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