Full Radius Dance

Review: MAD

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:59:00 +0000

An excerpt from Scott’s new “It is four years ago and it is yesterday” was just plain beautiful

-- Review: Modern Atlanta Dance Festival goes MAD for fast-paced, sharply focused short works, by Gillian Anne Renault for ArtsCriticAtl

Douglas and the Creative Process: Distance

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

We moved into the theatre today for a tech rehearsal for the Modern Atlanta Dance (MAD) Festival. This is when we add the layer of lighting to the performance, deciding what sections of the dance are brighter or darker, see how the light bounces off the dancers' bodies, etc. I'm lucky to have my partner-in-crime, Diane Lassila, as my, and the MAD Festival, lighting designer for almost twenty years. She's the ying to my creative yang!

Moving into the theatre also allows me to get distance from my work. In the studio, I have to pull my legs in so Samir can speed past or avert my eyes so I don't distract Jaspin and Laurel as they perform their duet inches (literally!) away from me. In the theatre, I'm able to move away and see it from the audience's perspective. I can finally see if the dancers' positions onstage are right and if the movement focus is where I want it. A very revealing moment in the creative process.

"It is four years ago and it is yesterday"

Tickets for the MAD Festival are available at http://fullradiusdance.ticketleap.com/mad/

The MAD Festival returns!

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:56:00 +0000

Full Radius Dance is proud to announce the eighteenth annual Modern Atlanta Dance (MAD) Festival at Fabrefaction Theatre, 999 Brady Avenue NW, Atlanta, GA 30318. Performances are Friday & Saturday, May 17 & 18, 2013 at 8:00 PM.

The companies appearing:

Rule of 3 Productions - "River of Souls" (excerpt from "Persephone's Fall"), choreography by Kristyn McGeehan. In "Persephone's Fall", Persephone chooses to follow Hades to the Underworld. When she arrives, she sees the boatman, Charon, dancing with his lover Acheron, the ascendant spirit of the River of Souls. Persephone plays in the river, finally crossing it to enter the Underworld. She never realizes that Hades is near, masquerading as part of the River to guide and guard her on her journey.

T. Lang Dance - "Imprint" (working title), choreography by T. Lang. T. Lang's newest work for T. Lang Dance takes an unflinching and gallant expose of fantasies and the delusional headspace of love. Dissecting literature of Harriet Andrea Williams' "Help Me Find My People" while generating movement language from multi-generational, uncensored conversations and the analysis of old personal love diaries, this work investigates how one puts one's self in an unfortunate state of destruction while trying to maneuver through the yearnings of love's path. Displaying entangled aggressive movement while revealing staggering tender moments, this work demonstrates the dancers' desire to feel genuine love.

SWADanceCollective - "Behind Closed Doors", choreography by Sarah Wildes Arnett. "Behind Closed Doors" is a physically aggressive and athletic contemporary piece. The dance explores the internal conflicts and struggles of working within a high powered environment and the unknown private workings of seemingly healthy relationships.

Zoetic Dance Ensemble - Excerpt from "What's Under There", choreography by Melanie Lynch-Blanchard and Zoetic Dance Ensemble. "What's Under There" is a dance/theatre piece that draws the audience in as a collaborator, inviting them to be supportive, critical or complicit, revealing the many ways we allow ourselves to be manipulated. This excerpt explores shifts in control present in a relationship between two people, from a female perspective, reflecting Zoetic's focus on works inspired by the unique voice, vision and experience of women.

Host company Full Radius Dance - Excerpt from "It is four years ago and it is yesterday", choreography by Douglas Scott. "It is four years ago and it is yesterday" is a bleak but hopeful, mystical and magical look on how the past defines the present, how place defines character and how both can be transcended. The title is taken from E. Annie Prouix Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Shipping News. Douglas also found inspiration in a short true life account of an unfathomable family tragedy found in NPR’s National Story Project, the wolf tribe as a symbol of family and in the desolation of an abandoned landscape.

Tickets are $15.00 for General Admission, $12.00 for Seniors, Children 12 & under and Working Artists, and $10.00 for Groups of 10 or more.

Advance tickets may be purchased at http://fullradiusdance.ticketleap.com/mad/

Questions? Contact Full Radius Dance at 404-724-9663 or fullradiusdance@aol.com.

Douglas and the Creative Process: The Performance

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:47:00 +0000

"Gut Instinct" premiered last weekend at the Inman Park Dance Festival. This was the first time the dance was viewed and experienced by an audience. I used to think that this premiere performance was the final piece of the creative process puzzle but, you know, that's not true!

The performance was an emotional, revealing and raw moment for me as the choreographer. I had wondered, how will audiences react? Will they perceive my vision as clearly articulated? If so, will it be relevant to them? Additionally, was I successful in conveying the theme of the dance to my dancers, and will they able to share it with the audience?

Response was enthusiastic. The dancers took four bows. But still I analyzed everything extensively. I wondered, was the applause warranted? (Not to take anything away from my fabulous dancers.)

I know this doubt is due to my personal artistic insecurities. I need those insecurities to cause me unrest and uncertainty, to motivate me to constantly clarify and strengthen my choreographic voice. So we'll head back into the studio and continue to refine "Gut Instinct" for future audiences. The process continues.

I have no appropriate photo to accompany this post but everyone likes cute kitty photos, don't they?

MAD Festival 2013 Artists

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:28:00 +0000

The 2013 Modern Atlanta Dance Festival will feature:

SWADanceCollective

"Behind Closed Doors"

choreography by Sarah Wildes Arnett

Zoetic Dance Ensemble

"What's Under There"

choreography by Melanie Lynch Blanchard

Rule of Three Productions

"River of Souls" (excerpted from "Persephone's Fall")

choreography by Kristyn McGeehan

T. Lang Dance

Full Radius Dance

Excerpt from "It is four years ago and it is yesterday"

choreography by Douglas Scott

The 2013 MAD Festival will be May 17th & 18th at 8 pm at Fabrefaction Theatre. Get tickets now.

Gut Instinct at Inman Park this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:40:00 +0000

Gut Instinct premiers at the Inman Park Dance Festival this weekend! Performances are at 4 pm Saturday and Sunday at the Trolley Barn (a short walk down Edgewood from the MARTA station). By the way, this is a free performance--but allow plenty of time to grab seats.

(We're trying to figure out what Renee's doing here too.)

Evolution: 4 years

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:42:00 +0000

Choreography is a living thing, a plastic medium, at least while it's still in the artist's hands; it evolves, it grows and changes over time. The first few weeks or months are especially volatile. We've been showing you "First Looks," glimpses directly into wholesale creation. Here's a new video series, "Evolution," giving you the same material after a few weeks of rehearsal. The movement is a little more polished, a little less likely to feature sudden falls or collisions (unless they've been adopted into the choreography). More importantly, though, the pieces change. Some of it's subtle; timing, positioning, precise technique. Sometimes entire sequences have been cut or added. Narrative is added, adjusted, streamlined, and cut.

Today's video is a series of excerpts from multiple sections of "It is 4 years ago and it is yesterday", which will premiere in excerpt at the 2013 MAD Festival on May 17th and 18th.

Douglas and Dramatic Structure: The Creative Process

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:46:00 +0000

I, along with the insightful and fearless Full Radius Dance company members, have begun the creation of the final sections of "It is four years ago and it is yesterday". It's spurred me to think about the use of dramatic structure in my choreography.

Aristotle put forth that a whole is what has a beginning and middle and end. I'd reframe that to the whole has a starting point, an exploration and a resolution.

Am I splitting hairs? I think not.

Each of my dances has a beginning, a starting point. That's the moment the lights come up, when I've shared with my audience the first visual image. In the first few seconds I've made a commitment that this snapshot will make complete emotional sense at the end of our journey together.

The next part of my dances are explorations - examining, probing and discovering the implications of my starting image. I often use time as a fluid concept in my choreography. Events may occur in a non-sequential order. After all, in our minds, don't we often leap between past, present and anticipated occurrences?

I like the term "resolution'' over the term "ending". Ending implies that you've finished the journey. Resolution says that you've come to an understanding, but are open to further discovery.

I hope that you who experience the work of Full Radius Dance seek more and are open to further discovery.

Here's an appropriately dramatic shot of the company:

Profile: Lindy

noreply@blogger.com (renee) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:40:00 +0000

Lindy Dannelley has been with Full Radius Dance since August 2011 as an apprentice, and is now in her first season as a full-time Company member.

Lindy is a native of Atlanta, GA and has been dancing since she can remember. She began acting at the age of 6, and was in her first musical, "Finian's Rainbow," at the age of 15. Lindy's dance training was mostly jazz and modern-based, and she described herself in the past as "an actor who danced." Lindy left the world of acting in her early 30's to pursue directing, and was the founding artistic director of Koalaty Presentations (now Process Theatre Company). With Koalaty Presentations, Lindy and her company workshopped 130 original plays in 7 years. Lindy later began freelance directing around Atlanta while running her own cleaning business, Magick Broom.

In August 2011, Lindy auditioned for Full Radius Dance and was given an apprenticeship position. She had been a fan of Full Radius Dance since 2004, and was a frequent attendee of the company's classes and performances. She loves dancing with the company because she views the work as empowering and rewarding. She feels she is part of a creative organism, similar to the theatre world. She loves that Full Radius Dance is a company with long-lasting members, and that the works are always growing and building upon themselves. She is awed and excited by the level of trust in the company, as is sometimes exhibited by doing improv exercises with closed eyes.

Lindy also loves spending time with her family and 2 children, John and Kim. She is an avid blogger, active clergy, and enjoys gardening. Lindy is also a new member of the Artifice Club, a meet and greet for "devotees of the arts, culture and science fiction of the Victorian to Edwardian periods."

Lindy loves the energy and creative fulfillment she feels as a company member, and is excited to continue being a part of Full Radius Dance's journey.

Douglas and Music: the Creative Instinct

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

I've been working on creating the sound score for "Gut Instinct" which (insert shameless plug here) will premiere at the Inman Park Dance Festival on April 27 and 28, 2013. I have searched for the right music by asking my dancers for recommendations, listening to ITunes selections and reviewing my extensive CD collection. This has made me think about my choreography and its relationship to music and how that relationship has changed over the years.

When I was a novice, I would use music as the jumping off point for movement creation. This was particularly true in my dance studio years when I was creating twenty different recital dances. I would find music of suitable length and then I would begin the process of fitting steps to the musical phrases. As I matured as an artist, I began to find this unsatisfying. After all, I was a dancer! Wasn't movement the most important thing?

I needed a creative switch. I realized that the inspiration for the dance was paramount. I began exploring and setting the movement on my wonderful Full Radius Dance dancers without a score determined. Then, as the idea took form and substance, I would find music that supported the vision.

I've gone round and round on the sound score for "Gut Instinct". I think I've found a good balance and combination of music for Inman Park, but my instinct is telling me we'll need to find a composer to create an original score for future incarnations of the work. As our new dance will tell you, always follow your gut!

First Looks: Gut Instinct

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:31:00 +0000

As promised, here's the beginning of "Gut Instinct":

Douglas and the Creative Process II

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Previously, I wrote about finding inspiration from a number of different sources as I began to create "It is four years ago and it is yesterday", of which excerpts will premiere at May's Modern Atlanta Dance Festival. But before the MAD Festival, Full Radius Dance will appear at the Inman Park Dance Festival. With the two festivals less than a month apart, we choose to do different works.

So what's the inspiration for the Inman Park dance? After much consternation, I finally discovered it after a recent rehearsal. During that morning's session, I shared with the company about my commitment to stop second guessing myself during the creative process. When I felt the movement was wrong, I resolved to let it go instead of forcing to make it work. I was going to trust my gut.

There's the dance! Gut instinct. Responding on a basic, primal level. Doing what feels right. But with a sense of whimsy and of childlike delight of the discovery.

Below, you'll see Renee in the opening image from "Gut Instinct". Keep an eye out for a "First Looks" video documenting the creation of "Gut" and mark your calendar for the free performances at the Inman Park Dance Festival, April 27 and 28, 4 pm each day.

Today in rehearsal: A photo gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:52:00 +0000

Today in rehearsal . . .

We worked on the second section of "It is four years ago and it is yesterday"

and

the dancers bent over backwards to do what I asked of them

and

Shawn, Laurel, Renee and Lindy had a simultaneous, spectacular wipeout

and

Renee discovered a new method of locomotion.

All in all, just another normal day for Full Radius Dance.

Rehearsal: (do-over)

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000

As promised, I got a video of what was actually supposed to happen when our fearless leader threw himself upon the point of Samir's wheel. We found a solution to the situation that doesn't involve inordinate danger to anyone's bits, particularly Onur's:

Profile: Renee

noreply@blogger.com (renee) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0000

As one of the newest members of Full Radius Dance, I want to share a little bit about myself and my interests!

This is my first season with Full Radius Dance, and working with the company has accelerated my dancing and creativity to new levels. My favorite thing about rehearsal is that no matter where we are--saying completely different things, or all on the same brain-wave--something beautiful and unique is born. Not a drop of creativity is wasted. The level of respect for each individual's dance and contribution is what makes me so excited to come to rehearsal; sometimes I really mess up and feel silly and Douglas will turn his head and say, "I like that version better!" We crash into each other and scrape up our fingers and toes a lot, but the goal of creating pieces that pull us into one breathing whole is always met. I love that kind of work.

A little bit about where I'm from: I am a native of Alpharetta, GA, born and raised in the good ole’ peach state. I started dancing ballet at the age of 6, and trained seriously at the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre until the end of high school. I then traveled to pursue a Journalism degree at the University of Indiana, only to discover that not spending my days dancing and being creative left me wanting physically, emotionally, and intellectually. I decided to do something about it; after one semester in Indiana, I transferred to the University of Oklahoma where I majored in Modern Dance Performance. At that point in my life modern dance was a relatively uncharted frontier for me, but ever since that second semester of college, I have been completely enamored with modern's exhilarating and constantly astounding world.

Along with the many joys of dance, my other passions include teaching, writing, and reading and exploring literature. Some of my favorite writers include: Barbara Kingsolver, Kurt Vonnegut, Dave Eggers, Paul Celan, Albert Camus, Kate Chopin, the list goes on and on…and on.

I am very excited to be a new page in Full Radius Dance’s admirable and enduring anthology, and to be a new part of all of your lives!

Review: Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:44:00 +0000

Today brings a few more takes on Touch: Dazara Ware's experience as a first-time audience member
and Meredith Kooi's visceral experience of the concert:

While watching the piece, a growing sense of physicality presents itself. While watching the bodies roll across the stage, one of the dancers gets up and staggers toward another dancer, using the other’s body for stability, resting her weight on his shoulders, my body began to move itself. I noticed my feet were responding to these movements; during tense moments, my leg would extend outwards toward the stage; during moments of relative calm, I was able to relax my feet to the ground. This aesthetic experience not only registered in my eyes, but my muscles registered the movements of the dancers . . .

In the case of Full Radius Dance, which presents the viewer with bodies that she does not typically see in a dance performance, what does the viewer and the viewer’s body learn? I leave the theater and the reverberations of rhythm remain.

Check out the full article at Bad At Sports, and Dazara's thoughts at Policy Research Associates.

Touch (2013) // photo AMN Photography

Rehearsal: iteration

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:58:00 +0000

By the time a piece makes it to the stage, every part has been endlessly rehearsed and polished--but the way things begin is often very different. New choreography means new ways to fail: here we see Renee and Samir persistently working a transition until they succeed. And yes, we're laughing at them in the background.

Douglas and the Creative Process

noreply@blogger.com (Full Radius Dance) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0000

After almost every Full Radius Dance concert, I get worried that I won’t find inspiration for a new work. And this was true during my post-performance funk after Touch. I was desperately searching for an idea that interested me, for some concept I wanted to explore.

Instead of finding an idea, an idea found me.

Well, maybe that’s not quite true. It’s more accurate to say that an unexpected thread emerged, from an unexpected place, which then began connecting seemingly unrelated ideas into a cohesive whole.

The thread: I was watching the film “The Shipping News”, based on E. Annie Proulx’s novel, when a bit of dialogue captured my attention: “It is four years ago and it is yesterday.”

The unrelated ideas, which have been carefully stored away in my creative memory: exploring how the past defines the present, so beautifully detailed in Michael Cunningham’s “The Hours”; a short true life account of an unfathomable family tragedy found in NPR’s National Story Project; the wolf tribe as a symbol of both family and predator; the desolation of an abandoned landscape.

We are in the studio now creating this bleak but hopeful, mystical and magical dance. We look forward to sharing it with you.

Keep an eye out for “First Look” videos documenting the process.

- Douglas

Rehearsal: (fail)

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:17:00 +0000

You know how fear of failure can prevent you from reaching for greatness? I'm happy to say that's not a weakness of our fearless leader:

Like so many things, getting in to the situation was fine, but getting out presented a totally different challenge. Video of the actual choreography later...

2013: Going MAD

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:32:00 +0000

First off, we'd like to thank everybody who stepped in to make our Power2Give campaign a success. Your donations, matched by the City of Atlanta, will allow us to present the Modern Atlanta Dance Festival in an exciting new venue on Atlanta's Westside.

Moving forward with MAD, the deadline for applications is this Friday, March 1st, 5:00 pm EST. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration, apply online now.

First Looks: It was four years ago...

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:14:00 +0000

Here's a video peek at the very first rehearsal of a quartet section for "It was four years ago and it was yesterday". Three minutes of new material created in one rehearsal is pretty impressive--y'all can ask Douglas how he does it.

Dancers are Renee Beneteau, Samir Jusupovic, Jaspin Newell, and Shawn Evangelista. For extra credit, catch the fall at the end that became part of the choreography.

Further exploration: "It was four years ago and it was yesterday"

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:33:00 +0000

Following directly on from last week's exploration of the possibilities of this quartet, a four-minute section came together today. Here's some first-rehearsal goodies:

Renee and the stepping stones

Please don't try this at home

What were we doing, again?

Upcoming: Open Classes Fridays in March

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:07:00 +0000

Join us in the studio on Fridays! Open class MARCH 8, 15, 22, & 29, 10 am -- noon.

Experience Full Radius Dance's class, featuring modern technique, improv, and partnering! Classes are open to adults and teens (14+) with and without physical disabilities of all experience levels. Previous dance experience is not necessary. Classes are held at the Atlanta Ballet Cobb Studios, 2000 Powers Ferry Road, G-4, Marietta, GA 30067. Visit our website for more information.

Concert Review: Chelsea Thomas, Dance Informa

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:27:00 +0000

With unabashed bravery and undeniable passion, Full Radius Dance recently presented the world premieres of Artistic Director Douglas Scott’s Dames and Delinquents and Touch, as well as Lori Teague’s There is No Such Thing as Mistakes, in Atlanta’s intimate 7 Stages Theatre.

This is how a piece begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel Lawson) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:41:00 +0000

So after a well-deserved week off following the concert, we've hit the ground running and are hard at work on a completely new piece. Here's some video from the first and second rehearsal of a section featuring our signature partnering work with Samir, Renee, Shawn, Lindy, Laurel, and Jaspin:

And for bonus, a few photos from today's playtime--mission: keep Renee up there!