For CL’s cover story this week “Atlanta Ballet defies gravity for 80 years” CL photographer Joeff Davis was invited inside the Atlanta Ballet rehearsal studios on West Peachtree Street as the company rehearsed. Atlanta Ballet is the longest continually operating ballet company in America and the dancers are preparing for the first show of its 80th season.
Check out more photos from the cover shoot.
(By Joeff Davis)
1) Her Space Holiday plays Drunken Unicorn.
2) Atlanta Ballet stages Snow White at the Cobb Centre for the Performing Arts.
3) Tyson continues at Regal/United Artists Tara.
4) The Downtown Festival wraps up.
5) Figuratively Speaking continues at the Seen Gallery.
(Photo courtesy www.herspaceholiday.com)
1) Atlanta Ballet’s Don Quixote continues at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
2) Star Trek opens in area theaters.
3) Blast-Off Burlesque stages Stimulus Package at East Atlanta Icehouse.
4) Jayne County headlines (You Could Tell I Was No) DebuTAUNT Ball to benefit PAWS Atlanta at Manuel’s Tavern.
5) The Sweet Auburn Springfest kicks off.
(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
1) Atlanta Ballet performs The Firebird at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
2) Eyedrum hosts Sublime Frequencies Films and Field Recordings with Rob Millis.
3) Another Sunday Afternoon at Loehmann’s continues at Ansley Park Playhouse.
4) The Campus MovieFest grand finale screens 14 student-produced short films at Atlanta Symphony Hall.
5) Academy of Ancient Music performs at the first of Spivey Hall’s 2009 Spring Bach Festival concerts.
(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
1) Hilary Hahn performs at Spivey Hall.
2) The Process Theatre stages Sordid Lives at Onstage Atlanta.
3) Jorma Kaukonen, Robben Ford and Ruthie Foster perform at Variety Playhouse.
4) Atlanta Ballet’s Dracula ends its run at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
5) Pecha Kucha mixes it up at Octane.
(Photo Mathias Bothor courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon)
THE MAN IN BLACK: Atlanta Ballet's 'Dracula'
The Atlanta Ballet’s current show begins with a skin-crawling prologue. Wolfish, costumed dancers surround a sleeping man’s bed; a happy wedding repeatedly turns into a mournful funeral; and booming, insistent knocks resound throughout. The rapping sounds suggest Poe’s raven tapping at the chamber door. The images evoke Goya’s nightmarish paintings, and the whole disturbing tableau dispels any preconceived notions you have of ballet as a genteel performing art.
The surreal, sideways introduction to the Dracula ballet provides a fresh interpretation of one of our culture’s most familiar stories, like putting new blood in an old bottle. The Atlanta Ballet’s production proves ideal for audiences who don’t like dance — or don’t realize that they actually enjoy ballet. (more…)
1) Atlanta Ballet’s Dracula heads into opening weekend at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
2) Yonder Mountain String Band plays the Tabernacle.
3) Josh Blue performs at the Punchline.
4) Dark Star Orchestra plays Variety Playhouse.
5) The Morning Benders play Drunken Unicorn.
(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
1) The African-American Dance Review performs the Progressive Realization of Dreams at the Rialto Center.
2) Atlanta Ballet’s Dracula opens at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
3) Make Room, Recent Paintings, and The Bed, After Lautrec open at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
4) Jesse Colin Young plays Eddie’s Attic.
5) Topher Payne signs Necessary Luxuries at Wordsmiths Books.
(Photo by Deshun Smith/Rogmar Media Group)
Atlanta Ballet’s Dracula has always been my favorite ballet. So I pretty much could not have been more excited to have the opportunity to photograph the show’s rehearsal. It’s interesting how different it looks up close over viewing it from several rows back in the Fox Theatre. The dancers are impressive actors and the choreography is stunning in its complexity.
This shot is just one of many from the hour Joeff Davis and I spent at the Atlanta Ballet studios. Check out the photo gallery here. And go see the show. Seriously. You won’t regret it.
(Photo by TL Pixley)
1) Dancing Monkey Cabaret’s Vaudeville Reborn finishes up at Academy Theatre.
2) Fatback Deluxe performs at Blind Willie’s.
3) Atlanta Ballet stages its final performance of The Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre.
4) Eric Benet and Robin Thicke perform at the Civic Center.
5) Heather Lutterll plays at East Point Corner Tavern.
(Photo by Amanda Mushill)
1) Atlanta Ballet’s The Nutcracker continues at the Fox Theatre.
2) Comedian Ben Bailey performs at the Funny Farm.
3) Jennifer Skiff discusses and signs God Stories at Wordsmiths Books.
4) Out of Hand Theater hosts a free sneak peak of Stadium 360 at Emory’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.
5) The Star Bar hosts Big Trouble in Little 5.
(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
The Atlanta Ballet’s perennial production of The Nutcracker debuts tonight, Dec. 5, at the Fox Theatre. The Tchaikovsky ballet always reminds me of two things:
1. The Klezmer Nutcracker and
2. A story from December 2003, back when Creative Loafing’s intrepid Tom Bell, now with the Decatur Book Festival, was an embedded journalist in the Nutcracker’s army, sending dispatches from “Operation Extreme Extermination,” a military action against the armies of the Rat Kingdom. (Currently the occupying army of toy soldiers expects to withdraw from the rat kingdom within 16 months, although the Nutcracker hesitates to give any timetables.) The story from our war correspondent offers a flashback to five years ago:
1) Bram Stoker’s Dracula continues at Aurora Theatre.
2) William Elliot Whitmore plays the Drunken Unicorn.
3) K.D. Lang plays the Woodruff Arts Center.
4) Atlanta Ballet’s Swan Lake opens at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
5) Stand Firm for Justice Rally for Troy Davis is on the State Capitol steps.
(Photo by Christopher Bartelski)
The Atlanta Ballet announced yesterday that a live orchestra will accompany a selection of its 2008-09 performances. The ballet made the switch to digital music in 2006 to save money. According to the press release:
Swan Lake, the October season opener, February’s Dracula, a favorite of Atlanta audiences, and the May world premier of John McFall’s Don Quixote will feature live music at every performance. Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker will feature the orchestra during its opening weekend, December 5th, 6th and 7th.
Dan Allcott, music director and principal conductor for the Atlanta Ballet from 2000-2006, returns for the current season. Check out the Atlanta Ballet’s website for more.
Swan Lake (pictured) opens Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
(Photo by Charlie McCullers)
Zoo Atlanta giant pandas Mei Lan and Lun Lun will appear in the 2007 production of Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker.
From Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director John McFall:
“… It has always been a goal of mine to reflect the history, diversity, and energy of our city, the South and its culture. As the father of two little girls, the excitement around Zoo Atlanta’s Pandas amazes me and it just seemed logical to incorporate such icons of our city into, what has become for our patrons, a cherished family tradition.”
Rumor has it that the inclusion of giant pandas is one of several changes the Atlanta Ballet will put in place this year to make the Christmas classic more local and timely.
A source close to the production informed me today the Prince has been replaced by a bloodied pit bull and the Sugar Plum Fairy will be played by Sara Blakely in footless tights.
