Editorial
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Public subsidy of the arts is a broken toy, but let's fix the problems, not kill the idea! Fixing the problems is a harder job and it's a job worth doing.
Published Thursday, 21 February, 2008 at 03:42 -
2007 comes to an end so we, here in TheLab™ take a look back over the good and the bad things that permeated this addled profession.
Published Sunday, 23 December, 2007 at 04:36 -
This coming November the Government will announce their, so-called, comprehensive spending review. This review will determine just how much money goes where from the national budget of approximately £500Billion.
Published Sunday, 30 September, 2007 at 07:20 -
If the press hacks are to be believed dance is, once again, undergoing a resurgence of popularity with the advent of numerous 'reality' television shows featuring dance as their premise that have appeared on a number of networks, worldwide over the last few years.
Published Sunday, 16 September, 2007 at 07:05 -
"If a professional dancer makes just one wrong move in class, in rehearsal or on stage it could, literally, be the end of their career." That was the opening line to a feature piece written back in April within this very tome. Just last week this became all too real as our cameras caught just such an incident taking place during a live performance.
Published Tuesday, 24 July, 2007 at 05:23 -
"Through a wide reaching programme of research and consultation the Arts Council will explore how people value the arts and, by gaining a deeper understanding of what is important to them, become more accountable to the public it serves." Thus begins Arts Council England's latest attempt to get the public on board with the whole idea of using their money, through taxes, to pay for the arts.
Published Monday, 26 March, 2007 at 01:06 -
Do not be dismayed however because we need contemporary dance to be rubbish, at least some of it, because how would we know what the good stuff was until first we witnessed the life changing tedium of a piece of work that is so bad it makes you wonder why human beings are the dominant species on this planet.
Published Saturday, 3 March, 2007 at 06:03 -
Several years ago a documentary on William Forsythe showed the American dance maker creating a solo with one of his dancers from Ballet Frankfurt. The two were engaged in a one on one creative battle to squeeze every ounce of precision out of a sequence of movement, the position of a hand, the transition from standing to floor all discussed and practiced in minute detail.
Published Friday, 9 February, 2007 at 03:22 -
by Article19 Article19 reported in January last year on the formation of the Department for Culture Media and Sport's (DCMS) 'Dance Forum' a group of administrators that would gather several times per year and discuss issues pertinent to dance...
Published Sunday, 21 January, 2007 at 08:53 -
Article19 rolls into its sixth year online with our traditional end of year review. Unlike other publications we actually write ours after the year is over, not like the clowns in the national press who do theirs in July while on holiday in Tenerife! Why else do you think they never mention something that happens in November?
Published Friday, 5 January, 2007 at 02:51 -
Therapy is one of those words in the English language that is often misused. People talk light-heartedly of going for “retail therapy” and at the other end of the scale we often hear of people going in to therapy to treat drug or alcohol addiction.
Published Wednesday, 13 December, 2006 at 11:52 -
Professional dancers, for the most part, remain mute on the crippling problems in their own art form. It's time to step up and make yourself heard, otherwise just how much credibility do you think you have? Artists should be well versed and speaking up on the issues, so why all the evidence to the contrary?
Published Wednesday, 9 August, 2006 at 05:17 -
by Article19 The recent internal review by Arts Council England (ACE) that led to the decision to uphold its own ruling on refusing access to detailed financial information about MJW Productions and Channel 4 Television illustrates that ACE is...
Published Monday, 26 June, 2006 at 12:40 -
by Article19 We begin a detailed analysis of dance funding over the last 12 months and then some with a look at Article19’s local region (the North East of England) covered by Arts Council England North East (ACE NE). Reading...
Published Tuesday, 13 June, 2006 at 01:45 -
We rarely pass comment on the failings of choreographers, particularly those new to the field, when they make mistakes or are flat out incompetent in the running of their fledgling companies. That time has passed however since we can’t hold ACE and NDA’s to a high level of professionalism and not expect the same of our new dance makers.
Published Sunday, 2 April, 2006 at 10:06 -
by Neil Nisbet The news story reported yesterday on Article19 and a few days before in the dance ‘blogosphere’ concerning Dance Europe and their policy of not featuring Israeli dance companies unless they denounce their own government’s policies regarding The...
Published Thursday, 16 March, 2006 at 02:28 -
by Article19 Welcome dear readers to our end of year review as we start the new year with a brand new layout and lots of new content to come. Was it a good year? Was it a bad year?...
Published Friday, 6 January, 2006 at 01:06 -
by Neil Nisbet One of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, written documents in the world was drafted over two hundred years ago and it is, almost, insurmountable in its ability to safeguard the rights of the people...
Published Wednesday, 19 October, 2005 at 02:50 -
by Article19 Our recent news story concerning an undecipherable new programme from Arts Council England (ACE) to advocate arts leadership, we think, has led Article19 to believe that what dance lacks, among many other things, is a big idea. ACE...
Published Wednesday, 24 August, 2005 at 12:00 -
by Neil Nisbet President George W. Bush is often accused of living behind a so-called “reality distortion field’ that protects him from what is actually going on in the world. No matter how badly things are going in Iraq, how...
Published Monday, 27 June, 2005 at 03:50 -
by Article19 On the 17th of March Arts Council England released its spending plans for the next three years following the governments announcement late last year that arts funding would be frozen at current levels until 2008 at least. With...
Published Wednesday, 23 March, 2005 at 04:11 -
by Neil Nisbet Documents made available to Article19 under the Freedom of Information Act have shown that your average meeting of dance makers can cost an awful lot more than you might imagine. Such is the case with DanceEast’s “Rural...
Published Wednesday, 23 February, 2005 at 06:25 -
by Ira Schiff As Resolution progresses through yet another year Ira Schiff asks just what will all the companies do once it’s over? Opportunities are few and funding is a rare commodity. The question is asked by most every year...
Published Thursday, 20 January, 2005 at 06:51 -
by Article19 The end of the year is nigh and since we don’t know what nigh means and we can’t be bothered finding out writing an end of year review is probably the next best thing. There have been highs,...
Published Tuesday, 21 December, 2004 at 07:15 -
by Article19 It's time to put on your tuxedo and that big puffy ball gown that you have always been ashamed of and those shoes that make your feet wish that your ankles had never been born because the biggest...
Published Tuesday, 21 December, 2004 at 01:37 -
by Neil Nisbet The notion that The Royal Opera House along with Royal Ballet and Royal Opera, the house’s two incumbent companies, should be privatised to reduce the burden on Arts Council England’s (ACE) funding stream for dance and music...
Published Friday, 17 December, 2004 at 07:47 -
by Neil Nisbet Many people complain about the arts or dismiss them out of hand because they can see no clear benefit or any sense of importance in artists doing what they do. Joe Public will push even the most...
Published Thursday, 21 October, 2004 at 10:01 -
by Neil Nisbet Following Article19’s recent experience in Vienna covering the Impulstanz festival here in the Lab we feel it’s time for a wake up call. Contemporary dance, for the most part, is just plain dull and Article19 has a...
Published Tuesday, 31 August, 2004 at 10:11 -
by Rosie Kay I’m sure if you ask any choreographer why they do what they do; they will tell you it is not just because they want to, it is because they have to!" Award winning choreographer Rosie Kay on...
Published Monday, 8 March, 2004 at 11:30 -
by Neil Nisbet Since being refused access to film any part of the British Dance Edition 2004 in Cambridge, organised by Dance East, means we are unable to bring you our planned extended feature on the event we are instead...
Published Monday, 2 February, 2004 at 05:40 -
by Helen Parlor "By loving what we do can we excuse the standards of living that our payment offers? " Helen Parlor asks why dancers should expect such poor financial returns for their skills. When I was 18 and deciding...
Published Monday, 19 January, 2004 at 11:46 -
by Article19 It’s that time of year again dear readers as we roll out the awards for 2003. This is the inaugural year of our brand new ceremony “The Pilchards”* as we acknowledge triumph, perfection, pretension, incompetence and stupidity in...
Published Wednesday, 31 December, 2003 at 07:07 -
by Article19 Yes dear readers it is that time of year again, the end of the year. Unlike other publications we choose to write our end of year review about as close to the end of the year as we...
Published Wednesday, 31 December, 2003 at 02:01 -
by Article19 As of now the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards that provided funding and advice to artists from all art forms across the country have ceased to exist. Arts Council, England and 9 regional offices...
Published Saturday, 15 November, 2003 at 07:03 -
by Deborah Barnard DanceUK recently published a document to encourage all aspects of the dance profession and the arts media to give dancers the respect they deserve by providing full credit for the part they play in this profession. All...
Published Friday, 5 September, 2003 at 11:11 -
by Article19 Every so often Arts Council England (ACE) releases a document that tells you exactly what you want and need to know without any of the usual spin we have all become accustomed to from our bureaucratic organisations. One...
Published Saturday, 23 August, 2003 at 01:32 -
by Ira Schiff The UK has been enthralled, (or is it bored stupid?), by the ongoing scuffle between the BBC and the government over “dodgy dossiers”, spin, creative writing and outright lies. If nothing else this little scuffle has highlighted...
Published Monday, 7 July, 2003 at 12:52 -
Meeting of Minds, Banging of Heads
by Neil Nisbet How many Ballet Directors does it take to change a light bulb? 26, one to change the light bulb and the other 25 will do it ‘after’ the first one. If you did not get that joke...
Published Monday, 10 February, 2003 at 10:18 -
by Neil Nisbet This editorial began life as a simple news story about why Whiteoak Dance Project were accepting sponsorship from the world biggest tobacco company, Phillip Morris Industries and what they [the company] had to say about it. Since...
Published Thursday, 10 October, 2002 at 10:11 -
by Neil Nisbet Welcome dear reader. Settle back in your favourite armchair, get a hot cup of cocoa and a rich tea biscuit and make sure you’re settled. Why? Because Article19 are about to explain why the lack of funding...
Published Thursday, 15 August, 2002 at 10:21
The Big Mission Festival reveals a superb new dance maker and some top notch performances from all concerned.
An outdoor show in Birmingham, of all places, proves that dance can appeal on a large scale, sans cheap tricks and useless celebrities!
It's another festival, it's huge, it's in Vienna and this is the last festival we are ever going to write about!
