Well I'm delighted. In last week's New Yorker John Lahr, writing about Billy Elliot, asserted that: "At its buoyant core, the American musical is the expression of a land of plenty. England, on the other hand, is a land of scarcity — the Land of No, as a friend of mine calls it."
For London to win the Olympics is one huge Yes. It will be thrilling, quicken the pace of life here, and - hopefully - be good for the arts. The publicity still of these dancers outside the Opera House comes from one of the films made to promote London's bid. It's good news that Jude Kelly is on the Olympics organising committe. She's passionate about dance (I think she has a son at White Lodge), directed On The Town for ENO recently, and has even directed Lindsay Kemp. Hopefully an arts-led Festival of Britain will run in tandem with the Olympics - and with a strong dance ingredient. At the Sydney Olympics, dance was central to the opening ceremony. As I hope it will be at London 2012.
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2 comments:
Congrats and have it in good health. Many New Yorkers (including myself) were very dubious about the bid here. As someone else wrote today, a few developers get very wealthy, the rest of us pay for it. I hope that's not the case for London!
Thanks Leigh. The Brits don't as a rule care for grands projets and it is fantastic to see one about to happen in London.
Among the few grands projets to have made an artistic impact on London was Albertopolis. Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's consort - he was German) was one of this city's real benefactors. He left us Imperial College, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal College of Music, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Royal College of Art.
I hope that London 2012 will leave us a similar legacy.
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