Thursday, January 29, 2015

From Colored Girls to Urban Bush Women:Art, Activism and Social Transformation An artist talk & Master Class

Rialto Center for the Arts in Partnership with Spelman College Department of Drama and Dance and the Toni Cade Bambara Scholar-Activism of the Women’s Center

Experience


Friday, January 30, 2015 from 3:00 - 5:00pm


From Colored Girls to Urban Bush Women:  Art, Activism and Social Transformation
An artist talk with Artistic Director, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar &
Spelman College Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Aku Kadogo
Location: Spelman College, Camile O. Hanks Cosby Academic Center, Lower Level Room 32
Free and Open to the Public

Saturday, January 31, 2015 from 10:00am – 12:00pm
MASTER DANCE CLASS with Urban Bush Women
Location: Spelman College, Giles Hall, Room 106
Free and Open to the Public

Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 8:00pm
Urban Bush Women performs Walking with ‘Trane, Chapter 2
Location: Rialto Center for the Arts | Georgia State University

“…the Urban Bush Women are committed, triple-threat performers who dance, sing and act with a sometimes searing sense of truthfulness.”
The New York Times

RIALTO BO

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

WENDY WHELAN: Restless Creature at the Rilato Arts Center

WENDY WHELAN: Restless Creature

Ballet Legend in Duets with Four Choreographers

Kyle Abraham, Josh Beamish, Brian Brooks and Alejandro Cerrudo

  • Tuesday, January 27, 2015 @ 7:30 PM
RIALTO ARTS CENTER
Box Office hours:
Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Email: info@rialtocenter.org
Phone: 404-413-9TIX (9849)
For over 25 years , Wendy Whelan has been captivating audiences of New York City Ballet with her elegant yet thrilling movement and her exacting, intelligent approach to performing.  With a serious and complete commitment to artistic excellence.  Wendy has built a repertory that spans great classical ballets such as Swan Lake. Balanchine’s neo-classical masterpieces, and works by contemporary choreographers, who have been inspired by her ability to create a compelling and unique beauty in her performances.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Full Radius Dance and the Fulbright



Full Radius Dance and the Fulbright


A reception and discussion with Fulbright-Shuman scholar Monika Pozek


Monday, January 26th, 6pm, at the Trolley Barn, 63 Edgewood Avenue Northeast, Atlanta 
Free; donations accepted
Join us for refreshments, a performance by the company and Monika, and a discussion of Monika's residency with Full Radius Dance. Also in attendence will be guest artist Alice Sheppard.
Monika Požek is the founder and artistic director of MeetShareDance. Originally from Slovenia, she began her dance training at Bolero Dance School, dancing and performing with a hip hop and show dance group for 12 years. After graduation with a degree in Adult and Continuing Education, Monika moved to Spain and, later, to Argentina where she studied Dance Therapy at AADT and in the Maria Fux method. and joined classes with a mixed-ability dance group called Grupo Alma (Buenos Aires) where she learned from Susana Gonzales, the leader of this group. This experience led her to do Danceability teacher training in Helsinki. Afterwards, she joined and performed with a wheelchair dance group Zebra in Slovenia . Monika returned to Madrid where she performed and danced with DanZass (2011), a dance organization working with children with autism. In 2012, she founded the MeetShareDance (MSD) festival. MSD is a 4-day festival that promotes and aims to create an international dance network for individuals or groups that are working with dance and disability. MSD implements this by focusing on contemporary dance but welcomes all other styles, while always considering the new choreographic possibilities and new ways of dancing.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

"ATTIC" - Staib Dance January 22-24

  


JANUARY 22-24
"Attic" premiere
an evening-length episocic
meditation on the nature of memory

at Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
1700 N Decatur Rd, Atlanta, GA 30322

Thurs - Sat at 8 PM, +Sat at 5 PM
Free parking available in the Fishburne Deck
the Arts at Emory Box Office (404-727-5050"Attic" premier50

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

LUNCHTIME IN THE STUDIO: MUSIC THAT DANCES

Lunchtime in the Studio:

Music That Dances-January 22




January 22, 2015
12:00pm to 1:00pm
CORE Studios on the square in Decatur, 139 Sycamore St.
FREE, Reservations encouraged as space is limited

Photo by Sue Schroeder, CORE Performance Company in Vivaldi Dances in the Park

Experience CORE’s Collaborations that Educate, Inspire, and Touch our Community
At the January 22nd Lunchtime in the Studio, audience members will get the opportunity to experience  an intimate view into two upcoming projects, on love and a world too wide, both created with strong musical influences. The members of the CORE Performance Company, including Stefanie Boettle, Anna Bracewell, Kristin D’Addario, Joshua Rackliffe, Rose Shields, and Erik Thurmond along with Artistic Director and Choreographer, Sue Schroeder will spearhead this Lunchtime program.
Lunchtime in the Studio has been called “a close-up and personal look at
how contemporary dance is crafted and performed” (AJC).  Lunchtime in the 
Studio offers a free “backstage pass” for the public to actively engage in the 
innovation, collaboration, investigation and community-building that forms the 
heart of CORE’s vision. 
You are warmly greeted as you enter the welcoming studio, get your lunch, take
a seat, and observe and respond as art-makers share their work.  CORE,
a contemporary dance organization, creates, performs, and presents compelling, 
original dance that ignites the creative spirit and actively engages in international
cultural conversations.
Lunch provided by Raging Burrito y Taco and Starbucks Decatur for first 40 
who arrive. Doors open at 11:45 am.

ragin_logo small
  Starbucks.4C

Advance Reservations guarantee a lunch ticket for guests arriving between
11:45am and noon. At noon all reservations will be released and lunch tickets 
will be given on a first come, first served basis.  Seats are always available and 
you are welcome to bring your own lunch.
Restaurant sponsors of CORE’s 15th Season of the Lunchtime in the Studio series 
include Starbucks Decatur, Jimmy Johns, Raging Burrito y Taco, Farm Burger 
and more.
CORE’s 29th season in Atlanta is supported in part by the Pattillo Foundation, 
the Ida Alice Ryan Charitable Trust, LENZ Marketing, Cameron and Roberts 
Insurance Agency, Primary Care Chiropractic, Decatur Atlanta Printing, and the 
Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) through appropriations of the Georgia General 
Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency – the National
Endowment for the Arts.
CORE Studios, 139 Sycamore St, are accessible from Decatur Square near 
Sycamore Street or through the parking lot behind Eddie’s Attic on N. McDonough St.  
Map and parking directions:http://www.coredance.org/classes/
photo (c) Sue Schroeder

Georgia Arts Day, January 27th

 
georgiaartsnetwork_banner

Join our Day of Arts Celebration!

Georgia Arts Day, January 27th
Register here.


Next Tuesday, January 27th, arts supporters from all over Georgia will gather at the State Capitol to celebrate all the good things which the arts and the creative economy brings to our state.

The arts benefit Georgia's children and families, bring economic growth to our region, attract tourism dollars, and highlight the beauty and meaning in our daily lives.

It's not too late!
Won't you join us for the celebration?

The Georgia Arts Network is organizing an Arts Day luncheon including training, networking, and speakers as part of Tourism, Hospitality, & the Arts Day at the Capitol. Be a part of this statewide movement in support of the arts!

Your ticket to Arts Day includes lunch, training, and access to the other activities surrounding Tourism, Hospitality, & the Arts Day at the Capitol. Learn more and sign up!


Partial List of Arts Day Speakers:
 
 Madison_Cario_Headshot
Madison Cario
Director, Georgia Tech Office of the Arts




JayDick_headshot
Jay Dick
Senior Director of State and Local Government Affairs, Americans for the Arts  







first_lady_sandra_deal

Sandra Deal
First Lady of Georgia











  

5 Steps to Set Up a Meeting with Your Legislators for Arts Day

1) Find out who they are & get their contact info! The official General Assembly website has not yet been updated to reflect the new elections. For now, use the OpenStates site to find this information. 

2) Send them an email request! Include why you want a meeting, who is attending, and what you will speak about. You can find a sample email right hereon our Arts Day site.

3) Follow up via email & phone! If you do not hear back in a few days, send a polite follow-up email or call their office.

4) Get a meeting time and notify the Georgia Arts Network! We want to know who is meeting up with their officials! Please notify us as soon as you have scheduled a meeting. 


5) Prepare for your meeting! We created a Tips & Tools document on meeting with Public Officials. You can find it and other useful information on ourAdvocacy Resources Page. Closer to the date, we will send out a one-page sheet that you will be asked toleave behind with your legislators and their staff. It will outline the strength of the arts in Georgia and our community's political requests (increased funding being among them!). 

GEORGIA ARTS NETWORK
c/o VSA Arts of Georgia

1386 Mayson Street
Atlanta, GA 30324
Email: contact@gaartsnetwork.org
 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Feed Your Senses: Dance Canvas at the Rialto Center

Join the Rialto Center and Dance Canvas
for Two Amazing Dance Events!

Feed Your Senses: Dance Canvas

  


Wednesday, January 21 from Noon to 1:00 PM


Dance Canvas returns to ‘Feed Your Senses’ with a preview performance of their main stage production: “Introducing the Next Generation“™, which opens at the Rialto on Friday, January 23rd. Join the choreographers and dancers as they present selections from their new works in progress and talk to audiences about the inspiration for their work. See the Atlanta premier of Annilille Kollman’s Malayla Works Dance Company and the newest work by Artistic Director, Angela Harris, “reVoir”.

Plan to meet your friends downtown for
 Feed Your Senses, the free Lunchtime Learning Performing Arts Series, every third Wednesday at Noon, in the Lobby at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. The program features a different artist or speaker each month providing a casual and fun insider’s look at their craft. Previous Feed Your Senses have featured the Faculty Jazztet from Georgia State’s School of Music, Latin jazz group Havana Son, and Nefertari Bey, jazz vocalist.
 
Light refreshments will be provided for this Feed Your Senses event.

Dance Canvas

"Introducing the Next Generation" 

Friday, January 23rd at 8:00 PM
Saturday, January 24th at 8:00 PM


Dance Canvas is pleased to bring its nationally acclaimed performance series to the Rialto Center stage after 6 seasons at the Woodruff Arts Center. This year, Dance Canvas will present World Premier Dance works from 10 emerging professional choreographers coming to Atlanta from across the country. The show also features nearly 50 of Atlanta’s top professional dance artists. Don’t miss this chance to see these new innovative voices in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, & Contemporary dance…Growing Professional Dance in Atlanta…“Introducing the Next Generation”™
 
Don't forget to purchase your tickets for 
Wendy Whelan: Restless Creature
Ballet Legend in Four Duets
Tuesday, January 27th at 7:30 PM


Urban Bush Women
Power in Movement: Celebrating 30 Years
Saturday, January 31st at 8:00 PM


For more information or to purchase tickets
call the Rialto Box Office at 404-413-9849 or visit rialto.gsu.edu.

Monday, January 19, 2015

THE MFA FOR THE PROFESSIONAL IN TRANSITION:LOW RESIDENCY FORMAT WITH SUMMER INTENSIVE








2800 University Blvd North Jacksonville, FL 32211
Office of Admissions 1.800.225.2027 (U.S.) or 1.904.256.7000 (International)



Jacksonville University is now accepting applications for the 2 low-residency MFA degrees:

MFA Choreography
 or
MFA Visual Arts

For information about the programs visit:  http://mfa.ju.edu or www.ju.edu

The MFA degree is a 2-year low-residency program emphasizing the conceptual and creative process of generating new works that are grounded in both classical and contemporary genres. Each year the program starts with a 6-week Summer Intensive in Florida on the beautiful campus of Jacksonville University. This is followed by two non-resident semesters using a combination of distance study with faculty and mentors who work with each student to expand their project-based work.
This MFA is particularly geared toward artists in transition and expects that applicants should have professional experience in the field prior to application.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the programs, and we'll be happy to answer,
All the best,

Cari Coble
Director, Graduate Studies – College of Fine Arts
Jacksonville University
2800 University Blvd North, Jacksonville, FL 32211
904.256.7398   ccoble@ju.edu

Friday, January 16, 2015

Year in Review: Star-crossed lovers, Spano/Stallings mark exciting diversity of Atlanta dance

Year in Review: Star-crossed lovers, Spano/Stallings mark exciting diversity of Atlanta dance

January 2, 2015
By ARTSATL STAFF
Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark in Atlanta Ballet's smoldering Romeo et Julliette. (Photo by Charlie McCullers)
Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark in Atlanta Ballet’s smoldering Roméo et Julliette.(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
From a Shakespearian tragedy to a survival story on the Western frontier to a landmark collaboration between two Atlanta creative figureheads, the 2014 dance scene offered performances as diverse as the city itself. Opinions among ArtsATL dance critics can be equally varied; in recapping the year’s highlights, we’ve shared some of our divergent points of view (in chronological order), plus a few “Bests” on which we pretty much all agree. The dance writers weighing in are dance editor Cynthia Bond Perry, Gillian Anne Renault, Kathleen Wessel, George Staib, Andrew Alexander, Rachael Shaw and Scott Freeman.
Show of the Year: Roméo et Juliette 
Atlanta Ballet’s Roméo et Juliette, choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot, was not only the company’s best performance of the year, it was one of most visually stunning productions we’ve ever seen. Stark white walls towered above the stage, an abstract castle or balcony but also a symbol of the insurmountable divide between Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers. Christian Clark and Alessa Rogers in the lead roles delivered grown-up chemistry with a hint of sweet adolescence, and Maillot’s choreography achieved emotional weight without relying on pantomime. 
This reimagining of Prokofiev’s Roméo et Juliette shifted the emphasis of the story from the famous lovers to the more peripheral, guilt-ridden friar. It was a concept and production that fit the Atlanta Ballet like a glove. John Welker gave a masterfully brooding, internally tortured performance as the friar. Dressed in sumptuous, metallic fabrics and structured, runway-worthy jackets, the entire company gave inspired, at times heart-wrenching, performances. This was sophisticated romance, abstract enough to feel placeless and timeless, like Shakespeare’s words embodied. For those that missed the show, not to worry. The production returns for a reprise in February. KW and AA
Best Touring Company: Trey McIntyre Project
The company’s final Atlanta performance was bittersweet for Rialto director Leslie Gordon, who first saw TMP perform at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival seven years ago when it was just a summer pick-up troupe. She booked them on the spot and has since presented McIntyre’s company four times, keeping Atlanta abreast as the company went full time and toured nationally and internationally from its home base in Boise, Idaho.
McIntyre’s nine classically trained dancers helped develop a fresh, contemporary repertoire marked by speed, clarity and emotional authenticity to music ranging from pop to classical to New Orleans jazz. But citing burnout last January, McIntyre announced plans to fold the company while still on top of its game. April’s farewell concert included the chillingly macabre, Edward Gorey–inspired The Vinegar Works: Four Dances of Moral Instruction and Mercury Half-Life, a turbo-charged vehicle for his dancers set to music by Queen. Fittingly, TMP took its final bow with this program at Jacob’s Pillow last June, and McIntyre is now freelancing, with projects that involve dance, film and photography. It’s likely that other companies will perform his repertoire, but it won’t be the same. CBP
Mercury Half-Life paid tribute to the music of Queen and Freddie Mercury.
Mercury Half-Life paid tribute to the music of Queen and Freddie Mercury.
Best Couple: Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark in Roméo et Juliette 
The thing about chemistry between two people is that it’s impossible to describe, yet you recognize it immediately when you see it: Bogie and Bacall, Grant and Hepburn, Clooney and Lopez. The screen starts to smolder whenever the two (usually star-crossed) lovers appear together. Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark brought some old-fashioned chemical power to their roles as Juliette and Romeo in February. It represented star-making roles for both as we watch a new generation at Atlanta Ballet preparing to take its place.

Rogers, in her seventh season, fulfilled the promise she showed as Princess Irene in the 2012 world premiere of Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin and as Ophelia in Hamlet. With expressive acting and crisp, hauntingly evocative dancing, Rogers seized the moment as Juliette and firmly established herself as one of the ballet’s elite dancers. As her Romeo, Clark took similar strides. In his 13th season with Atlanta Ballet, Clark has often worked in the shadow of the company’s top two male dancers: John Welker and Jonah Hooper. With the role of Romeo, Clark showed that his future has arrived. SF
Best Original Choreography: cloth
Conceptual artist and choreographer Lauri Stallings is uncomfortable with the idea of performance and the them-and-us / performer-and-audience dynamic it sets up. She prefers integrating movement into communities and neighborhoods. But when she embraced performance in September with the world premiere of cloth at the Goat Farm Arts Center’s Goodson Yard, we were bowled over. It was a stunning collaboration between her, the dancers of her company glo, and Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. 
Spano and Stallings hit creative peaks. (Photo by Thom Baker)
Spano and Stallings hit creative peaks with cloth. (Photo by Thom Baker)
Spano played his original piano score, an organic outpouring of sound. Stallings responded to it beautifully, expanding her movement vocabulary with tableaux that rivaled Balanchine for their architectural beauty, and wild rushes of movement that brought to mind river rapids, waving branches, emergence, growth. It was breathtaking. There were dynamic, horizontal leg extensions, a myriad of uplifted gestures and a joyful expansiveness and dynamic range. When he wasn’t at the piano, Spano moved with the dancers, creating a visual representation of a brilliant union between Atlanta’s music and dance scenes. GAR and AA
Peng-Yu Chen in this year's Nutcracker as the Spanish Dancer. (Photo by Charlie McCullers)
Peng-Yu Chen in this year’s Nutcracker as the Spanish Dancer. (Photo by Charlie McCullers)
Comeback of the Year: Peng-Yu Chen
Injuries are often a way of life for professional dancers, who are vastly underappreciated for their athleticism. Peng-Yu Chen was on something of a roll as the 2012–13 season opened with Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker. Peng-Yu’s talent for modern dance had propelled her to be one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2007 when she was with the American Repertory Ballet. Yet with Atlanta Ballet, Peng-Yu had hovered as a middle-tier company member. Then came her captivating performances in Helen Pickett’s Prayer of Touch and Jorma Elo’s 1st Flash in 2012. 
Just as Peng-Yu appeared to be finding her groove, her left knee gave out two years ago as she danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The diagnosis was brutal: tears in her anterior cruciate ligament and in the meniscus cartilage. Then in March, Peng-Yu faced tragedy when her mother was killed in an automobile accident in Taiwan. Yet Peng-Yu made her comeback in May, 17 months after her knee injury, with confidence and verve when Atlanta Ballet reprised 1st Flash. She began her first full season back in December, dancing the roles of the Spanish dancer and Snow Queen with her trademark joyful grace. SF
The best of the rest:
Ballethnic brought dance and music to Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West. (Photo courtesy Sirkus Photography)
Ballethnic brought dance and music to Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West. (Photo courtesy Sirkus Photography)
Flyin’ West 
Choreographer Waverly Lucas adapted Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West play into a full-scale ballet production, distilling the story of pioneering African Americans in the late 19th century, and placing it on a broad canvas of history, environment and culture. Against a backdrop of archival images from Nicodemus, Kansas, performers of all ages — including dancers, musicians and actors — brought to light the spirit of a near-forgotten Kansas town and showed Ballethnic Dance Company, in its 25th year, to be a vital leader in the arts community. To music by William Grant Still and other composers, as well as narrative by Cleage (and others), issues of love, power, sisterhood and standing up for one’s rights played out, demonstrating its four female leads’ indomitable strength. CBP
(Photo by Thom Baker)
Ballet Hispanico in El Beso. (Photo by Thom Baker)
El Beso
Choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano explored “the kiss” in his rapid-fire work El Beso featuring the gob-smackingly athletic and talented dancers of Ballet Hispanico in a performance that was presented in May as part of glo’s 2013–14 Tanz Farm season. From the quick peck to the slow smooch, from the cinematically romantic lip-lock to the humiliatingly awkward failed social greeting, nearly every form of kiss was represented, and they were all touchingly recognizable. There was a delicious vein of wicked humor in the piece’s streamlined depiction of social interaction, but it was ultimately the work’s overarching sense of fun, its celebration and acceptance of all things human, that made us want to plant a big, grateful, sloppy one on each of the dancers’ cheeks. AA
Post Up
One would be hard pressed to find an Atlanta-based choreographer less afraid to put raw emotion on stage than T. Lang, a dance professor at Spelman College whose company, T. Lang Dance, is building a strong local presence. Shown at the Goat Farm in June, Lang’s hour-long exploration of grief — and the unflagging hope for connection with lost loved ones — inspired some of the most compelling and fiercely expressive dance performances of the season. Lang’s rhythmic, propulsive and technically demanding dance language gave voice to each of her eight dancers’ sorrows, frustrations and faith as they mined their deepest feelings and searched relentlessly for the unreachable. CBP  
Laila Howard dances a solo in T. Lang’s Post Up. (Photo by Erika Abelard)
Laila Howard dances a solo in T. Lang’s Post Up. (Photo by Erika Abelard)
Colony 
Choreographers Kelly Bond and Melissa Krodman proved postmodernism isn’t dead with their duet Colony, a minimalist study in repetition produced by the Lucky Penny as part of Theater Emory’s Breaking Ground series. Memorably dressed in high-cut, striped leotards and matching sneakers, the two women turned unison, pedestrian movement into a social study. The audience, free from the confines of chairs, moved around the Schwartz Center’s Theater Lab, their spatial choices integrated into the work’s visual landscape. And though Bond and Krodman never really “danced” in the traditional sense, their highly specific, impeccably synchronized movement was mesmerizing. Be it dance, theater or installation, it was one of the year’s most intellectually satisfying performances. KW
Yael Tsibolski of Vertigo Dance Company in Reshimo. (Photo by Maayan Hotan)
Yael Tsibolski of Vertigo Dance Company in Reshimo. (Photo by Maayan Hotan)
Reshimo 
The heralded arrival of Jerusalem’s Vertigo Dance Company was an opportunity for Atlanta audiences to see a more subtle yet equally intense version of Israeli modern dance. With raw physicality and stunning emotional nuance, Reshimo delivered a riveting, cyclical journey through universally relevant material. Taking inspiration from the idea that we leave a lasting imprint on one another, choreographer Noa Wertheim seeded the piece by creating “waves of movement” that gently carried us into the work. GS
Trey McIntyre
Kyle Abraham, left, is a 2013 MacArthur Foundation fellow.
Abraham.In.Motion 
Kyle Abraham’s Pavementpresented in November at the Ferst Center for the Arts, tackled relevant and timely issues surrounding the black male’s place in contemporary society, through the interplay of pedestrian movement and highly technical choreography. With dance influences ranging from Martha Graham to Tricia Brown, and from rave culture to hip-hop, topics included oppression, self-hatred and the invisibility of black issues within a white-dominated society. The combination of social commentary and technical prowess made Pavement a dance calendar highlight. RLS
The glo performance at MOCA was part of a nine-week program. (Photo by Amy Kicklighter)
The glo performance at MOCA was part of a nine-week program. (Photo by Amy Kicklighter)
gestures that soon will disappear: 4th BODY, Performance 3
There’s nothing quite like a glo event, and the one at MOCA GA on December 4 was no exception. It was a stunning example of movement, art, photography, a standing and walking audience, paper sculpture and sound all coexisting, each enhancing the other. It began with the dancers, in long black gowns, inhabiting the “white box” of MOCA’s largest gallery, empty of visual art that night. They moved through what glo founder Lauri Stallings calls migrating choirs and anthems, at times in tight blocks, at other times exploding into runs around the space. They led viewers to art exhibits in a second and third gallery, and a space between galleries where Thom Baker’s photography triumphed.
I could never have imagined that watching a group of dancers lie on the floor for 10 minutes, in silence, in front of a painting, could be so thrilling. Stallings’ movement vocabulary is richer and more complex these days and her dancers are iron-strong and laser-focused: Kristina Brown, Maryjane Pennington, Jennifer Cara Clark, Anicka Austin, Fifi Mpezo, Ariel Hart and Nadya Zeitlin all performed brilliantly. Performance 3 was part of a nine-week glo adventure (October 24 through December 20) at MOCA and outdoor sites around the city. I wish I’d seen more of it. GAR
Agami adopted the bold flavorings of her mentor, Ohad Naharin. (Photo by Thom Baker)
Agami adopted the bold flavorings of her mentor, Ohad Naharin. (Photo by Thom Baker)
Mouth to Mouth 
The year wrapped up with a performance by former Batsheva Dance Company star Danielle Agami’s Los Angeles–based Ate9 Dance Company. Tanz Farm series 2 presented a number of entry points into the Israeli choreographer’s work including two master Gaga classes and the Atlanta premiere of Mouth to Mouth at the Goat Farm Arts Center.
Mouth to Mouth, which featured a cast of eight astonishing dancers including Agami herself, represented the best of the Israeli aesthetic: fast, articulate gestures, high-flying physicality, and a nuanced, nonlinear narrative. And though the work was structurally reminiscent of Ohad Naharin’s work for Batsheva, Agami’s movement invention was as dynamic and explosive as her dancing. Impressive stuff for such a young choreographer and her new company, just named one of Dance Magazine’s 2015 “25 to Watch.” Let’s hope Agami and her company return to Atlanta soon. KW 
- See more at: http://www.artsatl.com/2015/01/year-review-star-crossed-lovers-spanostallings-mark-exciting-diversity-atlanta-dance/#sthash.bn7oPXhY.dpuf