What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1369423
protect the sacred Tree of Life now threatened by the construction of a gigantic hotel resort. PG. 7 p.m. — "Welcome to the Space Show" Five young children rescue an injured dog who turns out to be an alien that then whisks the children off on an amazing adventure through space. Not Rated. Trail Mix On May 21, Artosphere's signature event, Trail Mix, will take over downtown Fayetteville and the Frisco Trail System. Live music and interactive activities will be offered at various points along the trail, featuring local and regional musicians and two festival favorites, Jayme Stone and Bike Zoo. "They came to be a part of Artosphere three or four years ago and at that point, I had a really young daughter," Zazal says of Bike Zoo. "She got so excited because she got to ride the grasshopper bike. These gigantic, like 10-foot-tall bugs were just so exciting to all of these kids — and adults. I remember our facilities guy got out there and rode one of the butterflies. They're just a fun time." "Bike Zoo loves celebrating nature with art, so it makes all the sense in the world to see Bike Zoo at Artosphere / Trail Mix," adds ringmaster and co-founder Jeremy Rosen. "Everyone is mystified and enamored by butterflies. How many people know what a butterfly's head looks like? I did not know what a butterfly's head looked like until Bike Zoo started building butterflies. A picture is worth a thousand words, and with Bike Zoo, pictures are worth much more." The Zoo will roll into town — the area around Nadine Baum Studios, to be precise — with animals that demand attention, Rosen says. The magical and interactive experience combines puppetry and bike-riding for a captivating festival superstar. Larger-than-life animals fixed atop the wheeled carrier inspire wonder and imagination with their bright colors, intriguing design and engaging kinetics. Butterflies, an 80-foot-long snake, eagle, owl and more, each creature is in a class of its own, Rosen shares. "I think that the best day of my life was our first international parade across the border into Mexico," he recalls. "That was very special, riding the 80-foot-long giant pedal-powered rattlesnake across the international bridge, with the local Mexican Consul and staff riding along with us, all lit up, into the night — we were very well received. "I also have fond and vivid memories of our butterflies visiting one of the children's hospitals in Austin. There are so, so many great memories, so many smiles, so many compliments. But those two do stand out." Northwest Arkansas Ballet Theatre will also be on the trails May 21, in the parking lot at the corner of Center Street and Frisco Trail. "I think all art, ballet included, should be reaching for the scope and awe-inducing quality that being in nature brings to us," muses Kerridwyn Schanck, choreographer with the company. "The beauty in ballet is meant to transport you, and yet it is comprised entirely of what is physically in front of us. No special effects, no photoshop, what you see is what is truly there. The beauty in nature is not dissimilar: you can be surrounded by nature so beautiful you can hardly believe it is reality — and yet, it is." "As I started dancing, I noticed if I struggled with a movement quality or a certain dynamic a choreographer was wanting, if I took it back to different things I had seen in nature or sensations I had felt in certain weather, it helped my body grasp a concept or change the way it responded," dancer Justin Rainey shares in considering his own relationship with nature. "For example, one time I was asked to make something flow, and the first vision and sensation that came up and I tried to pull from was me watching the water pass by as I stood in the creek." As ironic as it sounds, Rainey says, performing in nature can feel unnatural. As the artists anticipate taking their dancing outdoors for the festival, spacial awareness, ground material and increased distractions are all elements unique to the performance that Rainey and fellow dancer Lilly Hill find themselves specially preparing for. "That being said," Schanck adds thoughtfully, "I feel the most important thing is to revel in the joy of the sun and wind on your skin. It's not an opportunity we get often, and should therefore appreciate all the more." Hill concludes, "I don't hope to portray any particular concept with this performance, but I do hope to introduce some new people to the art of dance. More than anything, I hope to provide something we all have greatly been missing: live performance!" MAY 9-15, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 11 COVER STORY FYI Artosphere In The Atrium The final two performances of this spring's In The Atrium series will take place during the Artosphere Festival. May 13 offers An Evening of Poetry with the Ozark Poets & Writers Collective, featuring writers Banah Al Ghadbanah, Brody Parrish Craig, Na'Tosha De'Von and Hiba Tahir. May 14 sees local bluegrass band The Crumbs performing. Both events begin at 7 p.m. and are free with registration. Cellist Christian Serrano (right) will perform during Off the Grid at 7:30 p.m. May 11 at The Vault. Local Americana outfit Route 358 wraps up the evening with an 8 p.m. performance at The Experience Fayetteville Stage at the Fayetteville Town Center. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK) (Courtesy Photo)