by: sasha

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:12:20 +0000

Great post Matt, thanks for the insights! Have you read “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation?” I have a feeling you have but if not it’s a great read!

by: Taylor

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:46:02 +0000

Haha I love this post, Matt. Even when I’m writing and I know I have people like you and David and other editors double checking my every move I’m STILL afraid of making errors in print. I think that’s part of the excitement of it all though. Haha. Looking forward to seeing the finished issue of movmnt!

by: tonya

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:19:45 +0000

Except when the writers record them! They usually don’t though, I guess…

by: matthew

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:20:53 +0000

Haha. OF COURSE, Jennifer! There are mistakes that are SEARED in my memory that I made on stage. My point is that they are, fortunately, only in my head…not on paper for the world to see again…and again.

by: jennifer

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:18:49 +0000

I don’t know, Matt–there are some mistakes that happen onstage that I will remember forever.

But only in my memory, I suppose…

by: jolene

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:19:05 +0000

Totally off topic, but I know a doctor named Dr. Doktor. That’s his real name. Wouldn’t it be funny if he had ended up being a dentist or a fashion designer? Maybe that doctor’s name really is Doulgas. You’d think he’d notice.

Great writing, Matt!

by: tonya

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:35:50 +0000

There’s also a Janie Parker who used to dance with Paul Taylor. I’d noticed the error over the weekend and did a search on “Janie Parker Taylor” and found it. Hehehe, funny! At least bloggers are not the only ones who make mistakes

by: Evan

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:27:38 +0000

P.S. It looks like a copy-editor missed an error in Alastair Macaulay’s review of the Dancers’ Choice program. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/arts/dance/30ball.html?ref=dance Check out the second paragraph…Janie “Parker”? I believe he was referring to Ms. Taylor, but interestingly, Janie Parker is a former principal with Houston Ballet!

by: Evan

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:21:12 +0000

Very insightful observations. Perhaps one of the main differences (which you mentioned at the end of your post) between the two is that dancing/performing is fleeting, or perishable, whereas the written word is not. Part of the reason why I’m so drawn to dance writing and criticism is because it’s an opportunity to capture the ephemerality of live dance on paper, which makes the performance - or at least, the critic’s memory/analysis/interpretation of the performance - permanent. Of course, a big part of the challenge is choosing and arranging words that accurately (albeit subjectively) explain and convey movement, while also remembering to throw in some commas and transitions here and there, if only for the sake of the copy-editor’s sanity