Entertainment and Culture 1

As her company prepares to celebrate its centenary, the legendary choreographer’s groundbreaking work is finally getting the respect it deserves in the UK. What took so long?A century ago, the dancer Martha Graham began teaching at a small studio above Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. It was the start of a dance revolution. Graham wasn’t the first dancer to cast off ballet’s shackles and look for new ways of moving as the world shifted in the early 20th century: free-spirited Isadora Duncan had wafted her way through European salons; Loie Fuller experimented with costume and light effects; Ruth St Denis and Ted Shawn, with whom Graham trained, explored dance aping the styles of India, Egypt and Japan. But it’s Graham who became the true godmother of modern dance, developing a technique that would become the foundation of many dancers’ training around the world, and starkly modernist choreography that would point dance in a new direction.Where ballet leapt to the sky, Graham was rooted to the earth. Where classical backs stood straight, Graham curved the spine and tilted the pelvis in deep contractions, connecting to some primal place of power. In the most famous images of Graham dancing, she wears a full skirt kicked into a semicircle while she reaches high or far into space, but also into the psyche. You can sense her gravity by just looking at the photo. Masha Maddux, who joined the Graham company in 2007 (Graham herself died in 1991 aged 96) describes the technique: “It’s restrained. It’s very deep, very visceral, theatricalised and with a certain bite.” And what does it feel like to dance it? “Liberating!” Continue reading…

Co-written with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, The Mushroom Tapes is inspired by their experience attending the headline-grabbing trial earlier this yearHelen Garner, one of Australia’s most acclaimed authors, is set to publish a new book in November about the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial.The book follows the story of Patterson, an Australian woman convicted in July of murdering three of her former in-laws and attempting to murder a fourth by serving them a beef wellington contaminated with death cap mushrooms in 2023. The case, which played out in an Australian court earlier this year, attracted global attention. Continue reading…

Composed almost entirely of footage filmed by police, The Perfect Neighbor is a harrowing documentary about a black woman shot by her white neighbour in Florida. The director reveals how she made it‘To this day,” says Geeta Gandbhir, “I’m devastated.” The film-maker is talking about the killing of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a black woman shot dead by her white neighbour in Florida two years ago. Gandbhir first came to the case in a personal capacity, as 35-year-old Owens was a family friend.But things quickly changed. She and her team worked hard to drum up media attention and pressure law enforcement and government institutions to take action – and hold this neighbour, 60-year-old Susan Lorincz, accountable. They began filming protests and vigils, intending to create short pieces for news outlets. Continue reading…

St Bartholomew’s hopes 18th-century satirist’s two large-scale paintings will become a must-see for art fans They had remained almost unseen for 300 years, but now two of William Hogarth’s masterpiece murals are available to the public for the first time.The North Wing at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, which contains The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan – two large-scale murals by the British painter – has opened after a £9.5m restoration project. Continue reading…

The writer was an astute observer of English class – and a champion of complicated female heroines• Jilly Cooper, author of Rivals and Riders, dies aged 88• Share your memories of Jilly CooperJilly Cooper was a genuinely merry soul, with a gimlet eye and a determination to see the best in absolutely everything; even when her life was difficult, she brightened every room with her spaniel hair. What fun she had and shared with us, and what a wonderful legacy she left. Continue reading…