May 19

This is the Future Progressive Theatremakers Want: A “Firebird” Ballet

Crappy screencap of a screen photos by Kitty Drexel

Presented by Abilities Dance Boston
Based on the Slavic firebird folktale
Choreography by Ellice Patterson with the ensemble
Music composed and directed by Andrew Choe
The Firebird program has full cast and crew information

May 14 & 15, 2021
Livestreamed from the Wimberly Theatre at the Calderwood Pavillion
Boston, MA
Abilities Dance on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON/YouTube — The pressure to create during quarantine reached monstrous enormity. For every normie Tom, Delia, and Harrison Ford who worked on a script because Lear was written during a pandemic, an artist with a resume of successes couldn’t polish their abilities because they were too busy surviving the next 24-hours. 

Survival for the disabled arts community means something very different than it does the abled community. Jobs for disabled artists didn’t merely dwindle. They vanished overnight. Some of those jobs may never reappear

Our priorities went from managing a job to managing continued existence in a world actively trying to kill them: doctors appointments and surgeries were canceled, elevators became vectors for disease, carers were transferred to essential service positions. We went from demanding plastic straws in restaurants to demanding our right to live at all. It felt like ableds weren’t going to permit us either thing.   Continue reading

Jul 24

Unconventional Classical: Original Gravity Concert Series, July 23, 2015

024
Original Gravity Concert Series: Cider & Music Pairing
Unique concert cider paired with the music of Dan VanHassel
Thursday, July 23, 2015
7pm (Concert @ 7:30)
Standing room – bring a folding chair or pull up some floor

Presented at Bantam Cider Company
40 Merriam St
Somerville, MA
Original Gravity on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Somerville, MA) The Original Gravity Concert Series pairs the compositions of current composers with local breweries. The concert presented on July 23 paired an original cider from Bantam Cider Company with the music of Dan VanHassel. The cider was blended with grapefruit juice and infused with Rakau hops. VanHassel’s compositions utilized influences from Indonesian gamelan, found bicycle wheels and electronic instruments, jazz and classical musical styles. The sound was eclectic and had to be heard to be believed. The cider was crisp with a sharp, bitter aftertaste. It was a classical music nerd’s slightly tipsy wet dream. Continue reading

Jan 24

The Bad Plus premiere of “On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring”

Photo: Cameron Wittig; not just handsome faces.

Photo: Cameron Wittig; The Bad Plus, not just handsome faces.

presented by World Music/CRASHarts

The Bad Plus
Performing the Boston premiere of On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Friday, February 15, 7:00 PM and at 9:30 PM

Institute of Contemporary Art
100 Northern Ave
Boston, 02210
General admission $35.00
World Music/CRASHarts Facebook Page
The Bad Plus Facebook Page

Rule-breaking, genre-bending and thoroughly entertaining, the charismatic jazz trio returns with its daring take on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, accompanied by a mind-blowing video mix by lighting designer Cristina Guadalupe and film director Noah Hutton.