BECAUSE of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Ballet Philippines’ 51st season was met with the unexpected shift to showcasing and teaching ballet online last year. It was, by all accounts, a successful transition. The ballet company’s digital presence continues this year with the closing of the company’s 51st season and the opening of the 52nd. 

FILIPINO painter Ronald Ventura’s acrylic and oil painting Party Animal (2017) sold for HK$19,450,000 (P120,442,529) at Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale on May 24. This was far above the work’s pre-sale estimate of between HK$800,000 to HK$1,200,000.

THE HONG Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has rolled out the Arts in Hong Kong campaign to promote a series of major events, in both physical and digital format, organized by fair organizers and cultural institutions around town.

BEHIND a successful song or dance is the collaboration of a group of artists. Each member brings an integral element to what makes a creative output stand out. This collaboration will be put to the test in TV5’s new talent search, PoPinoy, which premieres in June.

LOS ANGELES — You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from studio executives across Hollywood. After a brutal year and change for the movie theater business, the North American box office is finally showing signs of life again.

WASHINGTON —  Gavin MacLeod, who played a wise-cracking news writer on the classic 1970s US sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the hospitable cruise ship captain on The Love Boat, died on Saturday aged 90.

MOSCOW — Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday warned Walt Disney Co. against distributing content it said was harmful to children in Russia with its release of a short film, Out, which features a gay main character.

NEW YORK — Mary J. Blige has nine Grammy Awards, eight multi-platinum albums, two Academy Award nominations, and now, the singer songwriter has a plaque on the Apollo Theater’s Walk of Fame. Blige, also known as the queen of hip-hop soul with millions of fans across the globe, was inducted into the Walk of Fame on Friday just outside the legendary theater in Harlem.

TO CELEBRATE the birth centenary of Spanish filmmaker Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010), Instituto Cervantes de Manila is presenting the online film series, “Berlanga Turns 100,” this month.

THE CELEBRITY favorite Patek Philippe Aquanaut (the two living members of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, have been photographed wearing them) is getting a retouch.

AUSTRALIAN Fashion Week, which starts this week, is touting itself as one of the first live fashion shows since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began. Runway shows will feature labels Romance Was Born and Zimmermann as well as younger designers.

BIG, black, beautiful, and very, very, smart: we’re not talking about an ideal mate, but Tudor’s new Black Ceramic Bay.