Each week, Xpress highlights notable WNC crowdsourcing initiatives that may inspire readers to become new faces in the crowd. This week features renovations at the Magnetic Theatre and Holiday Childress’ debut solo album.
Smart bets: Mountain Heritage Day
Break out the candles! Western Carolina University celebrates its 125th year during the 40th annual Mountain Heritage Day festival, a free event to recollect WCU’s rich history. Two stages and a dedicated dance floor will host clogging team performances and concerts (including Grammy Award-winner David Holt), and more than 100 vendor booths will sprawl into […]
Smart bets: Heritage Weekend
This September marks the 34th year for Heritage Weekend, a free festival that explores traditional Appalachian customs like beekeeping, coopering, heritage toy making, broom and furniture making, spinning and natural dyeing, all sponsored by the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Both Saturday and Sunday offer a full lineup of crafts, dance and mountain-inspired music with fare […]
Southeast B-Boy Championships return to Asheville
Three of hip-hop culture’s four pillars — MCing, DJing and graffiti writing — are alive and well in Asheville. As for B-boying, while it has flourished in Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro and even Fayetteville, the fourth pillar is largely absent on the local scene. “It just hasn’t soaked in so much,” says Brett Rock, a local […]
Asheville Butoh Festival presents thought-provoking modern dance
A woman stands in a ragged white kimono. Her dark hair is vehemently disheveled. Her mouth hangs open in her painted-white face. This is not your mama’s modern dance. It’s an example of what you’re likely to encounter during the annual Asheville Butoh Festival, held at the BeBe Theatre, Thursday-Monday, Sept. 18-22
LAAFF returns with an eye toward the future
“Never say die,” reads the poster for the Lexington Avenue Art and Fun Festival, which returns Sunday, Aug. 31, after a one-year hiatus. When the beloved (and, in recent years, beleaguered) event’s return was announced earlier this summer, it was as a last hurrah. Organizers Kitty Love (LAAFF’s co-founder, who’s now executive director of the […]
LAAFF announces schedule for Aug. 31 festival
Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival returns on Sunday, Aug. 31 with a full day’s worth of music, art street theater, local vendors, food and drink and more. Festival planners just released the lineup, which includes more than a dozen bands on two stages, with an additional stage programmed by Lex 18 moonshine bar. The […]
Smart bets web extra: The Asheville Ballet with Montana Skies
“This ain’t your granny’s chamber music,” claim husband and wife, Jonathan and Jennifer Adams, on their band’s website. The couple’s sound is constructed of guitar and cello pairings, delivered with more spunk than you’d expect from any instrumental family band and packaged under the name Montana Skies. The duo’s knack for extracting spiced-up grooves from […]
Smart bets web extra: Seelie Court Masquerade
It’s time to break out the old leather-studded collar and golden tiara. New Mountain Asheville will host Seelie Court Masquerade, a two-night “multi-sensory fantasy event featuring two rooms of music, fashion, theater and dance,” according to a press release, and all attendees are strongly encouraged to dress their faerie best. Masqueraders will enjoy various live […]
Fancy footwork: Folkmoot brings together world and regional folk dance
With folk dancers from Taiwan, Trinidad, Romania, Russia and other far-flung places performing at Folkmoot, it might be easy to overlook the fact that southern Appalachia has its own dance custom to share. Dressed in their full crinoline skirts and tap shoes, four Appalachian clogging teams represent the mountain tradition at the international folk dance […]
Everybody’s doing a brand-new dance now: From MOTION’s choreographic laboratory comes cutting-edge performance
“At 21 years old, it had been decided for me the roles I was capable of dancing for the rest of my life,” says choreographer Nick Kepley. “That was kind of silly.” It’s also, at least in part, the reason he created MOTION Dance Theatre, a choreographic laboratory and three-week residency. From that comes a […]
Ghost Town In The Sky passes state inspection, opens for the season on Independence Day
Western-theme amusement park and movie set for Dean Teaster’s 2007 film, ‘Ghost Town’, is officially opening for the season at 10:00AM on July 4th.
Appetite for expression: Terpsicorps turns themes of hunger into a visual feast
The idea behind Hunger, the newest production from Asheville-based Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, did not stem from a certain popular movie filmed in the area (sorry, Katniss). Instead, it grew from company founder and choreographer Heather Maloy’s more humanitarian desires.
MOTION Dance Theatre holds two preview events
MOTION Dance Theatre, the brainchild of WNC-born choreographer Nick Kepley (currently ballet master at Ballet Austin), offers a three week residency to professional dancers and choreographers which culminates in two performances (July 11 and 12) at Diana Wortham Theatre. In advance of that, “Doors Open” is a sneak-peek into the dancers and choreographers at work. […]
Viva La Vida: Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre presents Looking for Frida
Commemorating 35 years of modern dance, ACDT recreates its signature ballet, “Looking for Frida.” First choreographed in 1998, and staged in Asheville; Montpellier and Toulouse, both France; and Merida, Mexico, the production embodies the company’s mission to produce to daring and often haunting performances inspired by the work of great artists and writers.
Asheville Ballet’s Cinderella
Review by Mark-Ellis Bennett Last weekend Asheville Ballet staged Cinderella, the largest production of its 50-plus year history. Prokofiev’s powerful score, the stunning choreography and colorful new costumes and sets were enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience of all ages. According to Asheville Ballet’s artistic director, Ann Dunn, the company spent nearly a year rehearsing and […]
Agent provocateur: ABSFest showcases burlesque and sideshow arts with social relevance
ABSFest showcases burlesque and sideshow arts with social relevance This year’s Americana Burlesque and Sideshow Festival will include, among other spectacles, “the world’s foremost authority on sideshow,” James Taylor. Not “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain” James Taylor — the other one, whose personal collection of sideshow memorabilia includes a taxidermied unicorn from the […]
Smart Bets: Alice in Wonderland
Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre celebrates 35 years of modern dance while the New Studio of Dance marks its 45th anniversary of dance education. The local artistic strongholds commemorate those milestones with a performance of Alice in Wonderland. “You may already know Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, but how long has it […]
Flight club
Local aerialists and rockers team up for a production An unlikely collaboration was forged in January, when Bromelia Aerial Dance Collective performed at the Mothlight as part of the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. According to local movement artist Anna Bartlett, “One of our dancers was injured, and our friend Valerie Phillips saved the day by […]
Lindsey Kelley Dance performs “Legend of the Shim Sham,” May 9 & 10
Local dance troupe Lindsey Kelley Dance — headed by Florida native Kelley, an Asheville transplant since 2010, presents its first evening-length performance on Friday and Saturday, May 9 and 10. Shows take place at the Masonic Temple at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 online or at the door. The production, “Legend of the Shim Sham,” […]
The LEAF list
Heading to LEAF next weekend and not quite sure what to see? The good news is that you can’t really go wrong. The festival always packs its roster with an array of stellar acts that range from traditional to contemporary and Americana to international. But this spring brings some world and fusion acts of note. Here’s a list of four bands worth checking out, and one techno contra dance (no, seriously).