Arts Alive San Antonio

There are so many Day-of-the-Dead events that we probably overlooked a few. Here’s one: The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center is celebrating the holiday of remembrance with a free dance production, La Vida de Los Muertos, at Plaza Guadalupe, and a month-long altar exhibition, starting on Nov. 2 The dance show brings to life various characters who explain the significance of the Day of the Dead through music and dance. Performers include the Guadalupe Dance Company, the Dance Academy students, and the mariachi students. In addition, a special altar will be built the Lanier High School Visual Arts Department at the Galeria Guadalupe, 723 Brazos. This altar will be dedicated to the victims of the Uvalde massacre. You can view the altars Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., through Dec 2. For more information call 210-271-3151 or find it at www.GuadalupeCulturalArts.org. 

Gemini Ink, San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center, will be honoring Norma Elia Cantu, Ph.D., at the 2022 Inkstravaganza Gala on Nov. 4 at the McNay Art Museum. Cantu is a poet, writer, folklorist, and humanities professor at Trinity University. In the announcement, Gemini Ink said “Dr. Cantu’s accomplishments and community building defy easy categorization. One who literally and literarily “dances across borders” and brings worlds together through scholarship, poetry, prose and teaching, Cantu has written on topics ranging from childhood to Mexican dance practices.”

This in-person event will include a special performance of Cantu’s work, live music, and authors speaking about the honoree’s impact. Among them will be Cynthia Teniente-Matson, the evening emcee Michael Quintanilla, and moderator John Phillip Santos. Also honored will be Aminah Dece as the teaching artist of the year. (Nov. 4, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels, 78209; $75 per person. For tickets go to https://geminiink.org/inkstravaganza-event or call 210-734-9673 ext.1009)

And a reminder: Opera San Antonio is opening its season with “Pagliacci,” a short but engaging opera that will probably turn novices into opera lovers. (Opens Thursday, Nov. 3 at the Tobin Center; tickets at tickets@tobincenter.org or call 210-223-8624. For more, see our article on this site from Oct. 25.)