DANCERS KEEP UP THE BEAT DESPITE EVENTS
THE SEPTEMBER attacks shook a nation, if not the world, to its core. To artists whose instinct is to mirror the human soul, to look upon at such devastation was paralyzing. The attacks, though, did not destroy Bay Area dancers. Instead, many found a deeper appreciation for the freedom of…
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: MERCHANDISE HELL
I do rail against unbridled merchandising at the drop of a dollar bill. After all, I’m still suffering claustrophobic flashbacks from the time I shut myself away for a little private time in a public privy and ended up a temporary hostage to screaming billboards plastered all over the stall…
SO LONG, BUT NOT GOODBYE; SAN FRANCISCO’S ASIAN ART MUSEUM WILL CLOSE DURING THE MOVE TO ITS NEW CIVIC CENTER HOME
In a ceremony overseen by a Tibetan lama, a party Wednesday at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco will have a twofold purpose: It will celebrate the museum’s 35th birthday and its farewell. Following in the footsteps of its longtime host, the de Young, the Asian Art Museum will…
MOVE’S AFOOT; MODERN DANCE TROUPE FOUNDER ANANDHA RAY DIRECTS HER LAST CONCERT, BUT SHE WON’T BE GOING FAR
Eleven years ago, after moving to Walnut Creek with her new husband, Mark, Anandha Ray was looking for rehearsal space. The award-winning choreographer and dance therapist had been living in Los Angeles; her then-fiance, in New York. They decided during their many phone conversations that Northern California was the place…
Middle Eastern art groups cautious
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ As Arts and entertainment organizers cancel performances in the aftermath of Tuesday’s horrific attacks, Middle Eastern events in the Bay Area have the added concern of contending with backlash as suspicion begins to point toward Arab terrorists. Some have decided to cancel events amid concerns for…
STREETS ARE ALIVE WITH SOUND OF PERFORMERS; WIDE-RANGING ARTISTS AND GROUPS BRING FREE PUBLIC THEATER TO THE TENDERLOIN
At a time when bringing people together has taken on a deeper significance, “In the Street” returns for its seventh year of bringing free theater to the streets of San Francisco. While many Bay Area events have been canceled or delayed, “In the Street” will go on. This weekend more…
DEALING WITH THE TRAGEDY AND SHOCK
As America responds as a nation to the calamity in New York, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, its people will also be searching to compose their own personal responses to something they can barely comprehend. For anyone with loved ones directly involved in the tragedy, grief will obviously be part of…
GO AHEAD AND DANCE TO A GLOBAL BEAT
THIS fall, dance lovers can get a renewed spring in their step. While fusion has long been a theme, especially in the Bay Area, the season is notable for forays into world music. East Asian themes predominate this year, especially Japanese productions commemorating the 50th anniversary of the U.S.-Japan peace…
WAHLBERG, CAST ROCK IN “STAR”; OK, IT’S PREDICTABLE, BUT THE FILM IS STILL A SUCCESSFUL TRIBUTE TO ’80S HEAVY METAL
Mark Wahlberg, who probed the zeitgeist of America’s ’70s porn culture in “Boogie Nights,” dips into the time capsule again for “Rock Star.” The decade this time is the ’80s, and the subculture is heavy metal in all its big-haired squeaky leather-panted grandeur. It’s also another local-boy-makes-good tale, with Pittsburgh…
CROSS-CULTURAL ACCORD; LOCAL ARTS ORGANIZATIONS COMMEMORATE 50 YEARS OF PEACE
“DONE at the city of San Francisco this eighth day of September 1951, in the English, French, and Spanish languages, all being equally authentic, and in the Japanese language.” What was “done” 50 years ago at the War Memorial Opera House was the signing of the Treaty of Peace between…