Recent arts coverage:
- Evolutionary biology. Aesthetic determinism. Live action role playing. The Rude Mechs are making a new play again
- Suburban battlefield: Women fight invisible foe in Amie Siegel’s ‘Black Moon’
- In eerie paintings by Ana Fernandez, a house isn’t just a house
More arts coverage | Follow this blog on Twitter @artsinaustin | Read recent arts reviews
Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > December > 07
Monday, December 7, 2009
First Night Austin 2010: The basics
First Night Austin has released the preliminary details of this year’s family-friendly downtown arts-oriented New Year’s Eve celebration.
Keep an eye on www.firstnightaustin.org
for updates.
First Night Austin 2010
When
4 p.m. to midnight, Dec. 31
Event footprint
Congress Avenue from 5th Street to Cesar Chavez, Cesar Chavez from Congress to S. 1st Street Bridge, S. 1st Street to Riverside, and Auditorium Shores. (Note: Riverside will be closed from S. 1st to the traffic circle west of the Long Center to allow for foot traffic to cross between Auditorium Shores and the Long Center)
Admission
Free (except for the ‘Long First Night’)
‘The Long First Night’
This ticketed event at the Long Center is a gala within the celebration. General admission and VIP tickets are available through the Long Center (linked from the home page of the First Night Austin site). This event will run from 5 p.m. to midnight.
- Schedule
- 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Family festival (will include events at City Hall, which will be open until 6 p.m. this year)
- 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Grand Procession, from Fifth Street and Congress Avenue to Auditorium Shores (via Congress, Cesar Chavez, and the S. First Street Bridge)
- 8 p.m. H-E-B Family Finale on Auditorium Shores. This will include a 36-foot-tall vortex of fire on Auditorium Shores (courtesy of Community Art Makers, the team behind last year’s Resolution Clock) and snow (courtesy of Wolf Stuntworks)
- 9 p.m., The Waterlight Parade, courtesy of the Austin Rowing Club, which will light up Lady Bird Lake in a procession that will be a first for First Night Austin.
- 10 p.m., Resolution Run: This late-night race, on a downtown Austin course of just over 3 km, will be coordinated by RunTex, allowing participants to get in one last run for 2009 (or make good on New Year’s Resolutions to get more exercise in 2010).
- Midnight, Fireworks: The traditional finale to First Night Austin will usher in a new decade.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Review: Ballet Austin’s ‘The Nutcracker’
The swish of taffeta dresses heard in early December can only mean one thing: it’s time for Ballet Austin’s “Nutcracker” again.
At the Long Center Sunday afternoon, the patent leather shoe-wearing children were in full effect. Although the “Nutcracker” matinee’s audience demographic suggests the show targets children, the company’s performance attests there are many reasons for balletomanes of all ages to revisit the holiday classic.
This year marks the company’s second “Nutcracker” run in the Long Center, and the theatre’s size allows for the celebration of “Nutcracker’s” full spectacle.
The set, designed by Richard Isackes, creates opulent worlds for ballet dreaming, both in the early first act party scene at the Silberhaus’s home and in the second act’s Kingdom of the Sweets. Many of designer Tommy Bourgeois’s costumes, particularly the party dresses for adult and children and the many tutus of the second act, accentuate the production’s sense of luxury. It’s nice to see that Ballet Austin avoids the “Nutcracker” ballet trap: often the classic veers towards looking run-down and re-hashed. Ballet Austin’s production sparkles.
Much of the dancing, particularly from the company’s women, extended the production’s clear, open feeling. As Snow Queen, Jaime Lynn Witts had a calm dignity. Kirby Wallis’s flash in the Spanish variation and Rebecca Johnson’s sleek Arabian were second-act standouts.
With so many solos and pas de deux, ensemble performances can go overlooked in “Nutcracker,” but the corps dancers in Snow and Waltz of the Flowers deserve recognition. In Snow, dancer Beth Terwilleger seemed a strong, sure leader among a flurry of beauty.
While Stephen Mill’s choreography does not always follow the swells in Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, Mills excels at creating smaller moments of suspension, from the more staid dances done by the parents in the party scene through the delicate variation for the French couple (Terwilleger and one of the company’s most promising recent additions Joseph Hernandez).
As Sugar Plum Fairy, Michelle Thompson made the most of Mill’s signature timing, opening her arms with a slow grace in the Grand Pas de Deux’s final turns. As Sugar Plum Cavalier, Frank Shott, yet again, proved himself the company’s strongest, most confident partner, a quality too often absent in other moments in Sunday’s performance.
While the adults might have been the focus Sunday, the cast’s children are integral to the annual “Nutcracker” event. As Clara, Macrina Butler displayed lovely shoulder and head placement, creating a central character worthy of center stage.
Like Clara, we all deserve a “Nutcracker” this year.
‘The Nutcracker’
7:30 p.m. Dec. 11-12, Dec. 18-22; 2 p.m. Dec. 13, Dec. 19-20, Dec. 23
Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Dr.
$15-$71
www.balletaustin.org
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Amitava Sarkar.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Okay Mountain’s ‘Corner Store’ nets PULSE award
Congrats to the collective Okay Mountain for winning the 2009 Miami PULSE Award at PULSE, the contemporary arts fair.
The Austin collective was selected by the PULSE Committee as emerging artists of distinction from their project iin the IMPULSE section of the fair.
‘Corner Store’ was an ersatz off-brand micro-convenience store that sold ersatz items — think fake beef jerky and a simulated slushy machine. Thousands of hours in the making, ‘Corner Store’ was a brilliant spoof on the very nature of trendy art fairs and the swirl of commerce and fashion.
Read a previous post about the project.
‘Corner Store’ was a commission from Arthouse, the Congress Avenue contemporary arts center. The Okay Mountain team received a reported $7500 budget to produce and travel ‘Corner Store’ to Miami along with all of the 11-member collective in tow. The Okay Mountain artists staffed ‘Corner Store’ as clerks.
Any income from sales — yes, the ersatz items were for sale — were reportedly to be divided between Arthouse and Okay Mountain.
The art-making Okay mountaineers gets a $2,500 PULSE prize check. Oh, and they are also offered the opportunity to design a limited-edition PULSE tote bag.
Really? A limited-edition tote bag? Wonder if the judges really understood what ‘Corner Store’ was all about.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Recent arts coverage:
The Rude Mechs tackle a ground-breaking moment of 1960s theater | Okay Mountain wins Miami PULSE prize | David Bates at the Austin Museum of Art
