Epoch Arts 9-4-2015

BENJAMIN CHASTEEN/EPOCH TIMES

Max Mara’s

C1 September 4–10, 2015

Legacy for the Love of Art and Women

Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, director of retail of North America and global brand ambassador of Max Mara at the Madison Avenue flagship store, in New York on Aug. 21.

GIAMPAOLO SGURA

By Milene Fernandez | Epoch Times Staff

EW YORK—An unconventional beauty, with a down-to-earth demeanor, and sharp business sense, Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti effortlessly emanated a Marilyn-Monroe vibe during a photo shoot for this article.

Wearing outfits of the early-‘60s-inspired fall collection, she conveyed how the Max Mara Group is all about celebrating women.

“What I respect about my brand is that we have content, we have a story to tell,” she said in Max Mara’s New York flagship store on Madison Avenue.

See Max Mara on C2

One only has to look at the stitching of a Max Mara classic drape coat to be impressed by the integrity of the brand.

Actress Kate Mara, 10th recipient of the annual Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award, wearing a Jacquard sweater in wool and camel hair over skirt in wool jersey from the Max Mara Fall 2015 collection.

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COURTESY OF MAX MARA GROUP

Whitney bag, small, Bordeaux.

Legacy for the Love of Art and Women Max Mara continued from C1 Prezioso Maramotti has been a part of the international fashion house as far back as she can remember. As the granddaughter of the founder, Achille Maramotti, she literally carries the DNA of the brand in her body and in her work.

When she was a child she would draw designers like French Marquis Jean-Charles Castelbajac who might be at the Max Mara office on business in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In the beginning it was a fun place to play, but later she remembers her grandparents, uncles and aunts, and her parents, “talking so passionately about the business” that she always knew she would also be passionate about it too.

After graduating from business school, getting her Masters of Science in Finance in Milan, and working for a year at Credit Suisse in London and discovering it really wasn’t her cup of espresso, she decided to work in the family business.

She started from the ground up as a retail assistant at a Max Mara shop in Verona, Italy, in 2007, and soon moved up the ranks to become the store manager, and assistant retail manager of the Italian South region. Then she moved to Paris and managed the French market for a couple of years.

“It was pretty much a natural process for me to come on board,” she said. And starting in retail was the best gift she said for strategically understanding all aspects of the company.

Four years ago, she moved to New York City to work as the director of retail in North America and as the global brand ambassador of the privately held company.

Her move to New York was a big change for her, but not a sacrifice. She was ready. She loves the city and the pace.

“New York City is a place where you really have to fully know yourself, that is the starting point,” she said. “It’s full of smart, intelligent, talented people. … If you work hard and you are passionate, there are a lot of things that you can do, and you can develop projects that you believe in. Not every place in the world has that possibility,” she said.

Celebrating Women Now she ensures that Max Mara maintains its strongly recognizable personality, as the company continues to innovate and adapt to the current lifestyle needs of women.

“We strongly believe in celebrating the role of women in every aspect,” she said and emphasized that Max Mara is not only about making women feel beautiful in beautiful clothes, but it’s also about supporting women in various roles. The brand has also been expanding its global identity in the arts.

In the spring Max Mara sponsored the opening party of the new Whitney Museum in the Meatpacking District in New York City, and partnered with the architect Renzo Piano and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to create the iconic Whitney bag—a collaboration that Prezioso Maramotti directed.

Max Mara has also been partnering with Women in Film, a nonprofit that supports women’s creative projects. It founded the annual Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award to recognize actresses who are on the cusp of a next breakthrough in their careers in the film and television industries.

Max Mara also initiated the Art Prize for

COURTESY OF MAX MARA GROUP

Inside construction of the Max Mara Whitney bag.

Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti at the Max Mara Madison Avenue flagship store on Aug. 21.

Women celebrating its 5th edition with its current winner, Corin Sworn.

Still, at the core, the Max Mara brand stems from creating high-quality products and it will always be known for that, Prezioso Maramotti said. First and foremost, and throughout the years Max Mara has focused on creating clothes that fit the needs of women of different ages and body shapes, instead of expecting women to have to adapt themselves to fit the clothes.

When Prezioso Maramotti described the Max Mara customer as woman of substance and integrity, who is knowledgeable, but also very curious, it reflected the impression she gave of herself—naturally, emanating the Max Mara DNA. “She’s definitely a woman who is not a fashionista, but she loves fashion,” Prezioso Maramotti said, describing the Max Mara customer.

“She’s the kind of woman who wants that piece that stays in her wardrobe, that she can use again, and not throw out later because it’s not the color of the season anymore,” she added.

That also entails adapting to the changing times. Prezioso Maramotti noted that women’s lifestyles are much more dynamic today than they were at the time when her grandfather founded the company in 1951. Today, in addition to raising children, women work and travel more, and may not have time to go home to change before going to a dinner party.

“So there’s a need for a wardrobe, which is so much broader and much more interchangeable,” Prezioso Maramotti said. That means, for instance, creating clothes that don’t wrinkle after being packed in a suitcase, clothes that can mix and match, transition easily from day to evening, and which are still in fabulous condition and fashionable for many years to come.

While the current fall collection was inspired by the ‘50s and early ‘60s style of Marilyn Monroe, the sumptuous fabrics tailored to create a flattering silhouette, the subtle colors, and the couture details have been reinterpreted ever so seamlessly to fit right in 2015.

From Family to Business Structure Prezioso Maramotti is very respectful toward her late grandfather Achille Maramotti, who innovated industrial tailoring techniques when he founded the company, making Max Mara the precursor of modern prêt-à-porter fashion.

“I miss him terribly,” Prezioso Maramotti said about her grandfather, wishing that she could still talk with him about business and life. She also values the support of the rest of her family, including her uncle Luigi Maramotti.

While she’s a strong leader, coming across very directly she said, she also values solving problems by considering different angles while brainstorming with her team.

Overseeing more than 100 employees, Prezioso Maramotti has to operate on many different levels, balancing her time and mindset between day-to-day operations and strategic decision making, ensuring the consistency of the brand across the board.

In business she’s very pragmatic. “Obviously you have to pick your battles, but there are some things which I’m really not ready to negotiate. That is also part of the reason why our brand has such integrity,” she said.

One only has to look at the stitching of a Max Mara classic drape coat in pure camel hair or the carefully crafted Whitney bag to be impressed by the integrity of the brand, espe-

Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti wearing the Max Mara Fall 2015 collection.

GIAMPAOLO SGURA

Max Mara’s

BENJAMIN CHASTEEN/EPOCH TIMES

Actress Kate Mara wearing a teddy bear coat in camel hair.

cially in how it has carefully calibrated tradition with innovation.

“There’s a lot of love that we put into this. We really love Max Mara,” Prezioso Maramotti said.

“When you love what you do, that’s a very big driver,” she said, calling herself a bit of a “workaholic.” Still she makes sure she has enough time to go running, cycling, kite surfing, or sailing; she loves listening to jazz, and spending time going out, or cooking and having friends over for dinner.

“I think that love is all that matters, love for your work, your family, for all the people around you,” she said summing up her core belief in life.

“This Is New York” is a feature series that delves into the lives of inspiring individuals in New York City. See all our TINYs here: epochtim.es/TINY or follow @milenefernandez on Twitter.

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TeRra Han, Kayageum

COURTESY OF TERRA HAN

Sept. 29, 8 p.m.

Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.

Korean musician TeRra Han plays the kayageum, or 12-string zither. $50. CarnegieHall.org

COMMUNITY EVENTS

comfortably into one can be an enormous satisfaction. Free.

NYCgovParks.org

NEW IN MANHATTAN

NEW ELSEWHERE

STOP Trafficking of People Fashion Show Fundraiser Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

O’Marche–The Globe Showroom 263 West 38th St., 11th Floor Under the High Patronage of His Excellency Mr. Francois Delattre Ambassador of France to the United Nations, Florence & Alizée Klein, fashion designers of Alexia Klein, and with the support of fashion designer Catherine Malandrino and best seller French author Marc Levy. Donation recommended.

StopTraffickingofPeople.org

Kite Festival Sept. 19 at 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Harbor View Lawn, Brooklyn Kites will be available for purchase or you can bring your own. Free.

BrooklynBridgePark.org

Summer Stage Through Sept. 24 Various locations Summer Stage is celebrating its 30th season. It’s a free performing arts festival with shows in Central Park and 16 neighborhood parks across the city.

CityParksFoundation.org Bryant Park Moves Saturdays through Sept. 26 This modern dance class, now in its fifth year, is led by dancers from the world-renowned Limón Dance Company. Free.

BryantPark.org The Unseen Holocaust: Recent Polish Films Oct. 25 at 2 p.m., Oct. 27–28 at 7 p.m., Nov. 1 at 2 p.m.

Museum of Jewish Heritage 36 Battery Place The fall of communism ushered in a new era of candid and artistically accomplished Polish filmmaking about the Holocaust. This weeklong series presents features, documentaries, and short films rarely seen in the United States.

Discussions with experts will follow the screenings. $15 public, $12 members. MJHnyc.org Free Kayaking Through October Various locations along Hudson River This event offers free sit-on-top kayaks for public use in protected Hudson River embayments. Brief instruction and all necessary safety equipment will be provided as well as changing rooms, lockers, and locks, bike locks, sun block, and first aid equipment.

Free. DowntownBoathouse.org Exhibit: Oh Sit! 14 Sculptors Consider the Chair Through Nov. 8 Tower Plaza in Highbridge Park in Manhattan Located along the esplanade leading up to the recently opened High Bridge, Oh Sit! is a group exhibition of nine artists’ public artworks. In a frantic world, finding a chair can be almost impossible and settling

VISUAL ARTS ONGOING IN MANHATTAN Far, Far Away…

Through Sept. 6 Children’s Museum of the Arts (103 Charlton St.) An exhibition that considers the possibility of alternate worlds, dreamscapes, and imagined landscapes—places where adventures occur and fantasy takes over. Free–$11. CMANY.org Leighton’s Flaming June Through Sept. 6 The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St. Frederic Leighton’s painting “Flaming June” is on view in New York for the first time.

Complimentary portraits by James McNeill Whistler will also be presented. $10-$20. Frick.org Warriors and Mothers: Epic Mbembe Art Through Sept. 7 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Dramatic wood sculptures created

by Mbembe master carvers from southeastern Nigeria. $12–$25 suggested. MetMuseum.org Art With Benefits: The Drigung Tradition Through Sept. 7 Rubin Museum of Art Across all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism is the notion that a work of art has the power to transform and bestow a variety of benefits upon the beholder. $10–$15. RubinMuseum.org Life Lines: Portrait Drawings from Dürer to Picasso Through Sept. 8 Morgan Library & Museum The drawings in this exhibition are organized into four sections: Self-Portraits; Family and Friends; Formal Portraits; and a final grouping, entitled Portraits?, that explores the boundaries of this type of work. $12–$18.

TheMorgan.org Mirror, Mirror: Frida Kahlo Photographs Through Sept. 12 Throckmorton’s New York Gallery (145 E. 57th St.) Photographs of Frida Kahlo by 20 renowned artists including Gisele Freund, Nickolas Muray, Juan Guzman, Diego Rivera, Edward Weston, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Fritz Henle, and Dora Maar.

ThrockMorton-NYC.com

Saving Place: Fifty Years of New York City Landmarks Through Sept. 13 Museum of the City of New York A comprehensive exhibition exploring the roots and impact of a landmark preservation movement that has transformed the city and been an engine of New York’s growth and success. $6–10. mcny.org Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong Through Sept. 13 Museum of Chinese in America Celebrated painter, muralist, kite-maker, lithographer, and calligrapher, Tyrus Wong is one of the greatest Chinese-American artists of the 20th century. $5–$10.

MOCANYC.org Landscape Drawings in The Frick Collection Through Sept. 13 The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St. This presentation features the Frick’s newly acquired “View of Dieppe Harbor” of 1873 by Antoine Vollon, depicting quotidian life in the country and urban scenes. $10– $20. Frick.org Trajectories Art Exhibition Through Sept. 26 Friedman & Vallois, 27 E 67th St. French Art Deco gallery Friedman & Vallois presents Vladimir Montufar’s fanciful artwork that pays a homage to the Mayan culture and expresses different aspects of man’s universal condition. Vallois.com

ONGOING ELSEWHERE Mapping Brooklyn Through Sept. 6 Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St. Contemporary artists exhibit works with historic maps, with examples of maps themselves, suggesting the myriad ways that maps can represent, on the one hand, such practical matters as way finding, property ownership, population shifts, and war strategy, and on the other, the terrain of the metaphorical, psychological, and personal. Suggested admission of $10. BrooklynHistory.org The Rise of Sneaker Culture Through Oct. 4 Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway From their modest origins in the mid-nineteenth century to highend sneakers created in the past decade, sneakers have become a global obsession. Suggested $16.

BrooklynMuseum.org

PERFORMING ARTS NEW IN MANHATTAN Shakespeare in the Park: The Odyssey Through Sept. 7

The Delacorte Theater in Central Park Inspired by the historical pageantry movement of the early 1900s—known for blending mass spectacle with community engagement— this final work in deBessonet and Almond’s grand trilogy reimagines the Greek epic with Public Works’ signature blend of professional actors, community members and special guests.

Free. PublicTheater.org The Metropolitan Opera’s 2015 Summer HD Festival Through Sept. 7 Lincoln Center Plaza This annual festival returns with 10 outdoor screenings of performances featuring the company’s leading artists in a varied selection of operas by Bartók, Bizet, Gounod, Mozart, Offenbach, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi. The opening night will screen “West Side Story” on Aug. 28th at 8 p.m. Free.

MetOpera.org Resonant Bodies Sept. 9 Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W 67th St. Sopranos Dawn Upshaw, Lucy Shelton and Tony Arnold share the stage for the first time at this one-night-only performance highlighting each artist’s most distinctive repertoire, including new pieces written specifically for them. $35.

KaufmanMusicCenter.org Dream Up Festival Through Sept. 20 Monday–Friday at 6:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and Saturdays–Sundays 2 p.m., 5 .m., 8 p.m.

Theater for the New City at 155 1st Avenue A three week long anthology of wide-ranging and original theatrical visions embracing drama, poetry, music, and dance from performing artists representing theater and performance companies in our theater complex in downtown New York. The motto of the festival is “Dream Up: Invent, Concoct.” $12, $15, $18, $20.

DreamupFestival.org Hollywood Arms Sept. 21 Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W 67th St. The incomparable Carol Burnett teams up with Tony winners Tyne Daly and Michele Pawk and 2015 Tony nominee Emily Skeggs (Fun Home) for an anniversary reading of Burnett’s autobiographical play “Hollywood Arms.” $45–$75.

KaufmanMusicCenter.org BalletNext Oct. 27-31, Nov. 3-7 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 31 & Nov. 7 at 2 p.m.

New York Live Arts 219 W 19th St.

Dance and music play on and off of each other to create a fiercely magical experience. Tickets start at $15. NewYorkLiveArts. org

MUSIC NEW IN MANHATTAN YMusic Come Around Part I: Qasim Naqvi World Premiere Commission + Repertory Sept. 11 at 8 p.m.

New York Live Arts 219 W 19th St. New York Live Arts’ debut music series features yMusic, a genre defying, indie-classical ensemble comprised of six New York City instrumentalists flourishing in the overlap between the pop and classical worlds. Tickets start at $15.

NewYorkLiveArts.org Dine and Dance With Sinatra Sept. 26 at 5 p.m.–11 p.m.

‘21’ Club 21 West 52nd St. Hosted in the sophisticated Puncheon Room and Gallery, crooner Nick Drakides and his band will play for your dining and dancing pleasure. $165.

21club.com TeRra Han, Kayageum Sept. 29, 8 p.m.

Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall 57th St. and Seventh Ave. Korean musician TeRra Han plays the kayageum, or 12-string zither. $50. CarnegieHall.org The Big Picture Oct 14 at 7 p.m., Oct. 18 at 2 p.m.

Museum of Jewish Heritage 36 Battery Place In this cinematic concert, Grammy-nominated clarinetist David Krakauer explores the intersection of music and Jewish identity in iconic movies of the last 50 years. Krakauer adds his contemporary style to beloved songs from films ranging from Funny Girl and Fiddler on the Roof to Sophie’s Choice and The Pianist. $35 general admission, $30 for seniors and students, $25 for members and groups of ten or more. MJHnyc.org

ONGOING IN MANHATTAN Spiral Music Every Wednesday Rubin Museum Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the museum’s spiral staircase.

Artists who specialize in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries. Free.

RubinMuseum.org

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September 4–10, 2015 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts PAMELA BERKOVIC

Mathilde Thomas on

How to Live Gracefully in a World of Style and Beauty

T

By Sibylle Eschapasse

his week’s style diary guest, the lovely Mathilde Thomas, is an accomplished woman who knows a great deal about style and beauty.

She is a successful entrepreneur, founder of the skincare company Caudalie, a wife, mother, and bestselling author of “The French Beauty Solution: Time-Tested Secrets to Look and Feel Beautiful Inside and Out.” Sibylle Eschapasse: Describe your style? If a close friend were to describe your personality in three words, what would they be?

Mathilde Thomas: My sense of style is very casual chic. If a friend had to describe me in three words it would be natural beauty junkie.

Ms. Eschapasse: How did your style evolve since you were a teenager? What is the wildest thing you ever wore?

Ms. Thomas: I was an outdoorsy girl raised in nature. I was always in denim hanging out with my dogs. Now I am a city girl who spends her life between Bordeaux, Paris; New York,

Don’t follow fashion trends by the letter.

Mathilde Thomas, entrepreneur and founder of Caudalie

Stone lithographic advertising poster detail, China, Ca. 1920

Mathilde Thomas. and Hong Kong—still in my denim, but with a white silk blouse.

Ms. Eschapasse: How do you dress on workdays versus weekends?

Ms. Thomas: On a workday I’m dressed in a casual chic outfit because I bike to work. It’s usually white pants, navy top, and my Hermès satchel. On the weekends I’m in shorts and a T-shirt on the countryside with my husband and kids.

Ms. Eschapasse: What are three accessories you can’t live without and what’s one item that makes you instantly more confident?

Ms. Thomas: Definitely my Hermès satchel, dinh van silver ring, and a very old leather cuff that I wear every day. One item that makes me instantly more confident is a spritz of Beauty Elixir!

Ms. Eschapasse: Who have been your greatest fashion influences? Who is your style icon?

Ms. Thomas: I am a big fan of Lanvin dresses, tops, and silk pajamas. I love Jason Wu’s silk pants and blouses. My style icon is the very Parisian, Emmanuelle Alt. Ms. Eschapasse: What does having style mean to you? In other words, please define style.

Ms. Thomas: Wearing original, unique pieces that no one else has and that do not follow the typical trend of the season. Style to me is having a graceful silhouette.

Ms. Eschapasse: What is one purchase you’re most proud of? What would you pay a lot of money for, and what would you never pay much money for?

Ms. Thomas: My Lanvin silk cream blouse was a great purchase. I would invest in staple pieces and would not invest in a fad that will go out of style the following season.

Ms. Eschapasse: When you go on the red car-

pet, how do you want your outfit to make you feel? Which designers can achieve that?

Ms. Thomas: Confident. Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jason Wu. Ms. Eschapasse: What do you think of how others dress and what’s your advice to people who would like to develop their personal style?

Ms. Thomas: Know your own body, your strengths, and your weaknesses. Don’t follow fashion trends by the letter. Create your own style.

Mathilde’s Favorites: Favorite color: Caudalie grapevine purple Favorite perfume: Thé Des Vines, the sexiest fragrance on earth Favorite restaurant in NY: ABC Kitchen—it’s green and delicious Favorite drink: Smith Haut Lafitte, red 2009 Favorite movie: “The English Patient” Favorite book: “Le Parfum,” by Patrick Süskind Favorite quote: “Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque. À te regarder, ils s’habitueront.” — René Char [The English goes like this: Create your own luck, embrace happiness and face risks. They will know you when they see you.]

Sibylle Eschapasse is from Paris and now lives in Manhattan. She is a journalist and a contributing writer to various publications. Sibylle is also the author of a children’s book, “Argy Boy a New York Dog Tale.” She may be contacted at Sibylle.Eschapasse@Gmail.com COURTESY OF CAUDALIE

Look into the East At the gallery of Michael Ayervais

Where Asian art comes to life in a magical setting 40 West 25th St. New York #228-229 | 917-623-2571

(L–R) Mathilde Thomas, Liz Kwitman, and Thea Kocher at the Caudalie CityCenterDC boutique launch in Washington.

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September 4–10, 2015 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts WARNER BROS. PICTURES

TONY RIVETTI JR./WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

So What’s the Problem?

None, really. It’s a feel-good movie, what more do you want from it? Well, for it to have been great, it would’ve needed better production value in the details; bad CGI as mentioned, but also the party scene that rips off Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped ground-breaker, “Waking Life.” This has a poor man’s version of that trippy, cartoon-y imagery, meant to visualize for us a PCP state of mind.

But more than all that, it needed an absolute killer soundtrack, with dance music that controlled the movie audience’s entire circulation system.

Film Review

EDM mentee and mentor: Zac Efron as Cole (L) and Wes Bentley as James in “We Are Your Friends.”

A Zac Efron Dee-Jay Dance Party for the iGeneration

By Mark Jackson | Epoch Times Staff “We Are Your Friends” is an iGeneration (the one after millennials) update of the 38-yearold “Saturday Night Fever,” with current tween heartthrob Zac Efron DJing, instead of ‘70s teen heartthrob John Travolta discoing.

Or, since iGens are not familiar with whitesuited Travolta doing the index-finger dance that defined disco-cheese (but was endlessly cool in ‘77)—let’s call “We Are Your Friends” a San Fernando Valley version of “Entourage” with Efron in the Vincent Chase role. Because it’s actually a lot of both.

All Three Movies Have Four Bros So, there are four Valley bros who couldn’t or wouldn’t go to college. DJing wannabe Cole (Efron), actor-wannabe Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), big-deal chaser Mason (Jonny Weston), and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) in the Turtle role from “Entourage,” (and the Bobby C. role in “Saturday Night Fever”).

They party-promote at college campuses, and manage to make that look like a non-desperate, fun thing to do, sort of like one imagines it must have been for Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, skateboarding around, postering neighborhoods for upcoming GNR gigs. Which is already 30 years ago, iGens—time may be speeding up, but cultural America is pretty much as it was in the late-’70s.

Soon we’re at the club the boys shill for (just like Saturday Night’s “2001 Odyssey”) except it’s a Hollywood rave called Social, where young Cole meets Sophie, a stunning Stanford dropout (Emily Ratajkowski). Sparks fly, but it goes nowhere … yet. Then he bumps into the somewhat older James Reed, a star DJ (a hip, bearded Wes Bentley).

Cole and James hit it off, bro up, have a smoke, hit a party. Unbeknownst to Cole, smokin’ Sophie is James’s assistant. Among other things. Can you guess the rest of the movie?

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young DJ By now (via voiceover) Cole has already schooled us about how you gain success in the rarefied atmosphere of world-class DJs like Deadmau5, Skrillex, Tiesto, David Guetta, and Avicii: “All you need is a laptop, some talent, and one track.”

Sure—how hard could it be, right? Tiesto only makes $22 million a year. But Cole’s one track does get him a listen from James, who’s obviously going to mentor him. James throws Cole a DJ bone; a pool-party gig at his Brentwood digs, and as the mentor-mentee relationship progresses, eventually starts prepping him for a DJ debutante ball at a summer music festival.

He Blinded Them With Science It’s at the pool party we get a further lesson in the art of the DJ: working the crowd. “Gotta get ‘em outta their heads and into their bodies,” says Cole. Apparently it’s also a science, all about heartbeats per minute. “You wanna get the crowd’s heart-rate at 120 bpm.”

We learn reggae is 60 bpm, dubstep’s at 70, house music is 110–130, and hardcore’s at 195 bpm (“How do you dance to that?”). So the DJ locks onto to the crowd’s rhythm. “And then, when you get them up to 128—you control the entire circulation system.”

How scary is that? This is actually interesting. It’s got visuals too, which are like bad computer generated imagery on TV’s “Crime Scene Investigation,” (bad CGI on CSI). All accompanied by the demonstrative gyrations of lovely Sophie-who-ditched-Stanford. Which is sort of like a poolside dance version of the airline stewardess instructional spiel. I feel I learned something.

‘We Are Your Friends’ Director: Max Joseph Starring: Zac Efron, Wes Bentley, Emily Ratajkowski, Shiloh Fernandez, Jonny Weston, Alex Shaffer

Zac Efron as dee-jay Cole, controlling the crowd’s heart-rate at 120 bpm, in “We Are Your Friends.”

Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes Release Date: Aug. 28 Rated: R

What’s the Message?

Zac Efron’s the message. Quite the young, wholesome, integrity-projecting, dreamboat movie star. Many young female iGens will pay homage, and will care less about the integrity of director Max Joseph’s portrayal of the EDM milieu—especially the attempt to capture the essence and integrity of true artistry (art in general and DJ art in particular) and prefer to simply bask in Efron’s blonde dreaminess, not to mention Ratajkowski’s brunette version.

More on Artistry There’s a whole bit about finding one’s signature sound by avoiding canned computer ones, and recording real-world things like buddy Mason’s roofing nail-gun and Sophie’s sweater zipper. Which is reminiscent of a description of such “authenticity” in Keith Richards’s autobiography “Life,” about the making of the urRolling Stone hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Richards recorded it on an el-cheapo, dinky cassette deck in the middle of the night (along with a couple hours of him snoring)—his Richard-sian, signature 5-string guitar tuning filtered through a prototype distortion box.

Result? A never before heard original sound, that probably comes very close to what the lust-demon sounds like when it tells you it just can’t ever be satisfied. Which is exactly what Jagger–Richards were going for.

Yep. The boomer generation had James Brown, who begat the funk, without which electronic dance music (EDM) would never have come into existence. Boomers had rock music before it got named “classic,” but iGen’s have dance moves Travolta’s Tony Manero never dreamed of. Still, all the classic muscle cars of the ‘70s—Mustang, Camero, Challenger, Barracuda, and GTO—are all making a comeback. And why is that, iGens? Because American coolness was founded in the boomer ‘60s and ‘70s. Everything else is just iCoolness. But we’ve gotten side-tracked ...

A hipper, grittier movie involving the storytelling of the actual music-making, more along the lines of “Hustle & Flow,” that would have had the audience hitting up iTunes on iPhones immediately following the iCreditroll to download the album—would have been a true iGen summer music-iBlockbuster. But provided you don’t out-and-out hate EDM— and you have tweens—“We Are Your Friends” is good watchin’.

All My Chill Friends Or perhaps “All My Headphones.” Because “We Are Your Friends” is really a big-screen soap opera—all beautiful people, all the time, and how they like to wear very small bathing suits and jump up and down near swimming pools to 128 bpm. And take selfies and wee videos of this jumping about.

You know it’s an iGen film because all the very young-looking people involved are techno-savvy and Instagram-skilled in the showbiz-originated art of self-promotion, with the precocious, institutional cynicism of their warp-speed generation.

Even so, it’s early days yet; it’s still the time in young lives before the true cynicism of having actually tried to make it as an artist in America, for years, on a steady diet of rejection, has set in. There’s still a sweet naiveté at work here, with everyone hustling and following their bliss, at various points working the kind of tempting, lucrative day job (read morally reprehensible widow-bilking mortgage company) that can shackle all but the most driven artists with “golden handcuffs.”

ANNE MARIE FOX/WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Emily Ratajkowski as Sophie (C), pool-party dancing at 128 heartbeats per minute, in “We Are Your Friends.”

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji: Umezawa Hamlet-fields in Sagami Province (detail) 9 7⁄8 by 14 5⁄8 in., 25 by 37 cm

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September 4–10, 2015 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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An archer from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).

The cultivation of personal bearing is central to the Chinese worldview in general.

Image of Emperor Yongzheng by anonymous court artists (1723—1735).

Shape Up Your Posture the Chinese Way

By Leo Timm | Epoch Times Staff The ancient Chinese, like modern psychologists and physicians, regarded good posture as a key to maintaining physical vigor and spiritual health. According to traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy, your stance and gait play not only a significant physical role, but reflect your inner character as well. Hence the Chinese proverb: Stand like a pine, sit like a bell, walk like the wind, lie like a bow.

When it came to education, the Chinese ran a tight ship. Children were educated not just in technical or theoretical knowledge, but made to exercise self-discipline and propriety, which would manifest in their everyday speech and behavior.

Core philosophical and instructional texts such as the “Book of Rites” and “Standards for Being a Good Student and Child” instructed Chinese for centuries and millennia on proper

posture as well as ethics, morality, and manners. This cultivation of personal bearing is central to the Chinese worldview in general, which primarily strives first for spiritual excellence and then material achievement as the natural result. Let’s see how this factored into their views on posture.

Stand Like a Pine People spend much of their active time upright, so this part of the proverb rightly comes first.

In Confucian scholarly tradition, standing tall like the majestic pine tree implies not simply being straight, but that one possesses a strong moral foundation. Standing firmly as though rooted in the earth, keeping the neck and shoulders extended skyward is not only good for the internal organs and keeping the abdominal area in shape, but also denotes a righteous confidence.

Chiang Kai-shek, military leader of China

In Confucian scholarly tradition, standing tall like the majestic pine tree implies that one also possesses a strong moral foundation.

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Scholar Under Under Pine Pine Tree Tree Scholar

Sit like Emperor Kangxi at his desk.

during World War II, was known for his ramrod-straight back and diligent living habits that helped him pull the country together in one of the darkest times of its history.

Through Chinese medicine, it was common knowledge that being hunchbacked places undue stress on the stomach, intestines, and spine; the ancients summed up these postureinduced ailments as being the manifestation of bad qi distribution caused by slouching.

There are many exercises for good posture, as well as simple and effective habits you can develop and use regularly. Standing straight in one place for five minutes a day can do wonders for your spine in the long run. When you get a phone call, find a wall and put your back and shoulders to it to practice getting that pine tree right.

Sit Like a Bell Good posture was about maintaining bearing and physical focus. Getting too comfortable and slouching into the fluff of a couch, armchair, or mattress means not developing that focus or letting it stagnate.

For the ancient Chinese, who did not use high-legged chairs until the 12th century, sitting or kneeling on mats was the norm. The conversations between Confucius and his disciples were conducted from the ground, with those who wished to speak rising respectfully from their positions.

Kneeling on the heels, according to Chinese medicine, helps stimulate the tendons around the knees, and keeps arthritis at bay. Furthermore, kneeling encourages a straight back and helps open a vital qi pass that assists proper functioning of the stomach, spleen, and liver.

It’s not realistic to throw out the chairs and turn them into firewood, but there are still ways of retaining good posture. If you sit only on the edge of the chair, as Chinese in the last few centuries did, you actively remind yourself to maintain balance and keep your back upright.

While the analogy of sitting like a bell may not be obvious to the uninitiated, the logic is sound on both a physical and spiritual level.

Chinese religious traditions included static, cross-legged meditation; mastery of these techniques requires both a strong torsal core and the ability to enter a mental state of tranquility. Sitting meditatively implies having reached a relaxed yet firm composure—like a bell—which has natural strength even as an empty object.

Walk like the Wind Move with decision, and carry yourself with purpose. According to ancient Daoist teachings, by emptying oneself of distractions, one would be able to open the requisite qi channels and walk effortlessly, with natural poise and confidence.

Lie Like a Bow The Chinese even had standards when it came to sleep. Confucius taught that lying on the back was for the dead. People should maintain good resting form, like a bow, with the joints bent in relaxation. Lying on one’s side meant maintaining some semblance of the upright pose exercised during the day. According to ancient doctors, sleeping on the side is also beneficial for optimal qi flow that would be otherwise stifled by lying on the stomach or back.

Traditional Chinese beds were either mats on the ground or relatively hard surfaces, like the “kang,” a flat brick oven. Popular in northern China, the bricks, preheated during the day, made for a hard yet cozy bed in the harsh winter.

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September 4–10, 2015 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts

Introduction to a Series

The Classics: Looking Back, Looking Forward

By Sharon Kilarski | Epoch Times Staff t the end of the 19th century, following the emergence of technological invention, surging cities, and thinkers like Darwin, Freud, and Marx, disruptive rumblings—foreshocks— shook the world of the Western arts.

By the 1920s, the philosophical and aesthetic earthquake of modernism had separated artists from their artistic forebears. Impressionism made clear that art was a self-conscious act; the “-isms” that followed became increasingly abstract. Musi-

cal composition meandered from harmony; literature no longer presented reliable narratives; and dance, theater, and even opera distanced themselves from straightforward storytelling.

Fine art, literature, music, theater, and dance turned to innovation as a primary aesthetic creed and Ezra Pound’s “Make it new” defined the movement.

The arts suffered a major aftershock in the 1960s when feminists and minority voices, long underrepresented, surfaced. The healthy influx of voices revitalized the performing, visual, and literary arts, but further sepa-

rated art from its roots.

Today, that rift may be closing a bit. Classical music blogs are offering complete works rather than snippets; opera singers like Joyce DiDonato are reinvigorating the public’s appetite for baroque music; the Atelier movement in New York is re-exploring representational painting; and Mark Rylance, the first artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, is captivating audiences with spectacular all-male productions of Shakespeare, to list a few examples.

But the more than 100-year disruption to the arts of the past provokes questions: Are

ZANE WILLIAMS

the classics worth holding on to? Do they have a place today?

In keeping with our mission to promote that which uplifts humankind, Epoch Times finds these questions vital.

This series of articles asks practitioners of the classical arts—actors, musicians, singers, writers, dancers, painters—as well as those associated with the arts—curators, galleries owners, producers, educators—to respond to why they think the texts, forms, and methods of the classics are worth keeping and why they continue to look to the past for that which inspires and speaks to us.

APT STOCK PHOTO

(Left) Cellist Alicia Storin accompanies Jim DeVita in the one-man play “An Iliad.” DeVita believes classics are not only relevant but vital to our welfare.

(Right) American Players Theatre Education Director and actor David Daniel (L) leads a high school workshop.

Actor Jim DeVita: ‘We Need to Talk’

By Sharon Kilarski | Epoch Times Staff For Jim DeVita, an actor, director, and playwright, the classics grant us a sophisticated language with which to discuss complex ideas vital to our welfare.

“We need complex language to communicate ideas so that we can make changes in our lives, our culture, and so that we can live fully. We need vivid language. It gives us a vocabulary to communicate what’s in our hearts,” he said in a phone interview on June 27.

The actor first fell in love with language—a love that turned into a long marriage—through a life-changing moment.

Although classical theater repertoire has been his bread and butter for a good part of nearly 30 years, he considers himself a bluecollar kind of guy. He flunked out of community college twice and spent five years as a Long Island fisherman.

“I didn’t like Shakespeare. It made me feel dumb. It was beyond me,” he said.

During his third stab at college, he attended Ian McKellen’s one-man performance, “Acting Shakespeare,” when it toured New York in 1983. Upon hearing the great Shakespearean actor, suddenly the language opened up and flowered for DeVita.

“You didn’t have to be a Ph.D. to understand it. It was accessible,” he said. “I didn’t get every word, but the metaphors I was getting, and I was attracted to that,” he said. “It was a real hook.”

Not only did DeVita finally get it, but he also remembered thinking, “I want to do that,” and the next part of his trek became “how do I do that?”

DeVita eventually chronicled his journey to master the acting craft in a funny, touching one-man piece, “In Acting Shakespeare,” loosely based on McKellen’s show. It was so successfully received that DeVita took the performance to New York in 2013.

That hook of understanding difficult text became deeply embedded in DeVita. Not only did it pull him toward acting, it became his professional goal and labor to make Shakespeare accessible to others. He has worked at a classical repertory theater, American Players Theatre (APT), in Spring Green, Wisconsin, for most of his career.

Classics Challenge Us DeVita understands that, inevitably, some will dislike certain classic texts or certain authors.

Not everyone will enjoy Shakespeare, for example. He himself doesn’t enjoy all cultural icons.

“I don’t like Wagner,” he said.

But he feels that artists have been partly responsible for the general disenchantment with the classics. If a performance leaves an

We need vivid language.

It gives us a vocabulary to communicate what’s in our hearts.

Jim DeVita, actor, director, and playwright

ZANE WILLIAMS

In “An Iliad” Jim DeVita plays a professor, talking to the audience as though he were teaching a class.

audience mystified, it can have the unintended effect of eliciting a feeling of stupidity.

“I’ve seen some amazingly beautiful performances of Shakespeare—beautiful in a visual sense—but audiences walk away from these performances understanding little of what they’re hearing. They don’t take away much and are left with a negative feeling.”

DeVita believes that it is the artist’s responsibility to clarify difficult texts: “It’s my fault if you don’t get it.”

As much as Shakespeare is a challenge to watch, it is even more demanding to perform.

It takes a good deal of training to make sense of and transmit Shakespearean language. Even in the fundamental task of speaking extraordinarily long sentences, certain rhetorical skills are necessary.

“I know some wonderful actors who get lost” in Shakespeare, he said, because they lack the training.

DeVita has spent a lifetime working on those skills and is always learning more. He’s performed some roles three or four times and finds each bout challenging.

But the challenge is worth it—even in practical terms. APT holds theater camp for high school students every summer and also takes theater into the classrooms. He’s seen the effect on young people exposed to the classics and to their heightened language. Students gain skills in writing and thinking and in understanding images and metaphors.

Re-engaging in the Conversation DeVita is currently appearing in the one-man play “An Iliad” by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare for APT. The play’s conceit is that the Poet is doomed by the gods to tell the story of the Trojan War until humans stop going to war. The Poet has not been very successful, DeVita explained.

With a healthy mix of topical prose and Homer’s poetry, war’s impact is shown through Homer’s graphic imagery, which reveals every facet of wartime experience: It shows bravery but also cowardice, abject weariness, and brutish barbarism. It shows “what happens to us when it comes down to survival.”

The play also tries to show the Greek and Trojan heroes as real people. Achilles and Hector, for example, are depicted as fathers, as brothers, and as friends. It tries to make the audience see that soldiers killed are just boys, much like the teenage boy from Nebraska who might be sitting in the theater seat next to them.

DeVita has played the role before in the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s large 700-seat theater. In order to fill the large auditorium, the director decided that the Poet should be played as someone who could have walked out of any war, and the audience’s role was to

watch as the Poet re-imagined the experiences.

The audience acted as witnesses.

In the current production, because of the intimacy of the 200-seat Touchstone Theatre, the director chose to involve and re-engage the audience in the discussion about war. Instead of a soldier, DeVita plays the Poet as a classics professor, and the evening becomes an intimate conversation with the audience. The feeling generated is the professor saying to the audience, “I need you to go through this with me.”

“The Poet is close enough to look an audience member right in the eye and ask him: ‘Can you believe we’ve been doing this and keep doing this?’

“It’s a play about war—not an anti-war play— but a play that demands we discuss it,” he said.

This is an important question. Some plays are only for fun, for their humor, but some plays ask audiences to think about questions of vital importance and demand: “We need to talk about this.”

The Classics Are Relevant Revisiting classics re-engages us in a discussion, which has been circulating for ages.

After working for so many years on classic texts, DeVita concludes that the nature of our situation may change for the better or for the worse, but our basic humanity does not.

“It’s breathtaking how similar the ancients were to us—across borders, throughout time— we have not changed,” he said.

For this reason he believes that it’s unnecessary to try to make an old, classic text relevant.

“It is relevant. A text doesn’t last 400 years if it’s not relevant. It doesn’t last 2,500 years.”

DeVita goes on to explain: “It’s certainly not only the ancient texts that inquire into these deeper questions and provoke thought. What fascinates me about the ancient texts is just how long we have been asking ourselves the same questions and provoking the same thoughts: Free will? God? Destiny? Fate? Goodness? Evil?

Abuse of power? Forgiveness? War? “There is something very powerful in the knowledge of our shared humanity—how unoriginal we actually are. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense, I actually find it kind of freeing.

“The physical world around has changed enormously over the past centuries, but humankind has not. Those Greek audience members sitting in an amphitheater 3,000 years ago were wrestling with the exact same unanswerable questions we still wrestle with today.

“We have been doing so ever since humankind first learned to communicate with each other. We are still writing about them, and we still gather to listen to these stories.”

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September 4–10, 2015 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts KEN HOWARD/METROPOLITAN OPERA

KRISTIAN SCHULLER/ METROPOLITAN OPERA

Fall Season at the

MET Radvanovsky and More A scene from Act 1 of Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena.”

Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role of Verdi’s “Otello.”

By Barry Bassis The Metropolitan Opera is opening its season with Verdi’s “Otello.” Although it has been staged here for over a century, there will be one difference: The title character will not appear with dark makeup. The events of recent months, especially the mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, and the protests about the Confederate flag, have had an impact.

While no one who saw Plácido Domingo or Jon Vickers play the Moor of Venice would mistake it for minstrelsy, still seeing Caucasian actors in blackface evokes a painful part of our history. Banishing the practice is sensible.

The opera will undoubtedly retain its dramatic and musical clout: The title role will be played by tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, who was an intense Don José in “Carmen” last season.

Soprano Sonya Yoncheva, Desdemona in the production, had one of those star-is-born experiences last season. The Met contacted her at her home in Switzerland only weeks after she had given birth to her son. She was asked to fill in for the lead in “La Bohème,” and so she quickly learned the role, and traveled to New York. She received rave reviews. Baritone Zeljko Lucic (an expert at playing heavies) is Iago.

Director Bartlett Sher is moving the action to the late 19th century, and Yannick NézetSéguin will conduct.

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is one of the select group of opera singers who can make bel canto into high drama. Like Callas in her prime, Radvanovsky can handle the technical demands of this florid music and at the same time bring the characters to life. The Met is giving her a rare challenge: to portray all three of Donizetti’s Tudor queen operas in the same season.

The first will be “Anna Bolena” (starting on Sept. 26) in which Radvanovsky will be the title character. In the tragic opera based on English history, Anne Boleyn is executed after Henry VIII rejects her in favor of her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. These are the events dealt with on Broadway last season in the two-part “Wolf Hall.” Since this is a 19th century Italian opera, the heroine gets to sing a mad scene.

When Radvanovsky performed this role last December in Chicago, John von Rhein wrote in the Chicago Tribune, “The visceral quality of Radvanovsky’s vocally compelling and dramatically affecting performance was just the ticket to send sparks flying in the coloratura stratosphere.”

The rest of the cast is also first-rate. Bass Ildar Abdrazakov is King Henry VIII, mezzosoprano Jamie Barton is Jane Seymour (the king’s consort), and tenor Stephen Costello plays the queen’s love interest. Sir David McVicar directs, and Marco Armiliato is the conductor. This opera will be followed by “Maria Stuarda” (about Mary, Queen of Scots) and in the spring by “Roberto Devereux.”

Alban Berg’s “Lulu” will return to the Met in a new production, directed by South African artist and director William Kentridge. His distinctive vision for the opera utilizes drawings and video projections. Met Music Director James Levine will conduct, and soprano Marlis Petersen will portray Wedekind’s perverse teenager. The cast also includes Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, and Johan Reuter.

Lovers of Wagner will have a chance to see “Tannhäuser,” last performed at the Met more than 10 years ago. James Levine will conduct, and tenor Johan Botha will take on the role of the minstrel knight.

Eva-Maria Westbroek will be the virginal Elisabeth, Peter Mattei will be Wolfram, and Michelle DeYoung will be the love goddess, Venus.

Michael Mayer’s eye-catching production of

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is one of the select group of opera singers who can make bel canto into high drama.

Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” set in 1960 in a Las Vegas casino, will return with intriguing casts. Baritones George Gagnidze and Zeljko Lucic will alternate as the title character, here presented as a sort of Don Rickles type of comic. Tenors Piotr Beczala and Stephen Costello alternate as the Duke of Mantua. Soprano Olga Peretyatko, who made an acclaimed Met debut in “I Puritani,” is Gilda, Rigoletto’s innocent daughter who is kidnapped and seduced by the amoral duke. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts.

David McVicar’s production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” will be back with a terrific cast: soprano Anna Netrebko as Leonora, tenor Yonghoon Lee as Manrico (alternating in the role with Antonello Palombi and Marcello Giordani), baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the Count di Luna, and mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as the Gypsy, Azucena. Angela Meade sings Leonora in later performances and Marco Armiliato will conduct.

No opera season is complete without Puccini, and this one is no exception. “Tosca” will be portrayed by four different sopranos: Oksana Dyka, Angela Gheorghiu, Maria Guleghina, and Liudmyla Monastyrska. Tenors Massimo Giordano, Marcello Giordani, and Roberto Aronica will play Cavaradossi. Zeljko Lucic and George Gagnidze are the baritones portraying the evil police chief Scarpia. Plácido Domingo, who often appeared as Cavaradossi, conducts.

Unlike the Met’s “Tosca,” “Turandot” wisely retains Franco Zeffirelli’s glittering production.

Again, opera fans will be able to choose from a selection of singers. Dramatic sopranos Christine Goerke, Lise Lindstrom, Jennifer Wilson, and Nina Stemme will take on the daunting title role. Tenors Marcelo Álvarez, Yusif Eyvazov, and Marco Berti will be Calàf, the prince who is determined to win the princess’s hand in marriage, even at the cost of his life. Paolo Carignani conducts.

Barry Bassis has been a music, theater, and travel writer for over a decade for various publications.

KRISTIAN SCHULLER/ METROPOLITAN OPERA

Marlis Petersen as Lulu in the opera by that name.

KEN HOWARD/METROPOLITAN OPERA

A scene from Act I of Michael Mayer’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”

KEN HOWARD/METROPOLITAN OPERA

A scene from Puccini’s “Turandot.”