TGIF!

Greetings again from CORE Studios in Decatur! Here we are, wrapping up the penultimate week of the Fall Season. It has been an eventful and productive time, and we are pushing right through until the last minute. Today we had the opportunity to dive deeper into Artistic Director Sue Schroeder's process for her latest work. Using different exercises for inspiration and movement invention, the dancers have been generating material for the upcoming show at Callanwolde. The day concluded with the company reviewing their play, "Heart of the Matter" which will be performed next Thursday for the students of Wesley Academy. With all of the work going on, we cannot believe that next Thursday's salon will serve as the culmination of our Fall Season. Have you RSVP'd? We hope to see you there! Below is a snapshot of process work from Sue's new piece. See you next time!

Happy Holidays and an Invitation to CORE's Salon

Happy Holidays! We are back in the studio full steam ahead after a full week-long Thanksgiving holiday break. We are thankful for that! CPC is busy rehearsing for several upcoming performances. We will be performing our school show, Heart of the Matter, on Thursday December 6th for Atlanta kids at a local elementary school. That evening, we will have a Salon in our studios from 6:30-8:00pm. This Salon is FREE and open to the public! We would love for you to come experience and talk about artistic director Sue Schroeder's newest work with the company, SECRET. CORE Performance Company will premiere SECRET on February 1-3 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, performed with live music by Bent Frequency. We hope that you will take part in this unique opportunity to be a part of the creative process! 6:30 PM mingling amid a festive holiday atmosphere, with live music by Octavia Strings 7 PM showing by CORE Performance Company followed by discussion with the artists 8 PM Salon concludes This free gathering that also celebrates the holiday season will include wine, and light refreshments provided by Café Alsace. Celebrate with some dance! Please RSVP to info@coredance.org

Completed Works and Goodbyes

Today we said goodbye to Becky Valls as she headed back to Houston. It has been a long week full of accomplishments. Yesterday, at Lunchtime in the Studio, we revealed one of the pieces in progress on which we've been working with Becky this week. After hearing some great feedback from the audience, we returned to the studio that afternoon and continued to fine tune the work.

It's hard to believe how fast this work was created. Everyone in the company is so focused and ready to work, and Becky was so prepared and helpful. No wonder we were able to accomplish so much in so little time. This process was just another reminder of how lucky we have it here at CORE. I had a discussion with Becky earlier this week about how organized CORE is. This wasn't the first time I've had this discussion. I've heard the same comments from dancers, audience members, and other artists from Houston and Atlanta. It is truly a privilege to work with such a wonderful group of creative, organized, and cooperative individuals. As we break for Thanksgiving, I would like to say how thankful I am for this company, all of the individuals with whom I have the pleasure to collaborate, and the community of artists and art lovers who support us. And here is a photo of us, the company, on our last day with Becky Valls. The photo was taken by Becky.

Derrick

Autumn outside the office

You can barely see the front of the CORE offices through the tree that was practically glowing in the rainy afternoon yesterday.

New Work

This week we started working with Becky Valls, a choreographer from Houston. Beginning a new work is such an exciting time for the performers, a time to explore new movement possibilities and meet new challenges. Exhausted and sweaty, the company left the studio today with smiles on their faces. The work we've been doing with Becky is both challenging and fun, and I can't wait to see how the work progresses. Becky is a pleasure to work with, and a talented individual. This piece will be performed at Callanwolde in February. If that seems like a long time to wait, don't worry. You can check out some of our process this coming Thursday at Lunchtime in the Studio. You can find the details of the event on our website. Be sure to come out, meet the dancers, and enjoy some good food and entertainment. We'll see you there.

Back in the Studio

A great first Sunday rehearsal with Becky Valls after a week off from practice! We had a wonderful run of our Shift show in Houston, TX with lovely reviews to boot! (see the previous post for links to the reviews.) All us performers have been keeping busy in our many other jobs, but we return to rehearsal with an enlivened energy and are excited to welcome Becky Valls to our Atlanta studio. Creative juices are flowing, and we continue on to our next art adventure. Here are some "backstage" photos from our Shift performance in Houston...

Some coverage of SHIFT from Houston

The performances of SHIFT in Houston last week went so well! Thanks to the dancers for all their hard work and to those of you who came out to fill the theater at Barnevelder both nights!
Here's a little recap of some of the coverage we had from before and after the show. Thanks to all the journalists who created these pieces!

• Dance Source Houston preview by Nancy Wozny, "Double Shift"
• Houston Press preview by Olivia Flores Alvarez
• The Front Row interview with Sue Schroeder and Leslie Scates, talking with Catherine Lu on KUHA 91.7 FM about their process creating these new works with the CORE artists
• Dance Informa preview by Chelsea Thomas
• Houston Chronicle preview by Theodore Bale
• and a review from Adam Castaneda on the Houston Press "Art Attack" blog

Movin' Right Along

As we've been preparing Shift to be performed in Houston, TX at the Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex, Amanda Miller's work from last week continues to be present in our connectedness as an ensemble of unique individuals. We are geared and ready for our performance in CORE's hometown, and I leave you with some thoughts that have been inspiring parts of our Shift work...

Above picture - Bayou City Art Fest 2012

Work with Amanda K. Miller and Returning to Houston

"Peeling away layers" was a phrase used quite frequently as we deepened into the work of Amanda K. Miller. We peeled away patterns of movement, bad habits, and obstacles within ourselves. At times the work was exhausting, both mentally and physically, but the more layers that were peeled away, the closer we became to Amanda and to one another, strengthening the ensemble and freeing our bodies.

The photo above was taken from a book of photography by Karl Blossfeldt. This book and others were used as inspiration for our improvisations. Amanda will return to create a new work with us in May. I think I speak for every dancer in the company when I say it was a pleasure and an honor to work with Amanda. We all look forward to seeing and working with her again.

Thursday we continued to prepare for our Houston premiere of SHIFT. As we rehearsed, the residue of Amanda's work with us still clung to the space, informing and refreshing our return to SHIFT. If you haven't already, check out the Facebook event page and share it with your friends. We are all excited to be performing at Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex on November second and third. Be sure to come out and see all of the exciting new work we've been rehearsing in the studio.

At the BCAF

CORE Performance Company getting ready for the shows this weekend of "If you rock, we'll roll" at the Bayou City Art Festival.

Catch them tomorrow and Sunday at 2 pm.

Arkansas and Bayou City Art Festival-by Aleatha

CORE has just returned from a successful trip out in Arkansas. While there, they performed inside the "Mirazozo" luminarium at Conway's ArtsFest and visited elementary schools with "The Heart of Matter," an interactive piece designed to engage young children. Claire Molla; a veteran CORE Performance Company member, shared of her Arkansas experience “It was neat performing in the luminarium, it’s a mix of a cathedral, cave, and balloon.” She further described, “the space is really compact and causes you to be really aware of your surroundings – it was exciting and very energizing”. Sounds like the group had quite a trip in Arkansas! 

Without a beat, CORE is back in the Decatur studio on the drawing board prepping for their fall presentation at the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown in Houston, Texas. CORE’s “If you rock, we’ll roll” is a site specific piece that is expected to be so energizing and inspiring that audiences will want to rock 'n roll, too! Just an hour after the group began the process of conceptualizing and developing the choreography for “If you rock, we’ll roll,” I had a chance to sit down with CORE Performance Company members, and CORE Founder and Artistic Director, Sue Schroeder.

New CORE Performance Company member, Joshua Rackliffe said of the developing piece: “so open, it is a good problem to have”. He continues, “The challenge is making decisions, to know it is a good one”. He also mentioned that he prioritizes “utilizing the space, making sure we travel in order to interact with each other and our audience”. Anna Bracewell, who joined CORE over the summer after the dance intensive, shared that her experience so far at CORE has been, “Totally different – bringing out a new side of me as a dancer”. What she has to say about her new CORE family: “We work really well together. All of our creative personalities contribute to this piece. We all respect each other’s different creative processes.” Stefanie Boettle, also a new member of CORE, said of the new developing piece, “I’m curious, about what it will become”. She continues by sharing that the piece will be inspired by “architecture, surfaces, and textures”. Aren’t you curious, too?

Schroeder informs us that the piece will be deriving movement from works by the featured visual artist at the Bayou City Art Festival this fall; Charlie Hardwick. Hardwick, a Houston based poster artist who happens to be legally blind, has been producing rock and roll inspired posters for some of the biggest rock recording artists such as groups U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and legend, Bob Dylan. 

Schroeder noted that CORE’s newly formed group offers a fresh new look to the company and collaboratively their voices will be heard in this new piece. “If you rock, we’ll roll” will be completely shaped by the space – portions of the piece will take place on city streets, curbs, railings, at the city hall, on steps, and in the water! How exciting!

I asked the company "What is one word that describes 'If you rock, we’ll roll' so far?"

• Anna Bracewell– “Collaborative” 
• Stefanie Boettle – “Traveling” 
• Joshua Rackliffe – “Public” 
• Sue Schroeder – “Surprise! 

Aleatha Williams is a Communications Intern for CORE Performance Company. With a theatre and dance background, she holds a BA in Creative Arts Therapy and is pursuing her Masters in Arts Administration at SCAD. She is excited to be a part of the performance company’s team and will serve as guest blogger for the remainder of her time at CORE.

Rock & Roll !

Greetings again from the studio in Decatur!
We are nearing the end of our work week and have already accomplished many things in preparation for our performance at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston, Texas. The group has been negotiating responsibilities as dance makers and performers to generate new material for this outdoor, site-specific presentation. Inspiration for this piece is drawn from Charlie Hardwick, the featured artist for this year's festival.
Hardwick is a visual artist who has designed album art and posters (among many other creations) for rock and roll musicians all over the world. Using the idea "If you rock, we'll roll", Rose and Joshua have workshopped several ideas onto the moving bodies of CORE Performance Company. This process, which we refer to as "ogre-ing" has helped us develop a framework for an interactive, traveling, and versatile mode of performing. We will rehearse in Memorial Park before presenting the work next Saturday and Sunday (October 13 & 14) We hope to see you all there!
In addition to the choreographic exercises we have also been reviewing the pieces from SHIFT for our show in Houston. Very busy on our end, but productive and exciting! Below is a link to the Bayou City Art Festival, where you can find out more information on the event itself and the featured artist, Charlie Hardwick.
Hope to see you in the Studio, on the Square, or in Houston over the next week!
http://bayoucityartfestival.com

Arkansas update

We are here in Conway, AR arriving in beautiful breezy weather. Mirazozo, the huge luminarium, is definitely an experience that leaves us all in a state of wonder after rehearsing 1-2 hours inside the giant geometric balloon of colorful light. In addition to creating work inside the mammoth, inflatable sculpture, we had the privilege of teaching master classes to middle school, high school, and college level students in the area. Lastly, we so enjoyed our performance at the St. Joesph elementary school followed by a great workshop with the 3rd and 4th graders.
Inside "Mirazozo:

You can also see a video clip of some of our dancers inside the Mirazozo luminarium here: http://www.arkansasonline.com/videos/2012/sep/28/7178/

At the schools:

Mind, Heart, Tummy

Core Performance Company is hard at work, though I almost want to say, "hard at play!" We are working on a play, a dance, a piece called "The Heart of the Matter." It was performed last season in Arkansas, and we are lucky enough to be welcomed back to Conway, AR with this show. We are all tirelessly learning and relearning our parts. Though I have to say, while it is quite the brain work to dance and say our lines and move props, it is also a lot of fun! The piece touches on eating disorders, bullying and how we deal with these issues by making healthy choices for our heart, mind, and body.

Heart of the Matter is a show for elementary aged kids. It allows the audience to help our characters solve problems that arise in the play. Some of these characters include Tummy, Heart, and Mind. These three make up a part of another character known as Body and they each have important tasks that keep Body happy and healthy. Body's choices also affect her three counterparts and she must make healthy decisions to keep them healthy and happy too. This show may be geared towards kids, but I find it just as silly, fun, and enlightening for adults. All of us are looking forward to this next adventure in our 2012-2013 season. On with the shows!

Dance in an inflatable "luminarium"

CORE Performance Company is traveling to Conway, Arkansas again, but this time there's something different. The company has enjoyed performing in the Baum Gallery on the University of Central Arkansas campus on our last two trips, but on this trip, coming up September 28-29, we get to perform inside a huge inflatable "luminarium" created by UK firm Architects of Air and brought to Conway for the town's Arts Fest.

CORE Artistic Director, Sue Schroeder, visited the "luminarium" called Mirazozo on the last stop in its tour in St. Paul, Minnesota and sent us back these images and a video.

Show time!

The premire weeekend of 'Shift'is finally upon us! We have had a great week of tech and dress rehearsals and can't wait to share the three new works with you! Remember: There are only 2 chances to see the show (Saturday @8pm and Sunday @3pm at Decatur High Schools Performing Arts Center) and its FREE, so plan ahead and be sure not to miss it! See you this weekend!

SHIFT: Some food for thought

First of all, thank you for attending SHIFT by CORE Performance Company! Here are a few questions as food for thought as you process your experience of the performance. If you'd like to share your thoughts, please comment! You can ask us questions that way, or your fellow audience members. We look forward to hearing from you!

• Do you have unanswered questions that you’d like to ask the choreographer or dancers? 
• Did you lose track of time and forget about everything else during the performance?
• Did the performance cause you to reflect on your own opinions or beliefs?
• How much were you challenged by an idea or message?

SHIFT: Interview with Artistic Director Sue Schroeder

CORE Founder and Artistic Director, Sue Schroeder, speaks about her piece in the upcoming premiere of SHIFT and how the whole program came together. 

Week 2!

Hello again from CORE Studios in Downtown Decatur! We are a little over a week away from the premiere of SHIFT, our first concert of the season. As the date draws nearer, we are spending our time in the studio reviewing, inventing and polishing the three new works. The show will feature new dances of guest choreographers Lori Teague from Emory and Leslie Scates from Houston, Texas; artistic director Sue Schroeder will also be presenting her latest piece. SHIFT is FREE and open to the public! We are very much looking forward to sharing the work with you all and hope to see you next Saturday, September 15 at 8PM or Sunday, September 16 at 3PM. Both performances will take place in the Performing Arts Center of Decatur High School. Also, please join us tomorrow, September 6th at 12PM for this season's first Lunchtime in the Studio. This free luncheon will give you the chance to meet our newest company members. Hope to see you there! Below are a coulple photos of our rehearsal with Lori!

SHIFT: An interview with guest artist Leslie Scates

Check out our newest behind-the-scenes video about SHIFT, the premiere of three new dances on September 15-16 in Decatur, Georgia and November 2-3 in Houston, Texas. This interview is with guest artist Leslie Scates and she talks about some of her process in creating this piece, and her thoughts on improvisation and dancemaking.
An interesting tidbit, she originally came in with the idea of making a piece about communication among women, so it was called HEaRD, but then she found it focused more on group dynamics especially in the face of fear, so the "a" was dropped and it is now called herd.
Tickets for SHIFT are available online back on the website, COREdance.org.

We're back!

We are back in the studio this week. The dancers reviewed the works they created with Leslie Scates and Lori Teague during the summer. They also dove right into creating a new work with Sue. All of these works will be presented at Shift on September 15 and 16 at The Performance Arts Center at Decatur High School. Be sure to join the Facebook event page and share with your friends.

Company Manager's Tea Time

Patton takes his tea (Alice in Wonderland style!)

SHIFT: An Interview with Guest Artist Lori Teague

Emory University Associate Professor, Lori Teague, is creating "I felt my life with both hands" with the CORE Performance Company artists for SHIFT, a performance of three new dances which premieres in Decatur, Georgia on September 15-16 and in Houston, Texas on November 2-3. In the video she is in the studio creating the piece with the dancers and talking about her piece and the Summer Intensive that she taught together with Leslie Scates in late July.

Tango Buenos Aires

Instructors of Argentine Tango, Horacio and Marissa, have taught their classes at CORE Studios since 2003. Here's a short interview with them about their classes, which take place on Tuesdays with beginning level from 7:30-8:30 p.m. and more advanced from 8:30-9:30 p.m. You can find more information at their website Buenos Aires Tango Academy, and if you come to our Lunchtime in the Studio event, you could win a free class!

What do you teach at CORE Studios? 
Horacio says they teach Argentine Tango, which is a social dance version of tango, not one designed for shows or being performed on a stage. It's an internal tango, not a showy one. The emphasis is about the relationship to your partner and not about you and the audience.

What got you into teaching and when did you start?
Horacio first started dancing in 1969. His father is Sicilian and owned restaurants where there were often tango social dances and he encouraged him to dance at the events at a young age. He began teaching at his own studio in 1995. He moved to the US in 2002 and started teaching at CORE Studios in 2003.

Marissa great up in Columbia, SC and did salsa in college. Her mom encouraged her to go to a Milonga (social tango event) in 2006 where she met Horacio on Halloween. She has been teaching with Horacio since the summer of 2008.

Tell us a little bit about what the focus is for your classes? 
Horacio believes you learn from your body, not simply talking but connecting with the music and the lady. In Buenos Aires, space is more limited so it's harder to move, not like here. Classes should be fun and not so serious, should be based on the learning style of the dancer. Everyone can dance, it's not about showy moves, and you don't need to be slim or beautiful. It's a social dance.

Do you have any upcoming projects or events you are excited about?
Milonga Buenos Aires, a dance party that happens the last Sunday of every month and Milonga el tango y tu which is the first Saturday of every month. Marissa also teaches at Oak Grove 1st grade and they donate classes and perform there.

What do you love about CORE Studios?
It feels like being at home, familiar and the studio is always being updated and renovated keeping things looking great.

A Blog About Searching For a Blog: Houston Edition

Once I found some treasures of the Atlanta blog world it was only natural that I expand my horizons and see what else lay out there. Thus, I started my search for dance blogs in Houston, where CORE's other home. As with my previous search, my requirements expanded to art related blogs and others not solely focused on dance. Interestingly enough though, when I searched for dance blogs this time with Houston in the search bar, a plethora of dance blogs came out of the woodwork. Although not many of them seemed to be located in Houston, the profound amount of pure dance blogs that came up in my results amazed me. With blogs either written by professional dancers, beginning dancers, or even supportive family of dancers, the dance blog world grew exponentially with the word Houston in my search.

Blogs I found that were Houston-related offered a diverse and therefore, I feel, a fitting representation of the arts in Houston. The first blog I victoriously came upon was the lovely all about dance blog Dance Advantage (an editor's shout out to Nichelle, who created this gem of a site!) rife with dance information for dancers, instructors, and parents. Also under the dance category, I found the blog Dance Hunter (here, an editor's shout out to Nancy Wozny, our esteemed Houston critic, and former Field facilitator), where interviews with dancers, choreographers and other artists can be read. Diverging from the sole focus on dance, I found the unique Dear Polia, which features a Houston blogger’s interest in architecture, arts, and travel. Another intriguing blog I discovered in the visual arts realm was the Diverse Works blog which has partnered visual art and dance in the past. Each of these blogs, similar to the ones I found in Atlanta, are so rich with information and context. The passion each of the bloggers has jumps out of the screen at you, making it hard to move on to a different page.

It has been an exciting and insightful journey through the arts blog world. From Atlanta to Houston, it is evident that art is a powerful medium that has no bounds.

-Kathryn, Communications Intern

Summer Intensive: some background

A contact jam, photo by Lynn Lane

Leslie Scates and Blake Dalton, photo by Lynn Lane

This Sunday we start work in the studio in our first Summer Intensive as Lori Teague and Leslie Scates guide the dancers of CORE Performance Company, and anyone else who would like to join us, as we learn and explore movement improvisation through many lenses. Improvisational performance is a skill and an art form that is a shift from the "class, rehearsal, performance" model of traditional dance techniques like ballet and other forms of modern dance. Many of the roots of this approach come from the early post-modern dancers at Judson Church, who were exploring what performance was in content and context. 


Contact improvisation (CI) grew out of the Judson Church movement, begun by one of its members, Steve Paxton in 1972 or thereabouts. The CI movement grew, as Nancy Stark Smith says in a talk (reprinted in Contact Quarterly), because you can't do it on your own, you need a second person to move with! The creators made a conscious choice to keep the form open and not make it a codified and copyrighted, so it continues to grow across the world through jams, retreats and workshops like ours. 


Along the way, Nina Martin of Lower Left Dance Collective, which Leslie Scates has also been a part of, noticed the need for improvising movers to be more aware of the space outside themselves. So she created Ensemble Thinking, a technique to build the mover's skills and awareness of the larger space and structure of the spontaneous composition (s)he was creating with others in a group. The flip side of this work is called Solo ReWire, and instead of a group awareness, it's a solo practice of making choices to move in ways that are not habitual, ones outside your usual movement patterns. Take a look at a blog post from a dancer who took a workshop with Leslie and Nina, a sort of poem about her experience of the process.


And each morning our day will begin with a class from Lori Teague that is infused with lessons from Rudolph Laban's work and Bartenieff Movement Analysis. Lori is a Certified Movement Analyst, which means she is certified in a knowledge set that includes methods for describing movement and how it works, a system not designed only for dancers, but which is often used by dancers to help inform conscious movement choices. 

A Blog about Searching for a Blog (Atlanta Edition)

A report from Communications Intern, Kathryn A.:

My initial reaction to the task of finding blogs about dance in Atlanta was one uncertainty and mixed understanding. So of course, the first stop was Google. In the search bar I typed "Atlanta dance blogs" and like most things typed in Google my results seemed to be endless. I soon realized, however, my seemingly infinite findings would only lead to a handful of pertaining and suitable sites that I would only discover after pouring over waves of words and pictures with a fine tooth comb.

The qualities necessary for a blog to make the cut were:

• Dance or Arts related  
• Based in the Atlanta or Decatur area 
• Updated on a regular basis  
• Having an overall professional and respectful feel 

Over the couple weeks I browsed through blogs, these requirements expanded and became flexible. Finding a blog that solely focused on the dance scene in Atlanta turned out to be a harder task than my initial findings led me to believe. Once I weeded out the websites of actual dance companies and studios in the area, I began reading through content and discovering the vast and diverse blog world that I barely knew existed. Although not all pertaining to dance in obvious ways, the blogs I did find all shared the compelling quality of grasping the reader and further prompting them to go out and do or go out and see through the vividly honest posts.

Some of the treasure I found:

• Drive a Faster Car-Culture and Entertainment blog for Atlanta,Decatur,and Athens
• The Leila Blog-Local Blogger of Art and Music
• AsianCajuns-Local Life and Style Blogger
• Furious Dreams-Artist and Art Blogger
• Brown Girl Next Door- Local Life and Style Blogger

PERSONAL LESSON: In the form and fashion of most of the blogs I read, I will take this moment to add some of my personal views and experiences. Blogs to me were scary, foreign concepts that I hardly understood or cared to understand. My deep trust issues with technology as a starting platform, I just did not see the reason or want for people to share their thoughts in a stream to the entire cyber world. Weren’t social networking sites enough? Who had time to write these things? And even better who would read them?

Well here I am, a good amount of blog banter passed over by my retinas, to say I am now a blog appreciator and follower. I realized in my findings that yes, blogs were random people just sharing their opinion but those distinct opinions are what made reading through them so fascinating. All of these people have a passion, whether it be dance, visual art, fashion, food, traveling, etc., and being so overwhelmed with that passion they make an outlet to let it pour out to any person interested. It is inspiring in a way. Reading through them, you wish you had something you felt so strongly about that you had to share it with the world. Also, you may have a passion ignited within you, you are unaware you possessed. Either way, what I had before dismissed as a time-wasting and absurd practice I now recognize as a unique and valuable method of communication.

Dance/USA in San Francisco

Howdy, all!
This is Claire H. and I do Communications for CORE. Most of the time this blog is for the dancers to talk about their process and what they're creating in the studio. I usually don't post because I'm staying in the office while they go on tour to far off places, not nearly as exciting to talk about! But this last week, Managing Director Elizabeth and I went to San Francisco for the Dance/USA Conference, so I thought talking about it might help fill in the summer gap while we're off season. (And yes, that's the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate...that's the side of town we made it to!)

Elizabeth and I joined several hundred colleagues from the professional dance realm talking about everything from leadership through meaning, to online marketing nitty gritty (at least the sessions I went to).

I had a chance to meet up with some other Houston and Atlanta dance people, among all the national attendees, of course:

• our Field Facilitator and Dynamic X-Change teacher, Lydia Hance (photo left, who also has her own company, Frame Dance,) 
• Dance Source Houston's Stephanie and Mollie, 
• and Marlana from Houston Met. 
• And from Atlanta, Full Radius Dance Artistic Director, Douglas Scott 
• and Atlanta Ballet's social media coordinator, Brian, and Artistic Director, John McFall.  

We were welcomed into the beautiful spaces of the San Francisco community at Yerba Buena Arts Center and ODC/Dance. And once more proving that the dance world is super small, I ran into Lauryn, who lived in Atlanta a few years back, who now works as Studio Administrator for ODC (photo right). There were showcase performances by a huge variety of local San Francisco performers. All were well done, but the most interesting aspect and unique to SF is those companies nourished through the long history of the SF Ethnic Dance Festival, which was happening concurrently with the conference. We got to see performers doing gamelan, Tahitian dance, Cambodian, and more, in addition to a range of contemporary dance and ballet pieces.  

And because I'm the one who looks at marketing for dance, I was impressed to see this ad for a local company in a BART station. I've been in the meetings with arts admin folks locally who talk about doing advertising on a larger scale like the back of buses, etc., but I've never seen a big poster for dance (maybe I just wasn't looking at the right time and place...)  It was interesting to compare cities, and you can see the ways that public funding influences dance in each city. According to a recent Americans for the Arts study, Atlanta is number one per capita for the number of arts related businesses and second in number of employees of arts orgs. But on the other hand, the funding per capita in Atlanta is around $3 and SF's is around $12. At first impression, the number, quality and size of the facilities in SF is what shows that funding disparity the most. Only so many of the dance companies in Atlanta have homes. Houston has better support through local funding than Atlanta, but not up to SF levels, and of course, everywhere the support from government is constantly in danger of being slashed to either a bare minimum or nothing at all.

Schools out for Summer!

Well more specifically it is the last day of the 2011 - 2012 CORE Performance Company Season.
Although you can some of us at the Decatur Arts Festival  Artwalk in the downstairs studio modeling for students of the Art Institute of Atlanta - Decatur Friday May 25th from 5 - 10pm.  Also be on the lookout for class offerings this summer!

Corian Ellisor in deep thought cools off his hardworking brain with a very stylish fan during Core Performance Company's end of the year wrap up meetings. Today we had a great lunchtime in the studio where Juana Farfan, Core Dynamic X - Change coordinator lead introduced our program, lead the lively audience through a sample class warm up. We were also fortunate enough to have the kids from our winter Dynamic X change class come join us and share their artistic talents. Tomorrow Core Performance Company members will take their skills and enthusiasm to Renfroe Middle School to lead a creative dance class with the students there. The company finishes up the season on Monday! In the meantime be on the lookout for summer classes from Core dancers and a summer Fieldwork program.

The Point at The Macon Opera House

We were triumphant at the Grand

Macon Opera House, where we performed 'The Point' for the Georgia Presenters Network Showcase. We got to see some old friends and great fellow artists at the showcase and it was delightful to be in this beautiful historic space. http://www.thegrandmacon.com/ai1ec_event/1764/?instance_id=

In the studio today, we are preparing for our showcase performance in Macon Ga. We will be showing one of our signature piece "The Point." We are resting up this weekend, so we can hit it hard!

If you could not make it to the High Museum of Art last week then here are some photos!

Just back from a crazy performance schedule! There will be pictures coming soon! Please stay tuned! Love CPC

Gearing up for Miller

So...lately we have been working on a few new things for Lets Dance at Miller Outdoor Theatre...Rumba, Cha Cha, Swing, Fox Trot, Waltz, Tango, and TAP! wanna see?

Oh My Josh!

Today we will be introducing you to Joshua Rackliffe who will be making an appearance with CORE in our upcoming performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Joshua hails from Mableton, GA and recently moved back to Atlanta after attending Columbia College Chicago. When Joshua isn't dancing with us you can find him servin' biscuits at Homegrown, working as Director of Programming at Living Walls, or holed up in the studio making queer performance art.

lets dance

This week at CORE we're working on a new take on last year's show "In the Mood...for Dance" for Houston's Miller Outdoor Theatre. We're excited to be working again with the Billie Ledbetter Orchestra, who will be joining us on stage playing the music live for "In the Mood 2...Dance!" on April 20.

With love and disregard

Today was our first big day in the studio working on our Museum of Fine Arts, Houston material for "With Love and Disregard"

Lots of sharing of ideas and lots of sweat!

If you happened to be on Decatur Square this afternoon at 3:00, you might have caught a glimpse of us working through a structured improvisation in honor of Dance Anywhere day!

Keep checkin' in, we've always got new tricks up our sleeve.

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Phew! We had a whirlwind weekend at the Bayou City Arts Festival in Houston, TX

We danced, we sang, we laughed, we cried, we trekked through swamps, battled mosquitos, braved a water war, attended a fashion show and became one with the bear. (see photo)

As always, keep an eye out for CORE and upcoming events. Next up is the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. We will create a piece based on the work of abstract painter, Jules Olitski.