Dance
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Dance Drawing dance at the Decatur Arts Festival
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 6:04 PM
Friday evening's Artwalk—with twenty participating restaurants, shops, art institutions and galleries hosting free exhibitions in downtown Decatur—kicks off the festival from 5 to 10 pm. During the walk, CORE studios right on the square will host a live drawing event featuring dancers from CORE Performance Company and students from the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur. The dancers will move in the space, acting as models for the artists who will sketch them. Artists (and even artists-for-the-evening) are invited to bring a sketchbook and join in the collaboration. Light refreshments and some art supplies will be provided.
Dance KSU Dance Company returns to National College Dance Festival
Posted by Adam Carlson on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 9:40 AM
- Photo courtesy Robert Pack
- KSU dancers during a performance of "Rhizome."
For the third time in a row, Kennesaw State University’s Dance Company has been invited to perform at the National College Dance Festival. KSU’s Dance Company will perform Rhizome, choreographed by dance program director Ivan Pulinkala. Pulinkala says the opportunity is both “very, very exciting and humbling" and is the product of the work of both faculty and staff.
The company performed Pulinkala’s “Chakra” and “Incubus,” in 2010 and 2008 at the festival, which is held every two years.
A moody, intergalactic work, Rhizome is performed in pitch blackness with the dancers acting as light sources. At one point, dancers spin around a kind of hollow teepee with spikes. Later on, a chorus of dancers appears with lighted wands. The movements may appear fragmented but a closer look reveals a preciseness to the scurrying, twirling and jumping. You may not know exactly what the dancers are doing, but they are doing it with great rhythm.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Dance / Film Atlanta artists make Dances Made to Order
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 2:43 PM
That's the idea behind the new arts organization Dances Made to Order. Each month, DMO challenges three talented choreographers in a different city to make short dance films in just two weeks based on themes chosen by the web-audience. The artists make the films according to the audience's specifications and then serve them up nice and hot on the interwebs. The website has recently shown films created by artists in New York, San Francisco, LA and Boston.
April was Atlanta's month, and the organization wisely chose Atlanta dance maven Malina Rodriguez of Dance Truck and The Lucky Penny to curate the Atlanta films. (Read Creative Loafing's preview story about Rodriguez and the Dances Made to Order challenge here).
Well, Rodriguez selected Atlanta choreographers Corian Ellisor, Lillian Ransijn and Onur Topal Sümer. And internet voters chose the themes: 1)Am I awake or am I dreaming? 2) shiny/tarnished 3) an imaginary history. And for two weeks in April, the kids danced their hearts out at cool locations all over town.
Now, the finished movies are up and ready for viewing. They're every bit as intriguing as you'd expect from our Atlanta dancers.
Dance / Architecture Atlanta dancers to collaborate with world-renowned architects Scogin and Elam
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:20 AM
- Image: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
- PAPER HOUSE: Atlanta-based architects Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam are known for their innovative designs such as their proposal for the Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Pop Music Center above. This summer, the duo will design a cardboard house for a performance by Atlanta dancer Blake Beckham.
To that end, Beckham has enlisted the help of Atlanta's foremost experts at creating unusual buildings.
Beckham and her small dance organization, The Lucky Penny, recently approached the world-renowned Atlanta-based architectural firm Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects to discuss her vision of a structurally-sound cardboard house built for dance performance. She was primarily seeking a bit of advice about how to construct such a space, but the two principal architects were so excited and intrigued by the idea that they immediately signed on to design it for her.
From August 16-19, Atlanta audiences will be able to check out the results of the unusual collaboration as Beckham and a team of dancers perform the new work Threshold in a cardboard house designed by the architectural super-duo. The set will be built during a month-long residency by the Lucky Penny at Georgia Tech's DramaTech Theater beginning July 16.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Dance Review: Atlanta Ballet in New Choreographic Voices
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Sat, May 19, 2012 at 9:53 AM
- Charlie McCullers
- The Atlanta Ballet gives Tara Lee's "Pavo" its world premiere on the stage of the Alliance Theatre this weekend as part of the mixed program "New Choreographic Voices."
It's been a rigorous year for our ballet, with the company taking a decided turn towards performing more contemporary work. Throughout the season (and even before it started) the dancers worked intensely with the famously demanding choreographer Twyla Tharp on her story ballet The Princess and the Goblin, which had its world premiere on the company in February. Dancers also took on vastly different and challenging pieces by contemporary dance luminaries like Wayne McGregor, Jorma Elo, and James Kudelka. The season has featured a lovely combination of focused energy, precision, openness and adaptability in taking on new work that comes through powerfully in the three new pieces.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Dance Atlanta dancers get MAD
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 11:52 AM
- Dustin Chambers
- Zoetic Dance Ensemble is just one of the groups performing at the MAD (Modern Atlanta Dance) Festival this weekend. The Saturday festival is just one of the great events on a busy dance calendar this weekend.
Slated to perform at the one-night only event are Full Radius Dance, which hosts the annual event, Zoetic Dance Ensemble, Rhythmix Dance & Performing Arts, SIDEWAYS Contemporary Dance, Kerry Lee and Refuge Dance Company. The event takes place at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta on Saturday, May 19, at 8 pm. For more information, visit MJCCA.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Dance Dancers face "the final frontier"
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Wed, May 16, 2012 at 1:57 PM
"I started thinking about space and what it is that intrigues me about it," says artistic director and Emory dance professor Greg Catellier. "I started thinking about outer space, architectural space and what it means to be close."
Dance Review: "A Night of Choreography with Juel D. Lane and Friends"
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Wed, May 16, 2012 at 9:42 AM
- Alan Kimara Dixon
- Students from North Carolina School of the Arts performed in Juel D. Lane's "Touch and Agree," as part of the mixed program "Juel D. Lane and Friends."
The mixed program played for one night only last Thursday, May 10, at the Southwest Performing Arts Center. Atlanta choreographer Juel D. Lane recently made a bit of Atlanta dance history when he became the first independent Atlanta-based choreographer ever to be commissioned by the Atlanta Ballet in March, and the evening was a way of celebrating and saying thank you to the teachers, mentors, colleagues, collaborators, dancers and choreographers who have helped him along the way.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Dance gloATL to debut free public work at Old Fourth Ward Skatepark this weekend
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 7:17 AM
- Micah Stansell
- Dance company gloATL will present a series of free performances at Old Fourth Ward Skatepark this weekend. The large-scale public work will include film and images by Atlanta-based filmmaker Micah Stansell.
The company is collaborating with filmmaker Micah Stansell on the new large-scale public work that will incorporate music, dance, film, construction machinery, and skaters in the surreal, undulating bowls of the skatepark. The ambitious piece, entitled "the search for the exceptional," is a commission by Atlanta non-profit Possible Futures.
Seriously. Must. Do.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Dance Atlanta choreographer Juel D. Lane creates a night for dance
Posted by Andrew Alexander on Tue, May 8, 2012 at 8:01 AM
- Matt Karas
- LEAP YEAR: Juel D. Lane's career is off to a running start. The emerging choreographer will present "A Night of Choreography with Juel D. Lane and Friends" on Thursday, May 10.
"It's a big party," says emerging Atlanta choreographer Juel D. Lane of his up-coming dance show "A Night of Choreography with Juel D. Lane and Friends,” playing for one night only this Thursday, May 10, at the Southwest Performing Arts Center. "It's me saying thank you. These are people who I respect so much, and a lot of them have been in my corner."
Lane recently made a bit of Atlanta dance history, wowing audiences with his piece "Moments of Dis" at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in March as he became the first independent Atlanta-based choreographer ever to be commissioned by the Atlanta Ballet. As his own career as a choreographer takes off, the evening is a way of celebrating and saying thank you to the teachers, mentors, colleagues, collaborators, dancers and choreographers who have helped him out along the way.
