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Is EAST the SXSW of art?
Chatter surrounding this year’s East Austin Studio Tour — now extended over two weekends and sandwiching a week happenings and programs — has some calling it the SXSW of visual art.
Is it?
Not really. After all, EAST is a neighborhood-specific local-only event. SXSW is a major international affair.
But EAST does this year have that sense of occasion and community that can emerge from a festival experience. And there’s that frenzy of so many things to do and see that creates a certain kind of shared excitement.
One more weekend of EAST. And while it’s hard to choose what to see, a worthwhile starting place is with the kind of indie galleries and collaborative studio complexes that give East Austin a specific vibe — like Big Medium, Pump Project, Co-Lab and Birdhouse.
‘Two Houses’ by Dan Kaplan at Big Medium
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Tapestry Dance Company looks back
Twenty years ago, Acia Gray and Deidre Strand, both accomplished tap dancers, dreamed of merging other dance genres with the rhythm-oriented tap style. The outcome of that dream is Tapestry Dance Company, an Austin professional nonprofit dance company that has delighted audiences with its signature blend of modern, ballet and world dance all woven together by explosive tap dance. The company also maintains a busy dance academy in South Austin and has garnered a slew of local awards. In 2002, Gray was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame.
Most recently, Tapestry took its show on the national road. ‘The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American Tap Dance,’ which restages noted historic and contemporary rhythm tap dances, is currently on tour through the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces program.
This weekend, Tapestry celebrates with a retrospective show at the Long Center that features the company’s current dancers as well as alumni from seasons past.
Gray answers questions in a Q-and-A here. Below, are some of her further thoughts.
Q: Any thoughts what you’re discovered about the mixing of not just dance styles, but dancers trained in different styles and audiences accustomed to seeing certain styles?
When Deirdre and I started Tapestry in 1989, we were drawn to not only utilizing our dance training as individuals but creating a foundation of non-restriction in our creativity. At the time, Hubbard Street was the only “multi-form” dance company in the US and there was little cross-discipline choreography. We were both members of Austin On Tap and working consistently in tap dance not only locally but a broad touring schedule.
With my degree in Acting from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Deirdre’s from TCU, we were hungry to explore the possibilities of a company that could play not only with diverse dance disciplines and their shared experience but the exploration of rhythm - sharing the power of dance as a communication tool not only as a technique but a living experience for our dancers and our audiences.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), what made Tapestry different is still what distinguishes the company: tap dance. But with that, it seems that tap is what our audience really want to see. What they don’t realize is that it’s the juxtaposition of the other “styles” within the company’s work that creates a window to see that beautiful American dance form in a different way - an emotional connection that is historically new. At least 20 years ago before Tapestry. We will always be a multi-form company making that connection.
With this collaborative journey, the company’s dancers are asked to go from one extreme to another — bare feet, tap shoes, jazz shoes/ long flexible muscles against the fast twitch muscles needed for tap. Going from one form to another or asking a tap dancing body to roll on the floor and then get up and tap a mile a minute can take its toll. Injuries are definitely an ongoing issue. Finding dancers who can go to these extremes is also a challenge.
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Artist Jeanne-Claude is dead at 74
With her orange-dyed hair, artist Jeanne-Claude was an ever-present companion to her husband Christo, collaborating on his ambitious and grand site-specific installations.
Now, the New York Times, among other news sources, is reporting that Jeanne-Claude is dead at age 74.
She died Wednesday night at a New York hospital from complications of a brain aneurysm.
Most recently, the couple grabbed international headlines when they altered New York’s Central Park with more than 7,500 metal gates draped with orange fabric. An estimated 4 million people saw “The Gates.”
In 2006, the couple visited Austin on the occasion of the exhibit ‘Christo and Jeanne- Claude: The Würth Collection’ at the Austin Museum of Art.
In an interview, she admonished me to never refer to her and Christo as the wrapping artists.
“Simply because we are not,” Jeanne- Claude said emphatically. “We have created so many works that have nothing to do with wrapping.”
Photo: AP/Ed Andrieski
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DJ Spooky’s ‘Sinfonia Antarctica’
Inspired by a trip to Antarctica, DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid (aka Paul Miller)’s ‘Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica” is a multimedia travelogue by the avant garde turntable master and intrepid re-mixer.
The 70-minute piece — which plays Hogg Auditorium Friday night — is a visual and acoustic portrait of the ever-mysterious yet rapidly changing Antarctic continent.
Read a feature story on the show here.
DJ Spooky will participate in an online chat 1 p.m. Thursday.
For the Austin gig, Miller has tapped Austin musicians Graham Reynolds on piano, violinists Alexis Ebbets and Joseph Shuffield and Hector Moreno on cello.
And as the Golden Hornet Project, Graham and Moreno, along with Peter Stopschinski, Bruce Colson, Jason Elinoff and Seetha Shivaswarmy join DJ Spooky on his new CD ‘The Secret Song,’ including on the track ‘Measure for Measure.
Photo by Rita Antonioli.
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‘The Method Gun’ heads to Humana Festival
The Rude Mechanicals are getting ready to hit the road to the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
For 34 years, the best of new American theater has been showcased at the Humana Festival. And the Rudes will take their wonderous ‘The Method Gun’ to ATL’s Victor Jory Theatre for a run March 16-28, 2010.
A valentine to the process of art-making, ‘The Method Gun’ impressed when it opened the Long Center’s Rollins Studio Theatre in 2008.
Then last season, the Rudes’ offered a slightly re-tweaked version at the Off Center. And as I said then, ‘The Method Gun’ ranks as one of the best productions to grace the Austin theater scene in the past few years.
See a slide show of the production here.
The Rudes next production, ‘Dionysus in ‘69’ opens Dec. 3.
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East Austin gets TCA designation
Cultural and community leaders today celebrated the official designation of a portion of East Austin as a State of Texas Cultural District Designation
Austin’s African American district was selected by the Texas Commission on the Arts as one of seven designated communities with the first official State of Texas Cultural District Designation on Sept. 3.
The boundaries of the African American Cultural Heritage District (AACHD) are Interstate-35 to the west, Airport Boulevard on the east, Manor Road on the north, and all of the Huston Tillotson University campus to the south.
Austin joins Denison, Hunstville, Lubbock, McAllen, San Angelo and Winnsboro in receiving the TCA designation.
ProArts Collective, along with its community partners, spearheaded the Austin initiative and submitted an application in June to the TCA that contained more than 1,000 pages showcasing the cultural significance of central east Austin.
There’s no funding to accompany the TCA honor, but ProArts Collective executive director Lisa Byrd said she hopes the new designation offers leverage for increased funding opportunities from more sources.
“The inventory of cultural assets found in the district represents a diverse mix of historic and heritage sites and institutions, contemporary arts and cultural organizations, and workspaces and commercial outlets of individual creative and small businesses,” said Byrd. “(The designation effort) has embraced the goals of many community stakeholders with the ultimate objective to respect the historic, ethnic and cultural character of the neighborhoods within the cultural district.”
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Artist selected for Zach Theatre public art project
The City of Austin’s Arts Commission announced today that it has selected artist Cliff Garten to create a work of public art for new Topfer Theatre addition to the Zach Theatre complex adjacent to Lady Bird Lake.
The Venice, Calif.-based Garten will receive a $150,000 commission.
Zach unveiled the design of the $20 million Topfer Theater, by Austin’s Andersson Wise Architects, in October. The sleek 430-seat theater that will be surrounded by a tree-filled plaza and grounds.
“Cliff’s beautiful and thoughtful artistry, working in collaboration with the Andersson Wise team, has the potential to enhance the site in a way that connects Zach to Lady Bird Lake and engages Austinites during the daytime and evening,” said Dave Steakley, artistic director for Zach Theatre.
Garten was selected from among 148 national artist submissions. Through his Cliff Garten Studio the artist has created dozens of public art projects including the recently unveiled ‘Avenue of Light’ sculpture in Fort Worth.
Photo by Laura Seewoester/www.pegasusnews.com
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Hey arts groups — got your own iPhone app yet?
Got an app for your art?
Mimicking a national trend, Austin arts groups are jumping on the iPhone app bandwagon and creating their very own.
The Miro Quartet — the string foursome in residence at UT’s Butler School of Music — launched their iPhone app earlier this fall. Powered by InstantEncore, the classical music info site with loads of fan-friendly tools, the Miro Quartet app pushes info on the ensemble’s latest activities, offers podcasts and sends alerts. (The Quartet plays Lincoln Center Dec. 2.)
Charity Dynamics, which works with non-profit groups created an app for the Paramount Theatre, Austin’s historic Congress Avenue venue. Users can buy tickets, check updates and get alerts.
Both apps are free and available at the iPhone App Store.
The Austin American-Statesman launched its free iPhone App this summer.
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Ballet Austin’s ‘Light’ impress in Pittsburgh
Ballet Austin artistic director Stephen Mills left Austin audiences breathless with ‘Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project’ in 2005.
This fall, Mills took his groundbreaking multimedia contemporary ballet that deftly re-visits the Holocaust to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
And its seems that Mills’ elegant yet visceral story of belief, bigotry, isolation, survival and hope has impressed in Pittsburgh the way it did in Austin.
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presentation of ‘Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project’ is impressing Pittsburgh critics.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said “Mills succeeded in extracting a strange beauty from a horrible tragedy.”
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls it “powerfully emotional theatrical experience that doesn’t let go when you leave the theater.”
Photo courtesy Ballet Austin.
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Review: Trey McIntyre Dance Project & Compagnie Julie Dossavi
Early in Compagnie Julie Dossavi’s performance of “P.I. Or Presentations Intimes,” Dossavi walks in a slight crouch with musician Yvan Talbot close behind. He taps his hand drum with each step. This close connection between dance and music made “P.I.”’s performance at the Long’s Center’s Rollins Theater, presented by Dance Umbrella, absolutely engrossing.
Austin’s other notable dance performance this week, Trey McIntyre Project’s one-night stop at UT’s Bass Concert Hall was also music-driven. McIntyre’s choreography often runs parallel to his musical choices, whereas Dossavi’s work more directly intermingles dance and music.
Dossavi, who is French and of African descent, worked with musicians Talbot and Allan Houdayer, as well as singer and dancer Diarra Papa Gedeon to create “P.I.” The melding of modern dance, West African dance and instruments, and digital music offers a gorgeous example of contemporary art from the African diaspora blending technology and tradition. Houdayer hunches over his computer. Gedeon sings in the high-pitched style of his native Mali. Talbot caresses booming sounds from the djembe drum. And Dossavi dances with exacting focus, responding to every note they sound. She is not just dancing to their music. She is listening to their music with her entire body.
Dossavi is not well-known in the U.S., but in the last decade Trey McIntyre has become one of the US’s dance darlings. The Wednesday night show last week was his company’s first visit to Austin.
Before he established the company in 2005, McIntyre’s primary work had been as a frequently commissioned ballet choreographer. The now full-time company, based in Boise, Idaho, makes it possible to see entire evenings of McIntyre’s work. The verdict based on Wednesday: McIntyre choreographs along a wide spectrum of moods and music (some more compelling than others) and he has convinced some fantastic dancers to work in Idaho.
McIntyre is known for drawing inspiration from pop and classical music, often within the same piece. In “Shape,” a brief trio to indie rock by Goldfrapp and the Polyphonic Spree, McIntyre demonstrates his ability to make happy work that never feels cheesy. Three dancers playfully perform with balloon attachments: two balloons hilariously stuffed beneath Lauren Edson’s T-shirt, two balloons in Annali Rose’s hands, and one balloon anchored on Dylan G-Bowley’s head. The balloons in Rose’s hands accentuate the detail with which she uses her arms. Every motion she makes unfolds with intricate complexity, but is still clean and clear. Rose was a standout but the entire company has a clarity of line and synchronicity that makes them easy to watch.
Another trio, “(serious)” brought, not surprisingly, angular sobriety to the program. Danced by Chanel Da Silva, Jason Hartley and Brett Perry, the pieces approaches Henry Cowell’s music somewhat like what early modern choreographers called music visualization. Each movement corresponds directly to a musical note or inflection. A tremolo on the piano: Hartley quickly taps his feet against the floor in a fluttering run, for instance. The formula never gets tired in the piece (which can happen easily) because the dancers have absolute commitment and the choreography balances the simplicity of its approach with the complexity of Cowell’s score.
The program also included “Like a Samba,” and “The Sun Road.” The former brought together the intensity of “(serious)” with “Shape’s” lighthearted pleasantries. “The Sun Road,” a dance interspersed with film of the cast dancing in Glacier National Park lacked the cohesiveness of the evening’s other pieces, although the film had one of the most compelling images of the night: a male dancer lying naked in a bed of snow. Every time the picture returned he had sunk deeper, as though his body heat slowly overpowered nature.
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EAST: Co-Lab brings verve to the East Austin scene
The forward-thinking folks who started Co-Lab are tapped into where so much of contemporary art is headed: toward the temporary, site-specific, performance-based projects that bust boundaries of genre and media.
With new exhibit/performances each week, Co-Lab acts as an incubator for those artists who are pushing the edges. For the East Austin Studio Tour, Co-Lab hosts a daily changing line-up of outdoor and indoor installations, interactive pieces and performances including a collaborative wall mural and a bike-in movie.
We asked Co-Lab co-founder and director Sean Gaulager a few questions.
Tell us about the founding of Co-Lab.
Sean Gaulager: Co-Lab was founded in July 2008. Operating from an old warehouse and large outdoor area it serves as an experimental project space for new media, workshops, and sustainability.
Co-Lab is a non-non-profit in that we are a noncommercial space but are not a not-for-profit (say that ten times fast). Built on a gift-economy model Co-Lab does not offer services or products at a cost, when there is artwork for sale it is commission free and all proceeds go to the artist. Should they decide to gift back their time, talents, or monetary donations, it is entirely up to them and is not mandatory.
What kind of feedback have you had from your neighbors?
Gaulager: Over the last year and a half in the neighborhood, we’ve had a wide array of responses from neighbors. Some have been enthusiastic, some have gotten involved, some are indifferent, and some are plain unfriendly. However, it’s felt welcoming overall and I hope Co-Lab successfully projects an inviting atmosphere, open to anyone and everyone.
Did you specifically look for a place in East Austin?
Gaulager: When I was looking for a location, I wanted to return to the East side mainly because my prior involvement in other east Austin art spaces and projects had shown me a prolific, supportive, and collaborative community of artists living and working in the area.
Why is a community garden as part of Co-Lab’s programming?
Gaulager: The community garden is a way for people to come together and attempt to become more self-sufficient. It serves as an ongoing architecture, design, and sustainability project that has had some hurdles, but will continue to grow until it can provide full stomachs for all involved.
It”s always hard when a neighborhood changes or gentrifies. And East Austin has definitely been changing in the last few years. Any thoughts?
Gaulager: I don’t like that art spaces and gentrification always get lumped together as if artists are in league with the developers and loft builders. Most people don’t consider that when areas do become gentrified most of the artists get displaced as well.
Co-Lab, 613 Allen St.
www.colabspace.org
Additional EAST hours: 6 to 10 p.m. Nov. 16, 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 17-19, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Nov. 20
Image: A performance/screening by The Light Collective at Co-Lab . Photo by Don Mason
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Now, everyone can sing with Conspirare
Always dreamed of singing with Grammy-nominated choir Conspirare? Now you can as Conspirare presents its inaugural Rush Hour Big Sing.
The free community event invites everyone — regardless of their musical talents or lack thereof — to join Conspirare’s artistic director Craig Hella Johnson and members of the choir in a group sing.
Johnson will lead everyone through breathing exercises, vocal warm-ups, and short, melodic songs that can be easily learned without reading music. Conspirare Symphonic Choir members will sit among the audience to sing along and provide musical support and encouragement during the one-hour event.
Rush Hour Big Sing
5:30 p.m. Nov. 12
St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, 606 W. 15th St.
Free
www.conspirare.org
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Weekend Arts Pix
Thursday
Reggie Watts
For the past two years, the eclectically talented performance artist Watts has dazzled Austin at his sold-out shows that are part of the Fusebox Festival. Now, the inimitable Watts returns with a one-man show of improvised music, absurdist comedy and his 300 distinct vocal styles. 9 p.m. today. Scoot Inn, 1308 E. Fourth St. $15 ($10 student/starving artist). www.fuseboxfestival.com
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Saturday
‘Now That’s Kosher’
Pianist Michelle Schumann is joined by the energetic Carpe Diem String Quartet for a program featuring music with Jewish influences — by heritage and by reverence — from liturgical to folk to klezmer. Included are Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, Golijov’s Tenebrae and Glick’s Old Toronto Kelzmer Suite. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. First Unitarian Church, 4700 Glover. $25 ($10 students). www.austinchambermusic.org
Sunday
‘Regular People’
Mix the slam-bang spontaneity of improv comedy with the realistic, complex characters of contemporary and you get a one-night-only gathering of some of Austin’s most acclaimed improv groups. The Confidence Men, The Frank Mills, and ColdTowne Theater stalwarts The Glamping Trip all specialize in the naturalistic, grounded scenework that’s familiar to modern theater-goers but often absent from comic improv. This is stuff funny, but feels real. 8 p.m. Sunday. Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. www.theinstitutionoftheatre.com
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Visual artists, you’re wanted in City Hall
City Hall wants you, visual artists.
The call has gone for submissions to the next ‘People’s Gallery’ exhibit, the year-long showing of Austin artists in the hallways and rooms of City Hall,
Here’s the notice from the city’s Art in Public Places Program:
Artists, galleries, museums and arts organizations are encouraged to apply for the 2010 People’s Gallery exhibition at Austin City Hall. Applications are currently being accepted for two- and three-dimensional artworks in any medium through Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.
A panel of arts professionals will recommend the artworks that will be on display throughout City Hall from Feb. 19, 2010 to Jan. 28, 2011.
The application procedures and complete Call for Artworks are available on the Art in Public Places website at http://www.cityofaustin.org/aipp.
All applications must be submitted online via the ASAPP! online public art application system with up to five digital images of the artists’ available artwork.
For more information about the application process, artists may attend the Artist Information Meeting at 6 p.m. Dec 2 in room 1029 of City Hall, 301 W. Second St., Austin, TX 78701.
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Review: ‘Sick’
Topically, Zayd’s Dohrn ‘Sick’ — now being staged by theater group Capital T at Hyde Park Theatre — couldn’t be more timely.
Dohrn’s dark comedy zeros in on a Manhattan family of germaphobes terrified of the world and its lethal contamination which they perceive to be everywhere. Maxine (Rebecca Robinson) is the hyper-possessive mother of this crazy family of four and she lines the windows and doors of the family’s apartment with plastic sheeting, keeps air purifiers whirring in every corner and demands that surgical scrubs and face masks be the family’s uniform.
Dohrn — son of Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers, the former Weather Underground members who interestingly spent his early years in hiding with his parent — wrote ‘Sick’ while living in Beijing during the height of the SARS epidemic. And that was only a few years after living in Manhattan when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks set the city on alert for potential mass contamination from the fall-out of World Trade Center.
Now, just as this production hits Austin, the H1N1 flu pandemic rattles nerves and makes headlines.
Maxine cocoons her children, Sarah (Tayler Gill) and Davey (Stephen Mercantel) in the plastic-lined apartment, home-schooling them lest they become infected by bad substances in the outside world or bad ideas.
Maxine’s pristine world is rocked when her husband Sidney (Joe Reynolds), a poetry professor, brings home a graduate student, Jim (Joey LePage), in an effort to deliberately rattle.
Mark Pickell direct competently. And the cast does an able job with their roles. Yet unfortunately that — and the timely topic — doesn’t save Dohrn’s script from seeming predictable and at times rather melodramatic.
‘Sick’ continues through Dec . 5 at Hyde Park Theater. www.capitalT.org
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Review: Austin Lyric Opera’s ‘La Boheme’
How to make “La Boheme” one of the most performed and beloved operas of all times sparkle anew?
Add some youthful energy. Austin Lyric Opera does just that with its current production at the Long Center which opened Saturday night. A roster of up-and-coming soloists bring vigor to this “La Boheme.” And that gives this story of struggling Parisian artists and a doomed love affair — wrapped in achingly beautiful music — a new vitality.
The bravos started early Saturday night, coming first for French tenor Sebastien Gueze who sang the role of Rodolfo, the poet who falls in love with the tuberculosis-stricken Mimi. His ‘Che gelida manina’ — one of the opera’s most famous arias, and really, how to follow up when the likes of Pavorotti made it world-famous to a popular audience? — brought Gueze spontaneous cheers. No wonder: Gueze delivered it with a bright-toned richness and his lyric quality seemed effortless. And after that, he could do no wrong with the audience. Acting the role of the young lover, Gueze was all gangly energy and expressive emotion.
As Mimi, Dina Kuznetsova had a sweet tone and manifested a sense of pathos in her tragic role.
Baritone Craig Verm — a native Houston making his Austin Lyric Opera debut - shone as Marcello, Rodolfo’s sidekick. Again, a youthful energy made for a character that was robust and forceful while Verm’s tone rich and passionate.
Liam Moran sang a touching Colline in the fourth act and Sari Gruber’s vivaciousness made a saucy Musetta.
Conductor Richard Buckley brought a gorgeous lushness along with a refreshing dynamism to the score. Puccini’s big sweeping emotional moments got all their due and then some without ever over-shadowing the tenderness of the smaller poignant episodes.
The scenic design, by San Diego Opera, only got its most interesting in the second act when giant Toulouse-Lautrec inspired posters decked out the Cafe Momus, the artists’ hangout. Indeed, the visual trappings of this “La Boheme” didn’t stray beyond the traditional.
But any conventionality to this production was undone by a uniformally lively young cast replete with excellent singers. Pucinni’s romantic coming-of-age tale rings true in this “La Boheme.”
“La Boheme” continues 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 and 13, 3 p.m. Nov. 15. www.austinlyricopera.og.
Image: Craig Verm as Marcello, Jonathan Beyer as Schaunard, Liam Moran as Colline, Sébastien Gueze as Rodolpho. Photo by Mark Matson.
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Review: Chaddick Dance Theater’s ‘Freefall
Austin-based dancemaker Cheryl Chaddick’s choreography spans a wide range of performance dynamics.
In Friday night’s performance of ‘Freefall’ — the first of a three weekend run at Salvage Vanguard Theatre — the Chaddick Dance Theater presented an evening of Chaddick’s work, including pieces that seemed made for an audience to watch and others that seemed more about dancers on introspective journeys.
Three musical works by The Lyric Quartet framed “Three for Violin,” the most presentational of the evening’s dances. The all-female cast’s smiles contributed to the sense that they relished the opportunity to spin and leap in their metallic, layered dresses, created by costumer Elizabeth Vowell. Dancer April Mackey centered the piece, performing a calm, but strong solo in the work’s second section.
Program closer “The Watchful Sleeping Heart” featured more somber choreography that suggested women on a never-ending journey. Projections shown as backdrop moved from desert sands to rocky mountains to drenched rain forests. Some of the most striking moments occurred when the dancers ran to the wall, their silhouettes etched into the photograph of expansive landscapes.
Chaddick’s quirkiest piece, “I’m Your Lullaby,” was a welcome respite from the more overtly dance pieces. Four characters, named in program notes as Teena “Teenie” Tahtas, Toni Grover, Nutmeg, and Chanteuse cavorted about the stage doing almost unison with shades of character layered on top. Tahtas and Chanteuse were more likely to flounce. Grover and Nutmeg (Chaddick as a rather convincing drug-addled hippie) were more likely to amble. The tiny variations on a theme were sometimes hilarious, sometimes fascinating.
The program also included Chaddick’s “The Gambit” and Cynthia Chaddick’s photographic montage “Faces and Images of India,”
‘Freefall’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 21
Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road
$12-$15
www.chaddickdancetheater.com
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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Review: ‘The Trojan Women’
Those left behind by war — women, children, civilians — are marginalized all over again by history, their experiences typically not the stuff of record.
That’s been true to for millennia. And in a smart re-imagining of Euripides’ ‘The Trojan Women’ by Meghan Kennedy and Kimber Lee. we’re reminded that the ravages of war dramatized in ancient Greece resonate with equal tragedy thousands of years later.
Produced by the University of Texas Department of Theatre & Dance and inventively staged by director Halena Kays, this edgy, visceral interpretation of the saga of the survivors of the Greeks’ 10-year war with Troy smartly updates the ancient story to read as a contemporary parable yet doesn’t forsake the classic drama.
Grimy, exhausted, bruised and their hair shorn, the Trojan women emerge from a smoky ruin and face their fate: to spend their lives as slaves and concubines to their Greek conquerors. (Scenic designer Peter Holtin and lighting designer Cheng-Wei Teng create a dark, ruined world of urban rubble. Music by Kevin O’Donnell, played by a quartet in formal wear, adds plenty of atmosphere.)
As the Trojan queen Hecuba, Kate deBuys is alternately beaten down and raw, the life scratched out of her, and then steely with the will to rebel. When she confronts Menelaus — played as swaggering corporate swell by Rodney Richardson — Hecuba unleashes her most powerful weapon: words. And in playwright Kennedy and Lee give Hecuba nuanced contemporary words that nevertheless deliver intelligent bite.
And the cause of this decade-long war and ensuing wreckage? As Helen of Troy Verity Branco is all classic Hollywood vixen with elbow-length gloves and coiffed long dark curls. Branco exudes sensuality. Bu she is also a modern queen resentful of how she’s been made a scapegoat for a war.
Here again, it’s that smart balance of modern psychology and sensibility blended nicely classic character and drama — a balance that makes this ‘Trojan Women’ a smart story for our times.
‘The Trojan Women’ continues through Nov. 8. www.texasperformingarts.org
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Theater for germaphobes
Lately, with fears of the H1N1 flu rocking the public psyche, bottles of antibacterial hand sanitizer grace office desks and retail countertops. In some world cities, medical face masks have become the new accessory. And cultures with affectionate cheek-kissing greetings are now finding their traditions the subject of public health concerns.
A few years ago, when playwright Zayd Dohrn began writing ‘Sick,’ a quirky comedy about a Manhattan family and the absurd extremes they go through to protect themselves from pollution, he had plenty of material at hand. He was living in Beijing during the height of the SARS epidemic. Dohrn relocated to China from post-Sept. 11 New York, where health-threatening environmental fallout from the terrorists attacks was dreaded.
Now here in Austin — as H1N1 fears still makes headlines — Capital T Theatre is opening a new production of ‘Sick.’
In Dohrn’s offbeat play, a family of germaphobes believes they have allergies to everything from junk food to cleaning supplies to the Manhattan air. When their vacuum-sealed home is invaded by a visitor, chaos crescendos.
‘Sick’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Dec. 5
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St.
$15-$25
www.capitalT.org
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Reggie Watts returns to Austin
For the past two years, the eclectically talented performance artist Reggie Watts has dazzled Austin at his sold-out shows that are part of the Fusebox Festival.
Now, the inimitable Watts returns with his one-man show of improvised music, absurdist comedy and his 300 distinct vocal styles. Prepare for the unexpected and the hiliarious.
Reggie Watts
9 p.m. Nov. 12
Scoot Inn, 1308 E. Fourth St.
$15 ($10 student/starving artist)
www.fuseboxfestival.com
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EAST Explosion: Studio tour keeps on growing
The event you thought couldn’t get any bigger has gotten bigger.
This year, the annual East Austin Studio Tour expands from one weekend to nine days running Nov. 14-22.
Some 154 studios exhibiting the work of more than 280 artists will be open on the weekends of the event — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 14 & 15 and Nov. 21 & 22.
And this year the tour will also feature 20 exhibition spaces, 49 happenings and 30 programs. That’s mind-boggling.
All that is EAST is free and open to the public.
Preview the list of events here.
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I had the pleasure of promoting her Austin appearances (at the Paramount, at Art Ball, and at Art City Austin) for AMOA. It was thrilling as I had been to experience The Gates the year before. She was really something else. A big life lesson I learned from
... read the full comment by David Wyatt | Comment on Artist Jeanne-Claude is dead at 74 Read Artist Jeanne-Claude is dead at 74
Good comments about la boheme.You are right,and i have the same judjement .Very good craig Verm as marcello but the best of the best was sebastien Gueze in rodolfo;I’ve had a shock hearing him.One week after i am full of emotion.Lyric austin opera
... read the full comment by MONCHABLON | Comment on Review: Austin Lyric Opera's 'La Boheme' Read Review: Austin Lyric Opera's 'La Boheme'
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