What makes a story work? Watching the multimedia stage show The Closest Farthest Away and the Oscar-winning film The Secret in Their Eyes last weekend gives some clues. Both pieces were lovingly made and presented: Closest Farthest by a coalition of passionate local groups including the Miami Light Project, Fundarte, Centro Cultural Español, and the […]
Article · March 15, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
The Obama administration is handing out visas to Cuban artists again, and Cuban musicians have begun showing up on Miami stages after a nearly decade-long hiatus. So the digital bridge artist Sage Lewis built to connect an acting ensemble in Miami with another in Havana in this weekend’s U.S. premiere of multimedia drama “The Closest […]
Article · March 11, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
In Miami, March is the cruelest month. You would have to take a month’s leave from work to keep up with all the culture surging through town. For starters, there’s Miami Made, a festival of new works by local artists at the Arsht Center all day everyday this weekend (more on that tomorrow). Carnaval Miami […]
Article · March 4, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
It’s uncanny: whenever a New York play about race comes to Miami, the issues are so similar, yet so different. Sometimes the differences are glaring, like that play about La Lupe where the star blackened her face for the Miami performance but for the New York performance you bet she didn’t. The differences were more […]
Article · March 1, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
In Miami, we hear so much about art revitalizing communities that the words get a little worn. But sometimes you have to leave home to appreciate what you have. Right now I’m in Syracuse, New York, where I’m burrowed under a comforter and wearing two scarves, while in an ostensibly heated house. The cold is […]
Article · February 22, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
Dearest Rhythm Foundation, I knew Tuesday night that I had to tell you: my life would be empty without the music you bring. I know, I know, you’ve brought Le Nouvelle Vague before, always on the cutting edge of cool. But sometimes it takes a while for us to appreciate what you have to offer. […]
Article · February 18, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
While the Miami Herald exposed the lack of use of the Little Haiti Cultural Center yesterday, the center’s resident dance companies were busy belying the news. Yesterday evening at least, the Center’s lobby was bustling with fans sampling snacks before the gorgeous 270-seat theater was filled with dance enthusiasts and the stage electrified with movement. […]
Article · February 15, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
“C’mon Adrienne Arsht Center, make some noise!” Somehow that old hip-hop chestnut sounded like an oxymoron when host DJ Cynic shouted out from the stage of the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center during the Nas show last Friday night. With tickets at $90 and up, the crowd was as monied as any […]
Article · February 11, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
Beth Boone describes her vision for the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse (without the pesky pole made famous in the old Light Box Studio). For 20 years, the Miami Light Project has programmed some of the most bracing work to come to town and commissioned many of the most inspiring performance pieces created by local […]
Article · February 8, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
Yesterday was my birthday and I could not have wished for a better present than Ana Mendez’s dance piece, “Tribute: A Summoning,” which as the program notes explain is based on the life and recorded sounds of Joe Meek. Since I’m usually celebrating that day, I guess the knowledge never stuck that pioneer pop music […]
Article · February 4, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado
Yesterday Rocco Landesman came to town. The outspoken head of the NEA toured DASH, Wynwood galleries, and the Little Haiti Cultural Center, before sitting on a panel at the Wolfsonian with local arts leaders to discuss Miami’s status as a “new cultural capital.” He seemed impressed with what he saw, even suggesting in a self-deprecating […]
Article · February 2, 2010 by Celeste Fraser Delgado