The choreographer said goodbye to Lucy Guerin Inc by dancing in public for the first time in 13 years - which she found ‘incredibly confronting’
If there is one thing the professional dancer learns never to expect, it’s longevity. The physical demands on the body and increasing risk of injury tend to necessitate short careers. Melbourne-based choreographer Lucy Guerin has certainly bucked that trend, with a CV spanning decades and several international awards under her belt. But after 25 years at the helm of her eponymous company, she is now stepping away, conferring her artistic directorship on choreographer Melanie Lane.
Before she left, Guerin returned to the stage for an exquisite solo show, Place Dances, inside Melbourne’s Buxton Contemporary art gallery. It was the first time she had danced publicly in 13 years. “I have found it incredibly confronting, to be honest,” she says, hours before the premiere. “As a dancer, you always remember in your body what it feels like to do an arabesque or a jump. And part of me thought I could still do all those things if I just got back in the studio and trained a bit.” She laughs at her own hubris. “But I’m afraid that wasn’t the case.”
As protests ripple through big cities across the continent, a quieter, more forgotten population at Europe’s edge sits through weeks of strikes and blockades, while largely ignored.
Italy’s southern regions of Puglia, Calabria, Sicily, Molise and Basilicata are facing empty supermarket shelves and plummeting fuel supplies since transport and agriculture workers have been protesting against climbing costs of living.
Entire sectors have been put on pause due to the excessive costs it now takes to run them, from delivering food goods to producing them, for unbalanced competition with foreign suppliers and sustained neglect from Rome.
While protestors in large cities like Milan and Bologna joined a European choir of protests fighting unaffordable housing last weekend, truck drivers from Bari to Palermo have joined in blocking roads to important ports and highways connecting isolated southern regions, and denouncing the outrageous costs of fertilisers, seeds, and fuel for tractors and transport for over two weeks.
“For us, and for the community, it’s become impossible to face the costs of fuel,” Luigi Di Benedetto, manager of an agriculture company in Caltagirone, Sicily, told EUobserver.
“Italy import products that do not meet legal specifications,” he said, echoing the worries of his colleagues and fellow protestors, since the market was flooded with cheaper foreign imports, which have left them unable to pay the bills.
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President Donald Trump is heading to Kansas on Monday and Iowa later in the week, the latest in a series of stops where he's trying to energize his base in the final weeks before the midterm elections. The economic strain is becoming a growing political concern for Republicans in states they have long dominated.
A special sesion will include a performance of Don Quixote, one of the company’s emblematic works.
On Sunday, the National Ballet of Cuba announced a special season to celebrate its 78th anniversary, the 81st anniversary of the United Nations (UN), and the 50th anniversary of the island’s Ministry of Culture.
The first gala will take place on October 20 at the National Theater of Havana to honor the Ministry of Culture, coinciding with the celebrations of National Culture Day.
The program will include a performance of Don Quixote, one of the company’s emblematic works. Contemporary Dance of Cuba and the National Folkloric Ensemble will also participate, presenting renowned pieces from their repertoires.
The performances on October 24 and 25 will be dedicated to the UN anniversary. For this occasion, the National Ballet of Cuba will present Giselle in the stage version by the legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso.
🇨🇺 Through blackouts and shortages largely spurred on by the U.S. oil blockade, Cubans are still working hard to preserve the arts.
Cubans in ballet and acting display extreme dedication as they "live day to day" through hardships to persevere against U.S. sanctions. pic.twitter.com/jBvKYUMIWH
The season will close on October 28th, commemorating the anniversary of the first performance given in 1948 by the then-Alicia Alonso Ballet, the precursor to the current national company.
During this final performance, “The Magic of Dance,” an anthology featuring highlights of 19th-century ballet in versions conceived by Alicia Alonso, will be presented, along with the epilogue to Gottschalk’s Symphony.
The institution explained that these performances aim to compensate for the cancellation of the Alicia Alonso International Ballet Festival of Havana, which cannot be held this year due to the country’s economic difficulties.
#Cuba | Cuba is reforming its state-owned enterprises to expand financial autonomy, boost domestic production, and strengthen cooperation with the private sector amid US sanctions. The government says public ownership will remain central to its economic model.#EconomicReforms… pic.twitter.com/GJMG0FJz6d
The celebration also included a horror-themed fashion show and contests focused on costumes, acting, and performance.
On Sunday, hundreds of people participated in the 19th annual Zombie Walk in Mexico City, an event that combined horror costumes with a food drive for families in need.
Attendees, dressed as zombies, witches, ghosts, and other characters, marched from the Revolution Monument to the Zocalo, one of the country’s most iconic public squares.
Organizers emphasized that the event aimed to demonstrate that “zombies are also compassionate.” While donations were voluntary, participants were encouraged to contribute non-perishable food items.
The call for donations included food such as rice, beans, and canned goods, which were given to the organization Food for All, dedicated to distributing aid to vulnerable individuals and families.
Revelers dressed as zombies filled the streets of Mexico City for the annual Zombie Walk, with many wearing elaborate costumes inspired by pop culture characters, including Michael Jackson's iconic 'Thriller' zombies pic.twitter.com/6GIWtafqvs
The 19th anniversary celebration also included a horror-themed fashion show and contests focused on costumes, acting, and performance.
Among the groups present were Resident Evil fans, circus performers, K-pop group BTS enthusiasts, and performances inspired by Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec deity associated with death.
In addition to zombie weddings and themed makeup services, the event promoted respect among attendees and community support, transforming a Halloween party into an act of solidarity.
Singer ‘mortified’ about wearing diamonds from Argyle mine at centre of environmental concerns about Indigenous land
The singer Ellie Goulding has admitted her error at having promoted diamonds at the centre of environmental concerns about Indigenous land in Australia, despite having spent years campaigning on environmental issues – including the effects of mining on ancestral lands.
She appeared at a event in London earlier this month for the jewellery brand Boodles, modelling some of its newly acquired pink diamonds, some of which came from a controversial mine in Western Australia.
Anders Fernstedt lives in London without any money. The Swedish native has built a most unusual home under the porch of a house worth over €200 million. How did that happen?
Deputy mayor of Saijo died after becoming trapped under float, days after two similar incidents elsewhere
There is mounting concern over the safety of Japan’s traditional festivals after the death of a senior local official who was reportedly crushed beneath a float at the weekend, days after two men died in similar incidents in another part of the country.
Akihiro Nabae, the deputy mayor of Saijo, in western Japan, was carrying a giant float with other participants in a festival on Saturday when he became trapped beneath the structure, Agence France-Presse reported. Nabae, 62, was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead, local media said, adding that no one else was injured.
À Paris, une pièce de théâtre rend hommage aux Rochambelles, la première unité féminine d'ambulancières sur le front. Ces femmes ont réussi à s'imposer en pleine Seconde Guerre mondiale et à être incorporées à la deuxième division blindée du général Leclerc. Une leçon de courage et d'engagement restée trop longtemps dans l'ombre.
For over four centuries, one play has stood apart from the official canon of William Shakespeare. It was published without an author’s name, and for decades, scholars have debated who wrote the text. Now, a new computer-based study offers a surprising answer. *Edward III* was likely the work of two of Elizabethan England’s greatest playwrights: […]
En novembre 1992, au large du Portugal, huit passagers clandestins africains, venus du Ghana et du Cameroun, étaient jetés à la mer par les marins ukrainiens d'un cargo en route pour Le Havre, le MC Ruby. Un homme survécut à la tuerie : Ofusu Kingsley Cudjoe. Du Ghana à l'Ukraine, le journaliste du quotidien Le Monde, Philippe Broussard, a reconstitué l'histoire de ce drame. Son enquête fait l'objet d'un album de bande dessinée, L’Odyssée tragique du MC Ruby, publié aux éditions Dupuis.
Family post emotional statements to Instagram a month after their son and brother died at a rehab facility
Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber have said they are “beyond heartbroken” in a tribute to their “sweet beautiful” son, Presley.
Their eldest child died aged 27 at a rehab facility on 20 September, according to Los Angeles county medical examiner records. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.
Former President Barack Obama issued a rare statement Sunday rebuking the Trump administration for targeting the president’s political enemies, namely for launching a federal investigation into Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
“It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” Obama said in a lengthy statement shared on social media. “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.”
The remarks come after federal agents raided Omar’s Washington D.C., home last week, confiscating her laptop, cellphone and passport, as well as other notebooks and documents related to her and her family’s immigration.
“To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old,” Obama said, noting that both she and her father became naturalized citizens five years after arriving from Somalia.
In diatribes against Democrats, President Donald Trump has repeatedly singled out Omar, whom Obama described as “one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics.”
Trump has called Omar “garbage” and broadly condemned Somalis. Vice President JD Vance has also joined in, at one point claiming in March, without evidence, that Omar “definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said last week that her office is investigating potential improprieties related to Omar’s financial disclosures, but the search warrant that authorized agents to seize Omar’s belongings listed potential violations related to immigration, not finances.
Lawyers for Omar have demanded the immediate return of all of her property.
“Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case,” Obama wrote on Sunday. “Think about that. The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.”
The search came just weeks ahead of the pivotal midterm elections. Obama weighed in as he prepared to take his star power to Michigan next weekend to campaign for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson.
The former president added that “the fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
The film, "You Can See Everything," grossed $15 million in the US and Canada during its opening weekend, according to A24, the film's distributor.
That's the best opening weekend for a documentary this year. "Melania" had the second-biggest opening weekend for a documentary after its release in January. It grossed $7.1 million.
The film's financial success is matched by viewer reception, too. It scored a whopping 99% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie-rating site, and a 98% among regular audiences.
Directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the picture offers a remarkably revealing portrait of Holmes, who was convicted of defrauding investors with her blood-testing company, Theranos.
Theranos was at one point valued at $9 billion. It said its product could run hundreds of medical tests using just a pinprick of blood from a finger, but investigations revealed the company was using expensive lab equipment to surreptitiously run the tests.
Holmes, as the company's CEO, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison after journalist John Carreyrou published a withering investigative report in The Wall Street Journal, sparking what eventually became criminal charges.
Business Insider's Henry Chandonnet has seen the film twice so far. He called it "one of the most shocking, revelatory, and oddly funny films" he'd ever witnessed.
"It was twisty and worthy of seeing with fresh eyes," Henry reported.
In una generale proposta teatrale che spesso scivola nel già visto, la voce di Paolo Nori si diversifica da anni per quella sua cadenza inconfondibile, caratterizzata da ironia emiliana, rigore filologico e l’intento di restituire i grandi giganti della letteratura russa alla concretezza della vita quotidiana.
Scrittore, traduttore e saggista nato a Parma nel 1963, autore di opere di successo e finalista al Premio Strega 2025 con il saggio-romanzo Chiudo la porta e urlo (Mondadori), Nori sta intraprendendo una fortunata tournée nei teatri italiani con un nuovo monologue-show incentrato su alcuni romanzi e autori della letteratura russa, tra cui Il Maestro e Margherita di Michail Bulgakov.
Sul palcoscenico del Teatro La Nuova Fenice di Osimo, gremito per l’occasione, sabato 17 ottobre la narrazione si è articolata secondo una struttura in tre atti ben delineati, pemsati per collegare la biografia dell’autore, il romanzo e alcuni aneddoti personali di Nori.
Il racconto si è aperto con l’esegesi del contesto esistenziale di Bulgakov, ripercorrendone le tre relazioni coniugali, il travagliato rapporto con Stalin e il dramma d’una censura sistematica che impose la pubblicazione postuma della maggior parte delle sue opere.
Nori si è incuneato nelle pieghe di un’esistenza segnata dall’ostracismo degli intellettuali di regime, attingendo a testimonianze dirette come la celebre lettera indirizzata dallo scrittore al governo sovietico nel 1930:
«Dopo che le mie opere sono state proibite, molti cittadini mi hanno consigliato di scrivere un dramma comunista e rivolgermi al governo sovietico con una lettera di pentimento per rinnegare le idee espresse nelle mie opere precedenti e assicurare che d’ora in poi lavorerò come scrittore compagno di strada, fedele all’idea del Comunismo, per salvarmi dalle persecuzioni, dalla miseria e dalla inevitabile rovina. Ecco, io non seguo questo consiglio, non credo che potrei comparire in una luce favorevole di fronte al governo sovietico, scrivere una lettera falsa che costituirebbe un voltafaccia politico disgustoso e ingenuo.
Il desiderio maturato in me di porre fine al mio supplizio di scrittore mi induce a rivolgervi al governo sovietico con una lettera sincera. Passando in rassegna i miei ritagli di giornale (…), hanno scritto di me come lo spazzino della letteratura, che raccatta gli avanzi vomitati da una dozzina di commensali. Hanno affermato che mi piace l’atmosfera d’accoppiamenti canini e che il mio dramma I giorni dei Turbin puzza e così via.
Voglio precisare che non sto riportando questi giudizi per lamentarmi delle critiche o comunque entrare in polemica. Lo scopo è molto più serio. Voglio provare, documenti alla mano, che tutta la stampa dell’Unione Sovietica e tutti gli organismi preposti a controllare il repertorio durante tutto l’arco della mia attività letteraria, all’unanimità e con straordinario accanimento hanno sostenuto che le opere di Michael Bulgakov in Unione Sovietica non possono esistere. E io dichiaro che la stampa sovietica ha perfettamente ragione.
Mi rimproverano di aver creato il primo appello alla libertà di stampa in Unione Sovietica. È vero. La lotta contro la censura, qualunque essa sia e sotto qualunque potere, è un mio dovere di scrittore, così come gli appelli alla libertà di stampa. Sono un appassionato sostenitore di questa libertà (…). Ecco, dunque, una delle caratteristiche della mia opera già più che sufficiente di per sé per far sì che le mie opere in Unione Sovietica non possoao esistere, mai ad essa sono collegati altri elementi presenti nei miei racconti: le tinte cupe, mistiche, di cui mi servo per rappresentare le innumerevoli mostruosità della nostra vita quotidiana, il veleno di cui è intrisa la mia lingua, il profondo scetticismo nei confronti del processo rivoluzionario in atto nel mio arretrato Paese».
Una vibrante denuncia alla quale lo stesso Stalin rispose e che costituisce una pagina fondamentale nella biografia di Bulgakov. Nel frattempo, le immagini proiettate sullo schermo del teatro hanno mostrato le istantanee private dell’autore e delle sue mogli; di queste la terza, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, avrebbe poi salvato e consegnato alla storia il manoscritto di Il Maestro e Margherita.
Nori ha scelto le immagini sovrapponendole ai luoghi reali di Mosca collegati al libro. In questo intreccio tra vita vissuta e invenzione narrativa, l’autore ha ricreato la genesi di un testo a lungo soffocato, integrando memorie personali sui propri viaggi in Russia e sul proprio viscerale legame con la cultura slavofila.
La parte centrale dello spettacolo ha offerto la sintesi critica della trama del romanzo, soffermandosi sulla figura del diavolo, incarnato da Woland. Satana bulgakoviano non si limita a seminare il caos nella burocrazia moscovita degli anni Venti, ma assume il ruolo paradossale di garante della verità morale in un mondo dominato dal conformismo ateo e totalitario.
Nel celebre dialogo sul tetto della biblioteca con Levi Matteo, le forze del bene e del male si confrontano in una dialettica imprescindibile per la comprensione dell’esistenza umana e dell’ombra che ogni corpo proietta alla luce.
L’ultima sequenza della serata si è tradotta in un’intensa digressione sull’Emilia-Romagna (Parma nello specifico), sulle radici antifasciste di questa terra e sulla Resistenza.
Rileggendo le persecuzioni subite da Bulgakov, Nori ha formulato un monito civile sull’essenza dell’antifascismo contemporaneo, inteso quale difesa quotidiana della libertà di pensiero di fronte a qualsiasi forma di coercizione.
I prossimi appuntamenti della tournée saranno il 20 ottobre a Padova alla libreria La forma del libro con il suo nuovo romanzo L’amore è una banana, insieme ad Andrea Pennacchi. Poi il 21 ottobre su Zoom alle 19 per gli abbonati di State bene Bombé, con Pietro Sermonti sempre per presentare L’amore è una banana.
Seguono altre presentazioni del romanzo per la rassegna Pubblici discorsi il 22 ottobre a Milano alla libreria Rizzoli, con Alberto Rollo, il 23 ottobre a Radio 24 dalle 9 in poi nella trasmissione Uno nessuno e centoMilan con Alessandro Milan, mentre la sera Nori sarà a Parma alla libreria Feltrinelli.
Il racconto de Il Maestro e Margherita torna invece il 24 ottobre a Verona al Teatro Nuovo alle 21, seguito il 26 ottobre a Bologna presso la Libreria Coop Ambasciatori dalla presentazione de I luoghi a cui appartieni con Chiara Donadi. Infine, Genova e Firenze chiuderanno questa prima parte del tour.
Pope Leo XIV resumed public appearances on Sunday, leading prayers at the Vatican just five days after undergoing lung cancer surgery and one day after leaving the hospital.
“I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days. I have truly sensed your support. Thank you!,” Leo said from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The Catholic leader, 71, announced his planned surgery last week to remove a “small, localized” nodular lesion on his right lung. During the 90-minute operation, doctors confirmed he had lung cancer but said the operation to remove a lower lobe of his lung was successful, according to the Vatican.
“This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity,” Leo said. “Now that I have overcome this delicate phase, as you know, I will gradually resume my activities, always with God’s help and your prayers.”
The surgery and cancer diagnosis marked Leo’s first major medical episode of his papacy. It is yet unclear whether the pope will require additional treatment.
His planned trip to Latin America next month, which includes visits to Uruguay, Peru and Argentina, remains unchanged as “there are no clinical reasons why this visit should not take place,” Professor Stefano Margaritora, the physician who operated on the pope’s lung, told Vatican News.
“The Holy Father has put his heart and soul into his recovery, as the most motivated people do after this kind of operation,” Margaritora said. “As a result, he needed very little assistance from us. His determination to recover quickly has been effective in every respect. It was truly commendable.”
Leo was elected last year following the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis. Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois, is the church’s first American pope.
Exclusive: Play anonymously published in 1596 was collaboration between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, according to computer analysis
Dramatic new evidence concludes that the play Edward III should be added to William Shakespeare’s canon, and also that it was a major collaboration with his contemporary rival Christopher Marlowe.
The history was published anonymously in 1596, and it has long been thought that Shakespeare wrote at least a few scenes. However, Dr Rory Loughnane, a leading scholar and co-author of the research, told the Guardian that computerised textual analysis pushed the case “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the Stratford-born playwright was the principal writer.
La collection « Dans l'atelier de... » du CNRS nous a fait découvrir la méthode et la magie à l'œuvre dans les travaux littéraires de quelques-unes des grands noms des lettres mondiales. Après notamment Baudelaire, Voltaire, Virginia Woolf, la série convoque archives et manuscrits pour nous faire entrer dans l'atelier du grand poète francophone Léopold Sédar Senghor. Ce livre est une invitation à découvrir et à comprendre la genèse et l'originalité de son œuvre poétique, qui fait partie aujourd'hui des grands classiques africains. Retour à l'œuvre senghorienne à travers cinq thématiques abordées par son exégète, Claire Riffard.
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