San Diego Dance Theater: 'Other Times, Other Places'
Dance
Performing on a new outdoor stage at Arts District Liberty Station's South Promenade, San Diego Dance Theater kicks off the "Dance is in the Air Fest," which will continue through mid-June with more performances from Malashock Dance and San Diego Ballet.
"Other Times, Other Places" seems like a good metaphoric title for this strange venue readjustment phase. The show will include a handful of works, including a performance of Terry Wilson's 2020 collection of vignettes set to poetry, "Words Move," and a newly updated work "Phantom Bodies Revisited" by the recently retired artistic director Jean Isaacs. The original piece was centered on the AIDS pandemic, and Isaacs has tweaked it for our COVID-19 era.
I'm also looking forward to choreographer Khamla Somphanh's "Purposely Accidental" piece set in Laos, as well as Rosanna Tavarez's performance of her own brand new work, "Milonga Mia" — milonga is a type of tango, and Tavarez peppers the work with contemporary movement too.
Details: Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., May 21-23. 2850 Roosevelt Rd, Liberty Station. $25-30.
Closing Soon: Amir H. Fallah At Lux Art Institute
Visual Art
There's just over a week left to check out regional artist Amir H. Fallah's exhibition at Lux. Fallah's works are somehow just as captivating from afar as they are from extremely up-close: bright colors, vivid borderwork, mysteriously veiled figures, plus strange and evocative subjects, a mixture of the mundane and curious draws you in. Zoomed in, the shaded coloration and detail work is intricate and masterful.
I recommended one of Fallah's paintings, "First Person Shooter Game," in the 5 Works Of Art To See In May feature but each of the works in this exhibition seems to be just as chock-full of story. They're called "portraits," though each figure remains unseen. While at Lux, be sure to check out Baseera Khan's beautiful mixed media and textile works up in the other building; Khan's work will be on display for an additional week.
Details: On view by appointment Thursday through Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. through Saturday, May 29. 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas. Free.
More visual art: Joseph Bellows Gallery opens a solo exhibition by photographer Michael Mulno, "Facades," which features a collection of Mulno's amazing silver gelatin photography of building facades in San Diego. On view by appointment beginning Saturday, May 22. And a mini art crawl alert: neighbors Quint Gallery and Quint ONE are both also opening new exhibitions on Saturday, Kelsey Brookes and Peter Halasz respectively.
'Constellations' At Coronado Playhouse
Theater
Playwright Nick Payne's 2012 work "Constellations" is intended for just two actors, following the characters Marianne and Roland through an intricate plot of decisions, multiple outcomes, multiple universes, infinite possibilities and big questions about fate. In this new Coronado Playhouse production, director Samuel Young opted for four actors to really drive home the alternate timelines element. It's an artistic choice specifically inspired by our actual reality right now. "Everybody's world has changed so much in the last year," Young wrote in his director's notes. This work is filmed on stage for virtual, on-demand viewing, and your ticket gets you a 48-hour rental.
Details: Streams through May 30. Virtual. $25.
'What's That Sound': First Music From The Shell
Classical Music
The Symphony's new outdoor venue has been freshly named and is ready for its closeup. Literally — there'll be no bad seats for Friday's first ever performance from the bayside stage of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, thanks to the film production stylings of the Symphony's livestream crew. They'll perform two beloved works, Wagner’s sublime "Siegfried Idyll" and Mozart’s "Jupiter Symphony." Sure, those works are indescribably fantastic maiden voyage selections for The Shell, but I'm a little miffed that they're not planning to play Buffalo Springfield given that earworm title. While this livestream will probably build up even more hype for our first in-person show at The Shell, I'm still probably going to miss these monthly livestreams from the Symphony if things ever get all the way back to normal.
Details: Friday, May 21 at 7 p.m. Livestream. $25.
San Diego Master Chorale: 'Spring Garden Concert'
Choral Music
Held at the worth-a-trip-anyway Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College, SD Master Chorale will perform their first live concert for an audience in over a year. They'll be performing a few favorites from their past shows as well as new material. I love the selection of works that echo the importance of the environment and conservation in that venue location. Compositions include "To Stir Up Our Wits" by Greg Brown, part of the larger composition "Vidi Aquam (I Saw Water)," and Libby Larsen's "We Pray to Be at Peace" from "Missa Gaia (Mass for the Earth). And they'll bookend the show with interpretations of Langston Hughes' texts, "Give Us Our Peace," by composer Rollo Dilworth to kick things off, and "I Dream A World" by composer André J. Thomas to close.
The group will use the "shape note" singing tradition, which has origins in congregational or folk singing (the term Sacred Harp is sometimes used to describe this style, too). The music notes each have a shape to show which syllable sound to use (fa, sol, mi, etc) — the oval with the stick of a standard music quarter note can instead be a triangle or a rectangle. Music nerdery aside, the style is a lovely and immersive listening experience.
Can't make it? Tune in for a virtual streaming version of the show in two weeks.
Details: Sunday, May 23 at 7 p.m. 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr W, El Cajon. $15-30. (Virtual performance June 6 at 2 p.m., $15-20.)
More Music: Digital Dose #4 Livestream from San Diego New Music features seven works in a sort of virtual, musical progressive dinner party style, hopping from home to home. The music ranges from Swedish folk tunes to modern oboe work from Luciano Berio to a brand new SDNM commission by composer Varun Rangaswamy, "Erratic Peaks (2021)." Friday May 21 at 7:30 p.m.
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