New Contemporary Dance Works at Miles

Mind Blowing Poetry at Highways - with a special Palette Discount

Peter Sellars and Esa-Pekka Salonen at SMMoA

Stravinsky & Messiaen Go Pagan

Premiere Work at Powerhouse

Passionate Voices

Monday Night Storytelling

Honey Almazar

The Miles Playhouse presents the 5th Annual New Choreography Spotlight this weekend with debut work by three local choreographers. Teri Carter will be performing a collaborative work with Caryn Heilman called Family Tree which will incorporate contemporary dance with video, kinesthetic embodiment and audience participation. Honey Almazar and the Santa Monica Contemporary Ballet will be presenting a short ballet The Ones Who Are Left with dancers James Keene and Maria Pena. And finally A Dance for Lucene, choreographed by Suchi Branfman, which was created in honor of an 84 year-old "lifer" Suchi met while visiting the California Institute for Women in Chino. Performed by young dancers from Scripps College Dance Department, the dance asks us to question our assumptions about people, the scars we all have, the mistakes we have all made, the damage that has been done to us and how we survive.

Michael Datcher hosts the Thursday Night Slam.

5th Annual Poetry Festival - Personal is Political
Highways
Thursday - Saturday at 8:30 pm
Sunday at 3:00 pm

If poetry is your bag, then you need to take that bag to Highways this weekend to check out their 5th Annual Poetry Festival! Mind-blowing poets will speak the truth on the most pressing issues of our times. This extraordinary weekend of performances is made possible through a grant from the Santa Monica Arts Commission and we at Cultural Affairs are very proud to be able to help make it available to our community.

And as a special treat if you're a Santa Monica resident, you are eligible for "Pay What You Can!" Just tell them the Palette sent you when you reserve your seat or buy your ticket at the door.

Three Minutes of Funk: The Politics of Slamming
Thursday, April 2 - 8:30 p.m.
Eight poets compete in a poetry slam with political themes (political in the broadest sense: gender politics, state politics, racial politics, etc.). In addition, Highways' 2008 Poetry Slam winners Ezra "The Alien" Buzzington and Katt McGill will each present selections of new work. The host for the evening is Michael Datcher.

Leimert Park to Santa Monica: The Politics of Race
Friday, April 3 - 8:30 p.m.
Three Leimert Park poets read with three Westside poets including Ursula Siker, Jalondra Davis, Sarah Maclay, Bryan Sanders, Marcellus Davis Jr., and Brooke Sprowl. Paired poets, one from Leimart Park + one from the Westside, alternate reading. The guest host for the evening is Conney D. Williams.

The People's Champ(s): The Politics of Heavyweights
Saturday, April 4 - 8:30 p.m.
Three respected poets, Jerry Quickley, Tchikonsase Ajé, Peter J. Harris, read in "round robin-style", featuring dancer by Jalondra Davis.

Writers' Workshop
Sunday, April 5 from 3:00 - 5:00pm :
Karen Feiner leads a workshop for fiction writers & poets at Highways. This is a free workshop.

Oedipus in Ethiopia
Friday at
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Bergamot Station

Two of the world's greatest talents, friends of 20 years and collaborators the world over, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor, composer and Los Angeles Philharmonic music director, and Peter Sellars, theater, opera and festival director, will discuss their joint productions, friendship and their most recent collaboration on Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms - Salonen's final performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in mid-April. Thrones made by Ethiopian artist Elias Sime, which are now on exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in Elias Sime: Eye of the Needle, Eye of the Heart (through April 18) co-curated by Sellars, will be featured in Sellars' directorial vision of Oedipus Rex.

Buy your tickets here! Or call 310/586.6488 X 119.

clockwise from top left: Steven Vanhauwaert, Danny Holt, Vicki Ray, Elissa Johnston

Sacrifice
Jacaranda
Saturday April 4, 8:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church
1220 Second Street at Wilshire Boulevard

Building a concert upon the theme of ritual sacrifice using pagan inspired works by Messiaen and Stravinsky is the type of thing that makes Jacaranda one of the South Coast's most daring music companies. On Saturday's bill, pianists Steven Vanhauwaert and Danny Holt team to perform the famed Stravinsky four-hand version of The Rite of Spring followed by soprano Elissa Johnston with pianist Vicki Ray performing Messiaen's exotic song cycle Harawi. This intimate yet explosive concert presenting pagan-themed works composed by these giants of 20th century music will probably leave us all panting on the floor.

Survived: The War Cycle
Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble
Powerhouse Theatre
Opening Thursday, April 2
Through April 25

Cantori Domino presents the Passion According to St. Matthew, by J.S. Bach this weekend. It's going to be quite a night with soloists, a double chorus and double orchestra including the Los Robles Children's Choir, the Amadeus Choir, and a very special orchestra from Cal Arts. The thrilling Passion story told as only Bach can tell it, will be sung gloriously by this collection of voices including tenor Jeff Greif, and baritone LeRoy Villanueva.

Martin Wittfooth, Lantern

Check out the web preview here!

Spark off Rose
Powerhouse Theatre
First Mondays
7:30 pm

Normally the Palette covers only weekend events but today we’re going to expand a bit and point you to a very special evening on Monday. A team of talented theatre artists have created at a storytelling series on the first Monday of the month, Spark off Rose. These true life stories are always a community favorite. This month’s theme is “Black.” I’ve been to quite a few of these evenings – I’ve even performed in them – and they’re always terrific. There is a suggested donation of $10 at the door or "pay what you can" and reservations required: Call 1-866-OFF-MAIN x5. For more information, send an e-mail to Karin here.