The world’s most acerbic dance commentary
Tim Couchman (Mr Couch) is a man, a ballet dancing man, he’s pissed and he’s not going to take it anymore. This particular ballet bloke is a little bit unhappy, to say the least, with the dancers at The Royal Ballet who, in his view, completely blew the performance of a work called “The Human […]
Uber, in-case you don’t know, is a taxi company that pretends not be a taxi company. Aside from being a taxi company pretending not to be a taxi company they are, demonstrably, a terrible organisation to work for. Their drivers are underpaid, the company is embroiled in a series of scandals involving sexual harassment and […]
Just over a year ago we, here in TheLab™, wrote about Canvas, a YouTube project funded by Arts Council England (ACE) to the tune of £1.8Million that was supposed to help arts organisations, specifically NPOs, monetise their media content on the world’s most chaotic video website. Promises were made, numbers were touted and, as expected, […]
The more astute among you, or those that can simply read a calendar, may have noticed that this column has not been updated since June of last year when, ironically, we spoke of the arts world and its reluctance to speak out on any subject at all. June was also the month of the catastrophic […]
The events of the last several months in this country and abroad have been mentally shattering to anybody with a conscience irrespective of their political leanings, nationality or religion. From the attacks in Paris and Belgium, through the ongoing refugee/migration crisis in Europe to mass murder in Orlando, Florida, the irresponsible, inflammatory rhetoric and lies […]
There is one thing that is certain in the life of a professional dancer and that is the need to attend a class or six as often as possible to make sure their respective talent is still where it’s supposed to be. OK, terrible pay and being treated like a third class citizen are also […]
Knowing your history is important, no matter what field of study or profession you choose to be a part of. Having an understanding of where you came from and how things got to be the way they are, for better or worse, is important and everybody should do their reading and find out the things […]
The date was October 8th 2014, Article19 published a piece entitled “Swimming with Sharks”. That particular essay concerned itself with Arts Council England handing over £1.8Million in hard cash to a company called Rightster (stop laughing at the back) to create a “Multi Channel Network” on Google’s video platform YoutTube. This platform, called Canvas, was […]
Apologising for something or just admitting that you were wrong is a fundamental, human thing. It doesn’t always fix the problem you created by being wrong in the first place but it can go a long way to building bridges, starting afresh, making new friends. Step forward Akram Khan, dance maker and potential future Prime […]
Imagine for a second that you are a female dance student at any dance school across this country, throughout Europe or anywhere else in the world. The chances are what you would see on any given morning was a studio where the majority of your peers are the same gender as you. Within the school […]