THE MAGAZINE
From London With Love: The King of Vogue
A new exhibition is up at London’s National Portrait Gallery: Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World. Step inside the gallery to see how Beaton went from a war photographer to set and stage designer to the King of Vogue. Crisp, direct, and slightly cynical, this is your guide to the latest happenings in London.
Danae Venson, Composer and Graduate, The Juilliard School: “Words were failing to describe what I felt, so I began to teach myself how to write music.”
Danae Venson’s music begins where language fails—shaped by jazz, gospel, classical tradition, and the vivid colours of her synesthesia. In this conversation with TWoA, the Juilliard-trained composer reflects on her artistic beginnings, composing through trauma, and discovering a musical vocabulary entirely her own. Read on to discover how she’s shaping the music she always longed to hear.
A Tale of Autumn
Ever felt inspired by autumn? Good. So were Osslund, Tchaikovsky, and Rohmer, among many others. Read this article to find out how the season appears in art, music, and film, and why its briefness makes artists notice things they ignore the rest of the year.
Furnishing a Woman’s Mind: Isamu Noguchi’s Vision for Martha Graham’s Stage Worlds
It was in the artistic milieu of Greenwich Village that Modern Dance icon Martha Graham met Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), the Japanese-American sculptor who would become her longtime collaborator. Read on to find out more.
From New York With Love: Halloween
Halloween in New York carries its own kind of theatre—costumes, orchestras, and a city that refuses to do anything halfway. This letter moves from childhood memories to a live screening of Psycho, where Herrmann’s strings cut through the hall as sharply as Hitchcock’s edits. Read it now and enjoy some Halloween vibes from NYC.
From New York With Love: Connecting With People
Autumn shows up in New York not on the sidewalks, but in the seats of City Center, where Fall for Dance turns a single evening into a study in how people meet. TWoA follows the night from a pre-show class to the final curtain, watching dancers and audiences negotiate rhythm, effort, and each other. Read this article for a City Letter about connection in its simplest, most unguarded forms.
The Killer History Can’t Escape: How a 300-year-old Outlaw Became an Internet Meme
History doesn’t always retire its characters. Sometimes it just changes their stage. This piece follows a 300-year-old outlaw as he slips from London’s theatres to Berlin’s cabarets, Broadway’s brass, late-night advertising, and finally the strange churn of internet culture. Read this article to see how Macheath survived each era—and why his grin keeps returning.
What a Farm Wife Painted: On Grandma Moses, the Pioneer of American Primitivism
Seventy-eight may seem like a late start. But for Grandma Moses, it was the beginning of a prolific career as an artist. Read the article to find out how she went from a farm wife to one of Americas most prolific primitive painters.
Étoile: What Does it Mean to Put Dance on Screen?
Television keeps trying to bottle the world of ballet, and most attempts slip through the frame. In this article, TWoA looks at Étoile and why a series filled with extraordinary dancers still couldn’t capture movement, risk, or the pulse that keeps artists glued to old rehearsal clips. Read on for a clear look at what televised dance needs—and why so few shows manage it.
From Berlin With Love: Gods and Dogs
Berlin’s Festival of Lights floods the city with colour, but inside the Staatsoper the evening turns darker, sharper, and more human. In this article, TWoA follows a night with Staatsballett Berlin as Kylián’s Gods and Dogs and Crystal Pite’s Angels’ Atlas trace loneliness, community, and the uneasy politics humming beneath the surface. Read on for more.
Anastasia Cheplyansky, Dutch National Ballet: “Studying While Dancing Brought a Lot of Balance Into My Life.”
Balancing a dance career with an academic degree sounds impossible until you hear Anastasia Cheplyansky explain how she did both. In this article, TWoA looks at her path from Atlanta Ballet to Dutch National Ballet, and how studying psychology reshaped her approach to training, pressure, and performance.
A Murderous Artist Pardoned by the Pope: Benvenuto Cellini and the Art of Punishment
Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini was an award-winning goldsmith and sculptor lauded by Pope Clement VII—and also a man who killed more than once. He supposedly decapitated his brother’s murderer and stabbed his rival Pompeo de Capitaneis to death. Did he receive the punishment he deserved? No. Read on to find out why.
Minimalist Music: The Joy of Repetition
Minimalist music sounds simple until you learn how to listen to it. In this article, TWoA looks at why composers like Steve Reich turned repetition into motion, texture, and quiet transformation—and how one piece, Music for 18 Musicians, can change the way you hear your own everyday routines.
Of Fields and Feelings: A Brief History of Landscape Art
For centuries, landscapes were mere backdrops—symbolic, sublime, or decorative. But in the nineteenth century, a revolution took place. Through the Barbizon School and the Impressionists, landscapes captured internal and external reality, sealing transitory beams of light, atmosphere, and sensation into eternity. Read the article to find out more.
A Life in Dance: Back to School Book Recommendations
As the school year begins, reading lists shift from summer novels to the books that shape a creative life. In this article, TWoA highlights three essential titles—Allegra Kent’s memoir, Twyla Tharp’s creative guide, and The Swans of Harlem—each revealing what it really takes to build a career in dance and the arts.
What is the Music of the Spheres?
The idea that the universe is built on harmony isn’t just poetic—it’s ancient philosophy, from Boethius to Kepler. In this article, TWoA traces how “the music of the spheres” shaped astronomy, theology, and the way we still imagine order in the cosmos. Read on to discover why the universe, in theory, has always been singing.
From London With Love: The Art of the Market
Auctions, galleries, dealers—the art world’s holy trinity. But behind Bond Street’s polished façades lies a performance of sleight, spectacle, and subtle inflation. Read our newest Letter from London to discover what truly happens when masterpieces change hands.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Just Went Live: TwoSet Violin and the Magic of Livestreamed Classical Performances
TwoSet Violin’s livestreamed Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos look nothing like a traditional recital—but their chaotic, global, hyper-interactive audience comes surprisingly close to how people once listened to classical music. Discover how YouTube, live chat, and 50,000 viewers revive a forgotten history of noisy, communal, joy-driven performance.
Guest Artist: Danya Adriana, 17, Malaysia
Seventeen-year-old Malaysian painter Danya Adriana turns heritage, architecture, and city life into bold abstract worlds. Read on to see Malaysia through her eyes.
Ballet Across the Globe: Rudolf Nureyev and the Paris Opera Ballet
Rudolf Nureyev’s tenure at the Paris Opera Ballet didn’t just add new ballets to the repertoire—it transformed the company’s technique, taste, and identity. Read more to see how his directorship reshaped French classicism, expanded the repertory, and forged a generation of dancers who still define the company today.