Friday's Art Notes

_Visitors walk by 'Cultural Traffic' a creation by US artist Teddy Crin in the "MAXXI":http://www.maxxi.beniculturali.it/english/museo.htm, Italy's first national museum of contemporary art designed by Iraqi architect "Zaha Hadid":http://www.zaha-hadid.com/, during a press-day preview in Rome on May 27, 2010. The MAAXI will open its doors to the public on May 30. Photo by Albert Pizzoli/ AFP/ Getty Images_ Read more about the new museum at "CBC":http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2010/05/27/contemporary-art-museum.html, and about its rivalry with Rome's other contemporary art museum "MACRO":http://www.macro.roma.museum/, via the "Independent":http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/clash-of-the-contemporary-art-titans-in-rome-1985367.html. * A bomb that was planted at a dance performance at a cultural center in southern Russia has killed at least seven people, via the "Christian Science Monitor":http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2010/0527/Russia-terror-attack-kills-six-wounds-dozens-in-North-Caucasus. * "Siphiwo Ntshebe":http://www.siphiwo.org/, the tenor known as "the black Pavarotti" who had been asked to perform at the opening of the World Cup in Johannesburg, died Tuesday of meningitis at the age of 34, via the "Guardian":http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/26/siphiwo-ntshebe-dies. * Budget problems for the Seattle Museum of Art have led the institution to plan a two-week closure next year and make job cuts, via the "Seattle Times":http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011962495_sam27m.html. * Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is starting her own recording label, via the "Associated Press":http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isicnHybNZy4iYSm7xqQIdy38u6gD9FVC1GG0. Her first signed artist will be a 12-year old YouTube star named "Greyson Chance":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is. * George Balanchine's last ballerina, "Darcy Kistler":http://www.sab.org/school/faculty.php?fid=5, will retire next month, via the "Wall Street Journal":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266940794039822.html **Here's an excerpt from the documentary, "Dancing for Mr. B" -- Kistler is the first interview in the clip:**