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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Dance Hip-hop and ballet unite in "Remove the Ego"

Posted by Andrew Alexander @AndrewAWriter on Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 10:10 AM

ON POINT: Hip-hop choreographer takes a look at the opening ballet segment of the new dance show Remove the Ego.

Stephanie Cottle
ON POINT: Hip-hop choreographer Codie Wiggins takes a look at the opening ballet segment of the new dance show "Remove the Ego."

For a long time, Stephanie Cottle wanted to see a show in Atlanta that mixed together the different styles of dance she loved—hip-hop, ballet, contemporary—with live music. After a while it became clear that if she wanted to see it, she would probably have to make it herself. "I kept talking to my friend about this idea," she says, "and finally she just said, 'Well, why don't you do it?'"

Though Cottle is the daughter of a professional ballet dancer, her parents run a dance school, and she grew up performing, she'd never produced a show before. She started with friends, enlisting the help of two choreographers, Rachel Truitt of Phase 1 Contemporary Dance for the contemporary movement and ballet and Codie Wiggins for the hip-hop elements.

Another friend Ashanti "the mad violinist" Floyd—a classically trained violinist who blends violin music with hip-hop and dub-step with his five-piece band Symphony Crack Orchestra—seemed to perfectly embody the boundary-busting spirit she wanted to create for the evening. "That's exactly what Ashanti does with his band," she says. "They take the classical and they make it contemporary."

The resulting show blends hip-hop, contemporary, ballet, and breakdancing with live music into an hour and a half show titled Remove the Ego. The event takes place this Friday, July 27, at 8:30 p.m. at the Terminal West venue of the King Plow Arts Center, followed by a DJed cast party. In the show, different artists—from choreographers and dancers to musicians and fashion designers who created the costumes—examine the various meanings of the spiritual challenge of 'removing ego.'

"It's come together really well," says Cottle. "All of these people with all of their talent, they're all very humble and they're doing this for next to nothing, for the good of the bigger picture ... It's great to discover I do have the resources to put something like this together, and that I can use them for something I really care about."

"Remove the Ego" takes place at Terminal West this Friday, July 27. Doors open at 7:30, show is at 8:30. The show is followed by a DJed cast party. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit "Remove the Ego."

Tags: Stephanie Cottle, Remove the Ego, Rachel Truitt, Codie Wiggins, The Mad Violinist, Ashanti Floyd, Symphony Crack Orchestra, Terminal West

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