The result: their Friday show at Salvage Vanguard was a fascinating, intelligent blend of a variety of African American dance vocabularies—a dense collage of West African dance, jazz, modern and ballet. (And yes, every one of those traditions has roots in African American art. American ballet’s rhythmic complexity owes substantial debt to African American jazz.)

Led by founding executive director China Smith and artistic director Leah Smiley Tubbs, who choreographed all of Friday’s seven pieces, Ballet Afrique adds an exciting dimension to Austin’s dance community. It’s wrong that in 2010 it’s still rare to see an American contemporary dance company with multiple performers of color, but it’s great that Ballet Afrique’s six talented female dancers are stepping into the void.

Tubbs, who creates incredibly technically difficult work, has found dancers who meet her challenges head-on. Sade’ M. Jones spent most of the solo “Through the Silence” standing one leg. The precarious position eventually suggested a resolute desire to stand strong in the face of obstacles.

In “Nina Remixed,” the full company proved their versatility, moving across a choreographic palette that included the swinging, pulsing rhythms of arm-swinging West African movements; hip-grinding jazz isolations, and balletic pirouettes. Every step had a confident posture—an attitude that made it easy to overlook the occasional wobble.

The dancers’ self-possessed performance quality meant some moments offered a glimpse of emotional depth that will surely grow with the company. Adriana Ray’s acting made “At Play” an apt and hilarious depiction of the power struggles of childhood games. Daniele Martin’s intensity in the solo “Reset” made a relatively simple choreographic conceit, a fight to untangle the dancer’s bound arms, a statement on how persistence is central to self-empowerment. Tubbs’ solo in “Nina Remixed” saw the fantastically strong dancer use her physical agility to communicate a sense of internal turmoil.

Welcome to Austin dance Ballet Afrique. We need you.

The show continues tonight at 8 p.m. at Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road. www.balletafrique.org

So what better time than to schedule a big public art happening.

On Friday, San Antonio-based artist Jimmy Kuehnle will don one of his giant inflatable suits and hit the streets of downtown at noon to surprise pedestrians. Kuehnle says he didn’t plan his art stunt with SXSW in mind — it’s just a coincidence. Really? Not knowing that March madness in Austin means SXSW is a little like not knowing it gets stinking hot here in August. Read our Q-and-A with him. Kuehnle will start his trek at Cesar Chavez Street and Congress Avenue.

Then on Saturday, Stephen Dubov hopes to attract attention with 50 orange and white hard plastic traffic barriers for a temporary sculptural installation at an South Austin intersection

Dubov will pile the barriers in odd groups and extend them 100 feet or so along South Lamar Boulevard. A team of artists led by Dubov will install them from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Then, the public is invited to an opening from 6:30 to 9 p.m. And to keep the event on a neighborhood-friendly wavelength, attendees are invited to purchase refreshments from a convenience store next to the art site. www.artontheway.com

“I think this piece has a sweet, silly charm that will make people smile, the way Christo’s The Gates did,” Dubov said in press release.

‘The Gates’? Hmm. ‘The Gates’ was a profound public project on a massive scale. Will 50 traffic barriers really share that profundity?

Throughout February, Arthouse used Twiiterverse and Facebookverse — and yes, conventional old email — to seek $5 donations from 2,000 people, or a total of $10,000 . Dubbed ‘I Heart Arthouse’ — ‘I <3 Arthouse’ in Twitter-ese — didn’t quite make its goal, but it did garner the downtown Austin visual arts center a lot of attention for its clever low-overhead approach to fundraising.

Arthouse director of development Jennifer Wijangco reports that the campaign netted a total of $3,560 from 279 donors representing 19 states. Gifts ranged from $5 to $100.

“We’re looking at conferences to present at about our ‘I <3 Arthouse ‘experience, since there seems to be a lot of demand for this idea,” says Wijangco.

See the campaign’s virtual donor wall at www.arthousetexas.org/valentine/donors.html.

Arthouse is currently in the midst of a major $6.6 million renovation to its downtown Austin home. More than $5 million has already been raised. Arthouse is set to re-open in late October.

Ballet Austin II, Ballet Austin’s apprentice company, premiered Dao’s “Quiet Imprint” this weekend at Ballet Austin’s AustinVentures Studio.

Dao paired contemporary ballet with the smoky, almost bluesy voice of Vietnamese singer Khanh Ly to tell Vietnamese Americans’ stories of growing up in Vietnam during waves of war and violence. The series of vignettes to ten songs, performed live by Ly, hinted at narrative, but more compellingly portrayed a emotional landscape of survival: fierce struggle in the face of sorrow.

Dao crafts an image of a community of undulating bodies of rocking and swaying dancers. A couple swims forward from the group, but just as quickly the group swells to swallow them. No man nor woman ever seems representative of a single character, but the dancers gain identities through relationships. In an early section, a series of women perhaps mourn a lost love. The pairs intertwine their bodies, but never seem to see each other, as though a memory, not an actual man lifts each woman.

In general, the piece’s partnered choreography is strong because Dao imagine partnering as much more than one man lifting one woman. Some of the most interesting partnering features two quartets. In each two men and a woman work together to lift the other man.

The slow rock of Ly’s singing shapes much of the piece’s movement, but one section — really, one movement — stands out as sharply defiant. The cast circles the stage, one at a time interrupting their running fist-pumping, foot-punching jumps.

So much in this ballet is sad, but the dancers seem to refuse to go down under the emotional weight. Similarly, Ballet Austin II’s young dancers face Dao’s choreographic challenges thoughtfully. The dancers explore what it means to give into gravity, often letting their legs lead as their torsos ripple slowly behind.

It’s exciting to see young dancers trying out new ways to move and, equally exciting that Ballet Austin, by commissioning now a fourth from Dao, has made a long-term commitment to an emerging voice.


Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.

‘Treading Where No One Hears The Echo of Her Foot Fall.’
Houston-based artist Kathryn Kelley up-cycles and reanimates objects of urban refuse into large, fleshy sculptures that often stand in the place of the self. The impressive scale of these pieces creates a theatrical position for viewers who are confronted with gregarious forms, or intimations of the shadowed self. Remnant inner tubes, doors, frames and windows morph and mingle in these ambitious works. Opening reception is 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Exhibit continues through April 15. Women & Their Work, 1710 Lavaca St. Free. www.womenandtheirwork.org

Complete Brahms Violin Sonatas
What did Johannes Brahms do when he was on summer vacation in idyllic mountain settings? He wrote exquisite, intimate sonatas for piano and violin. Pianist Michelle Schumann and violinist Soovin Kim relay stories of Brahms’ creations and play them all: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Sonata for Violin and Piano in D minor and Sonatensatz in C minor. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. First Unitarian Church, 4700 Grover Ave. $25 ($10 students). www.austinchambermusic.org

Duo Melis
Spanish guitarist Susana Prieto and Greek guitarist Alexis Muzurakis light fire to a wide repertory of classical guitar music from the baroque to modern tango of Astor Piazzolla. 8 p.m. Saturday. Northwest Hills United Methodist Church, 7050 Village Center Drive. $25-$50. www.AustinClassicalGuitar.org

‘Just Because’ is a new series of solo shows slated for the gallery cum Central Austin residence.

Opening the series on Sunday is ‘Elizabeth Chiles: Book of Praise.” The reception is from 3 to 5 p.m. The exhibit continues through March 28.

‘Karl Marx says that the problem with beauty is that it doesn’t talk back; that is its strength in fact. Its silence reminds us about grace,’ says the Austin-based Chiles whose work is included in FotoFest 2010 and has been exhibited here at Okay Mountain.

Continuing the ‘Just Because’ series June 6 to 27 will be ‘Ben Ruggiero: After Icebergs With A Painter,’ featuring the new photographic work by the Texas State University art professor that riffs on the 19th-century Hudson River School group of painters.

Before the Ruggiero exhibit though, look to testsite for what promises to by a slyly smart project by Jay Sanders and the irrepressible Michael Smith. Opening in conjunction with the Fusebox Festival, Sanders and Smith will transform testsite into their version of fraternity.

We can wait for Sanders’ and Smith’s kegger.

Image: ‘Aboo,’ 2009 .Elizabeth Chiles. Courtesy the artist and testsite.

When Fullman was here in Austin, 1985 to 1997, she rented a space in a former candy factory off Manor Road It was there that she developed her very unique instrument known as The Long String Instrument.

Fullman used amazing lengths of wire and custom-built wooden resonators to fashion her gigantic instrument. To play it, she developed a method of rosining her hands and walking the lengths of wire as she coaxed out otherworldly vibrations.

“My work resides between the fields of sound art and music,” she has said. “My interest is in composing music on multiple levels, constructing not only the fundamental harmonic content, but also creating a phantom composition by choreographing the performer’s movement through a multi-dimensional matrix of unfolding overtones.”

Fullman’s return visit — her first in 12 years — jibes with the SXSW premiere of Peter Esmonde’s documentary film about her music entitled “5 variations on a long string.”

The two performances at Seaholm are courtesy the non-profit group New Music Co-op.

8 p.m. March 13
8 p.m. March 14
Seaholm Power Plant, 214 West Ave.
Tickets: $12 students/advance and $15 at door
www.newmusiccoop.org

For the concerts Fullman will perform her compositions solo and in ensemble with NMC instrumentalists James Alexander (viola), Henna Chou (cello), Nick Hennies (percussion) and Travis Weller (violin).

Ellen Fullman performance at Berkeley Art Museum, Dec. 2009.


Photo by John Fago.

The University of Texas’ Butler Opera Center mounts a comely new production of its own which opened this past weekend.

Perhaps it’s Britten’s particularly cruel British comedic sensibility hits home with today’s audiences? Then again, perhaps it’s only now that Britten’s status as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century is now a given.

Like his more popular opera ‘Peter Grimes,’ Britten’s ‘Albert Herring’ centers on an outsider character misunderstood by uptight British society as represented by a small town riven with hypocrisy and intolerance.

Based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant — but thoroughly British in Britten’s interpretation — ‘Albert Herring’ is vicious satire on societal propriety as portrayed in early 20th-century Britain that leaves no character unscathed.

When the autocratic Lady Billows (in this production played by soprano Emily Ward) finds no suitably chaste young woman to be crowned May Queen in the village’s annual celebration, she is convinced by the a council of villagers to elect the hapless grocer Albert Herring (tenor Brad Raymond). Albert is, after all, a simpering momma’s boy.

After being dressed in the clownish humiliating May King costume for the village festival, Albert benefits from a glass of surreptiously spiked lemonade which leads him on an all-night bender. After a night of reckless wanton behavior, Albert returns to the village defiant in his new-found embrace life’s more licentious behavior.

The notable highlight of UT’s production was the orchestra led by Jim Lowe, the Butler Opera Center’s new conductor. Lowe (whose resumes includes stints with Houston Grand Opera and conducting the recent Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of ‘Gypsy’ starring Patti LuPone) wrested considerable panache out of the 12-piece chamber orchesrta of student musician. And that’s not an easy feat given that Britten’s score is chock full of deft musical craftsmanship and witty, ironic references to both the whole operatic canon and popular British music. (Britten quotes everything form Gilbert and Sullivan operattas, Baroque operas and even the late Romanticism of Richard Strauss). Lowe’s musical direction is some of the best seen yet from the Bulter Opera Center.

Though the voices in Sunday night’s cast were generally good, (a few secondary roles are double cast), Marc Reynolds’s limp stage direction left some cast members and their characters adrift.

Those who rose above it — and whose voices also stood out — shone.

Raymond makes Albert his own dramatically and vocally, utterly convincing at first as the hapless nerd, a convincing buffoon as the May King and finally a rather sardonic convert to life’s pleasures — and musically strong and distinct throughout.

As Albert’s erstwhile buddy Sid, baritone James Van Rens (who recently had a small part in Austin Lyric Opera’s charming ‘The Star’) was the complete opera package: a performer with excellent comedic acting chops and a rich voice full of clarity and seasoned with superb articulation.

Ditto with baritone Brian Pettery, in a secondary role as the Vicar. Vocal clarity and theatrical aplomb made his character stand out in a cast filled with many secondary characters.

An awkward set by Anne McMeeking had a split staircase serving as the main scenic element but its institutional modernist style were out-of-place next to Michaele Hite’s luscious period costumes.

Though in places uneven, this production of ‘Albert Herring’ nevertheless gives notice that this bitterly funny Britten comedy is not to be ignored.

‘Albert Herring’ continues at 7:30 p.m. March 5 and March 7. McCullough Theatre, UT campus. $20 ($10 for students). www.music.utexas.edu.

Photo by Jon Smith.

Warm water morphing into air was the primary image behind Pisaro’s ‘Ascending Series(7) (Evaporation),’ a 25-minute piece. A commission from the New Music Co-op, called for seven bowed instruments — in this case two violins, a viola, a bass and three percussionists who used bows on the rims of floor tom drums to create a soft, ethereal scraping sound. ‘Ascending’ started with a tone that formed something of backbone of the sound. Then, after slowly crescendoing, the tone seemed to evaporate, longer stretches of silence marrying the ever quieter moments of the almost white noise coming from the percussive bowing. Ambient noises from outside the auditorium made delightful guest appearances while ‘Ascending’ demanded careful, meditative listening.

New Music Co-op member Nick Hennies debuted his ‘Second Skin With Lungs’ which had five musicians at floor toms making a circle around the audience. Slowing using their hands to make circular motions across the drum skins, the musicians created a gentle wave of sound, sometime no more than a whisper.

Also getting a debut was Travis Weller’s ‘Toward and Away From the Point of Balance,’ a mesmerizing 10-minute piece for a string trio and The Owl, Weller’s inventive 16-string instrument that produces haunting sounds. Toward’ arched from silence to purpose and back to silence with moody slivers of harmony roughed up a bit with the string players injecting near-silent and other-worldly scraping sounds.

Sound may have been the product of Saturday’s concert, but, cleverly, silence emerged as the subtle star.

Ballet Afrique brings a new artistic vision Austin | Flaming Idiots fly again, sans flame | Choreographer looks to parents’ life in Vietnam for inspiration.

Follow @artsinaustin on Twitter

Along with its usual holiday presentation of ‘The Nutcracker,’ the company will dance ‘La Sylphide,’ widely credited as the first romantic ballet and first staged by the Paris Opera ballet in 1832. The story of a young groom who leaves his bride in pursuit of a tempting, beautiful sylph runs, perhaps appropriately, Feb. 11-13, 2011, right up against Valentine’s Day.

Then on Mother’s Day weekend (May 6-8), the company presents the ballet version of Mozart’s romantic opera, ‘The Magic Flute.’

Ballet Austin opens its season Sept. 24-26 with re-mounts of two works by artistic director Stephen Mills, ‘Carmina Burana’ and ‘Kai.’

A as-yet-to-be-announced program for the Studio Theatre Project March 25-April 3 will play in Ballet Austin’s 270-seat Austin Ventures Studio Theater at the company’s downtown Austin headquarters.

The apprentice company, Ballet Austin II, will reprise Mills’s popular ballet for young audiences ‘Not Afraid of the Dark,’ Sept. 18-19 at the Paramount.

See www.balletaustin.org for more information.

Up for sale are only-at-an-art studio finds such as artwork, art supplies and building materials are up for grabs along with the usual garage sale paraphernalia.

9: a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Big Medium Studios, 5305 Bolm Rd. #12

www.bigmedium.org

Appropriately, Robert Steinboomer of Steinboomer & Associates, who along Larry Speck, designed the Umlauf’s media/lecture room and chapel, known as the Roberta Crenshaw Building, starts the series March 4.

‘Front Porches to High Rises: Horned Lizards and Architecture’ is the title of Steinboomer’s talk.

The event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.

See the Umlauf events calendar for the remainder of the ‘Architecture at the Umlauf’ roster of speakers.

Images of the Umlauf’s Crenshaw Building courtesy Steinboomer & Associates.

Friday night conductor Kristjan JärvI and his Absolute Ensemble play ‘Absolute Bach Reinvented’ at Hogg Memorial Auditorium.

The program features a 16-piece ensemble playing pieces that riff on Bach’s Inventions by members of the band.

To Jarvi, Bach is like water. ‘Like water is essential for life on this planet, Bach is essential to musicians,’ the Estonian-born conductor says by phone last week from New York.

Jarvi’s boundary-shredding musical MO eschews dumb-downed crossover antics, the typical model used to popularize classical music. If anything, he wants to return classical music back to its origins when a score was considered a little less sacrosanct and musicians and conductors felt empowered to improvise.

Read our story here.


Also this weekend, Friday through Sunday, Austin’s irrepressible New Music Co-op presents ‘Invisible Landscapes’ three different programs featuring the music of guest composer Michael Pisaro and percussionist Greg Stuart.

Featured on Friday is Pisaro’s piece ‘A Wave and Waves’ for 100 percussion instruments, played by Stuart accompanied by an eight-channel surround sound system. Saturday’s show features two major commission pieces, ‘Red River 7’ by Radu Malfatti and Pisaro’s ‘Ascending Series (7) (evaporation).’ Sunday’s free concert features more by Pisaro as well as new works by Co-op composers Brent Fariss and William Bridges.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Ceremony Hall, 4100 Red River St. $12-$15 (free on Sunday). www.newmusic.coop

The Chinati Foundation is 340-acre 32-building former US Army Fort D.A. Russell. During his lifetime Judd transformed the site into a laboratory for his ideas about the permanent installation of contemporary. Now, the Chinati feautures monumental outdoor concrete works by Judd and 100 aluminum works by Judd housed in two converted artillery sheds. Former army barracks house one large-scale work in colored fluorescent light by Dan Flavin and a building in downtown Marfa display 23 sculptures by John Chamberlain. Other artists represented at the Chinati include Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; Ilya Kabakov, Carl Andre and John Wesley.

Stockebrand, who was Judd’s companion in the years before his death, was appointed by the artist in 1993 to be the director of the non-profit Chinati:

From the Chinati comes this statement:

The Board of Directors of The Chinati Foundation, in Marfa, Texas, has announced that its director, Dr. Marianne Stockebrand, has expressed her intention to retire as soon as a successor can be found. Stockebrand, who was appointed to the position in 1993 by the museum’s founder, the artist Donald Judd, and who has been responsible for its development since his death in the following year, plans to continue residing in Marfa and will assume the title of Director Emeritus. The search for a new director will begin immediately.

‘Albert Herring’
University of Texas’ Butler Opera Center presents Benjamin Britten’s comic chamber opera based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant. ‘Albert Herring’ tells the story of a small English village looking for nominations for its coveted annual title of Queen of the May. When villagers can find no young women pure enough to be worthy of the title, they select Albert Herring, a socially awkward wallflower. The production also marks the debut of James Lowe, the Butler Opera Center’s new conductor. This weekend’s performances will also be webcast live. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday. McCullough Theatre, UT campus, $10-$20. www.music.utexas.edu

‘Smoking Lesson’
Award-winning director Marcus McQuirter presents Julia Jordan’s unnerving play about three 15-year-old girls who spend time underneath a bridge on the Mississippi River remembering their friend who mysteriously and violently died there seven years earlier. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through March 7. Rio Grande Campus Gallery Theater, 1212 Rio Grande St. $5-$10. 512-223-3240.

The free event, ‘A Conversation About Art & Architecture’ is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. It’s open to the public. Members of Austin’s art and architecture communities are encouraged to attend.

The work of artists Bridget Quinn, Jared Theis, Joseph Philips and the Sodalitas collective is all up for discussion. The talk will be lead by Salvador Castillo.

It all goes down in an empty retail space near City Hall at 233 W. Second St.

The evening will also present the opportunity to stike up dieas for the international Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space — aka TOGS — Ideas Competition. The project, now in its third year, challenges designers to come up an radical new alternative to the typical art fair tent.

The ‘Fort,’ from ‘July Transplants’ project. Organized by Bridget Quinn. Photo by Stephanie Becker.

What if it drives an economics professor to obsessively pick up litter around his neighborhood creating thus awkward relationships with his family, neighbors and colleagues?

That’s the premise of ‘Toxic Assets,’ the latest one-man play by Austin theater artist/monologuist, ordained minister, business consultant and economics professor Steven Tomlinson.

Tomlinson (whose thoughtful, acclaimed solo shows include “Managed Care,” “Curb Appeal,” and ‘American Fiesta’) will present a workshop version of his new show March 11 and 12 at the Off Center. The gig is benefit for the upcoming Fusebox Festival of performance art. Tomlinson is on the board of the non-profit Fusebox.

“As an artist, I’m trying to make sense of the disconnect between what we worry about (huge forces like markets and the environment) and what we can actually accomplish as individuals,” says Tomlinson. “These little things we do, picking up trash, making time to help one person get back on track, are they worth doing, even if they can’t save us?”

8 p.m. March 11 and 12 <.br> Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo Tickets: Thurs is pay-what-you-can; Friday it’s sliding scale $15-$50

Buy tickets here.

Photo by Austin American-Statesman.

Consumed: ‘Desire’ exhibit at UT’s Blanton Museum spreads from the universal to the particular | At AMOA, ‘American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print’

Follow @artsinaustin on Twitter

Now, the New York-based Dao returns to Austin with ‘Quiet Imprint,’ a new work based on personal narratives the choreographer gathered from the central Texas Vietnamese community.

‘Quiet Imprint’ gets its world premiere March 6 and 7 by Ballet Austin II, the apprentice company.

7 p.m. March 6, 2 p.m. March
AustinVentures StudioTheater, Butler Dance Education Center, 501 W. Third St.
$15
www.balletaustin.org

Dao’s dance depicts the arduous journey experienced by the countless displaced Vietnamese men and women who lived through the Vietnam War, especially those who ended up in Austin.

Dao’s grounded his work in an open dialogue with the Vietnamese elders, documenting their journey of exile and then connecting them with the dancers. Thus, folk dance movements and individual stories were directly shared. Dao worked with Women’s Alliance Vietnam’s Education (WAVE) to reach out to Austin’s Vietnamese community.

Also, ‘Quiet Imprint’ was inspired by legendary Vietnamese singer Khanh Ly’s soulful performances of the country’s beloved songwriter, Trinh Cong Son’s music. In a rare appearance, Ly will perform live with Ballet Austin II.

Here’s video interview with Thang Dao, produced by Ballet Austin:

This is not news to legions of choreographers, but perhaps no company harnesses unison’s power better than Black Grace. The New Zealand-based company, at UT’s Bass Concert Hall Saturday, pushes unison to another level. The dancers inject such intensity into dancing together they achieve oxymoronic status—they are so unified they seem to move with more than unison.

The company’s choreography, by artistic director and company founder Neil Ieremia, invites such unity through sophisticated, sustained simplicity. “Deep Far” employed cyclical repetition to entrancing effect. Four dancers—Tupua Tigafua, David Williams, Abby Crowther, and Zoe Watkins—seamlessly slid around and across a circle. The piece’s layered repetition made the closing moment astonishing. The four dancers interlaced their bodies. Each couple locked their legs together and opened their chests and arms to the soft, still sound of a storm’s first drops. It seemed as though the repeated movement allowed the dancers to open their bodies, not just their mouths, to the falling rain.

Ieremia functioned as the show’s emcee, explaining from center stage how he combines Pacific Islander culture with modern dance to create Black Grace’s repertory. The informative interludes likely made the program more accessible for an audience unfamiliar with Pacific Islander culture. Ieremia’s tone, which bordered on stand-up comedy, undercut some of his more potent political statements.

The collection of six pieces displayed Black Grace’s range of cultural hybridity. Lausae (Tapulu Tele) depicted the Samoan tattooing tradition. Men spread themselves across three large stones as other dancers mimed the wiping of blood: a depiction of the intense, full-bodied tattooing process. Screams and the sounds of tapping echoed from the accompanying score.

Such obvious references (at least obvious after Ieremia’s introduction) could be too simple, but they build into a large theatrical and kinetic vision. For much of the piece, the dancers fly across the stage—a choreographic pattern repeated to even more excitement in “Gathering Clouds,” which Ieremia choreographed in response to an economist racist publications about Pacific Islander in New Zealand.

The giant rocks in “Lausaue,” New Zealand’s famous river stones, were one of several stunning design choices. The lighting design for all the pieces (uncredited in the program) shaped large group dancing. At the end of “Pati Pati,” the ensemble moved slowly. Light carved shapes across the dancers’ bare shoulders. Then, the dancers turned toward each other, their repeated reaches skyward seemingly drawing bright yellow light into the center of the circle. As the dancers strode backwards into the wings, the light expanded. This company leaves a trace of light behind them wherever they appear.


Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.


Photo by Neil Ieremia.

From the Monfonus peeps comes this message:

“As you may have heard, we have a major cold front headed our way. It’s supposed to be raining (possibly snowing) and in the 30s tomorrow, which is good neither for our AV equipment nor our audience. It’s a bummer, but we don’t want you freezing. We’ll update you with the new date,”

It’s all of the above! And more.

Jason Neulander started ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ as a coffeehouse theater experiment in 1996. Wouldn’t it be cool to stage a retro-inspired spoof of pulp radio drama? It was and Neulander continued to develop ‘Nemesis’ into a multi-part live radio play that toured the country.

Now, Neulander — former leader of Salvage Vanguard Theater — has taken ‘Nemesis’ to the next level, developing into a franchise of sorts in a project spans everything from literacy programs at local schools to an actual comic book to an app for mobile phones.

Oh, yeah and the live stage version of ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ has been tweaked. Come Labor Day weekend, the new stage version projects the comic book artwork panel-by-panel while three actors perform the voices, Foley artist Buzz Moran creates the sound effects and Graham Reynolds plays the piano score. The show will be staged at the Long Center.

An announcement to the media last week at the Long Center introduced the project. Neulander’s production is sponsored by a group of investors including Marc Seriff, co- founder of America Online, as well as entrepreneur Scott Reichardt and realtor Cord Shiflett.

From the project’s site, comes the basic ‘Nemesis’ story: The year is 1933. The Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez have stumbled across a series of murders foiled by a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff named Ben Wilcott. Together, the three heroes trek across Europe, North Africa and beyond to thwart world-famous mesmerist Mysterion the Magnificent and what turns out to be an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon.

Another facet of the project is an actual comic book with illustrations by Tim Doyle and color art by Paul Hanley and Lee Duhig. The first of seven issues has already hit the stands. Look for the series to be featured on www.austin360.com/arts.

‘Nemesis’ is also partnering with the Library Foundation to distribute copies of the comic books to local libraries. And portions of the live show will be presented in three West Austin elementary schools.

Tonight, in a free concert, University of Texas-based percussion ensemble Line Upon Line spearheads ‘Clutch: New Music by UT Composers,’ a program of new percussion-based music by student and faculty composers. Included on the program are ‘Echoes of Veiled Light’ by Zack Stanton and a new piece by Steve Snowden.

The free concert is at 7:30 p.m. Recital Studio 2.608. Music Building, UT campus.

If you can’t make the concert, it will be Webcast live from www.music.utexas.edu.

Photo by www.c2wphotography.com.