Arts Briefs
Nutcracker making appearance in Watauga
The North Central Ballet Company will perform The Nutcracker at the Watauga Public Library on December 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The North Central Ballet Company is the resident company of the North Central School of Ballet and is a member of the Southwestern Regional Ballet Association, Regional Dance America, The Arts Council of Northeast Tarrant County and the Dallas Dance Council.
Founded in 1993 by Leslie M. Jordan III, the North Central Ballet Company is a civic, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the art of ballet and helping to enrich the environment of our community through education, performance and dance-related activities. The primary goals of the company are to provide young dancers the opportunity to develop their talents in a professional atmosphere, and to pass on to them the excitement of a “live stage performance.”
www.artsnetc.org
Hassell exhibit opens
Tangle, an exhibition of new works by acclaimed Fort Worth artist Billy Hassell, will be on display Dec. 4-Jan. 23 at William Campbell Contemporary Art. The show will present a collection of nearly a dozen new works, including large-scale paintings and works on paper featuring Hassell's themes of birds and other wildlife in their natural habitats.
Hassell's work can be seen throughout the community, and his public art commissions include mosaics at Fire Station #34 in Fort Worth and at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s recently constructed International Terminal D. In addition, he created a series of five limited edition color lithographs for the Audubon Society of Texas and a color intaglio edition for the Texas Nature Conservancy. His work also hangs in the A.C.E.S. Building at the University of Texas in Austin.
Hassell currently sits on the Exhibition Advisory Panel for the Fort Worth Community Arts Center and also served on the Artist Advisory Committee for the Arlington Museum of Art.
www.williamcampbellcontemporaryart.com
Films at the Modern
The Magnolia at the Modern series will present Still Walking, Dec. 11-13. The film, from Japan, is by Hirokazu Kore-Eda. In Still Walking, a family is haunted by a long-dead son who died rescuing a drowning boy gathers to remember him.
The next weekend, Dec. 18-20, the museum will present Der Baader Meinhoff Komplex, a film about the Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and 70s. The film was a 2009 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.
www.themodern.org
Balancing act
Balancing Act, a new children’s exhibit opened in conjunction with the new Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and through May 9, 2010.
The interactive exhibit, designed and developed by the Museum of Science and History, focuses on the physical nature of balance and the body systems that work together to achieve that balance. Through a variety of challenge activities, such as balance beams, bridges and boogie boards, you can get into the act and test your sense of balance in a fun, playful environment.
Demonstrating balance-related concepts is just one goal of the 1,200-square-foot exhibit, according to Kit Goolsby, vice president of education at the Museum of Science and History.
“For most of us, balance is something that happens almost subconsciously,” Goolsby said. “We sit, walk, run and play without thinking about it. Through this exhibit, we hope children and adults alike will gain greater confidence in their ability to improve their own balance.”
Balancing Act was created by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative (YMEC), a consortium of eight leading youth museums. After its debut in Fort Worth, the exhibition will travel to the other YMEC museums in North America: Boston, Houston, Quebec, Memphis, St. Paul, and San Jose.
Little Gym of Fort Worth Southwest is the presenting sponsor of the exhibition at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. “The educational message of Balancing Act is directly in line with what Little Gym is all about – giving children their best foundation for success by building motor skills in a fun and nurturing environment,” said Brette Corder, owner of Little Gym.
www.fortworthmuseum.org
Ballet Concerto
Ballet Concerto will present its Ballet for Youth Holiday Special as a field trip for students in the Fort Worth Independent School District and surrounding areas at 10 a.m. December 10 and December 11 at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium. These ballets will also be performed on December 11 at 7 p.m. for the general public. The program will consist of The Princess and the Magical Christmas Star, Swingin' into the Holidays, a ballet performed to familiar holiday music and a Hannukah Flamenco. O Holy Night, a re-enactment of the Nativity through song and dance will also be performed, with choreography by Margo Dean. The Eastern Hills High School Choir will perform at the 10 a.m. performances under the direction of Demetrius Ethley. 817-737-7915
balletconcerto.com
