Thursday, December 31, 2009

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday, Dec. 14, 2009

Modern dance revue puts a new spin on the holidays

A new classic? On Saturday the Barefoot Brigade presented "The NOTcracker" at the DMA.

Special to DFW.com

Teachers and students from Fort Worth’s Dancing Outside the Box perform a dance named Questions during "The NOTcracker."   SPECIAL TO THE S-T/MATT NAGER

Teachers and students from Fort Worth’s Dancing Outside the Box perform a dance named Questions during "The NOTcracker."

Against the backdrop of tall windows accented by the colorful cascade of Dale Chihuly’s glass flower-bowls in the museum’s north atrium, nine contemporary dances were presented. Performers wore sporty warm-ups and rehearsal togs. Moods ran from serious to sentimental to silly.

Questions was danced happily by six teachers and students from Fort Worth’s Dancing Outside the Box, with Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind sung by David Tipps.

The Eclipse Project by Denton’s Satellite Dance Collective was an essay of orbits and attractions by Kihyoung Choi, Ellie Leonhardt and Leah Perison. In Loris Beckles’ Celebration for Kwanzaa, Tiffani Furlough, Tina Mullone and Christie Sullivan were poised and precise in unison, their ballet movements set to Abbey Lincoln’s Afro Blue.

Seven girls from Dallas’ Lisbon Elementary School were perky and pretty in traditional dresses dancing a gospel-African version of choruses from Handel’s Messiah.

Most performers were barefoot. Movement was personal and emotionally charged. Andrea Sheridan was taut in her psychological solo Reluctance. In her solo Close to the Bone, Sunghun Lim mimed an animal’s gait, her back arched with hands and feet pawing the floor. To the caressing phrases of Bach she kicked and torqued her body around; she stretched upward in graceful athletic lunges.

The audience sat at tables on the sides of a performance area on the polished concrete floor. People came and went as the show progressed.

In comic numbers, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth’s Sarah Newton made a sexy nuisance of herself in Stand Next to You. Phase 2 Dance Ensemble presented a holiday household drama. And in a sendup of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite by Dallas’ DeKaDance, the Chinese dance became a kung fu fight. Kate Walker was pulled around by a fan with a mind of its own during the Spanish dance, and as the Sugarplum Fairy she decided to hoard candy canes instead of passing them to children in the audience. http://www.dfw.com/178/story/210778.html?story_link=email_msg

Saturday, December 12, 2009

2 more pics from Mary Lynn's camera!


The Eclipse Project Part 1








www.satellite-dance.com


The Eclipse Project Part 1 - Choreography by Mary Lynn Babcock- Graphic Design by Kenneth Verdugo - Dancers: Kihyoung Choi, Ellie Leonhardt, Leah Perison - Performance Saturday December 12, 2pm - Dallas Museum of Art, Cafe Atrium.

Friday, December 11, 2009

I'm performing tomorrow in Mary Lynn Babcock's Eclipse Project with Kihyoung Choi and Leah Perison!

The NOTcracker: A Barefoot Brigade Dance Festival of Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, and Performance Art
Saturday December 12, 2009 2pm
Cafe atrium at the Dallas Museum of Art
ADMISSION FREE


Just when you thought you couldn't stomach another Nutcracker, The NOTcracker brings a variety of holiday treats for visual consumption in a free performance at the Dallas Museum of Art on Saturday December 12 at 2 pm. The members of the Barefoot Brigade coalition, and guests, will present an eclectic show of modern dance, contemporary dance, and performance art in the Café atrium of the museum. The performance is family friendly and admission is free. This popular festival returns after a one-year hiatus, bringing seasonal relief to North Texas dance audiences.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009


Aimless Love
This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.
In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.
This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.
The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.
No lust, no slam of the door –
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.
No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –
just a twinge every now and then
for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.
But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.
After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,
so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.
~ Billy Collins ~
(Nine Horses)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009