'The Bridge'
Dance
The next installment in the "Dance Is In The Air" festival at Arts District Liberty Station, Malashock Dance is teaming up with Kansas City-based Tristian Griffin Dance Company. It's an open-air performance on the new outdoor stage at the South Promenade's grassy area, featuring new original works and music courtesy of choreographers John Malashock and Tristian Griffin, and composer Philip Daniel. "The Bridge" is an eight movement production, and these works are percussive and athletic while also being emotive, minimalist and cinematic.
Details: Thursday through Sunday, May 27-30, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. 2850 Roosevelt Rd., Liberty Station. $25-30.
'The Great Indian Kitchen' Screening
Film, Visual Art
This 2021 Indian film by filmmaker Jeo Baby will screen as part of Chitra Gopalakrishnan's current solo exhibition, "Augmented Realities," at the Hill Street Country Club. The film illustrates the invisible domestic and emotional labor of women, centering on the story of a new bride. Gopalakrishnan will lead a discussion after the screening, which is a hybrid event. There's extremely limited on-site seating (15 spots) and masks must be worn, but you can also watch along via Zoom.
The upside to grabbing one of those on-site spots is that you'll be able to browse Gopalakrishnan's fantastic exhibition of paintings and AR animation.
Details: Saturday, May 29 from 5-7 p.m. 530 South Coast Highway, Oceanside, or online. Free, but advance registration is required.
'Measurements Of Progress': Artist Symposium Closing Event
Visual Art
The exhibition of works by graduating UC San Diego MFA students is coming to a close this weekend with an afternoon of artist panels and a closing reception. The works in this show all have an element that explores human advancement of some sort, whether historical, modern or futuristic, and incremental or vast, large-scale progress. Take Ana C. Andrade's video piece, "66 Hours," for example, which appears intergalactic at first glance but is actually a microscopic look at the biological materials her body created while giving birth. Andrade will be part of one of the discussions, at 2:05 p.m., with Kirstyn Hom and Lauryn Smith. Kirstyn Hom's work is another standout for me, a series of cloth panels embroidered with lettering — inspired by the poetry of Frances Chung. Smith's work is also a textile piece, using large cloth installations to trigger place-based memories. Even if you don't attend the panels, you can nab a spot for the closing reception hour and check out the works.
Details: The in-person symposium portion runs on Saturday, May 29 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with a closing reception from 5-6 p.m. 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Free, but advance registration is required.
More visual art: Don't miss the opening weekend of "Ghidorah Lives," a new group exhibition at Good Faith Gallery featuring art by regional AAPI artists. Featuring sculpture, video work, projection, photography, wheat paste mural, zines and more, you can read my full feature on the exhibition here. It opens Friday from 6-10 p.m. for drop-in, limited capacity viewings. The gallery will also be open on Saturday from 6-10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. for drop-in viewing, and will switch to appointments after that. 566 19th St., Sherman Heights. Free.
Project [BLANK]: 'Harawi'
Music
Contemporary and experimental performance group Project [BLANK] will pair the work of San Diego-based video artist Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli with Olivier Messiaen's composition for solo female voice and piano. "Harawi" itself pairs ideas of non-western language, particularly Quechua from the Andes mountains, with the story of Wagner's "Tristain und Isolde." More pairings: the always enchanting voice of Leslie Ann Leytham with Brandon Nguyen's piano — the cofounders of Project [BLANK]. Lavatelli's video work and the sets being built in the Front gallery space promise for an evocative and unsettling visual experience, too. The program notes describe it as "an acid trip in a far-too-in-love teenager's bedroom." Performed live, but streamed online for audiences.
Details: Friday, May 28 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 30 at 2 p.m. Online. $10.
'Pick Me Last'
Theater
The La Jolla Playhouse's long-running educational theater production project, the Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour snuck in just under the wire in 2020, with February performances on the Playhouse stage for several shows, though the actual tour across local schools that spring didn't happen due to the pandemic.
This year's project, including the performance and all educational and behind the scenes components, are virtual, and highly produced at that. The 2021 commission is "Pick Me Last" by Idris Goodwin (whose breakbeat play "Hype Man" was recently produced by San Diego REP). "Pick Me Last" is a delightful script — funny and compelling, and it unfolds in a smart and curious way from the very first line. The POP Tour program is designed for grades 3-6, but this play has a dreamy timelessness and agelessness.
Details: Streams now for the general public through the fall. For schools and organizations, additional resources like a visit from a LJPH teaching artist are also available. Free.
For more arts events, visit the KPBS/Arts calendar, and be sure to sign up for the weekly KPBS/Arts newsletter here.
