Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 21 September 2018
Giant bong, huggable buds: Marijuana museum opens in Vegas

By REGINA GARCIA CANO dark tree, next to a giant
Associated Press marijuana leaf meant to
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A glass represent an edible gum-
bong taller than a giraffe. my and by a 24-foot-tall
Huggable faux marijuana (7-meter-tall) glass bong
buds. A pool full of foam that's dubbed "Bongzilla"
weed nuggets. and billed as the world's
Las Vegas' newest at- largest.
traction — and Instagram There is a space with taller-
backdrop — is a museum than-you faux buds repre-
celebrating all things can- senting different strains and
nabis. another room with gonzo
Nobody will be allowed journalist Hunter S. Thomp-
to light up at Cannabition son's famous "Red Shark"
when it opens Thursday Chevrolet Caprice.
because of a Nevada ban This museum in Las Vegas'
on public consumption of downtown entertainment
marijuana, but visitors can district is not the Smithson-
learn about the drug as ian of marijuana, but it has
they snap photos. some educational com-
It's a made-for-social-me- ponents. Guests get an in-
dia museum where every In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018 photo, people walk by the Cannabition cannabis museum in Las troduction from museum
exhibit has lights meant to Vegas. guides and some graphics
ensure people take self- Associated Press on walls explain how con-
ies worthy of the no-filter centrates are made and
hashtag. adults in Nevada began ated Press. "Cannabition is can lie down in a bed the differences between
The facility — whose found- buying recreational mari- not about just serving peo- shaped like a marijuana indica and sativa canna-
er says has a goal of destig- juana legally, with sales far ple that like marijuana, it's seed, and "grow," which bis strains. Museums always
matizing marijuana use — exceeding state projec- about serving the masses features artificial plants in evolve with the times to
will likely land among the tions. that want to learn about sizes ranging from inches remain relevant, and au-
talking points officials and "Our goal when people cannabis and or just have to feet tall placed under dience engagement is an
others use to try to draw come out of this is that they fun and go do a cool art bright lights to represent an important goal for the fa-
gambling-resistant millenni- don't fear the cannabis in- experience." indoor cannabis grow facil- cilities today, said Gwen
als to Sin City. dustry if they are not believ- Guests will wander through ity. Chanzit, director of muse-
It will welcome its first visi- ers in the industry," founder 12 installations with rooms Photo ops are also avail- um studies in art history at
tors almost 15 months after J.J. Walker told The Associ- like "seed," where people able under a glow-in-the- the University of Denver. q

Arthur Mitchell, pioneering black ballet dancer, dies at 84

By DEEPTI HAJELA "Can you imagine the au- ballet scholarship with the
Associated Press dacity to take an African- School of American Ballet,
NEW YORK (AP) — Arthur American and Diana Ad- founded by Balanchine
Mitchell, who broke barri- ams, the essence and pu- and Lincoln Kirstein.
ers for African-Americans rity of Caucasian dance, His dancing years also in-
in the 1950s as a ballet and to put them together cluded choreographing
dancer with the New York on the stage?" he said. his own works, performing
City Ballet and who would In 1968, impacted by the on Broadway, and work-
go on to become a driving assassination of Martin Lu- ing with dance compa-
force in the creation of the ther King Jr., Mitchell started nies in other countries. The
Dance Theatre of Harlem, a dance school that grew Dance Theatre of Harlem
has died. He was 84. the next year to include the performed internationally
Mitchell died Wednesday Dance Theatre of Harlem. and has been artistically
at a New York City hospi- Anna Glass, the executive acclaimed even as it went
tal according to his niece, director of the Dance The- through some periods of
Juli Mills-Ross. She said the ater, told The Associated financial upheaval. He
death came after renal Press that Mitchell "truly was In this Oct. 21, 2004 file photo, Arthur Mitchell, co-founder of the stepped down as director
failure led to heart failure. a visionary." Dance Theatre of Harlem appears in New York. almost a decade ago.
Born in Harlem, Mitchell "He believed in a world Associated Press Glass said Mitchell had
started dancing with the where all people could most recently spent time at
New York City Ballet in 1955 have access to this beau- In a post on Instagram, lost another visionary" with the company last month,
under famed choreogra- tiful art form," she said. "He she wrote, "You gave me Mitchell's death. during a two-week residen-
pher George Balanchine. really sought to ensure that so much, through our con- "Arthur Mitchell claimed cy in which he restaged
Balanchine put him in sev- all people saw themselves versations, your dancing ballet as an American art one of his older ballets to
eral leading roles, includ- in" ballet. and by simply existing as a form," she said. "His legacy be performed next April as
ing one pairing him with Among those recogniz- brown body in ballet. But lives through all of us." the company marks its 50th
a white female dancer in ing his impact following his you were so much more Mitchell was born in 1934, anniversary.
"Agon" in 1957. death was Misty Copeland, than a brown body. You're and grew up with four sib- "This was a moment that
In a January interview with the first African-American an icon and hero." lings. He started formal all of us were looking for-
The New York Times, Mitch- female principal dancer Choreographer and televi- dance training in high ward to," Glass said. "I
ell recalled the daring of with the American Ballet sion producer Debbie Allen school, and upon gradu- know we will miss him
that choice. Theatre. tweeted, "The world has ating, took the offer of a tremendously."q