Page 8 | West End Word March 24 - April 6, 2017

Preview Spring Arts

Dance St. Louis Presents TAJ EXPRESS

FREEDOM by Modern American Dance Co.
Dance Review
by Regina Popper
Quests for love and freedom domi-
nate the world of St. Louis dance this
spring, in styles as varied as can be
imagined.
Taj Express brings a Bollywood
love story to life thanks to Dance St.
Louis, while Modern American Dance
Co. (MADCO) presents an evening of
new works titled Freedom. Early in
April, Princess Aurora seeks true loves
kiss in Saint Louis Ballets Sleeping
Beauty, and even more dance follows.

Taj Express
Taj Express, self-described as a
live movie, comes to the University
of Missouri-St. Louis Touhill Perform-
ing Arts Center on Friday, March 31,
at 8 p.m. and on Saturday, April 1, at 2
p.m. and again at 8 p.m.
The shows romantic story uses live
dance and music ranging from folk and
classical Indian to todays pop India.
An aspiring music composer seeks his
big breakthrough in a movie called
Taj Express and then takes the au-
dience through the script as his music
and song bring the story to life.
The main characters, a beautiful
Bollywood actress and a handsome
street hero, travel from Mumbai (the
Bollywood capital) across the varied
India landscape with its panorama of
societies shown in video projections as
dancers step and swirl gracefully or
exuberantly in over 2,000 dazzling cos-
tumes. A villain mobster complicates
matters, though the audience surely is
rooting for a glorious Indian wedding
finale.
Dance forms showcased include
Bharatnatyam, Parkour, Indian Folk,
Indian classical, Latin American, hip-
hop and ballet. The award-winning
director of choreography is Vaibhavi
Merchant, who has more than 75 Bol-
lywood film choreography credits in
her career.
Tickets for Taj Express are $40-
Dance St. Louis presents Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical Review on March 31 and April 1 at the Touhill Performing
Arts Center. photo courtesy Dance St. Louis
$60, and are available at the Dance
St. Louis box office at 3310 Samuel
Shepard Drive (in Grand Center), by
calling 314-534-6622, or by visiting
dancestlouis.org.
Freedom
The same weekend, MADCO ends
its 40th anniversary season with
Freedom in collaboration with Wash-
ington Universitys Olin Library. The
evening of four works takes the stage
at the Touhill Center on Friday, March
31 and Saturday, April 1 at 8 p.m.
One of the four pieces is Dirt by
Jennifer Archibald, who is based in
New York City and a graduate of the
Alvin Ailey School. She sets the dance
to the song Smile by Nat King Cole
and the Native American-inspired
Anilah Medicine chant, which is com-
posed while in meditation and reci-
procity with nature.
Repass by Cecil Slaughter depicts
people from all walks of life during the
era of civil rights marches. The work
features music by Sweet Honey in the
Rock, James Horner, Boyz II Men,
Savage Aural Hotbed, and a poem
by Sonia Sanchez. Slaughter teaches
dance at Washington University and
hails from the Dayton Contemporary
Dance Co.
Between Lines of by Nejla Yat-
kin lets the audience fill-in the blanks
in a dance composed of three parts: the
past Memories, the present Reflec-
tions, and the future Dreams. Based
on the east coast, Yatkin uses multi-
cultural movement to explore identity
and bridge east and west in a wider-
world perspective. The score features
various sound designs as well as music
by Art Blakey.
The dance titled It is by Gina Pat-
terson and was inspired by traumatic
civil rights era photos and interviews
from the archives of Washington Uni-
versitys library. Based in Chicago,
with a deeply emotional balletic ap-
proach to contemporary dance, she ex-
plores, in this work, the duality of hu-
man nature, the stubborn persistence
of forms of discrimination and the com-
passionate zeal to eradicate it.
Tickets for MADCO are $15 for stu-
dents, $30 general admission, and $50
for the VIP experience.
Also Coming Between Now & May
Saint Louis Ballets full-length
Sleeping Beauty comes to the Touhill
Center with its cast of eloquent danc-
ers, in rotating casts, all worthy of this
masterpiece.
The four performances are Friday,
April 7 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April
8 at 2:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m.,
and Sunday, April 9 at 2:30 p.m. Ticket
prices range from $25 to $69.
Big Muddy Dance, an evocative,
contemporary dance troupe based in
St. Louis, appears at the Sun Theater
in Grand Center for its Spring at the
Sun concerts on Saturday, April 8 at 8
p.m. and Sunday, April 9 at 2 p.m.
May 19 and 20, Karlovsky and Com-
pany Dance presents Louder than
Words, also at the Sun Theater, with
7:30 p.m. performances. The new work
is a collaboration with guest choreogra-
pher Sarah LaRose-Holland of Kinetic
Evolutions Dance Co. of Minneapolis.
And closing the season is the 10th
Annual Emerson Spring To Dance
Festival 2017 presented in conjunction
with the Touhill Performing Arts Cen-
ter on Memorial 470Day
E. Lockwood
weekend, Ave.May m
26-28. For minimal prices 63119
St. Louis MO USA www
audiences
314-246-7673
can enjoy this premier Midwest show-
case of dance companiesGallery hours: M-F: 9-9, S
both national
and local, sharingThe gallery
their is located
widely varied at 8300
dance forms. second floor, west w

470 E. Lockwood Ave. mgallery@webster.edu

St. Louis MO 63119 USA www.webster.edu/maygallery
314-246-7673 Annual Juried Exhibition E
Wine Gallery hours: M-F: 9-9, S-S: 12-5
24 March- 28 April 2017
The gallery is located at 8300 Big Bend Blvd,
W
Reception second floor, west Reception
wing and Awards Presentation
Friday, 24 March, 5-7 pm
5
O
for and in the Small Wall Gallery, Jonathan Pfeifer
Heather Annual
HaymartJuried Exhibition Emerging Photographers
24 March- 28 April 2017 Websters Graduating Photo Majors
Friday, March
Reception31
Gallery hours:
and Awards Presentation
M-F: 9-9, S-S: 12-5
5 May - 28 July 2017
Opening Reception Friday, 12 May, 5-7 pm
from 6 -Friday,
9 p.m.24 March, 5-7 pmThe gallery is located at
and in the Small Wall Gallery,
8300Jonathan Pfeifer
Big Bend Blvd,
second floor, west wing

uncommon objects for everyday life

470 E. Lockwood Ave.
6161 Delmar, #101, St. Louis, mgallery@webster.edu
St.470 E.MO
Louis 63112 Ave.
MO
Lockwood63119 USA
mgallery@webster.edu 470 E. Lockwood Ave. mgallery@we
serendipity-gallery.comSt. Louis www.webster.edu/maygallery
470 E. Lockwood Ave.
MO 63119 USA www.webster.edu/maygallery
314-449-6400 mgallery@webster.edu
St. Louis MO 63119 USA www.webster.edu
314-246-7673
314-246-7673 St. Louis MO 63119 USA 314-246-7673
www.webster.edu/maygallery
Gallery
Gallery hours:
hours: M-F: M-F:
9-9, S-S: 314-246-7673
12-59-9, S-S: 12-5 Gallery hours: M-F: 9-9, S-S: 12-5
The gallery is located at 8300 Big Bend Blvd, Gallery hours: M-F: 9-9, S-S:
The gallery 12-5 at 8300 Big Bend Blvd
is located
The gallery is located
second floor, west wing at 8300 Big Bend Blvd,
The gallery is located at 8300second
Big Bend
floor,Blvd,
west wing
second floor, west wing
March 24 - April 6, 2017
Musicals, Comedians & More At The Fox
A variety of shows are coming to the
Fabulous Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand
Blvd., this spring.
The Illusionist runs March
31-April 2.
TV personality, author and Food
Network star Alton Brown brings
Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science
to the Fox on Sunday, April 9, 7:30 p.m.
The Lion King runs April 19
through May 7. Shows are Tuesdays
through Fridays at 7:30 p.m.,
Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and
Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m. There will
also be a 1 p.m. matinee on Thursday,
April 20.
Dirty Dancing The Classic
Story On Stage runs May 12-14.
Rent follows, from May 19-21.
John Legends Darkness and
Light Tour with special guest Gallant
will be at the Fox on Thursday, June
15, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $58-$128.
Beautiful Music At Powell Symphony Hall
The St. Louis Symphony will
mark the 70th birthday of American
composer John Adams by performing
his oratorio, The Gospel According to
the Other Mary, March 24 at 8 p.m.
and March 26 at 3 p.m.
St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7-KWMU,
will air a special live broadcast of the
March 26 performance from Powell
Hall. The broadcast can be live
streamed at www.stlpublicradio.org.
Singin in the Rain
The St. Louis Symphony will
breathe new life into Singin in the
Rain during two events at Powell
GET ALL THE PASSION, ALL THE BEAUTY, ALL THE MUSIC WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE!
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Love, Betrayal , and an
Impossible Choice
PHILIP GLASS &
CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON
Die Laughing
Spring Arts
Comedians Steve Martin and Martin
Short bring An Evening You Will
Forget for the Rest of Your Life to the
Fox Theatre on July 20.
A limited number of VIP packages will
also be available.
Santana will bring its
Transmogrify Tour 2017 to the Fox
on Wednesday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $150, $125, $99, $89, $79,
$69. A limited number of VIP packages
are also available.
Legendary comedians Steve
Martin and Martin Short will be
Hall, Saturday, May 13 at 7 p.m. and
Sunday, May 14 at 3 p.m.
The orchestra will play the score
live while audiences enjoy the award-
winning on-screen performances of
Gene Kelly, Donald OConnor and
Debbie Reynolds.
The Soul of Cash
The Soul of Cash: A Tribute to
the Music of Johnny Cash will be
presented Sunday, May 21 at 3 p.m.
The St. Louis Symphony and soulful
Brian Owens will breathe new life into
the music of Johnny Cash.
(Plus, best prices, best seats, and ultimate flexibility)
OPENS MAY 20
The Journey of the American Spirit
OPENS JUNE 4
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
The Power of Love Meets the Love of Power.
TICKETS AT EXPERIENCEOPERA.ORG | (314) 961-0644
Preview
coming to St. Louis for one performance
on Thursday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The show, An Evening You Will
Forget for the Rest of Your Life,
includes stand-up, film clips, musical
numbers and conversations about
their lives in show business. Martin
and Short will be joined by the Steep
Canyon Rangers, the bluegrass
band with which Martin frequently
performs.
Tickets are $253, $203, $128, $98,
$78, $58.
Mamma Mia! runs July 28-30.
2CELLOS, Croatian cellists Luka
Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, will be
accompanied by the London Symphony
Orchestra on Monday, Oct. 23 at 7:30
p.m. Tickets are $33-$93.
Tickets for all shows are available
online at MetroTix.com, by phone at
314-534-1111, or in person at the Fox
Theatre Box Office.
Jane Lynch
Three-time Emmy and Golden
Globe winning actress Jane Lynch,
from Glee, Best in Show,
Hollywood Game Night and more,
joins the St. Louis Symphony for a
one-night musical experience with a
large dose of comedy.
Jane Lynch sings The Great
American Songbook plus one
Guatemalan love song will be held
Friday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets may be purchased at shop.
stlsymphony.org or by calling 314-534-
1700. Powell Symphony Hall is located
at 718 N. Grand Blvd.
OPENS MAY 27
RICKY IAN GORDON
& MICHAEL KORIE
OPENS JUNE 10
West End Word | Page 9
Bully and the Kid, Handmade
Books about Human Beings.
At The Sheldon
Art Galleries
The Sheldon Art Galleries, 3648
Washington Blvd., continues with
winter/spring 2017 exhibitions,
many of which run until fall.
Wallace Smith: Paintings,
Drawings and Sketches, on
display through May 13. Born in
St. Louis in 1901, Smith absorbed
the visual language of artists like
Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and
Edward Hopper.
Higher Ground: Honoring
Washington Park Cemetery, Its
People and Place, through Aug. 26.
Color Wheel Connections:
Handmade Books about Human
Beings, through Sept. 9.
Circus Harmony: Defying
Gravity and Other Limitations,
through Sept. 23.
Admission is free. For more
information on exhibitions, visit
TheSheldon.org.
PACKAGES FOR
EVERYONE!
Friday Nights:
NEW!
TGIF Opera!
Includes live music as part of the
post-show party in the gardens.
Four Opera Packages start at $165.
Saturday Matinees:
NEW!
Kids Club
Enjoy the opera while your
children enjoy a half-day opera
camp experience.
Two Opera Packages start at $82.
Add childcare for $20 per child.
College Flex Passes
NEW!
With valid college ID, get
4 tickets to use in any
combination for only $50.
Not valid Saturday nights or
Sunday nights.
K-12 Educator Packages
See four operas on a Wednesday,
Thursday, or Friday evening for
only $100.
Young Friends Pick Two
Or More Passes
Under 45? Enjoy pre-show buffet
and open bar included in your
ticket price!
Available at select performances.
Two Opera Packages start at $79.
Page 10 | West End Word
Degas Exhibit At Saint Louis Art Museum
from page 1
Museums of San Francisco, the exhibit
presents an innovative hub for
understanding art and culture. A
comprehensive catalogue with fine
essays accompanies the show.
During more than three decades,
from 1870 to 1914, Degas explored the
subject of hats. Everyone wore them,
and millinery was a huge industry.
Some 1,000 milliners in Paris
contributed to that city being the
center of world fashion. The supplying
of artificial flowers, silk ribbons and
imported feathers was a booming
companion industry.
With eight studios in and around
Montmartre during his lifetime,
Degas was in walking distance of all
this activity and booming consumer
culture. Captivated by the visual
richness in the making and marketing
of hats, Degas produced 19 pastels,
five oils and two drawings with this
theme.
At the end of the 19th century, both
modiste (milliner) and artist found
inspiration in works from the Grand
Tradition, such as the splendors of
elegantly dressed figures by Baroque
artist Peter Paul Rubens and by
Rococo artist Jean-Antoine Watteau.
Parisians knew these historic
works in the Louvre, but they also
were seeing contemporary
architectural wonders, such as the
Grand Staircase of Au Bon-March.
Degas was familiar with the critical
Degas, Millinery,
and the Grand
Tradition
Saint Louis Art Museum
Through May 7, 2017
2017 St. Louis Bach Festival
The Bach Society of Saint Louis
has announced its 2017 St. Louis
Bach Festival, presented by Centene
Charitable Foundation. The festival
celebrates Bachs works with free and
ticketed events throughout the city of
St. Louis.
The festival will include the
following events:
The Spiritual Bach highlights
Bachs organ works alongside African-
American Spirituals on Sunday,
April 23, 3 p.m., at Ladue Chapel
Presbyterian Church, 9450 Clayton
Road. The event will feature soprano
and St. Louis native Marlissa Hudson
and award-winning organist Marvin
Mills. Tickets are $20.
Young Artist Recital.
Bach Society Young Artists will
present their favorite Bach solos
and highlights from operatic and
oratorio repertoire. This event is
on Sunday, April 30, 4 p.m., at
Second Presbyterian Church, 4501
Westminster Place. Admission is free.
Bach Chamber Music by
Candlelight is a full immersion
experience of Bachs music in an
intimate setting on Friday, May 5,
7 p.m., at the Church of St. Michael
and St. George, 6345 Wydown Blvd.
in Clayton. Tickets are $25.
Classical Guitar Concert
Spring Arts Preview
douard Manet, French, 1832-1883; At the Milliners, 1881;
oil on canvas; 33 1/2 29 inches; Fine Arts Museums of San
Francisco, Mildred Anna Williams Collection; Photography by
Joseph McDonald, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
thought of Baudelaire that society artist or consumer all could
should learn from the past yet the associate themselves with arts
contemporary artist must live in historical narrative.
modernity, and that the contemporary Plein air Impressionists discovered
is seen most clearly through fashion. that pastels which since the 18th
These ideas gave a sense of importance century had become a secondary
to the milliners, whom Degas respected medium worked well for the
as fellow artists with their shimmering of light on water and the
contemporary creations. movement of clouds/shadows in
Consumers were not left out of this
grandness; they obtained a certain
gardens. Working indoors, Degas
found pastels ideal for expressing
aesthetic identity in wearing these textures and showing the materiality
precious objects of desire, purchased of fashion. This freshness helped him
from specialty shops and newly capture moments of time, much as a
emerging department stores along photographer would do and, indeed,
Rue de la Paix. Whether milliner, Degas was also a photographer.
Organist
Marvin Mills
and soprano
Marlissa
Hudson will
be featured in
The Spiritual
Bach on April
23.
features favorite Bach melodies other favorites on Wednesday, May
transcribed for a guitar on Sunday, 17, 9 a.m., at The Sheldon, 3648
May 7, 3 p.m., at Salem United Washington Blvd. Tickets are $18.
Methodist Church, 1200 S. Lindbergh Christmas in Leipzig Lecture.
Blvd. Tickets are $15. Bach specialist David Gordon will
Vocal Masterclass. Learn how present a free lecture describing
to sing and love Baroque Recitative Bachs Christmas Oratorios origins
on Monday, May 8, 3 p.m., at St. on Sunday, May 21, 1:30 p.m.,
Francis Xavier College Church, 3628 at First Presbyterian Church in
Lindell Blvd. Admission is free. Kirkwood, 100 E. Adams Ave.
Bach at the Bistro. Experience Bachs Christmas Oratorio. of LGBTQ people and to celebrate
similarities between improvised jazz The chorus and orchestra will present
and Bachs music on Tuesday, May Bachs rarely heard Christmas
9, 6 p.m., at Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Oratorio on Sunday, May 21, 3 p.m.
Washington Ave. Tickets are $35. at First Presbyterian Church in
Coffee with Bach. Enjoy coffee Kirkwood. Tickets are $25 to $45.
and doughnuts before hearing Bachs For more information, visit www.
mini opera, the Coffee Cantata, and bachsociety.org or call 314-652-BACH.
March 24 - April 6, 2017
Mme Georgette, French; Womans
Hat, c. 1910; black lace and artificial
flowers on wire frame; 20 x 11 3/4
inches; courtesy of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art
Degas was inventive in his
technique, often wetting the pastels to
achieve a more saturated color or
mixing a color paste and brushing it
on to the paper. He would often change
the composition as it developed,
enlarging the picture by adding paper
at the top and bottom.
Degas arranges his figures to
capture the moment designer, hat-
maker or consumer deeply engrossed
in the action taking place. In that way,
subject and painter, both artists,
mirror each others creative activity.
As the subject is quietly gazing at the
artwork of the hat, Degas is deeply
absorbed in the making of the art.
Although his interest in the world
of hats is less well-known than his
fascination with ballet, this current
exhibition offers an essential historic
contribution to understanding both
Degas art and the societal context of
late-19th century Impressionism.
The Boys in the Band
Annual QFest
Runs March 29-
April 2 In STL
The 10th Annual QFest St.
Louis, presented by Cinema St.
Louis, runs March 29-April 2, at
the .ZACK Theatre, 3224 Locust St.
The St. Louis-based LGBTQ
film festival will present an eclectic
slate of 19 films 11 features
(eight narratives and three
documentaries) and eight short
subjects. Filmmakers represent
a wide variety of voices in
contemporary queer world cinema.
The mission of the film festival
is to use the art of contemporary
gay cinema to spotlight the lives
queer culture.
For a schedule of screenings and
events, including trailers and full
descriptions of the films, visit www.
cinemastlouis.org/qfest. The official
QFest St. Louis page on Facebook
is www.facebook.com/QFestSTL.