Daily Archives: September 9, 2022

To see Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe dance is to witness spirits in choreographic motion. Transfixing, his dance is a submission to ritual and technique and a balance between the two. While dance as theatrical performance is naturally a fleeting experience, a Mantsoe showcase leaves a transformative mark.

The legendary, award-winning dancer, choreographer and teacher is being honoured as the 2022 legacy artist for the 24th Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban. The dance festival, hosted by the centre for creative arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), is returning to live programming after two years.

Themed the (im)possibility of home, the festival aims to explore a sense of belonging and how this persists and changes through time through dance offerings that negotiate heritage, culture and identity. Mantsoes story and 30-year dance career is intrinsic to this.

Dance for the France-based Mantsoe is rooted in the spirit world. Born in Soweto in 1971, and later moving to Vosloorus with his family, he comes from a rich lineage of ubungoma. He remembers the everyday ritual of waking up at 4am to beat the drum and greet the ancestors before the family went about their daily lives.

Participating in traditional rituals of song, dance and drumming that his grandmother, his mother and two of his aunts performed as izangoma inspired Mantsoes ethos for dance making. With permission from his family, he later transposed the ceremonial elements of connecting with ancestral spirits for the receipt of knowledge, joy, healing and direction as well as going into states of trance onto stage. Consulting his ancestors is something he does with each creation.

Speaking to Turkish broadcaster TRT World on the delicate approach and grounding process of merging the spiritual with his western training, Mantsoe says, Dance has taught me self-healing because when I dance, I feel completely healed by the process of what Im going through.

You have to be totally open, free and not congest yourself to one identity, which is just the body moving around a space. The body can divide itself into different dimensions. It can expand, yet I can stay grounded and know exactly where I have to go and when to stop. I dance, first and foremost, for my ancestors, he says.

Living through apartheids oppressive disruption of the 1980s, a teenage Mantsoe and his friend, respected dancer-choreographer, Gregory Maqoma, formed the dance group The Joy Dancers. Influenced by African American culture and infusing it with their traditional dance styles, they experimented and danced to escape and stay out of trouble. After seeing an audition notice in the Sowetan newspaper, both Mantsoe and Maqoma joined the Moving Into Dance (MID) company as part of the Schweppes scholarship programme.

Mantsoe joined the company in 1991 and enrolled in the MID community dance teachers training course in 1992 under the mentorship of Sylvia Glasser and the teaching faculty. He was part of the first groups to perform Glassers historic San trance dancing work, Tranceformations, which gave birth to her Afrofusion dance.

Mantsoe created his iconic international award-winning solo Gula for his MID training course end-of-year graduation. Gula, inspired by the pigeons in his grandmothers Soweto back yard, and the subsequent group work Gula Matari, inspired by the 1970 Quincy Jones record of the same name, is now an Afrofusion classic. It won Mantsoe first prize and an international career at the inaugural Dance Encounters of Contemporary African Dance in Luanda, Angola in 1996.

Creating Gula was the beginning of a new chapter, Mantsoe reflects. The idea was to try and transform myself into a bird. What would happen if I did? We were still living through apartheid. Would I find peace, would I find freedom? I found it in how I express myself.

Gula Matari as an ensemble piece was symbolic of collective community which is what it felt like in the townships in those days. If we were going to protest, we were going to protest together. With it I wanted to try and bring Gula Matari the music into my body in conjunction with the bird. The complexity and simplicity of the music is transporting. I wanted to bring myself into a different world. To fly far away, says Mantsoe.

Gula and its imagery is in multiple ways symbolic to Mantsoes story representing personal and creative freedoms, as well as being the metaphor for the trajectory of his life. He was invited with MID to perform his work throughout Africa, Europe, Australia, Canada and Asia.

In his travels, he found essences of home and gained a deep affinity with the cultural ways of the aboriginal people of Australia and the Japanese, whose influences form part of his signature. Standout productions from his rich body of work include the 1995 Afro-Asian Hanano Blessing of the Earth as the first FNB Dance Umbrella Young Choreographers commissioned work and Men-Jaro as the 1996 Standard Bank young artist award winner for dance, among many others.

After performing and receiving awards in France, he moved there and created his French company Association Noa in 2005. He returns home regularly to see his family and perform and continues to collaborate and teach everywhere else his work takes him. Mantsoes geographical divergences, cultural and spiritual connections shape his ideas of home and belonging that resonate with audiences globally. They also give context to the politics of his dance and its activism.

Contemporary dance is neglected so much in South Africa. We are not taken seriously about how much change we bring into society. With my dance and through my cultural, spiritual and traditional modes, I try to tackle who we are as human beings globally, individually and as communities, he says.

The choice to leave South Africa was made through varying emotions. However, my aunt saw it in her visions that I was not going to stay here because I was not meant to be held in chains. Im a global citizen. I maintain two relationships between two homes, bridging the gap between the European mentality that embraces my work and the South African energy that speaks to who I am.

Mantsoe will be presenting his newest work, Koma at Jomba! With it he highlights the notion of sacrifice, especially looking at what young people go through when embarking on rites of passage. He zooms in on the psychological, spiritual and physical sides of initiation.

Jomba! will screen his short dance filmCut (part 1)made during lockdown and his two-year process (2021 and 2022) of working with Durbans Flatfoot Dance Company, as well as the long journey to makingCut (part 2), which will premiere at the festival.

Mantsoe will also present a masterclass. Central to his legacy is the idea of dance as a language of respect.

What is key for me is to have respect for every aspect of movement I bring into my work. Dance for me is about living the maximum possibility of the past and the present. When Im on stage, Im no longer Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe, I represent something larger. I am the past, carrying my ancestors into the present and into the new generation. Understanding and respecting this knowledge is very important. Without tlhompho le botho ba hao (respect and your humanity), youre just a body, Mantsoe says.

Original post:

The healing dance of SAs choreographic shaman - Mail and Guardian

For some reason, the fall has become the favored time of year for jazz festivals both in this region and nationwide. As one colleague at WBGO said, September has replaced June, which used to be the most crowded month for jazz festivals. In some cases, events were shifted from earlier in the year because of the onset of the pandemic, with many of them deciding to stick with the fall season in the ensuing years. Regardless, heres a rundown of the jazz festivals happening during the fall across the country. (Listed in chronological order.)

Back in the Swing Jazz Festival (Old Lyme, CT)September 9-10Lineup: Joey Alexander Trio; Kenny Garrett & Sounds From the Ancestors; Katie Thiroux Trio featuring Melissa Aldana; Jonathan Barbers Vision Ahead Quintet; Sean Nelsons New London Big Band; others

Central Jersey Jazz Festival (Flemington, New Brunswick, Somerville and Metuchen, NJ)September 9-11 Lineup: Marion Cowings featuring AC Lincoln; Cyrus Chestnut; Bobby Sanabria & Ascension; Lezlie Harrison; Lucy Yeghiazaryan; others

Montclair Jazz Festival (Montclair, NJ)September 10Lineup: Christian McBride; Artemis; Monty Alexander; Matthew Whitaker; Danielle Ponder; Immanuel Wilkins; The Cookers; Ozmosys; others

JazzFest White Plains (White Plains, NY)September 14-18Lineup: Joey Alexander Trio; Buster Williams Quartet; Grace Kelly; Ragan Whiteside; Miki Hayama & Richie Goods; Albert Rivera Quintet; others

Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival (Pittsburgh, PA)September 16-18Lineup: Ron Carter Foursight; Stanley Clarke N 4ever; Incognito featuring Maysa Leak; Average White Band; Buster Williams & Something More; Vanisha Gould; Samara Joy; others

Atlantic City Jazz Festival (Atlantic City, NJ)September 17Lineup: Brian Culbertson; Jazmin Ghent; Althea Rene; Jeff Bradshaw; Najee

Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival (Morristown, NJ)September 17Lineup: Bria Skonberg; Frank Vignola; Veronica Lewis; Walter Trout Band; James Langtons New York All-Star Big Band

Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey, CA)September 23-25Lineup: Ranky Tanky; Ravi Coltrane; Artemis; Gregory Porter; Christian Sands; Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour; Julian Lage; Brandee Younger; others

Exit Zero Jazz Festival (Cape May, NJ)September 29 October 2Lineup: Gregory Porter; Angelique Kidjo; Jose James; The Baylor Project; Christian Sands; Orrin Evans; Stacy Kent; Joshua Redman; others

BRIC Jazz Festival (Brooklyn, NY)October 20-22Lineup: Lizz Wright; Joel Ross; Freelance; Jose James; DOMI & JD Beck; Theon Cross; Matthew Whitaker; others

Angel City Jazz Festival (Los Angeles, CA)October 21-23Lineup: Luciana Souza & Vince Mendoza; Marquis Hill; John Escreets Seismic Shift; David Murray Trio; Jonathan Pinsons Boom Clap; Battle Trance; others

James Moody Jazz Festival (Newark, NJ)November 8-20Lineup: Maria Schneider; Christian McBride, Fantasia; Jazzmeia Horn; Dee Dee Bridgewater & Savion Glover; Yellowjackets; others

More:

Fall preview of jazz festivals in the area and beyond - wbgo.org

This article will give you a preview of the Healer Combat Styles proposed changes coming with SWTOR Update 7.1.1. Ive also got a detailed analysis of the changes how they will affect the combat styles, the healing in general; and I also shared some personal thoughts and suggestions for further changes that BioWare should implement.

Table of Contents:

Operatives / Scoundrels reign supreme. They are capable of doing gargantuan amounts of AoE healing by spamming Kolto Injection / Underworld Medicine on themselves to turn it into an AoE heal with the Kolto Burst / Medical Burst ability tree buff.

Mercenaries / Commandos and Sorcerers / Sages can still bring acceptable numbers, but youre not doing your group any favors by taking both of those instead of at least 1 Operative / Scoundrel right now.

Operatives / Scoundrels arent without their limitations. Theyre less flexible than Mercenaries / Commandos and especially Sorcerers / Sages because approximately half their GCDs have to be spent maintaining Kolto Probes / Slow-release Medpacs. If they unexpectedly have to burst heal someone up, they risk letting probes fall off of others, forcing them to spend extra GCDs reapplying them later.

They also dont have much survivability at all, especially in PvE content, even compared to other healers. That said, PvE survivability has been an issue for Operatives / Scoundrels in general for quite a while though and will only finally be fixed for DPS with 7.1.1.

Mercenaries / Commandos are well-rounded and theyre particularly good at offering frequent, reliable, potent burst healing thanks to Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cell. However, Heat / Energy Cell management became harder and less forgiving with the launch of 7.0 because Vent Heat / Recharge Cells and Thermal Sensor Override / Reserve Powercell were combined into a single ability.

Their mobility is also very poorly suited to the new R-4 Anomaly operation where fast, extremely precise movement is preferred. On the other hand, Sorcerer / Sage mobility is incredible. They can travel as far as Mercenaries / Commandos with Force Speed, but while having complete control over where they end up and without having to spend multiple GCDs and while they cant make themselves immune to knockbacks, Phase Walk is almost always able to get the job done.

Sorcerer / Sage healers are truly the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Their flexibility is unparalleled among the healer disciplines. They have multiple options for a given scenario and are rarely locked into doing a specific ability at a specific time like Operatives / Scoundrels are with refreshing probes and Mercenaries / Commandos are with Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cell and somewhat with Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe.

Thanks to their Volt Rush / Telekinetic Blitz build, Sorcerers / Sages also have the easiest time off-DPSing by far and can consistently deal a comparatively high amount of damage while keeping HPS numbers up.

Their biggest, and in my opinion, appropriate drawback is that they arent as strong as other healers in any given category. They have less frequent access to consistent, reliable, potent burst next to Mercenaries / Commandos and considerably weaker AoE healing next to Operatives / Scoundrels.

Source:SWTOR Forums.

Operative / Scoundrel and Mercenary / Commando are getting the biggest changes with Operative / Scoundrel getting a nerf and Mercenary / Commando getting a considerable buff. Sorcerer / Sage is also getting buffed, but the effect is smaller.

Mercenary / Commando healers will be getting nearly a 2% HPS increase. The only heal that isnt buffed by the first change is Kolto Shot / Med Shot. At 22k HPS, this is a 440 HPS increase. Integrated Scanning / Integrated Probes will do the same, so were looking at nearly a 1k HPS increase just from that, and then the 5% increase to critical healing gets us another ~2.3% increase, so were gonna be sitting at about 23.5k HPS for 22k HPS of healing.

The 5% boost to Critical Scanning / Critical Probe will boost the average healing dealt by Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe by an additional 4.4%, or 8.8% total, including the buff to Warden / Potent Medicine. Its still gonna be tough to justify taking that over Integrated Scanning / Integrated Probes because its really only 3.8% more on a single one of your heals, even if it is your strongest.

The nerf to Kolto Burst / Medical Burst will bring the healing power of AoE Kolto Injection / Underworld Medicine back down to earth, such that its HPS will be comparable to Kolto Waves, and which one heals for more will depend on which tactical item is equipped and whether Kolto Injection / Underworld Medicine is instant or not.

BioWare clarified on the forums that each stack of the new Reactive Substance buff will heal for about as much as a tick from Kolto Waves. However, its still unclear if the 10% healing boost to Kolto Stim / Underworld Tactics only applies when Kolto Injection / Underworld Medicine is used on yourself like the additional TA / UH it currently generates or if it will be a flat bonus.

I think players are still going to have a hard time justifying taking either option over Kolto Burst / Medical Burst even after the nerf unless its just really not possible for players to stack up or AoE healing isnt needed. I think Kolto Burst / Medical Burst might need to come along with an Energy cost increase for Kolto Injection / Underworld Medicine as well

The change to Nano Mark / Kolto Mark should help to make the other options more viable outside of single-target healing situations.

A 6% boost to Corrupted Bastion / Resurging Power is insufficient. So long as Resurgence / Rejuvenate spreads to at least 1 person, its gonna come out ahead in terms of HPS, but Resurgence / Rejuvenate can spread to up to 4 people, so its basically never gonna get better.

If BioWare is serious about Corrupted Bastion / Resurging Power, they need to think way bigger, like having each stack increase the critical chance of that ability by 25% and making it stack up to 4 times instead of 3.

The other changes are similarly small as well. The 5% buff to Resurgence / Rejuvenate healing will mostly cancel out the buff to Corrupted Bastion / Resurging Power since it makes Resurgence / Rejuvenate spread stronger. Its better than nothing, but it kinda feels like a token buff next to the Mercenary / Commando buffs and power that Operatives / Scoundrels will still have.

Rocket Out / Propulsion Round is fine in PvP because its mostly just a getaway tool and going backward is typically not dangerous, but there are a ton of instances where going backward in PvE is lethal.

Yes, you can spin your toon around really fast to go in the direction you want, but it feels extremely clunky and is way more difficult to do than it should be. No other ability in the game requires such technical skill to use.

The best way to fix it would be to make it so Rocket Out / Propulsion Round sends you in the direction youre moving rather than always backward, and perhaps it could still move backward if youre not moving at all or are backing up when you activate it.

Powertechs / Vanguards have an extra 45% movement speed granted by Hydraulic Overrides / Hold the Line (75% total). It used to be part of a special utility, but now its baked into the base ability. Powertechs / Vanguards dont have to give up nearly as much to take Hydraulic Overrides / Hold the Line either, only also Electro Dart / Cryo Grenade and Shield Cannon (4% heal per Shoulder Cannon), which I think we can all agree is objectively worse than Responsive Safeguards / Echoing Deterrence.

Its time for Hydraulic Overrides / Hold the Line to be equally strong for all Mercenaries / Commandos and Powertechs / Vanguards by giving Mercenaries / Commandos the 75% Hydraulic Overrides / Hold the Line.

This would definitely take a lot less work to implement compared to adding directionality to Rocket Out / Propulsion Round and would probably be enough on its own to put the combat style on more even footing with regard to mobility.

Kolto Surge / Adrenal Surge (65% Kolto Overload / Andrenaline Rush) is so much more consistently useful in PvE because it actually lets the ability work reliably as a DCD because attacks that chew through 35% of your HP in a single hit are a whole lot more common than ones that can get through 65%.

It wouldnt make much of a difference in PvP because both buffs pretty similar in terms of overall power and Mercenaries / Commandos could use 1 more thing to help reliably mitigate big hits since Chaff Flare / Diversion is so inconsistent.

Electro Net is primarily a PvP ability. Yes, it provides a small DPS increase akin to an offensive cooldown, but its pretty pointless for healers to have access to a beefy DoT with a 2 min cooldown (especially if it messes). Responsive Safeguards / Echoing Deterrence is situational as well, but at least its useful to everyone.

It would be better for everyone to have access to Responsive Safeguards / Echoing Deterrence and have Electro Net be part of the level 68 choice instead. It would also make more sense since Mercenaries / Commandos really seem to have a toolbelt feel with their ability tree buffs and would be a more appropriate choice where they have to choose between CC and mobility.

This change would be less necessary if Kolto Surge / Adrenal Surge and Trauma Regulators / Trauma Stabilizers were swapped.

Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cell is far too essential to Mercenaries / Commandos to give up in exchange for Supercharged Celerity, especially considering they dont have an ability like Frenzy / Valorous Call to auto grant 10 stacks of Supercharged Gas for free. Here are several ways to fix this issue:

Supercharged Celerity also doesnt sufficiently accelerate the speed at which abilities can be activated when going from the 1.4s GCD to the 1.3s GCD. In 10s at the 1.4s GCD, In 10s with the 1.4s GCD, you can activate 7.14 abilities; with the 1.3s GCD, you can activate 7.69 abilities. This is the only GCD threshold where 10% alacrity doesnt result in an additional ability activation over those 10s.

If it were to grant 20% alacrity instead, that would be enough to bring players down to the 1.2s GCD, where players could get that single extra ability in because they could do 8.33 abilities in those 10s.

Hydraulic Overrides doesnt make a whole lot of sense conceptually as an animation and the VFX have always looked pretty outdated. It would be so much cooler if the ability got rebranded to make use of the jetpack / rocket boots where activating Jet Speed / Gyroscopic Alignment Jets would grant you the movement speed and CC immunity by having the jets keep you stable and speed you up.

To be clear, the effects of Hydraulic Overrides would remain the same, just the animation / VFX and name would be different. Jet Speed would fit better if Mercenaries / Commandos got access to the 75% movement speed boost while Gyroscopic Alignment Jets fits better with the CC immunity aspect. Hydraulic Overrides could take over as the name of the ability tree buff and I think thats a more fitting name for the effect anyway.

Operative / Scoundrel DPS will be in a fine spot with 7.1.1 in terms of survivability thanks to the AoE DR being added to the Countermeasures / Surrender ability tree buffs. Its understandable that healers are not receiving that buff since BioWare does not seem to want to give AoE DR to healers, but Operatives / Scoundrels are still way too far behind the other healers in terms of (PvE) survivability.

To put this in perspective, I was talking to one of the Operative healer mains on my team about the Operative / Scoundrel healer balance, he brought up that he feels he has to take Tactical Overdrive / Hotstreak because it can reset the cooldown on Shield Probe / Defensive Screen and has used it exclusively to reset the cooldown on that ability.

Its so depressing to watch someone waste such an insanely powerful ability just to get one more use out of what is arguably the weakest DCD in the game. It gives off the same energy as Finn becoming drinking buddies with a Happabore on Jakku.

There are several unique ways to improve healer survivability without adding another ability or affected the balance of the DPS disciplines:

Healers could really use some DR on a DCD, but I couldnt come up with anything that felt unique without adding a new ability or affecting DPS balance. The only way I can see to get around this would be to split the Revitalizers / Surprise Comeback DCD given to Stim Boost / Pugnacity for Lethality / Ruffian where Medicine / Sawbones gets the DR component and Lethality / Ruffian gets the HoT. Lethality / Ruffian could theoretically tolerate that nerf with the upcoming addition of AoE DR.

Operative / Scoundrel healer will continue to be difficult to balance without making it overpowered until the functionality of Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac is changed.

I envision Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac acting as an IV drip and by applying Surgical Probe / Emergency Medpac or Kolto Infusion / Kolto Pack, youre squeezing the IV bag. Individual probes would be substantially weaker, but you could give them a stronger, immediate burst whenever its needed by spending a TA / UH.

By making Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac no longer stack, Operatives / Scoundrels become less dependent on maintaining probes on so many targets for healing because the overall output of Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac is reduced.

Operatives / Scoundrel healers would have a clearer option when burst is required by spamming Surgical Probe / Emergency Medpac to effectively direct the healing previously provided by the second stack of Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac Medpac to whichever player actually needed the healing.

Tactical Advantage / Upper Hand would become far more of a limiting factor to healing output compared to how many people have Kolto Probes / Slow-release Medpac. Operative / Scoundrel HPS would be lower than it is now when you have Kolto Probes / Slow-release Medpacs on more than 4-5 targets, so that amount needs to be viable which is why Medical Engineering / Medpac Mastery is returning to having a 15% chance.

Surgical Probe / Emergency Medpac would also likely need to heal for 50% more to compensate for the lower HPS from not needing Kolto Probes / Slow-release Medpacs on so many players. A 50% boost to Surgical Probe / Emergency Medpac would be equivalent to 50% of the healing dealt by one of these new 24s Kolto Probes / Slow-release Medpacs over its full duration.

The core rotation would involve maintaining Kolto Probe / Slow-release Medpac on the ~4 players you think will be taking the most damage, using Surgical Probe / Emergency Medpac spam and Kolto Infusion / Kolto Pack to burst people up, and then using your other heals on cooldown in between.

The ideal skill play would be to apply Kolto Probe / Slow-Release Medpac the GCD before the player takes a bit hit and begin casting Kolto Infusion / Kolto Pack that would land just after the damage followed by additional Surgical Probes / Emergency Medpacs as needed. Fundamentally, healing output would be more limited by TA / UH generation rather than GCDs in between refreshes as it is now.

Such significant changes would absolutely need to happen on the PTS. Im curious to hear from healers about if they would like this redesign or not. I know I would personally be way more inclined to play Operative / Scoundrel healer if it wasnt so rotational.

The additional rebalancing with the release of 7.0 put Sorcerer / Sage healers in a pretty good spot. They dont need nearly as many tweaks as the other 2 disciplines.

Polarized / Potent Resolve is laughably bad. I propose it be replaced with the following effect that I call Sustaining Innervation / Soothing Trance:

Healing an ally with Innervate / Healing Trance while they are affected by Static Barrier / Force Armor causes them to gain 1 stack of Sustaining Darkness / Soothing Protection rather than lose 1 stack. In addition, activating Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity finishes the cooldown on Innervate / Healing Trance and while Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity is active, Innervate / Healing Trance applies Static Barrier / Force Armor to the target if they can benefit from it and grants an additional stack of Sustaining Darkness / Soothing Protection per tick.

In order to make this work, the Sustaining Darkness / Soothing Protection discipline passive would also need to stack up to 20 times (technically only 18) and be granted at level 35 instead of 78.

Basically, each full channel of Innervate / Healing Trance would give 4 stacks of Sustaining Darkness / Soothing Protection while Polarity Shift / Mental Alacrity would allow for more significant burst healing that fits with the overall theme and builds upon the current terrible effect.

Sustained healing output would remain a fair bit lower than what is offered by the Resurgence / Rejuvenate spread option in exchange for superior burst. The Unmatched Haste legendary implant would also synergize with this option, making it a better choice to use with the Volt Rush / Telekinetic Blitz build.

The only real thing Id like to adjust for Sorcerer / Sage healers would be for Unnatural Preservation / Force Mend to heal for more. It didnt get an appropriate increase compared to how much our health pools were raised with 7.0, just like Shield Probe / Defense Screen, and its a bigger issue for healers compared to the DPS disciplines which have more options to boost survivability.

Perhaps the Dark Resilience / Valiance utility that increased its healing by 30% and made Extrication / Rescue grant DR could be made into a passive or swapped out for the Conspiring Force / Confound ability tree buff. I always liked Dark Resilience / Valiance as a utility and was sad that I couldnt take it more in 6.0 because of Surging Speed / Metaphysical Alacrity being a DPS boost thanks to the set bonus.

Special thanks to Zab and Malka for their help and presence in the Featured image. I also want to thank Tom for spending multiple hours talking to me about the Operative Scoundrel healer changes.

See the original post:

SWTOR 7.1.1 Healer Balance Changes Overview and Analysis - VULKK.com

Goth music fans descended on the majestic YouTube Theater for a rare performance by electronic music pioneers Soft Cell. Along with a handful of other experimental pioneers in the genre, like Gary Numan and Depeche Mode, Soft Cell helped create the music that would become the soundtrack of the 1980s new wave dance music genre.

Charismatic lead singer Marc Almond brought the infectious rhythms of Soft Cell to an enraptured audience at the Inglewood, California venue on August 24th. The short tour, which included only five select cities in the United States, was billed as the final Soft Cell tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the mega-hit dance tune Tainted Love. However, the anniversary was actually last year, and as Almond would disclose in one of his many interactions with the adoring crowd, delays and disappointments had plagued the planned celebration. First, the pandemic and then travel issues delayed the plans. Then one half of the duo, that is, Soft Cell, electronic music magician David Ball apparently injured his back and couldnt make the tour. But Almond soldiered on with a new keyboardist, a saxophonist, and three backup singers to complete the tour so He wouldnt disappoint his fans again.

Philip Larsen, the Grammy-winning producer, stood in for Dave on synthesizers for the five dates. As well as co-producing the current album Happiness Not Included, the fill-in keyboardist did a magnificent job creating the rich layers of Soft Cell music during the show. Meanwhile, Almond delighted the crowd with an inspired performance full of 80s dance moves. The show featured two distinctive sets, the second including the entire breakthrough 1981 platinum album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

The first set featured songs from Soft Cells new electronic music masterpiece, Happiness Not Included, interspersed with deep cuts from the duos other albums stretching back to 1982. The show began demurely with a stoic Almond opening with an early 80s tune, Torch. The group took full advantage of the state-of-the-art sound system with a phenomenally rich layering of sounds coming from the single synth performer. Very subtle multimedia began behind the group, which slowly grew to a multiscreen presentation midway through the set. Random images slowly began to include much more compelling storytelling. The opening song was followed by two tunes, Bruises on All My Illusions and Happy Happy Happy, from the new album that showcased Almonds incredible vocal range. Almond slowly became more animated with ever-increasing dance moves, flashing grins, and offering insightful banter before each song. The song Monoculture came next from the duos previous album, Cruelty Without Beauty, recorded in 2002. Next came another blast from the past with the tune Where The Heart Is from the 1983 album, The Art of Falling Apart.

It was time to dance to the next tune, Nostalgia Machine, from the new album. Again, the infectious rhythms had almost everyone in the audience up on their feet, trying to emulate Almond, who had launched into a full dance groove by this time. Several more tunes from The Art of Falling Apart showcased the talents of the three backup singers, any of which could take the lead on their own, and the infectious wails of the talented saxophonist. Finally, the multimedia presentation came alive with multidimensional screens for the last tune of the first set, Martin," also from The Art of Falling Apart.

Following an intermission, the lights went out, and the group emerged to perform the much anticipated Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in its entirety. The audience let out a huge cheer, and most leaped to their feet with the first notes of the opening song, Frustration. That was followed quickly by the second tune on the album, Soft Cells' mega dance hit Tainted Love. While Soft Cell made the song a mega-hit, the backstory of the song is no less compelling. Gloria Richetta Jones first recorded the music, and the R&B-infused tune was a big hit in 1965. The incredibly talented singer was known as The Queen of Northern Soul. Jones became enamored with the legendary rock guitarist Marc Bolan and became the keyboardist for Bolans massively popular band, T. Rex. Unfortunately, the story took a tragic turn in 1977. Jones was the driver of the car, a Mini 1275 GT, that crashed near Barnes Common in England, striking a tree and killing Bolan. Later, Almond and Ball made the song their own with their inventive electronic soundtrack, making the tune a dance club staple for decades.

The elated crowd began to settle down after the dance fever induced by the famous track, and many fell into a more profound trance listening to the mastery of the other tunes from the monumental album. Led by Almond's exquisite vocal range, the music moved from gothic gloom to seedy synth and back to dance-infused rhythms. One fascinating video featured a slow-motion pre-dawn stroll through the streets of London in a pouring rain utterly devoid of life. The dance trance tunes Seedy Films and Sex Dwarf saw most everyone back on their feet in the audience while vintage footage of New York's red-light district flashed across multiple screens. An emotional Almond thanked the crowd repeatedly between songs, once quipping that Los Angeles has always been a special place close to my heart.

The tune Chips on My Shoulder elicited a sing-along that echoed through the perfect acoustically designed venue. The second set ended with the appropriately titled Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

Almond and the entourage returned for a two-song encore, beginning with another tune from the new album, Purple Zone. The audience may have felt that the song was reminiscent of another English 80s dance phenomenon Pet Shop Boys. In that case, it could be because that mega-hit duo were guest performers on the new recording. After the upbeat dance tune, Almond thanked the passionate audience and offered an extended second version of Tainted Love, the version most often played in dance clubs. The song was a perfect ending to the nearly three-hour performance, slowly trailing off as the group members left the stage one by one.

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Soft Cell | YouTube Theater | 8/24/22 - Grateful Web

Lee Yo Mi She won a 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Guest in a Drama Series for her role on Netflix squid gameBecome The first Korean actress to win the award in this category. Coleman Domingo won Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role in it trance. It is the first Emmy Award for both actors.

Thank you very much for this great honor, he told me via an interpreter, upon accepting the award. I would like to say a big thank you to the Television Academy, and especially a big thank you to my Netflix team as well.

Then the actress added in English: I am very happy, thank you!

squid game It made history this year as the first non-English language series to win a Best Drama Series nomination. It also received nominations for Best Actor (Lee Jung-jae), Best Supporting Actor (Park Hae-soo, Oh Young-soo), and Best Supporting Actress (Jung Ho-yeon).

So much kindness has brought me to this point, the people who love me, the people who lift me up. Thank you to these people, Domingo said in his acceptance speech. trance Content creator Sam Levinson and his Most Creative Artists team. The actor also thanked his wife, Raul Domingo, saying, Thank you, dear Raul, this is for you.

Among the other nominees in the category of Guest Actress in Drama tranceMartha Kelly, morning showMarcia Gay Harden and SuccessionAmal Davis, Sana Lathan and Harriet Walter (who was also nominated for a guest role in Ted Lasso).

Other nominees in the category of Guest Actor in Drama include OzarkTom Belfry and SuccessionAdrien Brody, James Cromwell, Ariane Moayad and Alexander Skarsgrd.

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Lee Yu Mi and Coleman Domingo win the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - The Hollywood Reporter - BEAM Media