San Diego weekend arts events: New choreography, motherhood and contemporary craft

Dance

The Rosin Box Project’s “Debuts” program returns this weekend, which is an annual showcase of new works of contemporary ballet choreography. The Rosin Box Project (TRBP) is new-ish on the scene: The small company with an expertise in contemporary ballet and inventive outside-the-box performances was launched in 2018 by Carly Topazio. Topazio said she was driven by the need for more spaces for dancers to create and explore their art, but also for something bigger than just one company.

“A lot of our shows tend to be more intimate, more focused on the experience between audience and artists,” Topazio said. For her, it’s about that connection. “So having alternative venues, and really breaking down the fourth wall to make dance and our live performances more of an experience and more approachable and accessible, as well as exploring alternative performance structures, such as immersive shows or mixed media. Just not the typical proscenium stage shows.”

For “Debuts,” Topazio called on two company artists to choreograph new works, Katie Spagnoletti and Jeremy Zapanta. The show also brings two guest artists, Penny Saunders and Mike Tyus.

Tyus has performed or choreographed for a wide range of companies, including Chicago Repertory Ballet, Joffrey Ballet Academy, Cirque du Soleil and more. He and co-choreographer Luca Renzi created “Orca,” a world premiere, inspired by whale song and other mysterious, beautiful patterns in the oceans.

“We were also really inspired and kind of tickled by the reports of these orcas off the coast of Spain, that I guess had enough free time because the amount of food that they were receiving (and started) playing with boats. They started tipping boats over, which, you know, sucks for fishermen, but I found it an interesting conversation to have during this time of climate change and overfishing — talking about our oceans. It felt like a kind of sense of revenge. That was the jumping off point,” Tyus said.

It is set to an original score by Amyra León⁣ which plays with the eerie, spooky melodies of the whale sounds.

I asked Tyus what drives him to keep creating dance, after a difficult era for the performing arts.

“It’s what I feel like I was born to do, and it gives me purpose and I see that my work affects others and shows them a reflection of their own humanity, and maybe a sense of purpose in themselves,” Tyus said.

Details: 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-26. The Soap Factory Extraordinary Popup Theatre, 2995 Commercial St., Logan Heights. $45-$50.

Music

SummerFest comes to a close at the La Jolla Music Society this weekend. Saturday’s finale, “Serenades,” is sold out. The next-to-last show, “Unsilenced Voices,” is curated by music director Inon Barnatan, and he said it’s a chance to spotlight oppressed or otherwise overlooked voices in composition: imprisoned voices, like Olivier Messiaen, who wrote “Quartet for the End of Time” while held in a German prison camp during WWII; women composers like Fanny (Mendelssohn) Hensel; and contemporary Black composers like Jesse Montgomery.

These are voices that would be much more well-known, “had they not been silenced,” Barnatan said. “And it’s festivals like these, like this one, that take it upon themselves to really discover music that deserves to be heard,” Barnatan said.

Other composers include Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and Dmitri Shostakovich. Performers include Augustin Hadelich, Anthony McGill, Conrad Tao and more.

Details: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25. Baker-Baum Concert Hall, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. $43-$100.

Visual art

“Waiting Room: Health and Wellness Explored Through Contemporary Craft” is the newest exhibition at the San Diego Central Library Art Gallery. It’s an exploration of the way contemporary craft like metalwork, fiber art, glass, woodwork and more intersects with ideas of wellness, mental health and healing. It features the work of 17 artists, and is curated by Bonnie Domingos.

Details: On view through Oct. 15. Gallery hours are 1-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 12-5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 9th Floor Central Library Art Gallery, 330 Park Blvd., downtown. Free.

“Cool School (Trane of Thought)” opens at Oolong Gallery on Saturday, featuring the work of four artists: Amanda Farber, Mensah Bey, Ceres Madoo and Adam Rabinowitz. It’s inspired by a movement in midcentury California art history that was dominated by white male artists — though these four artists add diverse, new voices.

Details: Opens with a reception from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26. On view through Oct. 7. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Oolong Gallery, 349 N. Coast Hwy 101, Solana Beach. Free.

Theater

‘Cry It Out’ is now on stage at Moxie Theatre. It’s by playwright and screenwriter Molly Smith Metzler, and the title plays on the “cry it out” technique for parenting infants — a touchy debate about whether it’s best to pick up a crying baby or let them learn to self-soothe. The play, however, has less to do with the nuts and bolts of how to get a baby to sleep, and more (much more) to do with the relationship between three women from very different backgrounds, and the connections (and disruptions) forged along those rocky early days of motherhood. Smith Metzler’s script is funny, dark, scrappy, joyous and heartbreaking seemingly all at once.

Due to some bad language, the play is not suitable for children — but Moxie welcomes babies, and parents will get convenient seating near the theater’s nursing area. Children under the age of one are free.

Details: On stage through Sept. 10. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Thursday; 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., College Area/Rolando. $25-$48.

Visual art and books

Space 4 Art, a longtime studio and residence space in the East Village, will hold an art book talk on Saturday afternoon, featuring C Fodoreanu and Linda Litteral.

Fodoreanu’s “Ode to the Lake Sacalaia” was recently reviewed in Hyperallergic, and weaves photography, poetry and prose into a historical and personal study of a single lake near his childhood home in Romania.

Litteral’s “Show and Tell” is a hybrid memoir and art book, detailing her healing process after trauma. Both artists will discuss their books, beginning with Fodoreanu and 2 p.m. and Litteral at 3 p.m.

Details: 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26. Space 4 Art, 340 16th St., East Village. Free.

For more arts events, or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts Calendar. Sign up for my weekly newsletter here.

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