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If you ask members of the music and dance ensemble what it is they do on stage, the explanation becomes more of an extensive list of artistic genres than any real de-scription. If you ask them what a typical show includes, they hem and haw until eventually admit-ting they themselves don’t neces-sarily know, because each of their shows is catered to the venue they will be performing at.

There is nothing simple about Kansas City’s

Quixotic Fusion.

“A show’s got really energizing music, it’s got lots of visual effects.

There are so many elements happening at once: aerial, dance, light-

ing, music, costumes, make up and hair –– its got a bit of everything.

The cool thing about the group is we can focus on different areas

from show to show.

Mica Thomas, co-artistic director for Quix-

otic Fusion, says the group’s goal is to go beyond

what an audience would expect to see.

Thomas describes the group as a “full sen-

sory experience,” something many people with

different artistic interests can appreciate.

“A show’s got really energizing music, it’s got

lots of visual effects. There are so many elements

happening at once: aerial, dance, lighting, music,

costumes, make up and hair –– its got a bit of

everything. The cool thing about the group is we

can focus on different areas from show to show.

That way we can really reach out to a wide demo-

graphic of people.

“There’s a lot of people who really like the

performing arts side of the group,” Thomas says,

“and the younger demographic likes the edgy mu-

sic and fashion. We try to stay very current and

stay up on technology. Because the group has so

many branches, we can be very dynamic in the types of perfor-

mances we do.”

Magliano agrees, saying a wide variety of

people appreciate Quixotic Fusion’s grandiose,

eccentric performances.

“The best thing I’ve heard about who comes

to our shows, one lady was like, ‘You

“There’s a lot of people who really like the per-

forming arts side of the group,” Thomas says,

“and the younger demographic likes the edgy mu-

sic and fashion. We try to stay very current and

stay up on technology. Because the group has so

many branches, we can be very dynamic in the

types of performances we do.”

Magliano, who also works as a sound design-

er and artistic director for the group, says the goal

in creating Quixotic Fusion was to intertwine

multiple disciplines of art, creating something

greater than the sum of its parts.

“My background is playing rock shows,” he

says. “I just wanted to create something that had

a bigger production value and integrated more

types of disciplines and artists. It’s cool to see a

projection designer and a 3D-effects artist work-

ing with a dancer and a cello player. It’s all to

make this big picture.”rple hairs.’ It’s a funny comment, because we’ll

have those older, arts-loving people, and we’ll

have the 18-year-old punk-rock girl with the pur-

ple hair. It’s definitely something very diverse. An

18-year-old girl will feel cool bringing her parents

to this show.”

“The best thing I’ve heard about who comes to

our shows, one lady was like, ‘You guys reach

out to the blue hairs and the purple hairs.’ It’s a

funny comment, because we’ll have those older,

arts-loving people, and we’ll have the 18-year-old

punk-rock girl with the purple hair. It’s definitely

something very diverse. An 18-year-old girl will

feel cool bringing her parents to this show.”

The next phase for Quixotic Fusion, Magliano

says, will be stretching out from its home base in

Kansas City and playing to new audiences around

the country. The group has been so busy with just

their home city, however, that this has proved dif-

ficult at times.

“Logistically, we’ve been trying to get out

and do more, but with our setup everything’s

a bit more complicated. We require a bit more.

We’ve done shows in smaller venues, but to

do the shows the way we want, we need the space.

We have people flying around. We’d rather per-

form less but pull it off the way we visualize it.”

Thomas says touring with this band will be a mul-

ti-faceted affair, with nearly limitless possibilities

for show types and performance locations. He

says the ensemble’s future will include incorpo-

rating more technology into the show.

“The idea is to go on tour more –– do more

stuff all over the place,” he says. “We want to hit

festivals, performing arts centers, hopefully get

a residency somewhere so we can do things for

longer periods of time. When you load in a show

really quick for a place, you have a really short

run, but with a residence show you can kind of

dig into the space. Artistically, we’ve been play-

ing with dancers’ moving, triggering lighting and

projections. As we build more as a group, I think

we can build with our technology and move for-

ward.”

Sonya Tayeh has always been known as a dynamic whirl-

wind of movement and energy onstage, but her career has taken on a new level

of intensity as of late. Born in New York but with deep roots in Detroit, Tayeh’s

recent work has found her bringing her unique style as both a choreographer and a

judge to the primetime television masses via the FOX Network’s reality dance com-

petition SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Yet as they say, a body in motion

will stay in motion, so it’s no surprise that Tayeh also continues to lend her talent

to crafting new and exciting work for the stage, including Quixotic’s upcoming

production LUX ESALARE, set to debut at Kansas City’s Spencer Theatre on June

19th. Catching up with the daring dancer and renowned instructor during a recent

rehearsal break, Tayeh answered a few questions about working with the Quixotic

ensemble and the preparations for LUX ESALARE. When you consider every-thing that could potentially be happening on stage, what’s your approach to managing all these ele-ments?

ST: “I make every detail as clear as I can in the rehearsal process. So when it hits the stage it’s no longer my respon-sibility to take care of it anymore. I trust what’s meant to happen hap-pens.”

What’s the most important thing you try to instill into your choreography?

ST: “The words I constantly use in the rehearsal process are ‘conviction,’ ‘details,’ ‘trust,’ and ‘intention.’”

What’s been the most interesting thing about working with Quixotic?

ST: “Choreographing dancers with more of a ballet influence was very challenging for me. But what came out of it was so impressive. They brought fluidity and softness to my ‘rough’ elements.”

What do you want the audience to take away from your work?

ST: “I want the audience to ask questions, be provoked and affected by my movement. I’m not looking for everyone to love it. I’m look-ing for everyone to wonder about it. I want to challenge the mind and spirit.”

What was your first ex-posure to Quixotic and what sort of impression did that make on you?

Sonya Tayeh: “When Quix-otic contacted me I was very intrigued. Their team of art-ists is very inspiring and very talented. They are all indi-viduals with an amazing tal-ent to provoke and maintain an essence of quality work.”

Nico VegaNico Vega have released their new EP, Nico Vega Covers Nico Vega And Rod Stewart. The EP features a refreshed collection of the band’s select familiar songs that have been re-imagined in a se-ries of different styles as well as a brilliant cover of Rod Stewart’s, “Young Turks” – for good measure. From the beat dropping electronica version of “Million Years” to the twanging outlaw country, “So So Fresh,” Nico Vega have transcended sonically, delivering an eclectic collection of six great tracks. Big thumbs up. Tell all your friends.

The Low AnthemFolk music doesn’t need to be reinvented for it to come alive – just performed. If you’re looking for a solid folk spooker to open the year, your search ends here. At heart this is a traditional collection of folk songs, their straightforward rhythms and instrumen-tation intermittently embellished with musical saw and pump organ, their lyrics of loss, redemption and death occasionally startling, with such vivid imagery as that of a Bible in a bath of formaldehyde.

Life in a DayUnited Kingdom (Director: Kevin Macdonald) - Life in a Day is a historic global experiment to create the world’s largest user-generated feature film. On July 24, 2010, professional and amateur filmmakers cap-tured a glimpse of their lives on camera and uploaded the footage to YouTube, serving as a time capsule for future generations.

Bobby Fischer Against the WorldU.S.A. (Director: Liz Garbus) - The drama of late chess-master Bobby Fischer’s career was undeniable,as he careened from troubled childhood, to World Champion and Cold War icon, to a fugitive on the run.

ReaganU.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Eugene Jarecki) - Reagan examines the enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world - icon, screen star, and two-term president Ronald Reagan.

BonnarooIf Bonnaroo ever comes up in conversation with anyone, I just always tell them the exact same thing:

That said, the festival is not for the faint of heart. Yes, it can be scorching hot or muddy and rainy like that scene in The Notebook. Yes, our tent had collapsed and flooded when we got back to the campsite at 4am the last night of our first year there. Yes, the porta-potties are usually nasty unless you know how to synchronize your bowel movements. But the festival is flat out unforgettable.

Austin City LimitsAmidst all the chaos, Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips, had summed up the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival in that one sentence. Everything that happened at Zilker Park this past weekend came together; every music fan had now learned how to love music harder, and how to live a little more passionately, and to take all the joy, pain, misery, confusion, and love of all the bands they heard with them wherever they go.

Austin City Limits is the yearly music festival that has given Austin the title of musical capi-tal of the world. Since its inception, the festival has grown into a monster, with three days of music and 130 bands on eight stages.

WakarusaThere are many roads you travel down to see mu-sic, the road leading to Wakarusa Music Festival was one of the most splendid treats about par-taking in this years fest. Winding up and down the hills of Arkansas, through the lush Ozark Forest there lay the top of Mulberry Mountain. There was a lot of hype about the location mov-ing to Arkansas last year, I know personally the negative attributes connected with the festival being held in Lawrence, Kansas.

There were many attributes to this years Wa-karusa that will be talked about for years to come. Being the collaborations and appearances by the acts who made it possible or the behind the scene workers who pulled this fabulous gathering off. The expanded draw to this land is one which cant be denied as next years Festival begins to assemble, the anticipation deepens to return to this blissful place again.

PitchforkOne of the friendliest festi-vals around! I take issue with any review that says anything about hipsters and their atti-tudes at this festival.

but I saw nothing but great in-teraction between festival goers and talked to so many stran-gers I think my mom’s spidey senses were surely keeping her up at night.

Pitchfork music festival is an essential and fantastic part of both indie music and Chicago’s total culture!