Review

Dance-theater piece explores civil-rights themes

Red, the dance-theater piece Afua Hall is debuting at the Miami Theater Center in Miami Shores, has an intriguing premise based on an inspiring story. In it, Hall responds to the story of Ruby Bridges, the young New Orleans girl whose bravery and dignity in desegregating a New Orleans elementary school in 1960 was immortalized in the Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With.

Concert review

A re-energized Juanes brings jubilant ‘Unplugged’ tour to Hard Rock

The Juanes Loud & Unplugged tour that hit a sold-out Hollywood Hard Rock Live on Thursday is ostensibly a standard promotional outing for the Colombian rock star’s MTV Unplugged album. But it also marked the rejuvenation and, perhaps, reinvention of one of the biggest acts in Latin music, as a grinning, exuberant Juanes romped through a two-hour show for a warmly enthusiastic crowd. After personal and professional crises led to his absence from performing for almost three years, both the singer and his audience were thrilled to be together again.

music

Natalie Cole records dad Nat King Cole’s Spanish-language classics

When she was 8 years old, Natalie Cole went to Mexico City with her father. And while Nat King Cole’s daughter was accustomed to his stardom, she was startled by the adulation he received.

Aerial tango show 8cho less than riveting

So much about 8cho, the aerial tango show playing at the Adrienne Arsht Center through June 30, sounds so seductive: live music, sexy tango dancing - sent swooping into the air with rigging. But at its Friday opening, 8cho proved to be less than compelling, a well done and moderately entertaining show with only brief flashes of excitement.

Brazilian singer Marisa Monte brings technically dazzling tour to Fillmore Miami Beach

Brazil’s top contemporary music and art come together in singer Marisa Monte’s cutting-edge show

Performing Arts

Dancing on air

An Argentine choreographer sets the tango flying in an aerial spectacle coming to the Arsht Center

Concert review

One Direction wows S. Florida fans in opening concert of U.S. tour

No, they’re not the Beatles. But One Direction, the British tween/teen heartthrobs who’ve re-ignited the boy-band phenomenon, do have a few similarities to the Fab Four. They’re goofy, charming and effortlessly confident. And as they showed in the opening show of their U.S. tour Thursday night before a screaming, sold-out crowd at Fort Lauderdale’s BB&T Center, the Fab Five wreak havoc on American girls with their British accents, cheeky innocence and bouncy, sweetly harmonizing pop songs.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and famed Calle 13 rapper Residente will write a song together Thursday night

Which goes further or has more impact – documents leaked online or a song? Famed Calle 13 frontman Residente will give Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a taste of a new kind of subversive communication tonight – music. The outspoken rapper and songwriter will meet with Assange at 10 p.m. London time Thursday to write a song with him. The two men will compose in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange has taken refuge for the past year after being charged by the U.S. government over Wikileaks’ massive release of government documents.

Out in the Tropics has evolved along with gay rights

Once a bigoted epithet, “queer” was reclaimed by the gay-rights movement as a proudly defiant self-description. But theater artist Taylor Mac, who will perform in the annual Out in the Tropics festival this week, prefers another definition: “Someone who was ostracized by society at an early age to such a degree they could never ostracize anyone else.”

Concert review

Two fresh takes on Latin pop-rock at Revolution Live

La Santa Cecelia and Jesse & Joy, two captivating Mexican-rooted bands with innovative though very different takes on Latin pop-rock, played Fort Lauderdale Sunday night, and even competing with the NBA finals they attracted several hundred ardent fans to Revolution Live.

books

Soman Chainani hits jackpot with novel ‘School for Good and Evil’

The story of Soman Chainani’s first book, The School for Good and Evil, sounds like a kind of modern fairytale: Young writer lands on the bestseller lists with his first novel, which is promptly sold to a major movie studio for an enormous sum. And Chainani, born in Miami and raised in Key Biscayne, sounds like a creative golden boy, a driven, prize-winning student who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and racked up fellowships and awards.

Dance Review

Cuban defectors show promise in debut at Fillmore Miami Beach

The six Cuban dancers who defected from the National Ballet of Cuba in April made their U.S. debut as independent artists Saturday night at the Fillmore Miami Beach, in a showcase produced by the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. What these young dancers want, of course, is not to remain free agents, but to get jobs with ballet troupes here.

Cannonball Miami brings L.A. artists here to create work and make waves

Cannonball Miami is bringing L.A. artists here to create work and waves

Dance review

Goblen digs deep, flies high in ‘Pet’

Falling in love means taking a risk, and Rudi Goblen takes plenty of risks in his new solo theater piece, PET.

Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation picks 66 Arts Challenge finalists

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation on Monday announced 66 finalists for its Knight Arts Challenge, which has pumped $86 million into South Florida’s creative community since 2006.

Performing arts

Performance artist Rudi Goblen is a master of re-invention

Voracious virtuosity has propelled Rudi Goblen to the top of Miami’s live-arts scene

Dance

Miami City Ballet’s ‘Dances at a Gathering’ not all there

Something subtle but crucial was missing from Dances at a Gathering, the evanescent Jerome Robbins masterpiece Miami City Ballet is dancing for its fourth and final program of the season. The obvious pieces were in place at Saturday’s performance at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale: the 10 dancers executed the choreography well, sometimes thrillingly so.

Natalie Cole makes Spanish singing debut at Latin Songwriters gala on Miami Beach

Natalie Cole looked and sang like a diva at the inaugural Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame gala at the New World Symphony on Tuesday night, delivering a lovely rendition of Acercate Mas (Get Closer) in a “Unforgettable” style duet with video of her father Nat King Cole. “It’s not easy being first, and Dad was a first in so many ways,” Cole told the audience at the New World Center on Miami Beach, as she accepted the Premio Pionero Desi Arnaz on behalf of her father, who was friends with the famous Cuban actor and singer. Nat King Cole was revered in Cuba for recording three albums of Latin American songs. “I can only imagine Desi and my Dad are looking down on us.”

Billboard Latin Music Awards

Billboard Latin Music Awards reveal industry’s struggle to find new stars

Viewers of Thursday night’s Billboard Latin Music Awards, broadcast live from Coral Gables on Telemundo, might get a strong feeling of déjà vu. On stage will be longtime salsa-pop favorite Marc Anthony (that was him, too, in 2012, 2011 and 2010), pop diva Paulina Rubio (a repeat from 2012 and 2010) and reggaeton star Don Omar and veteran Mexican pop-rockers Mana (both appearing for the third year in a row).