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Articles on Live performance

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‘The Shepherd of the Hills’ has been running for 63 years and is the most performed outdoor drama in the U.S. Terra Fondriest/The Washington Post via Getty Images

What live theater can learn from Branson, Missouri

Comedians like Stephen Colbert might mock the entertainment mecca, but live theater is in too much of a crisis to dismiss the town’s formula of spectacle meets story.
After taking a pandemic-induced hiatus in 2020, Lollapalooza returned to Chicago in summer 2021. Michael Hickey/Getty Images

What’s behind the magic of live music?

Some concertgoers reported being so moved by their first concerts in nearly two years that they wept with joy – a testament to the power of this unique form of human communion and connection.
At a dance class supported by Cambodian Living Arts, students from the Bassac community. learn classical Khmer dance at Sothearos School in Phnom Penh in 2012. (Daniel Rothenberg)

Cambodia is an inspiration for the healing power of art after a crisis

Cambodia found the strength to rebuild itself through art after the 1979 genocide. While the context is different, this example suggests the importance of art in navigating COVID-19.
Toronto Raptors’ Norman Powell goes up for a shot with Boston Celtics’ Kemba Walker in tow during an NBA conference semifinal playoff game, Sept. 11, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

4 lessons from the NBA bubble for the future of live arts performance

The successes of the NBA’s #WholeNewGame provide important lessons for performing artists about audience investment and hybrid digital-live events.
Matt ‘Airistotle’ Burns performs during the 2017 Air Guitar World Championships in Finland. Eeva Rihel/Lehtikuva via AP

How air guitar became a serious sport

An ethnomusicologist traces the origins of the practice, from early 20th century ‘air conductors’ to Joe Cocker’s air riffing at Woodstock to the rise of international competitions.
Sikhumbuzo Makandula’s ‘Ubuzwe II’, 2016, Digital photograph: Inkjet on Epsom Ultrasmooth. The mural kaSebe/Sebe’s Lip (2011) is by artist Buntu Fihla.

Five reminders of how visual artists can invoke and stir deep emotions

In an image-saturated world, it can feel like we are beyond being moved. But five exhibitions in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province in 2016 managed to capture memory and ego in exactly the right proportions.

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