Ballet Hispanico– Met Museum Click here to watch This MetLiveArts commission explores the “sancocho”—literally, mixed soup—of cultures and diasporas. As part of The Met’s celebration of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, they have released this video of Buscando a Juan, from Ballet Hispanico. Through the exoticized body and fixation on gesture and sensuality, Buscando a Juan considers the assumptions experienced when witnessing people of color in traditionally white spaces. Ballet Hispánico is the largest Latinx/Latine/Hispanic cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. It is the cultural heart for Latinx dance in the United States, exploring the intersectionality of Latine cultures. No matter their background or identity Ballet Hispánico welcomes and serves all, breaking stereotypes and celebrating the beauty and diversity of Hispanic cultures through dance. Choreographed by Ballet Hispánico Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro, Buscando a Juan (Looking for Juan) reacts to the ideas presented in The Met’s exhibit “Juan de Pareja: Afro-Hispanic Painter.” Music includes: La Pasión segun San Marcos by Osvaldo Golijov, performed by Orquesta La Pasion, Members of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela & Maria Guinand. Young Woman Standing at the Virginals – National Gallery Click here to watch Bart Cornelis, whom you have met before on Ruth Leon’s Theatrewise, is the Curator of Flemish and Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery in London. A few weeks ago he was enthralling us with insights into the new Frans Hals exhibition. This time, he’s showing us another familiar painting – Johannes Vermeer’s Young Woman Standing at the Virginals – and through it, indicating a whole host of details which we could look at for a lifetime and never see. We might notice that the woman’s scarf was the same colour as the painting behind her but we’d never see that the line of the musical instrument matched the line of a shadow on the wall. He does, and as soon as he points it out you will never look at that painting the same way again. This is what I find so fascinating about these art history videos that I share with you as soon as I find them, they give us gifts that go on giving for ever. Thank you, Bart. And thank you, Meinheer Vermeer. Farewell to the Emersons – Ravel Click here for tickets 47 years ago in 1975, the original members of the Emerson String Quartet, Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, met at Juilliard, both violinists’ sons. They were in their early 20s when they got together and realised that they were blessed with similar, almost identical ideas about music. What was good, what wasn’t, and what they wanted their fledgling partnership to be. They started in the quartet repertoire by alternating First and Second Violin parts, a practice that is usually abandoned once student days are over but these two loved the variety and continue the practice to this day, in the only quartet I know that does. A couple of false starts at the beginning quickly gave way to the perfect combination when they were joined by Lawrence Dutton on viola and David Finckel on cello. And, suddenly, just like that, they were the Emerson String Quartet, universally known as “The Emersons”, choosing the name because they liked the social ideas of the American idealist and thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson. Then, In 2012, David Finckel left the quartet, a seismic event which could easily have presaged the breakup of such a tightknit group. Instead, they were joined by Welsh-born cellist Paul Watkins, decades younger, who fitted into the quartet seamlessly and brought new and innovative ideas which were welcomed by the others. And the Emersons played on, gathering more plaudits and fans as they went. And now, this weekend, after 47 years, the Emersons are retiring. Those radical young men are grey-haired now but they still play at the top of their game. Here is their last Paris appearance, earlier this year, with the Ravel String Quartet in F Major which has been one of their signatures. I, along with millions of other fans, will miss them. Hula ʻAuana - Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima Click here to watch Just about everybody who has vacationed in Hawaii has been drawn into watching a performance presentation of hula dancing. In its usual touristy and most exploited form it’s a bit of a giggle, some well-endowed women prancing about in grass skirts to the accompaniment of steel guitars. A tourist trap, right? Well, yes and no. It turns out that what we are usually exposed to in the hotels and cafes is a bowdlerisation of an ancient and very serious dance form. Hula is ancient, originating before the introduction of Christianity and ancient hula, performed before Western encounters with Hawaiʻi, is called Kahiko. Hula Kahiko, often defined as those hula composed prior to 1894 which do not include modern instrumentation (such as guitar, ukulele, etc.), encompasses an enormous variety of styles and moods, from the solemn and sacred to the frivolous. Today Hula Kahiko is simply known as "Traditional" Hula. Originally, the hula was a religious dance performed by trained dancers before the king or ordinary people to promote fecundity, to honour the gods, or to praise the chiefs. Wristlets and anklets of whale teeth or bone and necklaces and fillets of leis (interwoven flowers) were common ornaments. Hula dancing is complex, with many hand motions used to represent the words in a song or chant. For example, hand movements can signify aspects of nature, such as the swaying of a tree in the breeze or a wave in the ocean, or a feeling or emotion, such as fondness or yearning. Foot and hip movements often pull from a basic library of steps It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments. Early Hawaiian musicians did not really focus on elaborating pure instrumental music but simply used the nose-blown flute that can only produce no more than four notes. However, after the Hawaiian culture met with Western music, in the 19th and 20th centuries, some Hawaiian musicians developed several instrument-playing techniques in which the traditional Hawaiian repertoire was embedded. For example, the appearance of a Hawaiian guitar-playing method, steel guitar, was attributed to the perfect combination of a guitarist muting the strings with a steel bar. Many hula dances are considered to be a religious ceremony, as they are dedicated to, or honoring, a Hawaiian goddess or god. Even a minor error in performance is considered bad luck and true adepts are secluded while they are learning, culminating in a formal ‘graduation’ performance when they have learned all the movements. Founded in Honolulu by Victoria Holt Takamine in 1977, Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima is a school of traditional Hawaiian dance, or halau hula. The company’s name means the “Royal ʻIlima Blossom” and references a plant native to Hawaii as well as the founder’s ancestry of Hawaiian royalty. Yizkor – Amihai Grosz Click here to watch Amihai Grosz is the principal viola player of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. His nephew is currently held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. His family has no idea where he is. Here, Grosz plays Oedeon Partos’ Yizkor for viola and strings with Israel Camerata Jerusalem, conducted by Boian Videnoff. Yizkor is the Hebrew word for ‘Remember’.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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