Thursday 10/19
Scream Extreme
As a frighteningly fun treat this spooky season, Arkadin Cinema and Bar (5228 Gravois Avenue, 314-221-2173) presents Hysteria Fest 2023 this week, which sees the micro-cinema offering up five nights of scary movies beginning Wednesday, October 18, and running through Sunday, October 22. As per Arkadin's usual M.O., the films programmed for this series are highly curated and unlikely to be screened anywhere else in town anytime soon. Many of the films played over the five-night run will be from the French Extremity movement, a subgenre of horror in which, as its name suggests, everything is taken to the extreme. In other words: It's not for the squeamish. The series is rounded out by several short films and a documentary as well. Showtimes vary. Day passes are $15, and $50 gets you into everything on offer all five nights. More info at arkadincinema.com.
Friday 10/20
Bright Ideas
If ever you've found yourself in the presence of some uncultured swine beholding a piece of modern art and sneering, "My five-year-old could do that," know that they very well might have been viewing an Ellsworth Kelly canvas (or, just as likely, Jackson Pollock). Kelly, after all, is known for his minimalist color field paintings, which might not look technically difficult but are the result of his innovation and willingness to work outside of the art trends of the time. In the late 1950s, his work began to catch on, and by the time he passed away in 2015, Kelly had become a celebrated artist with paintings in museums and private collections worldwide. Indeed, our own Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive, 314-721-0072) has a rainbow-esque one, Spectrum II, that seems to be the linchpin in the museum's new celebration of his contributions, titled simply Ellsworth Kelly. It's good timing, since this year marks 100 since the artist was born in Newburgh, New York. The exhibit will appropriately cover all six decades he was active, including his paintings as well as sculptures, drawings and prints in order to showcase his evolution over the years. The free show will be in the South Terrace and Roxanne H. Frank Galleries 255 and 257 through April 7. For more details, visit slam.org.
Living the Dream
Just over 10 years ago, there wasn't a Leverage Dance Theater in St. Louis. Instead, there was the aTrek Dance Collective, which was putting on its first experimental show, Seen UnSeen, which took dance out of the theater and into the public's eye with a performance staged in the windows of the Kranzberg in Grand Center. "There was a stoplight there, and so people would pull their cars up, and they would stop, and then they would lean over, and they would watch," Director Diana Barrios recalled to the RFT in May. That show turned out to be revelatory for the company, which reformed into Leverage Dance Theater and has since continued to produce work that pushes the boundaries. This year has featured its 10-year celebration, and its annual Halloween show, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, caps that off at 2715 Cherokee Street. Billed as a "perfect spooky season event," the performance promises to bring audiences into another world, with faces and characters usually only seen by the unconscious mind. It takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 21, and at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 22. Tickets are $20 to $25 at leverage-dance-theater.square.site.
Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
