Culture Break: Students of Juillard: Bolero Juillard

From The Daily Beast:

The short film, Bolero Juilliard, may be only just shy of ten minutes, but it’s a mighty and striking work. It features Ravel’s famous piece of music—which premiered in 1928—reinterpreted by current students from the famed performing arts school’s music, dance, and drama divisions, alongside famous alumni.

Filmed via cellphones in lockdown, and then scored, directed and edited seamlessly, it re-crafts the originally purely orchestral Boléro into a piece of contemporary musical theater. A dramatized, collective diary of a day living under the pandemic, it is also a witty, moving celebration of art as a life force.

Via Joe.My.God.

Culture Break: Kazaky: Dance and Change

Been a while since I've watched any Kazaky videos. This one seems to have all the elements:

Culture Break: The Evolution of Dance, 1950-2019

With thanks to comments Max_1 at Joe.My.God.

Culture Break: Bill T. Jones, Joshua Roman, and Somi: Red Circle, Blue Curtain

Believe it or not, this popped up out of nowhere in the comments to a post at Joe.My.God. While watching it (and I've admired the work of Bill T. Jones for a long time, since my own days as a dancer/student), it occurred to me that I've been doing almost nothing but music for these "Culture Break" posts, and there's a lot more to culture than that. So, with that said, we're going to call this "dance/performance".

From the description at YouTube:

Legendary dance choreographer Bill T. Jones and TED Fellows Joshua Roman and Somi didn't know exactly what was going to happen when they took the stage at TED2015. They just knew they wanted to offer the audience an opportunity to witness creative collaboration in action. The result: An improvised piece they call "The Red Circle and the Blue Curtain," so extraordinary it had to be shared ...

So maybe I'll start keeping a list of not-music I can include. Just to liven things up.

And I've really got to figure out TED.

Culture Break: Eid Mubarak, Bollywood Style

Today (actually beginning last night at sunset) marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. So, celebration is in order. "Eid mubarak" is a traditional greeting for the end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) and Eid al-Adha (the month of Dhul Haj).

Since I have a fondness for Bollywood, I thought this would be fun:

No, I have no idea what's going on here, except that, yes, there are Muslims in India.

Culture Break: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Finale

I'm not sure what I think about this, except to note that it's not your standard Swan Lake.

If you're interested in more, here are links to the full ballet, Part I and Part II.

Culture Break: Robert MirabaI: The Dance

I ran across Robert Mirabal many years ago, when I was investigating American Indian music. He was, at that time, a noted flute player. He went on to move into a more pop/rock oriented mode, but still with strong roots in tradition. This is more or less in that mode:

I'm always impressed by the way traditional musicians from any number of cultures can adopt and adapt Western pop modes to their music without losing the sense of the original tradition.

Culture Break: Kazaky: Magic Pie

Kazaky's latest -- no stiletto heels, a little more up-tempo, not nearly as nearly nude as, say, "Last Night," but it's interesting, you have to admit:

Culture Break: Kazaky's "Crazy Law"

With the opening of the Winter Olympics at the end of the week -- held at a Russian beach resort -- and the worldwide reaction (well, the civilized world) to Russia's new "gay propaganda" law, this seemed appropriate:

Culture Break: Kodo, "Dadan"

Kodo is one of the more exciting groups I've ever seen in performance. This will give you an idea why:

I reviewed both their last album, Akatsuki, and their last appearance in Chicago in 2011 on their "One Earth" tour, at Sleeping Hedgehog.

Just for Fun

I love this:

Via BalloonJuice.

Politics Sucks

So I'm not doing any of that commentary today. Today is art day, I think. To start off, a couple dances by Pilobolus, who I remember seeing many, many years ago at the Ravinia Festival: they were new, they were challenging, and were probably one of the things that tipped me toward studying dance.

First, a piece about life in the city:



And now one about biology:



I like the idea that dancers -- or any artists, for that matter -- can take concepts from other areas and turn them into something strange and wonderful and challenging like this. That's what we do, after all.

Is it overkill? Maybe. I know I have trouble watching a two-minute video online. It's an impulse to be conquered, that's all.

Besides, you can always come back.