Jessica Lang Dance doesn’t perform at the Winspear until next weekend, but the choreographer behind the New York-based dance company is already in town.
Lang’s work, a blend of classical and contemporary ballet, showcases her dedication to collaborating across artistic mediums, including the visual arts. She’s done so here in Dallas with Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama, whose black-and-white Kusho series of paintings are currently on view at the Crow Collection. These things are seriously beautiful, and cool. Maruyama throws Indian ink and water together and photographs the instant the two meet in mid-air—a reaction faster than the human eye can catch unaided. It’s like the flourish of a calligraphy artist, caught in the air rather than on paper with no predicting what the stroke will look like. You can see the exhibit for free anytime the museum is open, since the Crow Collection never charges admission.
Now, that brings me to tonight’s event, which does come with a small cost. Lang has taken video projections from Kusho to create “i.n.k,” a piece that will be presented as part of Sept. 14’s TITAS-presented program. This evening, she’ll discuss the collaborative process as part of the Crow’s Asian Art Now lecture series that examines the future of Asian art in Texas. It’s ten bucks, and starts 7 p.m. Which means you should get to One Arts Plaza by six and enjoy a French 75 at Cafe des Artistes. The happy hour is pretty unbeatable.
Otherwise, you can catch the theatrical stylings of the Ochre House Theatre, which is never entirely devoid of puppets doing unsavory things. The musical Best Seat in Town revisits the twisted characters in writer/director Matthew Posey’s 2009 play Coppertone, part of a series that found him experimenting with Japanese puppetry. And at the risk of repeating myself, be careful in Fair Park. This might be a time when I advise making a run for it after the show rather than sticking around for a drink at Amsterdam.
For more to do tonight, go here.
