2024 Spring Preview: Atlanta’s music, art, theater and dance continue to bloom

DANCE

New York-based Parsons Dance will take the stage at The Rialto Center for the Arts for one performance only on March 10. The internationally renowned contemporary company was founded in 1985 by choreographer David Parsons and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. Known for its lively, athletic movement style and acrobatics, the ensemble will perform Nascimento, set to the lilting compositions of Brazil’s Milton Nascimento; The Road, set to music by Cat Stevens; and Parsons’ iconic solo Caught, still an audience favorite after 40 years in the repertoire. — Carson Mason. 

::

Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre kicks off its spring season with a collection of new works at the KSU Dance Theater from March 1 through March 3. The program includes the premiere of Body & Myth: a world premiere from emerging choreographer Nadine Barton; If Only, the first live performance of a duet originally created as a film by Frank Chaves; and Under The Olive Tree, a nine-dancer performance set to Baroque music from resident choreographer Tara Lee. Terminus’ spring season continues with Peter & The Wolf March 16 and March 17 on the plaza at the Woodruff Arts Center and a program of its most popular works April 16 and April 17 at The White Box Theater in Buckhead. — Carson Mason

::

Atlanta Ballet brings the works of three choreographers to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in its Kaleidoscope program March 22 through March 24. Company dancer Sergio Masero will present the world premiere of his neoclassical Querencia. Garrett Smith, whose many choreography credits include Netflix’ Tiny Pretty Things, will premiere his  new ballet for the company. Rounding out the bill is Mark Morris’ playful Sandpaper Ballet. The company’s season culminates May 10 through May 12 with Liquid Motion, an evening of new works by choreographer-in-residence Claudia Schreier and Brazilian dancemaker Juliano Nuñez. Schreier’s ballet, set to Wynton Marsalis’ “The Jungle (Symphony No. 4),” features set and costume designs by Atlanta muralist Charity Hamidullah. — Carson Mason

::

More Dance highlights . . . Full Radius Dance’s new work, Saint, will be at 7Stages Theatre Mainstage March 8 through March 10 . . . India’s Nrityagram Dance Ensemble in collaboration with Chitrasena Dance Company, based in Sri Lanka, will perform Āhuti at the Ferst Center for the Arts on March 29 . . . Grand Kyiv Ballet brings its Giselle to Atlanta Symphony Hall on March 15 as part of a 60-city tour . . . Dance Canvas’ 2024 Performance Series will be at the Ferst Center for the Arts on March 22 and March 23 . . . Three new contemporary dance works comprise Beacon Dance’s program March 29 through March 31 at B Complex . . .  The annual MAD (Modern Atlanta Dance) Festival will take place June 7 and June 8 at the Emory Performing Arts Studio . . . May 17 through May 19 in Woodruff Park, Jimmy Joyner will premiere Red Tethers, a solo performance born from his research into the lives of Atlantans lost to HIV/AIDS . . . Atlanta choreographer Meaghan Novoa will premiere her full-length, In This House, at Theatrical Outfit’s Balzar Theater June 14 and June 15.

 ::

ART+DESIGN

The Michael C. Carlos Museum presents Recasting Antiquity: Whistler, Tanagra, and the Female Form, comprising 30 works from American artist James McNeill Whistler alongside works of ancient art. On display through May 13, the exhibition juxtaposes Whistler’s 1880s prints and drawings with recently excavated Hellenistic Greek terracotta Tanagra figurines on loan from the Louvre Museum. The show considers what the taste for Tanagras at the turn of the 20th century reveals about changing attitudes to classical antiquity and conventional Western notions of femininity. — Carson Mason

::

The High Museum of Art will exhibit an exploration of Dutch fine art through the lens of global trade and colonization. Presenting more than 100 paintings, prints and maps created by leading Dutch artists in the 17th and 18th centuries, the exhibit, Dutch Art in a Global Age: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, explores how Dutch preeminence in maritime trade influenced life in the Netherlands and international culture. To reflect a complex history, the exhibit includes art with the positive image the Dutch wished to project, along with works that  depict the toll of colonialism. Exhibit runs April 19 through July 14. — Carson Mason

::

Sandler Hudson Gallery hosts William Downs’ second solo exhibition, A Wave Touched a Cloud, a multisensory and immersive presentation of his work. The artist explores the intersection between nature and human intervention with new materials and structures that serve as a matrix for his drawings. The exhibit, opening March 9, includes site-specific sculptural installations and large-scale drawings that extend beyond the confines of the gallery’s walls, as Downs seeks to challenge viewers’ perceptions of the surreal and of landscapes. — Carson Mason

::

More Art+Design highlights . . . The contemporary photography exhibit Truth Told Slant opens at the High Museum of Art on March 1 . . . Also at the High, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, is open now and runs through May 12 . . . MOCA GA’s exhibit of the late Larry Walker’s work continues through March 16 . . .  Threaded, at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, runs through May 24 . . . He’s had exhibits the world over, now painter William Steiger’s work will be at the Marcia Wood Gallery March 16 through April 13 . . . At the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art through June 16, The Magic of Modern Art: How to Love Modern and Contemporary Art, is based on artist Robyn Jamison’s book of the same name . . . Painter  Susanna Coffey will have a show at Whitespace in June and July  . . . Painters Tim Short and Alex Waggoner and multimedia artists Petie Parker and Sarah Nathaniel  have an exhibit opening May 15 at Echo Contemporary Art  . . . the Swan Coach House Gallery will show the work of Edge Award winner Aineki Traverso March 28 through May 2.

::

MUSIC

The Atlanta Opera continues its multiseason performance of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle with the epic tetrology’s second installment, Die Walküre, premiering April 27 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. World-renowned Wagnerian singer Greer Grimsley will reprise his role as Wotan in an epic tale of power and intrigue in the realm of the gods. The Atlanta Opera has thrived in recent years owing to the leadership of general manager and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, and Die Walküre promises to uphold the same majestically high standard set forth in the previous season’s run of Das Rheingold.
— Jordan Owen

::

The fifth season of Atlanta’s ensemble vim (very interesting music) offers free concerts of new music performed by some of the region’s best young classical musicians. True to its name, the ensemble seeks out compelling voices and delivers with verve. Vimmen for Women is the group’s March 12 show at St. Luke’s Church on Peachtree Street, with music by six composers, from the celebrated veterans Tania León and Paola Prestini to the fast-rising Sarah Gibson, a former member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. There’s also a world premiere, natch, by Atlanta composer Alice Hong. — Pierre Ruhe 

::

Now in its 13th year, the Bluesberry and Beer Festival features local blues talent and blueberry-themed promotions from Historic Downtown Norcross merchants. A musician in his own right, founder and CEO Mike Holley has been scouting the Atlanta scene for years, curating the best in new talent while balancing the roster with more established performers. Although this year’s lineup has not yet been finalized, you can count on Holley to do it right: “It’s really about keeping the blues alive, right?” Holley said. “Because that’s what we try to do.” The festival takes place June 15 from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. — Shannon Marie Tovey

::

More Music highlights . . . The new Friday night series Jazz Nights at Serenbe kicks off March 15, with two more shows following on May 3 and September 13 . . . Atlanta-formed rock band The Black Crowes play The Fox Theatre on April 5 as part of a 35-date tour  . . . The Atlanta Jazz Festival returns to Piedmont Park on May 25, including headliners Rhonda Ross and husband Rodney Kendrick . . . Atlanta-formed metal band Mastodon will play Ameris Bank Amphitheater on July 25 with accompanying metal band Lamb of God . . . and Atlanta’s own Zac Brown Band will perform with Kenny Chesney, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker at the Mercedes Benz Stadium on May 18.

::

THEATER

From the pen of Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat) comes the comedy-drama Clyde’s,on stage March 13 through April 7 at Theatrical Outfit. Nominated for five Tony Awards, the play brings together a group of cooks — who were previously incarcerated — in the kitchen of a Pennsylvania truck stop diner, under pressure to make a flawless meal. The Broadway run starred Emmy winner Uzo Aduba, and this Theatrical Outfit production boasts Tonia Jackson and more.

“To me, Clyde’s is a play about freedom. What are the things that imprison us, mentally, physically, emotionally — and how do we truly get free?” said director January LaVoy. “But it’s also a play about sandwiches. Sublime, magnificent sandwiches. — Jim Farmer 

::

Mercury, a bloody, revenge comedy-thriller set in Portland, Oregon, runs April 6 through April 28 at Actor’s Express, and any new production from Atlanta native Steve Yockey, now best-known for his Emmy-nominated writing on HBO’s The Flight Attendant and Netflix’ Dead Boy Detectives, is a reason for excitement. It’s sure to be a thrill when he returns to Actor’s Express, which last staged his play Reykjavik in 2018.

“I’m most excited about working with [director] Melissa Foulger again and being back at the Express,” Yockey told ArtsATL. “It’s like going home.” — Benjamin Carr 

::

Journalist and playwright Kelundra Smith will explore Atlanta’s history with the world premiere of The Wash, a co-production between Synchronicity Theatre and Impact Theatre Atlanta beginning June 7.

The play, developed through Hush Harbor Lab, centers around women involved in the washerwoman strike of 1881, one of the largest and most successful organized labor strikes of the post-Civil War era.

Smith, a former editor-at-large with ArtsATL and the managing editor of American Theatre magazine, called her plays “restorative narratives.”

“I am the daughter of Black Southern parents who are the children of Black Southern parents who were the children of Black Southern parents,” Smith said in a statement. “The geography and culture of the South form my being and inform my work. This is my American experience.” — Benjamin Carr 

::

More Theater highlights . . . The Gulf and Psycho Beach Party are on stage at Out Front Theatre March 14 through March 30 and May 2 through May 18 . . .  True North is at 7 Stages Theatre March 14 through March 31 . . . The Glass Essay with Vernal & Sere Theatre opens March 1 . . .  Fat Hamand The Preacher’s Wife are on stage at Alliance Theatre April 3 through May 12 and May 11 through June 9 . . .  Sister Act is at Aurora Theatre May 23 through June 23 . . . Actor’s Express will stage Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky May 30 through June 23 . . . Who’s Afraid of Virginia W0olf? is at Theatrical Outfit May 15 through June 9 . . . The Center for Puppetry Arts presents Stellaluna March 26 through May 19 . . . and Theatre Emory presents Little Shop of Horrors April 11 through April 21.

::

To read about spring 2024’s four artists to watch, go HERE.