COMPANY: SHOW Wednesday, Jul. 11–Sunday, Jul. 15, 8 p.m., $15–$20 The Fruit, Durham www.durhamfruit.com The choreographer Justin Tornow recently walked me through The Fruit‘s seemingly unending cavernous rooms, describing the similarly proportioned scope of her newest work. Distilling all the layers of SHOWa collaborative cross-disciplinary project that will inhabit the space for five nights this […]
Michaela Dwyer
Bio: Michaela Dwyer writes, dances and organizes public humanities and arts programs in Durham. Find her on Twitter @michaeladwy.Twitter: http://twitter.com/@michaeladwy
Posted inCulture
Dance Review: Though It Offers Few Answers, Frivolous Artist Carefully Leads Us Toward Questions About Art and Participation
Frivolous Artist ★★★★Through Saturday, March 31 The Fruit, Durham At sunset we stood amid construction cones. On the roof of The Fruit, a trumpeter serenaded the fading light and the silhouette of downtown. Ginger Wagg, bulbous in a suit of crumpled blue paper and netting, waddled into the crowd, fishing out tiny multicolored slips and […]
Posted inArt
Stephanie Leathers’s Stalwart SITES Series Is a Performance-Art Map of Durham Development
CELEBRATE SITES Friday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m., free–$30 The Fruit, Durham www.durhamfruit.com One frigid night last November, as a part of Stephanie Leathers’s SITES project, the performer Ashlee Ramsey slithered around Golden Belt’s Liberty Arts complex while it was under renovation, with exposed columns, concrete divots, and piles of dirt. “She used every inch of […]
Posted inCulture
The Race Is On to Raise $150,000 to Save the Chelsea Theater
Last November, Chapel Hill’s Chelsea Theater quietly broke the news that it would probably not renew its lease when it expires at the end of March. (The art cinema mainstay has been in continuous operation since 1990.) Since then, under the rallying cry “Save the Chelsea,” a local group has created an exploratory committee and […]
Posted inArt
Metamorphoses, Water Balloons, and Blood-Smeared Debutante Balls in Nicola Bullock’s Imago
NICOLA BULLOCK: IMAGO Through Saturday, Jan. 20 The Fruit, Durham www.didaseason.com There’s something about preparing for a debutante ball while caked in blood. (Maybe you would see it as something else, but I can’tthe deep blue of the party dress against the red smeared on the skin.) But Imago, the character Nicola Bullock inhabits in […]
Posted inArt
The Top Five Dance Performances of 2017
American Dance Festival: Fortieth Anniversary Season (Various venues, June–July) More than any one performance, the symbolic weight of the American Dance Festival’s fortieth season in Durham deserves a nod. Since 1978, this major international festival has made its home here, training hundreds of dancers each summer, showing the work of renowned choreographers, and, increasingly, integrating […]
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More Than Just Dance, Empower Dance Studio Teaches an Inclusive, Diverse Vision of Downtown Durham
In a street-level dance studio on West Parrish Street, where the new City Center development rises ever higher, Empower Dance Studio‘s students are trying to get their lines right. Under the watchful eye of Empower’s directors, Nicole Oxendine and Jessica Burroughs, the girls are prepping for two upcoming performances, including the Durham Holiday Parade the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Amuse-bouche: Guglhupf Chapel Hill Bake Shop
“Amuse-bouche” is INDY’s new, sporadic series where we give you our hot take on a recent restaurant opening. It’s not a critique or a review, just a taste of what to expect.GUGLHUPF CHAPEL HILL BAKE SHOP Eastgate Shopping Center 1800 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hillguglhupf.com Named for a plump, Bundt-molded Central European cake, Durham’s Guglhupf […]
Posted inCulture
Dance Review: In Pam Tanowitz and Simone Dinnerstein’s New Work for Goldberg Variations, a Daunting Idea Works Just Right
Pam Tanowitz Dance & Simone Dinnerstein: New Work for Goldberg Variations ★★★★½ Friday, Oct. 6 & Saturday, Oct. 7, 8 p.m.Duke’s Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham In complete darkness, Simone Dinnerstein draws out the first few notes of the aria that begins Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Then, slowly, a stage light fills in the outline of the […]
Posted inTheater
Pam Tanowitz and Simone Dinnerstein Scale the Heights of Bach’s Often Charted, Never Conquered Goldberg Variations
PAM TANOWITZ DANCE & SIMONE DINNERSTEIN: NEW WORK FOR GOLDBERG VARIATIONS Friday, Oct. 6 & Saturday, Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $10–$38 Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham www.dukeperformances.com Choreographer Pam Tanowitz creates modern dances that play with classical movement, while pianist Simone Dinnerstein brings modern energy to classical music. So the two are well matched for the […]