Local dance instructor Lena Logan has opened her first studio, the Contemporary Dance Conservatory, in a warehouse once used for raves. The studio opened May 2 at 213 26th St., in a renovated 6,300-square-foot warehouse whose neighbors include a community garden, bicycle repair shop, an independent building contractor's shop area and homes.  From 4 - 10 p.m. Saturday, the studio will hold a grand opening that mixes dance performance and live art. Her students will give short dance performances each hour, while muralists and graffiti artists will create paintings on the front of the building. Logan's focus is to train teens and pre-teens who want to move on to professional dance companie

Big Idea Theatre’s latest production, William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” directed by Kirk Blackinton and Katie Chapman, opened Friday. The play is a lesser-known bit of the canon, often put in the category of “problem play” as it fits neither the specific parts of a comedy nor a tragedy. The plot is divided between the struggle of the play’s antagonist, Angelo, played by Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly, and the nun-in-training Isabella, played by Gina Williams. The play covers moral ground of a more philosophical nature with Isabella’s plight being the question, “Should she commit an act against God to save a life?” Set in Vienna, the production takes interesting liberties with the sta

Seven months of review and countless hours of debate and negotiation came down to a 20-second vote Tuesday night as Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 in support of redesigning a single-family home proposed for an alley site in Boulevard Park. The action prevents the infill project from moving forward without changes to either the height or design style. The builders of the proposed home, Nathan and Erica Cunningham, said they are done and cannot take on redesigning the home. The council listened to two hours of discussion about the project, including testimony from neighbors, city Design Director William Crouch, the builder and the architect. More than 20 area residents showed up to opp

By Debra Belt It is a small, unkempt patch of land on a dirt alley in Sacramento’s Boulevard Park neighborhood. Yet, the modest site at 2207 C St. is the subject of an intense debate that is expected to heat up as a proposed residential project for the alley lot heads to City Council Feb. 1. At issue is a single-family home, a modern infill project that has neighbors, preservationists, politicians, architects, the city and the builders deadlocked over the design of the residence and its alley location in one of Sacramento’s oldest neighborhoods. As Midtown’s alley development movement advances, interest in the project is high, and followers say it could set a precedent in residential nei

The Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour will provide architectural and design enthusiasts an opportunity to discover what it’s like to live, work and play in more than 15 quintessentially Californian residential and commercial structures built between 1945 and 1970. Participants are invited to tour the interior spaces of buildings designed by renowned architects, Jones + Emmons, and a host of local prominent architects and designers including, Carter Sparks, Leonard F. Starks, Sooky Lee, George Muraki, and Rickey + Brooks. An estimated 500 visitors will see Sacramento from a different perspective as we open the doors to our past, present, and future. MCM architecture (also referred to

Urban Design, and more specifically infill design, has become one of the most desired types of development in the central city and surrounding residential neighborhoods. With continued concerns about the city's design review process, lack of neighborhood support and a host of other issues, architects often find it challenging to fully expressing themselves through their architecture. After living and practicing architecture in Sacramento for several years, David Sarti of Flex Architecture will reframe this discussion, focusing on his "Little Red House" and discussing the opportunities created by building small, asking the question: "Why is Sacramento so slow to embrace modern Architecture

I'm listening to "Strictly Game" by The Harlem Shakes as I drive to a Wells Fargo ATM a few blocks from my apartment to get forty bucks for more weed at 8:30pm on a Saturday that doubles as my birthday. The lyrics are appropriate (This will be a better year…) and I sing along with hope that the chorus applies to me, too. I'm still thinking about the voicemail from my father that assumed I didn't pick up the phone because I was out partying. He sounds drunk. Is it bad that I don't want to call him back because I'm embarrassed that I'm not out partying? But should I be? I'm high enough already and worried that the headlights in my rearview mirror belong to a cop, so I make a full stop, count