Visual art and dance will merge in Gwinnett Ballet Theatre’s season-opening program at the Gwinnett Performing Arts Center on Oct. 4-5 and even for a benefit at the company’s Lawrenceville studios on Sept. 20.
The October program, “19-20-21,” will feature an evening of dance set to the music of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The contemporary work will be a premiere choreographed by GBT artistic director Wade Walthall, “Pictures,” that will incorporate Gwinnett painter Mac Stewart’s set designs and costume ideas.
Paintings by Stewart, a 19-year-old rapidly emerging Suwanee artist whose large-scale and highly graphic work reflects influences including Keith Haring and Pablo Picasso, also will be exhibited in the dance studios during GBT’s Casino Night event starting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20.
The exhibit celebrating Stewart’s upcoming collaboration with Walthall is free, with food provided by California Dreaming. For those who want to gamble (legally, until 10:30 p.m.), admission will be $25 for $5,000 worth of chips, with additional chips available for sale. An open bar is included.
The performing arts collaboration is a first for Stewart, who also recently completed his first mural for Living Walls, at 156 Forsyth St. in downtown Atlanta.
Stewart’s sister, Andie Stewart, is a former GBT dancer. Mac Stewart and Walthall met after the painter watched Andie perform in a GBT program last fall that included a piece choreographed by the artistic director. It impressed Mac, and Walthall was impressed when he later visited the painter’s studio.
GBT is at 1800 Macleod Drive, Lawrenceville. 770-237-0046, www.gwinnettballet.org.
Tickets for "19-20-21," being presented at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, and 2:30 pm. Oct. 5, are $12-$20. 1-888-929-7849, www.gwinnettcenter.com.
MUSIC
50 years later, the wilderness as muse
When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law in September 1964, he said, “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”
In Georgia, more than 20 artists got that glimpse in recent months, spending time in federally protected wilderness areas to learn about their natural history first-hand and to then respond by creating works of art.
These music, poetry and visual art pieces will be shared with the public during a weekly Wilderness Act Performance Series, Sept. 14 through Oct. 12 at various metro sites.
The inaugural installment will be held 4-6 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Shambhala Tibetan Meditation Center (1447 Church St., Decatur), featuring composers Gabe Monticello and Stephen Wood, poet A’nji Sarumi and visual artists Janna Dudley and Julie Henry.
Remaining installments include …
- 2-4 p.m. Sept. 21 at Woodlands Garden of Decatur
- 3-5 p.m. Sept. 28: Outdoor Activity Center
- 4-7 p.m. Oct. 5: Davidson-Arabia Mountain Preserve
- Noon-3 pm: Oct. 12: Chattahoochee Nature Center
Information: wildernessactperformanceseries.com.
Atlanta Baroque to make artful debut
The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra will kick off its 17th season of early music with a free concert in a most modern art space, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20.
“To the Power of Three: An Intermingling of Music and Art,” finds ABO artistic director Julie Andrijeski joining forces with Evan Few and Antonia Nelson in a program for three baroque violins and continuo by composers including Gabrieli, Marini and Purcell. Guest artists Adam Jaffe (harpsichord) and Anneke SchaulYoder (baroque cello) will provide the continuo (improvised harmonies and bass line).
Wine and bites accompany the program. 75 Bennett St. N.W., Atlanta. 850-264-9293, atlantabaroque.org.
Georgia Boy Choir’s new-old home
The Georgia Boy Choir, which has been an ensemble-in-residence at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church since the group’s inception in 2009, will now call the Buckhead church its full-time home. Rehearsals for all five of the choir’s levels, featuring 100 boys and young men aged 5 to 18, will be held there.
The change will allow the choir to expand its program. It is especially seeking boys ages 5 to 9 to join its apprentice and training choirs.
Top members of the choir toured England this summer, serving as the choir-in-residence for a week at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and singing at Hereford Cathedral. Watch a video of the latter performance here.
Information: 404-402-4083, www.georgiaboychoir.org.
DANCE
Georgia Metropolitan Dance launches season
Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre, a pre-professional company based at the Georgia Dance Conservatory in Marietta, will open its 58th season with the program “Repertory 58” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 and 2 p.m. Sept. 28. Including pieces ranging from classical ballet to contemporary, “Repertory 58” will be presented at Cobb Civic Center’s Jennie T. Anderson Theatre.
GMDT also will present “The Nutcracker” (Nov. 28-30) and “Once Upon a Ballet” (March 20-22) as part of its 2014-15 season.
548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. $22-$24. www.georgiametrodance.org.
ARTS
Arts for Learning employee honored
Rebecca Pogue, a program coordinator at Arts for Learning, the Woodruff Arts Center division focused on education, is a recipient of a 2014 Nonprofit Leader 30 Under 30 award.
Selected by Georgia Center for Nonprofits and Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Atlanta, the annual awards are given to Georgia nonprofit professionals under 30 who have made a significant impact by exhibiting leadership, innovation and commitment to their communities.
Pogue coordinates the delivery of Art for Learning’s literacy programs in metro Atlanta schools and assists in teacher training for arts-integrated programs.
