The Joy of X

Experimental art is like a box of chocolates – sometimes you get a scrumptious treat and other times a couple of stale nuts. Luckily, Paradise Valley Community College’s fourth annual Phoenix Experimental Arts Festival is packed with enough entertainment to guarantee that at least some of it will be palatable.

Opening-night highlights include the world première of a new electro-acoustic work by Barry Moon, a reprise of downtown scenester Jeff Falk’s Wasteland Circus, and a performance by improvisational jazz quartet Jiggle (the band’s all dudes, so get your mind out of the gutter). Saturday’s lineup is spearheaded by local troupes Theatre in My Basement and Scorpius Dance Theatre. “Life is a bit of a freak show,” Falk says, perhaps inadvertently describing the whole festival. “Like a circus, it can be fun and a little scary all at the same time.”