The ACTX Top Ten: October 2019

1) Amon Carter Museum of Art Reopens FORT WORTH—After almost a year of construction, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art is starting a new chapter. New exhibitions in the renovated galleries include early work by the legendary photographer Gordon Parks (through Dec. 29), an interactive  installation by Camille Utterback (through Dec. 8), and Justin Favela’s Puente Nuevo installation (through June 30, 2020), which uses piñata-making materials to construct an immersive landscape that responds to the museum’s collection of 19th century Mexican prints.
	2) The Martha Graham Dance Company at SPA HOUSTON—Society for the Performing Arts kicks off its dance series with the Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest modern dance company in the US, on Oct 18 at Jones Hall, with a program that features works from The Eve Project, which includes classic Graham repertory from different decades and newly commissioned work, and the Graham classic Chronicle, which premiered in 1936.
	3) ‘Waking Dream’ at Ruby City SAN ANTONIO—San Antonio-based artist and collector Linda Pace, founder of Artpace and of Chris Park, dreamed of a space called Ruby City. The new space, designed by architect David Adjaye, opens on Oct. 13 with an inaugural exhibition at Ruby City, Waking Dream, curated by Kathryn Kanjo. Waking Dream, opening on Oct. 13, includes works by Do Ho Suh, Leonardo Drew, Teresita Fernández, Maya Lin, Christian Marclay, Wangechi Mutu, Robyn O’Neil, and Cornelia Parker, alongside works by San Antonio-based artists  Ana Fernandez, Cruz Ortiz, Chuck Ramirez, and Ethel Shipton, among many others.
	4) BODYTRAFFIC at TITAS and The Carver DALLAS/SAN ANTONIO—The sassy Los Angeles-based contemporary dance troupe BODYTRAFFIC makes two Texas stops this fall with a strong program, including works by rising star Matthew Neenan, Wewolf, Fernando Hernando Magadan and Micaela Taylor, Oct 25-26 at Moody Performance Hall, presented by TITAS in Dallas, and Nov. 2 at Jo Long Theater in San Antonio, presented by the Carver Center.
	5) Robyn O’Neil at The Modern FORT WORTH—In her first survey exhibition, Robyn O’Neil: WE, THE MASSES,  includes O’Neil’s major multi-paneled drawings, collages, a new triptych in color, and her signature works of graphite (mechanical pencil) on paper, of which the large-scale, intricately-executed drawings are perhaps the most recognizable: tiny figures in vast, ominous landscapes. On view at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Oct. 18- Feb. 9.
	6) Frame x Frame Film Fest HOUSTON—Frame Dance Productions presents Frame x Frame Film Fest, featuring two feature length documentaries: Breaking Boundaries, a documentary that chronicles the history of the Houston Ballet, and If the Dancer Dances, a timely look at Merce Cunningham’s legacy at the time of his centennial, plus two programs of international short dance films and workshops in movement and filmmaking. Oct. 4-6 at Houston Ballet and other venues.
	7) Margarita Cabrera at Art League Houston HOUSTON—Margarita Cabrera was named 2019 Texas Artist of the  Year by Art League Houston. In an exhibition titled What Art Can Do: Margarita Cabrera—The Collaborative Act of Making, the artist presents a direct rebuttal to the “factory” model popularized by Warhol and others. Instead, her work speaks in a much older language of community and shared work, both through its focus on craft “such as papel picado, copper hammering, Alebrijes, and ceramics as well as fiber processes” and in the way it centers immigrant communities. On view through Nov. 2 at Art League Houston.
	8) The Dallas Opera DALLAS—The Dallas Opera opens its season with Mozart’s fairy-tale dramedy  The Magic Flute, in a now-classic production by the late Sir Peter Hall, Oct. 18, 20, 23, 26, Nov. 1, 3, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s lush The Golden Cockerel, a fantasy-comedy that Dallas Opera last performed in 1973, Oct. 25, 27, 30, Nov. 2. Both at Winspear Opera House.
	9) Victorian Radicals at San Antonio Museum of Art SAN ANTONIO—The San Antonio Museum of Art presents Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts & Crafts Movement, an exhibition of defining works by the eponymous group of artists working in the late 19th century. Intriguing echoes between this seminal moment in history and our own are to be found in this exhibition of works, many of which are on loan for the first time from the City of Birmingham, UK. On view Oct. 11 through Jan 5.
	10) NOBUNTU at Texas Performing Arts AUSTIN—Texas Performing Arts presents NOBUNTU, an award-winning, all-female a cappella quintet from Zimbabwe, known for their fusion of traditional music, afro-jazz, and gospel, Oct 24 at Bass Concert Hall, presented in partnership with KAZI-FM.