Getting to know Jane

Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre ballet arrives in Chicago tomorrow and several local newspapers are looking forward to it.

Cathy Marston’s technique is different than most choreography. In her adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s 19th century novel “Jane Eyre,” the choreographer says she creates movement based on quotes taken directly from the novel.
“I really draw inspiration from words and translate them into movement so that every movement you will see on stage has a very specific meaning and intention,” Marston said. “When I’m creating with dancers, the movement comes from inside and uses classical technique. You see that. But all of the movement is about the intention rather than about the technique. The technique is only there to underpin the emotion or the narrative the dancers are trying to express.” [...]
“Playing Jane has been about finding the person that she is,” [lead dancer Amanda Assucena] said. “She’s such a complex character. Her mind expands to so many different thoughts. There’s so much going on in her head, but on the outside, she’s quite a composed person. So I’ve had to play with that a lot and I’m really enjoying the process of getting to know Jane.”
With the Chicago Philharmonic playing a combination of Fanny Mendelsohn and Schubert, Marston says its timely but contemporary feel adds to the emotions she works to capture throughout the story.
It is Marston’s ability to tell this story through movement based on literature that encouraged artistic director Ashley Wheater to invite her to work with the company.
“She’s using the language of ballet, but it’s also hybridized,” Wheater said. “So I think you could say it’s really like theater. And how she has told the story is so beautifully crafted. I was really compelled by the work.”
While acting may be something the company is used to, it also comes with challenges that Marston says are for the better.
“It’s challenging for the dancers but in a good way,” she said. “Who doesn’t want to live on stage so vividly? They’ve really connected with that process. It’s an emotional ride for them. They will be changed at the end of the evening. I hope that will pass over the stage to the audience.” (Angel Idowu on WTTW)

New City Stage interviews Ashley Wheater, the artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet.

What first interested you in bringing “Jane Eyre” to the Joffrey? I think the question is what first interested me in Cathy Marston. I’ve known about Cathy for a long time; she’s worked all over the world. I wrote her and said I’d love to meet her and talk to her. I met her in London, I found her hugely engaging, so smart and incredibly gifted. We both went to the opening of “Jane Eyre” in London. I think the thing that’s remarkable about Cathy is she works in the classical vernacular, she is so incredibly passionate about literature and telling stories. Telling narrative work is not easy; you have to have a structure and a craft to take words off a page and turn them into dance. Once I saw “Jane Eyre” I knew I wanted to bring it to Chicago. It was required reading when I was growing up. I think Americans have a passion for “Jane Eyre” as do the British. (Sharon Hoyer)

History Workshop discusses the representation of women writers in the Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey in London.

No fewer than 91% of the writers, dramatists and poets remembered in Poets’ Corner are men. There are just six women writers commemorated: the Brontë sisters (3 for 1), Fanny Burney, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell and Jane Austen. Many significant women are missing from this list of 19th-century greats, including the writer and social reformer, Harriet Martineau. (Fay Alberti)

According to SheKnows, you should 'Be Using Gender-Neutral Language With Your Kids'.

First. Despite the assertions of grammar sticklers and mansplainers, language is messy, mushy and never completely baked. It’s less of an item with defined boundaries and more of a Brontë-esque foggy morass. Which is what makes it so great! It’s fluid — like gender! (A.M. O’Connor)

Even if the message is correct, discussing gender neutrality on a site called 'She Knows' is ironic to say the least. 

The Telegraph India tries to find out what the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics winners, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, are really like.

Abhijit is a classic Bengali - a renaissance man who makes documentaries, is eloquent and talkative about the differences between the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen, and who sends me the most wonderful playlists of Hindustani music which he knows a great deal about. (Chiki Sarkar)

Book Riot has an article on fan fiction and looks into its origins.

As Lev Grossman writes in fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea comes from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, while Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead tells the stories of two side characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Sherlock Holmes has continued to be popular in fan fiction, with authors from J.M. Barrie to Anthony Horowitz dreaming up adventures for the famous detective. (Rachel Rosenberg)

And what about the young Brontës and their juvenilia?

Bustle recommends '11 Creepy Retellings Of Classic Tales [that] Are Perfect For Spooky Season', except their Brontë-related recommendation comes with a blunder:

'If You Love 'Jane Eyre', Read 'Jane Steele' by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows
In this Gothic adventure, all is not as it seems. A certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Brontë, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights. (Kerri Jarema)

Jane Steele was written by Lyndsay Faye, while Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows actually wrote My Plain Jane.

An alternative plan for Halloween on Real Homes:

Sitting in the dark, scoffing the sweets you bought for trick-or-treaters and reading Wuthering Heights is still kindddd of getting in the spirit. It's not called a holiday for nothing! (Niamh Quinn)

The Eyre Guide posts about Charlotte Brontë's story Albion and Marina. We are hoping for a lengthy account of the event, but in the meantime, do check the Twitter hashtag #BronteLister for details about yesterday's conference.