By Amy Musser
W I T N E S S:
Donald Byrd: The America That is To Be
This latest Frye Gallery retrospective of Donaly Byrd follows the artist’s works from his early dances in a punk-inspired aesthetic made while in residence at California Institute of the Arts near Los Angeles, through works with his own company, Donald Byrd/The Group, in New York during the 1980s and 1990s, to his arrival in 2002 in Seattle, where his commitment to social justice has found full expression in a remarkable array of dance theater works. While the primary medium is a striking body of photography featuring the artist and his work, Spectrum Dance Theater company artists will also be performing choreography by Donald Byrd throughout the duration of the exhibition.
In case you aren’t familiar with Donald Byrd, he is a Tony-nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award-winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer, and has been the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle since December 2002. Formerly, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group, a critically acclaimed contemporary dance company, founded in Los Angeles and later based in NewYork that toured both nationally and internationally. Details on showtimes and the exhibit are available here.
W A T C H:
This 2019 film release is a French historical drama directed by Celine Sciamma. Portrait of a Lady on Fire takes place on an isolated island in Brittany and follows the story of a young painter and the relationship that unfolds between her and Heloise, the subject that she’s been commissioned to paint a portrait of. The film has been widely applauded for its stunning cinematography, acting, writing, and production. As Dana Stevens at Slate points out, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire is that rare movie in which every choice feels thought through, meaningful, and right, from the costumes by Dorothée Guiraud to the cinematography by Claire Mathon.”
Portrait of a Lady on Fire won the Queer Palm Prize at Cannes this summer, becoming the first film directed by a woman to win the award. Sciamma also won the award for Best Screenplay at Cannes. While the film was theatrically released in France in September of 2019, it will be hitting American cinemas across the nation in early December.
T A S T E:
Mark McConnell and Cecilia Rikard are behind this new Native American cafe in the University District. The couple first became known for their food truck that goes by the same name, and just recently opened a sit-down cafe inside the Burke Museum. McConnell was raised in Ballard and frequently ate frybread and Indian tacos prepared by his mother who grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation. The inspiration for “Off The Rez” came from missing the food that he ate as a child, and also a realization that there was a complete lack of native american food available in the region.
“We gathered recipes, we talked to a bunch of my family members and got a bunch of different variations on frybread recipes, blended them together and added our own touches,” McConnell said in a recent Seattle Times interview. “Everything we have has a traditional side to it, but is tweaked a bit and modernized.” The cafe is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 6pm, and on the weekends from 10am to 5pm.