DANCE
Shades Dance Theater (above), founded in 2021 by Atlanta native Cameron Terry, makes its Atlanta debut this weekend with a mixed bill titled Love, Fantasy and Euphoria. Black male love is celebrated in Mr. & Mr. Poppy while Kissing You features the soft and tender side of love. Naughty, Naughty closes the bill. Expect music by Donna Summer, Beyoncé, Marvin Gaye, and movement that blends classical ballet with Horton technique and West African dance. According to the company, the show “contains moments of intimacy, adult themes and some mature subject matter with music featuring provocative language and concepts.” Saturday 7: 30 p.m. Galloway School Chaddick Center for the Arts. Tickets start at $30. (Special performance Sunday at 3:30 p.m. for members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Contact [email protected])
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George Staib is busy. Just one week after his (MC)2 multicultural dance festival, the Atlanta choreographer is collaborating with dancer Leah Cox, a veteran of Bill T. Jones’ company, on a new work titled Group Therapy: A Solo. On the same program will be works by the Jacksonville, Florida, company Emily Cargill & Dancers. Cargill was a founding member of Staibdance. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Emory Performing Arts Studio. Tickets $25.
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Contemporary dance ensemble Kit Modus will close its 2022-23 season with two performances at the Emory Performing Arts Studio. The Atlanta-based company will perform director Jillian Mitchell’s one hour Scion on Sunday, followed on Wednesday by works from award-winning choreographers Yoshito Sakuraba and Christian Denice and a world premiere by company member Emma Morris. Check out ArtsATL‘s preview from dance writer Robin Wharton. Sunday 5:30 p.m. Wednesday 7:30 p.m. Tickets $15.
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MUSIC
The iconic Radio Free Georgia (WRFG-FM) celebrates its 50th anniversary Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Rialto Center for the Arts. WRFG is an Atlanta treasure that has maintained its foundation as an eclectic station that touts music seldom, if ever, heard on mainstream radio. Performers include Julie Dexter, Ruby Velle and Mausiki Scales and the Common Ground Collective. Tickets start at $15.
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Jazz and R&B vibraphonist Roy Ayers comes to City Winery for shows Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. Ayers began his career as a popular jazz vibraphonist in the sixties, then segued into an R&B bandleader and became known as The Godfather of Neo-soul. Ayers recently recorded with hip-hop artist Talib Kweli and his music has been sampled and remixed by a host of DJs. Tickets start at $50.
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Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade comes to the Eastern Saturday at 8 p.m. on a show co-headlined by former Talking Heads members Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew. Claypool’s set will include a performance of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic masterwork, Animals. And Harrison and Belew will perform songs from the Talking Heads catalogue, along with new music. Tickets start at $49.50.
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THEATER
Arís Theatre is celebrating a decade of productions with a new musical comedy running June 14 through 25 at the Academy Theatre in Hapeville. The Legend of Finn McCool, written and composed by Arís co-founder Rob Shaw-Smith, is a whimsical Irish tale about a giant named Finn challenging a Scottish monster. Suitable for all ages. Tickets start at $10.
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Still haven’t seen an Atlanta Fringe Festival show? Catch the one-woman production from Atlanta native Megan Stern this Friday and Saturday at Neighborhood Church in Candler Park. Upline: It’s Not a Show, It’s an Opportunity is about a fictional, multi-level marketing beauty empire that promises both flawless skin and financial freedom — at a cost. Tickets are $15.
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Visit Decatur’s Onstage Atlanta through June 25 to see 4 Old Broads on the High Seas, written by Leslie Kimbell and directed by Barry N. West. This laugh-out-loud comedy has everything from a wedding to a murder mystery to a drag queen — all on one cruise ship headed to the Bahamas. Tickets start at $22.
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ART+DESIGN
Today at 7 p.m. the High Museum of Art is presenting a conversation with Lauren Tate Baeza, the museum’s Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art. She and her guests will discuss the intersection of art and spiritual practice, drawing from images, ideas and themes in two current exhibits, Bruce Onobrakpeya: The Mask and the Cross and Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty. Members free. Nonmembers $20. (A review of both exhibits, by ArtsATL’s Jerry Cullum, will post on Friday.)
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Rachel K. Garceau will give an artist talk at Whitespace gallery on Saturday at 3 p.m. Her work scale, comprising floor-to-ceiling white porcelain tiles and smooth black stones, can be seen through June 17 in the Whitespace space. ArtsATL’s Jerry Cullum included the show in his most recent Notebook. Free.
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Jessica Caldas: Every Stage of Becoming opens at MOCA GA this weekend. According to the artist, who is a MOCA GA Working Artist Project fellow, the exhibit “imagines a small universe where every person has a community to support and care for them through labor and love, through birth and loss, through choice and failure.” Through August 5. Opening reception Friday 7 p.m.
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FILM+TV
Core Dance artistic director Sue Schroeder and filmmaker Christian Meyer collaborated on body of water, a filmed offering for Global Water Dances 2023. It is their way of raising awareness of water quality problems in Berlin, where the work was created. Global Water Dances is an international artistic initiative focused on the critical need for safe drinking water. The virtual-only event will premiere Saturday 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Available through June 30.
