- 2 Kids and a Dream: SHE Created It
- African American Dance Review
- Atlanta Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, Fusion, Ignition, Four Seasons, Nutcracker
- Atlanta Dance Connection: Grace, Elegance & Energy
- Ballethnic: Flyin' West, Urban Nutcracker
- BE (brooks emanuel) dance at Poem 88
- Beacon Dance: At once now and then, Earth, Water Study
- Brooks and Company Dance: Ugly Duckling, Shorts 6
- Catellier Dance Projects: Tempo, Dance in Progress
- CORE Performance Company: The Point and Navigating the Hallway in addition to Salons and Lunchtimes in the Studio
- Corian Ellisor: WikiDance, Magnetic Drift and Be(a)stie
- Crossover Movement Arts: The West Zen, Pressure and Iron and Steel, Freestyle Polers Take the Fourth Ward,
- D’air: Untamed, FLUX
- Dance Truck: Noelle Stiles, PLOT
- Emily Christianson: Shaken
- Expression Concert Dance Company had their inaugural performance with choreography by their director and other locals like company member Mary Mattman, Corian Ellisor and Sharon Sibley
- Ferst Center at Georgia Tech: Step Afrika!, Doug Varone and Dancers, Jonah Bokaer, Nrityagam, Aszure Barton and Artists
- FLUX: gloATL, D’air and Zoetic performed in three spaces in Castleberry Hill (I love when I can just walk out my gate and find art. It's the best night to live where we live down here! Well, the art strolls that happen monthly are also art, technically, but unfortunately they don't usually include dance.)
- Full Radius Dance: Walking on my Grave, MAD Festival
- Gardenhouse Dance: Layers at the ACAC, Proximity
- Gathering Wild: 27, Anatomy of a Song
- The Georgia Ballet Rhythm and Rhapsody
- Giwayen Mata: Salute to our Men
- gloATL: this is a world, chapter iii: this is a world, FLUX, liquid culture, maa’, float, everything and the Goodson Yard space was announced as their home and regular classes started there as CITY wide, in addition to summer and winter intensives
- Helen Hale created a piece for the Magnetic Drift show, and a romp in the outdoors for the Beltline in Anti-Manners
- Inman Park Dance Festival celebrated its 11th year
- LIFT: Men. Dance. Life. had their second annual show at the Hertz
- Lori Teague: Dance in Progress
- Project 7: Wall to Wall, Masquerade
- Refuge Dance Company: Progress
- Rialto: Dance Africa Atlanta (part of NBAF), Ron K. Brown Evidence, Paul Taylor Dance Company
- Room to Move Dance: The Lemon Table
- SIDEWAYS: Breaking Bounds, Once Upon a Holiday
- Staibdance: Dance in Progress at Emory
- The Lucky Penny: a new presenting organization created by the fantastic energy of the duo Malina Rodriguez of Dance Truck and Blake Beckham. They started out with an artist talk with visiting NY performing artists The Blow, then really brought it with a huge event the 11.11.11 Spectacular Spectacular! two days full of artist talks, master classes, performances and more
- Zoetic: Catch & Release, UNDONE, performance at MODA
Monday, December 19, 2011
Atlanta Dance overview for 2011
So last year I listed most of everything that happened in 2010 in sort of loose chronological order. Now here's an attempt to list things from 2011 (this time alphabetically, sort of by performer) but wow, there was so much, I can't be sure I everything got in! It's also a little tricky since mostly it's by season on peoples' calendars instead of calendar years. Mostly I'm just condensing everything I can from the Dance Calendar that's on DanceATL.org. Let me know if I left things out! Happy Holidays!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Celebration time!
I hope everyone had a really great Thanksgiving! I did, right after CORE had our Navigating the Hallway show, which together with the holiday means it's been a while since I've posted anything...and I'm not going to catch up on everything right now. Sorry!
But I would like to put out a last minute invitation to join us for a holiday party (with optional ice skating) in lieu of our regularly scheduled meeting this Sunday, December 4 from 4-6 pm at Park Tavern. Very low key gathering there, and not expecting big crowds, frankly, since it's so last minute. But if you don't mind letting us know if you'll be coming with an email to info@danceatl.org. (Just in case it's a bigger group and we might need to arrange things.) Being Southern, I personally have only ice skated once in my entire life (on a first date in college...) but Aly really wants to skate, so why not? It's fun, right (despite the bruises!)
And for the more business-oriented meeting, we have a space at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (thanks for hosting, ACAC!) on Thursday, January 12 from noon to 1 pm. to discuss Off the EDGE and Atlanta Spaces. Bring a lunch and we'll discuss the EDGE events in late January and their relationship to the community, and the development of the Atlanta Spaces project with our partners at C4. And the next meeting in February is totally up in the air as of yet (hm, does that mean it's time to get aerial dancers involved? haha, I'll look into it!)
Yay dance and happy holidays!
But I would like to put out a last minute invitation to join us for a holiday party (with optional ice skating) in lieu of our regularly scheduled meeting this Sunday, December 4 from 4-6 pm at Park Tavern. Very low key gathering there, and not expecting big crowds, frankly, since it's so last minute. But if you don't mind letting us know if you'll be coming with an email to info@danceatl.org. (Just in case it's a bigger group and we might need to arrange things.) Being Southern, I personally have only ice skated once in my entire life (on a first date in college...) but Aly really wants to skate, so why not? It's fun, right (despite the bruises!)
And for the more business-oriented meeting, we have a space at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (thanks for hosting, ACAC!) on Thursday, January 12 from noon to 1 pm. to discuss Off the EDGE and Atlanta Spaces. Bring a lunch and we'll discuss the EDGE events in late January and their relationship to the community, and the development of the Atlanta Spaces project with our partners at C4. And the next meeting in February is totally up in the air as of yet (hm, does that mean it's time to get aerial dancers involved? haha, I'll look into it!)
Yay dance and happy holidays!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Career Transitions for Dancers free workshop this Sat.
I'm playing this up because it's really just a fantastic opportunity for dancers who need help with their careers. Free lunch? free career counseling? discount on tickets to wonderful dance show? Great! Yay dance!
Here's the info:
Here's the info:
A very unique New York City-based non-profit that serves ONLY dancers -- Career Transition For Dancers (CTFD) -- is conducting a free-of-charge workshop happening next Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Rialto from 11 am - 2 pm. (Lunch is provided.) CTFD offers professional career counseling, information and resources, and scholarship/grant $$ to enable and empower dancers to define longer-range career possibilities while they are dancing and beyond. This 26 year old program was started by Agnes de Mille and representatives of the major performing unions. Visit CTFD's website at www.careertransition.org.
For more information and to register for the event, visit the Dance Canvas website. And when you register, you'll get a discount code for tickets to the Ron K Brown/EVIDENCE performance happening that evening the 19th at the Rialto.
Each year CTFD takes their programs and services on the road to cities with a significant dance presence. Their seminars introduce dancers to a career counseling methodology so they can begin assessing their options either while they are still performing or thereafter. To date, CTFD has reached over 3,700 dancers in 30 cities across the nation.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Dance criticism...some of it and opinions about it
A post on The Ballet Bag about "The Future of Dance Criticism" has a funny take to close the article--criticism as therapy? This, she says, is because you feel better when you can argue with the critic. The author's point really, though, is that the professional critic these days holds some measure of attention not because they're respected as an authority due to their position at a printed publication (such as in the past) but more because they are a consistent voice in the midst of all the faster and louder internet noise. This would've been true before too, that in reading reviews to many shows over time by the same writer, you can come to know this person's "prejudices and partialities" as the author puts it, and can judge if you'd like a show based on your understanding of their taste. If you know that a person's taste is totally opposite of yours in many ways, if they pan a show, you can guess you'll probably love it, and vice versa.
And on that note, whether you agree with them or like to get your therapy from arguing with them, here are some recent press pieces for dance in town.
Reviews for Atlanta Ballet's recent performance of The Four Seasons and EDEN/EDEN (previews are in the previous post):
Dance Canvas has announced the choreographers chosen to be part of this season's showcase performances on Jan. 20-21 at the 14th Street Playhouse.
Creative Loafing's fall arts issue focused on artists in various genres, and the "spritely" Helen Hale was the profile they included for dance.
There's also a preview from Andrew Alexander for last Sunday's show at the Rialto, ASPHALTE, by the French "compagnie derniere minute" with choreography by Pierre Rigal. And a preview by Catherine Maddox in CL for Atlanta Dance Connection's show last weekend, "Dark Allure".
And for upcoming Art on the BeltLine events by a slew of dance companies, Andrew says we dancers are starting stage one of our takeover of the city. Yay dance!
And on that note, whether you agree with them or like to get your therapy from arguing with them, here are some recent press pieces for dance in town.
Reviews for Atlanta Ballet's recent performance of The Four Seasons and EDEN/EDEN (previews are in the previous post):
- reviews by Cynthia Perry in the AJC and ArtsCriticATL.com
- review by Andrew Alexander for Creative Loafing
Dance Canvas has announced the choreographers chosen to be part of this season's showcase performances on Jan. 20-21 at the 14th Street Playhouse.
Creative Loafing's fall arts issue focused on artists in various genres, and the "spritely" Helen Hale was the profile they included for dance.
There's also a preview from Andrew Alexander for last Sunday's show at the Rialto, ASPHALTE, by the French "compagnie derniere minute" with choreography by Pierre Rigal. And a preview by Catherine Maddox in CL for Atlanta Dance Connection's show last weekend, "Dark Allure".
And for upcoming Art on the BeltLine events by a slew of dance companies, Andrew says we dancers are starting stage one of our takeover of the city. Yay dance!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
What nice weather we're having...or, well, it was
Let's see, there are a few things to mention that would otherwise go in an enews (and have mostly already been posted to Facebook) but I'll put here just to get them out there:
- Full Radius looking for dancers
- Jordan Matter is looking for dancers for photos for his book Dancers Among Us. Let's prove him wrong that we haven't responded (his blog post "Where's the love Atlanta") and show him some love (and show some of our beautiful dancers and spaces in his book!)
And some of the coverage from these last couple weeks in Oct. (possibly not in real chronological order, sorry):
- Interview by Cynthia Perry with Atlanta Ballet's dancer Anne Burton Avery about The Four Seasons, coming up this weekend
- Preview of The Four Seasons by Andrew Alexander for CL
- Preview of Beacon Dance's Water Study at Emory
- Preview in CL of Zoetic's show Undone and preview with photos in BURNAWAY
- Emily Christianson's Shaken: preview and review in CL
- Aszure Barton and Artists: Creative Loafing interview/preview by Andrew and ArtsCriticATL interview/preview by a new writer to the site, Chelsea Thomas (welcome to writing about Atlanta dance! glad to have you here!)
- FLUX Preview by Cynthia Perry and Postmortem in BURNAWAY and What did you think of? in CL, both by Andrew Alexander
Monday, October 3, 2011
Oct. 2 meeting notes: Atlanta dance presenters and the community
First off a big thank you to Ivan and Kennesaw State University Dance Program for hosting our meeting in their beautiful new studio space, and to Jenna Knight from the Ferst Center for organizing the topic and leading the discussion.
Notes:
Jenna: new director at Ferst a former prof dancer, dedicated to bringing in cutting edge contemporary dance, walk line between selling tickets and challenging the audience
This season 4 artists:
Renovation at Ferst, open up new perf spaces, 1200 seat house currently but will have smaller spaces coming, rehearsal studio, all beginning maybe April 2013
Drama Tech and Ferst will work more together to share the space
Malina Rodriguez with Dance Truck: began two yrs ago with Le Flash, 18 or 19 performances, presented more than 60 artists, mostly in ATL, also brought in folks from NY, OR, MS
Show ATL dance to new audiences here and take these artists out to other festivals: PICA most recently in Portland, also other artists presented. First international group presented at PICA: Off Site Dance Proj. Japanese site specific dance co.
collaborating and partnering with local galleries, spring up at unsuspecting places to show the glory of ATL dance, success mixing visual arts with dance community and having collaborations sparked through exposure with the dance truck
Crossover nov 5 art on the beltline, near Stein Steel in Reynoldstown
Bobbi Jo brooks, photographer has a show based on dance images of dancers in dance trucks, Genema Gallery at ChristChurch Arts, opening Fri Nov 18
High museum in Jan for college night: focus on the dance programs in colleges
Dirty south tour coming up to MS, NOLA and NC
11.11.11 dance truck moving pictures, screen and projector with dance films “Spectacular Spectacular”, hopefully in The Arts Exchange next to MITS
The Lucky Penny, Blake Beckham and Malina together, ideas that "don’t fit in trucks" with these two Presenting local artists and out of town guests Jill Sigman from NY, Alisa Mittin, T Lang, talk with Gardenhouse, and more, plus Wonderroot for poetry readings, all ends up w a dance party
Building artist across disciplines and generate dance enthusiasm
Be the bridge between young choreographers and more established presenters, providing opps for local artists to hook into network, figuring out where they fit in the community
Partnering with Emory for the Dance for Reel on Oct. 25, animation artist Miwa Matreyek and Cloud Eye Control
Kyle Stapleton at Rialto Center at GSU, it's their 95th birthday (15th at GSU), 4 dance shows this season:
Zoe Juniper: Lucky Penny would like to help with the backstage part, a lec/demo
Ivan at KSU: students show (and apparently all the dance programs around town) Nov 16-19 "Paquita +III", Lauri Stallings staging a work, Sandra and Ivan creating, then spring student concert 100 dance majors since 2009, students performing and choreographic
Partnership with Atlanta Ballet and gloATL and Cobb Energy,
Emory: faculty and guest artists presenting their casual showing with discussion with choreographers, great teaching tool The Georgia Ballet, Gershwin and Act III Sleeping Beauty in Oct.
What would your ideal scenario with presenters and residencies?
Production support for local or emerging or established choreographers in town, is it possible to fit that into your programming
How do the new grads get involved and engaged? Competitive to get FLUX…what else?
What do you look for when you’re bringing in dance? Not so much names, except maybe one in the season as an anchor, curatorial idea comes from director, integrity of art, will it fit into our season, what are the technical costs and fees
Project 7 with competitive dance training and commercial dance: showcases at conferences, ready to tour, regional ones are smaller Booking conferences are still key, browsing some at them but with specific in mind NPN with 7 Stages, presenting one dance show this year
What kind of interactions besides master classes would you like to have with the artists? Onur, curating Turkish festival of dance film and some live, sometimes week intensive or even year long creative period Jonah Bokaer creating new work ARTech an example of this from last year at Ferst
Can local artists observe the rehearsal process?
Growth is happening but there are growing pains, we want more but many of us still have 5 day jobs too
Social situation meeting with artistic directors from local groups and the visiting artists
Discounts to performances for students and other economic help
Students are required to do internships for a semester for the major, a lot teach: send Ivan an email with the details, evaluation for academic credit
Goldstar.com: half price tickets to most dance shows at Ferst
Lucky Penny would like to have a space eventually
Notes:
Jenna: new director at Ferst a former prof dancer, dedicated to bringing in cutting edge contemporary dance, walk line between selling tickets and challenging the audience
This season 4 artists:
- Aszure Barton and Artists, rarely touring co, ATL premiere, “Busk” and “Blue Soup”
- Joe Goode Perf. Group , Fri Feb 3, “The Rambler”
- Bridgeman/Packer Dance, Feb. 25, technology and dance, ATL premiere“Double Expose”
- Pilobolus, Sat. Mar 16
Renovation at Ferst, open up new perf spaces, 1200 seat house currently but will have smaller spaces coming, rehearsal studio, all beginning maybe April 2013
Drama Tech and Ferst will work more together to share the space
Malina Rodriguez with Dance Truck: began two yrs ago with Le Flash, 18 or 19 performances, presented more than 60 artists, mostly in ATL, also brought in folks from NY, OR, MS
Show ATL dance to new audiences here and take these artists out to other festivals: PICA most recently in Portland, also other artists presented. First international group presented at PICA: Off Site Dance Proj. Japanese site specific dance co.
collaborating and partnering with local galleries, spring up at unsuspecting places to show the glory of ATL dance, success mixing visual arts with dance community and having collaborations sparked through exposure with the dance truck
Crossover nov 5 art on the beltline, near Stein Steel in Reynoldstown
Bobbi Jo brooks, photographer has a show based on dance images of dancers in dance trucks, Genema Gallery at ChristChurch Arts, opening Fri Nov 18
High museum in Jan for college night: focus on the dance programs in colleges
Dirty south tour coming up to MS, NOLA and NC
11.11.11 dance truck moving pictures, screen and projector with dance films “Spectacular Spectacular”, hopefully in The Arts Exchange next to MITS
The Lucky Penny, Blake Beckham and Malina together, ideas that "don’t fit in trucks" with these two Presenting local artists and out of town guests Jill Sigman from NY, Alisa Mittin, T Lang, talk with Gardenhouse, and more, plus Wonderroot for poetry readings, all ends up w a dance party
Building artist across disciplines and generate dance enthusiasm
Be the bridge between young choreographers and more established presenters, providing opps for local artists to hook into network, figuring out where they fit in the community
Partnering with Emory for the Dance for Reel on Oct. 25, animation artist Miwa Matreyek and Cloud Eye Control
Kyle Stapleton at Rialto Center at GSU, it's their 95th birthday (15th at GSU), 4 dance shows this season:
- ASHPHALTE, hip hop and technology, Oct. 30 5 pm, master class JD Sims
- Ron Brown, N Springs class
- Off the EDGE, week long series of events “swarm” Lauri Stallings, Jan 23-28 o 27-28 with guest artists at Rialto: Lar Lubovich, Gallim, River North, Kegwin, Zoe Juniper,
- Roundtable with Sue Schroeder on Thursday,
- EDGE Public call for submissions
- EDGE 2D, photo exhibition
- EDGE Backstage, students 12-15 yr for backstage
- Host artists BCD, Ballethnic, KSU, Emory, Dance Canvas, CORE, Full Radius
- Hoping it will be annual
- Trey McIntyre, N Atlanta class
Zoe Juniper: Lucky Penny would like to help with the backstage part, a lec/demo
Ivan at KSU: students show (and apparently all the dance programs around town) Nov 16-19 "Paquita +III", Lauri Stallings staging a work, Sandra and Ivan creating, then spring student concert 100 dance majors since 2009, students performing and choreographic
Partnership with Atlanta Ballet and gloATL and Cobb Energy,
Emory: faculty and guest artists presenting their casual showing with discussion with choreographers, great teaching tool The Georgia Ballet, Gershwin and Act III Sleeping Beauty in Oct.
What would your ideal scenario with presenters and residencies?
Production support for local or emerging or established choreographers in town, is it possible to fit that into your programming
How do the new grads get involved and engaged? Competitive to get FLUX…what else?
What do you look for when you’re bringing in dance? Not so much names, except maybe one in the season as an anchor, curatorial idea comes from director, integrity of art, will it fit into our season, what are the technical costs and fees
Project 7 with competitive dance training and commercial dance: showcases at conferences, ready to tour, regional ones are smaller Booking conferences are still key, browsing some at them but with specific in mind NPN with 7 Stages, presenting one dance show this year
What kind of interactions besides master classes would you like to have with the artists? Onur, curating Turkish festival of dance film and some live, sometimes week intensive or even year long creative period Jonah Bokaer creating new work ARTech an example of this from last year at Ferst
Can local artists observe the rehearsal process?
Growth is happening but there are growing pains, we want more but many of us still have 5 day jobs too
Social situation meeting with artistic directors from local groups and the visiting artists
Discounts to performances for students and other economic help
Students are required to do internships for a semester for the major, a lot teach: send Ivan an email with the details, evaluation for academic credit
Goldstar.com: half price tickets to most dance shows at Ferst
Lucky Penny would like to have a space eventually
Monday, September 26, 2011
Dance Takeover
Wow, what a way to start off a season!
So the most recent news for DanceATL: we're taking over the city! Ok, maybe not literally, but I love the hyperbole of our Creative Loafing shout out: "the meetings, blog, and events calendar of the new dance service org DanceATL have become an important focal point for Atlanta's independent dancers and choreographers as they gather and plan for their long overdue takeover of the city." That's in the "Best Sign that ATL's Dance Scene Rules" in the Best of ATL 2011 issue that came out last week. And congratulations go out to gloATL for readers' choice for best dance company (2nd year in a row) and Dance Truck's PLOT for best dance performance! Now if Atlanta Magazine only had a dance category on their best of... (hint hint). And don't forget this is after the recent cover story on dance in CL as well--we love you guys, too! Thanks!
And in reviews, I have to go where my job/bias lies and start with CORE Performance Company's 25th year in Decatur and recent performance, The Point:
Then we have gloATL's Maa' with ASO and Sonic Generator (I have the feeling I won't find all mentions of this show):
And last but not least, 2 Kids and a Dream's performance SHE Created It also got a preview in CL and review by Daryl Foster on ArtsCriticATL.com.
Let me know if I missed anything, guys, and yay dance!
So the most recent news for DanceATL: we're taking over the city! Ok, maybe not literally, but I love the hyperbole of our Creative Loafing shout out: "the meetings, blog, and events calendar of the new dance service org DanceATL have become an important focal point for Atlanta's independent dancers and choreographers as they gather and plan for their long overdue takeover of the city." That's in the "Best Sign that ATL's Dance Scene Rules" in the Best of ATL 2011 issue that came out last week. And congratulations go out to gloATL for readers' choice for best dance company (2nd year in a row) and Dance Truck's PLOT for best dance performance! Now if Atlanta Magazine only had a dance category on their best of... (hint hint). And don't forget this is after the recent cover story on dance in CL as well--we love you guys, too! Thanks!
And in reviews, I have to go where my job/bias lies and start with CORE Performance Company's 25th year in Decatur and recent performance, The Point:
- a preview and review by Andrew Alexander in CL,
- a review by Cynthia Perry on ArtsCriticATL,
- and an interview with artistic director Sue Schroeder on WABE's City Cafe.
Then we have gloATL's Maa' with ASO and Sonic Generator (I have the feeling I won't find all mentions of this show):
- CL preview and review, and a review in UK blog Balletco by Andrew Alexander
- Preview by Mark Gresham and a review on ArtsCriticATL.com by Pierre Ruhe
- And also on CL, a slideshow of the performance
And last but not least, 2 Kids and a Dream's performance SHE Created It also got a preview in CL and review by Daryl Foster on ArtsCriticATL.com.
Let me know if I missed anything, guys, and yay dance!
Friday, September 9, 2011
It LIVES!
The DanceATL website has gone live! FINALLY! So it's always a work in progress because you know, it's a website. So please keep sending your information and please let us know when old information is outdated. And we'll do our best to keep it up to date. If there's something else you'd like to see that's not there, tell us. The platform is built but still flexible (we can add more pages etc.) We want to be a useful resource for dance in Atlanta, so please USE it!
And did you see it, the COVER STORY about dance in Creative Loafing?? I'm totally stoked about this because it's a lot of great exposure for dance here in town in a thoroughly researched and beautifully composed article by Andrew Alexander. Yay!
On another note, I meant to link to BURNAWAY's "Art Crush" Interview with Malina Rodriguez and Danny Davis in the last post. Since I didn't add it then, here it is now. Enjoy!
Oh, and a couple of other quick notes. October 2 will be the next bi-monthly meeting. Out at KSU this time where students in the dance program will perform and we'll talk with local presenters about their connections with the community. I haven't made it out to see their new space yet, so I'm looking forward to getting the tour.
And, there's been some feedback that folks would like a meeting that isn't on Sunday afternoons, and so I've found us a space (thank you Atlanta Contemporary Art Center) and I was going to pick a time, but if you have an opinion on what day during the week you'd be able to join us for a lunch meeting to talk about dance, please let me know (or comment). I'm also trying to decide if these should be an extension of the same topic that happened on the Sunday afternoon meeting, sans performance (fitting it into an hour and a classroom space) or an ongoing topic of some kind, or totally separate topics, or...so if you have an opinion on that too, please let it be known!
Yay dance!
And did you see it, the COVER STORY about dance in Creative Loafing?? I'm totally stoked about this because it's a lot of great exposure for dance here in town in a thoroughly researched and beautifully composed article by Andrew Alexander. Yay!
On another note, I meant to link to BURNAWAY's "Art Crush" Interview with Malina Rodriguez and Danny Davis in the last post. Since I didn't add it then, here it is now. Enjoy!
Oh, and a couple of other quick notes. October 2 will be the next bi-monthly meeting. Out at KSU this time where students in the dance program will perform and we'll talk with local presenters about their connections with the community. I haven't made it out to see their new space yet, so I'm looking forward to getting the tour.
And, there's been some feedback that folks would like a meeting that isn't on Sunday afternoons, and so I've found us a space (thank you Atlanta Contemporary Art Center) and I was going to pick a time, but if you have an opinion on what day during the week you'd be able to join us for a lunch meeting to talk about dance, please let me know (or comment). I'm also trying to decide if these should be an extension of the same topic that happened on the Sunday afternoon meeting, sans performance (fitting it into an hour and a classroom space) or an ongoing topic of some kind, or totally separate topics, or...so if you have an opinion on that too, please let it be known!
Yay dance!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
September already?
It's September and that means seasons by dance groups are starting all over town. Also, I have a deadline (finally) for the DanceATL website of, oh, now, because there's an article coming out that I will post when it hits. So you'll see both the website (eek! consider it a "soft launch" here this week--restaurants do it, why can't we?) and this article coming soon. Oh, and when you see the old photos and missing information that are inevitable on the website, don't just grumble about it--please send us your new stuff!
Last post, I listed Cynthia Perry's fall preview from Access Atlanta, but I can now also point to her more comprehensive look at ArtsCriticATL. I especially appreciate her positive outlook on the upcoming season, which promises to be very full and busy in a lot of areas. Yay dance in Atlanta!
Welcome to the new Expression Dance Company, and thanks to them again for performing in our most recent DanceATL meeting. There was a preview of their Aug. 26-27 premiere from CL.
Emory University is honoring dance in awards they'll bestow on Beacon Dance's Patton White and Dance Truck's Malina Rodriguez at their Creativity and the Arts Soiree. See an overview at Creative Loafing and ArtsCriticATL.com. Emory's dance program is also starting a new Dance in Progress series this fall that gives a glimpse into what their professors and guest artists are cooking up.
If you're a choreographer making work, there are a few opportunities this season to consider. One interesting development is the off the EDGE event coming in Jan. at the Rialto. It's a curated performance series bringing a bunch of different artists into town to perform, but with a local component that has a call for entry you can read a recap of on CL (and I can forward the word doc to anyone who's interested and didn't get it yet--just email info@danceatl.org). Another place to show your work as a choreographer: you can read about and apply by Sept. 23 for this season's Dance Canvas showcase (also in January). And of course, there's the 17th Annual Modern Atlanta Dance Festival to apply for as well, with a deadline of Sept. 16 and performance in May this year. Contact fullradiusdance@aol.com for an application.
And DanceATL is partnering with the arts service organization, C4 Atlanta on Atlanta Spaces, which is "a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, searchable database of arts venues and facilities in the Atlanta metro area. The website lists venues that offer space for classes, workshops, auditions, rehearsals, performances and more." If you have a space you'd like to list, please do, and my fantastic intern will be doing research and hounding people to post their spaces, so if you know of some really great off-the-wall venues for rehearsing etc., let her know at bianca@danceatl.org. I hope this will be a really useful resource and I'm very happy to have the technology from Fractured Atlas, through C4, that will work so much better than our just making a list of places we know about on our website (which is still sort of there, but this way it won't have to be updated by us...and therefore much less likely to stay constantly out of date.)
I thought of about 5 other things I could write about, but it's late and I'll save them for another post.
Last post, I listed Cynthia Perry's fall preview from Access Atlanta, but I can now also point to her more comprehensive look at ArtsCriticATL. I especially appreciate her positive outlook on the upcoming season, which promises to be very full and busy in a lot of areas. Yay dance in Atlanta!
Welcome to the new Expression Dance Company, and thanks to them again for performing in our most recent DanceATL meeting. There was a preview of their Aug. 26-27 premiere from CL.
Emory University is honoring dance in awards they'll bestow on Beacon Dance's Patton White and Dance Truck's Malina Rodriguez at their Creativity and the Arts Soiree. See an overview at Creative Loafing and ArtsCriticATL.com. Emory's dance program is also starting a new Dance in Progress series this fall that gives a glimpse into what their professors and guest artists are cooking up.
If you're a choreographer making work, there are a few opportunities this season to consider. One interesting development is the off the EDGE event coming in Jan. at the Rialto. It's a curated performance series bringing a bunch of different artists into town to perform, but with a local component that has a call for entry you can read a recap of on CL (and I can forward the word doc to anyone who's interested and didn't get it yet--just email info@danceatl.org). Another place to show your work as a choreographer: you can read about and apply by Sept. 23 for this season's Dance Canvas showcase (also in January). And of course, there's the 17th Annual Modern Atlanta Dance Festival to apply for as well, with a deadline of Sept. 16 and performance in May this year. Contact fullradiusdance@aol.com for an application.
And DanceATL is partnering with the arts service organization, C4 Atlanta on Atlanta Spaces, which is "a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, searchable database of arts venues and facilities in the Atlanta metro area. The website lists venues that offer space for classes, workshops, auditions, rehearsals, performances and more." If you have a space you'd like to list, please do, and my fantastic intern will be doing research and hounding people to post their spaces, so if you know of some really great off-the-wall venues for rehearsing etc., let her know at bianca@danceatl.org. I hope this will be a really useful resource and I'm very happy to have the technology from Fractured Atlas, through C4, that will work so much better than our just making a list of places we know about on our website (which is still sort of there, but this way it won't have to be updated by us...and therefore much less likely to stay constantly out of date.)
I thought of about 5 other things I could write about, but it's late and I'll save them for another post.
Monday, August 22, 2011
August
Wanting to post but not really wanting to write...so here's what you get for tonight:
Andrew Alexander's preview for brooks emanuel (be dance) in Creative Loafing
And his mention for the PLOT artists' talk, both at poem 88
an article in Dance Informa about Dance Truck
season preview for Crossover Movement Arts
fall dance preview from Cynthia Perry in Access Atlanta
Ok, I didn't watch this season of SYTYCD, and of course it's always a controversial subject with dancers (love it, hate it, etc.) but since she IS from Georgia, here's an interview with Melanie Moore
Eyedrum reopens in Castleberry Hill (it's not a dance specific venue of course, but they hosted plenty in the old space)
Andrew Alexander's preview for brooks emanuel (be dance) in Creative Loafing
And his mention for the PLOT artists' talk, both at poem 88
an article in Dance Informa about Dance Truck
season preview for Crossover Movement Arts
fall dance preview from Cynthia Perry in Access Atlanta
Ok, I didn't watch this season of SYTYCD, and of course it's always a controversial subject with dancers (love it, hate it, etc.) but since she IS from Georgia, here's an interview with Melanie Moore
Eyedrum reopens in Castleberry Hill (it's not a dance specific venue of course, but they hosted plenty in the old space)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Notes from Aug. 7 meeting
Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting! Thanks to Expression for performing, CORE for hosting, Aly for notetaking and Andrew Alexander for listening. I hope you all found it valuable. Please get in touch to let me know if there are ways to improve the process as we move forward to the next meeting on Oct. 2.
Performance by Expression Dance, upcoming performance Aug 27-28 at Beacon
Performance by Expression Dance, upcoming performance Aug 27-28 at Beacon
Introductions
Claire H. – CORE upcoming show The Point, Sept. 17-18, will be free thanks to underwriting from sponsors in Decatur, Gathering Wild 27 at Fabrefaction
Brooks Emanuel – Aug 12th @Poem 88 at 8&9pm / Beacon remounting the Elemental Project
Joe Winter – C4atlanta.org working on the arts and culture census, mailing list trading mechanism, will be doing another upload for new members so you can still join in
Jenna Knight – Ferst center dance series, Azure Barton in October, Joe Goode, Bridgeman/Packer Dance and Pilobolus / all will have community master classes
Paula Winter- past local choreographer and dancer (30 years ago)
Nicole Livieratos – Gardenhouse Oct 15 in Rabun County, something with Lucky Penny in the fall
Blake Beckham – Just wrapped up PLOT, DanceTruck at time based art festival in Portland, OR, Nov 5 Art on the Beltline, Dirty South Tour, The Lucky Penny=a new entity that will serve as a presenter, next project on 11.11.11
Blake Dalton – CORE Fieldwork at Emory featuring dancers and writers Aug. 14. Crossover season kickoff Aug. 12-13, FLUX on 30th of September, Art on the Beltline at Wren’s Next, Nov 13 at Zentropy at Old 4th Ward park, potentially a project with Luminosity, open freestyle poling and dance classes at CORE Studios
Nathan Henderson & Mary Mattman – Expression Dance Co. on August 26&27 at Beacon
Aly Brock – WabiSabi at the Garden, Atlanta Ballet Season opens in October, Brooks & Co Transition, DanceATL update
Amy Gately- Room to Move A Rothko inspired piece
Joe Futral – Working on several theatre projects, Matt Kent is going to be new co-Artistic Director for Pilobolus so Wormhole is in re-think
Douglas Scott– MAD Festival applications are available through Sept. 15, contact him for one, also new website for the festival modernatlantadance.org
Andrew Alexander - Creative Loafing Arts Issue coming up
Amanda Thompson – Zoetic FLUX piece with Crossover and Onur Topal-Sumar, recent piece with Flux at The Centennial Olympic Fountain, working on Dekalb arts day for Leadership Dekalb with Sue Schroder
Discussion
What is unique about working in Atlanta, what unique challenges/advantages?
Amy – performance space that is tailored for dance, affordable, information on alternate venues, difficult to get reviewed (Andrew recommended that companies stay in touch with their arts writers)
Jenna - desirable stop for touring artists
Blake D – strong sense of community and support, there’s a geographic challenge
Blake B – ‘Small pondedness,’ untapped spaces, untapped collaborations with artists across boundaries.
Amanda – The city is assessable, the resources that it has that are concentrated in pockets (because of transportation issues) like Decatur
Aly – funding obstacles for smaller companies
Joe F. – The city of potential, obstacles with space, the fundraising engine behind different art forms is more common through theatre, etc.,
Paula - the problems of today are the same as 30 years ago
Joe W – series of interviews with Artistic Directors, one mentioned the future of theatre is site specific as well. Discussed the evolution of dance, adding to the mix – site specific and new technologies
Brooks – the obstacles are damaging to the growth of the dance community. Most importantly space and funding.
Nicole – you can be left alone to do your work, can be good and bad. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for new artists
Jenna – Building new audiences is difficult for dance. Jonah Bokaer, for example, was difficult to attract audience to, perhaps because dance is difficult to describe.
Blake D. – difficult to build word of mouth when most performances are one weekend. Traction issue.
Blake B. – Invest in the quality of what we are doing, if your art inspires then the audience will be converted into dance audience
Douglas – disappointed in the support of the MAD Festival
Claire – discussed ‘engaging dance audiences’ at Dance/USA conference: 9 different projects, from crossover audience projects with audiences of other art forms to online engagement platforms. Testing out things that work and can be pilot projects for other groups to borrow from. Webinar presentations available about these and other audience engagement projects on the Dance/USA website http://www.danceusa.org/engagingdanceaudienceswebinars
COLLABORATION – a big cross-over with the visual arts audience, knowing your work, figure out what you are as an artist – then the audience will define itself, dance is foreign to audiences and it makes it difficult without them having a reference point, if we are serious about building audiences we have to take quality seriously and focus on enhanced criticism, question and answer after performances
Andrew recommends sharing information at least 3 weeks out, stay in touch,
Joe F. - If dance is going to have a vibrant future it is going to take the community pushing each other, challenging each other to find what works, and being honest about what doesn’t.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Dance in July, what you've missed and some you haven't seen yet
Catching up on some of the things that have been written/uploaded about dance in Atlanta in the last few weeks. Please comment with links to things I've missed!
- PLOT:
- Andrew Alexander's preview and review in Creative Loafing,
- Collin Kelly's preview in Atlanta INtown,
- BURNAWAY's interview with Blake Beckham,
- Cynthia Perry's preview in ArtsCriticATL.com
- gloATL Liquid Culture:
- Andrew Alexander's review, preview of MARTA station "station" and preview of the whole project,
- Cynthia Perry's preview and review (check out some of the comments on the review for some controversy...)
- NBAF DanceAfrica: preview from Andrew Alexander
- Gardenhouse Dance: Andrew Alexander's preview of Origami
- The 3D Mariinsky Giselle (of 12 3D ballets apparently in production around the world, so you can catch another one pretty soon) was in movie theatres July 12 and Andrew Alexander reviewed it.
- Serenbe Playhouse The Ugly Duckling is still playing, and Wendell Brock reviewed it as "theater" on ArtsCriticATL but Joanna Brooks choreographed the dance parts of the show, so I figure we can include it here.
National Dance Day 2011
And posting a little late, but maybe you haven't made your plans for this weekend yet. If not, you should head out to celebrate on Saturday, July 30 it's National Dance Day! (Who knew!?) Our friends at ATL Dance Source have these local events posted, but there's more! Well, one more at least that I found. There's also an event at Six Flags at 8:30 a.m. where you can go and dance the dances they've posted videos of on the SYTYCD website which leads you to http://www.dance4yourlife.org. I can't really find much information about the Atlantic Station event other than it's in Central Park and from 1-6 p.m. We had a table there last year but didn't hear from anyone this year about it, so I guess not this year.
Well, hope you all enjoy! Yay dance!
Well, hope you all enjoy! Yay dance!
Pilobolus gets techie and what does that mean?
So I'm passing along the link if you haven't seen it to allisnotlo.st, the newest OK Go video where the band plus Pilobolus dancers do all sorts of fun kaleidoscopic dance-y things in multiple browser windows. It was hard to get it to load yesterday when it had just come out because of traffic to the site, though some is also local in that it's resource heavy. It only works on Google Chrome so you have to have that downloaded.
So this is the sort of creative thing you can do with dance online! It's a music video, but interactive. (I was curious if they also did Japanese characters for messages?) All this goes along with a question I left the Dance/USA conference with, if the whole cultural phenomenon of staged concert dance isn't something of a dinosaur. Not sure that was meant to be the message of it all, but the whole arc of what I heard sort of landed me there. Lots about how fast technology is changing (entire libraries of information every day...) and although most people in a big audience survey said they prefer to see dance live, something like 60% were dancers themselves (at least recreationally). So if people don't dance themselves, they're much less likely to want to go see dance. (Well, sort of knew that anecdotally.) But if you never do anything but sit behind a computer (like I do. Here I am! sigh) how do you ever want to get up and dance yourself, and then subsequently, go see other people dance? There was a fantastic keynote by Pico Iyer that talked about dance as a sanctuary, something outside all this avalanche of technology and information. But how do you even know you crave the chance for something authentic if you don't ever try it? My two year old has been refusing to taste new things to the point of throwing fits about having to even take one bite of something new, even when she it's something that she likes once she tries it. How much is the same (though much less vociferous) with people trying new things like going to that first dance performance? And you can give up if they really don't like "peas" and the first show they go to is nothing but. In the over-crowded world of options vying for our attention, I just don't know how much "try it, you'll like it" is going to work!
Also, concert dance is a very expensive thing to pull off (not that hiring camera crews and web developers etc. is cheap either) so as our economic situation continues to stink, justifying the costs of producing a stage performance starts to look more difficult. Can't you just stream it all over your phone and be done with it?
But please, argue with me, defend concert dance in the 21st century (and beyond). I'm still very involved in concert dance myself (in lots of ways), so I have to defend it! To answer my own question (so I don't leave this on a down note) I can offer my perspective on how the energy is much more powerful seeing dance live--no matter how skillfully it's recorded, something is lost in translation over the screen. I would also say that the stage gives a platform and goal for attaining and showcasing skill that wouldn't exist if we all stuck to gyrating awkwardly in social situations. So we will continue to dance away in our own little corner of the sub-culture and deal with what it means. We know we have to do it--it's part of who we are. We're dancers.
And on a a positive note, here's my message to sign off :) http://goo.gl/fAVLR
So this is the sort of creative thing you can do with dance online! It's a music video, but interactive. (I was curious if they also did Japanese characters for messages?) All this goes along with a question I left the Dance/USA conference with, if the whole cultural phenomenon of staged concert dance isn't something of a dinosaur. Not sure that was meant to be the message of it all, but the whole arc of what I heard sort of landed me there. Lots about how fast technology is changing (entire libraries of information every day...) and although most people in a big audience survey said they prefer to see dance live, something like 60% were dancers themselves (at least recreationally). So if people don't dance themselves, they're much less likely to want to go see dance. (Well, sort of knew that anecdotally.) But if you never do anything but sit behind a computer (like I do. Here I am! sigh) how do you ever want to get up and dance yourself, and then subsequently, go see other people dance? There was a fantastic keynote by Pico Iyer that talked about dance as a sanctuary, something outside all this avalanche of technology and information. But how do you even know you crave the chance for something authentic if you don't ever try it? My two year old has been refusing to taste new things to the point of throwing fits about having to even take one bite of something new, even when she it's something that she likes once she tries it. How much is the same (though much less vociferous) with people trying new things like going to that first dance performance? And you can give up if they really don't like "peas" and the first show they go to is nothing but. In the over-crowded world of options vying for our attention, I just don't know how much "try it, you'll like it" is going to work!
Also, concert dance is a very expensive thing to pull off (not that hiring camera crews and web developers etc. is cheap either) so as our economic situation continues to stink, justifying the costs of producing a stage performance starts to look more difficult. Can't you just stream it all over your phone and be done with it?
But please, argue with me, defend concert dance in the 21st century (and beyond). I'm still very involved in concert dance myself (in lots of ways), so I have to defend it! To answer my own question (so I don't leave this on a down note) I can offer my perspective on how the energy is much more powerful seeing dance live--no matter how skillfully it's recorded, something is lost in translation over the screen. I would also say that the stage gives a platform and goal for attaining and showcasing skill that wouldn't exist if we all stuck to gyrating awkwardly in social situations. So we will continue to dance away in our own little corner of the sub-culture and deal with what it means. We know we have to do it--it's part of who we are. We're dancers.
And on a a positive note, here's my message to sign off :) http://goo.gl/fAVLR
Thursday, July 28, 2011
DanceATL meeting Aug. 7
Upcoming DanceATL meeting on Aug. 7, 6-8pm at CORE (again, I know, but it's what works when the two other places I was trying to get us to meet fall through! If you want to host in the future, let me know!) Expression Dance Co. will perform and we'll have a chance to talk to Creative Loafing's Andrew Alexander about the state of the dance scene in town from where we see it. Notes shall be taken and if you prefer them distilled, you can read Andrew's article in CL early Sept. :)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Gear up for conference time
So I'm getting emails about the service council that's meeting at the Dance/USA conference later this week. Compared to the more organized orgs out there, I feel like we almost don't count, but I'm hoping to get some ideas from what those who ARE organized are doing that might help us on our path forward.
I read some of the notes sent from discussions for DanceNYC and it strikes me how the landscape compares/contrasts. Always people feel like there's not enough money for anything, but I think that's across the board, no matter where you are or how big/small you are. If you're small, then you're dealing with really having no money at all, and if you're big, you have the problem of being stretched to keep doing all the things you've already built. This is the same sort of difference between what we're doing, on the small end, and what they do in NY on the big end. They have expectations to fulfill, with people traveling there to dance from all over the world and not enough opportunities to do so. We make our own opportunities, often in places you don't expect dance to be. There seems to be a big movement here and now that dance pops up where you almost least expect it, mostly because more dancers have made the choice to take it to the audiences that don't want to come to us (because they don't know we're here). The NY folks say they have no lack of people making dances, but also feel like they have problems drawing audiences.
So we'll see how the conversations go this week. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask or keep in mind, leave a comment and I'll see what I can find out!
I read some of the notes sent from discussions for DanceNYC and it strikes me how the landscape compares/contrasts. Always people feel like there's not enough money for anything, but I think that's across the board, no matter where you are or how big/small you are. If you're small, then you're dealing with really having no money at all, and if you're big, you have the problem of being stretched to keep doing all the things you've already built. This is the same sort of difference between what we're doing, on the small end, and what they do in NY on the big end. They have expectations to fulfill, with people traveling there to dance from all over the world and not enough opportunities to do so. We make our own opportunities, often in places you don't expect dance to be. There seems to be a big movement here and now that dance pops up where you almost least expect it, mostly because more dancers have made the choice to take it to the audiences that don't want to come to us (because they don't know we're here). The NY folks say they have no lack of people making dances, but also feel like they have problems drawing audiences.
So we'll see how the conversations go this week. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask or keep in mind, leave a comment and I'll see what I can find out!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Summer
It's almost the Fourth of July. There'll be fireworks and my little girl says "Happy Birthday, America!" even though she has no idea what (or who) "America" is.
And I'm pondering this blog. In an effort to remain neutral, I've only posted things that other people have written. I don't want to become a reviewer because I want to be all-inclusive and supportive of everything everyone is doing. But on the other hand, there are so many things that happen that don't get attention anywhere else, really. I always intended it to be a platform for everyone else's voices, but lately no one has taken me up on the chance to use it. I don't mean as a place to post press releases. I mean if someone has something they want to say about dance here in Atlanta, some musings or even a review that won't be published elsewhere, this could be your platform (with some editorial oversight by myself to try to keep things, well, civil). If you want to talk about a show you've been in or your experience in a workshop etc. I think it would be great to post that sort of thing, a sort of insider's view from no particular company.
Again, I want to remain as "fair and balanced" as possible (haha) and the whole goal of DanceATL has always been to bolster the community as a whole, to build ties and deepen relationships among ourselves and with our audiences. How can this blog, which will hopefully be linked to an actual website before the summer is out (cross fingers, I know we keep promising, but I'm really working on it this time) move us toward those goals? Please comment and let me know what you think! I just haven't been posting all that much, I realize, and I really would like to open it up, since I never really intended it to just be me anyway.
But to continue doing the recap of other folks' writing on the subject:
Burnaway has Art Crush: Helen Hale Dances Her Way into Atlanta's Heart and there was a preview from Andrew Alexander at Creative Loafing and review from Cynthia Perry at ArtsCritical.com of Gardenhouse Dance's "Layers".
But there were lots of other things that have happened despite its being the "off" season (I probably don't have a totally inclusive list, so if I left you off, sorry and please correct me. But on a personal note, I did not make it to any of these events, I just know about them so we have them on the calendar and here. Sometimes frustrating, but until you all want to take turns babysitting for my toddler for free, I'm going to have to keep missing things.):
And I'm pondering this blog. In an effort to remain neutral, I've only posted things that other people have written. I don't want to become a reviewer because I want to be all-inclusive and supportive of everything everyone is doing. But on the other hand, there are so many things that happen that don't get attention anywhere else, really. I always intended it to be a platform for everyone else's voices, but lately no one has taken me up on the chance to use it. I don't mean as a place to post press releases. I mean if someone has something they want to say about dance here in Atlanta, some musings or even a review that won't be published elsewhere, this could be your platform (with some editorial oversight by myself to try to keep things, well, civil). If you want to talk about a show you've been in or your experience in a workshop etc. I think it would be great to post that sort of thing, a sort of insider's view from no particular company.
Again, I want to remain as "fair and balanced" as possible (haha) and the whole goal of DanceATL has always been to bolster the community as a whole, to build ties and deepen relationships among ourselves and with our audiences. How can this blog, which will hopefully be linked to an actual website before the summer is out (cross fingers, I know we keep promising, but I'm really working on it this time) move us toward those goals? Please comment and let me know what you think! I just haven't been posting all that much, I realize, and I really would like to open it up, since I never really intended it to just be me anyway.
But to continue doing the recap of other folks' writing on the subject:
Burnaway has Art Crush: Helen Hale Dances Her Way into Atlanta's Heart and there was a preview from Andrew Alexander at Creative Loafing and review from Cynthia Perry at ArtsCritical.com of Gardenhouse Dance's "Layers".
But there were lots of other things that have happened despite its being the "off" season (I probably don't have a totally inclusive list, so if I left you off, sorry and please correct me. But on a personal note, I did not make it to any of these events, I just know about them so we have them on the calendar and here. Sometimes frustrating, but until you all want to take turns babysitting for my toddler for free, I'm going to have to keep missing things.):
- Room to Move Dance performed soon after our last meeting at the Atlanta Ballet in "The Lemon Table"
- Giwayen Mata did a performance on Father's Day, "A Salute to Our Men",
- Emily Christianson did a showing of her upcoming work "Shaken" during the Castleberry Hill Art Stroll,
- Crossover Movement Arts danced at the Goat Farm in Aleatory (and have a new website),
- The Lucky Penny had inaugural events with guest artists The Blow, and Dance Truck (kinda the same folks in this case, I think) welcomed Noelle Stiles from the Pacific NW at the MINT gallery,
- SIDEWAYS had it's 5th season show "Breaking Bounds" at 7 Stages,
- Full Radius Dance went out of town and performed at the Florida Dance Festival
- Zoetic had its Zoetic Dance Exchange with ChristinaNoel Reaves and "Passing Moment, Intimate Strangers," a showing at the end,
- gloATL started its intensive and will have a showing
And I'm pretty sure there are about 800,000 dance camps for kids, and a few more for adults, happening all across the metro area right now. And in July, it remains pretty sparse, with the National Black Arts Festival's events, Gardenhouse's "Origami," gloATL's "Liquid Culture" series of 5 site specific showings, and Dance Truck/Blake Beckham's "PLOT" as the only things I've heard about.
And then there's, da da da DUM: August. I think there are a couple of auditions (send info@danceatl.org an email if you want to be on the enews list for this kind of news, until the website is up) but otherwise, it's pretty much completely empty, as far as I know, except for the DanceATL meeting that should be happening on the first Sunday. But I'm wondering if that's going to be too hard to make happen in the midst of such emptiness. Would anyone like to volunteer to speak/perform/host that meeting on August 7? Anyone want to hear Angela Harris, who went to Americans for the Arts, someone who went to Alternate ROOTS Fest in Baltimore and myself (going to Dance/USA) download from recent conferences attended (I haven't asked Angela or anyone else about this yet...) or we could discuss spring season dates if you don't have them yet? Try to avoid another first weekend in May scenario? Let me know!
Yay dance!
And then there's, da da da DUM: August. I think there are a couple of auditions (send info@danceatl.org an email if you want to be on the enews list for this kind of news, until the website is up) but otherwise, it's pretty much completely empty, as far as I know, except for the DanceATL meeting that should be happening on the first Sunday. But I'm wondering if that's going to be too hard to make happen in the midst of such emptiness. Would anyone like to volunteer to speak/perform/host that meeting on August 7? Anyone want to hear Angela Harris, who went to Americans for the Arts, someone who went to Alternate ROOTS Fest in Baltimore and myself (going to Dance/USA) download from recent conferences attended (I haven't asked Angela or anyone else about this yet...) or we could discuss spring season dates if you don't have them yet? Try to avoid another first weekend in May scenario? Let me know!
Yay dance!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
"Cool dance stuffs"
Catching up on some things and because it's summer I'm not nearly as behind as I often am. So...previews (actually before the events! don't expect it guys, sorry, but during the season this won't happen) in Creative Loafing for Dance Truck at the MINT Gallery, gloATL's upcoming, and Gardenhouse Dance at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center.
And something upcoming for me too, is the Dance/USA conference. I'm heading up to Chicago with all the dance folks from all over the US to talk about what we do for a few days next month. I haven't been to one of these particular conferences before but I've heard they're good from the folks who have been. I'm also taking part in their inaugural mentorship program as a mentee (you can see the list here, though don't take the names as they're listed in the boxes to mean anything...we're not actually matched that way, it's for some reason alpha by last name on the mentees and first name on the mentors!) The other mentees are in CA, NY, DC and Chicago it looks like. Should be interesting to meet everybody and learn what they do, and of course the feedback of a mentor should be extremely valuable. We're supposed to meet with our mentors at the conference and then commit to speaking at least two hours per month for the next six months. Looking forward to some sage advice from the field. :)
And something upcoming for me too, is the Dance/USA conference. I'm heading up to Chicago with all the dance folks from all over the US to talk about what we do for a few days next month. I haven't been to one of these particular conferences before but I've heard they're good from the folks who have been. I'm also taking part in their inaugural mentorship program as a mentee (you can see the list here, though don't take the names as they're listed in the boxes to mean anything...we're not actually matched that way, it's for some reason alpha by last name on the mentees and first name on the mentors!) The other mentees are in CA, NY, DC and Chicago it looks like. Should be interesting to meet everybody and learn what they do, and of course the feedback of a mentor should be extremely valuable. We're supposed to meet with our mentors at the conference and then commit to speaking at least two hours per month for the next six months. Looking forward to some sage advice from the field. :)
Monday, June 20, 2011
Some recent news
Congratulations to Angela Harris of Dance Canvas for winning the American's for the Arts American Express Emerging Leader Award at this year's AftA conference! Read more about Angela and her award at the AJC and Creative Loafing.
And the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company is moving part-time to Atlanta (sharing with its current home base in Kansas City, MO). You can read Cynthia Perry's story about this new-to-town company in ArtsCriticATL.com.
Other news has been from out of town: nearby festivals like Spoleto in SC (Sideways performed at "Dance at Noon" and here's a mention) and the American Dance Festival. For those of us not lucky enough to be at ADF this year, you can see videos of things cooking in Durham, NC on the blog "May we have this cyberdance?"
And in case this makes it seem like there's no dance happening in Atlanta during the summer, check out the danceatl.org calendar and see that is totally untrue!
And the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company is moving part-time to Atlanta (sharing with its current home base in Kansas City, MO). You can read Cynthia Perry's story about this new-to-town company in ArtsCriticATL.com.
Other news has been from out of town: nearby festivals like Spoleto in SC (Sideways performed at "Dance at Noon" and here's a mention) and the American Dance Festival. For those of us not lucky enough to be at ADF this year, you can see videos of things cooking in Durham, NC on the blog "May we have this cyberdance?"
And in case this makes it seem like there's no dance happening in Atlanta during the summer, check out the danceatl.org calendar and see that is totally untrue!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Coverage: for us and the rest
So since my last wrap up of articles covering Atlanta's dance, it hasn't been quite as busy as that first weekend in May, but the rest of the month was none too shabby, with performances every weekend. Not this but next weekend is one of the first in a long time that I don't know of anything going on (and if I'm wrong, please please correct me!) And after that, it's good to see that there are things going on through June and July, just not every weekend, or so many shows at once. So everyone enjoy taking a breath, getting out into the heat and celebrating summer with some yummy watermelon or ice cream, and maybe doing some dance workshops/intensives, and we'll get back together August 7 for the next DanceATL meeting! (We don't have anything lined up yet, so if you have ideas for topic, performers, space, etc. please contact me at info@danceatl.org.)
To cover what I've not posted yet (as always, cannot promise I've caught it all):
Cynthia Perry attended our June 5 DanceATL meeting about "Approaches to Choreography" (you can see the notes I just posted below) and wrote up her thoughts for ArtsCriticATL.com. Thanks, Cynthia, for joining us at the meeting and attributing an "upswing in creativity" to DanceATL (and I chuckle a teeny bit at being a "support group" for dancers--feeding the addiction rather than curing it! :)
Zoetic's "Catch and Release" at Centennial Park had a review from Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing, Ms. Perry in ArtsCriticATL, and an interesting view (and of course fantastic photos) from photographer John E. Ramspott in Burnaway.
The last weekend of May had a quick preview in CL, mentioning Dance Truck at MondoHomo and the Decatur Arts Festival's New Dance festival.
And for what's coming up, you can visit danceatl.org for the calendar (and possibly maybe even the "real" website soon...though I keep promising it and it keeps eluding us, so you'll find out when it happens) and if you'd like to join the newsletter list for updates on performances, workshops and more (going out sort of monthly, or sometimes more if there's more to send) you can email info@danceatl.org and ask to subscribe.
To cover what I've not posted yet (as always, cannot promise I've caught it all):
Cynthia Perry attended our June 5 DanceATL meeting about "Approaches to Choreography" (you can see the notes I just posted below) and wrote up her thoughts for ArtsCriticATL.com. Thanks, Cynthia, for joining us at the meeting and attributing an "upswing in creativity" to DanceATL (and I chuckle a teeny bit at being a "support group" for dancers--feeding the addiction rather than curing it! :)
Zoetic's "Catch and Release" at Centennial Park had a review from Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing, Ms. Perry in ArtsCriticATL, and an interesting view (and of course fantastic photos) from photographer John E. Ramspott in Burnaway.
The last weekend of May had a quick preview in CL, mentioning Dance Truck at MondoHomo and the Decatur Arts Festival's New Dance festival.
And for what's coming up, you can visit danceatl.org for the calendar (and possibly maybe even the "real" website soon...though I keep promising it and it keeps eluding us, so you'll find out when it happens) and if you'd like to join the newsletter list for updates on performances, workshops and more (going out sort of monthly, or sometimes more if there's more to send) you can email info@danceatl.org and ask to subscribe.
Notes from June 5 meeting
June 5, 2011
DanceATL meeting
Atlanta Ballet Michael C. Carlos Centre for Dance, Studio 1
4-6 pm
Amy Gately and Room to Move Dance
Work “Southern Signs”, collaborator Peter Dyer, photographer
Layering of phrases, teach phrases then work to change up phrasing, dynamics
How do the slides interact with the dancers? Projected into the space? Sequence of where the music and photos and choreography portrays.
Photos are rhythmically timed with the music or movement? No. on their own timing.
Music being more of an environment, not counting but dancers feel the movement and causal accidents.
Dancers have choreographed part of this piece. They’re comfortable with her style and integrating choreography.
George Staib speaking more generally rather than a particular piece. Choreography not live in his back pocket. When he watches things he wants to know what it is that has drawn him in? Best when dancers and the composition are both great. Always living in a choreographic place and picking up things, borrowing ideas. Comes down to responsibility as artists to put out something that really speaks about who we are and knowing who the audience is. Hope you’re showing audience something unique and mind bending. Finds contrast compelling. Japanese “maa” everything has negative space, silence, stillness. These moments between are where the art comes to life. Transition is exciting to delve into. Not let anything fall through the cracks when performing. Find contrasts, dancers to each other, music, space…find way to liberate himself from devising a narrative. Looking to create environment that touches on something emotionally or physically. Events or chronology put in too many parameters. Grew up with color guard and marching band—can make 150 ppl move around a field, no problem. Bored now with that alone. It’s too empty and doesn’t speak to him any more. Tired of seeing that world. As he gets older, he wants to know about people and how they interact. Beautiful things that can happen when we’re silent with one another. Personal interactions and cause and effect can be important in performance and he wants those. Spontaneity and truth more important and decoration not so much: Versailles to minimal room appealing to him. Refreshing to be in Israel where watching people on stage didn’t have a history. Different kind of responsibility and ferociousness there. Fascinating to affirm the physicality and honesty of our bones and dishonesty of our faces especially in more “decorated” dances.
Showing duet from “Four Letter Word” with Kathleen and Daphanie from Vega String Quartet show.
Vocabulary and trying to find new movement that isn’t “jazzy”. Finding crisp movement that doesn’t seem incongruous.
Execution especially through focus or specificity of initiation.
Style?
Blake Beckham
PLOT, reading and then movement sharing
10 Ideas (Perhaps Blake can share her ideas in a comment? I didn’t write them down.)
Rewarding process because of collaboration especially, photographer, sound, video, The Goat Farm as a space. Work has evolved very organically and every choice rooted in a collaborative decision.
Malina: before American Muscle was even over, inspired by seeing a truck full of rolls of sod. Dance Truck’s first collaboration with someone specific to their work alone. Neighbor has let them fill his 70s yellow truck with sod, will usher folks around the Goat Farm. She sends Blake an image or video that’s related to their dialogue about the show so strong visual concept of what it’s going to be. Always looking at performance spaces and showed this to Blake. Fortunate as designer to be involved throughout, going to rehearsals.
How is sound coming and going in the piece? Always listening to music and inspired by but not always played with the movement. Some samples of ambient sounds and some music. Piece has 3 acts and the Magnetic Drift to music is one and today’s is different, will be where roots are exposed, language and way of being that’s raw, exposed and intimate. Audience will be intimate with dancers as well.
Developing work inside and shifting outside, or all developed outside? Started early when winter but had enough could work on in studio then. Built language of piece in the studio but now all rehearsals are at Goat Farm and what’s left will be created in the summer space and all the vegetation. Wasn’t useful for a July show to be there in Feb. but now can be finished there. Started in her own back yard and neighbor thought she’d had a heart attack, lying there on the grass.
What are the spaces there you’ve chosen? Breezeway next to Goodson Yard. Needed a sod donor for 2500 sq ft. Goat farm planted sod in the breezeway.
Back of the space where public doesn’t often go and Rodriguez room is only interior space. Maybe lit mostly with candles. Audience will be sort of underneath a raised stage so there can be scenic artistry for people to see from beneath.
Goal is to give audience complete immersive experience, a whole universe.
Attention to detail and imagery, something new and exciting every rehearsal. New idea every time. Enriching to be part of a process that’s so open, communicative, creative and exciting. Pleasure to be in the process with Blake. Takes everyone’s voice and care to make a solid piece.
What images have been shared between Blake and Malina? Conversation about digging and burials, what you buried as a kid—just other things that come up stream of consciousness. Images come from conversations but not logical.
How do cause and effect play into relationships of dancers in duet they showed? Interested in staying with an idea and letting it evolve. Things about repetition, multiples, evolution and experiencing the passage of real time (not theatre time). Bargaining—sometimes answering with word, or with body weight but no real answer or solution at the end of it.
RTMD: The Royals from “The Lemon Table”, painter in Spain of royalty but decided to paint still life instead, scraped paint off royal paintings he’d done to get canvas to do what he wanted to do. Also inspired by Silence(?), book about composer not being able to complete his symphony.
Movement from gesture, from literature or photography expanded on in the studio with dancers. Collection of concepts and information from the paintings, lemons etc. Abstracting into a larger form from images. Image helps to zero in on the movement. Particular movement style developed over the last 30 yrs with new inspiration.
General question to all three choreographers: How do you separate, edit what you’re trying to communicate? How do you not put too many things in the pot? What separates what choreographer does from other collaborators?
Amy: Move audience, communicate on emotional level
George: Not to cling to things, might keep from editing and critical eye, but sometimes gets away from you. Sometimes idea is cool and can live in some work, but not that particular work. He’s trying to work more in sections and not worry about the overall score.
Blake: About depth and rigor and for her honesty and in practical terms always aware of audience experience and what will they see from start to finish. Attracted to working in unconventional spaces and what each experience can bring. Sometimes have to step away for a while from something to go back with a fresh eye to help edit. A lot is gut. Connecting the threads, how do you create context? Most interesting question for her. More juicy for her at the moment than the nuance of movement invention.
George: What time of dance are you making, something that reveals process or a finished product? Process revelation can be exciting but sometimes lacks pay off for the audience. How much is selfishness and sharing and where do those come into play.
To George: You’re changing your approach, what cracked it open?
It’s been bubbling but never knew how to deal with it. Fear involved. Always wants to be a better choreographer than he’s capable of being. Trying not to second guess based on what everyone else might think. Always had everyone dancing to keep dancers engaged, didn’t want to let people sit in rehearsal. Threw that away and finds it much more interesting for him. Not trying to control so much personally and choreographically.
A lot of talk about communicating with the audience, how do we do it?
George: We have to recognize there’s no universal truth in dance and we can’t control audience’s openness. We tend to go into
Amy: Honesty and commitment come through and touch people. Never a guarantee of course, all you can do is put it out there and if it’s abstract and internal it may not happen.
Blake: Relies on her kinesthetic experiences of things and honesty most of the time not really pretty. Being true to language and universe of what you’re doing. Something she’d had before didn’t work then and works now. It’s an arabesque but it’s about X—bugs her. We all carry around bodies and do similar things all the time so there’s always overlap. Honoring your impulses.
Can’t separate with how you communicate from what you’re communicating, right?
George: The idea of everyone being “unique”--by rejecting specific techniques, we all become nonconformists in the same way. How do you distinguish your version from someone else’s?
DanceATL meeting
Atlanta Ballet Michael C. Carlos Centre for Dance, Studio 1
4-6 pm
Amy Gately and Room to Move Dance
Work “Southern Signs”, collaborator Peter Dyer, photographer
Layering of phrases, teach phrases then work to change up phrasing, dynamics
How do the slides interact with the dancers? Projected into the space? Sequence of where the music and photos and choreography portrays.
Photos are rhythmically timed with the music or movement? No. on their own timing.
Music being more of an environment, not counting but dancers feel the movement and causal accidents.
Dancers have choreographed part of this piece. They’re comfortable with her style and integrating choreography.
George Staib speaking more generally rather than a particular piece. Choreography not live in his back pocket. When he watches things he wants to know what it is that has drawn him in? Best when dancers and the composition are both great. Always living in a choreographic place and picking up things, borrowing ideas. Comes down to responsibility as artists to put out something that really speaks about who we are and knowing who the audience is. Hope you’re showing audience something unique and mind bending. Finds contrast compelling. Japanese “maa” everything has negative space, silence, stillness. These moments between are where the art comes to life. Transition is exciting to delve into. Not let anything fall through the cracks when performing. Find contrasts, dancers to each other, music, space…find way to liberate himself from devising a narrative. Looking to create environment that touches on something emotionally or physically. Events or chronology put in too many parameters. Grew up with color guard and marching band—can make 150 ppl move around a field, no problem. Bored now with that alone. It’s too empty and doesn’t speak to him any more. Tired of seeing that world. As he gets older, he wants to know about people and how they interact. Beautiful things that can happen when we’re silent with one another. Personal interactions and cause and effect can be important in performance and he wants those. Spontaneity and truth more important and decoration not so much: Versailles to minimal room appealing to him. Refreshing to be in Israel where watching people on stage didn’t have a history. Different kind of responsibility and ferociousness there. Fascinating to affirm the physicality and honesty of our bones and dishonesty of our faces especially in more “decorated” dances.
Showing duet from “Four Letter Word” with Kathleen and Daphanie from Vega String Quartet show.
Vocabulary and trying to find new movement that isn’t “jazzy”. Finding crisp movement that doesn’t seem incongruous.
Execution especially through focus or specificity of initiation.
Style?
Blake Beckham
PLOT, reading and then movement sharing
10 Ideas (Perhaps Blake can share her ideas in a comment? I didn’t write them down.)
Rewarding process because of collaboration especially, photographer, sound, video, The Goat Farm as a space. Work has evolved very organically and every choice rooted in a collaborative decision.
Malina: before American Muscle was even over, inspired by seeing a truck full of rolls of sod. Dance Truck’s first collaboration with someone specific to their work alone. Neighbor has let them fill his 70s yellow truck with sod, will usher folks around the Goat Farm. She sends Blake an image or video that’s related to their dialogue about the show so strong visual concept of what it’s going to be. Always looking at performance spaces and showed this to Blake. Fortunate as designer to be involved throughout, going to rehearsals.
How is sound coming and going in the piece? Always listening to music and inspired by but not always played with the movement. Some samples of ambient sounds and some music. Piece has 3 acts and the Magnetic Drift to music is one and today’s is different, will be where roots are exposed, language and way of being that’s raw, exposed and intimate. Audience will be intimate with dancers as well.
Developing work inside and shifting outside, or all developed outside? Started early when winter but had enough could work on in studio then. Built language of piece in the studio but now all rehearsals are at Goat Farm and what’s left will be created in the summer space and all the vegetation. Wasn’t useful for a July show to be there in Feb. but now can be finished there. Started in her own back yard and neighbor thought she’d had a heart attack, lying there on the grass.
What are the spaces there you’ve chosen? Breezeway next to Goodson Yard. Needed a sod donor for 2500 sq ft. Goat farm planted sod in the breezeway.
Back of the space where public doesn’t often go and Rodriguez room is only interior space. Maybe lit mostly with candles. Audience will be sort of underneath a raised stage so there can be scenic artistry for people to see from beneath.
Goal is to give audience complete immersive experience, a whole universe.
Attention to detail and imagery, something new and exciting every rehearsal. New idea every time. Enriching to be part of a process that’s so open, communicative, creative and exciting. Pleasure to be in the process with Blake. Takes everyone’s voice and care to make a solid piece.
What images have been shared between Blake and Malina? Conversation about digging and burials, what you buried as a kid—just other things that come up stream of consciousness. Images come from conversations but not logical.
How do cause and effect play into relationships of dancers in duet they showed? Interested in staying with an idea and letting it evolve. Things about repetition, multiples, evolution and experiencing the passage of real time (not theatre time). Bargaining—sometimes answering with word, or with body weight but no real answer or solution at the end of it.
RTMD: The Royals from “The Lemon Table”, painter in Spain of royalty but decided to paint still life instead, scraped paint off royal paintings he’d done to get canvas to do what he wanted to do. Also inspired by Silence(?), book about composer not being able to complete his symphony.
Movement from gesture, from literature or photography expanded on in the studio with dancers. Collection of concepts and information from the paintings, lemons etc. Abstracting into a larger form from images. Image helps to zero in on the movement. Particular movement style developed over the last 30 yrs with new inspiration.
General question to all three choreographers: How do you separate, edit what you’re trying to communicate? How do you not put too many things in the pot? What separates what choreographer does from other collaborators?
Amy: Move audience, communicate on emotional level
George: Not to cling to things, might keep from editing and critical eye, but sometimes gets away from you. Sometimes idea is cool and can live in some work, but not that particular work. He’s trying to work more in sections and not worry about the overall score.
Blake: About depth and rigor and for her honesty and in practical terms always aware of audience experience and what will they see from start to finish. Attracted to working in unconventional spaces and what each experience can bring. Sometimes have to step away for a while from something to go back with a fresh eye to help edit. A lot is gut. Connecting the threads, how do you create context? Most interesting question for her. More juicy for her at the moment than the nuance of movement invention.
George: What time of dance are you making, something that reveals process or a finished product? Process revelation can be exciting but sometimes lacks pay off for the audience. How much is selfishness and sharing and where do those come into play.
To George: You’re changing your approach, what cracked it open?
It’s been bubbling but never knew how to deal with it. Fear involved. Always wants to be a better choreographer than he’s capable of being. Trying not to second guess based on what everyone else might think. Always had everyone dancing to keep dancers engaged, didn’t want to let people sit in rehearsal. Threw that away and finds it much more interesting for him. Not trying to control so much personally and choreographically.
A lot of talk about communicating with the audience, how do we do it?
George: We have to recognize there’s no universal truth in dance and we can’t control audience’s openness. We tend to go into
Amy: Honesty and commitment come through and touch people. Never a guarantee of course, all you can do is put it out there and if it’s abstract and internal it may not happen.
Blake: Relies on her kinesthetic experiences of things and honesty most of the time not really pretty. Being true to language and universe of what you’re doing. Something she’d had before didn’t work then and works now. It’s an arabesque but it’s about X—bugs her. We all carry around bodies and do similar things all the time so there’s always overlap. Honoring your impulses.
Can’t separate with how you communicate from what you’re communicating, right?
George: The idea of everyone being “unique”--by rejecting specific techniques, we all become nonconformists in the same way. How do you distinguish your version from someone else’s?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Dance Video from Челябинск
Ok, so Chelyabinsk is a long way from Atlanta (it's in Russia, just north of Kazakstan), but I found this video on Pentacle's Move the Frame blog on dance and video and thought I'd share. (That's what's cool about all this media stuff and "world wide web" after all, right? :)
Next in line - Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre from Ertza on Vimeo.
More about Челябинский театр современного танца You can follow the link, but the English version of the website is still under construction, so if you don't read Russian, it won't be very useful (or I guess you can translate online and see if it makes any sense.)
Next in line - Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre from Ertza on Vimeo.
More about Челябинский театр современного танца You can follow the link, but the English version of the website is still under construction, so if you don't read Russian, it won't be very useful (or I guess you can translate online and see if it makes any sense.)
Friday, May 20, 2011
Atlanta Arts Funding
At today's Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund luncheon (where the organization announced next year's grants, and CORE received one! Yay! Thank you! Do a little happy dance! :) But aside from all the fantastic arts groups that received funding from MAAF, (including the Georgia Ballet as the other dance org in the bunch, congrats!) the big, news-worthy announcement was by Mayor Reed. He spoke and told the crowd that he plans to restore all the funding for the arts through the Office of Cultural Affairs, which was recently proposed to be cut in half in the next city budget. So, another reason to celebrate, Atlanta dance people!
Here are some articles about the announcement, and a few list the grantees too:
Creative Loafing
SaportaReport
AJC
ArtsCriticATL
Here are some articles about the announcement, and a few list the grantees too:
Creative Loafing
SaportaReport
AJC
ArtsCriticATL
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A backlog and previews
So there's been a LOT of dance happening the last few weeks and I haven't been keeping up with posting. Kind of happens a lot, so here goes on the catch up again (which will not be all-inclusive because there's a bunch I haven't posted. Feel free to add more links that I missed to the comments.)
That first weekend in May was nuts. Here are a couple of round up articles for that rodeo: from Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing and Cynthia Perry in ArtsCriticATL.com. And here's a Magnetic Drift preview from CL. I have to say that it's really great that Wonderroot has gotten into dance by presenting this show. I hope they continue to support local dance with the same energy they lend to other artistic forms.
gloATL has been busy, with their Chapter III: This is a World (review and slideshow at CL, preview and review at ArtsCriticATL) at The Goat Farm, which they announced will be their permanent home. Have you guys been there? When I went by to take the dance table (alas, couldn't make the show) there were chickens that my two-year-old sang to, but no goats. And gloATL dancers are also part of the Lemony Snicket show with the Atlanta Symphony.
More recently, Atlanta Ballet's Ignition had a photo spread preview and a review by Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing and a review at ArtsCriticATL.com
And for something actually timely, this weekend here are shows that I know of:
Zoetic's Catch and Release it the fountains at Centennial Park and Catellier Dance Project's Tempo: A non-fiction dance performance is at Emory. And there's a Dance Truck performance also at The Goat Farm this weekend as part of the Southern Swap Meet.
And in the realm of the upcoming season, here's a preview of GA Tech Ferst Center's line up for 2011-12. Some interesting dance choices. And the ARTech residency will be music, not dance this year. But here's a preview and review from Cynthia, and Andrew too on this year's ARTech residency culmination with Jonah Bokaer creating FILTER (back to early April again here).
Yay dance!
Here are some more articles from earlier (I think I'm backed up at least through April...):
Full Radius presented the 17th Annual MAD Festival, which was previewed in CL and garnered this review from Cynthia Perry at ArtsCriticATL.
Gathering Wild presented 27 with a CL preview (shameless plug: yes, I was in this one and if you missed it we're doing a revamp sometime this fall, so stay tuned!)
That first weekend in May was nuts. Here are a couple of round up articles for that rodeo: from Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing and Cynthia Perry in ArtsCriticATL.com. And here's a Magnetic Drift preview from CL. I have to say that it's really great that Wonderroot has gotten into dance by presenting this show. I hope they continue to support local dance with the same energy they lend to other artistic forms.
gloATL has been busy, with their Chapter III: This is a World (review and slideshow at CL, preview and review at ArtsCriticATL) at The Goat Farm, which they announced will be their permanent home. Have you guys been there? When I went by to take the dance table (alas, couldn't make the show) there were chickens that my two-year-old sang to, but no goats. And gloATL dancers are also part of the Lemony Snicket show with the Atlanta Symphony.
More recently, Atlanta Ballet's Ignition had a photo spread preview and a review by Andrew Alexander in Creative Loafing and a review at ArtsCriticATL.com
And for something actually timely, this weekend here are shows that I know of:
Zoetic's Catch and Release it the fountains at Centennial Park and Catellier Dance Project's Tempo: A non-fiction dance performance is at Emory. And there's a Dance Truck performance also at The Goat Farm this weekend as part of the Southern Swap Meet.
And in the realm of the upcoming season, here's a preview of GA Tech Ferst Center's line up for 2011-12. Some interesting dance choices. And the ARTech residency will be music, not dance this year. But here's a preview and review from Cynthia, and Andrew too on this year's ARTech residency culmination with Jonah Bokaer creating FILTER (back to early April again here).
Yay dance!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
DanceATL June 5
So just to get it out there, the next DanceATL meeting will be Sunday, June 5 at 4 pm at the Atlanta Ballet Michael C. Carlos Dance Centre. The discussion will be about "Approaches to Choreography" and the guests are Amy Gately, director of Room to Move Dance, George Staib, director of Staibdance and independent dance maker Blake Beckham.
Doodles
So how many people saw the Martha Graham 117th birthday Google doodle? It seems like everyone on Facebook did. It was pretty cool. Very nice for Google to pay tribute to a dance luminary, and with animation no less! (most of the other Google doodles I've seen are stationary.) For those of you who missed it (or just want to see it again) here's a link to it. And while you're on Vimeo check out the dance animation, Thought of You, by the same artist, Ryan J. Woodward. I don't think I've ever seen dance animated like that before (without elephants in tutus or something) and I like how it uses both mediums together for full effect.
Also on technology (and google) there were some issues with blogger being down that same day so I didn't get to post this until now (not that it was down the whole time. I really only had the chance to try once while it was.) Since of course, it's not like I post all that regularly of late anyway. The summer will ironically mean more time to post, with fewer dance events in town to post about. So it goes. Happy summer everyone!
Also on technology (and google) there were some issues with blogger being down that same day so I didn't get to post this until now (not that it was down the whole time. I really only had the chance to try once while it was.) Since of course, it's not like I post all that regularly of late anyway. The summer will ironically mean more time to post, with fewer dance events in town to post about. So it goes. Happy summer everyone!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Jacob's Pillow Interactive
So this is pretty cool: Jacob's Pillow Interactive (and maybe something you don't want to know about if you have a procrastination problem at all--they even have a "guess who this is" quiz!) Jacob's Pillow has created an online snapshot of their video libraries from the very earliest in the 1930s. Obviously, since they archive pretty much every performance that takes place, it isn't comprehensive (you have to go there to dig around in all that goldmine) but it's got representative clips from the whole history. Have fun!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Happy Dance Week!
Hi all! Happy Dance Week! Are you celebrating somehow? Free classes or performances or special events? Comment and let us know what events you have planned and how they work out for you. In future years, would a more concerted effort to promote dance week through DanceATL be appreciated?
It seems that folks are postponing the celebration till the end of next week instead, when there are numerous performances going on around town. Great to see the dance season here expanding into May! Take a look at the calendar at danceatl.org and you'll see we've pretty much got things through the whole month. June starts to slow down and there is only one performance currently (with another one cooking, but more on that later) in July. August is too far out to know really (unless you do know you have something then, in which case, please send it to us!) before we jump into the 2011-12 season.
I haven't posted in quite a while, I apologize, but as always, I've been busy busy. I think I'll address a couple of housekeeping things for DanceATL in this post and save the updates on publications/coverage to the following post, which probably won't happen tonight.
We're trying to take the dance table around still, but it's getting really really low on materials, guys! I know it's the end of the season, but as I just mentioned, there are still a bunch of things coming up and we'd love to be able to help you get that word out about your events or even just your existence until next season.
As we look to future DanceATL meetings, I was wondering how the time of afternoon on Sundays is working for you all? It works pretty well for me, so I don't foresee changing it any time soon (because, you know, it's all about my schedule. :P) I was curious if the earlier afternoon that we've switched to for the last couple has worked as well as or better than the later evening time slot on Sundays. I feel like the earlier afternoon time fits the tone of the meeting now that we're usually in dance studios instead of a party venue (we started at Park Tavern.)
It seems that folks are postponing the celebration till the end of next week instead, when there are numerous performances going on around town. Great to see the dance season here expanding into May! Take a look at the calendar at danceatl.org and you'll see we've pretty much got things through the whole month. June starts to slow down and there is only one performance currently (with another one cooking, but more on that later) in July. August is too far out to know really (unless you do know you have something then, in which case, please send it to us!) before we jump into the 2011-12 season.
I haven't posted in quite a while, I apologize, but as always, I've been busy busy. I think I'll address a couple of housekeeping things for DanceATL in this post and save the updates on publications/coverage to the following post, which probably won't happen tonight.
We're trying to take the dance table around still, but it's getting really really low on materials, guys! I know it's the end of the season, but as I just mentioned, there are still a bunch of things coming up and we'd love to be able to help you get that word out about your events or even just your existence until next season.
As we look to future DanceATL meetings, I was wondering how the time of afternoon on Sundays is working for you all? It works pretty well for me, so I don't foresee changing it any time soon (because, you know, it's all about my schedule. :P) I was curious if the earlier afternoon that we've switched to for the last couple has worked as well as or better than the later evening time slot on Sundays. I feel like the earlier afternoon time fits the tone of the meeting now that we're usually in dance studios instead of a party venue (we started at Park Tavern.)
Monday, April 4, 2011
Meeting notes Apr. 3-Career issues
Thanks to everyone who made it out, especially our guests, Chris Holzwarth, Jenna Knight and Helen Hale, to Refuge Dance Company for their beautiful performance and to Moving in the Spirit for hosting. Because of having a laptop now, and thanks to Stephanie for taking notes, we have notes almost the same day! Technology! Woot! (We're also discussing figuring out a low-cost, even more high tech way to do this, some sort of audio or video webcast. Perhaps we'll make it happen in the future. If you have access to AV equipment you'd like to loan us, please contact info@danceatl.org!)
So without further ado, notes:
April 3, 2011
DanceATL meeting
The Beam, Moving in the Spirit
3:30-5:30pm
Performance by Refuge Dance Company www refugedance.org
Show “Progress” May 1 at Fabrefaction
Introductions:
Claire Horn-CORE
Aly Brock, Atlanta Ballet
Stephanie- dance teacher
Joe Winter-C4 Atlanta, singer
Jessyca Holland-C4 Atlanta, actor
Malina Rodriguez-lighting designer, Dance Truck
Lane Salter-dancer, teacher, fund development at Moving in the Spirit
Helen Hale-independent artist
Jenna Knight-Ferst Center
Bianca George
Chris Holzwarth—Beyond the Applause
Ali Carter
Stephanie Cureton
Heather Harper- Harper Continuum Dance Theater
Stefanie Staten Boettle
Ramatu Afegbua-Sabbatt--Manga African Dance
Shows/Upcoming: Gathering Wild- April 21
Agnes Scott College- April 8-10
C4 Board Workshop- Actor’s Express-April 4 at 6:30pm
Magnetic Theatre- First weekend in May
Ferst Center- Announcing new season on Tuesday
Zoetic- May 14 fundraiser- Marcia Wood Gallery Castleberry hill
So without further ado, notes:
April 3, 2011
DanceATL meeting
The Beam, Moving in the Spirit
3:30-5:30pm
Performance by Refuge Dance Company www refugedance.org
Show “Progress” May 1 at Fabrefaction
Introductions:
Claire Horn-CORE
Aly Brock, Atlanta Ballet
Stephanie- dance teacher
Joe Winter-C4 Atlanta, singer
Jessyca Holland-C4 Atlanta, actor
Malina Rodriguez-lighting designer, Dance Truck
Lane Salter-dancer, teacher, fund development at Moving in the Spirit
Helen Hale-independent artist
Jenna Knight-Ferst Center
Bianca George
Chris Holzwarth—Beyond the Applause
Ali Carter
Stephanie Cureton
Heather Harper- Harper Continuum Dance Theater
Stefanie Staten Boettle
Ramatu Afegbua-Sabbatt--Manga African Dance
Shows/Upcoming: Gathering Wild- April 21
Agnes Scott College- April 8-10
C4 Board Workshop- Actor’s Express-April 4 at 6:30pm
Magnetic Theatre- First weekend in May
Ferst Center- Announcing new season on Tuesday
Zoetic- May 14 fundraiser- Marcia Wood Gallery Castleberry hill
Panel:
Chris Holzwarth:
-being a dancer herself
-gives her students a personality assessment
-dancers are multi-dimensional àputting together her psychology and art
-idea to use the sports driven community into dance with Atlanta Ballet’s advertising
-need for dancers to have the balance of another career
Jenna Knight
-dancer from Brenau
-made the switch to arts administration without having any background
-South arts: Southern Arts Federation- encompasses all art forms and all she knew was dance
-Great to jump in and learn a lot about all the different art forms
-wanted to focus on performing arts so pursued “presenting”
-came onboard at the Ferst Center
-Even though she is not dancing still is connected to dance because of her career
Helen Hale
-studied ballet and modern here in Atlanta
-started dancing with Gathering Wild, George Staib, and ADF
-thought she wanted to go to college and study dance and everything else…lol
-applied to bunch of schools specifically Brown and while waiting for a reply knew that she wanted to only pursue dance so ended up at Temple University
-Graduated from Temple and joined a company of a faculty member at Temple
-performed once and then dislocated her shoulder (for 5th time!) and came back home and has been back home for 2 years
-while recovering got an internship at Wonder Root
-wonderful insertion point to the Atlanta art community
-puts on shows by herself
-making work in Atlanta and needs to take trips outside of town to further her knowledge and experiences to bring back to the community
Questions:
- Talking about the sustainability of art and work and how to maintain it
- define the word professional: define professional as getting paid, but this is not always true
- TED- school system ruining art for children http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
- Being creative doesn’t always mean to be in front of , every kind of support
- As a fundraiser bring TED in to discuss this problem- building creativity everywhere especially
- Be our own advocates- know what’s going on globally and internationally in the arts
- Also support what’s going on locally
- Business article about arts and culture and how critical it is that Atlanta build up there arts and culture
- Redefining our career paths- what’s the value proposition we give to Atlanta?
- Growing the arts as a business-if there are people from different venues fight for the same thing maybe something can happen
- Learn to say: so what is our budget? Embarrassing what is asked for from the artist, and not being able to get it
- “Can you just do a flash mob?” It still comes with a price->still a price tag to this, so badly want to show work, and they will do it for free which needs to stop
- Stop working for free!!
- Getting paid more as a lightening designer than a dancer->can we make it sustainable?
- Higher price you put on it, the more people value it
- Quality of dance is not where it could be in Atlantaà as dancers we have to know it is a job, we have to name our price and demand it
- What is the normal response when asking for the price?
- Surprised that it is asked for
- Then go into work mode to scaling it down in order to work
- In the end, a matter of respect
- Or go into community to help
- Considering upping the price
- Website: Kickstarter- e.g. Emily reached her goal of 2000, you just have to ask
- If you post something (a price), and everyone pledges and pledges are met for your goal, you get the money
- Great way to soft sell what you are doing
- Works more for events than general operating expenses
- Issues with doing things for free
- Malina putting together the dance truck as a presentation venue
- Puzzle for dancers to find these venues
- Unspoken collaborative barter when dancing with friends, it is known that it will be reciprocatedàwhy not put a number on this?
- In the Atlanta community there is not a demand for dance because it is not known
- But there is a new interest but you have to find it and go with it
- Just connect! You guys are responsible to sit that and don’t do it for free
- How can you put it in front of people, so it can be known?
- Result of collaborations with different venues and mediums making dance interesting in Atlanta
- Not to be intimidated to approach the “big boys in Atlanta” organizations and people in Atlanta- because what is the worst that can happen, they say no and you’re where you started
- You have to start and maintain the relationships to get things to happen- don’t be afraid to ask
- Arts are a different sort of economyàarts thrive so much more when the arts are integrated in everything in society
- Rather do it for free than being underpaid
- Created our own audiences and hunger for danceàget out there and ask
- Dancers in school and next choices
- Going back home because there is no way to stay here
- Education doesn’t breed or foster an appreciation for arts
- Want to be a part of community but fear and wonder what to do next?
- Because it is not directed in our school
- Need to go out and then bring it back
- Know what you need to do instead of hopping around into like grad school
- Have to set a boundariesàgoing out and coming back in
- What’s the best dance school for you? You need to look at that, and investigate what you are wanting from it
- Dance majors that are in Atlanta, what now?
- Book: A Guide to College Choices for the Performing and Visual Arts The need to do something beyond the passion, this looks at how to chose
- People can’t afford to go to colleges, unless you have your own benefactor
- Knowing your options is a good idea
- Entrepreneurship for artist classes that help artist coming out into the community as a business
- Offering it to the universities as a continue education
- Think of yourself as a business- be on top of things and having an understanding and executing of how your business runs
- Public Speaking issues? Feeling comforting with this will help you further
- As an independent artist you have to piece things together like the classes
- Most businesses fail because of not keeping up with your capacity and you have to figure this is out and be innovative
- In Atlanta: Harper Continuum every three no’s is a yes
- Renders with creativity
- Will not do something that can’t afford and had to turn things down because will not do for free
- Strengths of Atlanta:
- Operates in a different frequency than New York, can be a strength as well as a weakness
- Has a different spirit that leaves a lot of creative room because of collaborative effort
- More optimistic we are in seeking those relationships
- Good to be involved in the community, if not everyone at least DanceATL representing the community and getting awareness into other conversations happening
- Georgia Assembly of Community Arts Agencies http://www.gaartsnetwork.org/ (GACCA) conference in May
- Georgia Forward http://www.georgiaforward.org/ In November. C4 went last year and arts weren’t even on the table before
- Going to those conferences that provide things like above—offer a lot of resources, you just have to find it
- Email newsletter for DanceATLàhave a representative even if you can’t go and bringing back the information
- Going back to the being paid idea
- Dance USA- Audience Engagement Platform
- Conceptualize what are you are selling
- Interesting personalization of performance options
- Being creative about what you are selling
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