The ACTX Top Ten: February 2020

Jo Ann Fleischhauer, Disquieted Beauty (Detail), Candy foil stenciled with orchid bee patterns. Photo by Jimmy Hemphill.

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1) Jo Ann Fleischhauer at Old Jail Albany—”Always in the end the human species is seen as the top dog,” says artist Jo Ann Fleischhauer. The artist follows her central observation with a question: “What would truly instigate a balance between humanity and another species?” Her epic search for the tipping point of human empathy and empathy for the remaining eight million plus species on the planet is culminating this year in an exhibition called Disquieted Beauty, Feb. 22 -May 23 at The Old Jail Art Center.
	2) Malandain Ballet Biarritz at TITAS DALLAS—TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND  brings France’s Malandain Ballet Biarritz in Cinderella, choreographed by the company’s artistic director Thierry Malandain, Feb. 7-8 at the  Moody Performance Hall stage.
	3) Ruckus Rodeo at The Modern FORT WORTH—The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth exhibits a work commissioned first for the museum in 1975 by artist Red Grooms. Ruckus Rodeo is a sculptural tableau of the 1975 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo that occupies more than 1200 square feet of space in the museum, and reveals “a grand sense of spectacle, encompassing ritual, pageantry, and disorderly commotion.” On view through March. 29.
	4) AXIS Dance Company at Texas Performing Arts AUSTIN—Texas Performing Arts presents AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s most acclaimed ensembles of performers with and without disabilities, in a performance of works by Jennifer Archibald, Marc Brew and Robert Dekkers, presented in partnership with Art Spark Texas and KUT-FM, Feb. 15 at Bass Concert Hall.
	5) Selena Forever at the McNay Art Museum SAN ANTONIO—The McNay Art Museum presents the photographs of San Antonio-based John Dyer in Selena Forever/Siempre Selena. Dyer was assigned to photograph the young icon for Más Magazine and Texas Monthly in the nineties before her untimely death. On view through July 5.
	6) ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at Houston Ballet HOUSTON—Houston Ballet continues its 50th anniversary celebration with Ben Stevenson’s classic favorite, The Sleeping Beauty, a sweeping tale of good, evil, and love with iconic pas de deux, and plenty of spirited dancing for the whole family, Feb. 27- March 8 at Wortham Center.
	7) Ed Ruscha at the Blanton Museum of Art AUSTIN—Through July 12 at the Blanton Museum of Art, curious folks and devoted fans alike can see new and recent artworks by Ed Ruscha in the exhibition Ed Ruscha: Drum Skins. Installed as part of Blanton’s Contemporary Project, a rotating program for innovative work, Drum Skins is comprised of 13 circular paintings Ruscha made between 2017 and 2019 on the skins of drums he has found and collected for more than 40 years.
	8) A’lante Flamenco in ‘Procession’ AUSTIN—A’lante Flamenco premieres its next production, Procession, Feb. 14-16 & 21-23 at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. “It’s based on the concept of a parade, and how shared emotional experiences create community,” says artistic director Olivia Chacón. ” It’s our most interactive production yet, and in fact, the audience itself is a performer in this show.”
	9) Radical Revisionists at the Moody Center HOUSTON—Rice University’s Moody Center  presents Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present, a major group exhibition featuring ten international artists “that addresses the violent erasure of marginalized histories and the ways in which artists reinterpret familiar themes through contemporary, Afrocentric lenses.” On view through May 16.
	10) Cultural Awareness at Dallas Black Dance Theatre DALLAS—Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents the Cultural Awareness series, which includes Christoper L. Huggins’ riveting Beams from Heaven, set to the traditional and contemporary gospel music of Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, and Patti LaBelle, a world premiere by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Bessie award-winning dancer and choreographer Hope Boykin, and Reflections in D by Alvin Ailey, Feb. 14-16 at Wyly Theatre.