Circus reopens in Turkmenistan, but ballet still banned

April 26th, 2010

The circus has finally returned to Ashgabat after a nine-year long absence, following the legacy of previous President Niyazov, who banned the cinema, opera, ballet, lip-synching, gold teeth, long hair and beards for men, as well as renaming all the days of the week and month after members of his family. On Friday, the first circus show was attended by current President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as well as 1,500 children. Berdymukhamedov has reversed nearly all the bans, except for ballet, which was originally outlawed as the “scantily clad women offended Turkmen morality”.

BBC condemned for pulling “pregnant nun” ballet

December 17th, 2009

The BBC has come under fire for pulling sections of the Sergei Diaghilev ballet from its Christmas television schedule after discovering it featured a deformed Pope who rapes nuns. BBC4 was due to show Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez in a pre-watershed slot over Christmas. The shows producer Javier de Frutos has hit back saying he believes the decision is “silly as well as dangerous”. Composer Thomas Adès added: “To pull it from the programme is a shocking, terrible mistake, and shows a disgraceful, pathetic and worrying loss of nerve on the part of the BBC.” Read more here