Last week, Ron Berry, the easygoing powerhouse behind the Fusebox Festival, announced the lineup for the multi-disciplinary art festival that will entertain audiences this spring between April 21st and May 1st. With an estimated eighty percent of the lineup finalized, Berry described various headlining events that will be staged in theaters, galleries, and the streets of Austin. The ever ambitious duo of choreographer Allison Orr and composer Graham Reynolds are teaming up again to kick off the festival on the steps of the capitol, where two-hundred Texas two-steppers will perform accompanied by a live western swing orchestra. more ›

• Trash Dance: The Forklift Danceworks’ Trash Project performance attracts over 700 people to a “trash truck ballet.”
• The New York Times visits our Guadalupe Mountains, falls into a West Texas cactus.
• Even with the start of this $135 million Texas beach enrichment plan, Austin’s own Okkervil River will still be singing “Lost Coastlines.”

There are lots of great art events taking place around town this weekend (especially on Saturday!). Here's a rundown of a few of the highlights... Domy Books is celebrating new exhibits in their gallery and project space. Head over to the store on Saturday from 7-9pm to see the debut of Your Heart is Not a Museum, new work by Levi Dugat and Leah DeVun. The pair's second collaborative show, Your Heart includes kitsch-meets-hipster portraits by Dugat and amazingly intricate drawings of diamonds done by DeVun. Over in the project space, Jade Walker has put together an installation that reflects themes of sports, gender, the human body, and injury. more ›

Last year, when Allison Orr and Forklift Danceworks presented Skate! A Night at the Rink it was one of the most uplifting performances of 2008. The event brought together professional dancers on skates with dedicated longtime rink skaters in a breathtaking series of dances that were both fresh and nostalgic. This weekend, for one night only, Orr is once again employing her gift of taking ordinary folk (which is to say, non-professional dancers) and shining a spotlight on their inner dancers. The show is called The Trash Project and you needn’t be psychic to know this is going to wind up as one of 2009’s most uplifting performances. more ›

From the moment the cast of Skate! zips out onto the rink at Playland Skate Center, there is an intense, joyful buzz created by a cross between the energy it generates and an ecstatic sentimentality as the audience is hurled back in time to childhood days at the rink. Anyone who has ever roller skated will, within the first five minutes of the performance, be seized with an urge to take up the hobby once again, to commit to skating every day for the rest of forever. more ›

more ›

Forklift Danceworks marks the upcoming anniversary of Elvis’ death with an homage to the King that includes singing, dancing, and guest Elvis cameos from Jim Swift, Sara Hickman, John Kelso, and Mayor Will Wynn Austinist sponsors a big bash at Beauty Bar with the Turbonego cover band Apocalypse Dudes, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, and Ernest Gonzales 1906 hosts the opening reception for "SeeSaw," their first-ever photography show, featuring landscapes, portraiture, digitally-manipulated images, and... more ›

Austinist co-sponsors an awesome boat party out on Lake Travis, with bands, DJs, swimming, and more. Tickets are still available, but get yours now before they sell out! Gallery Lombardi's latest ocean-themed exhibition, entitled "Radical Nautical," opens with a full evening of music, videos, and more Forklift Danceworks debuts their "revised and expanded" performance of their Elvis-inspired dance production, The King and I Austin Film Festival brings in veteran screenwriter Dan Petrie Jr. ("Beverly... more ›

We've been a really good Austinist this week and kept you updated on all the events of this weekend. But we thought we'd be really, good and remind you about all of them: more ›

Austin choreographer Allison Orr and her company Forklift Danceworks bring a whole new spin to The King this weekend with their production “The King and I.” The play is loosely structured on Elvis’ last performance and incorporates thematic elements that Orr sees as being relevant to us all: loss, longing, fortune, etc. A trip to Graceland inspired the production. Says Orr, “When I visited Graceland many years ago I found myself crying at the... more ›