• A ballerina in Australia floats across the dining room floor in a hijab. Another leaps in the air on a rooftop in the Philippines, while still another showcases her intricate footwork in her backyard in the United States. Wearing tutus or tank tops, bowing to kitchen stoves or trees blowing in the wind, 32 dancers from 14 countries strapped on their toe shoes to perform a dance for a virtual audience to benefit the struggling dance community. "It really felt like an opportunity to bring the dance world together and to really bring our forces together. And I felt like we could have more impact that way," said Misty Copeland, who is the first dancer featured in the video and came up with the initiative with her former colleague, Joseph Phillips. Swans for Relief is designed to raise funds for dancers all over the world who have lost their jobs after ballet performances, like most public events, were shut down for social-distancing requirements during the coronavirus pandemic. The 32 ballerinas in the compilation video represent companies from all over the globe, including China, Russia, Europe, Cuba, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. The video, released Wednesday, shows each dancer at home performing the iconic steps from "Dying Swan" -- set to Le Cygne (The Swan), from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens -- performed by cellist Wade Davis. Copeland partnered with the Entertainment Industry Foundation, with seed funding provided by K Period Media, to start the program. A $500,000 goal has been set to help ballet dancers maintain their living expenses because so many ballet companies and venues are closed.
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• Celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning will take part in chapter-by-chapter readings of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book. Rowling's Wizarding World announced Tuesday on Twitter that all 17 chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will be read in a series of free videos and audio recordings. The readings of the beloved fantasy story is part of the Harry Potter at Home series. Stephen Fry, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni and Eddie Redmayne also are expected to narrate chapters. Radcliffe, who starred as Harry Potter in the films, kicked off the series. He read the first chapter "The Boy Who Lived," which is posted on harrypotterathome.com. Other videos will be posted weekly on the website. Audio-only versions will be available for free on Spotify.
A Section on 05/07/2020