Even if you’ve never connected to contemporary dance, it’s hard to not be persuaded after witnessing Wabi Sabi perform at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, with the audience following the dancers to different spots on the manicured grounds for each piece on the program.
The dancer-driven Atlanta Ballet offshoot, whose mission is to showcase rising choreographic talent, gives the first of five performances at three outdoor settings on Aug. 21 at the Midtown garden, where it will return Sept. 18. In between there will be appearances at the High Museum of Art (as part of the design installation “Mi Casa, Your Casa” on Sifly Piazza) on Aug. 22 and 29, and at the Decatur Book Festival on Aug. 31.
At both High dates, Wabi Sabi will premiere “Yours is Mine” by Robert Dekkers, a former Atlanta Ballet student who is now a choreographer and director of his own San Francisco company, Post Ballet. For the Aug. 29 performance, Dekkers’ specially commissioned score will be performed live by Georgia Tech’s Sonic Generator and two MCs/rappers.
Botanical Garden performances are at 7:45 p.m., High Museum at 8 p.m. and Decatur Book Festival (beside the Community Bandstand) at 4:30 p.m. All performances are free, but Botanical Garden admission ($18.95; $12.95 ages 3-12) applies. www.atlantaballet.com/wabi-sabi.
ARTS
100 works for Art on the Beltline
Art on the Atlanta Beltline, one of the largest temporary public art exhibits in the Southeast, returns Sept. 6 through Nov. 15, featuring nearly 100 works of visual and performance art. The recently announced list of participating artists can be found at artsculture.blog.ajc.com.
The yearly exhibit takes place outdoors, along the abandoned rail bed that has been reclaimed as a necklace of multi-use trails and public parks. The sculpture, dance, murals, concerts and theatrical presentations transform the corridor into an outdoor gallery space.
The season kicks off on the evening of Sept. 6 with the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade. Exhibits during the fall will be concentrated on the northern eastside interim hiking trail between Montgomery Ferry Road and Monroe Drive; on the eastside trail between Monroe Drive and Irwin Street; on the southern eastside interim hiking trail between Wylie Street and Memorial Drive; and on the westside trail between Washington Park and Allene Avenue.
Information: art.beltline.org. BO EMERSON
VISUAL ART
Museum of Design’s 2015 schedule
The Museum of Design Atlanta recently announced that it will present four exhibits in 2015 focusing on the ways that design can change housing, communities, manufacturing and even politics.
First up will be “Sustainable Shelter: Dwelling Within the Forces of Nature,” Jan. 18 to April 5, 2015, showing design techniques that can protect the natural world.
It will be followed by "Designing Healthy Communities: Active Design and Its Impact" (April 26 to July 19, 2015); "3-D Printing the Future" (Aug. 2 to Nov. 1, 2015); and "Make-Believe America" (Nov. 15, 2015 to Feb. 14, 2016), surveying how design was used as a persuasive force in U.S. cultural exhibitions from 1955 to 1975. Read more at artsculture.blog.ajc.com.
More immediately, MODA opens "AIGA 100: A Century of Design" on Aug. 17, with a reception 7-9 p.m. Aug. 21 ($30). It's a retrospective of a century of graphic design developments from the organization founded in 1914 as the American Institute of Graphic Arts, featuring work by top designers including Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Milton Glaser and Stefan Sagmeister.
$10; $8 seniors; $5 ages 6-17 and college students. 1315 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-979-6455, museumofdesign.org. BO EMERSON
THEATER
Outfit plans to stir compassion
Theatrical Outfit has dubbed its 38th season, launching this week with the dramatic comedy “The Savannah Disputation,” as its “Season of Compassion.”
Producing artistic director Tom Key calls the 2014-15 season opener by Georgia-born playwright Evan Smith “the toughest comedy I know of,” and thinks it’s the perfect response to an increasingly divisive political climate.
Smith’s script takes off with two plain-as-potatoes sisters of the Roman Catholic persuasion who lose their Southern charm when a peppy evangelical Christian appears at their door. Directed by Tess Malis Kincaid, the show is described as a debate about religion, life, convictions and finding kindness where you might least expect it.
Previews are at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21-22 and 2:30 p.m. Aug. 23, with opening night at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23. Through Sept. 7. Tickets, $20-$50. 84 Luckie St. N.W., Atlanta. 1-877-725-8849, www.theatricaloutfit.org.
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