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Friday, December 21, 2018

In Context: Unbound: Malala Yousafzai



BAM welcomes Nobel Peace Prize laureate and New York Times bestselling author Malala Yousafzai (I Am Malala and Malala’s Magic Pencil) to discuss her powerful new book, We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World. New York Times journalist Rukmini Callimachi leads this powerful discussion about the displacement of millions worldwide through the lens of Yousafzai’s own stunning account of the girls she’s met in refugee camps and cities—girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they've ever known. Context is everything, so we’ve provided some articles to read and videos to watch.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Singing the Snowflakes


Photo by Richard Termine
By David Hsieh

In a ballet as full of magical moments as The Nutcracker, the Waltz of the Snowflakes may just be the most magical. Our heroine (Marie or Clara, depending on the version) just helped fend off the Rat King in an act of desperation. Then the wooden Nutcracker turns into a handsome cavalier to take her to a magical snow kingdom full of winter wonder. This moment of transformation with a sense of wonder is conveyed through every element of the staging. The scene shifts from domestic interior where rodents lurk to a forest covered in pristine white. The atmosphere changes from a real world to an imagined one. The dance style changes from social (and mime) to classical ballet on point. The characters change from kids to adults. And Tchaikovsky’s music suddenly adds in a vocal part—the only one in the entire score.