AUDITIONS: Open Call for the World Premiere of The Ugly Duckling

Serenbe Playhouse in collaboration with Brooks & Company Dance presents The World Premiere of: The Ugly Duckling

An Original Adaptation Created by Joanna Brooks, Brian Clowdus, Chip Epsten and Rachel Teagle
Directed by Brian Clowdus, Choreographed by Joanna Brooks, Text by Rachel Teagle, Music by Chip Epsten
July 2nd-August 28th 2pm (every Saturday & Sunday) with 3 special performances for Camp Serenbe in July

The Ugly Duckling follows an awkward misfit duckling on his journey to acceptance and self discovery. This new adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen story will be told through theatre and dance in a beautiful outdoor setting. This show is being created as a direct response to the bullying epidemic that we are experiencing on both a local and national level. We are going back to one of the oldest childhood tales of diversity with The Ugly Duckling but giving it a modern twist with a production that will move children and adults of all ages. We will be celebrating the differences in each of us and have audience members questioning those differences that seem to still be creating barriers, even in 2011. This will not be your typical Children’s Theatre Experience and will have a level of sophistication that will have parents on the edge of their seat as well with half human/half animal bird dancers and a set built out into a lake in Serenbe allowing dancers and actors to be in and out of water, just as these characters would be in their natural environment. This show will be a fusion of live music, fantastical costuming, witty writing, and modern choreography with performance on land and in water.

Casting The Following Roles:

Narrator -male/female- someone engaging and sympathetic who brings the audience into the story

Ted -male- our ugly duckling, must be a strong dancer and actor

Female Actor who plays:
Mama Duck - our well-meaning, misguided matriach
Alberta - a loose Canadian Goose
Chicken - the meanest and most popular hen in the barnyard

Male Actor who plays:
Captain Honks - the intrepid goose flock leader
Cat - Chicken's snooty sidekick

Two Male Dancers to play our graceful and mysterious swans (named Neil Swantrick Harris, and Tony Kushwan)

Two sets of two young boys (ages 7-14-ish) to play Ted's duckling brothers. The roles involve speaking and some dance.

Open Call will be held March 30th at The Alliance Movement Studio on the the 3rd Floor of The Woodfruff Arts Center. Times are as follows:
3:30-Youth Roles
5:00-Actors who Move
7:00-Dancers

*Please bring headshot and resume and be prepared to Dance first. Cut will happen after dance call and sides will be handed out at Audition, no need to prepare a monologue. Dancers should wear form fitting clothing.

Dance for Parkinson's Spring Session

Brooks & Company Dance is pleased to announce an

11 week session of Dance for Parkinson's classes at the

Atlanta Ballet Michael C. Carlos Center for Dance!

• Each Monday from March 14, 2011 through May 30, 2011
• Mondays from 12:30 - 1:30 PM
• Atlanta Ballet at 1695 Marietta Blvd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
• Due to spring break, there will be no class on April 4, 2011

Members of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group at the Mark Morris

Dance Center. Photo by Katsuyoshi Tanaka

Classes are open to anyone with Parkinson's, families, friends and

caregivers. No dance experience is necessary. Students are welcome

to use walkers or wheelchairs.

Thanks to a special grant from the Mitchell Foundation, the class is

free to participants, although donations are always welcome to keep

the class alive.

Dance for Parkinson's, originally pioneered in 2001 through a partnership

between the Brooklyn Parkinson Group and the Mark Morris Dance

Group, is a dance class for people with Parkinson's Disease, their

families and caregivers (http://danceforparkinsons.org).

Each class is designed to engage participants in an enjoyable

and supportive environment with trained dance professionals.

In addition to the benefits of physical activity, Dance for Parkinson's

focuses on the increased quality of life dance can bring to the mind,

body and soul.

Martin Thall, a member of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group,

and David Leventhal at the Mark Morris Dance Center.

Photo by Katsuyoshi Tanaka

Dance for Parkinson's incorporates many dance styles:

modern, ballet, jazz, tap, musical theater and modified

excerpts from Brooks & Company Dance's unique repertory.

Class begins with seated warm-ups that target correct posture,

full range-of-motion movements and the use of good breathing

to inform the movement. The class then progresses to the barre

followed by exercises in the center of the studio and then

moves across the floor. Rhythm creates an additional cue to

each exercise while the melodies encourage individual artistry

throughout the movements.

Members of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group at the Mark Morris Dance Center. Photo by Rosalie O''Connor.

No pre-registration is necessary. For information call Brooks & Company Dance at (404) 590-0738, or email info@brooksandcompanydance.org or go to http://www.brooksandcompanydance.org

'Ment- TONITE ONLY!

The Artists of Shorts 5

Closing night, don't miss it!

Join us tonight for Shorts 5

Shorts 5 is almost here!

The fifth annual 'Shorts' event!

With new works by Bubba Carr, Beth Lewis, Staci Scaturro, Stephen Loch, Kristyn McGeehan, Stephanie Johnson, Cara O'Grady and Jena Michele Kovash

PLUS...

Guest works by Terry Slade and Redemption Dance Theater, the Good Moves Dance Consort and a very special performance by Adele Myers and Dancers!

Don't miss 'Communicating About Choreography'
a dialogue with the choreographers
7:00 PM Friday and Saturday before the show

TICKETS:
$10 General Admission
$8 Students, Seniors and Artists
$5 with a program/ ticket stub from a recent local dance performance

Email us at info@brooksandcompanydance.org

In case you're wondering what you missed at the workshop last Thursday....

Overcoming Choreographer’s Block – April 1, 2010
A Workshop Review by Jaki Hawthorne

My body aches to the core. It’s the good kind of ache. You know, the kind you get from doing something you love, with people you love, until you are about to drop from exhaustion… and then you do it some more. Get your mind out of the gutter, people! I’m talking about DANCING!

Joanna Brooks of Brooks & Company Dance (http://brooksandcompanydance.blogspot.com) offered up an amazing opportunity to help choreographers with the dreaded Choreographer’s Block… cue dramatic film noir music!

Choreographer’s block is a mentally paralyzing phenomenon which all choreographers experience at one time or another. You create something and you open a door, and with every opening there is bound to be a close…a point at which you just can’t create for a while. It may be just a moment, or maybe a day, perhaps a month or sometimes much longer. The workshop was designed to give you tools to re-open the door to your creative process. The workshop was guided by Staci Scaturro from Orlando, Florida, a 15-veteran of dance choreography and founder of the company Soul Play Modern Dance.

Staci was enthusiastic, inspiring and very real. Her genuine love of dance and quiet way of making you feel welcome in her class, no matter what your experience level, was something to be cherished. She doesn’t take herself too seriously and, speaking for myself, that’s something of great value to find in any kind of instructor.

The class was 9 or 10 dancers of unknown levels…I loved that Staci did not have anyone spouting off their experiences and yeeeeeeeaaaaaaars of dance training… and we just played (yes, played!) for about 3 hours. With varying degrees of guidance, we used props, visual imagery, music, and spoken word to create mini compositions.

One of my favorite games was the 4-corner “Soul Play” where each designated wall of the room had a different station of activity. One corner was the toy box with silly, found objects from the space. Another was a wall for contact improvisation using the wall in as many ways as your brain could conceive. A third was a long list of locations for you to play around with literal and abstract ideas about movement inside a volcano, or on a rollercoaster, or at the Louvre... In between each station was a directive such as to move in a masculine way, or only on the floor, or super slow motion, etc. It was quite something to behold a room full of dancers creating movement with completely unique motivations, and yet it still could have been a composition as a whole.

Yesterday was a revisit to a part of my roots that I had thought was quite forgotten. For me, it was a trip back in time to the world of modern dance. And a joyful and wonderful trip it was. Thank you Joanna Brooks and Staci Scaturro for a unique journey and a bag full of tricks to help break the cycle of the closed, creative door.
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On a separate note: My girls from Jahara Phoenix were awe inspiring. Several of them stepped so far outside of their box that there is no longer a box! I was genuinely moved by their willingness to experience movement far beyond their comfort zone and to open up and accept whatever is tossed into the dance mix. Amazing!

Shorts 5 Workshop

Overcoming Choreographers Block

Wondering where to begin?

Stuck in the middle?

Can't find the right ending?

Join brooks & company dance on Thursday April 1, 2010 for 'Overcoming Choreographers Block.'

Returning Shorts choreographer Staci Scaturro will guide us through an evening of fun and challenging dance composition exercises in a workshop designed to help you master those "drawing a blank" moments in your creative process.

Workshop fees are just $10 for the general public, $5 for local artists and free for Shorts 5 participants.

WHEN: 6:00-9:00 PM, Thursday April 1, 2010
WHERE: Atlanta Ballet Midtown, 1400 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309
WHO: brooks & company dance and anyone who wants to develop their choreographic tool-kit

Email me for more info: ad@brooksandcompanydance.org

Shop and give...at the same time

You already do it; Google anything you want to find online, get your prescriptions from drugstore.com, download that movie or album from iTunes, buy every one's gift at Amazon.com. Online searching and retail shopping have become part of our everyday lives. Now there's a way you can become a supporter of brooks & company dance without writing a check, without any heavy lifting, from the same place you are sitting as you read this and (here's the best part) at NO COST to you or to us.

It's called The Giving Seed and it is a brilliant way to get folks to support non-profits by doing something they are already doing...online shopping. It's simple:

1. Visit http://www.thegivingseed.com/

2. Click on brooks & company dance from the drop down menu
3. Select your favorite online retailer from the drop down menu
4. Shop as usual

It also works with Google search. Simply go to http://www.thegivingseed.com/ and enter what you'd like to search for in the Google window.

I've already made it my homepage...and I think you should, too!

A big thanks to keif for uncovering this incredible company, thanks to the wonderful people I've had the pleasure of meeting from the The Giving Seed and thanks to all of you for shopping, for searching and for supporting BCD!

Saturday Night- RELIEF WORK

brooks & company dance
and eight local dance companies have joined Zoetic Dance Ensemble to present

RELIEF WORK

A BENEFIT DANCE CONCERT TO SUPPORT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS
EFFORTS IN HAITI

January 30, 2010
8:00 PM

7 Stages Theatre
1105 Euclid Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30307-1925

TICKETS: $20 general admission, $15 students, senior & artists

CHECK OR CASH ONLY AT THE DOOR OR PURCHASE TICKETS

at

www.ticketleap.com

photo courtesy of Will Day

"Atlanta’s dance Renaissance gets national exposure in Dance Magazine"

Dance educator and critic Cynthia Bond Perry has a overview of Atlanta's expansive dance scene and a retrospective of the Atlanta Ballet, its leadership and its ethos published in this month's edition of Dance Magazine.  Highlights of these articles are featured on the local arts blog ArtsCriticATL in her own words.  Her articles and sidebar and accompanying images do a great job of placing dance around the city and educating readers about the unique aspects of the 70+ artists, companies, schools and studios she names.  As a must-read for those of us on the scene, it's a good starting place to get to know our extended familty.