Subject: Christmas Eve we saw at The Metropolitan Opera “UN BALLO IN MASCHERA” then on Christmas Day we saw the new movie “CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR” and believe it or not - we saw in those two masterpieces echoes of the day.

First The UN BALLO - we saw there a United Nations on stage. Oscar - the king’s page - was a small but great lady from Korea; the king himself - King Gustavo III of Sweden - was an Italian-Swiss from neutral Bern, Switzerland - very good choices. The Viking looking Fortune Teller, Ulrica, was from unheard of Mongaup, New York State - some local caves seemingly; the honest Amelia was an American of color with a French name, was from Quincy, Illinois on the Mississippi: her husband, Captain Renato Anckarstroem, was obviously from Krasnoyarsk, Mid-Siberia, Russia; and her servant remained a secret in the “Program Notes” - so were the Chief Justice, and the two main rebel-Counts (Samuel and Tom) - all four of whom had tantalizing names seeming to originate from further corners of the world. We decided that the unknown might be more interesting then the known - so - as we are not going to be kept in the dark by lack of official information on four of the ten listed soloists, we looked up Google and found that:

Charles Anthony, playing Amelia’s servant, is a honorary member of Theatrical Stage Employees IATSE Local One in New York City, and is a Metropolitan Opera singer since 1954. Anthony has performed at the Met for 55 consecutive seasons, a record unparalleled in the annals of the company. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, as Charles Anthony Caruso, the child of immigrants from Sicily. Sir Rudolf Bing convinced him to drop his surname, saying that it would invite comparisons with Enrico Caruso.

The Judge is American on the Metropolitan Opera’s Roster - so you could say Mark Schowalter was sort of a host here, but additional two Baso counts are a Chinese, Hao Jiang Tian - at the Met, he was General Wang in Tan Dun’s world premiere of The First Emperor, opposite Placido Domingo in the title role, and Andrew Gangestad, born in South Korea, he was orphaned as a young child. “I was told that I was found in a city south of Seoul, then put in an orphanage,” he recalls. After stints in foster homes, Andrew was adopted at two years of age by an American couple living in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and given his name. The adoption was complicated by the fact that Andrew had tuberculosis. “I was taking medications for a year before I was allowed into the U.S.” Being Asian-born in a small Minnesota town “was extraordinary,” Gange-stad admits. But he quickly made friends and found his niche.

The BALLO plays out in Sweden and is based on a historical event - the king Gustavus III (the correct Swedish name) met his death at the hands of a political enemy during a masked ball at the Stockholm Opera House in 1792 - and even today, when visiting Stockholm, you are shown the location of the crime - it was not forgotten or forgiven. In 1833, the French dramatist Eugene Scribe wrote it up as a basis for a French Opera by Francois Auber, and then Giuseppe Verdi picked up the libretto and had Italian Antonio Somma adjust it so that it includes a love triangle. It had then its 1859 premiere at the Teatro Apollo in Rome.

The point of the opera as we saw it is that a best friend of the king is the one who kills the king because he believes that the king mislead his wife, Amelia, then to find out too late, that the king and Amelia were actually not guilty of deeds, but only harbored love in their hearts. in effect the king was just about to try to make good on the whole misunderstanding - but it did not work out.

Now, the king was not really bright and did not even learn from the predictions of the good witch Ulrica. He also did not remove from his court the two scheming counts that held grudges against him. The king thought he understands everything - so does he make you think of a today’s king that gets entangled with witches and the wrong courtiers, then ends up being perhaps a wrong victim?

Simply put - his affront was that he was too late understanding that perceptions become reality if you do not pursue an open course. Then, on Christmas eve it sounds like dispensing late love - though it was love nevertheless.

On Christmas Day we went to see CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR that is no less then the US covert involvement in Afghanistan that eased out the Soviets, and helped build the Taliban, that will then try to ease out the Americans from wherever they are. Now, this seems complicated, but like the BALLO - it is not all fiction - and it has its own reflection on the meaning of love and peace.

Congressman Charles Wilson, a Democrat, was representing in US Congress the 2nd District of Texas, 1973-1997, during the Reagan Republican years. That was the time of the Cold War, and the US was very careful not to turn it into a “Hot War.” Wilson first entered politics as a teenager by running for office in his home town of Trinity. He lived next door to city official Charles Hazard. When Charlie Wilson was thirteen, his dog, Teddy, got into his neighbor’s yard. Hazard retaliated by mixing crushed glass into the dog’s food, causing fatal internal bleeding. This led Wilson to decide to run for office against his neighbor in the next election. Being a farmer’s son, he was able to get a driving permit at thirteen, which enabled him to drive 96 voters from poor neighborhoods to the polls. That included black voters that never voted before. As they left the car, he told each of them that incumbent Hazard killed his dog. After winning by a margin of sixteen votes, Charlie went to his neighbor’s house to inform him of his victory and to tell him he shouldn’t poison any more dogs.

As an adult he joined the navy, and stayed out of politics until he was moved to volunteer for the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign. In 1960 he took a 30 days’ leave from the Navy, and entered his name into the race for Texas state representative from his home district. This action was against the regulations of the Navy, as service members are prohibited from holding a public office while on active duty. While back on duty, his family and friends went door to door campaigning. In 1961, at age 27, he was sworn into office in Austin, Texas.

For the next 12 years, Wilson made his reputation in the Texas legislature as the “liberal from Lufkin,” viewed with suspicion by business interests. He battled for the regulation of utilities, fought for Medicaid, tax exemptions for the elderly, the Equal Rights Amendment and a minimum wage bill. He was also one of the few prominent Texas politicians to be pro-choice on abortion. Wilson was also notorious for his personal life, particularly drinking, picking up the nickname “Good Time Charlie.”

In 1972, Wilson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Second District of Texas, taking office the following January. He was re-elected 11 times, but was not a candidate for reelection to the 105th Congress, and resigned October 8, 1996 - that is before the election that made George Bush, the father, the 41st US President.

Charlie Wilson was a playboy, and lots of spicy stories were hanging around his neck - some had to do with corruption, and one strange topic was derived from his backing of the Somoza government in Nicaragua. One such chain of events included Wilson arranging a meeting between Somoza and Ed Wilson of the CIA. Ed Wilson offered to form a 1000-man force of ex-CIA operatives to fight on Somoza’s behalf. The meeting broke down when Somoza fondled Tina Simons, Charlie Wilson’s girlfriend at the time. The deal also proved impossible because Ed Wilson asked Somoza for $100 million to pay for the force.

But Charlie had also the reputation of being a straight shooter, and of keeping his promises - so unleashing bright and pretty females against him could lead to action on the two very important committees he chaired in the Democratic Congress, at the time of a Republican President, on foreign relations and on military affairs. This clearly included his in with the CIA. This kind of reality makes for good cinematic background - but today I prefer to remember that it also can lead to a soft and kind heart when having to take decisions after seeing real misery.

On an official US Government site we found the following: “In the early summer of 1980, Wilson read an Associated Press dispatch on the congressional wires that described hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Afghanistan. Few, however, were paying attention, even in the American government. According to his biographer, George Crile, Wilson placed a call to a member of the US Congressional Appropriations Committee who dealt with ‘black appropriations’ (CIA funds) and ordered a twofold increase in the appropriation for Afghanistan. {we found that this was the peanuts contribution of $10 million increased from $5 million} Wilson had just been named to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, part of a small group of 12 people in the House responsible for funding CIA operations, and thus had the authority to make such an order.

This would not be the last time for Wilson to greatly increase the CIA budget for its Afghan operation. In 1983, he won the approval of $40 million more, with $17 million especially earmarked for anti-aircraft weapons that could take down Soviet Mil Mi-24 helicopters, known as the “Hind,” that caused heavy damage and casualties to the Afghan Mujahideen. The following year, Wilson was approached directly by CIA officer Gust Avrakotos, who, breaking the CIA’s rule against lobbying Congress for money, asked Wilson for $50 million more. Wilson agreed to the increase and convinced his colleagues in Congress by saying that “The U.S. had nothing whatsoever to do with these people’s decision to fight … But we’ll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones.” Wilson later succeeded in moving $300 million of unused Pentagon funds into the Afghan operation right before the end of the fiscal year. In this way, Wilson had a significant influence on the level of support the Afghan Mujahideen received from the United States.”

In the movie, it is the involvement of a rich and pretty Houston Billionaire Socialite and Republican powerhouse, Joanne Herring, later a sharp talk show hostess in real life, who brought to Houston President Zia of Pakistan and arranged for Charlie to go by himself to Pakistan and with the help of President Zia, he was then exposed to the misery of Afghan refugee streaming into the Northwest Tribal areas of Pakistan - this while the Republican Presidency had no interest whatsoever in recognizing this human misery. As we said - see not, hear not, talk not was the norm. Keep the Cold War cold by not having any US involvement was the key. The movie wants us to believe that it was nothing else but human compassion that drove Charlie to action - Ok, but this is really irrelevant - also the women around him had feelings of compassion and he had interest in them.

Now appears Gust Avrokotos who was twenty years earlier CIA station chief in Greece and vanquished the communist uprising there. Since then he was kept on ice in Virginia - he wanted relevance again. He was a rough guy and they did not put him into the diplomatic service. He and Wilson managed together to engineer the covert activities in Afghanistan - run by the CIA and out of Wilson’s committees. The Afghans were ready to fight the Soviets, what they needed were the weapons. Those weapons could not be American by White House rules, so the best would be Russian weapons that can be obtained if a covert alliance between the CIA, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan can be concocted. So, with all sides holding their noses and hiding the actions from becoming public, the Russian tanks and helicopters were blown up with Russian stingers. And you guessed it - that was all organized and funded with Charlie’s help.

Now why does this make a Christmas story?

(1) First, there was in it at the beginning a line of humanity - don’t let the Cold War kill! Just think of Darfur of today - nothing was learned - we again see a US that refuses to get involved and we see no indication that there is an embedded Charlie at work there. The US Presidential envoy in charge of Darfur has just resigned this week and was replaced by a political insider.

(2) There is a story in the movie towards the end - Avrakotos tells Charlie about an Afghan village that was given a beautiful horse. One good looking lad gets the horse. One man says - look what a nice horse and see that nice lad. The other says - We shall see! Then, days later the lad falls of the horse and breaks a leg. The first man says - what a pity! The Second and seemingly wiser man says - we shall see!

Next there is warfare in the area and all healthy men go to fight and get killed - the first man says what a pity! The second man says - we shall see! The lesson is that like it - the Afghan story has not ended there.

(3) Avrokotos predicts - Afghanistan was left full with young people - when they get back to the destroyed villages they are full with hatred. They know now how to fight - they do not know that the US tried to help them - they turn their anger on the US.

(4) Charlie may have been a lout - but he had heart - he played no games. So what if he was a women’s man?

How do we try now to extricate the US from a miserable situation?

What is the meaning of morality?

What is the real love for country and humanity?

How do you channel energy to come to some results?

What did you do for the holiday?

What did the UN do lately?

———————

tagged as: UN, US, Ban Ki-moon, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Billary, Reagan.

We looked up in Google Sustainable Culture, we found “Sustainable Culture: Evolution of Humanity.”  www.sustainability.org, and then we found The Solstice Institute Of Boulder Colorado. They had there a design that caught our eye and honestly - we do not understand it - but nevertheless we liked the colors - and remember please - today is Solstice Day. This is sort of a new puzzle for Alice in the Wonderland. And we have our fun with it.

What we liked most is the Green Cross within the star of David: the EARTH STEWARDSHIP - COMMUNICATION AND PLANNING - FAMILY AND COMMUNITY - SOCIAL JUSTICE goals.

But then, the main cross is: VALUES, ETHICS and SPIRIT - ECONOMICS - GOVERNMENT and POLITICS - HEALTH and WELLNESS.

With the purple cross: EDUCATION - CULTURE, ART and MYTH - TECHNOLOGY and DESIGN - AGRICULTURE and FOOD.

Did I land upon a Campbell or Jungian creation of the Sustainability Institute, or perhaps a new Cabalistic design that will influence our minds and push us in the direction of Sustainability centered on the Solstice?
Does that sound crazy - clearly less crazy and more plausible then the machination of industry that tells us that one should not relate all of our 12 subjects in one design, because it smacks of socialized thinking - a no - no of good God-given rights in a free enterprise State, where the rich are entitled to become richer if they know to turn the wheel to their advantage. And They Know God!

Please concentrate on this wheel and you might see the light.
Will it be the yellow line that says GOVERNMENT and POLITICS turn into HEALTH and WELLNESS? Is that an imperative for Washington?
Are we looking at a Mandala provided us from a cross cultural divinity residing in that central nucleus? Or is this a sun with rays of rather equal importance -
we dare not think that this is the interpretation that is most favorable to human kind, but then the green color is part of the connections within this nucleus - so this makes us feel better.

UNFCCC - COP 13 PARALLEL EVENT:  COMMUNITY STORIES FESTIVAL

Community’s Rights & Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation

Pasific Asia Museum (Pasifika), Nusa Dua, Bali
7 December 2007, 08.30 – 13.00 WITA

Summary:
A parallel event at COP 13 UNFCCC at which representatives of civil society
organizations, women’s groups, indigenous peoples and youth from
Asia-Pacific countries present their strategies for coping with climate
change and for influencing third party efforts to mitigate and adapt to
climate change that impact their rights. This workshop aims to ensure that
the lessons these communities have learned in coping with climate change
issues can influence the debates and discussions at the UNFCCC COP13
meeting.

Agenda:
08:30-09:00
Registration of Participants at Pacifica Museum

09:00-09:15
Film Screening: Back to Life, Stories on Community’s Resilience in
Addressing Climate Change Challenges in Indonesia with Opening Remark by
Mr. Effendy Sumardja, National Steering Committee GEF SGP Indonesia

09:15-09:25
Rights and Resources in Environmental and Natural Resources Governance.
By: Ms. Nonette Royo, Executive Director Samdhana Institute

09:35-09:50
Key Note Speech on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Policies in Addressing
Climate Change and Environmental Injustice
By: Ms. Joji Carino, Tebteba Foundation

09:50-10.00
Community’s Rights to Access Environmental Betterment and Natural Resources
in MDGs. By: H. E. Erna Witoelar, UN Special Ambassador for Millennium
Development Goals in Asia Pacific.

10.00-10.10
Application of Right-based Approach in Community-based Mitigation and
Adaptation through Country Driven Grants Financing Mechanism.
By; Dr. Delfin Ganapin, Global Manager GEF SGP

10:10-10:30
Discussion with Panel of Speakers

10:30-10:45
Tea and Coffee Break

10:50-11.05
Story Told on Community’s Role in Addressing Climate Change in West Papua
By Mr. Barnabas Suebu, Governor of West Papua, Indonesia

11:05-11.20
Story told by  Pastor Rice- Community’s Strategy and Actions in Addressing
Vulnerability and Changes that affect Food Security and Forest Resources
Use

11:20-11.35
Story 3: Story on Accessibility of Resources in Mitigation and Adaptation
of Climate Change; Addressing Equitability; Vulnerability and Mechanism of
Accountability in Application of Green Energy

11:35-11.50
Story 4: Institutional Arrangement, Challenges and Opportunities in
Development of Agrofuels

11:50-12:05
Story 5: Experiences from International Communities

12:05-13.00
Sharing Stories Among Participants and Panel of Story Tellers

13:00-14:00
Lunch: Traditional Balinese Cuisine provided

Please reserve seats for limited chairs. Contact Persons: Asyma Sianipar
(08111881714); Dwi Lestari Rahardiani (081514544144); Roslita Arsyad
(08111125251) or email to  asyma at sgp-indonesia.org;  olin at sgp-indonesia.org

As per the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Wednesday November 7, 2007:

In Long Beach California, an area with many military and ex-military, Veterans Day parade organizers say they want Long Beach event to be free from politics - thus “Iraq Veterans,” along with the groups “Veterans for Peace” and “Military Families Speak Out,” applied to march together in the parade this year under the entry “Military Patriots.”

After reviewing each group’s mission statement, the Veterans Day Parade Committee, a non-profit group that organizes the event, voted unanimously to reject the application, said parade coordinator Martha Thuente.

“They do not fit the spirit of the parade,” she said. “The spirit being one of gratitude for what the veterans have done. We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops’ withdrawal from Iraq.”

Parade coordinators work hard to keep the event free from politics, Thuente said.

“We’re not allowed to take a political stance.”

The rejection has left many veterans and anti-war groups outraged.

“It think it’s absurd,” said Adrian Novotny, president of the Long Beach Chapter of Veterans for Peace, a national nonprofit that advocates non-violence, VA healthcare and veterans’ rights. “It’s a violation of Democracy, the whole concept which we are allegedly dying for.”

Novotny, a Vietnam vet and professor of anthropology at Long Beach City College, said the situation is especially frustrating since the group was allowed to march in the parade last year.

DARFUR NOW: A New Documentary Film, A Release, and A Panel, at The Toronto Film Festival September 8-9, 2007.

Subject: Press release from Warner Bros on Darfur discussion
From: “Fletcher, Nicola” <Nicola.Fletcher@icc-cpi.int>
Date: Fri, August 31, 2007 4:27 am

This film is about the Prosecutor’s work in Darfur. The release comes from Warner Bros. ICC contact is Jennifer Trone.

Press Contacts: John Murphy and Jessica Edwards, Murphy PR
Office: 212-414-0408
John Murphy:  jmurphy at murphypr.com <mailto:jmurphy@murphypr.com>
Jessica Edwards:  jedwards at murphypr.com <mailto:jedwards@murphypr.com>

In Toronto: (9/8 - 9/11)
John’s Cell - 646-369-0317 Jessica’s Cell - 917-620-8529

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL TO HOST HISTORIC DARFUR DISCUSSION:
August 31, 2007 - As the United Nations moves to deploy peacekeepers in
Darfur, filmmakers, activists and international official - Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court - will
meet at the Toronto International Film Festival to reflect on responses
to the current crisis and all that is needed to end it.

This historic discussion takes place Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 5:00
pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto. It follows a public screening
of DARFUR NOW, a film following Moreno-Ocampo and five other individuals
who are committed to ending the worst crisis of the 21st century and
united by a belief that anything is possible. Featured particpants in
the discussion:

Ted Braun, Director
Ted Braun spent the first four months of 2007 in Sudan filming DARFUR
NOW, which is his first theatrical documentary feature film. He has
previously written and directed award winning documentaries and
fictional films for HBO, PBS, A&E and The Discovery Channel.

Don Cheadle, Producer
Renowned actor and activist, Don Cheadle’s vast portfolio of starring
roles includes HOTEL RWANDA, CRASH and most recently, TALK TO ME. A
leading civilian activist for relief in Darfur, Cheadle is a cofounder
of the Not on Our Watch Foundation and has coauthored the book, NOT ON
OUR WATCH.

Mark Jonathan Harris, Producer
Three time Academy Award winning documentarian, Mark Harris’ Best
Picture Documentary feature films include THE LONG WAY HOME (1998) and
INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS: STORIES OF THE KINDERTRANSPORT (2001).
Harris is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Southern
California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
An Argentinean who successfully prosecuted the country’s military junta
in the 1980’s, Luis Moreno-Ocampo was appointed the first Prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court in June 2003. He began investigating
crimes committed in Darfur in 2005, following a referral by the United
Nations Security Council.

Cathy Schulman, Producer
President of Mandalay Pictures and Mandalay Independent Pictures, Cathy
Schulman is a longtime producer and film executive. Schulman won the
2006 Best Picture Academy Award for producing CRASH. Her most recent
film was THE ILLUSIONIST.

Adam Sterling, Co-founder Sudan Divestment Task Force
Adam Sterling spearheaded the student campaign that persuaded the
University of California Regents to divest from Sudan. He has since
moved to Washington, DC and now leads the national campaign for
divestment.

DARFUR NOW, a film following six people who are committed to ending the
worst crisis of the 21st century and united by a belief that anything is
possible. Written and directed by Ted Braun, DARFUR NOW explores the
Darfur conflict through the first-hand experiences of Don Cheadle,
Hejewa Adam, Pablo Recalde, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Luis Moreno-Ocampo,
and Adam Sterling. Warner Independent Pictures and Participant
Productions present DARFUR NOW, which will open in theaters November
2007.

Press & Public Screenings at Toronto:

Saturday, September 8, 7:30pm , Press & Industry , Royal Ontario Museum.

Sunday, September 9, 12:00pm Public Screening 1 Varsity 8

Panel Discussion:

Sunday, September 9, 5:00pm Panel
Isabel Bader Theatre

You will need special accreditation to attend any of these events for
further information. For information, please contact:

Press Contacts:

John Murphy and Jessica Edwards, Murphy PR In Toronto: (9/8- 9/11)

Office: 212-414-0408
John’s Cell - 646-369-0317

John Murphy:  jmurphy at murphypr.com <mailto:jmurphy@murphypr.com>
Jessica’s Cell - 917-620-8529

Jessica Edwards:  jedwards at murphypr.com <mailto:jedwards@murphypr.com>

ICC: Jennifer Trone Cell: 917-535-4937
 trone.j at gmail.com <mailto:Jennifer.Trone@icc-cpi.int>

Toronto International Film Festival:
Warner Independent Pictures Contact:

Andrea Grau Clunie
James Lewis

Phone: 416-934-3232
Office: 818-954-7324

 AGrau at tiffg.ca <mailto:AGrau@tiffg.ca>
Cell: 323-828-2424

 james.lewis at warnerbros.com <mailto:james.lewis@warnerbros.com>

For press materials: // For broadcast materials:

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An Unofficial Sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Posted by Olivia Zaleski, on www.alternet.org August 7, 2007, as “The Unofficial Sequel to ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ on The Huffington Post.

Olivia Zaleski says Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The 11th Hour” is a “must see” documentary that you may not want to see, but she says you should see it anyway because you will learn from it. Olivia Zaleski is described as  a young woman of 23, using blogging to discover her interests, explore the world through her computer, research stories, and meet some cyber-revolutionaries along the way. She writes:

Recently I had the opportunity to catch a sneak preview of Leonardo Dicaprio’s, The 11th Hour. Said to be the unofficial sequel to An Inconvenient Truth, the film leaves off from an established understanding of environmental crisis and approaches the subsequent solutions humans must undertake to ensure a worthwhile future.

Following typical documentary format, the film reels vivid imagery to commentary from an impressive collection of scientists, political leaders, designers, and visionaries. Pundits range from former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev to sustainable design authority William McDonough. In total, the film features 50 independent voices.

Though The 11th Hour presents a depressing laundry list of statistics, it’s not all doom and gloom. The film also highlights humanity’s genius and ability to continue growth and innovation with systems that sustain rather than degrade. In an effort to take An Inconvenient Truth to the next level and create action out of awareness, The 11th Hour provides a layman’s guide to existing resolutions and developing proposals. The “solution summary” covers all the bases from sustainable design to renewable energy to biomimicry. Such an overview of options is positive — a welcomed change from the reprimanding voice so often associated with the environmental movement.

Despite Leonardo Dicaprio’s celebrity, a cast of eco-superstars, and inspiring solutions, I still fear The 11th Hour will deflect ticket sales. I worry critics will tout the film as didactic and boring–a monotony of talking heads. Admittedly, the film is slow at times. Leonardo Dicaprio is impersonal. His narrations lack the charm of Gore’s casual slide show. There are no cherry pickers and awkward but delicate references to lost elections. It’s a bit tedious . . . but so what! See it anyway! The information is important and the message vital. You may not be clinging to the edge of your seat, or writhing in anticipation, but you’ll gain an essential education–most importantly a critical understanding of the existing options. Despite our need for distraction and entertainment, despite a lukewarm greeting from the critics, this film is essential, and I hope everyone sees it. Whether we like it or not, The 11th Hour is a ” must see.”

Ballet National de Marseille Presented METAPOLIS II (meta=beyond, polis=city, meaning “the city beyond” or “the city of the future”) At The Lincoln Center of New York City. An Artistic Event With Urban Environment Implications.

A review by Pincas Jawetz ( PJ at SustainabiliTank.com)

The Neoclassical National Ballet of Marseille is now the second most important National Ballet of France. It was created by Roland Petit who helped to put French ballet back on the map after World War II. He ran the place between 1972 and 1998. In 2004 Mr. Frederick Flamand became the new director. Ballet de Marseille was not seen in the US during the 1983 - 2007 years. Now they came to the Lincoln Center Summer Festival for a stint of three performances of their renewed Metapolis which is an honest multi-media show.

METAPOLIS is a co-production of Frederick Flamand, with London Resident, Iraq born, extremely successful architect Zaha Hadid. The first version of this collaboration dates back to 2000. Now there is the second version, it has 19 dancers compared to the first version of 11 dancers, and that is why the title says METAPOLIS II. The subject is the environmental conditions that define life in the 21st century. By reflecting the experience of the growing millions of urban dwellers and suburbanites, the show strives to give viewers an authentic snapshot of the surroundings, and possibly a vision of tomorrow.

The program credits Mr. Flamand with “Concept and Choreography,” and Ms. Hadid with “Concept and Production Design.” We would like to say that Mr. Flamand did the choreography, but Ms. Hadid did the “Mise en Scene.”
Their mind works in unison, but the props that helped this staging were the creation of Ms. Hadid, and both of them believe that dance is architecture and architecture is dance. We intend to develop this slowly, and here we want just to say that the topic being - urban life and urban environment - we found ourselves completely involved when we watched the action on stage last night. Further, we are sorry that we did not realize we should have been there Wednesday July 26, 2006, when before the Opening Performance, they held Symposium - so now I spent reading up last night and this morning, whatever I could get hold of, on about the main minds behind this piece.

Mr. Flamand, 60, had a 30 years career in Belgium. His training includes both dance and serious study of the techniques of Polish experimental director Jerzy Grotowski who was a major influence. Flamand established Belgium’s first experimental dance theater in 1979 when Maurice Bejart was king of dance. Flamand started out by working mainly in unconventional spaces: factories, swimming pools, churches … but 10 years ago, when Mr. Flamand’s company at the time, the neo-classical Charleroi/Danses in Charleroi, a small industrial town in Belgium, which he introduced to the likes of Merce Cunningham and Lucinda Childs, and when this work began gaining recognition, and he and his troupe received invitations to perform on more conventional stages, at festivals, throughout Europe, he had then to find a way to turn the stage into the unconventional space his work demanded. He did not change or compromise, his reality was his truth, and he needed now architects to help him realize his truth under these new constraints.

His luck was that he managed to bind to some of the greatest, young upward mobile modern architectural talent of the time. His collaborators sound now like a who is who of the architectural new intelligence of today and tomorrow.

Jean Nouvel, and Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofido were among his first willing partners. The latter two are part of the Diller, Scofidio & Renfro firm that are now rebuilding parts of the Lincoln Center complex - the plaza and some buildings (two new dance studios for the American Ballet have already been completed). Thom Maine, an American architect, who won the coveted Pritzker Prize in 2005, and then, for his Metapolis, Flamand landed the all too willing Zaha Hadid.

Zaha was the first female architect, ever, to win the coveted Pritzker Prize in 2004, and in the summer of 2006 she was the subject of a major retrospective at the Gugggenheim Museum in New York. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, she received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. She graduated from the AA and got the Diploma Prize in 1977. She became a partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in London and taught at the AA till 1967. Then she held the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard, the Eero Saarinen Professorship at Yale, the Sullivan Chair at the University of Illinois School of Architecture in Chicago, guest professorships at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, the Knolton School of Architecture, Ohio, the Masters Studio at Columbia University, she is now the principal visiting professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, a honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a fellow of the American institute of Architecture, commander of the British Empire, she received the Austrian decoration of Science and Art, is a member of the Royal Academy….her concerns are how to be simultaneously involved in practice, teaching, research. She is best known for her Lois and Richard Rosenthal Centre of Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the BMW Central Building, the Vitra Fire Station at Weil am Rhein in Germany, the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Maggie’s Centre at Kirkcaldy in Scotland and a sky jump in Innsbruck, a tram station in Strasbourg, much more and many designs for products, sets and installations, now commissions come from all over the world. In Cyprus she has just finished redesigning the Platia Eleftherias Square. One current project is for the 20,000-seat Aquatics Centre for London, one of the new venues being constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics. We found no commissions on her list from Arab countries.

When Ms. Hadid was first approached by Flamand, it was the proposal to explore the sprawling world of the “metapolis” that attracted her - the contradictions of urban life between private and public, speed and congestion, rupture and transformation, and the real and the virtual - it was the body influencing the city - it’s not only the city and the buildings that influence the body. “The body gives the city a shape.”

For Metapolis II she designed three silvery bridges made of fiberglass and aluminum, that are continuously being moved around by the dancers, sometimes creating images that you see when you travel by car or train. They continuously create new shapes and structures and are enhanced by projections on a screen and all sorts of multi media effects. The dancers move between, with, over, and under the various configurations of these bridges and there are created various continuously changing configurations - you can see center cities, suburbs, people moving in and out - you imagine it - and you see it. Amazing - it really works. Flamand said: ” we try to create with dance, and video, and structures, a space that is fluid and abrupt and has its own rhythm like a city, It’s a little like traveling in a car in the city: First its very hectic in the downtown, everyone running in business suits, then you get to Central Park and everything is calm.” He said earlier that he fell for Zaha because her “architecture is based on movement - she creates a very fluid space and continuous transformation. We wanted to make the dancers dance, of course, but to make the space dance too.”

The bold geometric costumes, run from one-legged hooded unitards to a skirt made of pillows; they serve as screens on which scenes of urban life are projected. The idea she said was to make a seamless connection among set, costumes, movement, and dancer. Using projections, the dancers bodies are mixed into the view on the screens - the dancers both - absorb the city and become actors in the urban scene.

Since Mr. Flamand’s roots were in avant-garde theater and contemporary dance, his appointment to the neo-classical Marseille Ballet came as a shock. But then, within the first year, he became a terrific success with his “La Cite Radieuse” on which he cooperated with Frenchman Dominique Perrault (also an architect).

About the dancing as such, Flamand says: “For example, in one moment the girls are on Pointe - but it’s not to make something beautiful. it’s because I feel that Zaha’s work is very much about movement as well as very sharp architecture. Pointe work is also very sharp - it’s something that really cuts space. The relationship between Zaha’s bridge and the pointe work of the girls creates a very contemporary vision. It’s not romantic or nostalgic.”

The music is provided by a collage featuring various contrasting works and then, towards the end we see a lone violinist (that is composer George van Dam) who gets on stage and plays traditional Irish music giving a very contrasting sound to the ultra-modern whizzing scene. And as we are used to say - all’s well that ends well.

In the program, the Belgian Flamand says that he feels his approach was influenced by his working with people that came from three very different cultures - Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid, American Thom Mayne, and Frenchman Dominique Perrault. He mentions here that Zaha speaks about designs that grow organically from early sketches, often inspired by Arabic calligraphy. When I talk to her about dancers breathing, she replies that architecture breathes. In her work, “I am aware of that nearly utopian longing to release construction from the laws of gravity and to break away from existing codes of discipline, two imperatives that are behind my approach.”

And some more deeper philosophy - Flamand says: “Today, the city is not only in the center - it explodes. The real cities are found outside the center. It’s part of what we call globalization, but also has a little bit to do with the Americanization of the world. It’s a certain way of living. You take the plane, you wait ten hours and you go to a motel, but it is the same motel where you have lived two days before in another city. It is an imitation.”

Now, we must end this review by saying something very corny - just think what an Iraqi woman was able to dream up and accomplish outside her country - will ever come the day that this were possible in her place of birth?
JUST THINK WHAT THE ISLAMIC WORLD HAS DONE TO ITSELF. Did Zaha get commissions from Saudi Arabia or Dubai?

IS THIS A TRAINING SESSION FOR THE audience’s January 25 - February 9, 2008 Trip to the Carnival in Recife and Olinda?

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This Weekends Big-Beat events!
Thanks for keeping up with us everyone!  We have 2 very exciting events this weekend that you can’t miss.  Please read below for more info.

The Nation Beat performs at The Blue Note this Sunday afternoon.

Some of you might be asking yourselves… “what… Nation Beat at The Blue Note”?  We asked ourselves that too!  But actually… they have been doing a late night groove series for some time now as well as a latin based Sunday brunch series.  So why not bring the Big Beat to the Blue Note?  A little bit of slapjacks, coffe and maracatu never hurt anyone!  We’ll also have special guest Ileana Santamaria on vocals and percussion.

So please come down to the Blue Note this Sunday afternoon and help us get these people up of their feet and dancing!  Price aint’ bad either, for the Blue Note.

Show times: 12:30PM & 2:30PM. Brunch is served from 11:30AM-4:00PM.
Price: $24.50 includes, brunch, the show and a drink.
Sunday, July 29th
All Ages… so bring the whole family!

Click here to make a reservation

Visit Nation Beat’s website for more info.

A fan in Brazil called Nation Beat “The first Honky Tonk Maracatu band I’ve ever seen in my life….it was amazing!”