ArtsCriticATL.com

When FLUX 2011 descends on Castleberry Hill this Friday evening, some 224 visual, sonic, theatrical and multimedia artists will saturate the Atlanta historic district with close to three dozen thought-provoking artworks. They’ll be asking questions such as: what traits do humans share with animals? What sound vibrations linger in the earth from the time Native Americans [...]

Ursula Kendall Johnson, artistic director of 2 Kids and a Dream, premiered “SHE Created It” to a small but faithful audience last weekend at Tri-Cities High School’s Viola Turner Performing Arts Theater, in East Point. It brought together 10 female choreographers and a cast of female dancers of various ages, backgrounds and movement styles, with [...]

Improvisation in dance has inherent risks. Given a well-conceived structure, dancers choreograph on the spot. This kind of spontaneous invention can be exhilarating, intimate or even transcendent. But sometimes in an improv, those rare moments never happen and the viewer gets nothing more than a peek into an artist’s exploration. Whether or not this is [...]

Choreographer Lauri Stallings, the most politically savvy artist in Atlanta, has gained attention and a kind of cultural authority by pointing out what is passé with our traditions and lazy habits. With the philosophical clarity of an insurgent candidate running for office, she is rapidly remaking the local scene to her tastes. Thus far, few [...]

Wabi sabi is a Japanese term for “finding beauty in the environment, the imperfect, the unconventional” and for giving one’s spirit up to the environment, says Atlanta Ballet dancer John Welker. Intent on highlighting the company’s creativity, Welker founded “Wabi Sabi,” its innovative performance series, which offered seven new works Thursday at the Atlanta Botanical [...]

There’s no grass on the stage — not yet — but at a Tuesday rehearsal in Symphony Hall, the orchestra’s acoustical shell has been pushed aside, revealing the naked concrete back wall and rows of black risers. A pair of dancers are going over their moves in intensive preparation. In a few hours, the musicians [...]