Moulin Rouge, the ballet

Here's a preview of Atlanta Ballet's upcoming season with Moulin Rouge the ballet and both story ballets and contemporary choreography rounding out the line-up.

Review of Ballethnic

Here's a review from last weekend's performance by Ballethnic from ArtsCriticATL.com by Cynthia Bond Perry. She tells us, "Some good news: [Calvin] Gentry is returning to Atlanta where he plans to pursue his college degree while performing with Ballethnic." Yay for people moving (back) here or staying here to dance!

And thanks to everyone who came out to the Barre 2 Bar this Sunday evening. The discussion was informative and I will post some notes when I get time to transcribe them (I would make my lovely intern Arielle do it, but she was at the event and unfortunately, I think that used up her hours for this week. And it's her last day today so thank you, Arielle! Because of her hard work, we have the google calendar at danceatl.org mostly up to date. I hope to be joined soon by a summer intern who can keep it up.)

Tonight's panel

I'm excited about tonight's panel at the DanceATL and Atlanta Ballet "Barre 2 Bar" event at Park Tavern. We have Thomas Bell, writer extraordinare, and since the last post we've confirmed Suzanne VanAtten, Arts & Entertainment Editor at the AJC, and Brian Wallenberg, dancer with the Ballet and their Social Media Director. So we should have all forms of media covered, so bring questions and let's strategize how to best work together to let people know that there's DANCE happening here in Atlanta!! :)

Here's the updated flyer (also with photo credits, yes yes!)

An Opportunity to Engage with the Arts Community at MONDAY's March - a message from Atlanta Artist, Blake Beckham

I'm not going to put her cell phone number up here, but I'm pasting the email. If you want to contact her, please do so via email or email me at info@danceatl.org to get her cell phone number. Hope to see you dancing at the Capitol tomorrow!

From Blake:

I'm writing to find out if you know about Monday's march on the capitol protesting the elimination of Georgia Council for the Arts. I am working with keif & friends to put together a guerrilla performance. If you are interested in sharing your work, please call my cell phone or email me back with yours.

Here's the idea:
Roll up a truck and park it downtown (Brought to you by Dance Truck). Activate it as a platform for performing arts. Dance, music, readings, theater...open to it all. Lets speak with our actions, make our work present. Heighten visibility. Show the vibrancy and diversity of arts across Georgia. Expect the unexpected. Viral videos and tweets shoot across town.

Today I will be doing the outreach to arts orgs and individual artists. Groups who want to participate need to CONFIRM with me or keif. There will be a check-in process at the truck (or another central location) so we can keep performers rolling on & off  - and the action going - 

Performers must be willing to use the raw space of the truck which will likely be 7 x 12 ft. Audio and tech specs are tbd. Right now we don't know if we'll have the capacity for plugging in bands. We're asking for offerings/happenings of five minutes or less to allow for lots of participation. If you really want to present something longer or conceptual, just let me know. 

If parking the truck turns out to be a bust, we'll move into the streets and on the steps. 

Please know that you will need to be open in terms of the time commitment. We meet at The Rialto at 1pm, and then will walk to the capitol. We don't really know what to expect in terms of the duration of the event after that.

If performing is not in the cards, I hope you will just ATTEND

CALL ME! I need help pulling this off and am very excited about the possibilities.

blakebeckhamdancing@yahoo.com

Rialto Center season line up (all of it, but including dance)

From the AJC and Ms. Perry, an overview of the Rialto's season coming up. The dance includes Urban Bush Women and Taylor, flamenco and Brazilian music/dance. Taylor was here a couple years ago at the Rialto and Urban Bush Women was here a few years back with Emory for a residency and performances, but always good to have a chance to see them both (I didn't make either one of those last time I don't think...)

Next weekend, next DanceATL event!

March on the capitol for arts--or maybe dancing in the streets?? Monday!

Facebook event page about the march for GA Council for the Arts on Monday from 1-3 p.m. It starts at the Rialto and goes to the Capitol. We're thinking about bringing the Dance Truck (or a smaller version of it anyway) to give a literal platform for artists to get some visibility doing what they do best, make art!


The link for contacting your representatives. They won't be in session on Monday but they will be voting on Tuesday, so come out to show your support for continued funding for the Georgia Council for the Arts. Being the only state without an arts agency/funder will be so embarrassing otherwise! :(  Not to mention the economic impact of more lost jobs and the cultural impact of loss of programming!

For today's nonpolitical blog entry: Ferst, dance and tech

The Ferst Center's dance offerings next season previewed, including a dance and technology partnership, from Cynthia Bond Perry and artscriticatl.com.

More about the end of GCA--act now!

The email update I received this morning from GACAA: GA Council for the Arts Budget Zeroed Out - Please Act NOW	Take Action!
The House Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts budget for FY 2011. GCA will not exist. This means: 1 - Georgia will be the only state and territory that will have no state arts agency. 2 - We will lose the Grassroots Arts Program that ensures there is arts programming in every Georgia County. 3 - Georgia will lose tax money that is reinvested in our state through the National Endowment for the Arts. This money is entirely contingent on the GCA budget being at least $900,000. This money from the NEA funds programs in every Georgia County. 4 - We will lose even more jobs in this economic crisis. If you value the arts in Georgia, please follow the "Take Action" link on this page to contact your legislators and make clear the impact of the loss of GCA funds to your organization and to our state.  Remember that investing in the arts pays off both in tax revenue, jobs, tourism - it's one industry that is alive and well in spite of the overall economy.

This weekend is HOT and next weekend is scalding!

Check out the list of performances for this weekend and next on danceatl.org (still just the google calendar...working on the rest of the website, again, please send info about classes, spaces etc.) I think we can split up the dance table stuff for this weekend, but next weekend there's just too much! Whew! So look for it this weekend at Anthology and Ground Delivery, and next weekend at the Emory Dance Company show (since the intern can take it easily since she's in it.) I think I can take it over to the Inman Park Dance Fest and Aly has Shorts 5. Can anyone cover any of the other shows? If so, let me know and we'll work out a rendezvous to get you the goods.
And to cap off all this lovely dancing, I'd like to invite you all to the 2nd DanceATL meeting on the evening of the 25th. If you're at the Inman Park Dance Festival you can come right after it, we're going to start around 7. Our speaker, Mr. Tom Bell, will be leading a discussion about dance coverage in town (with possible additional guests) and the performance will be by Project 7 Dance. Let's get some folks out (even if it's a bit last minute, sorry guys) and fill that big ole room with dancers and dance lovers on the 25th!

No more GCA? at all? Seriously?!

So you may have heard, or maybe you haven't, that the GA Assembly is at the point of cutting out the Georgia Council for the Arts ENTIRELY. I repost an email:

Dear Arts Advocates and Arts Supporters:

We have learned that actions are underway in the State legislature to eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts.

This will mean that Georgia will be the only state and/or territory in the nation that will have no state arts agency.

Please contact your state legislators immediately to let them know that our state needs and deserves an arts council.

Laura Lieberman, Immediate Past President

Georgia Assembly of Community Arts Agencies

Here's the link to take action 
And here's an article about the situation from ArtsCriticATL.com

Trey McIntyre Project this weekend

I got behind on posting, but here's an interview from Cynthia Perry with Trey McIntyre dancer, John Michael Schert. Look for the DanceATL table there and pick up info about all the amazing performances by local dancers happening in two more weeks! (Also, we are tentatively having the next DanceATL meeting on Sunday, Apr. 25, so save the evening to come meet up with your Atlanta dance friends!)