Results tagged “performanceart”

    

Saturday night the historic Moore Theatre was taken over by Free Sheep Foundation's assembly of visual, musical, theatrical, and performance artists. For more photographic evidence, try Flickr's mooreinsideout tag.

Saturday at five o'clock we went down to On the Boards to catch the first week's Studio Showcase, part of the Northwest New Works Festival. The festival closes up next weekend with entirely different lineups in both the Mainstage and Studio showcases; more info here [PDF]. Tickets $14.

Earlier today on Slog, we read about Greg Lundgren's newest "Arbitrary Art Grant," via Vital 5 Productions: $500 for someone protesting "performance art" at On the Boards this Friday between 7 and 8 p.m. at the corner of W. Roy St. and First, right before the opening of the Northwest New Works Festival. We inquired with OtB if they had an official response, and they sent us a link to the below video.

Virtually all dance performance is, in one way or another, an exploration of the human body: the dancers are lithe and athletic--look at the movement, the balance, the elegant contortions that the body, fine-tuned as an instrument, is capable of! But Portland's tEEth (at On the Boards tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m., $18), in their world-premiere work , have another way to explore the body: through sound.

Busiest shopping day of the year, nexus of downtown Seattle commerce, the hard core of the retail core: Westlake Mall. And what do we have? Well, people doing their holiday shopping, of course. And getting ready for the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas Tree. But who are those spoilsports with the signs, already? Ah, that would be the protesters, the anarchists, the enemies of the public good. So nicely dressed, too. So polite, so well-groomed. Those signs, what do they say? Down with the capitalist state? No, the signs are actually encouraging commerce. "Buy More Stuff," they implore. "Hurry," they urge.

RETAIL AMBIVILENCE: Ballard boutique Olivine is closing—quelle tragédie! The store had designer favorites, as well as a healthy dose of local designer treats, guaranteeing that you won't show up to a party in the same outfit as anyone else. Over the next few days, Olivine will have a store-closing sale, with prices from 50-70 percent off—quel plaisir!

We went in to , the performance piece by Italian experimental theatre troupe Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, at On the Boards last night with high expectations. We'd be dishonest if we didn't admit we were somewhat disappointed, but we still recommend the show highly. After all, it features some of the greatest stage magic we've ever seen, with effects and images that stick with you longer than the inkling you have while watching that, thematically, this isn't nearly as clever as the effects.

"They should take off their left socks."

We have to be honest: We were slightly annoyed when we read the email promoting Seattle School's (of Motel fame) latest event. Anything that calls an organization "insanely exuberant" and says that it is putting on one of the "craziest film events in the history of the city" is trying pretty hard to sound zany and exciting.

As a soukous band plays and the audience noshes on couscous, red rice, and chicken, all doused with a hearty amount of spicy peanut sauce, a man sways to the music while carrying a fluorescent light to the center of the floor. We whisper to our companion for the evening, "I think it's started."

Admittedly, this weekend is pretty dead. Here's what we got:

For some reason we're more willing to devote an hour of our Friday lunch than an hour of our Tuesday evening to the American Idol cause. Seattlest hasn't seen a whole lot of the show but we decided to run down and check out Blake Lewis just now and we're glad we did. We showed up at noon on the dot and were subjected to 15 minutes of banter from some Q13 chick trying to interview Blake's old bandmates. "You're not giving us any dirt on Blaaaake!" she whined over and over. Kind of a performance art piece, that. He finally showed, fussed with equipment for another 15 and then did a Jamiroquai song and a Sublime song and an orignial which was, of course, full of the beat box. Oddly, B Lewis wasn't the best rythmist on stage as K.J. Sawka was backing him. If a friend hadn't told us that they used to appear at the Seamonster on 45th together we'd have figured Sawka for a straight-up poaching, K.J. remains the only percussionist we can think of who can carry a show on his own, and this was the most subdued we've ever seen him. And then Blake wasn't the best MC on the stage--Common Market showed and Blake rightly groveled at the feet of Scion. And then Mix-a-lot showed up and made Blake beat box for "Baby Got Back." And then Kenny G got on stage. Ok, he didn't, but a city councilwoman did drop his name to muted cheers and confused looks amongst the kinder set. We had to shuffle off through the crowd as Blake, Scion, Mix-a-lot, Sawka and the rest of Blake's band wrapped up an all-hands number. For the entire time Blake Lewis was the best final-3 American Idol contestant in the square.

Over the weekend Velocity Dance Center was hosting SCUBA 2007, a national tour highlighting up-and-coming choreographers. (Next up for Velocity is their Annual Bash on June 3, hosted this year by Sarah Rudinoff.) Friday night the Velocity space was packed with modern dance fans -- we suspect that, like poetry readings, the modern dance audience is roughly congruent with the set of area performers and their partners. We'd say it was standing-room-only, but they ended up getting mats out and laying them down for people to sit on.

MUSIC: Dancing on the Valentine features wall-to-wall Duran Duran songs covered by local bands, including Say Hi to Your Mom, Valu-Pak, Speaker Speaker, and Peter Parker, all to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Watching

You can't buy tickets for the next Seattle Erotic Art Festival until January -- the show isn't until March -- but there is one thing you can do to get ready: Paint your horny little heart out. SEAF '07 is officially accepting submissions:

The CALL FOR ART is now open. Artists 18+ are invited to submit work that explores the diversity of erotic art - explicit, subtle, unconventional, beautiful, shameless, and beyond - to SEAF's fifth annual Juried Exhibition, Auction, and Festival Store. All media will be considered; art is selected based on quality of execution, originality of subject, and depth of emotion.

Continue reading "Why Yes, They Would Like to See Your Etchings"

Back in 2003, when Art Brut formed, the British music scene was dominated by power pop outfits like The Libertines, who were better as celebrities than musicians. Today, we have similarly over-hyped bands like The Arctic Monkeys and The Subways, who release albums that NME fawns over for six months until the next big thing comes along.

Oh performance art, you're so absurd. Seattlest got a taste of that absurdity first hand at last night's opening of Computer by Seattle-based collective High Kindergarten Performance Group. We weren't quite sure what to expect going into the show---we had read that it would involve an office workday and Lawrence Welk---but we didn't realize that 90 minutes later, there would be stuff everywhere: fake blood, shaving cream, Mountain Dew, and a lotta candy. Nor did we realize there'd be a naked dude on a ladder the whole time.

Rob Zverina's personal photo-blog turned 8 years old on Tuesday. The proud papa waxed nostalgic with a link to his first web page (not to be confused with the actual first Picture of the Day) in his unfortunately titled "Picture of the Day" email, which does not actually come out every day:

With the on-set of snow and people's cheeks turning a rosy hue, our thoughts turn to that maternal idol indicative of the season--Dina Martina. Dina makes a triumphant return to Re-Bar for her annual Christmas Show. It began running November 25th and will continue until New Year's Eve. Performances are Thursday to Sunday with doors at 7 and curtain at 8. Tickets are $18 cash only. Make your reservations now!

Existing somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits is local performer Jason Webley. From humble beginnings as a U-District street performer to tours up and down the West Coast (and occasional jaunts as far away as Russia), Jason's particular blend of witty and poignant lyricism, musical arrangements (piano, guitar, accordion, and shovel often figure prominently), concerts that blend showmanship, performance art and audience interaction, and an infectious love of humor and pranksterism have earned him a loyal following of fans throughout the Seattle area.