Here are this week’s weekend calendar picks from KC Studio editor, Alice Thorson. For more events this weekend, visit Kansas City’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
CONSTELLATIONS
March 3 – April 2
Kansas City Repertory Theatre-Copaken Stage
If you could hit rewind on a relationship, you might discover the nuances of choice and destiny, and how the two intersect. This spellbinding, heartbreaking love story removes the boundaries of time and space, delving into the infinite possibilities of a couple’s relationship to reveal how the slightest change in conversation might send you down an entirely different path. The scene re-sets again and again, in a fascinating look at love and life from one parallel universe to the next.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 2017 U.S. Tour
March 3 & 4 | $25 – $65
Carlsen Center – Yardley Hall
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, beloved as one of the world’s most popular dance companies, will appear in Kansas City March 3 and 4 as part of its 19-city U.S. Tour. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, Ailey’s extraordinary dancers will include the American masterpiece, Revelations, the most widely seen and treasured modern dance work in the world and acclaimed as a must-see for all. Performances are as follow: 8 p.m. Fri., March 3; 2 p.m. Sat., March 4; Exclusive performance 7:30 p.m. March 4 includes KCFAA INSPIRE Benefit and Dance Party immediately following at Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. The INSPIRE Benefit and Dance party is in line with KCFAA’s commitment to offering arts and programs to underserved youth.
Crossroads First Fridays: March 3 includes shows at Mid America Arts Alliance, Main Street Gallery, Weinberger Fine Art and Bunker Center for the Arts…
March First Friday: Coney Island
March 3 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Mid-America Arts Alliance
Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) is pleased to present a preview of NEH on the Road’s traveling exhibition Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland for First Friday March 3 from 6–8:00 p.m. at 2018 Baltimore in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District.
For more than 150 years, Coney Island, a strip of sand at the mouth of New York Harbor, has occupied a singular place in the American imagination. From a beginning as a watering hole for the wealthy, through its transformation into an amusement and entertainment mecca for the masses, to its struggle for renewal in recent decades, an extraordinary array of artists have viewed Coney Island as a microcosm of the American experience. Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland brings to life the excitement of Coney Island, showing visitors how its magnetic world of attractions has become a touchstone for American mass culture and popular recreation.
This exhibition preview will feature objects and photographs in M-AAA’s Convening Space and will conclude after First Friday. Don’t miss it!
Artists of Roanoke
March 3 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Free
Main Street Gallery
Thomas Hart Benton moved to the midtown KC neighborhood of Roanoke in 1939. He converted his carriage house to a studio where he worked until his death in 1975.
Over the years Roanoke became home to other regionally and nationally recognized artists including wood sculptor Cecil Carstenson, fiber artist Blanche Carstenson and ceramisist Lynn Smiser Bowers.
Today Roanoke abounds with visual artists. This exhibit, curated by Roanoke resident Randy Moore, will feature the works of Jeff Robinson, Dana Regan, Steve Cook, Courtney Watkins, Mary S. Watkins, Sarah Lugg, Frankie D. Messer, Brandon Boulware, William Hess, Jenn Isom and The Wade Brothers. They are painters, illustrators, mixed media artists and photographers.
Habitual Observations | New Work from Madeline Gallucci and Brenda Zappitell
March 3 – April 29
Weinberger Fine Art
Madeline Gallucci and Brenda Zappitell, who have never met, share similarities in their studio pursuit and practice. Gallucci explores, dissects, and reinterprets her everyday environment through her vibrant drawings, whimsical paintings, and digital prints. At the same time, Zappitell is also influenced by her environment, choosing to rely on intuition over examination to translate her experience into a painting. For both artists, the evidence of these translations is a body of work that captures a bright, bold, and positive energy.
An Opening Reception for Habitual Observations | New Work from Madeline Gallucci and Brenda Zappitell will be held on Mar. 2 from 5-8pm at the gallery with an Artist Talk at 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Weinberger Fine Art will host a Members Reception on the First Friday of March and April from 5-8pm.
David Ford, Bare Edge
January 13 – March 31
The Bunker Center for the Arts
These paintings and assemblages made between 2014-2016 reflect on the travels and studies of David Ford. For over thirty years, Ford has explored and exposed the cultural interface he has experienced from his home in Kansas City, Missouri to the sensibilities of Ethiopia, Haiti, and Cuba.
David Ford “Bare Edge” has been extended through the month of March. Come see the show again or if you haven’t made it by yet, please do. (Neil Thrun’s review)
NewEar: Caprices, Dances and Flourishes
March 4 @ 8:00 pm | $5 – $25
Central United Methodist Church
Pre-Concert talk at 7:15
Folly Jazz Series: Cyrus Chestnut Trio featuring Warren Wolf
March 4 @ 8:00 pm | $20 – $50
Folly Theater
Pianist Cyrus Chestnut has been described by the New York Times as of jazz’s most convincing anachronisms whose crisp articulation and blues inflected harmony evokes another era. The New York Daily News once heralded Chestnut as the rightful heir to Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Erroll Garner. In an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) for All Things Considered, Chestnut remarked, “If I can send one person home after a performance feeling better than when they arrived, then I’ve done my job, and I sleep good at night.” To this day, Chestnut attends church every Sunday, and whenever he can he plays in the local church in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his family. He told CBS News, “If I’m not working, you’ll find me in somebody’s church.” Chestnut continually tours with his trio, playing live at jazz festivals around the world as well as clubs and concert halls. His leadership and prowess as a soloist has also led him to be a first call for the piano chair in many big bands including the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. Chestnut is a highly intelligent improviser with one of the surest senses of swing in jazz and will be joined for this performance by vibraphonist Warren Wolf.
Vibraphonist Warren Wolf, is a classically trained jazz virtuoso. Mr. Wolf, from Baltimore, Maryland is a graduate of Peabody Preparatory, Baltimore School for the Arts, and Berklee College of Music, where soon after graduation he was asked to join the faculty as percussion instructor. Mr. Wolf is now a full-time touring musician, having released several recordings as a leader, including Incredible Jazz Vibes and Black Wolf. During his time at Berklee, Warren studied with Carribean Jazz Vibraphonist Dave Samuels for seven of eight semesters. One semester was spent with vibist Ed Saindon. For a follow-up to his superb sophomore release Wolfgang, rising star vibraphonist/composer Warren Wolf finds himself alongside some of the biggest names in modern jazz for Convergence, his stellar third outing on Mack Avenue Records. Along with bassist Christian McBride, the all-world rhythm section is rounded out by master drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts and esteemed pianist Brad Mehldau. Renowned guitarist John Scofield is a featured soloist on two tracks.
Open Stage at The J
March 5 @ 2:00 pm
Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City
An inaugural choreography festival for Kansas City’s best dancers and dance companies, this professional showcase includes the original work of the following companies:
Kacico Dance
Point B
Heartlines Dance Company
Suzanne Ryan Strati
Crystal Robins
Seamless Dance Theatre
City in Motion
Kansas City Ballet II
