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!

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:

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.   

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):

• reviews by Cynthia Perry in the AJC and ArtsCriticATL.com
• review by Andrew Alexander for Creative Loafing

Georgia Ballet's Gershwin evening, specifically Balanchine's "Who Cares?", reviewed by Cynthia Perry.

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!