When it comes to programming a fine arts production, safe money plays it safe. There's also something to be said for taking risks.
Risk is exciting. Risk is bold and brave. Risk is how the arts evolve. It's where Pollock trumps portraiture, where Beckett beats Bill Shakespeare, and Philip Glass kicks ... well, you get the idea.
In the Augusta area, we'll see a lot of safe this year. There's nothing wrong with that. It's entertaining and educational and appeals to the widest common denominator. It puts people into seats and, quite often, pays for a season. There will be occasions, too, when the dice are rolled, when a performance or exhibition explores the edges of the envelope, where the prospect of reward does, in fact, stem from risk. Here are a few examples.
Dance
A combination of classic dance, opera, rock and perhaps a little Peter Pan -style stage flight, Remember Me (above), presented by the Augusta Ballet and performed by Parsons Dance and East Village Opera Company, crushes the preconception of tutus and toe shoes. The long-form dance piece centers on a relationship triangle and uses classic opera punctuated by discordant rock noise as a soundtrack. It's a long way from Swan Lak e.
The performance will be Oct. 22 at the Imperial Theatre, 745 Broad St. Tickets cost $15-$35. See augustaballet.org.
Theater
Torn from the fact-or-fiction pages of the Weekly World News , Bat Boy: The Musical revolves around a half-boy, half-bat protagonist who looks for love and belonging in a small West Virginia town. Nothing, presumably, inspires spontaneous song like a Chiroptera (that's the order of the bat) in love. Le Chat Noir, 304 Eighth St., is putting this one together for Halloween. Performances are set for Oct. 16-17, 23-24 and 29-31. Tickets cost $30. See lcnaugusta.com.
Music
The first piece in the first Masterworks concert conducted by the new music director under the new banner of Symphony Orchestra Augusta will be something relatively new.
Well, that seems appropriate.
Rather than open his first show with a classical hit, Mozart or Beethoven, perhaps, Shizuo Z Kuwahara (above) has chosen to announce his presence with a performance of the ambitious Sound the Bells, by contemporary American composer John Williams. Originally written to honor the wedding of Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Masako Owada, the piece was inspired by the Japanese tradition of ringing large bells to commemorate significant moments. It works musically and symbolically while representing something new and unusual for the symphony.
The performance is set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at First Baptist Church, 3500 Walton Way. Tickets cost $7-$45. See augustasymphony.org.
Art
Augusta artist Rusty Walton's large format multimedia pieces (above is a work titled Alvarro ) begin as photographs, usually portraits, but quickly become something else as he applies elements of abstraction and concise design to the compositions. The resulting images are arresting, sometimes uncomfortable, certainly beautiful and clearly light-years from staid still lifes and landscapes. An exhibition of Mr. Walton's work will be on display in the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art's main gallery at Ware's Folly, 506 Telfair St., from Nov. 5 through Dec. 16. See ghia.org.
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