In 2012, Avant Chamber Ballet gavotted into Dallas promptly presenting more than a dozen world premiere ballets, as well as two regional premieres. The collaborative efforts of Artistic Director Katie Puder and Music Director David Cooper keeps the organization on its toes, pairing live chamber music with original choreography. With…
It started with a stink. After one of Ben Kusin’s usual smoke breaks and before an important work meeting, he stopped by a gas station for something to freshen up his clothes. “He had a conversation with the clerk and he suggested Purell and breath mints, but he was worried…
This weekend, the longest-running neo-burlesque troupe in DFW is dancing their way through their twisted, sexified Halloween show, arguably their most anticipated show of the year. The sultry members of the Lollie Bombs present “Ghouls! Ghouls! Ghouls!” at 11:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at the Pocket Sandwich Theater. It’ll…
Gallery hopping is not just the pastime of the art collector. It can also be a great way for anyone interested in art to take a peek at what Dallas artists are creating, and gallerists are curating. This weekend, many of the Design District spots have openings, with receptions from…
Every year, there should be at least one movie that lights up your senses like fireworks. You should feel anticipation buzzing at the base of your heels. Hollywood owes us this–at least one time a year. This year, one of the most anticipated films buzzing up from the feet up…
God save us from old coots and the actors who play them. Actors, like the rest of us, grow old, and there aren’t a whole lot of good roles available to them. But do we really need to see Robert Duvall playing a withered grouch for the millionth time? There’s…
Dracula Untold, a Dracula Begins-style sword-and-fangs curio, plays like someone said, “What if we took a vampire flick but did a find-and-replace swapping out all that bare-neck sensuality for some video-game ass-kicking?” Or: “Remember what the Star Wars prequels did for Darth Vader? Let’s foist the same kind of tragic…
The tragedy of Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children is that it was released the year it was made. A snapshot of today’s cultural disconnection, in which Facebook, texting, World of Warcraft and streaming smut lure people away from dinner with their families, the film’s so current that its observations…
It was a mystery that reporter Gary Webb would have jumped on: a man who’d made powerful enemies allegedly committing suicide with two gunshots to the head. The tragedy is that Webb was the deceased. Michael Cuesta’s earnest, ire-inducing Kill the Messenger is a David-and-Goliath story where truth is the…
Like many Broadway musicals these days, Hands on a Hardbody was adapted from a movie. But unlike others, it came not from a splashy animated feature but from an obscure 1997 documentary by S.R. Bindler about an endurance contest at a Longview truck dealership that awarded a lipstick-red Nissan to…
It says something about current global affairs that a movie set during the U.K. miners’ strike of the mid-1980s — an event that tore lives to shreds, representing a dismal and damaging period in late-20th-century British history — is likely to make you feel better rather than worse about the…
One of the more popular Dallas Black Dance Theatre shows, Black on Black, returns for the company’s 38th season. It’s an intimate evening of dance that culminates in a lively cocktail party. They give the floor to some of the company’s fresh, young choreographers who choreograph works for the dynamic…
Hopefully I don’t have to explain this one to you. This portmanteau (a fancy word that means words smushed together) is clearly combining “Beer,” “Feast” and “Festival” to tell you, the potential attendee, exactly what to expect. If you didn’t attend enough Oktoberfest events in September (where were you?!), then…
Every concert should be like a fiesta. Lively music, drinks at the bar, and if you’re lucky, the vocal stylings of a Mexican mezzo-soprano like Elda Peralta. For its Dia de la Raza concert, the Orchestra of New Spain brings in Perata to perform alongside the orchestra in a baroque…
America doesn’t take kindly to foreigners these days. We’ve got civilians constantly monitoring our borders with guns and political figureheads calling for non-figurative walls to be built because they need votes and didn’t pay attention in their high school world history class. Occasionally, one of these non-Americans seeps through the…
Have you ever wondered about the history of Texas art? When artists started painting in this great state of ours, did they paint tumbleweeds, catci, and oil rigs? What exactly is Texas regionalism or modernism and why does it matter? These are the movements that Dr. Katie Robinson Edwards documents…
Rodgers & Hammerstein From classics like “Shall we Dance?” from the King & I to stunning ballads like “Bali Hai” from South Pacific, the music writing duo Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein gave American theater some of its great songs. This weekend, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to the…
Marvin Hamlisch is one of the most decorated musical figures in history. Winner of three Oscars, three Golden Globes, four Emmy’s, four Grammy’s, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize, the late conductor/composer wrote over forty film scores alongside his considerable stage work (including Broadway favorite A Chorus Line). And for…
What’s a book club without wine? Next week, Lisa M. Mattson will be in town to discuss her new book, The Exes in my iPod, at Veritas Wine Room (2323 N. Henderson Ave.) – where else? Sit back, sip your wine, and listen to a reading from Mattson. Get your…
The NBC reality show “Last Comic Standing” may have been credited with bringing stand-up comedy back to mainstream television but it’s goal isn’t just to showcase underground talent or give them a shot at the spotlight. It’s also to create the kind of tension and unnecessary squabbles over meaningless things…
It’s safe to say that the Oral Fixation storytelling series has become something of a Dallas phenomenon, as it continues to grow larger audiences and an expansive storytelling base. This month’s theme is “Go With the Flow” and has the series first “headliner” (at least that we’re aware of) in…
After scoring a massive electronic-pop crossover hit in “I Love It” with Icona Pop, British-born Charli XCX has ridden a rising tide of indie buzz straight to the top of the pop charts, both as a solo artist and with acts like Iggy Azalea. The lead single from Charli XCX’s…
