Upcoming Events

Torn Mixology 
February 3 – March 25, 2023
Opening Reception February 3, 2023
Artist Talk March 11, 2023

You only have two things in this world: your name and your word. Without those, you are nothing. 

   -James Arthur Davenport (1945 – 2016) 

Clothing is one of the best visual communicators and growing up it allowed me to verbalize my emotions and beliefs in connection to the world.  Clothing became one of the first ways that I could express my identity in a world that made me feel displaced.  I never understood that I was different, until I was told.  I grew up looking different from my mother and father, albeit skin tone only, but I never saw that similarity until I was older.  No one spoke about what it was to be bi-racial or multi-racial.  I was always told that I was neither black nor white, but grey.  As a child, I could not wrap my mind around that imagery, so instead I studied my cultures and began my journey of identity.   

Torn Mixology is a mixed media exhibition that explores the journey of identifying as a multi-racial female.  The exhibit consists of 5 costume designs that begin with childhood through adulthood exploring key points in life where identity was created, challenged, and conquered.  A tradition in African American culture, during the Underground Railroad, quilts acted as maps.  Each of these designs will be quilted to map out the evolving journey and struggle with identity.  To represent the outside force, each mannequin will be painted black, white, and grey to illustrate the American viewpoints on identity.  Each design will be collaged with skin tones with the American viewpoint creeping throughout the design at times suffocating the design.  By using textiles and spoken word, I want to invoke an emotional response and conversation with this exhibit. By removing the physical actor, the clothing becomes the character and the words becomes the underscore to the clothing.  

Now I am a mother. A mother who does not want to perpetuate the cycle of generational trauma. I do not want my daughter to feel othered because society assumes what a multi-racial woman should look like. The conversation needs to begin, the viewpoints need to be challenged, and it is time for a change. 

February 24 – April 22, 2023
First Friday Opening Reception March 3, 5 – 8pm
Artist Talk April 1, 6pm
High Low Gallery

Genius filmmaker Guido Contini is having a very messy nervous breakdown. And you’re invited!

Based on filmmaking legend Federico Fellini’s legendary (semi-)autobiographical film 8 1/2, this is a psychoanalytical roller coaster ride through the brain of a troubled, self-doubting genius. Underneath, it’s a story about creation and creators, the sacrifices and compromises and demons, and the mysterious, delicate process of making great art.

Nine follows Fellini avatar Guido Contini who suffers a monumental breakdown, just as he turns forty and cameras are ready to roll on his next film, which Guido hasn’t even written yet. The entire show unfolds inside Guido’s frantic, chaotic mind as the many women in his life begin to rebel against his casual use and abuse of them, and as he examines the many relationships in his life. Finally, Guido has to learn the hardest lesson of all for an artist – he has to grow up.

Stanley is the only lodger in a small boarding house at the English seaside.  He is a man with a secret.  When two mysterious and menacing strangers arrive everyone’s lives are changed.  This classic of British theater is Pinter’s first full length play and is one of the most performed.  Combining realism and absurdism, humor and menace, this play remains as powerful as it did when first performed in 1958.

Roseann Weiss, creative advisor/strategist and writer, presents a free-wheeling discussion about arts based in community, participation, and co-creation. And hope.

By day, Roseann Weiss is a creative advisor and strategist working with others at the intersections of art and community. She has over 30 years of experience in arts leadership in nonprofit arts institutions, community organizations, and museums. Her expertise centers in arts-based community development, community and public arts, artists’ professional development, and grant-making. For 14 years at the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission, she guided the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute, an innovative, cross-sector program designed around art as a powerful agent for social change. Her recent projects have included Lead Educator for Arts as Civic Engagement at the Gephardt Institute for Civic & Community Engagement at Washington University and working with Americans for the Arts to create guides, webinars, and workshops around the country about “Artists at the Community Development Table.” By night, Roseann Weiss is an occasional insomniac who writes observations about the moon on social media.

The High Noon series offers free cultural and artistic programming, during your lunch hour! The High Noon series features St. Louis talents from across the arts, cultural, and educational spectrum. Spend a lunch hour enjoying presentations and performances in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere – take a break, and feel free to bring your lunch!

High Noons in the Listening Room at High Low (3301 Washington Avenue) take place every Thursday from 12 to 1pm.

Karlovsky & Company Dance Welcomes South African Guest Choreographers!

CONVERSATIONS: A USA/South Africa Concert Collaboration
March 24 – 25, 2023, 7:30pm
The Grandel
3610 Grandel Square
St. Louis, MO 63108

Karlovsky & Company Dance welcomes South African guest choreographers, Yaseen Manuel and Marlin Zoutman, for CONVERSATIONS, Part II of their international collaboration project that began in 2018. After a few setbacks due to the pandemic, this performance is back on track!

CONVERSATIONS: A USA/South Africa Concert Collaboration will feature the premier of “Rooted Within” – by South African guest artists, Yaseen Manuel and Marlin Zoutman.  Their new work explores the theme of two men in search of joy, forgiveness, and self-acceptance at same time unfolding scars from inheritance. In their own unique way, they have always tried fitting in to society.  They reflect on their past and on the realization that no man stands perfectly divine. “Rooted Within” allows for an unfolding of change and in search of a new chapter.

The second half of CONVERSATIONS features a re-staging of two works by Dawn Karlovsky, director of Karlovsky & Company Dance.  The company will present “And Everything Changed”, one of Karlovsky first evening-length works created for Karlovsky & Company Dance in 2013 and restaged and edited for their South Africa tour in 2019.  In celebration of the company’s 10th season, a remounting of this work seems appropriate to the times as this piece earnestly examines how we cope, adapt, and adjust to situations and experiences in our lives.  “And Everything Changed” is emotionally honest with rich, textural movement that communicates a universal experience.  The second work presented by Karlovsky is an excerpt from the company’s 2022 production of INTERWOVEN II – “United We Stand/Divided We Fall”, a work of contemporary dance inspired by the ecosystem of the forest. For this work, the company will be joined by local musician, Kalo Hoyle, who will perform an original sound score of percussive and electronic music created in collaboration with Tory Starbuck.

This concert will culminate with the collaboration piece, “Conversations” involving the performance of both companies onstage together.  This revised work continues the dialogue and movement exchange between the two companies that began back in 2019 during Karlovsky & Company Dance’s tour to Cape Town, South Africa.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see this dual-company performance of contemporary dance that transcends cultural differences and embraces the power of dialogue to understand one another and build trust.

Suitable for all ages. Running time is approximately 1.15 hours.

Support for this event is made possible in part by the Missouri Arts Council – a state agency, the Regional Arts Commission, the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, The Grandel Theatre, and private donors.

For more information, contact Karlovsky & Company Dance:
info@karlovskydance.org

Relevant Links
https://www.karlovskydance.org/

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The Tesseract Theatre Company will host Missouri S&T student group The Miner Theatre Guild for a fundraising cabaret performance. All proceeds go to the student group to allow theatre arts students on the campus of Missouri University of Science & Technology to independently produce works, maintain an active and inclusive student organization, and provide performing arts based social events.

Local author Martin Riker reads from and discusses his new novel, The Guest Lecture, the story of a young economist lying awake in a dark hotel room trying to practice a speech she needs to deliver but being sidelined by worries about herself and her career and her family and the world. Dwight Garner in the New York Times has called the novel “charming and slyly philosophical”; the Associate Press wrote, “A quirky second novel of breathtaking genius”; and the Los Angeles Times says “this whole book is so gleefully, wondrously full of life.”

The High Noon series offers free cultural and artistic programming, during your lunch hour! The High Noon series features St. Louis talents from across the arts, cultural, and educational spectrum. Spend a lunch hour enjoying presentations and performances in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere – take a break, and feel free to bring your lunch!

High Noons in the Listening Room at High Low (3301 Washington Avenue) take place every Thursday from 12 to 1pm.

TOUR DE DANCE

A progressive dinner and dance event presented by The Big Muddy Dance Company on Thursday, March 30, 2023

Take a journey around the Washington block of Grand Center Arts District and enjoy four unique stops, each featuring a small plate and cocktail by David Kirkland Catering, paired with a specially curated dance vignette performed by The Big Muddy Dance Company under the direction of Kirven Douthit-Boyd. Throughout your evening’s walk, experience the new Walls off Washington murals and curated exhibits by Kranzberg Arts Foundation. 

Reservations: 

Start times occur every 30-minutes beginning at 5:30pm, and the entire experience will last approximately two hours. 

https://www.thebigmuddydanceco.org/tourdedance

THE EVENING’S PROGRAM:

#1 The Marcelle Theatre

#2 High Low Event Space

#3 The Big Muddy’s Washington Studio

#4 St. Louis Shakespeare Festival Rehearsal Studio

#5 Sophie’s Artist Lounge

Ages 21+ Unless Accompanied by a Parent or Legal Guardian.