This weekend Klyde Warren Park will be a great place to revel in the North Texas cultural scene. Museums and theater groups will descend on the park for Fall for the Arts, a day long event of music and performances. To make it a full on arts bonanza, Fall for the Arts happens on the same day as architectural tours of the Winspear Opera House and Dallas Theater Center's Wyly Theatre, free Saturdays at the Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Dallas Black Dance Theater's DanceAfrica.
With performance going on all day and across three stages, by groups like the Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Texas Ballet Theater and Cowtown Opry, you shouldn't need any more reason to head to the park. But all the same, here are some of the ones we're really excited about.
At 11 a.m. the Crow Collection of Asian Art will bring traditional Korean drummers to the Fairmont Dallas Hotel Stage. Fall for the Arts is set up to coincide with the Crow Collection's fifteenth anniversary, which it will celebrate this Saturday with a free garden party that doubles as an unveiling of the institution's new sculpture garden. That event will flow out into street festival along Harwood Street down to Klyde Warren. Along with food trucks and street performances, the festival will include guided tours of the brand new sculpture garden and family-friendly workshops. There's the standard origami and meditation but, much more exciting, there's also a workshop to teach children how to be ninjas, according to director of external affairs Staci Adams.
Starting at noon, "Young Dragons" will show kids some ninja basics, like how to use a throwing star and a katana (hell yeah), along with more practical skills like how to deal with bullies. According to Adams, the key is maintaining eye contact and not, as I always thought, hitting them on the snout. Apparently that's sharks.
The Dallas Black Dance Theater is kicking off their season, the last with founder Ann Williams this weekend with DanceAfrica, which on Saturday includes a parade from the Dallas Museum of Art to Annette Strauss Artist Square. While the celebration is going on from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (with the actual performance at 7:30 p.m.), DBDT is also doing a performance at Klyde Warren at 1 p.m. at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel Stage.
At 4 p.m. the Anita Martinez Ballet Folklorico will also go on at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel Stage (promise we're not playing stage favorites). The company, which focuses on dance that reflects Mexican culture, employs dancers as young as three and old as 70. If you're in the audience, you should expect to be pulled on stage.
"We'll probably be the most colorful thing out there," says Michael Skrobeck, program coordinator for AMBF. The founder, Anita Martinez, the first Hispanic woman elected to the city council of a major U.S. city will also be attending.
There are worthwhile performances happening throughout the day. For a full schedule click here.
