Archive for new york times
November 4, 2007 at 4:45 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, wingers, education, new york times, school, college, LEAP, gia kourlas
Dont be scared… you’re in good company! (Photo from JP)
I just wanted to write a quick post to direct your attention to a great article that the lovely Ms. Kourlas just wrote for the NY Times about dancers seeking college education while working full time, and even touring!
Much of the article describes the new-to-New-York LEAP program (Liberal Education for Arts Professionals) which was started in San Francisco in 1999 by Claire Sheridan, a former dancer. Two hundred and nine dancers are enrolled this year, including our very own Mr. Matthew Murphy and Ms. Sophie Flack. Also Mr. Justin Peck, Ms. Gwyneth Muller and Ms. Taylor Gordon, are three other Wingers (and maybe I’m missing a few) who are juggling scholastic ambitions and dance careers. Way to go guys!
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October 9, 2007 at 10:23 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, environment, new york, new york times, funding, arts, david parsons
photo by Randy Levine.
Evil/Benevolent behemoth Altria Group (formerly Phillip Morris Companies Inc.) is leaving town (i.e. New York) and will be taking their arts funding with them. As you probably already know, Altria Group, manufacturers of cigarettes (among other things) has long been a supporter of 200+ arts organizations, many of them dance companies.
This article in the Times from yesterday gives a good slice of insight into the range of organizations they support, how powerful that support has been in cultivating the arts in New York, and how difficult it will be to replace the $7 million dollar hole that will be left when they take their funding away in 2008.
I thought this was an interesting quote from David Parsons, who has been receiving funding from Altria since 1985…
“Here’s what it was — the Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” Mr. Parsons said during a break in a recent rehearsal. “It opens doors. Other funders see that, and they take a second look at you.”
They certainly must have earned some serious street cred with the projects they chose to support. Based on the success and influence of the projects they’ve funded, they clearly have a good curatorial eye.They were even pioneers, supporting many things that were new or experimental. (Of course I suppose it’s easier to take chances when you have such a large piggy bank to work with). It does makes sense though, that for other potential funders without such a discerning eye, seeing Altria dive in would give them more confidence in a project.
Do you think there is anyone/anything out there that can begin to replace their contributions?
On another note…
Besides plowing millions into the arts across the country, Altria has been a major contributor to domestic violence shelters, hunger programs and disaster relief. In the last decade, the company and its subsidiaries donated $1.5 billion in cash and in-kind contributions to charity.
Does doing so much good make up for creating such unhealthy, addictive products? I don’t know.
In a less direct way, this reminds me a bit of the debate over carbon credits. If you (individual or organization) have a lot of money, and can afford to purchase lots of carbon credits for every carbon-emitting act you make (without even fully knowing how effectively that money will be spent), does that make it ok for you not to take strides in trying to reduce your own carbon emissions-or even worse-creating more?
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October 5, 2007 at 10:41 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, media, new york times, publishing, relevance
I’ve been feeling a little like a second class reader… I just can’t get to the section I’m want without multiple clicks!
dance…? where are you?
I’m sure there is a valid reason… perhaps there aren’t enough new articles going up (a whole other issue)… or maybe the section gets a lot less traffic than the other categories (could have something to do with the first reason). “Art & Design” is omitted on the home page as well. Hmph. Seems like it could be sending a subliminal message to readers that dance (as well as design ??) is less relevant than other art forms. No?
there they are…
Also… No RSS FEED devoted to DANCE. The best we can get is an all-inclusive ARTS feed.
Should we start a petition?
Who would we have to talk to… Alistair Macauley? Or perhaps all the way to Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr, ?
An inside source tells me it might be Khoi Vin…
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April 12, 2007 at 1:54 pm · Filed under SLOAN, new york city ballet, rehearsal, lincoln center, new york times, r+j, tragiclovenyc.com, free, dress rehearsal, roslyn sulcas
Posted by Kristin Sloan
The news is finally out that NYCB will be doing an open (free!) dress rehearsal of Romeo + Juliet on Sunday evening, April 29th.
This is much like the open dress rehearsal that the Met Opera did recently, where the only way to get a ticket to the rehearsal is to stand in line on Sunday morning.
From a dancer’s perspective, it’s quite different for us to have a final dress rehearsal on a Sunday evening (this is beyond our normal working hours) but it’s worth it, as it is such a great opportunity to show what we do to, hopefully, a new and larger audience.
From the NY Times this morning…
New York City Ballet has announced that it is offering free tickets to a final dress rehearsal of its new production of “Romeo and Juliet” on April 29. The tickets will be distributed beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday at the New York State Theater box office. “I’ve wanted to do this for years,” said Peter Martins, the ballet master in chief of City Ballet and the choreographer of “Romeo and Juliet,” which is to open on May 1. “We finally found someone to underwrite it.” CIT Group is the sponsor of the rehearsal and also of the $15 tickets available throughout the spring season. Mr. Martins said these gestures were partly a tribute to Lincoln Kirstein, the co-founder of City Ballet, whose birthday centennial will be celebrated throughout the season. “He believed that there could be an American audience for ballet,” Mr. Martins said. “And he was right.” ROSLYN SULCAS
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April 1, 2007 at 5:21 pm · Filed under SLOAN, media, video, new york times, mobile, r+j
Posted by Sloan | via mobile phone
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February 20, 2007 at 3:01 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, article, politics, brooklyn academy of music, choreographer, william forsythe, kate borwell, new york times
Posted by Sloan
photo by Kate Bordwell
This past October, some of you may remember our London (now Glasgow) contributor, Kate, writing about her experience upon viewing William Forsythe’s “Three Atmospheric Studies” at its premier in London.
Building up the US premier of the piece, a recent article in the NY Times (by Diane Solway) explores the role of politics in dance, with quotes from Forsythe, Baryshnikov and others.
“This evening-length work has played to audiences in Europe, but on Thursday will have its American premiere at the University of California, Berkeley, before arriving at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 28. To those who question whether dance and politics make good partners, the ever provocative Mr. Forsythe is ready with a question of his own: ‘Since when aren’t artists citizens?’
“…’Artistic dissent is a beautiful lake with very thin ice,’ Mikhail Baryshnikov said recently, pointing out that a number of politically minded works have not risen to the level of enduring art. Still, he added, some have succeeded, and ‘if an artist has enough guts and enough talent to put their personal statement on the floor, I welcome all that.’
“…’There are exceptions,’ said Joseph V. Melillo, the longtime executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a leading showcase for progressive art. ‘But the majority of contemporary choreographers in the U.S. today do not think about their place as citizen-artists in response to the political atmosphere. That’s not to say they don’t talk about the war when they’re having a cup of coffee at Dean & Deluca, but they’re not doing that in their art. There’s a disconnect.’
“…’Three Atmospheric Studies’ opened to admiring reviews at its London premiere last fall, though the critics seemed divided about whether to call it dance or theater. Those distinctions don’t interest Mr. Forsythe, who said art forms are too narrowly defined by audiences, critics and sometimes artists themselves. Calling the dance world ‘a bit hermetic,’ he said it is the possibilities of the human body that intrigue him.
“’If dance only does what we assume it can do, it will expire,’ he said. ‘I keep trying to test the limits of what the word choreography means.’ To him it as much about ‘motion organization’ as it is about moving the viewer’s brain around an idea.”
I’ll definitely try to see this when it comes to BAM. I’m intrigued by everything I’m hearing about the piece, and I’ve also never had the opportunity to see Forsythe’s Company in person. For a peak at some of his choreography, here’s a youtube clip of Sylvie Guillem rehearsing and talking about Forsythe’s “In the Middle Somewhere Elevated”.
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