Blurred boundaries
Since 1950, the Des Moines Art Center’s annual Iowa Artist series has showcased talent from this land between two rivers. This year, Sioux City-born artist Henry Payer invites viewers to look beyond those familiar borders in a solo exhibition called “Aagakinąk Haciwi: We Live Opposite Each Other.” A member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, whose ancestral territory spans the Upper Midwest, Payer borrows his show’s title from a Ho-Chunk phrase describing neighbors across a river, a metaphor for shared space and exchanged perspectives. The show opens Jan. 17 and features collages that blend personal and historical materials, plus a new sculpture inspired by a canoe, a symbol of the Ho-Chunk’s ongoing search for a homeland just beyond the next bend. desmoinesartcenter.org
Image: Henry Payer, Ho-Chunk (b. 1986), “Winnebago Camp,” 2019. Ledger paper, aluminum foil paper, paper, paper bag, foamcore, matboard, spray paint, oil pastel, Prismacolor pencil, charcoal, acrylic and pencil on canvas. 28 x 33 in. (71.1 x 83.8 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Date day
No pressure, but Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, giving you a full 24 hours to spark romance — or test its limits. For something steamy, try “50 Shades of Green” at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, where you can learn all sorts of kinky plant science before a stroll through the “Dome After Dark.”
Or would you prefer music? The Des Moines Symphony plays Tchaikovsky’s swooning “Romeo and Juliet” overture at the Des Moines Civic Center, while Napoleon Douglas leads “Lovin’ You: A Soulful Love Revue” at The Ingersoll. For something more unconventional, try an Iowa Wild hockey game at Casey’s Center, a Drake women’s basketball matchup at the Knapp Center or a murder in “The Mousetrap” at the Playhouse. But order those tickets soon, Casanova. You’ve been warned.
Opera on the go
What do Cinderella and a few scrappy goats have in common? They’re all heading to a cafetorium near you. Opera Iowa, the Des Moines Metro Opera’s seven-member touring troupe, celebrates its 40th anniversary with two short productions — “The Billy Goats Gruff” for schools and “Cinderella” for community venues — on a statewide tour Feb. 23 through April 4. Over four decades, the company has performed for more than a million Iowans of all ages in schools, community centers, gymnasiums, makeshift royal palaces and even the occasional troll-plagued bridge. desmoinesmetroopera.org
Over the years with Opera Iowa, Cinderella has misplaced her glass slipper all over the state. Pictured above: the touring production from 2016. Photo: Des Moines Metro Opera
Grit & grace
Susan Eloise “S.E.” Hinton was just 16 when she drafted the novel that made her a literary star. Now “The Outsiders,” reimagined as a Tony-winning musical, rumbles into the Des Moines Civic Center Feb. 24 through March 1. Drawing on the rival gangs of Hinton’s own high school in 1960s Oklahoma, the story pits the scrappy Greasers against the privileged Socs in a showdown that echoes other famous teenage feuds. (See: Sharks v. Jets, Montagues v. Capulets, et al.) Here, though, the spotlight shines less on the star-crossed lovers than the Greasers themselves, a ride-or-die crew who stay loyal even when their prospects look grim. Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold. dmpa.org
Travis Roy Rogers, Corbin Drew Ross and Nolan White star in the current national tour. Photo: Andy Henderson
On the move
Ballet Des Moines is on the move, in more ways than one. In its aptly titled triple bill, “Nothing Holds Still,” Feb. 27–28 at Hoyt Sherman Place, artistic director Eric Trope premieres a new work accompanied by the Belin Quartet and staged with a set by the company’s artist-in-residence, Olivia Valentine, an Iowa State University associate professor whose creative output combines textiles, sculpture, architecture and sound. The program also includes a piece by DaYoung Jung, the Korean-born, Bolshoi-trained choreographer with the Oklahoma City Ballet, plus a new work from one of Ballet Des Moines’ own dancers. The company describes the program as “a meditation on change, time and the fleeting nature of stillness.” balletdesmoines.org
“It’s Deep, It’s Dark,” DaYoung Jung’s recent work for a San Diego troupe, hints at her plans for Ballet Des Moines. Photo: Courtesy of PointeWorks
