Me, I’m at Caddo Lake for the very first time and about halfway through Love Is A Wild Assault. Had no idea about the legend and legacy of Harriet Potter. Hope your weekend is bringing you equally interesting revelation and relaxation.

New to me this week:
Blind Blake
Vinyl
Tito And Tarantula
Perla Batalla 

Brazilian Girls – “Corner Store” – Brazilian Girls
Can – “Fall of Another Year” – Unlimited Edition
Blind Blake – “Too Tight” – All the Published Sides
Morphine – “In Spite Of Me” – Cure For Pain
Joey Ramone – “Life’s A Gas” – …Ya Know?
Mason Williams – “Baroque-A-Nova”  - The Mason Williams Phonograph Record
Tracey Thorn – “Dreamy” - A Distant Shore
Jack White – “I Guess I Should Go To Sleep” - Blunderbuss
Robin Gibb – “Juliet” – Love Songs
Vinyl - Ballpeen “Hammer” – flea market
Tito & Tarantula – “After Dark” - From Dusk Till Dawn – Music From The Motion Picture
PJ Harvey – “Let England Shake” - Let England Shake 
Ennio Morricone - “Il Buono, Il Cattivo,  Il Brutto (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly)” – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Dead Can Dance – “The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove”  - Into The Labyrinth

Last summer, former New York City Ballet dancer-turned-veteran-choreographer Bruce Wood returned to the dance floor with the Bruce Wood Dance Project, his one-step-at-a-time effort to see if Dallas would support a for-real, top-flight, contemporary dance outfit. Six years ago, he walked away from his Fort Worth-based company when he could no longer pay the dancers.

This time, he said, it’s different. This time, the donors came to him with the money to get something started.

So, a year ago, he made his acclaimed return, performing at the Arts Magnet’s Montgomery Arts Theater with a couple of world premieres and his justly celebrated Bolero. Now, Wood’s taking his second step: a second season.

The season is just three days long (June 21-24) with two different programs. But into these two programs, Wood has packed three world premieres (two by him, one by SMU alum Joshua Peugh) plus a terrific audience fave (a ballet of Lyle Lovett tunes), a touching revival (“Follow Me”– created in honor of the soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia) and Wood’s 2002 take on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

Tickets went on sale this week.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

On May 23, 1973, Don Robey sold Duke-Peacock Records to ABC-Dunhill, bringing an end to an important era in the Texas recording industry. Owner of the popular Houston nightclub the Bronze Peacock, Robey founded Peacock Records in 1949 to promote his featured artist, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. In 1952, Peacock merged with Duke Records. This helped expand Robey’s roster to include such prominent R& B musicians as Junior Parker, Bobby Blue Bland, Big Mama Thornton and Johnny Ace.

As one of the first nationally-successful black-owned labels, Don Robey’s Duke-Peacock Records helped shaped the sound of early rock ‘n’ roll and left a lasting imprint on American popular music.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet some musicians who really knew how to honk their horns.

But will it ever be able to do a kick-ass air guitar version of “Freebird”?

Sound like something you might be interested in? The movie opens locally on June 1, but you can catch an advance screening of it May 29 at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas. All you have to do is go here and print off a pass (promo code: ARTSEEK8WS). Passes are good for two people, but seating is first come, first served, and these things fill up. Get there early to guarantee a seat. And if you go, please drop us a comment here to let us know how you liked it.

TACA Party on the Green. Credit: D. Driensky

Rain and wind briefly threatened, but didn’t didn’t deter, this year’s  TACA Lexus Party on the Green, the annual fundraiser for performing arts groups.

And this week, TACA announced that the party, featuring tasting stations from fine restaurants and held at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, raised more than $350,000. That’s a big chunk of the roughly $1 million TACA will grant to 40 performing arts groups next year.   (Here’s a list of this year’s grant recipients.)

TBT 2012-13: Texas Ballet Theater has announced its 2012-13 season, which it has dubbed “Two Great Cities, One Great Company!” The season opens Oct. 19 with artistic director Ben Stevenson’s Peer Gynt, based on the Norwegian fairy tale. Then we’ll get a new production of The Nutcracker before the North Texas premiere of Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries and Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena. The season concludes with TBT’s Springfest. There’s more on each of these shows on TBT’s website.

AND THE BUCKLEY GOES TO: Congratulations to Grapevine Faith Christian School and Mansfield High School, whose productions of Godspell and Seussical, respectively, dominated this year’s Betty Lynn Buckley Awards. The awards were handed out last night at Casa Mañana. All the winners are over at dfw.com.

At the Dallas Theater Center, French playwright Yasmina Reza’s comedy, God of Carnage, finds two respectable couples tearing into each other over their sons’ schoolyard fight. In his review, KERA’s Jerome Weeks calls the play just a bigger, better schoolyard fight.

• Dallas Morning News review (pay wall)

• Dallas Morning News profile of Sally Nystuen-Vahle (pay wall)

• Dallas Observer review

• Star-Telegram review

• Pegasus News review

• FrontRow review

• Theater Jones review
  

• KERA radio review:

• Expanded online review:

The past four years, God of Carnage has become a hit in theaters worldwide – and has been turned into a Roman Polanski film. It’s not a particularly profound comedy. Critics have hailed how it reveals what a thin veneer civility is, how easily we all revert to animal aggression. Right.  That’s what many comedies do. You could say the same thing about Moliere’s Tartuffe or Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple — or last week’s episode of 30 Rock.

For that matter, two couples ripping into each other? God of Carnage can play like a pint-sized version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

So it isn’t all that deep. But it’s still pretty funny. The parents of the young victim in that playground fight — Michael and Annette — have called a meeting in their arty, upscale apartment. [If you're interested, see the note below about the set and the color-blind casting.] And they’re feeling a little too self-satisfied with how reasonable they’re being. The other parents — Alan and Veronica — are rightly embarrassed by their son’s violent behavior but a little defensive as well. At the Dallas Theater Center, here’s Sally Nystuen-Vahle as the apologetic mother:

Nystuen-Vahle: “We appreciate the fact that you’re trying to calm this situation down rather than exacerbate it. If Henry had broken two of Benjamin’s teeth, I’m not at all certain that Alan and I would have been so … broadminded.”

Hassan El-Amin: “‘Course you would.”

Chris Hury: “She’s right. Not at all certain.”  [laughter]

That last actor is Chris Hury. He plays Sally’s husband, who’s everyone’s favorite villain these days: a smug, hotshot lawyer with a constantly ringing cellphone and a seriously negligent company for a client. It’s one of the best roles Hury has had in Dallas and he practically gleams in all of its unapologetic cynicism.

In fact, the laughs in God of Carnage really kick in only when the gloves come off, only when the rum’s served and the rudeness starts. As a comedy of contemporary manners, the play satirizes our empty courtesies, but much of its exuberant energy and certainly some of our pleasure come from when all the buried resentments are finally let out to play.

Christie Vela: “Anyway, Why can’t we take things more lightly? Why does everything have to be so exhausting?”

Chris Hury: “You think too much. Women – think too much.”

[laughter, cross-talk, applause]

Hassan El-Amin: “You see what I have to live with — ?

Vela: “SHUT UP! Just shut up! I detest this pathetic complicity. YOU disgust me.”

El-Amin: “Oh, c’mon! Have a sense of humor!”

Christie Vela: “I don’t have a sense of humor and I have no intention of acquiring one.”

Before the deluge: Hury and Sally Nystuen-Vahle at the Dallas Theater Center

If Reza’s not deep, she is smart. She links this domestic dispute with corporate misbehavior, with international crises and gender politics, even with our mistreatment of family pets. All of our lives are counterbalanced between tyranny and submission, obedience and indulgence. Reza is also scrupulously fair. Everyone gets to lash out, everyone gets slammed. And you will recognize your own failings somewhere in this mixed martial-arts marital match-up.

The men, for instance, say the worst things. They give the old, dumb justifications about our need to be cavemen, they reflect fondly on their own childhood gangs. But it’s the women who get physical, throwing things and trashing things.

The Theater Center cast has been expertly directed by Joel Ferrell; they make an effective wrecking crew. One reason this play works (and is so popular): Reza gives each actor the splendid chance to be both modest and outraged. Only Hassan El-Amin doesn’t exploit this contrast to its full comic potential. It’s funniest when the mouse roars (and starts passing out the rum and cigars), but El-Amin is never that much of a mouse.

At 80 minutes, God of Carnage is a short, swift, enjoyable brawl. Reza shows how everything human gets reduced to a schoolyard face-off – and then she doesn’t have much more to say.

But think of that this way: It just gives you and your date more time to argue about the play.

All images by Karen Almond

____________________________________________________

The set and the color-blind casting.

Much comment has been made of designer John Arnone’s set, mostly because of the retina-searing red couches but also the African statuary and dyed fabrics and the impressive set of elephant tusks — which get spotlit by lighting designer Natalie Robin, just as the lights go down and the play begins. In case we overlooked them.

As Lawson Taitte notes (pay wall), Arnone and director Joel Ferrell have made the apartment fireplace into a looming altar to some ‘dark deity.’ For their apartment decor, other theater companies — and the Polanski film — have employed lots of books and the occasional artistic African prop. But Arnone and Ferrell have taken the basic script information — Annette is writing a book about Darfur and is passionately interested in art (her coffee table is covered in fine art books) — and expanded it into a big, bold set design statement.

Hmm.

This design statement can easily be construed as implying that African tribal figures represent grim, primal, destructive forces: the gods of carnage demanding sacrifice. In fact, this is pretty much how Mark Lowry reads it (although Mark also seems to think we can revert to the Neanderthal lurking inside us, when we never were Neanderthals). Needless to say, this African-gods-of-carnage reflects a Eurocentric set of mistaken assumptions: that African art and African religions are ‘primitive,’ they’re closer to the violent and the ancient, etc. — when they’re no more ‘primitive’ or violent than the Bible.

Think of it this way: Would audience members ‘read’ that design the same way if there were a large, bloody crucifix over the fireplace? Would they assume that this was a ‘god of carnage’ representing our more savage instincts?

You can believe, as I’d like to, that Ferrell offsets such a Eurocentric interpretation by scoring this pre-show moment with Baroque-sounding music — instead of, thank goodness, playing something like ominous ‘jungle drums’ (the sound design is by Bruce Richardson). Meaning, the gods are being honored with ‘royal’ music, music that is just as tied up with the prerequisites of power and obedience.

Or much more likely, you can take the Baroque music as the ‘counter’ to the African gods. It represents our thin veneer of ‘civilization’ — white Europe set against ‘darkest Africa.’

If we take all of this interpretation as accurate, it complicates, in an interesting fashion, the color-blind casting of African-American actor Hassan El-Amin as Michael. The role isn’t specified white or black, although, no surprise, it’s generally cast as white. (Earlier this year, Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre presented what was billed as the first all-African-American God of Carnage.) El-Amin’s presence as Michael — added to wife Annette’’s interest in Darfur and African art — gives an even more political, nasty edge to Alan’s dismissal of Darfur as just another massacre, right to Michael and Annette’s faces.

So on the one hand, the Theater Center production offers a simplistic, inaccurate treatment of African imagery while on the other, it amplifies our sympathy for Michael and Annette (or ramps up our irritation with the appallingly arrogant Alan). At that moment, one may well expect that there’ll be more such racially pointed exchanges between the couples — or dialogue that can now be heard in this light — but the script fails to provide any.

That’s too bad because, as a number of critics have pointed out, Reza carefully makes sure other combinations of Us Against Them are played out in the couples’ freewheeling arguments: men vs. women, spouse vs. spouse, liberal vs. conservative. So why not white vs. black? And even white vs. brown, considering Christie Vela as Annette? The Theater Center casting has actually opened up Reza’s we-are-all-animals-beneath-the-skin argument to other, equally valid, racial applications (everyone’s awful here). Meanwhile, the decor hews to a dated misunderstanding of African culture.

If there are other, convincing ways to read these choices in the set design, lighting design, music and casting, I’m open to considering them.

Photo: Columbia Pictures

This week, Art&Seek’s Stephen Becker and Dallas Morning News movie critic Chris Vognar review Men in Black 3 and look at other new films coming to theaters. And we’ll discuss an important documentary shot in the early days of hip-hop finally coming to DVD. Be sure to subscribe to The Big Screen podcast on iTunes. Stream this week’s podcast below or download it.

There are also TITAS audience favorites returning, notably Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Mexico’s Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Meanwhile, the new attractions include R&B musician Marc Broussard, the Stephen Petronio Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, the Brazilian company Grupo Corpo and the Bella Gaia World Tour (“Beautiful Earth”), a musical/visual performance with a live ensemble performing to footage of the planet “from fires in the Amazon basin to time-lapse images of melting Arctic ice.”

The full release is below:

The AT&T Performing Arts Center and TITAS Announces 2012-2013 TITAS Season

TITAS lineup to feature a diverse and exciting roster of international artists:

The Ahn Trio in Concert, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bella Gaia, Marc Broussard in Concert, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Doug Varone and Dancers, The Joffrey Ballet, Brazil’s Grupo Corpo Dance Company, Mexico’s Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Stephen Petronio Dance Company, and TITAS’ Command Performance Gala Performance

DALLAS (May 24 ) – TITAS in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center announced today that the 2012-2013 TITAS season will feature an exciting and diverse lineup of  artists that range from the internationally celebrated Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Joffrey Ballet to the visually and musically stunning Bella Gaia and the incomparable Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan.

“The TITAS seasons are always great, but this season sets the bar at a whole new level!” Charles Santos, TITAS executive director/artistic director.

TITAS 2012-2013 SERIES

(in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center)

Mexico’s Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan (Music Series)

8 p.m. September 26, 2012

Winspear Opera House

Following an unprecedented sold-out debut at the AT&T Performing Arts Center during the 2010-11 TITAS season, Mariachi Vargas returns to Dallas to an adoring audience and a host of new fans.

Often billed as “El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, or “The Best Mariachi in the World,” the group of 13 musicians and vocalists was formed in 1987 by Don Gaspar Vargas in the Mexican village of Tecalitlán. With five generations of performers now keeping their deeply rooted traditions alive, Mexico City based Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán entices audiences worldwide. The transcendent concert experience is everything you love about mariachi music—from the singing and musicianship to the costumes and pageantry. Quite simply, Mariachi Vargas are the quintessential kings of mariachi music.

Outside of the U.S. and Latin America, the internationally acclaimed group has performed in Spain, the Czech Republic and Japan. In 2011, they performed in Paris for a European premiere of their first mariachi opera, “To Cross the Face of the Moon,” produced in conjunction with the Houston Grand Opera.

Doug Varone and Dancers (Dance Series)

8 p.m. September 29, 2012

Winspear Opera House

“Varone’s ability to convey depths of emotion through highly charged, physically exciting choreography has made him a rarity among his generation.” The New York Times

Doug Varone and Dancers creates modern choreography that is as accessible as it is groundbreaking. The renowned company relies on its technical and physical prowess to keep audiences engaged and energized as they explore the complexities of the human spirit. From the smallest gesture to the most powerful bursts of movement, Doug Varone and Dancers reveals the subtle beauty and raw energy in everyday moments. The result is a performance that will draw you in, surprise and delight you, challenge and reward you—and take your breath away.

Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, television and fashion. By any measure, his work is extraordinary—not only for its emotional depth and kinetic breadth, but also for its effortless adaptation to so many media. As a company, Doug Varone and Dancers is recognized for its vision, versatility, technical ability, storytelling, and sheer physicality.

Marc Broussard in Concert (Music Series)

8 p.m. November 2, 2012

Winspear Opera House

Marc Broussard has an uncanny knack for translating the classic languages of R&B, rock and soul into something totally contemporary and entirely his own. He’s been a part of the new music conversation since 2002, when he independently recorded and released his debut album, “Momentary Setback,” at the age of 20. But the buzz about Broussard goes back even further—when a lucky audience heard him belt out “Johnny B. Goode” at age 5 as he sat in with his father’s band.

Tapped as a talent to watch pretty much all his life, Broussard has already toured with giants like Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, Chris Isaak and Bonnie Raitt. With his powerful, soulful and bluesy voice, he’s destined to become a TITAS favorite.

Stephen Petronio Dance Company (Dance Series)

8 p.m. November 16, 2012

Winspear Opera House

“He is one of the few contemporary dance makers who have created an instantly recognizable style…fresh and unpredictable…infused with emotional texture and wit…jarring and just right.” The New York Times

Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, Stephen Petronio is widely regarded as one of the leading dance-makers of his generation. Music, visual arts and fashion collide in a dazzling scene for the senses. Petronio has worked with some of the most provocative composers, visual artists and fashion designers in the world—including Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Michael Nyman, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Donald Baechler, Rachel Roy and Manolo. Since their founding in 1984, Stephen Petronio Dance Company has performed in 26 countries. The troupe boasts 35 New York City engagements, including an impressive 15 seasons at The Joyce Theater.

TITAS welcomes Stephen Petronio Dance Company to the Winspear Opera House for their debut Dallas appearance. With an evening that pushes visual and technical boundaries, their spellbinding choreography and distinctive style blurs the lines between performance and art.

The Joffrey Ballet (Dance Series)

8 p.m. January 18 & 19, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“The Joffrey Ballet’s revolutionary style combined with unique and varied choreography—and exquisite execution—brought them to the forefront of the classical dance world….These highly trained dancers move with unparalleled elegance, in a performance that will mesmerize our audience with its flawless beauty.”

In recognition of the 100^th anniversary of Nijinsky’s iconic Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring), TITAS and the Joffrey are proud to present this classical masterpiece—complete with its original choreography.

The Joffrey Ballet has been hailed as “America’s Company of Firsts.” Among their long list of notable performances: first dance company to perform at the White House (at the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy), first to appear on television, first American company to visit Russia, first to commission a rock ‘n’ roll ballet, first (and only) dance company to appear on the cover of Time magazine, and the first company featured as the subject of a major motion picture (Robert Altman’s “The Company”).

Founded in 1956 by visionary dancer, teacher, choreographer Robert Joffrey, the Joffrey Ballet is known for its unique, inclusive perspective on dance. The company, the audiences and the repertoire reflect America’s rich diversity through story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces and contemporary works.

Guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, and now thriving under Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway, the Joffrey Ballet is one of America’s most recognizable arts institutions—and one of the top dance companies in the world. This season, TITAS and the AT&T Performing Arts Center are proud to welcome the Joffrey Ballet back to Dallas after a 20-year absence.

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (Dance Series)

8 p.m. February 9, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“Combining voluptuous physicality with classical technique… Cedar Lake is one of the most exciting companies performing today.”  New York’s Joyce Theater

In their highly anticipated return to the TITAS season and the Winspear stage, we welcome Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet back to Dallas, The program features new works by some of the world’s most sought after choreographers and composers—including famed Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián, UK-based Hofesh Shechter and  Canada’s Crystal Pite.

Since their last appearance in the 2010-11 TITAS season, Cedar Lake have garnered rave reviews for their sexy, Euro-styled “dance installation”—and were voted “Best Dance Event of 2011” in Dallas by TheaterJones.com. The New York-based company is taking the dance world by storm with its combination of exquisite classical technique and edgy physicality. The result, says the New York Times, “…pulls viewers right out of their seats…” with its “…weird and wonderful poetry of the body.” The Village Voice offers its own assessment of Cedar Lake: “…fierce, athletic and compulsively sensual.”

Cedar Lake performs under the leadership of artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer—a native of Paris and a former Alvin Ailey dancer.  Always a TITAS favorite, Cedar Lake promises to be a highlight of the 2012-13 season.

Bella Gaia World Tour – A Poetic Vision of Earth from Space (Music Series)

8 p.m. February 25, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“Musically beautiful, visually stunning, Bella Gaia is a feast of sight, sound and science.”

Bella Gaia (Beautiful Earth) is a “Living Atlas” of our world. Experience the beauty of Earth as few humans have—set to music and seen through the eyes of astronauts. Created in collaboration with NASA by award-winning director and classically trained violinist Kenji Williams, Bella Gaia features a live performance by Williams’ world-class ensemble—paired with magical images of our majestic home planet.

From fires in the Amazon basin to time-lapse images of melting arctic ice, Bella Gaia creates a stunning musical/visual journey through our miraculous universe.

Through an evening of beautiful world music and stunning projected images, the performance includes virtual visits to exotic Japanese temples, Egyptian pyramids and beyond—making Bella Gaia a powerful experience that casts a broad world view. Featured at the COP15 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, at top festivals such as the Smithsonian Folklife/NASA festival, and in sold-out performances at digital planetariums, Bella Gaia has delighted everyone from students to heads of government in countries from Europe to the USA and Japan.  And speaking of students, Bella Gaia is an excellent program for introducing children to the magic of live performance. Beautiful and magical, Bella Gaia promises to be a surprise hit in the season.

Command Performance (Special Event)

7 p.m.  March 2, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“A mix of classical and modern dance…awe inspiring, powerful and dazzling.” Dallas Morning News

Stunningly beautiful and creative, Command Performance is the definitive dance event of the year. A spectacular evening featuring ten of the world’s most renowned stars performing the best of dance today – from classic pas de deux to awe-inspiring contemporary works. It is the pyrotechnics of dance – the most exciting, innovative and beautiful works all in one evening. Recognized for exceptional programming and world-class dancing, Command Performance has also become the showcase for premieres of TITAS-commissioned new choreographic works by dance’s brightest stars including Dwight Rhoden, Mia Michaels, Jessica Lang and Twyla Tharp. Year after year, Command Performance brings thrilled audiences to their feet. Experience the beauty and passion of this tour de force dance event.

Grupo Corpo (Dance Series)

8 p.m. March 8, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“Grupo Corpo’s unashamed mission seems to be to tempt the rhythm of life out of us all.”

- The Guardian (UK)

Passion lives in the Brazilian DNA. The parties, the food, the futbol—and, of course, the dance—are all lived with unbridled exuberance and undeniable energy. For more than 35 years, Grupo Corpo has channeled the Brazilian spirit, using it as a sort of mantra that inspires their passionate, cultured and memorable dance works.

With their own unique language of movement, Grupo Corpo captures the soft, sinuous form of ballet—stoked by the fiery influence of Latin American dance—and creates a smoldering, sensual experience unlike any other. The company’s physical virtuosity—with inexhaustible dancers moving to relentless rhythms—is matched only by their highly conceptual storytelling. The result is something innovative, exciting and altogether authentic.

Grupo Corpo was founded in 1975 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and quickly earned a reputation for developing its own theatrical language. To date, the company has created 35 choreographies and more than 2,200 performances. Annually, Grupo Corpo maintains 10 ballets in repertoire and gives 70 performances a year in places as distinctive as Iceland and South Korea, the United States and Lebanon, Italy and Singapore, the Netherlands and Israel, France and Japan, Canada and Mexico, and now… Dallas.

The Ahn Trio (Music Series)

8 p.m. April 16, 2013

Winspear Opera House

“Exacting and exciting musicians,” L.A. Times

Whether performing in Vienna’s Musikverein, New York’s Lincoln Center, Beijing’s Concert Hall, the White House or touring in China or Korea, the Ahn Trio continue to share their innovative spirit and ever-evolving vision of music. The three sisters (Lucia on the piano, Angella on the violin, and Maria on the cello) were born in Seoul, Korea, and Juilliard educated. The Ahn Trio bring a new energy and excitement to the music world and have earned a distinguished reputation for embracing 21^st century classical music with their unique style and innovative collaborations. Luminary composers as Mark O’Conner, Michael Nyman, Maurice Jarre, Pat Metheny, Paul Schoenfield, Kenji Bunch, Nikolai Kapustin, and Paul Chihara have written works for them.

The Ahns have performed in over 30 countries, and have recorded six albums. They have won multiple music awards including Germany’s prestigious ECHO Award. An MTV appearance on Bryan Adams’ “Unplugged” inspired the trio to make “Ahn-Plugged” (EMI), and “Groovebox” (EMI) soon followed. They also made a joint album with the Czech Grammy-winning rock group Tata Bojs.  Inspired musicianship, commissioned works and awe-inspiring performances are the trademark of any Ahn Trio performance.  This TITAS concert will be their debut appearance at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Dance Series)

Fri. 8pm/ Sat. 2pm, 8pm, May 3 & 4, 2013 (3 shows)

Winspear Opera House

“Possibly the most successful modern dance company on the planet.” The New York Times

In a now-fabled 1958 performance at the 92^nd Street YMCA in New York City, Alvin Ailey led a group of young African-American dancers in an event that forever changed the perception of American dance. Today, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues its reign as an American “Cultural Ambassador to the World”—having performed live for an estimated 23 million people in 48 states, 71 countries, and six continents.

The gifted and gorgeous Ailey dancers infuse energy and emotion to classics and new works alike. Now guided by the vision of new artistic director Robert Battle, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater remains the nation’s leading modern dance company. That’s why TITAS believes the stunning Winspear Opera House is the most appropriate place to welcome Ailey back for their first Dallas performance since 1993.

Tickets for TITAS performances range from $12 to $200.

Series Supporting Sponsor: Fidelity Investments

TITAS Official Hotel Sponsor: Sheraton Dallas

Season Sponsors include:  Heritage Auctions, American Airlines, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance

Tickets  can be purchased online at www.attpac.org by phone at 214.880.0202, or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Box Office at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora Street (Monday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm; Sunday 11 am – 4 pm), or at the remote Box Office at Park Place Lexus Plano at 1025 Preston Road.

Media can download photos and additional bio information at the following link:

http://www.attpac.org/index.cfm?pagepath=About_Us/Press_Room/Media_Library&id=32967

Username: media

Password:  media

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About TITAS

TITAS, now led by Charles Santos, has been presenting dance and music in Dallas for 30 years.  It has a long history of artistic excellence and innovative programming.  As the only Dance Presenter in Dallas, TITAS dance presentations fill a unique niche in our cultural landscape.  Over TITAS’ history, it has presented over 500 performances, with artists from more than 59 countries, over 150 debut events and well over 600 educational outreach events that include master classes, lecture/demonstrations, artists in residencies and Q&A post-performance sessions.  Now in partnership with the AT&T Performing Arts Center, TITAS brings its eclectic and innovative mix of contemporary dance and music artists to the Arts District.

About the AT&T Performing Arts Center

Open since October 2009, the AT&T Performing Arts Center is a vibrant destination for entertainment in the heart of the downtown Dallas Arts District. The Center presents a variety of programs, including its Lexus Broadway Series, Brinker International Forum and, in association with TITAS, contemporary dance and music, and other performances. The Center also provides performance space for The Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Texas Ballet Theater and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, in unparalleled venues set within a 10-acre urban park.

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Afternoon Delight is a daily diversion for when you’re just back from lunch, but not quite ready to get back to work. Check back weekdays at 1 p.m. for another one.

Getty turns 873 of its images into a flipbook that tells the story of life.

Image: Shutterstock.com

Greg Brown from the Dallas Center for Architecture sends word that there are still slots available for this evening’s installment of Appetite for Architecture. Meet up at the Mason Bar, and after appetizers and a cocktail, learn more about it – (it used to be a church, then a Masonic lodge, the first integrated one in Texas.) Brandt Wood will talk about the restaurant’s history. And historian Judy Hearst will lead a discussion about the State-Thomas neighborhood, once a thriving African American community. $30.

You may recall Stephen’s story about Erica Felicella’s project Visible Shell in Oak Cliff. She was silent inside that cube for 48 hours, but now she’s talking about the experience, what she accomplished and what’s next for the project. Got questions? She’ll answer them tonight at Kettle Art. Free.

Finally, if there’s one thing that sparks a conversation in this town, it’s the state of the local visual arts scene. Tonight’s new twist: artists under 40 discussing their take on the positive things that are happening in the arts community in a panel called  1.2 Million Stories: State of the Emerging Arts. Panelists include W.A.A.S. gallery director Brandy Michele Adams,  Jerod Alexander Davies, multi-discplinary artist and founder of Just-Us league, Bryan Embry, gallery owner, founder of the artist residency at the Fairmont Hotel (i’ve heard Bryan is spending much of his time in Los Angeles so it’ll be nice to see him back in Dallas); performance and video artist Danielle Georgiou, who frequently guest blogs for Art&Seek, and Kevin Ruben Jacobs, owner of Oliver Francis Gallery and Exhibitions manager at Goss Michael Foundation. At CentralTrak. Free.

Whether it’s Tosca presented by Fort Worth Opera, Ring of Fire at Casa Manana, or Dallas Theater Center’s God of Carnage, we’ve got your social calendar covered.

Remember to be eligible to win any of the Big Deals you have to be an Art&Seek eNewsletter subscriber.

Good luck!

A FAMILY AFFAIR: Jubilee Theatre’s current show – Broke-ology: The Science of Being Broke – will resonate with a lot of people these days. It follows a poor family who really runs into trouble when the father becomes seriously ill and the two sons are forced to take responsibility. “[Director Tre] Garrett and his topnotch cast lend a pop and zing to the material that transcends any weaknesses in the script,” M. Lance Lusk writes in his Front Row review. “Just as he did with Pretty Fire and Topdog/Underdog, Garrett displays a knack for teasing out painful, tense domestic moments.” Punch Shaw was hot and cold on the script but also impressed by the performances – particularly David Jeremiah’s. ”His use of diction to define his role as the more promising brother is especially well-done,” he writes on dfw.com. ”If nothing else, this show reminds us that Jeremiah is one of the best actors in our market right now.”  Check it out through June 9.

SCENES FROM AN INSTALLATION: Have you had a chance to check out “Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz’s Impressions of Dallas, 1952″ at the Dallas Museum of Art? If the answer is yes and you’d like to know more about the show, the museum’s Uncrated blog has posted several pictures that detail the installation process.

Passing on word that there will be a celebration of West’s life on Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Palladium Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar.  West’s son, Jeff Jr., posted about the event on Facebook, saying its for those who knew West and want to “reminisce about the good ol’ days (meaning no crying allowed – Jeff Sr. would just laugh and look at you quizzically if you did.)”

Congratulations to Ian Aberle of Allen, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! You might remember Ian as he was the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Month for March. He follows last week’s winner, Matt Harvey.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to our Flickr group page. It’s fine to submit a photo you took earlier than the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves a facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We’ll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We’ll post the winners’ photo on Wednesday.

And now, here’s more from Ian:

Title of photo: Tower in the Clouds
Equipment used: Three photos were captured with a Canon EOS 7D. The photos were then merged and tonemapped in Photomatix Pro, and the resulting photo was processed in Adobe Lightroom to increase clarity and crop.
Tell us more about your photo: After enjoying some cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday from Crave Cupcakes in Houston, my wife noticed the Cameron building across 610. I quickly pulled over and took out my camera to fire off a couple of shots. I guess I was a little too jacked up on sugar, cause my hands were not very stable. My wife likes the photo, so I’m happy.

St. Vincent is the stage name for singer-songwriter Annie Clark. She has released three studio albums,  all to high critical acclaim.

Raised in Dallas, Clark graduated from Lake  Highlands High School  in 2001, attended three years of school at Berklee College of Music, and then dropped out to move back home and pursue a music career. After touring overseas with the Polyphonic Spree and in the U.S. with Sufjan Stevens, Clark began her solo career in 2006.

Her albums – Marry Me, Actor and Strange Mercy - reflect a critical stage in Clark’s life, whether it was her transition to college, the relaxation period after her first solo tour, or simply her path to self discovery and awareness. By incorporating various instruments, including guitar, piano, organ, violin, trumpets and others, St. Vincent creates a unique sound that must be heard live to be truly appreciated.

See St. Vincent in all her glory at KXT’s Summer Cut Happy Funtime Festival at the Gexa Energy Pavilion on June 1.

Get tickets for Summer Cut here!

Want to know more? Visit her website.

Afternoon Delight is a daily diversion for when you’re just back from lunch, but not quite ready to get back to work. Check back weekdays at 1 p.m. for another one.

We don’t touch on the culinary arts too often here, but these seem like helpful tips.