DCDanceBlog

i saw today that shen wei was awarded one of the macarthur prizes yesterday. i’ve always thought that prize seemed so cool; it’s given to people who’ve done really interesting, creative things that do good for humans. but it’s funny that it’s shen wei b/c i’m not aware that he’s done new work in a while. perhaps i’m wrong. i have a feeling that the nomination committee makes an effort to keep modern dance in the mix of folks given prizes, which is cool, but it’d be sort of a bummer if the prize winds up going to someone who isn’t all that impressive, simply for symbolic reasons.

maybe i’m sounding pessimistic b/c i’m still thinking of marcel marceau, who died this weekend. apparently he was worried that the art of mime would die with him (mentioned in this op-ed from the international herald tribune), and apparently he had good reason to worry. it’s not a popular art form. of course dance is much more popular–in fact, very few people seem to be fans of mime–but somehow it seemed a bit scary nonetheless.