Wednesday's Art Notes

_Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancer Linda Celeste Sims performs an excerpt from the piece 'Cry' during the first White House Dance Series in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. The dance event was a tribute to "Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater":http://www.alvinailey.org/ Artistic Director Judith Jamison, a famous modern dancer, choreographer and Alvin Ailey's muse for the piece 'Cry.' Photo by Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images_ Read more about Tuesday's White House performances and workshops via "The Washington Post":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090706730.html. * Richard M. Daley's announcement that he would be retiring as mayor of Chicago has the Chicago Tribune "considering":http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2010/09/mayor-daley-and-the-arts-daley-leaves-behind-a-cultural-capital-built-with-passion.html the major cultural ramifications of his legacy and leave-taking. * The U.S. returned several hundred more looted artifacts to Iraq, via the "Associated Press":http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9I344LG2. * Scientists at McGill University have come up with a new technique to identify the chemical composition of paints by analyzing the sounds they emit, via "Scientific American":http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=sounds-like-art-fraud-acoustic-wave-2010-09-04. * Conductor Seiji Ozawa "talked":http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/arts/music/09ozawa.html to the New York Times about his experience of being treated for esophageal cancer.