The performing arts include theatre, motion pictures, drama, comedy, music, opera, dance, acrobatics, magic, juggling, busking and the marching arts, such as brass bands, etc. Artists who participate in these arts are called performers, including actors, comedians, singers, dancers, and musicians.

Types of performing arts

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There is also a specialized form of fine art in which the artist performs his or her work live to an audience. This is called Performance art.

The performing arts differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face and/or presence as a medium while the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some art object. Of course, most performance art also involves some form of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as a plastic art during the Modern dance era.

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The Japan Times: News & Business

World gives Russia an unfair rap
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:10:00 -0500
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is an intelligent woman. So how can she possibly want to tell the world that Russia's response to the Georgian attack on South Ossetia resembled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The comparisons should be the reverse. The Russian willingness to go to the aid of a small region under brutal attack contrasts greatly with the empty Western rhetoric back in the days when Czechoslovakia or other regions were under Moscow attack. And the knee-jerk anti-Russian reactions of the media and other commentators too biased or lazy to question the official U.S. version of events parallels the Russian media's knee-jerk acceptance of Moscow's distorted... Read the full story
Israel's fundamentalist Jews are multiplying
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:11:00 -0500
CHICAGO — Time is not on the side of peacemakers in the Middle East. Even relentless optimists are giving up. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly overshadowed and orchestrated on both sides by extreme and uncompromising religious groups that view their political mandate as holy and sacred. This is hindering any peaceful resolution in the short run and will prove increasingly prohibitive to a political settlement in the long run. More than ever, peace is an unattainable mirage. Read the full story
Moscow called West's bluff
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:12:00 -0500
Forty years ago this week, the night sky above Prague began to rumble with the sound of transport aircraft. On distant frontiers, tanks lurched forward. The invasion of Czechoslovakia had begun. Today, there are Russian tank columns on Georgian roads. Again, a small country lies prostrate before the military power of the Kremlin. Poland, in turn, is informed by a Russian general that by agreeing to station American missiles, it has made itself a nuclear target — perhaps no more than a brutal statement of the obvious. Read the full story
New 'Tang' Dynasty for rapidly rising China?
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:13:00 -0500
PRAGUE — On Aug. 8 the world watched with awe the amazing spectacle of the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing. We saw the electronic unrolling of Chinese scrolls replete with great historic symbols and were mesmerized by dancers creating "harmony," using their bodies as ink brushes. Two thousand eight martial arts students performed millenniums-old moves with mechanical precision, while the flying celestials and the galloping torchbearer created a sense of heavenly abode on Earth. There was another time when China dazzled the world: the Tang Dynasty (618-907), often thought of as China's golden age. Visitors came from all over the world and were dazzled by the wealth, beauty and power... Read the full story
Prevention of suicides
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:14:00 -0500
The Diet in 2006 enacted a basic law to help prevent suicides. And in 2007 the Cabinet adopted the goal of reducing the number of suicides per 100,000 people by 20 percent by 2016 from the level of 2005. More than 30,000 people annually have taken their lives for the last 10 consecutive years. This is about 90 suicides a day. Japan's suicide rate is less than Russia's but the highest among developed countries. It is more than twice that of the United States and more than three times that of Britain. Read the full story
ODA and bribery
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:15:00 -0500
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has arrested a former president of Pacific Consultants International, a Tokyo-based consultancy for overseas construction projects, and three others on suspicion of bribery in connection with a project in Vietnam financed by the Japanese government's official development assistance (ODA). This case, however, may represent only the tip of an iceberg. Suspicions have been raised over collusive ties between Japanese companies and the politicians and officials of countries that receive ODA for infrastructure construction. Read the full story

Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Picture of the Day › Norika
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:01:00 +0100

Sports › 7th-inning rally lifts Hanshin over Hiroshima
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:04:00 +0100
Shinjiro Hiyama delivered a pinch-hit go-ahead single in a four-run seventh inning as the Hanshin Tigers edged the Hiroshima Carp 4-3 on Wednesday. Kentaro Sekimoto…
Olympics › Japan downs Australia in 12th for final berth in softball
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100
Rei Nishiyama singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning Wednesday, lifting Japan to a 4-3 victory over Australia for a…
Picture of the Day › Waterfowl
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100
Waterfowl rest at a lake in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture.
Olympics › Japan's swimmers in sync for bronze
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:58:00 +0100
Emiko Suzuki and Saho Harada picked up a bronze medal in synchronized swimming on Wednesday, while the Japanese softball team went at least one better…
Olympics › 'Ai-chan' off to winning start in table tennis singles
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:55:00 +0100
Japan's Ai Fukuhara got off to a winning start in her singles campaign in the Beijing Olympic table tennis competition on Wednesday, cruising past the…

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