Sally Cohn
High stepping
MASSACHUSETTS DANCE FESTIVAL Locally, the festival presents two different programs by an impressive slate of companies representing styles from ballet and modern to tap and classical Indian dance. Saturday’s concert features the professional troupes, including BoSoma Dance Company, Contrapose Dance (pictured), Kairos Dance Theater, Legacy Dance Company, and Navarasa Dance Theater, among others. Sunday’s concert is a showcase of emerging companies. June 23-24. $15-$25.
Boston University Dance Theater. 508-429-7577,
www.massdancefestival.org
Theater
TOTEM Virtuosity topped with Vegas cheese: It’s the tried-and-true Cirque du Soleil recipe, and it works well in “Totem,’’ written and directed by the ubiquitous Robert Lepage, a man who knows a thing or two about juggling himself. Through July 22. At Big Top, Boston Marine Industrial Park. 800-450-1480, www.cirquedusoleil.com/totem
Related
PRIVATE LIVES Smart, stylish, fleet, and diamond-sharp: This is Noël Coward done right. Directed by Maria Aitken, Coward’s 1930 comedy about second (and third) chances at love stars Bianca Amato and James Waterston as Amanda and Elyot, a once-married couple who bump into each other while on honeymoons with their new spouses. The new spouses are none too happy about it, but you will be. Through June 24. Presented by Huntington Theatre Company. At Boston University Theatre. 617-266-0800, www.huntington
theatre.org
LOVE PERSON With almost as many languages (three) as characters (four), Aditi Brennan Kapil’s play is, no surprise, about communication, and though it strains credibility at times, its story of how we connect with one another is worth watching. Company One’s production is highlighted by Sabrina Dennison and Jacqueline Emmart as lovers who don’t need words to make contact. Through June 23. Presented by Company One. At Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.companyone.org
AVENUE Q Inspired by “Sesame Street,” the 2004 Tony Award winner for best musical is a dark story of growing up in the big city. With its adult themes and graphic puppet sex, it’s not for children. But adults will be able to access their inner child through this sunny-side-of-the-street production, in which it’s hard to tell who’s cuter and more lovable, the puppets or the humans. Through July 1. Lyric Stage Company, Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com
Dance
KAIROS DANCE THEATER For the month of June, Kairos artistic directors DeAnna Pellecchia and Ingrid Schatz have been working with their 11-member cast and other collaborators on brand-new material during a residency at Boston Center for the Arts. Two weekends ago, they solicited feedback from some of the most respected choreographers in the area. Now we get to see the results. June 27-29. $15. Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.bcaonline.org
MIMULUS This effervescent Brazilian company offers a seductive, often exhilarating blend of contemporary dance, traditional Latin stylings, and dramatic concept. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival presents the United States premiere of the company’s “Por Um Fio” (“By a Thread”). Inspired by visual artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário, this work features an eye-popping set design, with a richly textured backdrop and lights that float and glide. Through June 24. $39-$64. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket. 413-243-0745, www.jacobs
pillow.org
CIRCA Don’t expect clowns and animal tricks; this is not your grandma’s circus. The innovative circus-arts troupe from Down Under makes its Jacob’s Pillow debut with a program featuring its trademark fusion of gravity-defying acrobatics and daring aerial work, beautifully interwoven with a contemporary dance sensibility. Through June 24. $22-$38. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket. 413-243-0745, www.jacobspillow.org
Galleries
KIM FALER: EVERYTHING CHANGES EVERYTHING Faler poetically investigates notions of time, reality, andt he immediacy of the news in her sculptures, photographs, and drawings. Playing with scale and unlikely materials, she foils viewers' expectations and constructs uncanny metaphors. Through Aug. 17. LaMontagne Gallery, 555 East Second St., South Boston. 617-464-4640, www.lamontagne
gallery.com
LINDA HOLT: WATERFALLS AND KOI Water, with its reflections, depths, and mutability, can be a challenge to paint. Holt does it masterfully, exploring the water's surface, motion, and luminosity in her vividly hued paintings of koi fish. Through July 21. Beth Urdang Gallery, 129 Newbury St. 781 264-1121, www.bethurdanggallery.com
NEW TALENT Alpha Gallery's celebration of emerging artists spotlights large-scale drawings by Heidi Hogden of her home in Wisconsin, sculptures by Jessica Vogel that combine hard and soft; and painter Erika Wastrom's scenes of groups of people at and in the water. Through July 6. Alpha Gallery, 37 Newbury St. 617-536-4465, www.alpha
gallery.com
Museums
MARSDEN HARTLEY: SOLILOQUY IN DOGTOWN A selection of brilliant paintings made in Cape Ann in the early 1930s by one of America’s greatest 20th century painters. Through Oct. 14. Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester. 978-283-0445, www.capeann
museum.org
TRANSCENDING NATURE: PAINTINGS BY ERIC AHO The first American museum survey of this gifted New England painter, inspired both by nature and painterly abstraction. Through Sept. 9. Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, N.H. 603-669-6144, www.currier.org
ANSEL ADAMS: AT THE WATER’S EDGE Famous and lesser known images of water in all its forms by the celebrated American photographer. Through Oct. 8. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. 866-745-1876, www.pem.org
GARY WEBB: MR. JEANS Sculptures that play fast and loose both with modernism and consumer culture by this compelling young British artist. Through Aug. 12. DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, Lincoln. 781 259 8355, www.decordova.org
Sculpture hits high notes
MICHAEL FRASSINELLI: THE LAST OF THE PIANISTAS There's been a trend this year of shows featuring musical instruments recycled into art. Frassinelli has been doing it for years, devising an entirely fictional society, with artifacts and totems crafted from old pianos. Pictured: Frassinelli’s 2011 “Pianista Sun Goddess.” Through June 29. ArtSpace Gallery, 63 Summer St., Maynard.
978-897-9828, www.artspacemaynard.com