By Cynthia Bond Perry | Dec 7, 2010
What makes “Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker” worth seeing again is simply that it’s not the same production every year. The work evolves. Small changes make the sheer beauty and endless variety of classical ballet -- plus the dancers’ technical skill and emotional generosity -- increasingly clear. Though this eclectic troupe doesn’t have the uniform body types or technical prowess of companies like New York City Ballet or American Ballet Theatre, their warmth and unique individual qualities give this production its dynamic breadth, from a tipsy chef to a stiff-limbed Nutcracker to a wispy shepherdess. Last Saturday I saw, and now highly ...
By Cynthia Bond Perry | Nov 28, 2010
At the apex of Woodruff Park’s water wall, Toni Doctor Jenkins stood, as if perched on a ship’s prow, tiny lights glowing from her soft white tutu, her bare shoulders impervious to the biting November wind. The gloATL dancer softly spread her arms high like wings and looked out across a sea of people, with thousands of heads backlit in bluish teal. Rapper Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, looking every bit the star in a red fur-lined coat, dark glasses and porkpie hat, watched quietly from farther up the concrete wall, letting the massive crowd fall under Jenkins’ gentle spell.
“Hinterland” cast ...
By Cynthia Bond Perry | Nov 21, 2010
“This ain’t Buckhead,” a stranger called out as a flock of contemporary dancers clad in black infiltrated downtown Atlanta’s Robert W. Woodruff Park last month. It was their first on-site practice of “Hinterland,” and at the moment it was clear that this would be a distinctly different 360-degree world. Next Saturday, November 27 at 7 p.m., Lauri Stallings’ gloATL will join Antwan “Big Boi” Patton of Outkast in the new site-specific work, which aims to “ignite” Atlanta’s historic city center through dance, light, music, multimedia and aerial performance.
Big Boi and Stallings have teamed up with costume designer April McCoy, lighting ...
By Cynthia Bond Perry | Nov 21, 2010
In Mayan weaving, the “Corazón Abriendo (Heart Opening)” refers to the moment when a weaver pulls apart two layers of thread to create an opening where the batten passes through. For co-directors Sue Schroeder and Susan Prins, it also represents a portal between worlds and cultures, part of the Mayan cultural immersion that inspired their collaboration. Last night at the Balzer Theater, CORE Performance Company celebrated its 30th anniversary with “Corazón Abriendo,” an extended revision of a work that received its premiere in 2006.
Through traditional and contemporary media, “Corazón” intertwined the art of Mayan weaving with the ancient culture’s music, ...
By Cynthia Bond Perry | Nov 13, 2010
With last night’s premiere of “Blackbird: A Story of Exploitation,” choreographer Joanna Brooks has established a strong, clear voice among contemporary choreographers in Atlanta, successfully bringing to the Balzer Theater stage a devastating subject: human sex trafficking and the exploitation of children.
Inspired by Mariane Pearl’s article “The Sex Slave Tragedy” and driven by a desire to increase awareness of an unspeakable subject, Brooks showed impressive skill using a contemporary dance idiom to tell a story of two sisters’ journey through this brutal underworld. Featured on a program with Kristyn McGeehan’s exultant “Trinity,” Brooks and Company Dance will perform “Blackbird” again ...
By Cynthia Bond Perry | Nov 9, 2010
Last summer, Daryl Foster wrote here of the Atlanta dancer’s dilemma: whether to leave for opportunities in larger cites or stay and help build the local dance community. About three years ago, Angela Harris chose the latter, founding Dance Canvas, a presenting organization for emerging choreographers.
Dance Canvas’ third annual Fall Performance Series, Friday evening at the 14th Street Playhouse, showed that the growing organization is striving to elevate standards for dance in Atlanta, bringing college- and studio-level work to a more polished, professional level.
Dancers in Atlanta have plenty of opportunities for solid training, but outside of large institutions -- companies like Atlanta Ballet, ...
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