Dance

Dance Canvas’ fall concert: 10 snapshots of “next generation” choreography

by Cynthia Bond Perry | Aug 24, 2010
Dance Canvas’ fall concert: 10 snapshots of “next generation” choreography

Atlanta’s Dance Canvas, as unstoppable as the emerging choreographers it serves, continues to burst at the seams despite the troubled economy. Expanding programs and new community partnerships have brought new challenges to artistic director Angela Harris, who has just announced the 2010-11 lineup for the group’s third annual Fall Performance Series, “Introducing the Next Generation.” Set for November 5 and 6 at the Woodruff Arts Center’s 14th Street Playhouse, the concert will move up to the Main Stage this year; last year’s shows filled Stage 2 beyond capacity.

In keeping with its audience-building mission, the program will comprise about 10 works, “snapshots” of dance…

Dance

Atlanta Ballet’s bright, eco-friendly new home suits its ambition

by Cynthia Bond Perry | Aug 13, 2010
Atlanta Ballet’s bright, eco-friendly new home suits its ambition

Atlanta Ballet opens its new headquarters, the Michael C. Carlos Dance Centre, on Saturday. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will preside over a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:30 a.m., followed by performances, tours and classes by Atlanta Ballet and several community dance groups Saturday and Sunday. The state-of-the-art facility is located in the trendy, formerly industrial Midtown West neighborhood, an area buzzing with restaurants and theaters.

There’s a feeling of movement and energy flowing down the center’s hallways, and an airy spaciousness beneath its 22-foot ceilings. Warm, natural light filters through its insulating Kalwall exterior panels. Five studios, scenery and costume…

Dance

Dance review: Lauri Stallings’ gloATL dancers “Roem” free at Woodruff Arts Center

by Cynthia Bond Perry | Jul 26, 2010
Dance review: Lauri Stallings’ gloATL dancers “Roem” free at Woodruff Arts Center

For Lauri Stallings’ gloATL dance troupe, “gaga” is a verb — an energized way of moving with subtle body awareness. Last Friday and Saturday evenings, 22 dancers gaga-ed through the Woodruff Arts Center’s ivy gardens and across its grassy lawn. Capricious electric currents seemed to zip though their bodies, looping and darting through the air. The lithe figures looked like curious travelers from another world — different, yet startlingly human. A gloinstallation.

The premiere of “Roem” marked one year since gloATL’s Atlanta debut with “rapt,” a site-specific multimedia work that broke new ground on the Woodruff campus. Since then, Stallings has created 11 new commissions. Five…

Dance

Daryl Foster on Atlanta dancers’ dilemma: Should I stay or should I go?

by Guest Contributors | Jul 12, 2010
Daryl Foster on Atlanta dancers’ dilemma: Should I stay or should I go?

ArtsCriticATL is happy to publish essays, reviews and commentary from members of Atlanta’s arts community.

We’re pleased to introduce Daryl Foster, founder and co-artistic director of LIFT, a new organization built to attract and retain male dancers in Atlanta through performances and mentoring. Foster danced professionally with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2 and Opus Dance Theater New York, and he holds an MFA in dance from Florida State University. As choreographer and teacher, Foster (at left) remains deeply invested in the local dance community, and he offers a unique perspective on some of the challenges Atlanta dance artists face. — Cynthia and Pierre…

Dance

Another BeltLine event: Brooks and Company Dance in “MENT”

by Cynthia Bond Perry | Jun 24, 2010
Another BeltLine event: Brooks and Company Dance in “MENT”

On Sunday, along the tracks of the BeltLine project in the Reynoldstown neighborhood just east of downtown, Brooks and Company Dance will perform “MENT,” a site-specific work set on a railroad overpass, a loading dock and an abandoned building in the former industrial district. Live music by violinist Chip Epstein and percussion duo Rhythm Synergy, D’Air Project aerialists, cyclists and graffiti artist Lex Theevilgenius will join the dancers, who’ll appear in body paint, camouflaged onto a graffiti wall.

The company was founded by young choreographer Joanna Brooks, just out of her 20s. She’s ambitious, driven and takes her work seriously. A lot of people in…

Dance

Bala Sarasvati’s CORE Concert Dance brings “Coeur de CORE” to Atlanta

by Cynthia Bond Perry | Jun 20, 2010
Bala Sarasvati’s CORE Concert Dance brings “Coeur de CORE” to Atlanta

It takes several months to prepare fewer than seven minutes of choreography in Bala Sarasvati’s “Coeur de CORE.” Still, young dancers at the University of Georgia have asked to perform it year after year. This Thursday through Saturday, UGA’s CORE Concert Dance Company will present the contemporary dance quartet in the Zoetic Dance Exchange Choreographers’ Showcase at Atlanta’s 7 Stages Theater.

In recent years, Sarasvati, a UGA professor, has given few performances in Atlanta, focusing instead on concerts in Athens and at national and international dance events. But her influence on the Atlanta…