Arts Alive San Antonio

It may be cold outside but the arts scene is definitely heating up.

To begin with, we want to tell you about a unique dance company, The Hiplet Ballerinas, that will have a single performance at the Carver Community Cultural Center this Saturday. Based in Chicago, the company was founded by now- artistic director, Homer Hans Bryant who wanted to make ballet more accessible to dancers of color and to diverse audiences. He has accomplished that by creating choreography that fuses classical ballet technique with hip-hop, jazz, African, and other urban dance styles. We have only seen excerpts but we can tell you that the way these dancers move is unique and impressive. Chances are, you’ll recognize a lot of the music. (Jan. 22 at 8 p.m.; Carver Center, 226 N. Hackberry; tickets $35 at box 0ffice, 210-207-2234, or via www.Ticketmaster.com at 800-745-3000. The company is also performing a Friday morning show for children; masks highly recommended)

Another dance show we want to bring to your attention is MERCURIA, created and produced by the San Antonio company Arte y Pasion.  Promoted as “a human rights activism project,” the production “is presented for the empowerment of the individual, both women and men, in understanding and supporting women’s rights and issues.”  

The show is a series of vignettes “showing the impossible choices women must make.” These serious issues are addressed through poetry and movement. Current San Antonio poet laureate, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson is the poet, while the dance part is handled by flamenco dancers Genevieve Obregon and Tamara Adira, the company’s artistic director. They will be accompanied by guitarist Randy Cordero, and singer Wayne Holtz will serve as host. (Jan. 27 at 8 p.m., social hour at 7 p.m.; Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star; $20, with portion of the proceeds going to local programs working to prevent domestic violence; for info call 210-241-2771 or visit www.arte-y-pasion.com)

On the visual arts front, the big news comes the McNay Art Museum, which is opening its new exhibit,
Georgia O’Keefe and American Modernismtomorrow, Jan. 21. O’Keeffe is one of those artists who is so well known that she hardly needs an introduction. But, of course, the show is not just about her. It is described as “a wide-ranging view of the American Modernist movement through 65 diverse artworks from the McNay’s permanent collection, the Harmon and Harriet Kelly Foundation for the Arts, and from loans from across the country.” We’ll tell you more after visiting the exhibition. (On view through May 8, 2022; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels, 78209; 210-824-5368, www.mcnayart.org)

Artpace has just installed a new exhibition, Mystic Toolkit, curated by Montreal-based guest curator Anais Castro. This exhibit “conceptualizes the home as a sanctuary, a place of recollection and refuge,” which has nevertheless “held us captive” during the lockdown, wrote Castro about the show. Featured in the show are seven artists whose work celebrates the “daily rituals of coping, healing and grieving that have become indispensable in recent times.” Only one San Antonio artist is included, Jennifer Ling Datchuk. Unfortunately, you cannot view the show in-person, even though museums and galleries are probably the safest interior spaces to be in. But you can see the artworks online at www.artpace.org.

This is the closing weekend for Vaqueros de la Cruz del Diablo at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, an exhibit of photographer Werner Segarra’s images documenting the life and world of the Norteno Cowboys from Sonora, Mexico. An Artist Talk and book signing is scheduled for Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. Guest moderator and photographer, Joel Salcido, and Segarra will talk about the exhibit, and following the talk, both will sign their respective books, Vaqueros de la Cruz del Diablo” and “Spirit of Tequilla.” The photos inspired artist Lionel Sosa to paint Segarra’s vaqueros and those portraits will also be on view. Sosa is an excellent portrait painter. (Briscoe Museum, 210 Market St., 210-299-4499, www.briascoemuseum.org)

Centro de Artes in Market Square is reopening with an exhibit featuring 34 San Antonio artists who were part of the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artists Mentoring Program. We’ll tell you more next week. (The center  is open Wednesday – Sunday; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Music lovers who have been deprived of live music for months due to San Antonio Symphony’s problems, can rejoice this weekend as YOSA (The Youth Orchestras of San Antonio) is planning to present Pictures at an Exhibition, Sunday at the Tobin Center. Famed Russian composer, Sergei Mussorgsky was inspired by a friend’s art – drawings and watercolors – to compose Pictures, so YOSA decided to reverse the process by asking San Antonio high schoolers to create art in response to the music. That art – which is remarkable judging from the example we saw – will be on display at the Tobin Jan. 23, the day of the concert. The all-Russian program will also include Alexandra Pakhmutova’s Youth Overtureand Sergei Koussevitzky’s fabulous Double Bass Concerto featuring soloist and guest artist Xavier Foley.  YOSA’s artistic director Troy Peters will conduct. (Jan. 23 at 7 p.m., Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle, tickets at tickets@tobincenter.org or by phone 210-223-8624)

More beautiful music will be heard at the Laurel Heights United Methodist Church when the acclaimed pianist, Gabriela Martinez, a lyrical and inspiring pianist, starts playing – and casting a spell over the audience – Jan. 25^th as the featured artist of the Tuesday Musical Club. (Jan, 25 at 2 p.m., 227 W. Woodlawn Ave., Seating is first come, first served; tickets $25, students free with school ID; available at the gate or at www.satmc.org/event-4451812)

On Sunday, Jan. 23, the musicians that are part of Musical Bridges Around the World’s upcoming film The Quilt: A Living History of African-American Music, will perform at the San Fernando Cathedral, highlighting the genres such spirituals, blues, gospel, jazz, hip-hop and others. Among them are singer Beverly Houston, guitarist and singer Marc “Mockingbird” Smith, mezzo-soprano Veronica Williams, pianist Aaron Prado, trombonist Ron Wilkins, bass player Brandon Rivas and percussionist Johnathan Alexander. (Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.; San Fernando Cathedral, downtown; free but registration required; masks are strongly recommended. For more info go to www.mbaw.org or call 210-464-1534.)

And still more music: Noche Azul- Cancion Social. This musical event features the unique and talented Azul Barrientos, a native of Mexico and a San Antonio resident, who sings a variety of songs from Latin American traditions in a dramatic and theatrical way. This show will focus on protest songs from Latin America. Not to be missed! (Jan. 22 at 8 p.m., free on YouTube or Facebook)

Theater news is not exactly great. The Overtime Theater had to postpone its highly promising production of Einstein’s Wrong About Everything until July because some cast members had been exposed to the coronavirus. The company is presently seeking new works by Black playwrights for its New Play Development Series. The series begins Feb. 3, 2022 and will be followed by Cesar Palace, a new musical slated to open Feb. 18. People who bought tickets for the postponed show should contact the theater at info@theovertimetheater.org or by phone, 210-577- 7562.

From the Classic Theater comes an invitation to join its new artistic/executive director J. Robert “Jimmy” Moore, and board member and well-known thespian Tony Ciaravino, for a discussion about the future of the Classic and “its place in the SA arts landscape.” Moore will speak about his plans and dreams for the company, and there will be an audience Q&A. (Jan. 26 at 7 p.m., via Zoom; www.ClassicTheatre.org, 210-468-3900. For questions, email Ruben@ClassicTheatre.org or call 210-468-3900)

And here’s something for aspiring young dancers: The Children’s Ballet of San Antonio is hosting an open audition for its spring production of Aladdin, this Saturday, Jan. 22. Dancers, gymnasts, actors and all performing artists, ages 3-19, including special needs kids, are encouraged to show up. If accepted, these young artists will have the opportunity to work with CBSA founder and artistic director, Vanessa Bessler, a former prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Panama, and multiple-award-winning ballet teacher, who knows how to spot and train young talent. She regularly includes kids with special needs in her big productions. (Auditions will be held at the Dance Center of San Antonio 126 W. Rector, Suite 120, 78216; Sat. Jan. 22, from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Students must register to secure audition time at https://www.childrensballetofsanantonio.org/auditions)

You may or may not know that the San Antonio Conservation Society maintains a library that provides access and assistance to the public with documents pertaining to the city’s heritage and historic sites. It’s an excellent research source on many topics. Recently, that library received a $9,000 Humanities Texas Relief Grant, that came from $2.3M awarded to 263 cultural and educational non-profits in Texas. Congratulation to the Conservation Society!

Laughter is the best medicine, as the saying goes, so here’s an opportunity to laugh. Comedienne, Kathleen Madigan is on tour again, and she will stop at the Tobin Center Friday, Jan. 21 to bring her style of levity to San Antonians. You know her from her many TV appearances, her Netflix comedy specials and her recent appearance on Jerry Seinfeld’s show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Chuck Martin will open.(Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.; Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle; tickets $34.50 – $49.50, tickets@tobincenter.org or call 210-223-8624)

Speaking of the Tobin, the Tobin Entertainment LLC, the off-site and tour promotion arm of the performing arts center, has just announced that it has started booking shows for the Real Life Amphitheater (formerly the Verizon Amphitheater) in Selma. The first to perform there will be the Zac Brown Band in May. The CEO of the Tobin, Michael Fresher, explained that the expansion was needed to create alternative revenue streams for the Tobin. “Tobin Entertainment was established to take our skills on the road and generate the financial backing we require to remain sustainable and assist our resident companies and San Antonio’s arts community,” he said in a statement.