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Your weekend arts forecast: Dance at 620, Vinoy Pops
Alexander Jones, choreographer-in-residence for thestudio@620, is back at the home venue Friday and Saturday (7 p.m. both days) with his fourth annual Momentum Choreographic Showcase, featuring new works and performances from his Project Alchemy artists Ambar Cesari, Khasilan Riley, Kinsey Vaughen and Angelina Graves.
It like, like so many Project Alchemy events, “not your normal dance performance” (that’s their tagline) – guests will navigate their way through the facility, encountering live, tactile dance as well as interactive dance technology and “blossoming installation work,” all courtesy of 620 Managing Director Marcus Wehby, company managers Sarah Hamilton and Emily Curry, and Jones himself.
Find out more about the innovative program, and get tickets, here.
Pops in the Park
The Florida Orchestra returns Saturday, firing on all cylinders, as new assistant conductor Chelsea Gallo leads the band for its annual Pops in the Park concert, in Vinoy Park. The 7 p.m. concert is free – you’re asked to bring canned goods for the Tampa Bay Harvest Food Drive – and if you get there at 6, you’ll be treated first to a performance from the Tampa Bay Community Band, followed at 6:30 by the Tampa Bay Master Chorale’s annual Big Sing public sing-along show.
Read all about conductor Gallo here.
Art in the community
Heiress, a new gallery inside The Factory St. Pete, debuts with an opening reception Friday, 6-9 p.m. The Florida-centric exhibit Running Through the Sawgrass includes works by Nabil Harb, Andrew King, Noelle Mason, Walter Matthews, Josseline Melgar, Libbi Ponce, Emiliano Settecasi and Alex Zak. Look for the gallery at 2622 Fairfield Ave S., Building 7 Unit A. More info is here.
Orilla: Ona Kirei and Alejandro Arenas. Publicity photo.
Today (Thursday, Sept. 22), the Dali Museum has Orilla (Ona Kirei and Alejandro Arenas), performing Latin-influenced jazz, folk and pop songs. Concert admission is $10 ($5 for Dali members).
The special event is in celebration of Hispanic History Month. Orilla is also on the bill Tuesday (Sept. 27) for a similar fiesta at thestudio@620. Also there for the 7 p.m. event: Poets, writers, artists, more music, food, fun et cetera.
The Dali, meanwhile, will debut a new acquisition, the mixed media sculpture Retrospective Bust of a Woman, on the 27th. One of Salvador Dalí’s first surreal objects, it’s an assemblage including painted and gilded bronze, feathered cap, beads, plastic strip and two wooden ink pens.
At 6 p.m. today, the indefatigable Ya La’Ford will be present for the unveiling of her newest steel sculpture, “Boulevard Flow,” at the entrance to what will be the Tampa Housing Authority’s latest affordable housing community. Mayor Jane Castor will be there too – it’s a pretty big deal, part of the ongoing redevelopment of the former THA North Boulevard Homes public housing community.
La’Ford has also been selected by the Hillsborough Community College (HCC) Foundation to create a sculpture on the grounds of the new district building at the HCC Dale Mabry campus.
Borrow and Steal: Appropriation in the Collection opens Saturday at the Museum of Fine Art St. Petersburg. Curated from the museum’s permanent collection, it traces the art historical lineage of appropriation art, or the idea of originality and authorship. For a better explanation than that one, visit the museum website, here.
Pop music
The long-awaited Lizzo concert at Amalie Arena finally arrives Saturday. The support act is Saucy Santana, and tickets are here.
Sunday at Amalie, it’s reggaeton singer Karol G and her “Strip Love Tour.” Tickets are here.
Theater stages
While the Straz Center’s production of the musical puppet comedy Avenue Q is back at the Jaeb Theatre following a Covid scare among the cast, a few doors down at the Shimberg Playhouse the Steve Martin comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile (from Jobsite Theater) is taking this weekend off for the same reason. All Straz Center tickets are available here.
Congratulations to Stageworks Theatre, as well as the cast and crew of The Color Purple. Every show in the musical’s current three-week run (ending Sunday) has been sold out.
On the St. Pete side, American Stage’s high-energy Green Day’s American Idiot continues (read about it here), and at Studio Grand Central, the dark comedy Vino Veritas is in its opening weekend (read about that one here).
Friday is Game Night at freeFall Theatre, with interactive games (you can participate or merely observe, the choice is yours). Hosted (at 7 p.m.) by Robert Teasdale and Hannah Barrens. Tickets.
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