Dancing in Exile

Shen Yun are a ballsy bunch. The group of Chinese dancers and musicians take some high-flying risks in their stage performances, but it’s what’s on their website that strikes me as pretty courageous: They bash China. And not passive aggressively, like “Oh, hey, we WOULD do this in China but…

Dance of the Pious Penguins

Christmas is a celebration for many people out there, but for the brides of Christ, there’s undoubtedly a bit of work involved too. You have to put on a quality celebration for the hubby, after all. The Greater Lewisville Community Theatre presents Nuncrackers, a festive musical comedy that follows Sister…

Santaspotting

Christmas caroling, ornament-making, a Christmas-tree maze, a holiday stage show and a visit from Santa, all wrapped up with a ride on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad: The North Pole Express in Grapevine has everything a train- and Christmas-loving child could desire, minus any creepily not-quite-human Tom Hanks characters straight from…

Madeline Won’t Crack Your Nuts

The yearly docket of holiday outings can be relatively predictable — that’s why some call it tradition. Many families and holiday arts revelers flock to yet another production of the appropriately titled The Nutcracker, or to drown their credit card sorrows in peppermint mocha at Starbucks. For a young family…

Mullets, Tuxes and Tenors

You’ve got highbrow in my lowbrow. You’ve got lowbrow in my highbrow. Let’s face it, culture clash makes for two great tastes that taste great together, whether it be a Hot Pocket filled with foie gras or a black velvet painting of the Mona Lisa. That’s the appeal of The…

Classical Magic

The holidays are a time for magic and imagination, a time for the impossible to become possible and miracles to come true. Embrace holiday traditions this year with Texas Ballet Theater and Ben Stevenson’s production of The Nutcracker. It’s Christmas Eve, and Clara receives a magical doll that has come…

Scrooge: Better Late than Never

Ah, Ebeneezer Scrooge, what a fine symbol of redemption he is. Listen and learn, children: You can spend nearly all your life as the meanest, most miserly SOB on the planet. Just make sure that before the end comes, you get sappy and buy some poor family a goose. All…

Miracles and Art Unite in the Cliff

Certain images not only have a lasting power, but remain relevant for generations to come. Few images in the world can boast such credentials like the Virgin of Guadalupe icon can. Of course, it stands to reason that one of history’s most prominent works of art would go on to…

Finding Majesty in Big D

Ask a local the best vantage point for viewing the Dallas skyline and chances are you won’t get a single answer. Increasingly colorful, but not like a gauche, glittering Las Vegas, the cityscape is more vertical than horizontal and naturally lends itself to the eye of Austin-based painter David Leonard,…

Come Get Nogged With Us at Our December Tweet Up Party

‘Tis the season to get drunk at your office holiday party and sloppily flail around on the makeshift dance floor to “Sexy Back” — don’t act like that wasn’t you last year. But this year, spare yourself the Monday morning embarrassment by skipping the holiday party altogether and getting drunk…

Invertion: Portal-Like Gameplay to a Browser Near You

Welcome to another edition of Geek-Offs, where you’ll find the perfect distractions to help you muddle your way through hump day each week. If you’re anything like us (and we know you are), you spent hours upon hours playing Portal. Whether you were drawn in by the puzzle aspect of…

The Artopia Party at the Dallas Contemporary in Marvelous Video

Speaking of montages… The fine editors and shooters of YouPlusDallas (shot by Mark Blitch and Matthew Rojas) have posted their super-high-def recap of our Artopia party at the Dallas Contemporary. Very cool, guys. Very cool. I highly recommend jumping over to their site for the humongo-high-res version…alas, our strained servers…

The Films of 2011 in One Big, Damn Trailer

With “Best Of” lists and year-end round-ups and critic’s picks ranking the best films of the year stacking up, the folks at Filmography (h/t Daily What) have created a great cheat sheet for you: a montage of the 2011 in films. Among them, of course, you’ll see gems like partly-Dallas-shot…

With Greetings! the Bath House Stage Is Flooded with New Age Ideas

Given that their core audience comes on buses from places where risk-taking might mean eating dinner past 5, One Thirty Productions is surprisingly edgy with the choice of Greetings! as a Christmas season play. Tom Dudzick, sometimes called the “Catholic Neil Simon,” has written something that ventures way outside any…

The Best Pop Culture Moments of 2011 in Shorthand (Part Two)

Let’s shorthand it, shall we? Because in Twitterworld, who needs complete sentences? U w/me, ppl? -Birds are angry. -Alec Baldwin is angry. He plays Words with Friends. (He has friends?) -Be angry at college coaches in the showers. -Steve Jobs’ sister, Mona Simpson, delivers best eulogy ever. -Two presidential candidates…

Here’s a Movie Poster of the Day: The Dark Knight Rises

If you’re anything like us Dork Knights, and you’re patiently clawing at your thighs in anticipation of the upcoming Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol screening (you know, so you can see the Dark Knight Rises prologue in glorious IMAX)… Then you’ll like the above newly-released, Bane-themed one sheet. Holy. By the…

A Tour of The Contemporary Tapestries at ZaZa

There was something truly exciting about seeing such an old art with such modern subjects from the minute I stepped into the Contemporary Tapestries Show at Stay ZaZa Art House and Social Gallery, another successful collaboration with the Turner Carroll Gallery. Once paintings or photographers, these pieces have been turned…

Scenes from the Snowball Express at American Airlines Center

You may have seen a couple hundred balloons speckle the air on Saturday outside the American Airlines Center. Our photographer Stephen Masker did as well. It was the Snowball Express, which serves to benefit and honor the children of fallen military. Snowball brought over 1,700 kids–from all over the world–who’ve…